As part of the Leaders in Philanthropy Series, Bill and Steve discuss how philanthropy can show up throughout one’s career. As a senior executive in the aerospace industry, Steve will share his career journey and insights from being an F18 pilot to moving into the commercial sector and how philanthropy has been a strategic choice and investment for him.
Transcript of the interview:
Bill Lloyd:
Good morning. It’s a pleasure today to welcome Steve O’Brien to our ongoing Webinar series and webinar series for the charitable pay raise. And it’s a special pleasure today for multiple reasons to have Steve O’Bryan join us as a fellow Colgate grad and as a friend, and as a volunteer and on, on our board of advisors. Steve has been overseeing and commenting and creating and guiding for the last several years, and it’s great to have you here today. Steve, thank you for making time.
Steve O’Bryan:
Thanks, Bill. Thanks for having me.
Bill Lloyd:
Steve, why don’t you give our audience of advisors and charities today, a little bit of your background since leaving that wonderful mecca of the north, Colgate.
Steve O’Bryan:
After leaving the snow at Colgate joined the Navy, and became a F 18 pilot. Went to the Top Gun, and actually got to be instructed there as well. Left the Navy still continued in the reserves as an F-18 pilot and such. And then went to work for Lockheed Martin L three L three Harris, and, and Northrop Grumman as a senior executive and corporate officer at all those companies. So it, it it’s been a interesting ride and, and even continued flying for, for a certain amount after that. And I made reserves and, and got activated and flew again. But that’s my career in a nutshell, o over time too.
Bill Lloyd:
Well, that’s <laugh>, that’s a pretty big nutshell, Steve. And while we’re at it, give us a little bit about your family and where they are right now.
Steve O’Bryan:
I have two kids in college. One at Notre Dame, one at Wake Forest, and I have one who’s a senior in high school at Gonzaga in downtown Washington, DC, and a lovely bride at home who’s waiting for a last to go to college.
Bill Lloyd:
<laugh>. That’s, that’s absolutely awesome. And I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know that lovely bride, Katie. And I want to use that as a segue into talking a little bit about your philosophy and Katie’s philosophy on philanthropy.
Steve O’Bryan:
Well, we, we’ve been fortunate, like so many other people and, and you know, we’ve, we’ve been lucky enough and, and blessed enough to, to have, you know, the finances that allow us to do philanthropy. I’d say the kids also have that gene and have gone to schools like my youngest now at Gonzaga or service is a big part of what they do. It, it’s I don’t think it’s, it’s not only a graduation requirement for them, but it’s a, I think it’s an outlook on life that a lot of the Gonzaga graduates of, of that high school continues on <inaudible> the Wake Forest for all of them. So it, it’s a big part of what we do and, and, and how we do it, and we use all the tools available to, to be a part of philanthropy and, and giving back not only today, but, but how you view it of giving back for the future and for the years ahead of, so it, it’s something we’ve all done and, and our family has been a big part of it, and not only the finances we have, but the time.
Bill Lloyd:
That’s excellent. So, it sounds like it’s your time, your treasure, and your talent, all of the above.
Steve O’Bryan:
I won’t kid you though. You, you know, for a lot of us, especially in, in corporate America and, and in the Navy, there, there hasn’t been as much time as we’ve wanted and, and you’re focused on your career in, in doing that. You give back what you can, but, you know, it’s that outlook of giving back later on and having a plan to do that. I think that that’s important to my wife and me and, and our family.
Bill Lloyd:
What advice would you give other leaders, whether in business or in other professions, about creating that space and time to give back? Because it is hard, especially when you’re balancing all the responsibilities of family and profession.
Steve O’Bryan:
Yeah, it’s hard. I mean, I can only speak for myself and, you know, it’s hard to carve out time, you know, career and, and to be able to do that unconditionally. I’m, I’m, I have been in all these jobs, the head of international for a large corporation. So that puts me on, you know, C three J of American or United Airlines quite a bit. And, that to try to give back your time gets pretty difficult when you have your family in there. So, at least for me, it, it’s having a long-term plan to give back and, and what you want to do that, you know, I think in, I don’t want to call it the short term, but it, there are certain times I, I’ve had, and I I’m sure many people are in the same boat, where you don’t necessarily have the, the ability to commit your time early on in your career or, or a part of your career. Because you’re focused on family, you’re focused on career and, and how your things, but it’s the ability to have a plan, I think, to give back later on to, to, to, I guess, recognize the things you want to support and get back to in the later parts of your life that, that may have not been, you know, entirely possible in the early portions of it. At least for me.
