“I prided myself in developing mutually beneficial relationships with all troops or civilians, whether they be my seniors, my peers, or my subordinates. You have to really appreciate people and have a servant mentality because your best leaders are those who regard servitude highest.”

– John Cash, Founder & Professor HBCU Esports and Gaming, Air Force Veteran

After making Captain in the United States Air Force, John Cash was selected for training as a combat controller. Although he finished the training, he sustained an injury that caused him to be medically discharged. Although he was devastated not to be able to continue on that path, supporting service-disabled veterans has become a core part of his personal mission.

That mission, and his drive to succeed, has led to him crossing paths with a number of groups, including Vets2Industry. He now has his MBA and puts it to good use every day as an entrepreneur, college professor, and a mentor to his students.

In this episode of Veteran Voices, produced in partnership with Vets2Industry, Scott Luton interviews John Cash about:

· Why veterans have a higher turnover rate in jobs than the general population, especially when they have just transitioned out of service

· His work to build an e-sports and gaming curriculum club to not only attract more students to Johnston C. Smith University but also to diversify the industry

· The many relationships he has been able to build through his work in business, through his role as a professor, and through his military service

Intro (00:02):

Welcome to veteran voices, a podcast dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States, armed forces on this series jointly presented by supply chain. Now in bits to industry, we sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insights, perspective, and stories from serving. We taught with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of veteran voices.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Scott Luton here with you on veteran voices. Welcome to today’s show. Uh, so today we’re gonna be talking with a fellow United States air force veteran that is doing some really big things in the business community. So stay tuned for what promises to be a really informative and intriguing conversation. Hey, quit programming before we get started here today. So this program is part of our supply chain. Now family programming, you can find better voices though, wherever you get your podcasts from. We sh we conduct this show in partnership with our friends at vets to industry. I’ll tell ya, you got to learn more about this powerful nonprofit, doing big things for the veteran community@vetstoindustry.com. Okay. No further do I want to introduce our special guests here today? I had an opportunity to connect with our guests has been probably two or three weeks ago.

Scott Luton (01:38):

I’ll tell you I was blown away. I had about 18 pages of notes. Our guests is involved in a lot of really important initiatives, both from an entrepreneurial standpoint, from an innovative standpoint, from a service standpoint. So get this, our guests graduated from Howard university with a degree in computer-based information systems, and then went on to earn a variety of advanced degrees from a couple of schools, including an MBA from the red McCombs school of business at the university of Texas. He’s a founder and global professor at Johnson, C Smith university in Charlotte, where he developed and launched the first e-sport and gaming curriculum club and lab the trifecta as he calls it at a historically black college or university HBCU. So groundbreaking work there, our guests has entrepreneurship and service running through his blood. You’ll pick up on that, which we’ll learn more about throughout today’s conversation. He’s a valued board member and volunteer leader, serving many organizations initiatives and on boards and whatnot. Please join me in welcoming John L Cash. John, how are you doing,

John Cash (02:39):

Doing well today, Scott, thanks for having me again and thanks to the audience out there. And it’s really funny. I’ll just share this real quick. I just got an unstable internet thing on my screen. So as we all continue to work from home, if I lose everyone is not because of not having fun. It’s because technology is in the way, but anyway, I’ll, I’ll get B because of that. I’ll let Scott continue great to be here.

Scott Luton (03:05):

Great to have you. And Hey, Murphy’s law is still alive and well, I know technology is doing some incredible things and, and more innovative things by the hour, but still we’re all fighting for our bandwidth these days. Aren’t we in, in, in all transparency, right? For, I kicked off this, uh, platform zoom here. I kicked off all three of my kids off of the internet to protect our bandwidth here in home studios. But nevertheless, so John, again, I enjoyed our conversation a while ago. We’ve got several great friends in common. I really admire so much of the work you’re doing. So it’s a pleasure to have you here. And so we can dive a little bit deeper, but before we get to the heavy lifting stuff, right, let’s get a sense of, of, of more about John Cash. Where are you from? Tell us about your upbringing and then we’ll get to when you joined the military. So tell us, give us a little, the goods on your upbringing.

John Cash (03:53):

Sure. Um, again, John Cash, I’m a native of Washington DC grew up in Anacostia for those who may be familiar again. I know I have a lot of military veterans on the call, so that might be familiar with the DC area. Be it the Pentagon Andrews joined air force base or some of the other, uh, establishments there, including Fort Belvoir. So although I grew up in Anacostia and Southeast a rough area, uh, they might be gentrified now who knows? I haven’t been there in two years. I could see all the monuments and the white house and everything as a kid, but it was a totally different world for me when I was growing up. And, uh, for one period there for approximately three years, unfortunately, Washington DC was the murder capital of the country, driven by the crack trade, uh, crack again, being powder cocaine. And that’s a whole different story.

