December 10, 2024 • 29 mins
This week Roger welcomes Randy DeCleene, TFAS’s very own chief development and communications officer to the show. They discuss the transformative impact TFAS programs have on both current students and alumni of all ages, the achievement and growth of TFAS over the past year and the need for continued funding to support future students and programs. Plus, how Randy’s longstanding relationship with TFAS over the course of his career working in both the private sector and government, ultimately led him to a full-time role with TFAS.
Prior to joining TFAS in September 2023, Randy DeCleene was a partner at kglobal, a D.C. communications firm. He had previously served as deputy press secretary at the White House, special assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a senior advisor to the commanding general of the Third Infantry Division in northern Iraq. For his service at the Pentagon and in Iraq, Randy was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism and two Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Awards.
Randy’s dedication to the mission of TFAS spans two decades, including as a member of the journalism advisory board, an intern host at kglobal and as a mentor for students. Now his focus with TFAS is overseeing the communications efforts and leading the development team.
The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Liberty and Leadership Podcast,
a conversation with TFAS alumni,faculty and friends who are
making an impact.
Today.
I'm your host, roger Ream.
My guest today is a colleagueof mine at TFAS, with a very
interesting background and anextremely important role.
Randy DeClean is ChiefDevelopment and Communications
(00:25):
Officer at TFAS.
Prior to joining our team inSeptember of 2023, randy was a
partner in a communications firm.
He'd previously served asDeputy Press Secretary at the
White House, special Assistantto the Secretary of the Army at
the Pentagon and as a SeniorAdvisor to the Commanding
General of the 3rd InfantryDivision in Northern Iraq.
(00:49):
For his service at the Pentagonand in Iraq, randy was awarded
the Secretary of Defense Medalfor the Global War on Terrorism
and two Department of the ArmySuperior Civilian Service Awards
.
Randy has over 25 yearsexperience working in both the
private sector and government,with expertise in development,
(01:11):
communications, media relations,public affairs, public policy,
marketing, branding andstrategic planning.
Randy's dedication to themission of TFAS spans more than
two decades, including as amember of our journalism
advisory board, a host ofinterns at his communications
firm and a mentor to students.
(01:32):
Now his focus with TFAS isoverseeing our communications
with donors and leading ourdevelopment team.
Randy, welcome to the Libertyand Leadership podcast.
Very nice to be here, roger.
Before we talk about yourcurrent role with TFAS, I think
listeners would be interested tolearn more about your
(01:52):
experiences in Iraq andAfghanistan, as well as your
work in the office of the vicepresident in the White House.
So let's start there.
What path took you from yourupbringing in Indiana to the
office of the vice president inthe White House?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you know, there's an old saying they say
even a blind squirrel finds anut once in a while.
Yeah, I grew up in South Bend,indiana.
I was born in 1974.
So the bulk of my childhoodthat I remember was in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I was very interested in politics.
I think of my memories of thattime.
You know my dad was on the citycouncil in a town called
Mishawaka which is right next toSouth Bend.
We got the South Bend Tribunedelivered every day.
I was editor of my middleschool and later high school
newspaper.
Most every night we had dinneras a family at 5 or 5.30.
(02:39):
The news was always on, whetherat the time it was like Tom
Brokaw or Dan Rather or PeterJennings, just kind of that
world of news and politics.
Public service was just such ahuge part of my life growing up
and when I just think about theconstants that have been there
the whole time, I mean that'sreally kind of it.
I would say news, politics,sports, that really was the
(03:01):
formative building blocks of myentire childhood.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And you went to the University of Indiana, or
Indiana University, as it'scorrectly called, and law school
at Valparaiso, and then, aftersome work out in the Midwest,
you headed to DC.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I did.
I worked on, starting in theearly 90s.
A lot of political campaignsand really my goal was always to
do one rung higher.
So, like the first politicals alot of political campaigns and
really my goal was always to doone rung higher.
So, like, the first politicalcampaign I was paid for was a
mayor's race in Bloomington,indiana, when I was a student
there, and I took a break fromclass and then after that worked
for somebody running for acounty office.
(03:39):
After that worked for thecounty party and then after that
worked for the statewide race,somebody running for Indiana
Secretary of State, on and onand, as I say, always wanted to
do one higher.
And then I moved over toIllinois and did a Senate race
there and so for a good 10 or 12years, in addition to some side
jobs at restaurants and barsand things, but my primary focus
(04:01):
was working on Republicancampaigns and along the way
you're going to have goodmentors that help you and I had
a number of those and one ofthem was a guy named Kevin
Kellams.
Kevin saw me speak at a LincolnDay dinner in Indiana in the
mid-90s and then subsequentlyended up hiring me several times
after that, but Kevin was theone who hired me.
(04:21):
To come from Illinois toWashington, so he was extremely
influential in that sense.
Come from Illinois toWashington, so he was extremely
influential in that sense.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And a TFAS alum.
And a TFAS alum, yeah, you cameto Washington.
How'd you end up at the WhiteHouse?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, I was working on a US Senate race in 2003 in
Illinois.
There was six or sevenRepublicans running six or seven
Democrats.
One of the Democrats happenedto be a guy named Barack Obama,
who, of course, ended up winningthat Senate race.
But I was working on thatcampaign and I was also going to
law school part-time atValparaiso, which is in
(04:54):
Northwest Indiana, so it wasabout an hour commute.
And I read in USA Today thatKevin Kellams had been named
communications director andpress secretary for Vice
President Cheney and, as I said,I'd worked with Kevin on a
number of campaigns in Indiana.
One night after law school, itwas like nine o'clock and I was
driving from Valparaiso to myapartment in Chicago.
(05:15):
I called him with the intentionof just leaving a voicemail and
saying congratulations andinstead he answered the phone
and I'd called his office line,which surprised me that he
answered and we talked for anhour and that was kind of that.
And then, long story short, twodays later he called me back
and he said you know, I got tothinking after talking to you I
need a deputy press secretaryfor Vice President Cheney's
(05:37):
staff.
There's really two things thatI'm looking for.
One is very easy to find inWashington somebody that's smart
and you check that box eventhough you don't live in
Washington.
And two, I need somebody that'sgoing to be loyal and that's
harder to find in Washington,and I know you could be a good,
loyal deputy, so I'd like you tocome to Washington.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That story you just told emphasizes something we
stress with our students.
I know about the importance ofit's called often networking,
but it's just keepingrelationships going with people
you knew in the past and thefact that you made a phone call
to congratulate someone you'dworked for on this promotion.
He got this new job.
He got led to you getting a jobthat you weren't necessarily
(06:15):
looking even for at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
No, totally the number of jobs.
I would say when I speaksometimes as a TFAS, mentor or
whatever to young people, thatother than maybe my first job at
Kroger's, which is a grocerystore in the Midwest, I don't
think I've ever gotten a jobthat wasn't somehow linked to
somebody that I knew.
