Joseph Courtemanche is an award-winning author, former law enforcement officer, and military veteran. He is retired from the “day job” after working the last few decades in the technical world, and is working on developing new products for the first-responder community, writing novels, and recording audio books for Audible.
In addition to all of the above, he is a Senior Mentor for Navigating Adversity, an online program for developing mental wellness and resilience for a variety of groups who experience great stress. Using skills gained in law enforcement and the military, he not only identifies with the students, but can use his experience to guide them through the coursework. His decades of work in multiple fields give him a perspective unique from others, as well as a sympathetic approach to helping his students find their way through the course, and subsequently life’s challenges.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (among others), he holds a BA in Political Science, an AA in Law Enforcement, and an AA in Computer Science. He is a graduate of the elite Defense Language Institute where he was an honors graduate in Arabic.
Following 5 years of service in the United States Navy as a Cryptologic Technician Interpretive, Direct Support Operator, where he conducted classified/compartmented intelligence collection missions, he returned to civilian life and eventually wound-up building virtual pathways for corporations on the internet.
Along the way he has attended a 16-week police academy, served as a patrol officer, and written three published books. He has acted in dozens of television and radio commercials, and is a professional Santa Claus. In March of 2022 he sold his 5,000th audio book on Audible.
Joseph has also been an active volunteer with several organizations, including missionary work in Haiti, feeding the homeless in Saint Paul, and a “mobile-ministry” during periods of extreme weather providing blankets, water, clothing, and food to the homeless. He currently serves as Vice President on the board of The Command Post, a non-profit dedicated to improving wellness for first-responders. www.thecommandpost.org
He blogs regularly at www.commotioninthepews.com, and is currently recording an audio book for a Christian author.
He is most proud of the fact that his wife of 37+ years has tolerated him well, and they live in a new home in Florida with their rescue dog, Chewy.