Douglas Austin served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Reserve. After that service, over the next 45 years, Austin founded StrategicSource in 1992, a Bloomington-based spend management and purchasing services provider, and grew the business to roughly 40 employees, serving clients across the U.S. and Canada. He later founded ExpenseEdge as a spend management solutions platform. He is chairman of both businesses. Austin has served as vice president of the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Minnesota, designed to help active and former Marines transition to civilian work. He founded the USMC Network to help returning veterans with resume-building skills and networking strategies.