And it doesn't mean the job isgiven to you but it opens the
(06:37):
door so that you can make thecase and get over the finish
line.
I mean networking is.
It sounds so trite to say, butit's also so true.
There's almost nothing asimportant as that.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And then so you had experience then working in the
White House.
That must have been anincredible experience.
I think you've told me you flewto something like 34 different
states on Air Force Two with thevice president.
Anything to share about thatexperience?
I mean it's remarkable, it wasremarkable.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I was very fortunate to get the job on Vice President
Cheney's staff at the WhiteHouse and then 2004, of course,
was an election year.
Kerry and Edwards ran againstBush and Cheney.
My role was basically to be incharge of the logistics when it
came to the traveling press, andso we always had depends on the
(07:24):
trip but somewhere between likefive and ten different
reporters with us and during thecampaigns we travel four or
five, six days a week, do two orthree stops a day.
So just to do that as a 29, 30year old, after having worked in
politics for a long time, inthe middle of a campaign that
was very close, and to see thevice president and his family
and went to the debate it was inCleveland that year.
It really was just amazing and Ihave so many good memories of
(07:45):
that.
I mean, maybe the fondest onethat comes to mind is, you know,
if you like politics, octoberand early, and they wanted to do
a bus tour in southwesternMichigan, but none of the
(08:07):
airports there were big enoughto land Air Force Two.
This was late October of 2004.
To get to this bus trip, we hadto find an there on the tarmac
in South Bend to greet the planeand the vice president talked
(08:32):
to him and I was there and it'sa very fond memory.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Now, I guess, a little over 20 years later,
After you left the White House,you went over to the Pentagon.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I spent a few years at some PR firms.
I was at.
Ogilvy at Ketchum and then fromKetchum I unexpectedly went to
the Pentagon, kind of throughnetworking avenue that you were
talking about.
A friend of mine was in ameeting with the Secretary of
the Army, which is the highestranking civilian in the Army,
because it's a two-headedsituation with the Chief of
(09:00):
Staff, who's uniformed, and thenthe secretary, who's civilian.
A friend of mine was in ameeting with the secretary of
the army who was lamenting thestate of his communications
operation.
My friend said you need to talkto this guy.
I went in and it was only mysecond time ever in the Pentagon
and I interviewed with him andat one point, maybe a few
minutes into the interview, hisname was Pete Guerin.
(09:22):
He used to be a congressmanfrom Fort Worth, succeeded Jim
Wright actually in the House.
But I looked at him and I said,mr Guerin, I have to tell you I
don't know anything about theArmy, nothing.
I just want to put that on thetable.
And he got this real big smileand just said that's exactly
what I'm looking for.
So then a few weeks later Istarted at the Pentagon, which
(09:42):
is something I certainly neverthought that I would do.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And A few weeks later I started at the Pentagon,
which is something I certainlynever thought that I would do,
and then you ended up in Iraq.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I did, and that was probably the most interesting
and most meaningful thing thatI've done.
I spent two years working forthe Secretary of the Army of the
Pentagon and while I was thereI got to know this two-star
general Major General TonyKukulo is his name.
He was the Chief of Army PublicAffairs, so he was in charge of
all public affairs for the Armyand him and I became friendly
and his job after that was thecommanding general of the 3rd
(10:10):
Infantry Division, which is outof Fort Stewart, georgia, and
they were deployed to Iraq.
20,000 soldiers were in hisgroup.
That was called Task ForceMarne.
It was based in Tikrit, whichis Saddam's hometown, about 100
miles north of Baghdad.
Just the way the army structurewas set up.
General Kukulo was in charge ofthe seven provinces north of
Baghdad, so from Mosul all theway over to the Kurdish region,
(10:38):
and my job with him wasbasically to help with
communications for members ofCongress that came to visit
senators, reporters, all of that, and really to provide kind of
a civilian perspective on things.
People in the Army spend mostof their time talking to people
that are in the Army.
My perspective was from morepolitical.
I had went to law school, hadnever served in the Army or any
other branch of military, so itwas just a different perspective
(10:59):
that I think they foundvaluable, and it was, you know,
being a civilian in a war zone.
Getting to travel with thegeneral was a very special and
it was quite a learningexperience, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Did you have any close calls with action that was
taking place there?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I don't know if I would, I certainly wouldn't, use
the term close call, but ourgroup lost 27 people during the
year that we were there, whichcertainly kind of puts things in
perspective year that we werethere, which certainly kind of
puts things in perspective thebase we were on was regularly
rocketed by the enemy.
They would pull up to the gatesand trucks and shoot things in,
but you know their ability tohit things wasn't the most
scientific operation.
(11:36):
But I will just tell you onekind of short story.
When you're in a war zone likethat, you have a battle buddy,
which what that is is.
They always know where you areand you're just in constant
contact with them and yougenerally have three meals a day
with them and whatever.
My battle buddy was a guy whohad done two or three tours as
an MP in Vietnam, so he was anolder guy.
Tom Roberts was his name and Iwas there advising the general
(11:58):
on communications things.
Tom was there advising him onsecurity and training activities
Because, if you remember, partof the mission then was to train
the Iraqi police and the Iraqimilitary and Tom was kind of an
old hand at that from his timeduring Vietnam.
Tom was my battle buddy and wegot to Tikrit and the first
probably week we were rocketedmore than we were the whole year
(12:19):
.
So I would be in my trailersleeping and, like you, would
feel the ground shake and thetrailer would shake.
And you know, this was all verynew to me.
And one day at lunch I said toTom.
I said you know, tom?
I don't know if this is going towork Like this makes me nervous
.
And he just he didn't even missa beat, he just kept eating his
food and he goes Randy, whenit's your time, it's your time.
(12:41):
You just don't even think twiceabout it.
And I adopted that mentality.
And then soon after that, whenthe rockets would come, you know
it didn't bother me and thatwas really good advice from Tom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Wow, I have trouble trying to accept that as the
advice I want to follow.
But you had your service thenin government and the private
sector and you went back to theprivate sector at a company
called K-Global.
Tfas has actually been a clientthere and they launched this
podcast that we're doing andhave been doing now for several
years.
But what drew you back into theprivate sector?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I think probably the biggest thing was I was tired of
having elections decide thefuture of my life and where I
was going to live.
It's ironic how things like thatturn out.
I moved to DC in January of2004.
And if Kerry would have beatBush, I would have went back to
Chicago at the end of 2004.
And I just think how differentmy life would have been, where
Bush ended up beating Kerry andthen I stayed and have done all
(13:36):
these things that you're talkingabout.
But we certainly wouldn't besitting here having this
conversation if that electionhadn't turned out like that.
Doing that is kind of thepinnacle of doing campaigns.
So I just wanted to trysomething different, and you
know, in the private sector you,as I said, your job wasn't
decided by an election.
