Yinka worked as an Estate Surveyor and Appraiser in Nigeria, specializing in the appraisal of commercial and residential properties. Upon relocating to the United States, he enlisted in the United States Army, and subsequently served a total of 15 years of active duty as both a Non-Commissioned Officer (Combat Medic) and Commissioned Officer. He was commissioned in 2002 through the Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, GA in the Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Branch, where he was one of 5 Distinguished Military Graduates from his class. He was given the opportunity to command an Air Defense Patriot Battery in Fort Bliss, TX which consisted of 100 soldiers with equipment in excess of $100 million. He also commanded an Infantry unit in Fort Benning, GA, where he ultimately trained a total of 700 civilians; shaping them into world class Infantry Soldiers who were ready to be deployed anywhere in the world upon graduation. He held various staff positions at both Battalion and Brigade level, most notably being handpicked to be the Brigade Information Systems Officer, which is responsible for both tactical and mobile networks of an AMD Brigade. He was privileged to have been deployed at the initial stage of the Operation Iraqi Freedom where he was a part of the Invasion Task Force, and later deployed to Afghanistan to a remote outpost as a Combat Advisor to the Afghan Army on the Pakistani border.
His awards and decorations include: The Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal (6th awards), the Army Achievement Medal (2nd awards), the National Defense Medal (2nd numeral device), the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Afghan Campaign medal, the NCO professional development ribbon, the Parachutist Badge and the Combat Action Badge.
Immediately after his discharge from the Army and before being offered an opportunity to serve at USAA, he worked as a Senior Project Manager for Jacobs Engineering. He was responsible for a component of their government acquisition program that produces premier combat enhancing equipment for current and future battlefield challenges. At USAA, Yinka works in various units including Marketing, Executive Operational Planning Manager to the USAA Bank President, and Bank IT Infrastructure. Yinka has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, in 2014 he acquired Precision Tune Auto Care Franchise and ran it for 4 years while still holding down a full-time corporate job. As a form of expansion, He acquired Maaco Collision and Auto Painting Franchise in 2017 and fully devoted himself to it. In his spare time Yinka volunteers to feed homeless veterans, coaches an under 13 soccer team and humanitarian gestures in the Nigeria area.