John Cash (04:42):

But through those, uh, difficulties, I knew that there was more and more opportunity, played sports to keep out of trouble and also supporting my community through parking planning and boys and girls club initiatives, uh, lo and behold, where I went to school right there, undergrad and at how at university I was recruited for football and tracked. And although I visited probably seven institutions where I had scholarships, I decided to stay at Howard. It was actually my first visit and I was just drawn there. And I felt like I was at home one little great little factoid. I became my high school’s first junior air force ROTC commander because I was skipping a class in 11th grade and, uh, walking the halls. And lo and behold, I went into the auditorium and there was this Bostonian hu Cornel retired Colonel, who was a Korean war, veteran, pilot, Anglo, and then an African-American crusty chief master Sergeant air force. And I was just intrigued by the both of them. And to this day, my one wish one wish of mine is if I had the opportunity to tell them both how much they meant, those two men were the reason why I was able to secure a scholarship. After I finished playing sports at our university, uh, air force, ROTC scholarship detachment, one 30 at Howard, and there thus was commissioned a second Lieutenant. Wow. Went on and got into my career.

Scott Luton (06:12):

Hey, before we go, Hey John, before we move forward, what are those two gentleman’s names?

John Cash (06:17):

Uh, Colonel McNulty and chief Johnson. And Lord knows. I can’t remember their first names, but Colonel McNulty was from Boston. He might’ve gone to Boston college. I can’t remember. And chief Johnson, I love that. And Colonel McNolty, I think flew F four Phantoms during the Korean war, I believe, but two and daring men in my life.

Scott Luton (06:40):

Well, no wonder they probably didn’t let you be on a, on a first name basis. Right? I,

John Cash (06:46):

They beat me up pretty good. Before I came back, you know, that was between my 11th and 12th grade year. And so I had to attend a junior ROTC and Catlin at Andrews air force base, which was right in the city and the DMV from me. So not that hard, but I was there for four weeks during the summer between my 11th and 12th grade year. And that again, changed my trajectory in my intent to become an air force officer. Because again, I always have had a quality of service and no higher service than to serve your country. And you can complain and and moan all you want with you. You can be part of the problem, or you can try to be part of a solution. My goal is always to be, try to be part of a solution. And I still appreciate my days in the military. So that’s a little bit about my upbringing and how I got into and graduated from Howard university received. My commission,

Scott Luton (07:42):

Love it. You’re certainly an individual of action. Like what you’re just talking about, being a part of the solution. We’d be here all day. If I read off all the, all of your volunteer leadership work and the board just serve and, and some things you founded and served in advisory roles. And I love that. Uh, and it also what I’ve picked up on in our earlier conversation and just kind of getting a sense of who you are there you’re involved. It’s not in one pigeonhole or another, you’re you dabble across kind of across industry. And that is such a wonderful, you learn so much and so much can be applied from this sector to this sector, from this organization to this organization. So, uh, no wonder you’re tapped, uh, for a variety of, of, of leadership roles. So let’s move into your military career. So tell us a little more about what you did in the air force as an officer. And then we’ll talk about some of the people you worked with.

John Cash (08:36):

Sure. At the time when I was going in technology was really blasting off Scott. So at how our university, although I really liked business, I was a business major. I focus on computer-based information systems, be quite Frank. That’s where the air force wanted me to focus. Not that I love technology that much for coding per se. I did like systems analysis and design, but straight coding all the time. Really wasn’t my cup of tea, but I still went through, it was very excited about my assignment. And when I was able to select an assignment, I had either tinker air force base in Oklahoma as an opportunity off at air force base and Nebraska or Scott air force base and right outside St. Louis. And I selected Scott, because again, I’m a big city kid and I’m like, well, I’m going to go to what I think is a major city.

John Cash (09:26):

I love my experience at Scott and, you know, lo and behold, I didn’t know it at the time, but as some of the airports members out there and maybe some other, uh, of my fellow military service people know Scott has been home to headquarters Mac, which was military airlift command, also air force communications and control or communications command, and also trans comm at the time trans con command I had, I was basically a computer’s communications officer, responsible for opportunities of loading up programming and assets that were used around the world to ship, to track cargo and opportunities for Mac and AFCC, and then became commander, uh, leading initiatives on the navigation system for the C 17 in a joint project with the manufacturer after I was just promoted to captain. Can I interrupt just for a second? Sure. Go ahead. You know, we love supply chain here at

Scott Luton (10:20):

Supply chain now, and you know, the military has been said, thousands of times created supply chain logistics and what you just shared there. It’s really interesting because all the rage now, of course, in the private sector in global supply chain is visibility. And what you were just illustrating is, you know, years ago that the military was already, they were already big and the visibility of their logistics and the freight, because it’s tough to fight. It’s tough to project force. If you don’t know where your, your materials are. Right. So visibility. So once again, you’re, you’re kind of illustrating a lot of the advanced thought around logistics and supply chain that the military has. And, and to some degree continues to have, I mean, we all have our challenges, but still, I love that little, uh, shout out tracking freight.