You got paid more.
Private sector ended up beingvery good.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Now, your connection to TFAS predated our work
together when you were atK-Global.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow you first got involved?
Who introduced you to TFAS, doyou remember?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yep, I mean, it was a name we already said.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
It's.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Kevin Kellams, who was a TFAS alum, I believe in
the late 80s, so he's a littleolder than me and he's the one
that brought me to Washington.
I could go back at my calendarand look, but I'm convinced it
was in my first week or two intown, kevin and I went out with
a guy named Steve Hayes who wasa TFAS alum.
And worked at TFAS and worked atTFAS I think he met his wife at
(14:29):
TFAS, but at the time he wasworking for the Weekly Standard
and the three of us went out andhad dinner and in my mind,
steve at the time was kind of acelebrity because he was working
at the Weekly Standard, theWashington Magazine that I read,
and sort of go out with him wasreally cool.
And somehow in the course ofthat, t-fest came up and I think
they took me to an event and,as I say, the rest is history,
(14:51):
especially when it came to theinterns.
You know, when I started it,when I came back from Iraq, I
started a PR firm in DC that hadfive or six employees and when
I left, 12 and a half yearslater, we had give or take
around 75.
I started in May 2011.
I quickly realized it was allsenior people, like there was no
mid-level or junior people, andI didn't really know how to
(15:13):
react.
And so I reached out to JoeStars, who I knew from the
journalism programs at TFAS.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Who oversees our journalism programs?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, and I said you know, I'd like some interns.
And then, starting in June of2011, we had three or four TFAS
interns and then, with like 99%certainty can say, every
semester summer, spring and fallfrom 2011 through summer 2023,
with the exception of one, wehad multiple TFAS interns, had a
lot of exposure to them andhired a lot of them, served as a
(15:43):
reference to a lot of them.
It was excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So now you've expanded your responsibilities
from a focus mostly oncommunications and public
affairs to include not onlyoverseeing that at TFAS
communications, but alsofundraising and our team of
people in the fundraising shop.
Why should people support TFASfundraising shop?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Why should people support TFAS?
We could do a whole podcast onthat, but probably the simplest
reason I'd say is just theimpact that it has across so
many groups of people, whetherit's high school students,
college students, postgraduatestudents.
You know, I was thinking theother day when we were talking
about doing this podcast.
If you just look at last yearwith the different TFAS programs
, there was over a thousandstudents involved from over 40
(16:26):
states, from over 16 countriesand from over 150 schools, and
when you think about that times,year after year after year, you
know the impact on young peopleis extraordinary.
And as the country goes throughdifferent things and different
phases and whatever, and there's, you know, new generations
coming to have students who areexposed to new ideas and taught
(16:49):
in things like economics andhonorable leadership and some of
these things that TFAS does, itjust becomes so much more
important.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
What has perhaps surprised you, or anything
you've seen since you've joinedour team.
That is very different than youanticipated.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I would say the biggest thing maybe is actually
how similar it is.
You know, when I look at mycareer, everything we've talked
about whether it was incampaigns or at the White House
or the Pentagon or at the PRfirms it was all about
communicating something tosomeone and maybe getting them
to buy a product or to feel acertain way about an issue, or
to like what the Army was doingat a given time, or to like this
(17:28):
candidate Coming to a nonprofitlike TFAS, which is my first
job with a nonprofit.
I to some degree didn't knowwhat to expect, but I've been
very surprised at how similar itis.
And it's still that commonthread of communicating
something to someone where,whether it's talking to alumni
or whether it's talking todonors or students, it's trying
(17:48):
to get them to.
You know, for students it'smaybe getting them to sign up
for TFAS.
For a donor, it's getting themto understand the value of what
their dollar does.
For an alumni, it's helpingthem continue to appreciate the
experience that they had, orwhatever the case.
But it all kind of still fitsin that mold of as succinctly
and clearly and plainly aspossible trying to get a message
(18:09):
across to a certain audience.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
What do you see as the priorities that you're
focused on for 2025?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Certainly one of the big thing is you always want to
raise more than you did the yearbefore and raise enough to meet
the budget.
Because we, as I said, whetherit's the US programs or the
international programs or thehigh school or the college or
the postgraduate, you know thereal value in what TFAS does is
their programming, and withoutbeing able to have the classes
and have the professors and havethe speakers and have the
(18:38):
reading groups and all of that,it's not really a program.
So certainly meeting ourfundraising goals is essential
so that the programmatic sidecan do what they do.
And I'd say, secondly, the bigthing I think is really just
kind of keeping up with howthings evolve and how people
consume information.
You know the way somebody raisedmoney 15 years ago or 10 years
(18:59):
ago or five years ago isn't thesame way you do it now, and so,
whether it's you know the newforms of social media that
people communicate on, but alsorecognizing the fact that you
know a lot of TFAS donors andthrough a lot of nonprofits are
older and some of the moretraditional ways appeal to them.
So it's really operating acrossthat spectrum of the different
(19:20):
ways that people receiveinformation and try to stay as
much ahead of the curve as youcan.
You know, like we saw that inthis last election where you had
Donald Trump, for example,doing a three-plus-hour
interview with Joe Rogan on hispodcast.
I mean, when I heard he wasgoing to do Joe Rogan, I thought
all right, that's good, andthen when I heard the interview
was three hours, like I couldn'teven believe it.
(19:41):
That's not a normal activityfor somebody running for
president, but clearly that thatis kind of one of the mediums
that people, especially youngpeople, no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
One thing that I think was very interesting that
we talked about when you joinedTFAS was this integration of
communications functions thethings we're doing to
communicate the stories and thesuccesses that we're having with
the fundraising function andmaking sure that donors who
support us are hearing about theresults of what their money is
(20:16):
enabling us to do.
We've had a lot to report inthat regard.
As you touched on, we've had arecord number of students in our
high school programs and recordnumber of teachers were
training to teach economicseffectively.
We had full enrollment in ourcollege programs, both in the US
and in Prague and South America, and now we're doing so much
more with young professionalsand law students and students
(20:37):
interested in careers injournalism.
You know you don't want to hideit under a bushel.
You know you want tocommunicate that effectively to
donors using all these mediums.
Is that a key challenge thatyou've been able to get your
hands around?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Definitely.
You know, I think whether it'sand it surprised me a little bit
more on the development sidethan the communication side.
But essentially, if you're inone of those or both of those
areas, you're a storyteller andyou need, as you say, tell these
stories, or people aren't goingto know that they happen.
And I've certainly observed,especially in interactions with
donors, that the most impactfulway you can tell the story of
(21:09):
the impact that TFAS has isthrough the students when they
meet the donors and you just see, like, the intellectual
curiosity and the desire tolearn and all of the positive
things from these young people,and they just tell the story
with their presence.
