The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience

#100 The Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation

• GRANT VERMEER • Season 3 • Episode 100

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Ever wonder what the Naval Academy Alumni Association really does? In this episode, we pull back the curtain on this vital organization that supports both midshipmen and graduates throughout their careers and beyond.

As a Naval Academy graduate myself, I'm thrilled to share an inside look at how the Alumni Association and Foundation are evolving to meet the needs of today's midshipmen and alumni. We'll explore:

Key Insights on the Alumni Association's Impact

  • How philanthropic efforts create a "margin of excellence" at the Academy
  • The three pillars of the organization's mission: connecting, communicating, and supporting
  • Recent leadership changes and strategic vision through 2030
  • Ways the Association assists transitioning service members and entrepreneurs
  • Programs and resources available for parents and families

Exciting News for Academy Insider Listeners

I'm also excited to announce a new partnership between Academy Insider and the Alumni Association! This collaboration will allow us to bring you even more insider access and up-to-date information about life at the Naval Academy.

What You'll Gain from This Episode

  • Understanding of how alumni donations directly benefit midshipmen
  • Insight into the Alumni Association's evolving role in supporting graduates
  • Information on parent and family support programs
  • Perspective on why staying connected as an alum is valuable
  • Details on a new "On the Yard" series coming to the podcast

Whether you're a current midshipman, proud parent, or loyal alum, this episode offers valuable insights into the Naval Academy community. Join us as we explore how the Alumni Association is shaping the future of leadership at Annapolis and beyond!


The Vermeer Group is a residential real company matching military families with trusted real estate teams across the country.  If you have any real estate questions at all, please text Grant at (650) 282-1964 or email grant@thevermeergroup.com

To stay most up to date with Grant, Naval Academy updates, and real estate insights, follow him on LinkedIn

The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.

Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.

He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that matches service academy families with trusted real estate teams all across the country. Text (650) 282-1964 with any real estate questions.

We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.

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If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: email podcast@academyinsider.com or text Grant at (443) 951-3064

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone and welcome back to Academy Insider. This is an awesome episode. If you are a fan of Academy Insider, I encourage you to stick around to the very end because there is a huge announcement which I know you won't want to miss, which I'm excited about. But the purpose of this episode as well is to talk about the Alumni Association. I wonder how many of you have actually you know what the Alumni Association is. You know it exists, but you don't know exactly what they do, Like how do they support the alumni, how do they support the midshipmen? How do they improve the lives of the men and women in Annapolis? And then, on top of that, if you are donors to the Alumni Association, probably like what do they actually do with my money? What are they doing? I know they're a 501c3. I know I'm donating to support midshipmen in general, but how does this whole thing work? What is the ecosystem like and what is the alumni association doing to support our midshipmen, to support our alumni and to support the families of those midshipmen? So if you're interested in all of that, make sure to take a listen to this episode. I'm so excited.

Speaker 1:

This is a super fun day for me. I'm really looking forward to it. If you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy the race. Just let me know. Otherwise, enjoy the race. Good afternoon, my good sir. How we doing. John, Thank you so much for taking the time to come on the Academy Insider Podcast and talk a little bit about the Alumni Association. I think this is something that's interesting for parents and midshipmen alike, where we know what it is, but we don't really know what it actually is. You know what I mean, and so I'm excited to have you on the podcast. If you don't mind, before we jump into it, just tell us a little bit about yourself when are you from, how you ended up in the Navy, what you did in the Navy and kind of how you've landed in this role with the Alumni Association and Foundation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, grant, thank you so much for having me Beaming to you live here from the Pflugel Alumni Center approaching two years. September 8th is our anniversary of the ribbon cutting in this building and this is the headquarters of the Alumni Association and Foundation. I am very, very proud to work for you and all of the 69,000 living alumni out there as the Executive Director of Communications. I got into this role by being a career PAO. I served as the Naval Academy PAO on my last tour on active duty from 2013 to 2017, the same year that one of the Naval Academy's best basketball players ever graduated. But I'm originally from Salt Lake City, utah, denver, colorado, out west ish. After a failed attempt to get into the military by going to West Point, I went to Villanova, nrotc, became a SWO and then, like I said, after I was teaching seamanship and navigation and loose hall, as a lieutenant, in 2003, I became a PAO and the rest is history. So, yeah, working here at the Alumni Association, working for you, grant, is an absolute pleasure, and let me tell you about this organization. It is, for me, the best job I could have. If Villanova called me today and said hey, can you come work for Villanova? It's your alma mater. It's the place you love. It's the place where you met your wife. You got commissioned here.

