We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MaryEllen Picciuto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi MaryEllen, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

On May 18, 2010, my United States Military Academy/West Point classmate Colonel John McHugh was killed in action while serving our country on Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. His military convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber who drove an explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy. The horrifying news traveled quickly through our West Point Class of 1986, with many of us learning that John had five children–and a grandchild. It was unthinkable that a senior Army officer who had served with distinction for 24 years was suddenly gone.

But our class launched into action. A small group of classmates began raising money for the McHugh family to insure that the children could all go to college. Several years went by, and this small group of caring classmates thought they could make a difference and help many more military families who serve and sacrifice. We saw this vast need in the post 9/11 landscape with thousands of combat deaths and injuries. As Army veterans ourselves, this was all the motivation we needed to do more.

In 2014, we launched Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, an IRS-designated 501.c.3 public charitable organization. Inspired by the tragic loss of Colonel John “Johnny Mac” McHugh–and knowing the value he placed on education–our organization honors military service and sacrifice by providing scholarships to veterans and military family members, especially to children of our nation’s fallen or wounded/disabled.

My West Point classmates recruited me to lead the project from idea to inception to thriving organization. Nine years later, it is still exciting to work on a mission that means so much to me as a veteran, former military spouse, and mother of 2 active duty military officers; to work with talented West Point classmates and leaders that I’ve known since we were cadets together many years ago; and to be inspired by the memory of Colonel John McHugh and all military men and women who have served and sacrificed.

MaryEllen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund is a national nonprofit organization that honors military service and sacrifice by providing scholarships to military children of our nation’s fallen or wounded/disabled. Our mission and the essence of our organization feels very organic to me since I graduated from West Point and served as a logistics officer in the U.S. Army, including a combat tour of the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991). When I left the Army in 1991, I continued serving as an Army spouse while my husband carried on his military career for another 20 years. Along the way, we raised 2 children who are now adults and are both military officers on active duty. You might say the military is our family business.

After my service in the Army, I gravitated towards jobs helping and serving others: teacher, government service, various nonprofit roles. I did lots of volunteering. We were still moving around a lot in support of my spouse’s Army career. In 2014, when I got involved with the idea and start-up of Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, I had the gut instinct from the very first conversation that this would be the role of my life! It was an opportunity to develop and work on a mission that feels so natural and right to me; to work with lifelong friends who are exceptionally talented and generous leaders; and to grow professionally by taking this CEO role.

Now, just 9 years after forming our nonprofit organization, we’ve awarded $30 million in scholarship and education programs funding to 2,000 military children. We’ve accomplished this through sheer grit, hard work, and staying true to our guiding values:
Trust–integrity and transparency in all that we do.
Results–we want to exceed expectations, always! We don’t just talk about it, we do it.
Excellence–we sweat the small stuff. Every detail matters.
Appreciation–we have a deep appreciation for military service and a passion to support those who serve.

There are some 40,000 veteran service organizations within the nonprofit landscape–very very few are making a remarkable impact. Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund is one of those few remarkable organizations and we are very proud of that.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

At Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, my cofounders and business partners are my West Point classmates. West Point–the United States Military Academy–is a 4-year military college. Students–called “cadets”–are tested daily through a rigorous academic program, physical fitness standards, and military training. Graduates earn a bachelors degree and a commission as an Army officer. All graduates must serve in the Army for at least 5 years. This 47-month crucible experience creates lasting trust and extraordinary bonds of friendship between classmates. There is a saying at West Point–“cooperate and graduate”–with which we were all very familiar. It is all about teamwork and succeeding together.

It was in this crucible, over 4 years, that I met most of my 1,000 classmates and lifelong brothers and sisters. Among those 1,000 are my cofounders and partners and many of our Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund board members. We have known each other since we were teenagers entering West Point and through all of life’s ups and downs in the ensuing years. It doesn’t matter if we don’t see or talk to each other for awhile; we still pick up where we left off.

For Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, these shared experiences, friendships, and bonds have driven our motivation and success as an organization.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

As I’m sure it was for many of your readers, 2020 was a scary year for Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund. After all, we generate most of our annual revenue from large-scale fundraising events. We had a gala that was about to happen in 2 weeks in March 2020 that we cancelled due to the pandemic. Despite the gala cancellation, 100% of our event sponsors and donors honored their pledges and commitments to our mission. Moreover, most of our vendors honored our event payments for a later date. Phew… we began to breathe a small sigh of relief.

But the pandemic continued month after month, and we canceled each of our major fundraising events one by one. Yet we knew our program partners and scholarship recipients were counting on our funding at year end–to the tune of about $4 million. And we also knew that we couldn’t possibly let them down.

We pivoted to new types of fundraising that we hadn’t tried in the past. We appealed to our existing donor base, found new donors, and continued making a compelling case for our mission. In turn, our supporters constantly and consistently reassured us by their trust in, and commitment to, Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund and our mission of giving back to military families through education.

The challenges of the pandemic made us stronger as an organization; forced us to be more creative, try new things, and take more risks.

In 2022, we safely returned to our large event format to communicate our mission and embrace our community of supporters. It is great to be amongst our caring community in person again, and we continue to hone the new strategies and tools we developed when we weren’t able to gather together.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.johnnymac.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnnymacsoldiersfund/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnnyMacSoldiersFund/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/johnny-mac-soldiers-fund
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_If6jcLyfpnVJ1zEIxGxw
• Other: My personal Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryellen-picciuto-48a6ab45/