In a sense, if you're good, youknow you do that through
written pieces we put out orthrough videos or through just
(21:31):
having the students meet thedonors in person.
But having them see firsthandthe people impacted by what TFAS
does on a programmatic side oron a development side is the
best way to tell the story, Iwould say.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I know we all love it when supporters of ours are
able to attend a program.
You know, come to one of thehigh school programs all over
the country that we're doing inthe summer and sit in the back
of the classroom or come see asummer program in DC or meet
alumni is really very, veryimportant.
I often say you know, hardly aday goes by where I don't get an
(22:05):
email from someone on our staffsaying this TFAS alum just got
some new job or just wrote thisgreat story in the Wall Street
Journal or accomplishedsomething here or there.
Then, tied to that is so oftenthat testimonial from that
person saying I wouldn't bewhere I am today if it weren't
for the TFAS program I attended.
Or my thinking about the world,my analysis of world events has
(22:29):
been transformed by theeconomics courses I took at TFAS
or what I learned when I was inthe program, in my internship
or in the classroom or hearingfrom even from a guest lecturer.
So that's the challenge isgetting that story told of the
accomplishments of our graduates, the fact that they are
becoming leaders and our leaderswe just elected three to
Congress a month ago and thefact that that career path was
(22:53):
influenced by us, they might nothave been where they are today,
and our Rego Fellowship is aclear example of that.
With these fellowships we giveto put people at the Wall Street
Journal and three now areworking full-time at the Wall
Street Journal on the editorialpages.
We have someone at the BostonGlobe and others that we're
developing and putting on thosetracks to success.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Well, and that's kind of another element of it, I
think, is the real-world,real-time impact that people
that have done the program aredoing, which I think from a
donor perspective, they like tosee that because it's not all
theoretical opining about whatwould the world be like if we
didn't have Obamacare orwhatever, that's just very
theoretical.
These folks that you're talkingabout at the Journal and the
Boston Globe and the young ladyat the Boston Globe is on Fox
(23:36):
Business all the time andthey're weighing in on what's
happening now and having animpact on shaping the
conversation.
Or if you look at all of the 20or so student newspapers that
we have on different campuses Ithink, including all of the Ivy
League schools you saw some ofthe really horrible things with
the anti-Semitism and theprotests and things, and then
(23:56):
these are papers that wereproviding a point of view that
was very different from theadministration or from the
mainstream, if you will, collegepaper that was putting out
other things.
So to be able to have impact oncurrent events in the moment
with students that have takendifferent TFAS classes and
programs and lectures isincredibly important.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
That's a great point you're making, Randy, because
it's not just a donor who givesa gift to TFAS, isn't just
making a long-term investment onsome college student who maybe
30 years from now will make adifference.
We're helping students who aremaking a difference right now on
their campuses with the papersthat they're publishing, or in
their professions with thearticles they're writing, the
op-eds they're writing in theWall Street Journal, the Boston
(24:40):
Globe and elsewhere in the media.
It is having impact right now.
Well, anything else that you,any stories you want to share,
that kind of exemplify theimpact of our work.
You've had this full circlemoment.
You know that brought you toTFAS full-time after having been
a volunteer for many years, andjust wanted to see if you had
any closing thoughts before wehave to wrap this up.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
One of the biggest things that struck me is just
the impact that it has onpeople's lives.
You know I was thinking about Imentioned in 2011,.
We got our first batch at thePR firm of TFAS interns and we
had two or three that we'dagreed to take and then, for
whatever reason, one young womanher name was Claire Tonneson
hadn't been placed and Joe Stars, who we already referenced,
(25:23):
called me and said you know,would you take one more student?
I know you've already gotseveral, but would you take one
more?
And I said sure, we'll take her.
Claire was from Portland,oregon, and came through TFAS
because she wanted to takeclasses at Georgetown.
She was just the best internmaybe that I'd ever had and we
ended up hiring her.
She was my first hire at the PRfirm.
(25:44):
She worked there for three orfour years and she's still in DC
.
She works at a different PRfirm called Sunshine Sachs.
She's married to somebodythat's on CNN.
When I say this to say, I thinkabout how it's impacted her
life.
If that weird set ofcircumstances didn't happen with
her, you know who knows whereshe'd be.
But the initial spark for all ofthat was from TFAS.
(26:06):
You know, there's another youngguy named Blake Hesch who is
from my hometown and I'm verygood friends with his uncle.
He had a tough upbringing.
He was raised by hisgrandparents and the only way
that he could come to Washingtonwas through a full scholarship
from TFAS.
And he applied and he reallywanted to go and he said I just
don't have the money.
And I emailed somebody at TFASand I said you know, I don't
(26:27):
know how the scholarshipprograms work, but this would be
a great person to get ascholarship to.
He ended up getting it, spent asemester in DC, interned at
K-Global, totally transformedhis life and his interest in
politics and public affairs.
He later worked for the mayor ofIndianapolis.
He just did a Senate race inOhio.
Just a wonderful young man.
And I say this to say aboutBlake and Claire is, just when
(26:50):
you've been involved with anorganization like TFAS for so
long like I have in thedifferent ways, whether it be a
volunteer, a mentor, now anemployee but you see the real
impact on these people's lives,that they end up doing things
and realizing things and goingplaces that they would not have
done without the opportunity andthe exposure to different
things that TFAS provided them,to see that in people that I
(27:12):
know and then to be able tofollow their lives literally
decades later, I think reallyshows the quality of the
organization and, I guess, makesthe point that since 1967, it
wouldn't have been around solong if it wasn't having impact
like that.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah, well, that brings to mind one of my
favorite stories of a TFAS alum,a student who came to us from
Drew University in the Northeast.
He had taken one economicscourse in college there and he
said it was really boring, dry.
He didn't like it and heapplied to our program.
We gave him a scholarship.
He came to DC, we placed him onthe hill on the Senate
(27:46):
Judiciary Committee, attachedkind of to Senator Orrin Hatch
who was serving then from Utah,and he took our economics course
that we require all students totake, taught by then our
professor, george Vixenens,latvian-american, who of course,
growing up in Latvia, knew whothe enemy was.
But this young man, it lit aspark in him.
He came to love economics.
He decided to go to law schoolfrom his internship experience
(28:10):
and now he's serving on theArizona Supreme Court, just won
his retention election a monthago.
His name's Clint Bullock.
He had co-founded the Instituteof Justice, which has done
great work.
(28:44):
No-transcript, they finish.
Our program is continuing towork with our alumni and help
them advance in their careers.
Well, that's great, randy.
It's great to have you on theteam with us.
You've been there, you know,now over a year.
Of course you know we only havehigher to climb and more to
accomplish.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
More money to raise.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
More money to raise.
We've been pushing growth veryaggressively but prudently, and
it's needed.
Our country needs it and theyoung people we're developing
need it.