John Cash (11:04):

You’re exactly right, Scott, because think about a military oath command, what’s my client. So everything that we were loaded on a [inaudible] C5 and then leveraging the air force, computer command, uh, communications command, which included computers to program manifests and track that information that was already the job. And then, and then the actual computer programming and logistics included. So you’re absolutely right. When you think about that, how those skills are definitely transferable from the military to corporate very industry. I completely

Scott Luton (11:41):

Agree with you. I was not, I was an enlisted airman in the air force, and I love how you just rattled off several of our, some of our favorite aircraft. We had KC one 30 fives at McConnell in Wichita and numerous exercises. I was loading. I was, I was loading the freight into not the belly, but, but the, uh, the, you know, the main cargo of the KC, one 30 fives and strapping it down. And that I got a new found appreciation for all of the hard work and folks that, that make freight move today, regardless of what sector you’re talking about. So I love this, uh, it in clearly I love, it’s almost like you’re a student of air force history, so I I’m really, I’m gonna have to get some popcorn in a minute, but

John Cash (12:23):

Yeah. And, and Scott, what you’re mentioning, I mean, everybody knows what happened in the Suez SCA now last month. And so I was like, wow. And, and for the folks in supply chain, you guys know it intimately, what, what would they, we were losing as a goal on a global level about a billion dollars a day. And so that was slowing down all the supply chains. We don’t have to talk about it. We know what the microchip, not the chips. Yeah. The chips that I’ve used, basically in everything they’re talking about, that’s why cars are so expensive because you only have enough chips for that. Right. We’ve depleted our, our supply of computer chips. And that’s why computers are so short. So, you know, I have a great appreciation of that, and I’m sure everybody working here on this call also. So again, I did computers communications, and then I wanted to be challenged even more.

John Cash (13:15):

Um, from first Lieutenant to captain, I had the opportunity and I was selected for combat control training and, um, as a combat controller. So I apply, I was selected. I went through initial training, but due to a service disabled ended injury, although I completed initial training at the time, it was called NoHo Pope air force base there’s subsequently has been merged into Fort Bragg because we did initial training at both Pope and brag, but I had services, Sable injuries. I’m a 100% services able bet right now. So my passion point has always been what, uh, services able veterans and youth. And you’ll see that a little bit more later, but unfortunately I was, uh, was medically discharged and could not continue. And that kind of broke my heart. And at the same time, I was always looking for what’s next. And so I was thinking about getting my MBA or getting a law degree while I was in the military.

John Cash (14:11):

And then I just decided to get out, I would stay in the reserves because I at least qualified to still do that and be a desk jockey, but went on and got out and then got my MBA. I applied for both law school and my MBA, and I’m really, wasn’t passionate about law. It was one of those sexy sounding things, but I went on and got my MBA. I was selected at the university of Texas. That was one of the schools I applied to. And I really fell in love with university of Texas, because quite frankly, regardless of whether you want to say about that state, that state loves veterans, it appreciates us military and that transcended to the university for those who might think as a super liberal school, you know, I, I’m not going to get into politics here. All I know is I had a great time at Texas.

John Cash (14:55):

I got my degree and I always wanted to get into marketing and brand marketing was interesting to me. That’s what I majored in because brand marketing was the closest thing of running your own business with somebody else’s money. And so I interned with Proctor and gamble because they invented brand marketing. So I had a summer internship with them. And then I took a first job with general mills and brand marketing did brand marketing for several years, also data for Coca Cola. I like to push myself and work for the best. So Proctor and gamble is a fortune 50 company. Coca-Cola is a fortune 50 company and always want to try to improve myself and do my best. And then I did a pivot into sport entertainment. I love sport entertainment. I love marketing. I appreciated it being an athlete growing up on sports. Like a lot of folks, I just was engaged in it.

John Cash (15:49):

And that’s when I really found out if, you know, if you can sell, you’ll always have a career. So to the folks out there, whether, whether it’s selling your services and your skills and supply chain, if you’re a subject matter expert, that’s great. You can leverage that, but be great at something. And so I would say a lot of people can go why and not go really deep. I would suggest that you work on going deep, you know, focusing and going deep. And that way nobody can take that away from you. And I did work in sport entertainment in banking, and you know, I’ll pause right there for you, Scott. Yeah. You had some senior roles in those areas.

Scott Luton (16:28):

You sharing so much. I want to, I want to dive into and, and ask you some followup questions. So I’m going to work my way back and then we’ll come back forward. So, so going back to, I’m gonna have to remember no hope Pope, but going back to your time in uniform before you transitioned out, and you’re, you’re kind of sharing that journey, but share a couple of folks, regardless of station that were really special while you were serving folks that either, either they worked for you or you worked beside them, or you reported to them who were some folks that made your journey in, uh, serving our country

John Cash (17:00):

Really special. Uh, I would have to say it had been a selection of people. So let me start off with my first commander at Scott air force base. Her name was ma it was Colonel Elaine Leonard, a woman who was at the time, a commander at, you know, commander of my unit and a Colonel. So I have a lot of respect for her because we talk a lot now about DEI and women’s rights and people of color and senior positions. And what have you back when I was serving, you know, that was not common and for her to be a Colonel and achieve those ranks. And to be very, not that she, I didn’t think she was sufficient or anything, nothing like that. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always had a high regard and I have no problem with the equality. I have a mother who was the first to go college, moved up from a GS two to a GM 12 within the federal government, retired and took care of three big old guys in the household, myself, my brother who’s six, five, and my father who’s six, five, and a former football player wrote pro football player.

