Ken Vennera is a man of many hats.

Wharton educated, corporate lawyer, and mentor, he is also involved with Warrior Rising as Chief of Staff — a veteran nonprofit that helps veteran entrepreneurs get off the ground and positioned for success.

Show Notes

For more:

LinkedIn | Warrior Rising | Operation Homefront | Vets2Industry

Theme music by: Ruel Morales

Audio Transcript

Brian Schoenborn  0:01   

Hello, hello. Hey everybody. Our guest today is a man of many hats. Wharton educated. He’s a lawyer, also involved with Warrior Rising as Chief of Staff, veteran nonprofit that helps veteran entrepreneurs get off the ground and get to where they need to be. Give it up for my friend, Ken Vennera.

Brian Schoenborn  0:25   

My name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an explorer of people, places and culture. In my travels, spanning over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City.

Brian Schoenborn  0:52   

So what’s up, Ken, how’s it going? 

Ken Vennera  0:54   

Much Brian, thanks for having me on the show. 

Brian Schoenborn  0:56   

Yeah, no problem, man. So listeners where we’re sitting You’re on location in Philadelphia, beautiful Philadelphia

Ken Vennera  1:03   

City of Brotherly Love. 

Brian Schoenborn  1:04   

That’s right. And we are. We’re in the peak of the coronavirus madness, but we’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to give you guys something else to talk about.

Ken Vennera  1:14   

Thank you.

Brian Schoenborn  1:14   

Yes. So can tell me a little bit. Um, one of the things I like to do is kind of discuss origin stories a little bit. 

Ken Vennera  1:22   

Sure. 

Brian Schoenborn  1:22   

You know, how people that have been that have seen a lot of success and things like that, how they got to where they, where they got, so maybe you could maybe you could start with like, just a little, maybe a little bit more of an in depth intro than what I provided, what you’re up to. And then we can go back and like kind of dig in like how you got from point A to point B?

Ken Vennera  1:40   

Sure. Sounds good. So I as you mentioned, I have a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania, my undergrad, for that. I have a law degree, JD, from Widener University School of Law, which Used to be the Delaware School of Law, and also have a master’s degree in law in taxation from Villanova University. 

Brian Schoenborn  2:07   

Oh, wow, okay. Yeah, a lot, a lot of time in class.

Ken Vennera  2:10   

a lot of time in school for sure, for sure, much too much time as my grandmother would probably. I’ve been involved in a lot of veteran nonprofit space. You know, we could talk about that a little bit later, if you like, as well. But, you know, currently Chief of Staff with Warrior Rising. A super, super organization that, as you mentioned, you know, helps veterans who are looking to start businesses, you know, and accelerate them. You know, and earn, basically, you know, their future. And you know, a few others as well. I’m involved with Vets2Industry, sit on the foundation board for them, and others that I’ve been involved with along the way. You know, I can give you a little bit more background about that. I’m on the advisory board of Operation Homefront of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, for example,

Brian Schoenborn  2:13   

What is Operation Homefront?

Ken Vennera  2:58   

So Operation Homefront was founded probably about 15 years ago, roughly, I want to say, to provide sort of emergency assistance to active duty military while they were deployed in order to keep their families stable and things like that. You know, they’ve since changed, not change their mission, but morphed their mission a little bit more, you know, they help with, you know, veterans that need housing. They still help with some mergency financial assistance and things like that. I mean, they’re nationwide. But they’re all about, you know, really maintaining the families for the military, you know, in times of, you know, crisis and things like that. 

Brian Schoenborn  3:38   

Gotcha.

Ken Vennera  3:38   

They’ve expanded out a little bit towards, you know, National Guard space and things like that, and some veterans up to a certain point, but, you know, some some great work. Yeah, as I mentioned, I was I was very active many, many years ago with them probably during the height of deployments from about, you know, 2006 to roughly 2010 or so. I was chairman when they had independent chapters did a lot to really grow the Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey chapter into an actual, you know, operating entity from what it was. And, you know, proud to say that it’s still successful. I mean, national national organization is nationalized all of the chapters now into basically field offices. But some of the people, you know, some of the key people that I put in place like Pete Stenson, for example, who was chapter president under me, is now a regional director for them. So you know, his territory pretty much covers all the way from Maine down to Maryland.

Brian Schoenborn  4:44   

Oh, wow, okay. A huge chunk.

Ken Vennera  4:46   

Yeah. So, you know, so there’s that, you know, try and do you know, what I can, I mean, not having served myself. I mean, it’s pretty important for me to, you know, help out, you know, the military. There’s large military presence in my family as well. And a lot of friends of mine and things and

Brian Schoenborn  5:01   

yeah, so I mean, I’m a veteran, obviously, and I appreciate everything you’ve done that you do for us. Just curious. I mean, where does where does all that come from? Like, the desire to? 

Ken Vennera  5:13   

Sure. 

Brian Schoenborn  5:13   

You know? Yeah, so be more respect, you know, be with as involved with the military and vets as you are.

Ken Vennera  5:19   

Um, you know, I’d say a lot of things. My grandparents were, you know, an immigrant generation, you know, coming from Italy. But, you know, they left Italy because there was not opportunity. I don’t mean to sort of sound cliche about it, but that’s really, you know, the truth of it. You know, they came to this country, and we’re extremely, extremely proud of it. My grandparents themselves, were the sort of oldest of their generation so and they came from very large families. So, the younger members of the family were born here, and were proud to have served in the military. I had a great uncle, my grandmother’s brother that, among others, I mean, others of her brothers served in World War Two as well. But her youngest brother just passed away about six months ago now. Yeah, and he was in the Battle of the Bulge and you know, he’s 95, 96 years old when he passed away. So, there was a, there was a huge patriotic feeling in the family even though you know, again, they came from, you know, a different background, you know, ethnically, etc. but very, very much in support of, you know, the military in this country, etc. And so, you know, very much loving the country and what, you know what was done. My grandmother, it was very funny, saved my uncle’s letters when he would write them from every place. From like, France, from Belgium, from Germany, 

Brian Schoenborn  5:35   

That’s cool.

Ken Vennera  6:24   

Even uncle Yeah, and I still have them to this day because she cherished you know, like every one of those letters that you know, he wrote. I think their last stop To be honest, he And after that being, you know, part of the Battle of the Bulge. Their last stop in Germany was Fürstenfeldbruck, which is right near Dachau concentration camps. So I’m sure that, you know, they’re probably involved in liberation, you know, Dachau as well,

Brian Schoenborn  7:14   

That’s amazing. 

Ken Vennera  7:14   

Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

Brian Schoenborn  7:16   

You ever pull out those letters and like, read them, like, get an idea of like,

Ken Vennera  7:19   

I’ve looked at him with friends. You know, it’s very funny to see, like that first perspective and know that it’s sort of a family member that experienced that, you know, you know, you see things from like that era. And you think, again, you know, it’s a little bit cliche, but, you know, there’s there’s mentions of, you know, we really have Hitler’s boys on the run now and things like that. Yeah. And it’s just, you know, just crazy to think that they were experiencing that firsthand and relating it, you know, back as best they could, you know, back in those days, there was no internet or things like that. You couldn’t even really pick up the telephone call family or anything. So

Brian Schoenborn  7:55   

It’s literally just letters and who knows how long it took a day and some of them on a ship or whatever else, right?

Ken Vennera  8:01   

And some of them worst are centered, you know, things like that as to what was said, so that you weren’t giving away like locations and things like that, while they’re removing, I mean, it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool. I mean, you know, to feel like that part of history and things like that. So, you know, even