So I think this has been agreat discussion today.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I've really enjoyed it, roger, thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Thank.
This has been a greatdiscussion today.
I've really enjoyed it, roger,thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to theLiberty and Leadership podcast.
If you have a comment orquestion, please drop us an
email at podcast at tfasorg, andbe sure to subscribe to the
show on your favorite podcastapp and leave a five-star review
.
Liberty and Leadership isproduced at Podville Media.
(29:41):
I'm your host, roger Ream, anduntil next time, show courage in
things, large and small.
Welcome to the Liberty and Leadership Podcast,
a conversation with TFAS alumni,faculty and friends who are
making an impact.
Today.
I'm your host, roger Ream.
My guest today is a colleagueof mine at TFAS, with a very
interesting background and anextremely important role.
Randy DeClean is ChiefDevelopment and Communications
(00:25):
Officer at TFAS.
Prior to joining our team inSeptember of 2023, randy was a
partner in a communications firm.
He'd previously served asDeputy Press Secretary at the
White House, special Assistantto the Secretary of the Army at
the Pentagon and as a SeniorAdvisor to the Commanding
General of the 3rd InfantryDivision in Northern Iraq.
(00:49):
For his service at the Pentagonand in Iraq, randy was awarded
the Secretary of Defense Medalfor the Global War on Terrorism
and two Department of the ArmySuperior Civilian Service Awards
.
Randy has over 25 yearsexperience working in both the
private sector and government,with expertise in development,
(01:11):
communications, media relations,public affairs, public policy,
marketing, branding andstrategic planning.
Randy's dedication to themission of TFAS spans more than
two decades, including as amember of our journalism
advisory board, a host ofinterns at his communications
firm and a mentor to students.
(01:32):
Now his focus with TFAS isoverseeing our communications
with donors and leading ourdevelopment team.
Randy, welcome to the Libertyand Leadership podcast.
Very nice to be here, roger.
Before we talk about yourcurrent role with TFAS, I think
listeners would be interested tolearn more about your
(01:52):
experiences in Iraq andAfghanistan, as well as your
work in the office of the vicepresident in the White House.
So let's start there.
What path took you from yourupbringing in Indiana to the
office of the vice president inthe White House?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you know, there's an old saying they say
even a blind squirrel finds anut once in a while.
Yeah, I grew up in South Bend,indiana.
I was born in 1974.
So the bulk of my childhoodthat I remember was in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I was very interested in politics.
I think of my memories of thattime.
You know my dad was on the citycouncil in a town called
Mishawaka which is right next toSouth Bend.
We got the South Bend Tribunedelivered every day.
I was editor of my middleschool and later high school
newspaper.
Most every night we had dinneras a family at 5 or 5.30.
(02:39):
The news was always on, whetherat the time it was like Tom
Brokaw or Dan Rather or PeterJennings, just kind of that
world of news and politics.
Public service was just such ahuge part of my life growing up
and when I just think about theconstants that have been there
the whole time, I mean that'sreally kind of it.
I would say news, politics,sports, that really was the
(03:01):
formative building blocks of myentire childhood.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And you went to the University of Indiana, or
Indiana University, as it'scorrectly called, and law school
at Valparaiso, and then, aftersome work out in the Midwest,
you headed to DC.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I did.
I worked on, starting in theearly 90s.
A lot of political campaignsand really my goal was always to
do one rung higher.
So, like the first politicals alot of political campaigns and
really my goal was always to doone rung higher.
So, like, the first politicalcampaign I was paid for was a
mayor's race in Bloomington,indiana, when I was a student
there, and I took a break fromclass and then after that worked
for somebody running for acounty office.
(03:39):
After that worked for thecounty party and then after that
worked for the statewide race,somebody running for Indiana
Secretary of State, on and onand, as I say, always wanted to
do one higher.
And then I moved over toIllinois and did a Senate race
there and so for a good 10 or 12years, in addition to some side
jobs at restaurants and barsand things, but my primary focus
(04:01):
was working on Republicancampaigns and along the way
you're going to have goodmentors that help you and I had
a number of those and one ofthem was a guy named Kevin
Kellams.
Kevin saw me speak at a LincolnDay dinner in Indiana in the
mid-90s and then subsequentlyended up hiring me several times
after that, but Kevin was theone who hired me.
(04:21):
To come from Illinois toWashington, so he was extremely
influential in that sense.
Come from Illinois toWashington, so he was extremely
influential in that sense.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And a TFAS alum.
And a TFAS alum, yeah, you cameto Washington.
How'd you end up at the WhiteHouse?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, I was working on a US Senate race in 2003 in
Illinois.
There was six or sevenRepublicans running six or seven
Democrats.
One of the Democrats happenedto be a guy named Barack Obama,
who, of course, ended up winningthat Senate race.
But I was working on thatcampaign and I was also going to
law school part-time atValparaiso, which is in
(04:54):
Northwest Indiana, so it wasabout an hour commute.
And I read in USA Today thatKevin Kellams had been named
communications director andpress secretary for Vice
President Cheney and, as I said,I'd worked with Kevin on a
number of campaigns in Indiana.
One night after law school, itwas like nine o'clock and I was
driving from Valparaiso to myapartment in Chicago.
(05:15):
I called him with the intentionof just leaving a voicemail and
saying congratulations andinstead he answered the phone
and I'd called his office line,which surprised me that he
answered and we talked for anhour and that was kind of that.
And then, long story short, twodays later he called me back
and he said you know, I got tothinking after talking to you I
need a deputy press secretaryfor Vice President Cheney's
(05:37):
staff.
There's really two things thatI'm looking for.
One is very easy to find inWashington somebody that's smart
and you check that box eventhough you don't live in
Washington.
And two, I need somebody that'sgoing to be loyal and that's
harder to find in Washington,and I know you could be a good,
loyal deputy, so I'd like you tocome to Washington.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That story you just told emphasizes something we
stress with our students.
I know about the importance ofit's called often networking,
but it's just keepingrelationships going with people
you knew in the past and thefact that you made a phone call
to congratulate someone you'dworked for on this promotion.
He got this new job.
He got led to you getting a jobthat you weren't necessarily
(06:15):
looking even for at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
No, totally the number of jobs.
I would say when I speaksometimes as a TFAS, mentor or
whatever to young people, thatother than maybe my first job at
Kroger's, which is a grocerystore in the Midwest, I don't
think I've ever gotten a jobthat wasn't somehow linked to
somebody that I knew.
And it doesn't mean the job isgiven to you but it opens the
(06:37):
door so that you can make thecase and get over the finish
line.
I mean networking is.
It sounds so trite to say, butit's also so true.
There's almost nothing asimportant as that.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And then so you had experience then working in the
White House.
That must have been anincredible experience.
I think you've told me you flewto something like 34 different
states on Air Force Two with thevice president.
Anything to share about thatexperience?