John Cash (18:05):

I was a run of the family. So I’ve always held high regards for women and what they do, no problem here, but I would, I really have my at her and how she led and everything else. And then also Lieutenant Colonel McNulty, because he really brought a can-do business aspect to the job. So those two individuals were very important, as well as our civilian staff, especially a gentleman named, uh, Blankenship. I think he was like a GS 14 crusty old guy, but he knew the intricacies of the business because he worked at Scott and worked for Mac and AFCC for so long. So those are some of the individuals that, you know, I always looked at people that could help lead, but I had great admiration also, but one of our staff Sergeant this cat did programming and implementation on a global basis. And he would go, you know, we would have trips together, but he was always out whether it’s the [inaudible] run main Philippines, WAM doing implementation of systems and upgrades of systems.

John Cash (19:14):

That’s just the global travel. Some of the growth of travel. I’m going to have you going to start with the local, with the comas travel. We give me, I’m going back to comb this now, but anyway, cone is traveling. So those are some of the people that I admired in, uh, you know, who really took what they were doing and knowing that they will make an, a difference in people’s lives every day. And the, the appreciation of the supply chain people. Again, we were tracking movement of supplies, equipment, and we’re talking about doing contingencies, whether it’s Panama, other, other opportunities in south America, I’ll just place it like that as well as desert shield and desert storm. So,

Scott Luton (19:51):

So much there, so many more stories, so much to talk about too little time as always, let’s talk about a while you were in uniform, a key Eureka moment. You you’ve shared clearly a lot of great people referenced, lots of key takeaways and lessons learned. What’s a key Eureka moment you had during your time.

John Cash (20:08):

The biggest one is, and you know, it’s always a realization you go through every day, but one critical piece, as we all know, it’s about relationships because although I was an officer and I could actually, you know, provide orders and give people orders, I’m more, much more preferred building a relationship out of respect, not out of intimidation because of my rank. And so I prided myself in developing mutually beneficial relationships with our troops or civilians be there, my seniors, my peers, or my subordinates. So that’s something, of course you kind of know throughout, but when you get into a professional setting, it’s even more so. And again, when I was in the service, there were no, you know, all of these courses and everything about, uh, you know, relationship building and everything, but it’s one of those things of getting to really appreciate people and have a, and ha, and you’ve heard this before, have a servant mentality because your best leaders are those who regard it to highest. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (21:14):

Well said, love that. Okay. So, uh, as we talked, I’m a, I’m a fast forward. Now back to your transition out of the air force that you referenced earlier, if you had to give, if any, our listeners and our global community, regardless of what country of the armed forces they’re serving, you know, if a lot of folks are, are either in transition or they’re preparing for transition, and gosh, I know I made plenty. I made so many stupid mistakes, you know, almost 20 years ago when I, when I transitioned, I just wasn’t prepared. And I own that. You know, I made many assumptions that were not, uh, accurate. So if you had to speak to folks and, and offer two or three points of advice beyond what we’ve already, what you’ve already shared, what would

John Cash (21:56):

That be in regards to transition Scott? Yes, sir. Transitioning out the first, all first is make sure you’ve done your due diligence of if this is the right move for you, don’t be reactionary. If you had a bad review, if you don’t like your assignment, you know, those are temporary things that can be changed. You get your annual review every year. You can get reassigned to another post, really do your soul, searching on why you want to make a transition. That’s number one and most important. And again, if you’re married or with children, make sure you’re looking at that as a collective experience the next day is if you still want to make the transition, what is your action plan? What is the vision goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics that you are going to incorporate to make sure you meet your goals, whatever that is.

John Cash (22:47):

When I was coming out again, we didn’t have internet and Google and all this stuff. And all these resources, you all have over 600 pieces of resources. Now that I know of, why do I know? Because I serve as chairperson or bets, the industry check us out, www bets, the number two industry.com. We are a resource provider. We don’t find you jobs. Look at us as a repository of support. And you know, so I had, it was one junior military officer initiative program I went to and I actually secure it. Three opportunities out of that initiative. Wow. But you know, so the next next thing is, is to leverage your resources. And again, relationships leverage the relationships, start building them. Now don’t wait till you’re two months. If you’re a year out, two years out the earlier, the better to give you more time to do your due diligence.

John Cash (23:44):

And again, out for support, nobody is successful by themselves. There is no I in team. So don’t feel like, you know, I got to do this, myself, having this much attitude, everything is done by relationships, ladies and gentlemen. So that’s the second piece, do your research and relationships, and then be discerning because what I have seen and what can happen is you want to take that first thing that you see, don’t do that. One of the things we teach with bets to industry the non-for-profit our support is that when you look at the retention rate of veterans, that immediately get out and get a position that retention rate with that existing company a is much lower than a civilian. And that’s because I feel that veterans are too fast to jump at the first thing that they’d get. And then they find out, oh, I got something, but I really don’t care for it, but at least they’re out and they can make a transition to something else. I’m just saying, take your due diligence. So those are the three things that I would share Scott. Yeah. Outstanding

Scott Luton (24:51):

Advice. I really appreciate you taking time to, to, to share that perspective with folks that are struggling because many veterans, I mean, I struggled with my transition for sure. And I wish I had folks giving me sound advice like that. And I can’t tell you enough, you know, this is not a vet to industry commercial, but John and I both are big believers in what they do. It information is absolutely power. And I wish I had more when I was transitioning, you know, vets to industry, as, as John said, as a clearing house and, and the more, you know, the more options you’ll have the better informed, you’ll be the more discerning as John mentioned, you can be. So do that. And, and the other big thing he shared start, you can’t start early enough. I mean, just a simple stuff like LinkedIn, I think LinkedIn is free for a year. I believe for veterans start making

John Cash (25:36):

You get the premium service on LinkedIn for a year as a veteran. Wow.