Speaker 2:

I'd have a hard time doing it because, to be very honest with you, I don't know what the Villanova Alumni Association does. I assume they do the same things that the Naval Academy Alumni Association does, but I just know that better. And let me tell you what we do. It's really very simple. We exist as an enterprise the Alumni Association and the Foundation to connect and support our alumni and the Naval Academy community so that the brigade and alumni lead and serve their full potential for the good of the nation. And Grant that Grant, that's just.

Speaker 2:

That covers a panoply of things. Right, you know, at the Alumni Association side of programs and reunions and everywhere in between, and on the foundation side, raising money. That makes up the margin of excellence for how we make the Naval Academy go. So many people think that the Naval Academy is completely funded by the federal budget. And now you know, while the lights are on and the water is running and the gate guards are inspecting your IDs based on the funding of the federal budget, the rest is made up. That margin of excellence, the rest is made up by alumni philanthropy, philanthropy. And this organization since 2000, 2001, when it became the Alumni Association and Foundation in its current form, has raised $1.4 billion for the Naval Academy. That supports programs like international studies, like experiential learning, like the nutrition centers that you see in all of the athletic facilities now. So, from moral, mental and physical, we are here for the alumni. It's the best job in the world, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, like that's so cool. First off, there are a couple things I want to run through. One great decision Not only did you not have to end up at West Point, but you got to join like an elite basketball lineage for college basketball. Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2:

That for college basketball? Are you kidding me? That's a double win. I mean, I'm telling you. You know, and, as you know, one of my closest friends in the world is one of Navy basketball's greatest, mike Heery, sixth all-time leading scorer, and I met Mike when we were both lieutenants here and I was already a basketball fan, a longtime Maryland Terrapin fan as well as a Villanova fan.

Speaker 2:

But you know, just being on the campus as a lieutenant watching basketball at the ending days of Don DeVoe and then coming back is that the cellist had taken the reins and really started driving this to where it is today. I think you're going to find Grant. You know we just interviewed the new athletic director on our Sing Second podcast and we're going to talk about podcasts here in a bit. But that new athletic director, Michael Kelly, played high school basketball at St John City College in DC, which means that ain't no BS. Was at Wake Forest at the same time as a guy named Randolph Childress and Tim Duncan. So I think you're going to find an athletic director who's ready to bring?

Speaker 2:

the pride back to Navy basketball. Come on, man.

Speaker 1:

That's what I'm talking about. Hey, randolph Childress Now that's a name that's a blast from the past. As a Warriors fan growing up, I got a little treat of the lefty sensation right there, baby. He came to Golden State and did his thing.

Speaker 2:

And that's when the ACC was truly what it is and we could get off on a whole tangent about where college sports is and why the Naval Academy is uniquely positioned now on the physical mission side to stand out from this really weirdness and disgustingness of college sports with the money and the realignment and the transfer portal. But I remember back in the day as an old school Maryland Terrapin fan who had gone to the old lefty Drizelle basketball camps my camp counselor my last year at the University of Maryland was a guy named Len Bias, if you know basketball. So that old ACC with Randolph Childress, uva, duke and Bobby Hurley, that was true, amazing basketball in the early 90s. So I think you're going to find that Michael Kelly is going to bring some of that dog, some of that court dog that he's got, he's gonna, he's gonna bring he's gonna bring that to the basketball program.

Speaker 1:

That makes me so happy to hear. I love it. But I guess this isn't about basketball. This is about the Alumni Association. So here we go, Before this turns into the wrong podcast. But no, I this is. This is so fun to talk about, and something we will jump into is what you mentioned, which, again, when you hear alumni association, I think most people assume again it's just kind of this network after the fact, but really it does. So much for the brigade of midshipmen that we're going to be talking about and I'm excited. But you mentioned that, like the formation that we know it as now kind of started in the early 2000s but there's been a semi-recent change of leadership with Jeff Webb coming in 2022 and TJ coming in early 2023. Since that, now they're getting fully in stride here and then they're way. What's been the direction and focus of the association in the last couple of years? Where's your focus and what are you hoping to achieve? You know, moving forward.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Grant, it's a good question and you know moving forward. Yeah, grant, it's a good. It's a good question and you know, no disrespect to the class of 77, or class of 78, a great man, byron Marchand, who had the reins here for years and years as the president and CEO. But but Jeff Webb came in as a former trustee and really applied some fresh eyes and eyes from the financial world. Jeff had come from the finance district in Philly, had gotten his MBA and really brought a different business savvy to what we do. And while we have to be very business savvy as an organization in order to continue to give as much money as we do to make up for that margin of excellence there on the yard, he also applied a very discerning eye to planning and strategy and, right when we came in, he headed a group that basically sat in a room and plotted out our strategic plan that gets us to 2030. It'll be coupled with a campaign that we'll be using in order to fund the next generation of leadership at the Naval Academy and how to make us relevant going forward. But Jeff really inculcated that strategic planning into what we do and so, right when he came in, he realized that what do we do as an organization and what do we need to do on the Alumni Association side to make a difference for our alumni? Because, grant, as you well know, there are plenty of alumni out there. Their main question is this what does the Alumni Association do? You know, like it's a very basic value prop, you know, and we needed a better way of just coming right out and smacking people in the face and explaining what we do, who we are and what we do. We're not just shaking a tin can, shaking it down for money just so that we can, like, have cushier offices here in the Fluvo Alumni Center. The exact opposite is a 501c3 nonprofit. We exist completely to support the Naval Academy and, at the same time, supporting alumni. And we bring it back to three really big pillars Grant Connecting, communicating and supporting Connecting and we're talking about getting our butts out from our desks and going out and meeting the alumni where they are.

Speaker 2:

If you read my daily shipmate and we'll put it out on your pod channels of how you can subscribe to our daily newsletter but our daily shipmate details where we go every week with our alumni engagement roadshows Nancy Murray and her hardworking team there, our support for chapters and parents clubs that we do through MyUSNA, and also everything we do here at the Flugel Alumni Center. How are we connecting back to you? How are we inviting you home to a better facility but also going out and meeting you at your homes and opening our ears for what you want us to do? Communication we needed to communicate better. It couldn't just be Shipmate Magazine arriving in your mailbox and getting dumped on your coffee table. We wanted to tell stories better. We wanted to be more relevant, we wanted to be more timely, and that's where I'm talking about better presence on social media, better video, better reaching back to the past and telling the stories of our Vietnam, korea and World War II veterans.

Speaker 2:

And then, finally, support and Grant this is the one I'm going to really foot stomp. Yeah, you know, it's from cradle to grave for me the idea of taking care of veterans. And we live in a country where the Veterans Administration, the VA, got, and probably deserved, a really bad rap for a while because they weren't doing that support right. You know they were getting slayed in the news for bad health care, for bad facilities, for bad customer service, and I think the Alumni Association and Foundation here we ran the risk of getting that same rap unless we actually put our time and our money where our mouths were, and we do that now with legacy and support services, you know, planning out your memorial services and planned gifts, health benefits and webinars, entrepreneurism and this is where I really foot stomp here, grant, I like to talk so does TJ and so does Jeff about taking the alums from the fleet to the C-suite, and that's where we really have alums making a difference.

Speaker 2:

They make a difference in and out of uniforms. So, yeah, we'll tell the story of the four-star admirals, but we're also going to help you tell the story about how you get help for Parkinson's or other health issues, how you get help starting up your you know your SDVOSB and your LLC, and how you get all the information you need to get all the retirement benefits you want when you get out of the military. You guys, grant, should not be going to TAP. We should be your TAP, and that's how we're building it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I love that and I've experienced it firsthand Again. This is fun for me to have this episode now because over the past two years I have felt that drastic change in support, especially to me as a transitioning service member who is embarking on an entrepreneurial path, right From the actual Entrepreneur Summit that's been hosted in Annapolis, which was for an inaugural event. That first year was unreal, like super good, and continues to go. The fact that we've created regional chapters and events, we have meetups, we have networking events. There have been so many connections that I have made and relationships that I've built as a result with the alumni association being the medium for me there now that have helped me in my pursuit of, like, this entrepreneurial path that I've been on and it's been incredible right, like I have been the lucky, like test case that has experienced this firsthand benefit of your true desire to connect and support Right, which has been awesome, which has been fricking awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean a great, a great example of that you know really quick. Again, keeping into the basketball family, when that first entrepreneur summit went down, you know the guy we just mentioned one of Navy basketball's greats, mike Heery, had just transitioned out of a different job. He was looking for a new direction. I was like, hey, come to this entrepreneur summit, cause it's kind of a thing you know, even if you're not trying to be an entrepreneur, you're going to be around people who are looking for people like you. You know someone who is an incredible problem solver but mostly a leader, and that's what it comes down to, right Grant.

