At the invitation of Isabelle Krasney, Veteran Outreach Specialist for the Orange County Veterans Employment Committee (OCVEC), VAMBOA CEO Debbie Gregory has been invited to be a Distinguished Guest Speaker at the July 24th OCVEC meeting.

Members of OCVEC are committed to leadership excellence as Veterans’ employment advocates by addressing Veterans’ employment and training opportunities and concerns. Membership is open to Veterans’ organizations, including County Veterans Service officers, Employers and Service providers. In addition, membership is open to all veterans and concerned individuals desiring to participate, assist, and promote Veterans employment activities.

“I am honored to be invited to speak to these leaders in the Orange County veteran community and share with them the mission of VAMBOA,” said Ms. Gregory. “As a result of their military training, Veteran Business Owners, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Military Business Owners are highly qualified to build successful businesses. Not only are small businesses the backbone of the U.S. economy, but Veterans hire other Veterans”.

VAMBOA, which has over 7,000 members, is wholly supported by corporate sponsors and does not charge any dues or fees to its members.. Its “Vet Owned” seal symbolizes the talent, dedication, leadership and courage of these special Americans who currently serve or have served in our nation’s Armed Forces.

Debbie Gregory also founded the Military Connection web site that focused on employment and was recently acquired. Additionally Debbie spent over a decade in the recruitment industry and rose to partner in a retained search firm that focused on technology companies and openings.

OCVEC, an all-volunteer non-profit organization, advocates for those who have served and addresses employment and training opportunities for them.

Following the successful acquisition of the Military Connection web site by Veterans Home Care, LLC , Debbie Gregory will now turn her full attention to VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association. VAMBOA.org is a 501 (c) 6 non-profit trade association with over 7,000 members nationally and more than 400,000 combined fans and followers on social media.

“After serving their country, many U.S. military veterans start and run their own businesses,” said Gregory.

Although every successful veteran and military business owner is different, there are a number of qualities they have in common. As a rule, they’re intelligent, resourceful, dedicated, hardworking, and committed to team success and completing the mission.

“Veterans tend to employ veterans,” Gregory added. “VAMBOA works to ensure the success of its membership by connecting them with private corporations and government agencies. It’s in our country’s best interest to invest in the leadership potential of our military veterans.”

Military veterans know when to lead, when to follow, and how to respond to a variety of situations and apply just the sort of leadership that circumstances demand for success.

Corporations interested in a diverse supplier network are invited to contact VAMBOA to evaluate sponsorship opportunities. VAMBOA is the “go to association” for Veteran and Military Business Owners. VAMBOA is supported through corporate sponsorship and Veteran Business Owners are not charged any membership fees. Corporations interested in evaluating sponsorship opportunities and Military and Veteran Business Owners wanting to learn about membership may contact VAMBOA at info@vamboa.org.

Although there have been multiple studies on individual characteristics and operations on owner managers, there are knowledge gaps related to the challenges these entrepreneurs encounter when entering and building their ventures. To fill in that gap, the National Association of Veteran-Serving Organizations(NAVSO) has commissioned Purdue University to study what is driving entrepreneurial success so that these veterans can be better served with improved resource allocation. The Veterans and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) is proud to assist in securing participants for the study.

The insights from this survey will help deliver best practices for providing realistic solutions for the issues and challenges these veterans face.

“We are so grateful to the VAMBOA community for joining us on this important research for veteran entrepreneurs.” said NAVSO CEO, Chris Ford. “We expect the research results to help future veteran business owners gain access to capital, change how incubators and accelerators support founders, and in the end, help more veteran businesses succeed. Founders and Co-Founders who participate in this research are really paying it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

“There are some qualities that servicemembers and veterans have attained through their military service that make them excel as entrepreneurs,” said VAMBOA founder and CEO Debbie Gregory. “Traits such as leadership, discipline, the ability to solve problems and a “can-do” attitude contribute to their success. We are happy to help get the word out to our members and other potential participants of the survey to ensure the best possible result.”