I mean it's remarkable, it wasremarkable.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I was very fortunate to get the job on Vice President
Cheney's staff at the WhiteHouse and then 2004, of course,
was an election year.
Kerry and Edwards ran againstBush and Cheney.
My role was basically to be incharge of the logistics when it
came to the traveling press, andso we always had depends on the
(07:24):
trip but somewhere between likefive and ten different
reporters with us and during thecampaigns we travel four or
five, six days a week, do two orthree stops a day.
So just to do that as a 29, 30year old, after having worked in
politics for a long time, inthe middle of a campaign that
was very close, and to see thevice president and his family
and went to the debate it was inCleveland that year.
It really was just amazing and Ihave so many good memories of
(07:45):
that.
I mean, maybe the fondest onethat comes to mind is, you know,
if you like politics, octoberand early, and they wanted to do
a bus tour in southwesternMichigan, but none of the
(08:07):
airports there were big enoughto land Air Force Two.
This was late October of 2004.
To get to this bus trip, we hadto find an there on the tarmac
in South Bend to greet the planeand the vice president talked
(08:32):
to him and I was there and it'sa very fond memory.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Now, I guess, a little over 20 years later,
After you left the White House,you went over to the Pentagon.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I spent a few years at some PR firms.
I was at.
Ogilvy at Ketchum and then fromKetchum I unexpectedly went to
the Pentagon, kind of throughnetworking avenue that you were
talking about.
A friend of mine was in ameeting with the Secretary of
the Army, which is the highestranking civilian in the Army,
because it's a two-headedsituation with the Chief of
(09:00):
Staff, who's uniformed, and thenthe secretary, who's civilian.
A friend of mine was in ameeting with the secretary of
the army who was lamenting thestate of his communications
operation.
My friend said you need to talkto this guy.
I went in and it was only mysecond time ever in the Pentagon
and I interviewed with him andat one point, maybe a few
minutes into the interview, hisname was Pete Guerin.
(09:22):
He used to be a congressmanfrom Fort Worth, succeeded Jim
Wright actually in the House.
But I looked at him and I said,mr Guerin, I have to tell you I
don't know anything about theArmy, nothing.
I just want to put that on thetable.
And he got this real big smileand just said that's exactly
what I'm looking for.
So then a few weeks later Istarted at the Pentagon, which
(09:42):
is something I certainly neverthought that I would do.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And A few weeks later I started at the Pentagon,
which is something I certainlynever thought that I would do,
and then you ended up in Iraq.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I did, and that was probably the most interesting
and most meaningful thing thatI've done.
I spent two years working forthe Secretary of the Army of the
Pentagon and while I was thereI got to know this two-star
general Major General TonyKukulo is his name.
He was the Chief of Army PublicAffairs, so he was in charge of
all public affairs for the Armyand him and I became friendly
and his job after that was thecommanding general of the 3rd
(10:10):
Infantry Division, which is outof Fort Stewart, georgia, and
they were deployed to Iraq.
20,000 soldiers were in hisgroup.
That was called Task ForceMarne.
It was based in Tikrit, whichis Saddam's hometown, about 100
miles north of Baghdad.
Just the way the army structurewas set up.
General Kukulo was in charge ofthe seven provinces north of
Baghdad, so from Mosul all theway over to the Kurdish region,
(10:38):
and my job with him wasbasically to help with
communications for members ofCongress that came to visit
senators, reporters, all of that, and really to provide kind of
a civilian perspective on things.
People in the Army spend mostof their time talking to people
that are in the Army.
My perspective was from morepolitical.
I had went to law school, hadnever served in the Army or any
other branch of military, so itwas just a different perspective
(10:59):
that I think they foundvaluable, and it was, you know,
being a civilian in a war zone.
Getting to travel with thegeneral was a very special and
it was quite a learningexperience, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Did you have any close calls with action that was
taking place there?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I don't know if I would, I certainly wouldn't, use
the term close call, but ourgroup lost 27 people during the
year that we were there, whichcertainly kind of puts things in
perspective year that we werethere, which certainly kind of
puts things in perspective thebase we were on was regularly
rocketed by the enemy.
They would pull up to the gatesand trucks and shoot things in,
but you know their ability tohit things wasn't the most
scientific operation.
(11:36):
But I will just tell you onekind of short story.
When you're in a war zone likethat, you have a battle buddy,
which what that is is.
They always know where you areand you're just in constant
contact with them and yougenerally have three meals a day
with them and whatever.
My battle buddy was a guy whohad done two or three tours as
an MP in Vietnam, so he was anolder guy.
Tom Roberts was his name and Iwas there advising the general
(11:58):
on communications things.
Tom was there advising him onsecurity and training activities
Because, if you remember, partof the mission then was to train
the Iraqi police and the Iraqimilitary and Tom was kind of an
old hand at that from his timeduring Vietnam.
Tom was my battle buddy and wegot to Tikrit and the first
probably week we were rocketedmore than we were the whole year
(12:19):
.
So I would be in my trailersleeping and, like you, would
feel the ground shake and thetrailer would shake.
And you know, this was all verynew to me.
And one day at lunch I said toTom.
I said you know, tom?
I don't know if this is going towork Like this makes me nervous
.
And he just he didn't even missa beat, he just kept eating his
food and he goes Randy, whenit's your time, it's your time.
(12:41):
You just don't even think twiceabout it.
And I adopted that mentality.
And then soon after that, whenthe rockets would come, you know
it didn't bother me and thatwas really good advice from Tom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Wow, I have trouble trying to accept that as the
advice I want to follow.
But you had your service thenin government and the private
sector and you went back to theprivate sector at a company
called K-Global.
Tfas has actually been a clientthere and they launched this
podcast that we're doing andhave been doing now for several
years.
But what drew you back into theprivate sector?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I think probably the biggest thing was I was tired of
having elections decide thefuture of my life and where I
was going to live.
It's ironic how things like thatturn out.
I moved to DC in January of2004.
And if Kerry would have beatBush, I would have went back to
Chicago at the end of 2004.
And I just think how differentmy life would have been, where
Bush ended up beating Kerry andthen I stayed and have done all
(13:36):
these things that you're talkingabout.
But we certainly wouldn't besitting here having this
conversation if that electionhadn't turned out like that.
Doing that is kind of thepinnacle of doing campaigns.
So I just wanted to trysomething different, and you
know, in the private sector you,as I said, your job wasn't
decided by an election.
You got paid more.
Private sector ended up beingvery good.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Now, your connection to TFAS predated our work
together when you were atK-Global.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow you first got involved?
Who introduced you to TFAS, doyou remember?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yep, I mean, it was a name we already said.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
It's.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Kevin Kellams, who was a TFAS alum, I believe in
the late 80s, so he's a littleolder than me and he's the one
that brought me to Washington.