Speaker 2:

You know you guys have a known commodity that you graduate from or that you graduate with from here, and that is the ability to stand in a room and lead people. And that leadership comes out not only standing officer of the deck on a ship, but as you start your own businesses, as you work for your nonprofits, as you go out and work either for NASDAQ or Hewlett Packard or become the CEO of Prudential which an alum is now the CEO of Prudential and run for Congress or run for governor of New Jersey, like Mikey Sherrill Across that spectrum, we are trying to connect people who have those wants and those desires and those needs and, whether through a networking medium like MyUSNA or just through the information we give you here through our social media and Daily Shipmate, we want you to feel connected, the way that Matt Willman and the rest of the entrepreneurs group have made the entrepreneurs feel.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And doubling down here on your Daily Shipmate. Thanks, by the way, for the shout out. There was a two for seven Academy Insider article put out in a recently Daily Shipmate, so love that. Thanks for the support there. You the man.

Speaker 2:

It's great, it's great perspective and that gets to the root of what we're doing here. This pod goes out to a lot of parents and the parents are one of our centers of gravity, and Lori Coogan and our parent program here works so very hard, you know. And so providing context in Daily Shipmate, in podcasts, across all of these channels, to let parents know what's going on here. Because let's be real, right, grant, like, put yourself back in midshipman, third class Vermeer shoes, you're not telling mom a lot of stuff, right, like you're just trying to survive. It's not necessarily the fire hose of information that parents want in order to be participatory in their kids' lives, but these parents want information and now so, while their mids don't give it to them, we have a really good opportunity, you know, through this podcast, through Daily Shipmate, through our social media, through the parent photo program, uh, to allow parents to to get another window into their kids' lives. Again. That brings it back to connection and we're building those connections, no heck yeah, I love that Cause.

Speaker 1:

third-class Vermeer was the exact reason that I started Academy Insider was because I did a terrible job of communicating to my family about what I was going through and it put them in a hard spot, like they didn't know what to like and it's not even again. I think there's like a distinction. Like you know, we're not here trying to support potentially like quote unquote like the helicopter parent of being overbearing, but there is so much niche and unique information about this transition to a military life and even for people with a military background, a uniqueness to the Naval Academy, that you can have better context and better understanding so you can just support and love your child just a little bit better. Right, and I talked with Chowda old Captain Hill of the Ike and in that interview we were talking and he was like man, you know, one of the things that I find really silly but it's been a priority for him was to have Wi-Fi as much as possible and to provide as much update that he was allowed to provide an info to the families Because he's like, when a sailor is having a bad day, yeah, they could go to their chief, yeah, like, and yeah, the chief should be there for him and the division officer should be there for him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like, and yeah, the chief should be there for him and the division officer should be there for him. But sometimes they're just going to want to talk to their mom or talk to their dad or talk to their spouse or whoever it is, and if they understand just a little bit better and able to support them, that is a benefit to the warfighter, it's a benefit to the overall mission. Right and so, yeah, so I love it. Right, Like getting to do this Context and perspective right.

Speaker 2:

You know, we learned this as communicators and this is what we brought to the Alumni Association and Foundation that you know, in this world of talking points and 25 hour news cycles and the busyness of everything and people with their face in their phones, no one reads anymore. I mean, you know the way. The window that you have to get information to people is in a very, very small glimpse of time in an Instagram reel, you know, or in a caption for a really good Instagram photo, or a really, really quick write up on something. So the challenge is, in that environment to provide as John Kirby, an old PAO boss of mine, used to tell us is to provide context and perspective. How can you provide context and perspective? And that's part of our mission here at the Alumni Association and Foundation. It's what Academy Insider does forever and know even more now that we are so aligned in what we're doing in order to provide that. Different voices, different perspectives, different areas, but it's still the same context and that's what's so key.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, heck, yeah, dude, I love it. I love it. Well, before we like get to that final piece of, like parent family support and all this different stuff, I do just want to highlight really quick what the foundation does right, because we talk a lot about again this connection and support for the alumni, but a huge piece of the alumni association is the foundation right, and what they do to give back to midshipmen and to the brigade of midshipmen and all the different aspects of midshipman life. And so really I want to turn this over to you, which is, again, when someone is giving money to the Alumni Association and the foundation, how are their dollars being used and how is it going to support midshipmen from athletics programs, facilities, like again me, something that I care a lot about as a cyber major was the brand new cyber building, et cetera. Like, what are these avenues that the Alumni Association is taking to improve midshipmen life?

Speaker 2:

these avenues, that the Alumni Association is taking to improve midshipmen life. Yeah, it's such a critical part of this whole thing. Right, grant? Because you know a lot of us here at this organization view the Alumni Association as the foundation for the foundation. Right, because what are we doing here? We are trying to support the brigade and trying to support the alumni at the same time. But in the support to the brigade we are out there, you know, trying to raise that margin of excellence.

Speaker 2:

As we said before, $1.4 billion being given over the course of the life cycle, 25 years, through three different campaigns. The third one we're in the middle of right now and I'll get to it in a second. But the reason we do this is to make up for those programs that aren't funded by the federal budget. So the really interesting mesh here is that the Alumni Association, through those connections, through that really good communication, through that support, then makes that alum feel so much more valued and so much more engaged and so much more supported that then, when we then contextualize the importance of philanthropy, going back to the Naval Academy, they feel an even bigger value prop for doing it.

Speaker 2:

You can't sit here as Villanova University and not do jack for me for 25 years or, goodness, 30 years, since I graduated, and then expect me to give money to support some program there.

Speaker 2:

What has Villanova done for me other than the four years that I spent there? And that's a very good question that alums should ask us what have you done for me? Have you helped me with my reunion? Have you helped me transition out of uniform? Have you helped me understand the importance of the education I had by getting me a really good job on, you know, k Street in DC or on Wall Street in New York City? And that happens, and a lot of times it takes alums about 10 years to realize that the Naval Academy actually gave them all of these gifts and all of these things that they can do. So now what we try to do through the foundation staff is go out and see the. You know what's the, what's the willingness of alums to give back and give back to programs. You know you're not just giving it to the Naval Academy so that you know the soup can throw a really huge, you know garden party at the end of the parade season.

Speaker 2:

You know so much of this goes to the overall Naval Academy fund, hopper Hall, funded in large part due to philanthropy. You know so many of the of the projects around the yard, the new columbarium funded by, by philanthropic alumni dollars. So, whether it's academics, admissions, athletics, of which there's a large amount, and as we record this grant and actually we can take a second If this comes out after the 21st of August, which is Thursday we will All right.

Speaker 2:

So let's take it from here. And an example of that athletics, you know, philanthropy, bruce Lakefield. We just announced, on Thursday the 21st, a gift from Bruce Lakefield for $10 million to the Alumni Association and Foundation, something that will also build a new pavilion behind the 53 area of Navy and Marine Corps Stadium so that there's even better experience for football. And then, finally, where philanthropic dollars are really going to go in the future, as part of our campaign, are to the idea of leadership, ethics in the Stockdale Center. This is this organization, this institution here on the banks of the Severn, I believe, is the Harvard Kennedy School of Leadership. What Harvard Kennedy does for government, the Naval Academy does for leadership.

Speaker 2:

And as we go forward, so much of our support leadership and as we go forward and fund future here at the Naval Academy, where everyone knows what's the epicenter of leadership in this country. It's not in Colorado Springs, it's not in Highland Falls, new York, it's in Annapolis, maryland. And that's where these philanthropic dollars go, from academics to athletics, to leadership and ethics and just to general Naval Academy funds for the superintendent to use for priorities that he or she seem or deem necessary. Seem or deem necessary. That's where these dollars go. And that's what's so great about being a 501c3, right? Grant Like, hey, all this money is going to a really good place. We're not trying to raise money to stay in business. We're raising money to keep the leaders of character and consequence right across the street here, going out into the fleet and the C-suite and making a difference love it, love it elevator speech.

Speaker 2:

Man, I'm not even, I'm not even rehearsing, nailed it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, but again, this stuff is so cool, right again, like how it dramatically impacted my life. Right again, what this hopper hopper hall is so cool because again, I was kind of the test guinea pig of the cyber major in general. I was the second class. We were iterating a lot of the, the actual, actual syllabi and all this different stuff. What stuff was going to go in there.

Speaker 1:

