Jeni Hill leads a team of 70, providing information technology support and end-user technical assistance to 6,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees across 11 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island territories and says her experience leading Marines helped her get where she is today.

Currently with ICE’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, Hill previously served as a management program analyst in Seattle; a section chief in Chandler, Arizona; and an administrative officer in San Francisco, where she supported criminal investigators; and most recently, as an administrative officer in Dallas with the Office of Professional Responsibility. The OPR manages ICE’s security programs, conducts independent reviews of programs and operations, and investigates allegations of misconduct and threats against personnel and facilities.

“I continue to serve because I want to do what I can to protect our great nation against those who wish us harm,” says Hill, “and to protect the freedoms we enjoy.”

Hill’s transformation into a leader and mentor began at Parris Island, South Carolina in 1988. She enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as the Cold War was winding down and Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield were on the horizon. Her ultimate goal was to become an officer, and by 1999, she graduated from the University of Washington.

Commission in hand, she became a communications officer leading a platoon of 60 Marines. Hill forged through the Global War on Terror and ended her 17-year career where it started, leading women drill instructors as they transformed new recruits into Marines at Parris Island.

Though Hill shelved her combat boots in 2005, her commitment to preserving and protecting the U.S. hasn’t waned. She applied the knowledge and wisdom she learned as a Marine to the civilian sector, but after four years, Hill says, the draw to civil service was too strong to overcome. She began looking for opportunities in her hometown, Seattle, and soon found her place with ICE.

“As a female veteran, I’m proud to continue serving our country with ICE — an agency that prides itself on the honor and respect it gives its veterans,” says Hill. “With the upcoming 247th celebration of the Marine Corps’ birthday and Veterans Day on Nov. 11, I’m humbled to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all our veterans and ICE employees who dedicate themselves to the mission day in and day out.”