Meet Sherry Whidby

We recently connected with Sherry Whidby and have shared our conversation below.

Sherry, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Personally, it took quite a while throughout my professional career to discover what shape my life’s purpose would take.

My professional career for more than 30 years, included roles with prestigious firms, including Deloitte, AIG, Williams Financial Group, and Bluecrest Financial Alliances, formerly MassMutual Dallas-Fort Worth. The expertise gained through each role, enabled me to expand my knowledge base in a myriad of ways. I learned all aspects of business, including operations, marketing, administration, human resources, accounting, and most importantly human relations and strong communication. Throughout my journey, I was surrounded by wonderful colleagues and strong leadership. The corporate world and these large organizations are so important to the state of our country, and I am blessed to have learned so much that would forge a strong foundation for what would ultimately pave the way for my true passion.

In 2017, I decided to make a career change. I was introduced to a nonprofit organization, called, “Sons of the Flag”. This 501c3 organization is dedicated to helping Burn Survivors. I was immediately drawn like a magnet to these burn survivors and their struggle to live a normal life. I began to volunteer in a small way, but it became very evident that the organization needed someone that would be able to provide operational guidance as they were slowly growing.

Today, I serve as President and CEO of Sons of the Flag. Our mission is to revolutionize burn care and quality of life for veterans, first responders, and children that have suffered a traumatic burn injury. I cannot express how fortunate I am to work with medical professionals, firefighters, with our small staff, and especially with these burn survivors that have so much resiliency and courage.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Personally:
I was so lucky to find my better half, even though it was later in life! My husband, Mark, is definitely my biggest cheerleader. He encourages me to follow my passion and is very supportive of my role with Sons of the Flag. Mark is a great role model as well, to his three children (my stepchildren). I was blessed with a son and two daughters that as I say, “fell into my lap” ten years ago.

Mark is a successful Chief Investment Officer for a firm in Dallas, which has enabled me to step into the nonprofit world. In addition to being able to help others, the role of wife and mother is such an honor.

Professionally:
Sons of the Flag is nonprofit organization and is truly turned into more than a profession, it is my personal passion.
 
As I am penning this article for “Bold Journey” magazine, it is very evident that it is others that are so bold in my life, and not me.

What I feel most excited about are the burn survivors whose lives we have been able to improve.

Although there is a long list of burn survivors that we have assisted, I will name two burn survivors in particular, that have truly made an impact on my life and have made my new career so fulfilling: Todd Hornbuckle and Zachary Sutterfield.

Todd Hornbuckle:
Todd Hornbuckle is a Navy and Air Force Veteran that flew a U-2 and other aircraft during the United States “Operation Enduring Freedom” years. Todd, from his stratospheric position in a plane designed to provide intelligence instead of dogfighting maneuverability, played a role in some of the military’s most important missions of the time.

After his military career, Todd became a commercial Delta Airlines pilot, and is married with two sons and a daughter.

In 2016, When his daughter was seven years old, the two of them were flying over the Texas hill country in a small plane, on their way to see one of the boys in a track meet. About a mile to their destination, Todd sent word via radio, that the engine had failed. In those few seconds he had, he flew close enough to the ground to push his daughter out of the plane to safety before it crashed and was engulfed in flames. Todd suffered third-degree burns on more than 50% of his body, but that did not stop him from carrying his daughter to the road, where they were met with first responders.

When Todd reached out to Sons of the Flag for help in 2019, he would not allow us to see him and participated only in phone conversations. He said, “I am a monster”, and he said that he did not have much outside interaction because of his appearance.

Sons of the Flag sent him through our “Mission: Reconstruct Freedom” program five times over a three-year period. We are pleased to say that in addition to addressing his needs for overall banding and skin issues, our surgeons were able to completely reconstruct Todd from head to toe. Todd referred to it is, “putting Humpty-Dumpty back together again”! In 2023, Todd was the Keynote Speaker at our Sons of the Flag Stars & Stripes Luncheon!

We are thrilled to announce that as of October 2023, Todd has been reinstated as a pilot with Delta Airlines and is back on the job! 

Zachary Sutterfield:
Zach Sutterfield has the most optimistic outlook on life that I have ever seen! This young man was burned in an apartment fire while in college at Texas State in San Marcos, Texas in 2018. Five of his friends perished in the fire, and to escape, Zach jumped from the 2nd-story window and suffered from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). For about eight months after the fire, Zach was in a coma and his survival was a miracle according to the doctors at BAMC in San Antonio, because of how badly he was burned.

We met Zach Sutterfield when his mother, DJ, called Sons of the Flag for assistance in 2019. Zach would be another burn survivor, that we put though our Mission: Reconstruct Freedom program. After he went three different times for some extensive procedures, our surgical team was not only able to reconstruct Zach’s ears, and work to enable his mouth to completely open, but we were able to construct a thumb on one of his hands. This opened up a whole new world for Zach: he was able to open doors, hold hands with another person, he got his driver’s license, and most importantly according to Zach, he was able to hold a beer!

We are thrilled to let you know that Zach was able to go back to college and earn his degree, and he is now our Sons of the Flag Burn Survivor Ambassador. Zach emcees and speaks at all of our Sons of the Flag fundraising events. He is phenomenal as a speaker, a friend, a lover of life, and a positive influence on everyone he meets!

These are just two examples of the burn survivors we have been able to help through Sons of the Flag. Although I work hard for what we are able to accomplish, I must admit that I feel somewhat selfish because of the warm feeling that comes over me, when helping these individuals. It seems as though a career should not be this rewarding!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The qualities that were the most impactful in my journey were self-motivation, patience, and passion.

I have always been self-motivated, and do not need to be micromanaged. I have been a firm believer in autonomy for any role within an organization. Typically, throughout my career, I have had many strong leaders who shared the same philosophy and trusted that the people surrounding them should be doing outstanding work. Success is best achieved through personal motivation and pride in oneself and one’s work.

Patience is something I needed to learn. I have always been a driver of myself and sometimes, of others. I had to take a step back more than once and realize that my timeframe was not always realistic and to maintain patience. I would encourage anyone just beginning their career, to be mindful of patience when it comes to others.

Whether I have worked at a firm in the past, or with the nonprofit I am currently running, I become very passionate about the mission of the firm, and how my role will help promote it. If you are not passionate about your job, it can be difficult to stay positive and to be fulfilled. The way I feel about it, is that people generally spend quite a bit of time at work, why not enjoy it!

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

The most challenging aspect of a nonprofit organization is keeping our burn survivor programs funded. Collectively, we are fortunate that there are wonderful individual donors and companies that are philanthropic-minded and know that nonprofits exist to fulfill a need that is simply not being met. Having said that, there are so many worthy organizations that it is only natural to fear that eventually our resources will be depleted.

Our programs are so important for burn survivors, but also for burn care research. Sons of the Flag is grateful to be able to fund a burn fellow each year with UT Southwestern / Parkland in Dallas, Texas. There are more then 500,000 people burned each year in the United States, and fewer than 200 accredited burn surgeons. The discrepancy is astounding. We hope that we can continue to fund the crucial research being performed, so that burn care is truly revolutionized for future patients.

Another of our important programs, that I have already discussed, is our “Mission: Reconstruct Freedom” program, which has helped so many individuals.

We have so many programs to mention, including a pediatric burn program, capital funding for much needed burn unit equipment, and direct burn survivor support.

Again, our challenge is keeping these programs funded for burn survivors and crucial burn research.