But to now have a building dedicated to cyber sciences and have the top floor be a literal skiff where you can have visiting professors from the NSA and the CIA and FBI come in as visiting professors and give briefs and teach classes at the top secret level is unreal. Cool. Like that is I. Just there are things that are just going to continue to make the midshipman experience in Annapolis even better, even more productive, even more fruitful in preparation for a new wave of warfare, right and so like. This is a really cool piece and aspect, and especially the athletics program. I think that's big. If you don't mind just touching on two is it's not just football Like this is big for football, but a lot of the alumni foundation money will go to supporting club sports and all like just ever the entire physical and athletic mission that exists in Annapolis.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, everyone knows it was Chuck Gladchuck's favorite talking point that the 36 varsity sports, you know D1 sports. We are able to fight it out with the Stanfords in the Ohio states of the world for having the most D1 varsity sports in the country. Because of what football does, because of the funding that football brings in through TV contracts and all the other contracts that football funds. That's just the way that it is. And I know that a lot of people, whether they went to the academy or not, might have a certain feeling for what football is and maybe there's a different standard and maybe it's put on a pedestal too much. And I'll tell you from the Alumni Association and Foundation part, I will say that you have a very hard time doing philanthropy, really executing quality philanthropy in this environment, without a football program that people get excited about and as we put excitement and investment into the football program, that then allows us to go out and fund those 35 other sports.

Speaker 2:

I'm a former women's soccer OREP when I was an alum I couldn't be happier about the facility that women's and men's soccer play in on the yard. You know do in large part through philanthropic funding. We're about to build a new lacrosse building on the yard. That recognizes the importance of those alums in that program to our success. So while football funds so much of the other things that let the other sports do what they do, alums can also make a huge difference by giving to those sports, and the Navy Letter Winners Association, with Rob Friedrich, is going to make a huge difference in kind of coalescing those efforts. But you want to talk about, like you know, funding for sports. Take a look at the rugby alumni and what they did, you know, through their philanthropic drive alone, a fire under the effort to get them to a D one status, and then the year they want D one, they want the national title there.

Speaker 2:

There's the proof in the pudding. That's the power of philanthropy, heck yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, I love it.

Speaker 1:

I this is I'm so glad we're getting to talk about this and kind of a long form ability to have these discussions and highlight the importance of the overall ecosystem, like how everything works to support each and every aspect of the naval academy process.

Speaker 1:

And the last piece I want to end with here and wrapping this all up is really again when we talk about supporting the shipment and alumni. And what I love about this is, in order to support the shipment and alumni as well, you have to support their families, right, and so a big piece of the Alumni Association mentioned with Lori and everything that she's doing is parent and family support. So do you mind just giving a quick rundown of the parent and family support that exists from the Facebook group, the parents club that exists, and how that feeds into the Alumni Association? You know, i-day webinars, commissioning, prep and just all the stuff that is happening in support of midshipmen families. And if you could just touch a little bit on like actual membership, like if, if parents want to be a part, like a member of the alumni association, how that works and how they stay involved.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's, it's such a, it's such a huge part of our portfolio, right, grant? You know and I was just making the PowerPoint slide deck for the new superintendent, lieutenant General Borkschulte, that kind of explains this aspect of what we do. But we either support, facilitate, a panoply of programs there, but, you know, really bringing it back to that parent and chapter support out there in the hinterlands where the BGOs are and where the alums who live in Montana are Salt Lake City alums who live in Montana or Salt Lake City. You know so many alums live in Naples, florida or in, you know, philadelphia or Annapolis.

Speaker 1:

Shout out that's my goal, yeah it has our largest alumni population.

Speaker 2:

But you know, I talked a little bit about it before, about getting out. You know, getting our big behinds out from behind our desks and going out and meeting them where they are, and we've done that across the country. You know, coming up with football season, it used to be that we would just go to, you know, the away games, so we could, you know, throw a tailgate and go to the game and hope that Navy won. Now it's a very dedicated effort to all right. So our very first road game, say, is North Texas. At North Texas, we want to talk to the chapter, we want to talk to the parent club, we want to talk to the BGOs, those blue and gold officers who are taking the word to the next generation of leaders. So we love to engage with them and really empower them to work with us, to be force multipliers.

Speaker 2:

This is where I come back to the idea of whether you're retired or fully employed. Right now, the biggest thing that you want in life, grant, is to feel valued, is to feel needed and to feel wanted, and so many people, you know they do this through running parent clubs and running chapters. I'm thinking I'm going to shout it out to my guy, bill Daniels, who runs the, who runs the chapter down in the Virginia beach, hampton roads. Just Herculean effort and parents clubs I'm thinking of Boston, san Diego incredible groups of people who run these clubs and basically want to help us do our jobs. You know, help us, you know.

Speaker 2:

You know, or let us us, or let us help you get the word out. Let us run a happy hour for parents interested in sending their kid to the Naval Academy. Let us put together an information session. So the more that we provide them with information and resources, like we do on MyUSNA, the more that we provide them with perspective and context, like we were describing before, but then, lastly, the more that we make them feel valued because they truly are a center of gravity for our operations here. You know that's the whole idea. It's taking it out. The Flugel Alumni Center is, you know, an incredibly special center of gravity on this end in Annapolis, maryland. But we're putting centers of gravity across to those 78 parent groups, trying to get to every single chapter and parent group in the next three years, which means a lot of frequent flyer miles, but it's worth the effort.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, time to take out the Southwest credit card. Let's go. Bwi miles, baby Get my companion pass let's go?

