NEW YORK — Ed Pulido joined the Army at 18 and spent 19 years in uniform. He lost his left leg four years after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Baqubah, Iraq. And when he was discharged in 2005, with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, he decided to the devote the rest of his life to work with a foundation helping the families of veterans who have been wounded or killed. But he had one problem, he said: “How to initiate the contacts with corporate leaders, to be able to fundraise and to network.” That’s where Sidney E. Goodfriend came in. Goodfriend spent 25 years as a banker on Wall Street, mostly at Merrill Lynch. But, he said, he had made enough money, he was looking for a career change, and he wanted to make a contribution through public service. With his own money, and using his Wall Street connections, Goodfriend, 48, founded a group called American Corporate Partners, which pairs returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan with mentors from the corporate world. He has enlisted six companies — Campbell’s, PepsiCo, Home Depot, Verizon, General Electric and investment bank Morgan Stanley — that have each promised to offer returning vets 50 mentors, in eight cities. The mentors pledge to spend four hours each month for a year meeting with their assigned veteran, and the meetings could take most any form: lunch, a fishing trip, a golf outing. “These folks come back, and in their first year, they don’t know anybody, and they especially don’t know anybody in the corporate sector,” Goodfriend said. “There is no way for them to transition easily into corporate America.”
Goodfriend says later in the article that he’s been turned down by many more companies than the six who have signed up for mentors. Sadder still, Goodfriend got 800 applications for the 300 mentee spots currently avaliable. These applicants heard of the program just by word of mouth. Now that American Corporate Partners’ story has appeared in the Post, that number is sure to swell. In short, the demand for mentors is high, and as yet unmet. Congratulations to Campbell’s, PepsiCo, Home Depot, Verizon, General Electric and Morgan Stanley for giving something back to the men and women who are so deserving. Hopefully other successful American companies who are in a position to do so will follow their example. (Anyone in corporate America who has an interest in pursuing this and needs help contacting American Corporate Partners, feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I’ll try to help get the ball rolling.)
