American Corporate Partners
American Corporate Partners (ACP) is a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to helping recently-separated members of the armed services transition to the corporate environment. ACP provides current and past military members with mentoring and networking opportunities with employees of America's leading corporations. As of early 2009, ACP's corporate partners include Campbell Soup, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, General Electric, Home Depot, IBM, MacAndrews & Forbes, Morgan Stanley, News Corporation, PepsiCo, URS Corporation, Verizon, The University of Oklahoma, and The University of Texas System. Participation in the program is free and available in or near the following cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Norwalk, CT, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio, the San Francisco Bay area, Tulsa, and Washington, DC. .
Program Goals
1. Assist in the transition from the United States armed forces to private enterprise for those who have served their country.
2. Grow and strengthen the network of veterans and corporate leaders in the Private Sector.
3. Provide veterans with opportunities to leverage past military skills and experiences in their career development.
History
Winter & Spring 2008
American Corporate Partners was founded in 2008 by Sidney E. Goodfriend, a retired investment banker. Mr. Goodfriend credits his own success in the corporate world to strong mentoring relationships and holds a great appreciation for the US Armed Services. The goal of ACP is to provide assistance to recently returning veterans through one-on-one mentoring partnerships with employees from America's finest corporations. ACP is supported and assisted by a bipartisan Advisory Council including retired Richard Myers and Peter Pace, former Senators Robert Dole and George Mitchell, and former Cabinet-level officials Lawrence Summers and Paul Wolfowitz, the program officially launched the program on Labor Day (link) of 2008. The founding corporate partners include Campbell Soup, General Electric, Home Depot, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo and Verizon .
Fall 2008 & Winter 2009
The American Corporate Partners mentoring program received more than 1800 applications from US veterans across the country for 300 spots with a corporate mentor. Mentors and veteran protégés were matched one-on-one by city according to their career objectives, personal preferences, and ability to commit time to the program.
Spring & Summer 2009
ACP launched the second phase of their program with mentors from Energy Future Holdings Corporation, IBM Corporation, MacAndrews & Forbes, News Corporation, URS Corporation, The University of Oklahoma, and The University of Texas System.
In order to meet the needs of those veterans located outside of ACP's participating cities, ACP expanded its existing mentoring model by adding an e-mentoring component to the program.
The e-mentoring component of the program does not require the mentor and protégé to meet face to-face, instead, matched pairs use video-conferencing, email, and phone contact to conduct the mentoring partnership.
Key Aspects
Veteran protégés and mentors are matched one-on-one by city and according to their mentoring preferences. Only employees of ACP's Corporate Partners are eligible to be mentors. ACP encourages Mentors and Proteges to spend four hours together monthly engaging in the activities of their choice. The mentoring commitment is for one year, and both parties are encouraged to maintain the relationship for a considerably greater period of time.
ACP provides a unique career development opportunity to veterans, from former enlisted member and officers to current Reservists and National Guard Members, who have served in active duty after 2001. Spouses of those service members severely wounded or who died while serving are also welcome to apply.
Leadership
Board of Directors
Sidney Goodfriend, Chairman & Founder
Isobel Coleman
Peter M. Flanagan
Amy O. Goodfriend
Alain Lebec
Francis X. Taylor
Advisory Council
Diane Bodman
Robert Dole, United States Senator
Richard Danzig, Advisor to President Barack Obama
Christine A. Ferer
John Hamre, President & CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Jack Keane, retired four-star general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Bob Kerrey, former US Senator and current president of The New School
Mary Jo Myers
Richard Myers, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Lynne Pace
Peter Pace, 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Dennis Ross, American diplomat
Peter J. Schoomaker, 35th Army Chief of Staff
Henry Hugh Shelton, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
George P. Schultz, 60th United States Secretary of State and 62nd United States Secretary of the Treasury
Gordon R. Sullivan, Former Army Chief of Staff
Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council
Paul Wolfowitz, 25th U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense