Glenn Banton comes from a long lineage of military veterans who have served our country over the years. Even though Glenn has not served in the military he has chosen to fill a much needed support role to our military and veterans through his superior leadership skills in non-profits.
“I joke I like a lot of the same toys and have a similar lack of tolerance for BS in the workspace.”
He currently serves at the CEO & Executive Director for OSD (Operation Supply Drop), which was founded in 2010. Prior to that, he served in various for-profit and non-profit organizations to gain the understanding and experience needed to grow across the nation.
“Learned a lot about the challenges of non-profits and operations; working with large groups of volunteers.”
Over time, Glenn has had the opportunity to work with various veterans who were having challenges in the workspace. His willingness to reach out and provide the necessary resources for those individuals to be successful was very important. His ability to bridge the communication gap was instrumental in the process. His foresight in seeing the various challenges that could be faced as so many troops returned from being deployed continued to develop over time.
Glenn met the founder of OSD in 2012. The organization was founded on the concept of sending video games down-range to those deployed. Glenn believed that this could be grown to a much greater reach. Initially Glenn didn’t have the resources and time to support, but later came to be able to. This all lead to him becoming the CEO in 2014.
Various members they had served began to redeploy or separate and OSD began to be contacted for transitional related concerns and from those looking to give back after they had received support.
“Boiled down, it’s professional, social and service oriented needs.”
Due to the generational relevance of the products they were supplying troops overseas they felt compelled to come to OSD versus any of the other 45,000 non-profit 501c3’s that exist. The individuals had grown to know, like and trust them because they were providing support that was generationally important to them. Unit cohesion and competition within the ranks was a healthy result of their services. This lead to many different programs being piloted around the country and eventually around the globe that lead to an ecosystem of chapters with the same focus.
OSD works with a number of military organizations in doing community service projects stateside. This gives them a tribe on the other side which makes the transition much smoother. Creating opportunities and relationships.
OSD is able to mobilize for things such as natural disasters within minutes because of their national chapter reach. This helps the community in general, not just veterans. Being able to function properly and efficiently is extremely important when you have social cause support requirements. Recognize when other organizations can do things better than you can and join forces where possible. The end goal is to provide the best and most efficient support services to the military community.
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Landmark Life Coaching’s (www.landmarklifecoaching.com) Mission is to honorably and respectfully serve courageous groundbreakers and transitioning veterans to persevere in defining and executing their future by providing an atmosphere of comradery and trust that honors their dedication and commitment. This will empower our clients to feel whole, honored, respected and fulfilled in defining and living their life purpose.
Charlie Mike Podcast (www.charliemikepodcast.com) is where our Nations Combat Vetrepreneur’s talk about how they transformed their combat experience into a groundbreaking entrepreneurial success. We will discuss their experience in relation to what I have defined as their VisualReality; their personal vision of building a successful business leveraging their combat experience to bring the core strengths of a combat veteran into the entrepreneurial realm.
Author - The Empowered Veteran
Dwayne Paro - Veterans Coach/Podcaster/Speaker/Author