I could go back at my calendarand look, but I'm convinced it
was in my first week or two intown, kevin and I went out with
a guy named Steve Hayes who wasa TFAS alum.
And worked at TFAS and worked atTFAS I think he met his wife at
(14:29):
TFAS, but at the time he wasworking for the Weekly Standard
and the three of us went out andhad dinner and in my mind,
steve at the time was kind of acelebrity because he was working
at the Weekly Standard, theWashington Magazine that I read,
and sort of go out with him wasreally cool.
And somehow in the course ofthat, t-fest came up and I think
they took me to an event and,as I say, the rest is history,
(14:51):
especially when it came to theinterns.
You know, when I started it,when I came back from Iraq, I
started a PR firm in DC that hadfive or six employees and when
I left, 12 and a half yearslater, we had give or take
around 75.
I started in May 2011.
I quickly realized it was allsenior people, like there was no
mid-level or junior people, andI didn't really know how to
(15:13):
react.
And so I reached out to JoeStars, who I knew from the
journalism programs at TFAS.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Who oversees our journalism programs?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, and I said you know, I'd like some interns.
And then, starting in June of2011, we had three or four TFAS
interns and then, with like 99%certainty can say, every
semester summer, spring and fallfrom 2011 through summer 2023,
with the exception of one, wehad multiple TFAS interns, had a
lot of exposure to them andhired a lot of them, served as a
(15:43):
reference to a lot of them.
It was excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So now you've expanded your responsibilities
from a focus mostly oncommunications and public
affairs to include not onlyoverseeing that at TFAS
communications, but alsofundraising and our team of
people in the fundraising shop.
Why should people support TFASfundraising shop?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Why should people support TFAS?
We could do a whole podcast onthat, but probably the simplest
reason I'd say is just theimpact that it has across so
many groups of people, whetherit's high school students,
college students, postgraduatestudents.
You know, I was thinking theother day when we were talking
about doing this podcast.
If you just look at last yearwith the different TFAS programs
, there was over a thousandstudents involved from over 40
(16:26):
states, from over 16 countriesand from over 150 schools, and
when you think about that times,year after year after year, you
know the impact on young peopleis extraordinary.
And as the country goes throughdifferent things and different
phases and whatever, and there's, you know, new generations
coming to have students who areexposed to new ideas and taught
(16:49):
in things like economics andhonorable leadership and some of
these things that TFAS does, itjust becomes so much more
important.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
What has perhaps surprised you, or anything
you've seen since you've joinedour team.
That is very different than youanticipated.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I would say the biggest thing maybe is actually
how similar it is.
You know, when I look at mycareer, everything we've talked
about whether it was incampaigns or at the White House
or the Pentagon or at the PRfirms it was all about
communicating something tosomeone and maybe getting them
to buy a product or to feel acertain way about an issue, or
to like what the Army was doingat a given time, or to like this
(17:28):
candidate Coming to a nonprofitlike TFAS, which is my first
job with a nonprofit.
I to some degree didn't knowwhat to expect, but I've been
very surprised at how similar itis.
And it's still that commonthread of communicating
something to someone where,whether it's talking to alumni
or whether it's talking todonors or students, it's trying
(17:48):
to get them to.
You know, for students it'smaybe getting them to sign up
for TFAS.
For a donor, it's getting themto understand the value of what
their dollar does.
For an alumni, it's helpingthem continue to appreciate the
experience that they had, orwhatever the case.
But it all kind of still fitsin that mold of as succinctly
and clearly and plainly aspossible trying to get a message
(18:09):
across to a certain audience.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
What do you see as the priorities that you're
focused on for 2025?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Certainly one of the big thing is you always want to
raise more than you did the yearbefore and raise enough to meet
the budget.
Because we, as I said, whetherit's the US programs or the
international programs or thehigh school or the college or
the postgraduate, you know thereal value in what TFAS does is
their programming, and withoutbeing able to have the classes
and have the professors and havethe speakers and have the
(18:38):
reading groups and all of that,it's not really a program.
So certainly meeting ourfundraising goals is essential
so that the programmatic sidecan do what they do.
And I'd say, secondly, the bigthing I think is really just
kind of keeping up with howthings evolve and how people
consume information.
You know the way somebody raisedmoney 15 years ago or 10 years
(18:59):
ago or five years ago isn't thesame way you do it now, and so,
whether it's you know the newforms of social media that
people communicate on, but alsorecognizing the fact that you
know a lot of TFAS donors andthrough a lot of nonprofits are
older and some of the moretraditional ways appeal to them.
So it's really operating acrossthat spectrum of the different
(19:20):
ways that people receiveinformation and try to stay as
much ahead of the curve as youcan.
You know, like we saw that inthis last election where you had
Donald Trump, for example,doing a three-plus-hour
interview with Joe Rogan on hispodcast.
I mean, when I heard he wasgoing to do Joe Rogan, I thought
all right, that's good, andthen when I heard the interview
was three hours, like I couldn'teven believe it.
(19:41):
That's not a normal activityfor somebody running for
president, but clearly that thatis kind of one of the mediums
that people, especially youngpeople, no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
One thing that I think was very interesting that
we talked about when you joinedTFAS was this integration of
communications functions thethings we're doing to
communicate the stories and thesuccesses that we're having with
the fundraising function andmaking sure that donors who
support us are hearing about theresults of what their money is
(20:16):
enabling us to do.
We've had a lot to report inthat regard.
As you touched on, we've had arecord number of students in our
high school programs and recordnumber of teachers were
training to teach economicseffectively.
We had full enrollment in ourcollege programs, both in the US
and in Prague and South America, and now we're doing so much
more with young professionalsand law students and students
(20:37):
interested in careers injournalism.
You know you don't want to hideit under a bushel.
You know you want tocommunicate that effectively to
donors using all these mediums.
Is that a key challenge thatyou've been able to get your
hands around?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Definitely.
You know, I think whether it'sand it surprised me a little bit
more on the development sidethan the communication side.
But essentially, if you're inone of those or both of those
areas, you're a storyteller andyou need, as you say, tell these
stories, or people aren't goingto know that they happen.
And I've certainly observed,especially in interactions with
donors, that the most impactfulway you can tell the story of
(21:09):
the impact that TFAS has isthrough the students when they
meet the donors and you just see, like, the intellectual
curiosity and the desire tolearn and all of the positive
things from these young people,and they just tell the story
with their presence.
In a sense, if you're good, youknow you do that through
written pieces we put out orthrough videos or through just
(21:31):
having the students meet thedonors in person.
But having them see firsthandthe people impacted by what TFAS
does on a programmatic side oron a development side is the
best way to tell the story, Iwould say.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I know we all love it when supporters of ours are
able to attend a program.
You know, come to one of thehigh school programs all over
the country that we're doing inthe summer and sit in the back
of the classroom or come see asummer program in DC or meet
alumni is really very, veryimportant.