Scott Luton (25:40):

And that is a huge resource because as John mentioned that the relationships will drive opportunities. So start building that network. Okay. This is great stuff, John now. All right. So you, I think you, you kind of brought us to, when it comes to your civilian side, you just touched on banking before I took it back to the military. So if you want to, um, I’d love for you to maybe finish your, your professional journey. And then we’ll talk about some of the great things you’re doing now.

John Cash (26:06):

Sure. So again, I’m still in my profession and I’ll get to that, but I had a great opportunity with bank of America to lead. Uh, I was a senior vice president position leading a multicultural marketing, uh, found out later though that the company really wasn’t dedicated to it. And there was a transition. And, um, this isn’t a plug for bank of America, but I will admit during that one, when my position in the whole group dissolved bank of America went out of their way to find me other opportunities. So I’m always will be appreciative of that. And, you know, change is the only constant in life. So remember that whether it’s the military corporate, whatever, but, um, loved what I did because I actually managed some of bank of America sporting in a bit activations. So I was looking at doing more of that, but I had an opportunity.

John Cash (26:53):

I was recruited to an marketing advertising agency and I worked there for six years. And I love that because I got to work across industries with various clients, again, being of service, understanding what success looks like for those clients. So my clients included Wells Fargo, ARP, actually IRC, which at the time own well we’re half of the NASCAR racetracks. So I cut my teeth and NASCAR I’ve been to Talladega Charlotte speed race. So that was an experience. And, um, so that, that was a great experience. And then I got recruited to Lear field IMG sports entertainment while I’m there. I launched the first HBCU was historically black colleges and universities properties, the MVAC conference, which is a conference that how our university is it. So I manage those collegiate sponsorships. So what I did there was developed sales and marketing programs with sponsors. So corporate sponsorships included Coca-Cola for example, actually we had several services.

John Cash (27:56):

The us Marine Corps was my client. The us army was my client. And so those will all be activated at, at sporting events within the media pack. And Lear field IMG continues to be the largest multimedia rights company. So all you college football fans, whether you are Ohio or university of Michigan, there is a general manager managing those properties or conferences for you. And so I did similar roles also with bandwagon of sport entertainment for another HBCU conference. And then I had the opportunity all this time. I’ve been teaching over the past five years. I’ve been teaching at Johnson, C Smith. That’s one of the ways I look back at giving back of service. Once I moved from Atlanta, where I spent 14 years to Charlotte, where I’ve been for six years, some people ask, Hey, would you mind teaching? We saw your background. And so, yeah, I taught in the business school, marketing management, um, sport entertainment in their sport entertainment program. And then I did the research into e-sports gaming about two years ago,

Scott Luton (29:01):

John, I want, I want you strike me as you know, we all have yesterday. And, and, and in terms of not when folks are listening to this, but when we record yesterday was national teacher’s day and it made me do a mental exercise of all the folks had a big impact on my journey, my kid’s journey. So a lot of favorite teachers that you strike me as a wonderful teacher, and I bet you get lots of feedback from your students, especially because it seems like it comes from a spa that passion, right? So what what’s been during your time teaching, what’s a, what’s a moment that really made you stop and say, man, this is exactly why I’m doing this. Um,

John Cash (29:34):

The aha moment of teaching for me is when my students really click, because the experience industry experience that I have, and I can relate it to them. So, I mean, I can talk about running the bank of America, Atlanta football, classic, you know, I could, that could be in a textbook, but I actually did it. So I had to do the marketing, the advertising, the media, and ran on ESPN, all of that. So I teach by experience. That’s why I like doing it versus, and not, not to take away from teachers or professors who are tenured and do that, but I’m the type of learner that always learned from people who would’ve done it. Right. That’s the way I like to learn. And that’s what I think I like to give. But Scott, to your point, I guess the biggest success has just come within the last year of teaching what the e-sports gaming program that was launched in February, January 20, 20, and less than a year and a half for this summer.

John Cash (30:33):

I secured 12 internships with industry leading companies for 12 of my students. That’s awesome with epic. I mean, yeah. Five with epic games, which is located in Cary, North Carolina, the other developers are fortnight riot games out of Saturday, Santa Monica, cornea, they’re developers of battle, rent of league of legends. And then another two with Twitch. Now, one of the Twitch, those are other students at other schools, one we’re trying to secure at Howard university, my Alma mater, and one at North Carolina, a and T, and these are high paying computer science internships with Twitch, which is owned by Uber, Amazon. So, you know, notes have been really great opportunities. Now these are all remote assignments because of COVID and everything. So instead of being in sunny Santa Monica, or in Cary, North Carolina, you know, the students will be at home or wherever they reside, but at least they get quality education in the industry. So that’s been, that’s been my greatest satisfaction so far, but a little bit of background on the way that I love to learn and the way I love to teach, I really teach out of a textbook. I just look at the content and apply my experience to what’s going on.

