Virtual Event Scheduled for Nov. 4 and 5

Veterans On Wall Street (VOWS) and the Bob Woodruff Foundation will hold the 11^th annual VOWS Symposium on Thursday, Nov. 4 and Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. The event convenes leading thinkers and stakeholders to discuss transition into the civilian workforce with a targeted focus on career readiness.

VOWS is a consortium of more than 100 firms across industries dedicated to honoring former and current military personnel by facilitating career and business opportunities in financial services and beyond. This year’s virtual VOWS Symposium is designed to encourage organizations to collaborate, develop, and share recruiting and retention best practices, as well as provide workshops to help veterans and military spouses learn essential job-search skills, such as building strong resumes and networking in a virtual world.

Ernst & Young LLP (EY) is serving as host for this year’s Symposium, leading the planning activities to create the agenda, opening the event with remarks from EY Americas Deputy Vice Chair and EY Veterans Network Executive Sponsor Anthony Caterino, moderating a military-to-civilian career transition panel discussion and facilitating a breakout session on creating and sustaining a military veteran employer resource group. EY also has provided funding for the Day 2 career fair online platform.

“Veterans possess differentiated experience that helps equip them with leadership skills, confidence and teaming abilities that can be gained few other places. They play a vital role at EY, helping us to innovate and deliver exceptional client service,” said Anthony Caterino. “We are honored to host the VOWS Symposium and support their important efforts to help transitioning veterans and their partners focus on career readiness and connect with leading financial services organizations.”

For the past 10 years, the VOWS Symposium has been the premier destination for transitioning veterans and spouses to gather with veterans already employed in a wide range of industries, senior corporate leaders, hiring managers and other key influencers from government and the financial services industry. This year’s Symposium will feature a new, two-day format where Day 1 will focus on relevant content and break-out sessions for all audiences, including military spouses and corporate representatives, with Day 2 focused on opportunities for service members, veterans and spouses to connect directly with individual firms. Day 1 of the Symposium will also feature break-out sessions tailored for each audience, creating a unique opportunity for participants to build an agenda that best meets their goals.

Registration for the virtual 2021 VOWS Symposium is open until Oct. 29, 2021. Employers can register here, and veteran/military spouse candidates can register here.

Registrants will hear from top officials and industry leaders, as well as veterans and military spouses with personal perspective on the process of transitioning and pursuing the next chapter after service.

Keynote speakers will be retired U.S. Army Capt. Florent "Flo" Groberg, Medal of Honor recipient, and Mrs. Carsen Zarin Groberg. Additional guest speakers for this year’s Symposium will be announced soon, but last year’s event featured 19^th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, United States Marine Corps; Jake Wood, noted author, Marine veteran and nonprofit leader; and senior executives from many of Wall Street’s top firms.

With the help of its long-standing strategic philanthropy partner, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, VOWS promotes career development, support and retention of veterans throughout the global financial services industry. VOWS has helped raise over $10 million to support the Bob Woodruff Foundation as they invest in best-in-class programs that empower impacted veterans, service members and their family members across the nation.

“This might be our most important symposium to date. The future of work is now. Companies from Wall Street to Main Street are embracing flexible and remote work options, which means they can now tap into an impressive pool of veteran and military spouse talent across the country,” said Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. “We’re thrilled to partner with VOWS and EY to help employers to recruit and retain amazing, diverse talent and empower veterans to find their next mission.”

This year’s Symposium also builds on the VOWS/WayUp partnership established in 2020 to help all VOWS partners recruit and hire more veterans and military spouses. With over 50,000 veterans already on the WayUp platform, VOWS and the Bob Woodruff Foundation have created direct access for veterans and companies alike to explore a range of employment opportunities.

WayUp is hosting this year’s Symposium registration, encouraging all veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses to set up a profile on the platform after registering for this year’s event. In addition to providing updates on the Symposium, the platform will help match registrants with open roles among top employers across the country while providing assistance throughout the entire recruitment process – including offering interview prep materials, veteran-specific webinar content, soft-skills feedback, and more. Employers on the WayUp platform will also have the ability to quickly and efficiently search for veteran candidates using a veteran sourcing tool.

For more information on VOWS, including updates to this year’s Symposium speakers and agenda, please visit http://veteransonwallstreet.com.

About Veterans On Wall Street

Veterans On Wall Street (VOWS) is a consortium of more than 100 financial services firms and other companies dedicated to honoring former and current military personnel by facilitating career and business opportunities. The Bob Woodruff Foundation is the strategic philanthropic partner of VOWS. For more information, please visit www.veteransonwallstreet.com or follow @VeteransOnWallStreet on LinkedIn.

About the Bob Woodruff Foundation

The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) was founded in 2006 after reporter Bob Woodruff was wounded by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq. Since then, BWF has led an enduring call to action for people to stand up for heroes and meet the emerging and long-term needs of today’s veterans, including suicide prevention, mental health, caregiver support, and food insecurity. To date, BWF has invested over $80 million to Find, Fund and Shape™ programs that have empowered impacted veterans, service members, and their family members, across the nation, reinforcing the message that BWF has ‘Got Your Six’. For more information, as well as stories of success and innovation from BWF’s network of partners, please visit bobwoodrufffoundation.org or follow us on Twitter at @bwforg.

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