Speaker 1:

Exactly, no, I love it. And again, just to highlight this effort, just as people are listening and hearing about how this works, right, this past summer, I had the opportunity because I volunteer, because I'm a part of the San Diego Alumni Association chapter right, alumni Association chapter right. And there was a note sent out that the parents club was putting on a barbecue for all the midshipmen that were arriving for summer training. Right, like, your midshipman was arriving in San Diego, they'd go to the USO and the San Diego parents club was putting on a barbecue, getting them food, getting them drink, welcoming him to San Diego, before they took their bus to go start summer training. Right, those things are happening regionally across the country, which is incredible, and they're getting the word out right. Obviously, I'm a sucker for Naval Academy stuff, so you know, when I saw the email, I was like, oh, I'm there, I'm going, of course, but it's incredible and it keeps everything staying involved and, like you said, the Naval Academy parent community is a focus of yours and it's a focus of mine and obviously we've been kind of doing it in tandem and parallel for a long time. But I do, I'm excited about, you know, getting this opportunity as we're approaching the end of this episode is that, in order to best serve the Naval Academy community, we're going to kind of be joining powers here. And you know, the Naval Academy, or specifically Academy Insider, has been a fun project for me. But the reality is is I'm eight years post-graduation now.

Speaker 1:

When I started Academy Insider, I really was an insider. I was about ready to change the name to Academy Outsider because it's just pure lore. At this point I'm just telling stories, dude, I'm turning into an old salty grad telling stories, and so I'm really excited about this opportunity and kind of moving forward. Again. This is the hundredth episode of Academy Insider, which is like this was not planned. This was just really convenient for like a celebration of a hundred episodes of Academy Insider. But, moving forward, academy Insider will be sponsored by and powered by the Alumni Association and wrapped into the Alumni Association really resource list and community.

Speaker 1:

And where this is so exciting and where I want to say thank you to you is that I need access. Right Again, the joke of like becoming the Academy outsider is that I'm not in Annapolis, I don't live in Annapolis, I'm not on the yard all the time, and so to have this ability for us to work together to get the access and information. It's going to be incredible, and with it is I'm going to be kind of launching, moving forward, a new series here that I'll go out bi-weekly called On the Yard, right Like we are going to get back to access and information about what's going on at the Naval Academy. Get that insight so you can better understand and have the context. The context and then a lot of what I do is provide perspective, right Like this will be a platform for family members to have context and perspective about the Naval Academy experience so you can better love and support your midshipmen. And so I'm super excited, I appreciate it. I'll turn it to you.

Speaker 2:

Grant, I mean it. It it comes back to about two years ago when, you know, I I found out about Academy Insider and I decided to bring the Sing Second podcast, which my partner, chris, and I had been doing about Naval Academy sports on our own, before I even worked here. But we talked about hey, maybe we bring the Sing Second podcast to the Alumni Association and we just do pods about alumni stories, the Alumni Association and we just do pods about alumni stories. And we shifted from sports and from being, you know, outsiders to being insiders. And so we did.

Speaker 2:

And as we did that, one of the first things I asked myself when I found out about Academy Insider is like, why isn't this an Alumni Association podcast? You know, if parents and the information that we direct to parents is so important and if podcasting is truly the future of information and information consumption, which you've been doing for so long, for 100 episodes, which is so valuable and so good, to then further propagate it out to our audiences and let them know that this is the legit gouge, right? You know, if you're a parent or a midshipman out there, the thing that you're always looking for is the gouge and what you're providing is that gouge is that gouge. And so for us to combine forces and for us to bring it into the Sing Second universe of podcasts and continue to let you do your thing. You're a thoroughbred, grant. We're just the ones. We're the Bob Bafferts up in the clubhouse watching you run.

Speaker 2:

We're not going to put a saddle on you or any reins, but we're certainly going to help you. Continue to do your thing and bring this important information to the parent community.

Speaker 1:

No, you're the man. I again. This is. This is really exciting for me. You know this is something that we had even mentioned. You know you and I had conversations starting as early back, you know, february, March, informally, right, and you know, originally it is.