NAVSO is offering incentives valued at more than $2000 to be awarded to more than sixty participants who complete the survey. At the end of the study, the research team will conduct a random drawing and determine the winners: one $500 winner, one $250 winner, two $100 winners, ten $50 winners and fifty $20 gift cards. All personal identifiable information will be masked and confidentiality will be strictly enforced.

Those wishing to participate in the survey can do so at https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6WnSXOMSn3fw5lH?utm_source=VAMBOA&utm_medium=Email%20%26%20Social.

MilitaryConnection.com, one of the most comprehensive directories of military and veteran resources on the web, and non-profit trade association VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association are proud to announce that they have joined forces to host the “America Salutes You” VIP reception.

The VIP reception will follow the “America Salutes You” live concert on November 12th at the Rosemont Theater in Chicago, Il. Performers include pop legend Cyndi Lauper, singer/songwriter extraordinaire Gavin McGraw, country music legend Wanda Jackson, rapper Hoodie Allen, Gospel Grammy winner CeCe Winans, world-renowned tenor Anthony Kearns, bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs, rising country stars Tegan Marie and Savannah Maddison, and many others. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0400515AA4A51339.

Text and online fundraising will take place during the concert’s broadcast on television, radio and via stream. Money raised by the concert will benefit several non-profits that serve military, veterans and their families including: the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Easterseals Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services, Give an Hour, Honor Flight Network, Illinois Joining Forces, Joining Forces California, Snowball Express, TAPS and ThanksUSA. Sponsorship opportunities are available, with all funds supporting the concert production, partner charities and foundations.

“We have asked those who serve, past and present, to leave their home and their loved ones to protect our freedoms,” said Debbie Gregory, CEO of MilitaryConnection.com. “After 14 years of war, the number of men and women who have donned our country’s uniform and served multiple tours of combat duty is the largest in modern American history. We owe them a huge debt, and we can repay it by remembering their sacrifices and providing the resources for them to achieve the American Dream.”

“America Salutes You” will stream live on LiveStream, Military.com, TV Worldwide and will be offered to radio stations nationally by Westwood One. The nationally televised concert will air over Thanksgiving weekend on Tribune Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcast Group stations. To find your local schedule, visit http://americasalutesyou.org/viewlisten/.

About America Salutes You
This concert, which will air nationally, benefits those who serve in the U.S. military, and will take place on Saturday, November 12th 8pm Central time at the Rosemont Theater in Chicago. Performers include pop legend Cyndi Lauper, country music legend Wanda Jackson, rapper Hoodie Allen, Gospel Grammy winner CeCe Winans, world-renowned tenor Anthony Kearns, bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs, rising country star Tegan Marie and many others. Text and online fundraising will take place during the concert’s broadcast on television, radio and via stream.

About MilitaryConnection.com
MilitaryConnection.com offers one of the most comprehensive directories of military and Veteran resources on the web, focusing on employment, education and more. Military Connection has been named a Top 100 Employment Web Site by the International Association of Employment Web Sites for five years in a row. It is that focus on employment that garnered MilitaryConnection.com one of the prestigious Weddle’s Users Choice Awards for 2015. Military Connection features thousands of pages of resources and information. There is something for everyone including, but not limited to a Job Board and Virtual Job Fair, comprehensive Post 9/11 GI Bill education information with a directory of thousands of scholarships and a Veteran school directory, news, press releases, special events, pay charts, benefits, service directories, commissaries and exchanges, golf courses and more. Military Connection has the honor of working with incredible non-profits to improve the quality of life for those who serve. When the next tour is back home, it’s on Military Connection, the Go To Site.

About VAMBOA
VAMBOA, a 501(c) 6 non-profit organization, has been providing its members with knowledge of government provisions that help service-disabled veteran business owners, Veteran business owners and military business owners since 2010. VAMBOA’s mission is to help drive the success of these veteran business owners. VAMBOA also connects it members to contacts within large corporations and government agencies who can mentor members, and in some cases, can even directly provide members with government contracts and vending contracts within large corporations. Membership in VAMBOA is free.