Scott Luton (31:51):

Love it. All right. And, and, you know, there is a tremendous value, you know, intern the internship that the word intern has has, um, it doesn’t do value enough to, to folks that serve in those roles and fill those internship programs and the impact they can have. In fact, here at supply chain. Now our interns, technically we were named as the associates because we didn’t like the dinner, the, uh, what it implies, they, and they’ve been incredibly valuable. So I love that. Cause folks, you know, there’s 12 folks are going to have light, probably life changing experiences through those internships. And we would just, we had a Brian Fallon with a high ranking executive with IBM on with us, not too long ago. And, uh, his whole time at IBM started with an that’s the power of these things. So if you’re a business leader, listening to this, take a minute and listen and invest in internships. Um, okay. So John, where are we going next? You were about to jump to morning. E-sports where you’re, you’re essentially a trailblazer. Uh, so tell us more about, uh, e-sport tell us more about this first, the east first e-sport and gaming curriculum club and lab at Johnson, C Smith university. What, what, what does that mean? Sure. Let

John Cash (33:05):

Me give a set up for you, Scott. Again, I bow down, this is the funny thing, but I bowed down to three, uh, entities, my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, market researchers, and entrepreneurs. That’s a little bit about me, but again, at the end of the day, I’m a businessman guy got us. I’m here to do one thing. Drive incremental revenue, do it in a profitable manner while increasing brand image, equity and consideration. And if I have to, at the expense of the competition, that’s all business is about. That’s what I do. So when I was looking at the e-sports piece that, I mean, it came up a couple of years ago, just looking at trends and opportunities within sport entertainment now. Yeah, I played Madden NBA two K. I was one of those kids in quarters and two arcade games playing Tetris and Pac-Man, but you know, I did not know.

John Cash (33:54):

So then I found out what the business opportunity, the e-sports e-sports is just electronic e-sports stands for electronic sports or competitive sports is when you’re in a team environment of five or six people per team playing one another and areas primarily some of the more popular games you might hear or your children hear Activision call of duty, riot games, league of legends, Madden, and NBA two K primarily do have an, a component where you can play competitively, but use this one-on-one. So you guys listen to this, the e-sports the gaming industry and gaming is everything else. The gaming industry is $160 billion industry. That’s larger than music on a global basis. That’s larger than the music and the movie industry combined the movie and music industry is approximately $70 billion. So it is double that. Okay, so now do I got your attention? You got to talk to them about global international business.

John Cash (34:58):

Now within the us, I found out that there are over 250 predominantly white institutions PWI, for sure that has some type of e-sports program curriculum club, team, or lab as of January, 2020. And when I launched, there was zero for HBCU. Again, all we wanted and the country for everybody is equality and the opportunity to grow, right? And so I saw this as an opportunity. And so I put together a proposal talk to my division. Yet my department hit, uh, presented to the department head and to the president and develop a curriculum. My president is, was relatively, but he was relative. He was astute because he was into finance and he’s also a lawyer. So he understood the opportunity because what I brought to him is the situation to bring more student attract more students to the, to the school, by providing e-sports gaming curriculum club teams.

John Cash (35:55):

What have you, as well as drive incremental revenue, which is what he wants to hear. And we put together the program. I work with my department head and within a year we were able to develop curriculum, a certification program. We, uh, started a club team, which now has approximately 25 students and less than a year. And again, to give you a understanding Johnson C Smith has approximately 1500 students on the smaller end of HBC use the, the HBCU that has the most students right now is North Carolina, a and T out of Greensboro, North Carolina. They have about 11,000 students. So again, HBCUs are considerably smaller than a lot of your power. Five schools, Michigan, Texas, where I went to grad school, those schools have 40, 50,000 students. So we built the program and everything else. We started growing. These, these t-shirts are from 0.3 0.3 as a brand new e-sports gaming apparel company out of Atlanta, Georgia.

John Cash (36:52):

Um, that might be interesting. I’m gonna give you guys some more interesting here. These glasses come from C E V. It is, uh, it was founded by Jaylen Smith and a partner at, um, who’s a, a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. Again, he’s built this glass company and these glasses basically cut down on the filtration. Of course, when your screen. So like, uh, a blue tent technology, so to reduce eyestrain. And if you are a gamer, who’s sitting in front of a screen three, four hours a day practicing, that makes a difference. So we were able to do that and develop relationships within the industry. And I started selling, right. I don’t have any money, but I know how to sell. So I did a deal with ride sports games. They gave me 25 of these, these chairs for my, uh, for my lap. Okay.