Speaker 1:

It's it's interesting, it's tough, cause, like again, when you invest so much time into building something, it's like this idea of like it. You know I'm like, oh my gosh, like am I? What's going to happen with it? Right, but I'm so glad Cause you know, for the parents listening as well, especially right, this this just made continue to make so much more sense on so many different factors. And I just the the support of the alumni association. Again, academy Insider will remain Academy Insider, which is the coolest part about this whole thing.

Speaker 1:

The alumni association is just saying thank you so much for what you're doing to support our community. We're just going to do everything we can to help get you the access and the channels to get this out to as many families as possible. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm just like it. It almost sounded too good to be true. You know what I mean. I was like, I was almost like skeptical. I was like, oh, what's going on, what's going to happen, but I'm just like again having you on the podcast right now just to say thank you for this, like I'm so excited about this relationship, obviously I'm a huge benefactory of. So just a big genuine thank you, man. I'm so excited to you know. Continue the service to the Naval Academy parent community.

Speaker 2:

You. There's no one better to do it. Grant, as I've said before, you know what you are, is a true volunteer and someone who loves the community that you're reaching and the community that you came from. And you know you don't need anyone to. You know, continue to blow your resume out, but you know what you do professionally, what you did in uniform and what you're doing out of uniform. It's exactly the example of the alums that we love to support here. So keep doing what you're doing. I'm just so glad we're doing it together and I'm excited to open up the aperture and let more parents hear your voice, let more alums hear your voice, let more people be aware of this gouge, and keep bringing it with a little bit of fun, I mean, it's certainly better than like doing PowerPoints all day, bro, it is way more fun.

Speaker 1:

I was like, yeah, me getting out of the military. I was like, how do I like not work a real job? You know what I mean? Like what can I do? So I just ref basketball games and talk about the Naval Academy. I mean, what a dream, dude.

Speaker 2:

It sounds like a key. If I were better at basketball, I'd be following you up.

Speaker 1:

Well, I appreciate it. To wrap this up, I just want to give you an opportunity. Are grads listening? And then the second piece will be for parents and families. But for the grads listening specifically, why should they pour into the Naval Academy Alumni Association and stay involved? How has it shifted, how has it changed, and why should they be pouring into this network?

Speaker 2:

I think you need to view it through two lenses. The first is personal. I think it needs to be a personal decision for you. How do you want to connect back to your teammates or your company mates or the people you were in an ECA with? How do you really want to feel that personal connection to a place that made you who you were?

Speaker 2:

A lot of people might have had bad memories of this place. A lot of people, when they're here, have that old acronym, ihtfp swimming around in their head. But the personal reason is personal reason is is to let us help you get more connected to your classmates, to your career, to health information, to fun reunions, to everything in between. And then the second reason would be more macro and more based on the mission and what's coming out of the Naval Academy. You know there are so many people, as my old boss, slapshot Carter, liked to say, of character and consequence that come out of Annapolis, maryland, and to support and be involved in the Alumni Association and Foundation.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't mean you write a check. It could mean that you know you're running a chapter, just the chapter treasurer or something like that, but do something to be involved, because I'll tell you know you're running a chapter, just the chapter treasure, or something like that, but do something to be involved, because I'll tell you what the benefit is right across the way here, in the form of, you know, of 33 acres on the banks of the Severn and 4,400 people, a place that is really making this country better and always will make this country better by the products that come out of it. So think of it from those two levels. And we'd love to see at the Pflugel Alumni Center there's a bar here, by the way.

Speaker 1:

A nice one downstairs, dude, that's great. And still refreshment areas upstairs too. There's no shortage of being able to get a libation and enjoy a lovely evening on the center. The world is your oyster in the pool. I love it. Well, dude, thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time to be on the podcast. Anything left that we didn't talk about that you want to?

Speaker 2:

mention before we wrap up. I am good to go. The battery on my laptop is about to die. I've got a three o'clock meeting to go over yeah, this big announcement on Thursday. So I will bid you adieu, but again I thank you for what you do and I'm really excited to bring all of the alumni audience more great information about Academy.

Speaker 1:

Insider. Heck, yeah, I appreciate it. Well, thank you, man, I appreciate it, and to everyone listening, I hope you have a good day. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Academy Insider podcast. I really hope you liked it, enjoyed it of the Academy Insider Podcast. I really hope you liked it, enjoyed it and learned something during this time. If you did, please feel free to like and subscribe or leave a comment about the episode. We really appreciate to hear your feedback about everything and continue to make Academy Insider an amazing service that guides, serves and supports midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families. Thank you.

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Grant Vermeer

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