I often say you know, hardly aday goes by where I don't get an
(22:05):
email from someone on our staffsaying this TFAS alum just got
some new job or just wrote thisgreat story in the Wall Street
Journal or accomplishedsomething here or there.
Then, tied to that is so oftenthat testimonial from that
person saying I wouldn't bewhere I am today if it weren't
for the TFAS program I attended.
Or my thinking about the world,my analysis of world events has
(22:29):
been transformed by theeconomics courses I took at TFAS
or what I learned when I was inthe program, in my internship
or in the classroom or hearingfrom even from a guest lecturer.
So that's the challenge isgetting that story told of the
accomplishments of our graduates, the fact that they are
becoming leaders and our leaderswe just elected three to
Congress a month ago and thefact that that career path was
(22:53):
influenced by us, they might nothave been where they are today,
and our Rego Fellowship is aclear example of that.
With these fellowships we giveto put people at the Wall Street
Journal and three now areworking full-time at the Wall
Street Journal on the editorialpages.
We have someone at the BostonGlobe and others that we're
developing and putting on thosetracks to success.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Well, and that's kind of another element of it, I
think, is the real-world,real-time impact that people
that have done the program aredoing, which I think from a
donor perspective, they like tosee that because it's not all
theoretical opining about whatwould the world be like if we
didn't have Obamacare orwhatever, that's just very
theoretical.
These folks that you're talkingabout at the Journal and the
Boston Globe and the young ladyat the Boston Globe is on Fox
(23:36):
Business all the time andthey're weighing in on what's
happening now and having animpact on shaping the
conversation.
Or if you look at all of the 20or so student newspapers that
we have on different campuses Ithink, including all of the Ivy
League schools you saw some ofthe really horrible things with
the anti-Semitism and theprotests and things, and then
(23:56):
these are papers that wereproviding a point of view that
was very different from theadministration or from the
mainstream, if you will, collegepaper that was putting out
other things.
So to be able to have impact oncurrent events in the moment
with students that have takendifferent TFAS classes and
programs and lectures isincredibly important.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
That's a great point you're making, Randy, because
it's not just a donor who givesa gift to TFAS, isn't just
making a long-term investment onsome college student who maybe
30 years from now will make adifference.
We're helping students who aremaking a difference right now on
their campuses with the papersthat they're publishing, or in
their professions with thearticles they're writing, the
op-eds they're writing in theWall Street Journal, the Boston
(24:40):
Globe and elsewhere in the media.
It is having impact right now.
Well, anything else that you,any stories you want to share,
that kind of exemplify theimpact of our work.
You've had this full circlemoment.
You know that brought you toTFAS full-time after having been
a volunteer for many years, andjust wanted to see if you had
any closing thoughts before wehave to wrap this up.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
One of the biggest things that struck me is just
the impact that it has onpeople's lives.
You know I was thinking about Imentioned in 2011,.
We got our first batch at thePR firm of TFAS interns and we
had two or three that we'dagreed to take and then, for
whatever reason, one young womanher name was Claire Tonneson
hadn't been placed and Joe Stars, who we already referenced,
(25:23):
called me and said you know,would you take one more student?
I know you've already gotseveral, but would you take one
more?
And I said sure, we'll take her.
Claire was from Portland,oregon, and came through TFAS
because she wanted to takeclasses at Georgetown.
She was just the best internmaybe that I'd ever had and we
ended up hiring her.
She was my first hire at the PRfirm.
(25:44):
She worked there for three orfour years and she's still in DC
.
She works at a different PRfirm called Sunshine Sachs.
She's married to somebodythat's on CNN.
When I say this to say, I thinkabout how it's impacted her
life.
If that weird set ofcircumstances didn't happen with
her, you know who knows whereshe'd be.
But the initial spark for all ofthat was from TFAS.
(26:06):
You know, there's another youngguy named Blake Hesch who is
from my hometown and I'm verygood friends with his uncle.
He had a tough upbringing.
He was raised by hisgrandparents and the only way
that he could come to Washingtonwas through a full scholarship
from TFAS.
And he applied and he reallywanted to go and he said I just
don't have the money.
And I emailed somebody at TFASand I said you know, I don't
(26:27):
know how the scholarshipprograms work, but this would be
a great person to get ascholarship to.
He ended up getting it, spent asemester in DC, interned at
K-Global, totally transformedhis life and his interest in
politics and public affairs.
He later worked for the mayor ofIndianapolis.
He just did a Senate race inOhio.
Just a wonderful young man.
And I say this to say aboutBlake and Claire is, just when
(26:50):
you've been involved with anorganization like TFAS for so
long like I have in thedifferent ways, whether it be a
volunteer, a mentor, now anemployee but you see the real
impact on these people's lives,that they end up doing things
and realizing things and goingplaces that they would not have
done without the opportunity andthe exposure to different
things that TFAS provided them,to see that in people that I
(27:12):
know and then to be able tofollow their lives literally
decades later, I think reallyshows the quality of the
organization and, I guess, makesthe point that since 1967, it
wouldn't have been around solong if it wasn't having impact
like that.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah, well, that brings to mind one of my
favorite stories of a TFAS alum,a student who came to us from
Drew University in the Northeast.
He had taken one economicscourse in college there and he
said it was really boring, dry.
He didn't like it and heapplied to our program.
We gave him a scholarship.
He came to DC, we placed him onthe hill on the Senate
(27:46):
Judiciary Committee, attachedkind of to Senator Orrin Hatch
who was serving then from Utah,and he took our economics course
that we require all students totake, taught by then our
professor, george Vixenens,latvian-american, who of course,
growing up in Latvia, knew whothe enemy was.
But this young man, it lit aspark in him.
He came to love economics.
He decided to go to law schoolfrom his internship experience
(28:10):
and now he's serving on theArizona Supreme Court, just won
his retention election a monthago.
His name's Clint Bullock.
He had co-founded the Instituteof Justice, which has done
great work.
(28:44):
No-transcript, they finish.
Our program is continuing towork with our alumni and help
them advance in their careers.
Well, that's great, randy.
It's great to have you on theteam with us.
You've been there, you know,now over a year.
Of course you know we only havehigher to climb and more to
accomplish.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
More money to raise.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
More money to raise.
We've been pushing growth veryaggressively but prudently, and
it's needed.
Our country needs it and theyoung people we're developing
need it.
So I think this has been agreat discussion today.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I've really enjoyed it, roger, thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Thank.
This has been a greatdiscussion today.
I've really enjoyed it, roger,thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to theLiberty and Leadership podcast.
If you have a comment orquestion, please drop us an
email at podcast at tfasorg, andbe sure to subscribe to the
show on your favorite podcastapp and leave a five-star review
.
Liberty and Leadership isproduced at Podville Media.
(29:41):
I'm your host, roger Ream, anduntil next time, show courage in
things, large and small.
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