John Cash (37:43):

Nate con sports. They gave me 40 a B’s for my lab. Just that’s just relationships. What did we talk about before they saw the mutual beneficial in it? Right. It’s not always about money, but what can you give me in kind? And then of course, we talked about scholarships. We talked about internships and that’s how we grown. And then I developed a relationship with community spelt with the next CX M U N I T Y. And we again, created a 5 0 1 C3 in February of 2020. At the same time I was launching, I met Brian and Chris about the same time they found me on LinkedIn again, LinkedIn, right. They saw what I was doing in the space. It was like, okay, this cat’s a businessman. He’s done corporate. And he’s a military, I guess that some of that might have attracted them. And then we’ve been, you know, just doing our thing together. Communities go is to close the digital divide, leveraging stem and steam technology, uh, for K through 12 underserved, K through 12 and HBCU students and leveraging their passion for e-sports and gaming. We can use that as the hook to get them interested in education and not just stem steam. Yes. We need more engineers, software engineers, game developers, all of that. But you still need supply chain people, marketers research, sales admin within the industry with both endemic and non-endemic companies. So I will pause there, but that’s how we got started. Love

Scott Luton (39:11):

That. So community with an X and that’s C it looks like CX mm and

John Cash (39:17):

U N I T Y. And the website is.co not com is that seal

Scott Luton (39:24):

Include that in the show notes, folks got checked it out. We got to tackle this digital divide. I mean, the pandemic really has exacerbated the need and the distance of this divide. Right. Um, and there’s tons of research about it, especially when we moved into sheltering at home and, and folks that didn’t have the wherewithal, the internet, the equipment to make

John Cash (39:45):

Sure that hotspots, they didn’t have the internet or the facilities just real quick. Scott, one of the great first successes we had with community when we w we put together a telephone last year, the first weekend in may, we raised over a hundred thousand dollars, basically doing think about it as a virtual celebrity telephone, Michael stray Han, who who’s an HBCU graduate from Texas Southern Goodman in America halls was on there. We had a plethora of other people on there, Natalie, just a bunch of, we had a, we had a bunch of people of different ilk. We raised over a hundred thousand dollars and a lot of those dollars went to K through 12 and HBC use to help students do distance learning. This was the beginning of the pandemic. Remember last may. And I was able to secure 25 laptops for my Johnson, C Smith university, student athletes, who were lacking, who were at home and couldn’t do distance learning. So that’s what we were able to do when we’re like, Hey, we’re onto something. Then that led to other things, Twitch saw what we did that led to a two year partnership with Twitch. Then we started doing more Microsoft. So what we did, we have a three year spot strategic partnership with Microsoft. And I mentioned those two because you don’t get any bigger than Microsoft and Amazon Twitch, the, which Amazon bought Twitch for $950 million a few years ago. Well, that, that just led to more things for us.

Scott Luton (41:18):

I love it. Next time. You’ll do a telethon, please let us know we’re in [inaudible] we, that is such a, the digital divide. There’s a lot of great needs out there. Uh, but the here in the information age, the priority, the priority of how we’ve got to tackle has really risen up the chart. So, Hey, let us know. We’re in, I’ll answer phones. I’ll take the trash out, whatever to, to raise more money to tackle that. So, um, count us in. All right. So let’s make sure, so folks will, uh, for community we’ll include that, uh, that wonderful nonprofit in the show notes, of course, vets to industry, uh, uh, we’ll include that.com in the show notes. Um, you know, if you had to share, you’ve got so much going on, which I love it’s, it is, uh, it’s exciting. Anything else that you want to touch on before we start to wrap here?

John Cash (42:06):

Well, definitely for certain, because, uh, I am a, uh, uh, an entrepreneur also, and, uh, I’m not going to say struggling. I’m a blessed entrepreneur and I continue to grow. So right now, yes, I’m juggling my, my day job in corporate, but the Namur group, LLC, that’s the name of my company in a R M E R group. My website is www a Nama group.com. I specialize in strategic marketing, focusing the sport entertainment industry, as well as small business and government contracting. I just met with some gentlemen yesterday. I had three meetings yesterday, which was the first time I’ve had three in-person meetings since last March. So again, um, you can check out my site. I love doing, uh, work, also do social impact and DEI. You will also see my accomplishments on my site, many of them within the sport entertainment and e-sports gaming area, because that’s what I’ve been doing over the past year and a half.

John Cash (43:07):

So again, the Norma group, LLC, again in a R M E R, I’m also on LinkedIn. So please look me up. And the other passion point is, is again, being of service. Uh, one of the things I wanted to share for those of you who are in similar situations, we all go through things, but the Lord will never put more on us than we can bear. I have a wife that’s a multiple myeloma thriver three years ago. She was going through multiple myeloma, which is a bone cancer. And I had to take care of her. I’m a caregiver for both of my parents, who I moved from Washington DC, five years ago. My mother has Alzheimer’s, but the Lord has put me in a place in blessed us to continue to grow. And now that I’m stabilized with both of them, I can focus more on business.

