Meet Phil Kendro

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Phil Kendro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Phil below.

Phil, 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.

In two ways:

My parents divorced when I was five years old, and each summer my mom would send me down to my grandparents to “live in a normal life”, but I am sure also to have some time away without a kid. Spending my summers in Jacksonville, Florida with my grandma and grandpa (a Navy Veteran), they taught me about kindness, cooking, house maintenance, and lots of patriotism. It was grandfather who developed a sense of community and need to serve one’s country.

Second, as a 20 year Marine Corps Veteran I was very fortunate to work with so many people both military and non-military. As I started my transition into the civilian sector, I sought out both Veterans and Non-Veterans to network with, learn from, meet and greet to make some meaningful relationships, to learn about different career fields, and eventually to find employment. I had an amazing network, but I made some significant mistakes financially, and on my job search, and because of those failures I have sought out to educate others through various education/transition panels and by helping to find the Veterans Beer Club.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

As an airline pilot, we are afforded a lot of “down time” to do other things, some do realty, financial planning, etc. I have concentrated on my passions and expertise and that’s helping Veterans and organizing events that are both entertaining and educational.

As mentioned before, I helped co-found the Veterans Beer Club in 2016 with Kevin Cortes and Brian Grana, A lot of service members will say that the transition is the MOST difficult part of their career and even with an amazing network I faced some serious challenges, financially, physically, and mentally. We founded VBC to help make the transition much easier for others.

The VBC vision is a monthly rotation of gatherings with fellow veterans and current transitioning veterans at different brewery location across San Diego County in a relaxed environment, we also maintain a Facebook page to disseminate important information. The VBC purpose is three-fold: one, to assist transitioning service members through networking, discussions of important events, introductions to all industries in the region, and ensuring the service members are personally introduced to leaders in aforementioned groups. Two, to translate our military service to community service, ensuring that we continue our leadership into non-profit, volunteer, and civil service organizations. Three, to continue our sense of camaraderie, thus safeguarding the bonds established during our military service, and ensuring there’s a safety net of resources for veterans. The VBC also believes by supporting, vetting, and assisting noteworthy organizations that legitimately help veterans; this will also help the entire San Diego community.

I’m also the CEO and President of the Mt Soledad Memorial Association honoring over 6300 Veterans on our Memorial overlooking La Jolla, California. It’s one of the most beautiful and solemn sites that’s dedicated to telling the stories of those many Veterans. We host the largest Memorial Day event in San Diego County, and one of the largest Veterans Day events as well. We also celebrate our Women Veterans through an annual brunch each March, co-host the Injured Warrior Appreciation Ride with Warrior Foundation Freedom Station and OC Harley Owners Group each October, and each Saturday bring together families and friends for Veteran Honor Ceremonies for those who have gotten a plaque on our Memorial.

I’m also a member of the San Diego County Military and Advisory Council, San Diego Veterans Day Parade Committee, Sports San Diego Red Coats, Holiday Bowl Parade Committee, and La Jolla Concours D’Elegance Committee.

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?

Networking: I see myself as a connector. I’ve been fortunate through my many years in the Marine Corps and community service to really have touched every industry in San Diego County. From business and military leaders to elected officials, I have the ability to have conversations with those folks and then also connect them to others for positive impacts.

Listening and Engaging: I have led MANY groups and events and I always make sure to get each individual to be engaged with the entire team. As a last part of every meeting I conduct I always allow every single person to have some say in the discussion, and then I ensure they know they’ve been heard.

Energy: I don’t drink coffee, and people cannot believe me as I am always going 110mph (to a fault sometimes). When put to the challenge, I know I can guarantee results because I won’t stop completing tasks until they are done right.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’m always looking for people, organizations, businesses, etc. to help support our Veterans and non-profits, however there are so many out there, I don’t want people creating more. I’ve often been approached by someone saying “I’ve got a great idea, and I am going to make this new non-profit that does this…”, and I stop them. 1. We already have too many non-profits that are duplicating efforts. 2. If you want to help, search out a group that’s been already established. 3. It doesn’t help the non-profit world when we split time, effort, volunteers, and money.

I believe in collaboration over competition and I’ve been fortunate to build connections with so many groups, that we do look to work together… but I could always use more. I’m often surprised why more people don’t volunteer, it’s fun, you meet great people and make lifelong friends.

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