John Cash (43:54):

So again, just like the pandemic, if life gives you lemon, you just go out and make great lemonade and just continue to be persistent. You know, some days are going to be three steps forward and four steps backwards. That doesn’t matter because you’re going to have days when you have five steps forward and no steps backwards. So I just continue to, uh, inspire everyone, whether you’re corporate or entrepreneur, just pursue your passion. What’s great for you. I’m always open to relationships. I shared with you what my mantra is regarding business. And, um, you know, I look for those you who are transitioning, please check out best to industry and other veteran resources for you. Lastly, I did not share, but I will share there’s one more. Organization’s gotta like to say, please, it’s called warrior GMR and warrior GMR. They asked me to be on their board too, but we focus on the problem of our veterans suicide rate.

John Cash (44:54):

You know, we’re losing 22 veterans or military members per day, due to suicide. Our goal is to advocate and stop that. And you can look at warrior G M R gamma, Mary, uh, Ryan Mia, Romeo, um, to find that out has been a minute for me. And, um, again, we just have a Patriot he’s out of, uh, Scottsdale, Arizona, Josh Otero. He is the founder and I’ve met him in the e-sport industry. He makes basically think about this. He makes the Gatorade version for e-sport gamers. It’s a powder drink and it’s to help with hydration and mental clarity, all those types of things. But that’s how we met within the industry. That’s, that’s all I want to share. And I’m always open to relationships, um, mutually beneficial relationships. That’s, that’s what I will end with Scott. So,

Scott Luton (45:47):

John, uh, you see that wall behind me, right? Yes. Well, you got me pumped up. I might be running through that here after the last hour with you. I mean, really you are clearly an inspiration and, um, I love all that you’re doing. I love the entrepreneurial side, of course, because that resonates as a fellow entrepreneur. But as a fellow veteran, I cannot remember the gentleman’s name and he’s going to kill me, but he really made, he really, I had a Eureka moment on, on the earlier shows here. He really talked about how veterans have a proven track record that once they exit or separate or retire, what have you, they just keep on giving. They keep on giving and, and, and it really never really, it makes perfect sense, but never really dawned on me that I really, how true that is. And, and you’re really, uh, an illustration of that. So I admire what you do, uh, my, all that you help. And holy cow, I bet your business is blowing up and, and yeah, well, no

John Cash (46:39):

Wonder I’m ready for it to blow up more so I can hire more people and I’ll end with this. I have nothing but high regard to my veterans. My father was a veteran for two years after college. And before he went to professional football, he played with the first two, the number of what Denver Bronco football teams, my father-in-law who just passed earlier this year was a veteran of the Korean war. My, my grandfather was a veteran of the Korean war. I have my flag, but that’s my grandfather’s flag behind me. And it’s just to share that we all need to cherish this country that we have. Is it perfect? Heck no, nothing’s perfect, but we can all be of service and love one another. Then take much to love one another, just go out and touch somebody try to be objective. And this is one mantra that I live with that I’ll share with you.

John Cash (47:32):

Scott always be awkward because you know what you’re doing when you’re being awkward, you’re pushing yourself. You’re trying yourself. Just like the first time I had to repel down, I did Australia and repel down a wall or had to do a free flight and a jump, always be awkward and challenge yourself. That’s how you grow and be of service to others and just go out and try to love everybody. I love that the intellectual have the spiritual resilience to just do good. Even when others are doing bad to you, it’s better to walk away than to go into conflict. Why go into conflict? So I’ll just leave that because I know what the social impact and we’re all brothers and sisters in the skin. It doesn’t matter what your melatonin is.

Scott Luton (48:17):

Well, we’ll say there’s so much there. Gosh, we could, we could bolt on another hour, but we’re, we’ll, we’ll have to have you back. You know, maybe we can do some of these together, but, uh, we’ve been talking with John L. Cash and you can see, this is very, uh, representative of the phone call we had. I’m like, we got to get this guy on the show and, and get him to share his story and his POV with our, our listeners. So thanks

John Cash (48:39):

So much. I got to interrupt Scott, the Scott, you are a blessing. So I’m thankful to be on your show. You are of service and I will pray for your continued prosperity for you and your family, because this is what we need is more of this. And for everybody on this show, please appreciate and support Scott as best you can. I am thankful for you man

Scott Luton (49:03):

And vice versa. I really, I really, that means a lot to me. Uh, what you do means a lot to us. It’s, it’s, it’s helping our veteran community and, and, and far beyond. So we’ll have you back on soon. We have to do some more of these together, but we’ve been talking with John L. Cash, uh, tied to a lot of initiatives, groundbreaking in many ways and, uh, make sure, make sure at a minimum, you connect with John on LinkedIn at a minimum, but you’ll have the show notes for where you can check out some of the initiatives we’ve talked about here. Okay? Folks. So with the air force, Hey, hopefully you enjoy this conversation as much as I have. I tell you, John is a pleasure to be around. We invite you to find veteran voices, wherever you get your podcasts from subscribe for free. So you don’t miss conversations. Just like this one. Hey, if you’re a veteran, you got something to share. You got a story to share and reach out. We’ll see if we can fit you into our production schedule, but most importantly, be sure to check out vets to industry.com our partners. They’re doing great work, nonprofit work for our fellow veteran community owned that note on behalf of our entire team here at veteran voices, Scott Luton signing off. Hey, do good. Give forward. Be the change. Be just like Johnny Cash. And we’ll see you next time. Right here. [inaudible]