Bill Lloyd:
I think it’s a great response. And I think that that’s a big part of what the charitable pay raise tries to accomplish, is bringing together that ability to help someone optimize what they’ve achieved and put together their wherewithal when it comes to looking into their retirement years, but at the same time, supporting the charitable causes that they believe in, both during the, the tail end, so to speak, perhaps of their career. And at the same time, being able to give a legacy-defining gift. I know that you’re involved in a couple of charities and so is Katie right now. Feel free to share a little bit about those.
Steve O’Bryan:
Well, the, you know, my wife is in, in terms of the called Westwood Caress program that she’s a big part of. there, she’s also, you know, in the young man service league where she’s the, the, the president of the chapter here in the Washington DC area. So, you know, these are things that she likes being a part of and, and, and that really drives time of hers and, and service, and it makes her feel, I, I think, or, or the ability to give back has been just a, a great option. We here, you know, where I work currently, the team is, is part of the Ronald McDonald House. And, and my team gives back in that, and I, I actually, you know, may not look at, but I, I can overlook the large, I know the hospital complex here.
We go over there to the Ronald McDonald House, we cook meals and things like that. It’s a, it’s a fantastic thing to do, and that’s given our time, but we’re only able to do it as a team once a month. But, you know, the charitable trust for me as a corporate person, you know, we’re blessed and, and I’m not alone as you accumulate really stocks and they become highly appreciated assets. I think what Bill you’ve been able to do with the charitable pay raise is a great way to meet a lot of goals at the same time, to give back to, to take these highly appreciated assets, and make the most out of them in a text deferred status at the same time, you know, making time and, and I guess the ability to spend time with family in a way that, that satisfies a number of, of different capabilities or, or desires that people have.
Bill Lloyd:
Thank you, Steve. That’s exactly what we’ve aimed for. Thus the tagline, better retirement, lasting legacy. at the charitable pay raise, one of the things that we really are excited about is giving people who heretofore may not have thought they had the opportunity to really give a legacy-defining gift through the process. Now have that capability. And as a financial advisor, it’s an entirely different conversation when you walk in the room and you’re not talking about, you know, this stock versus that stock or this or that. You’re talking about whose lives you really want to touch now and in the future, what is that stamp that you’re going to put on the world bearing the name of your family that’s going to say something, and hopefully make this a better place down the road. And that is just a fantastic and wonderful conversation, and it will reach out, as you’re well aware, Steve, to not the Bill Gates and the Warren Buffets of the world, but we’re hitting a lot of successful people who, like many are worried about, Hey, I want to give this million dollars, but I’m concerned that if I, if, if my spouse lives to be 113, you know, are our resources going to make it there to, to support them all the way to the finish line?
And that’s a very justifiable and understandable concern, but through this method, we can do both, and that’s really, really exciting. in terms of your corporate you mentioned Ronald McDonald House, which is great, and I know you’ve been on the board of a is it a navy, a navy flight museum?
Steve O’Bryan:
Yeah, the, the Naval Aviation Museum in Florida, Naval Aviation. Great, great place, by the way, very large. as well as the Association of NA Aviation, that’s all we want. No,
Bill Lloyd:
These are, these are great and, and obviously very, very important causes. and obviously what Katie’s doing with Westwood Cares and, and her mission the same way. And then you mentioned also Gonzaga, which Gonzaga has been such an amazing institution and part of Washington d c forever, and the legacy of the men it produces is practically unequal around the country. So that’s something also to be super proud of from where you sit. And obviously at this point in your career, where do you see the next generation perhaps focusing their philanthropic needs? And when I say next generation, I’m really thinking of the workforce following in your wake.
Steve O’Bryan:
Well, I, I will tell you, and, and you know, I think everybody has a, they are very socially aware, charitable aware, service-aware, at least in, in my mind, they even more so than my generation. And, and as they go to college, as they, as they, they even go to high school, it’s a big part of, of what they do. And, you know, at least for me and having three kids and wanting them to, to, you know, mine are still, you know, relatively young or, or I, I like to think I’m trying to set them, I guess still set them on the right path or set the right example of what they should be focused on. And, and that the, you know, this type of program I, I think is able to preserve, you know, the best of both worlds, which is you, you know, come into a place to support the charitable things that, that we want to, to, to, you know, support the kids. And, and, quite frankly, for me to continue that time with my family as they have their own families, hopefully, a little away, fine, but, at some point so well trying to, to capture or thread that needle of all, and I, I’m sure many people are in the same situation, but you want to support charity, you, but you want to, again, preserve that time with family and, and the resources to, to have that, that relationship with your kids going through this great, great points. And it, I think you bring up that point and there does seem to be a synergy, and when it occurs, it makes all of them work better. You get that balance, you, there’s a certain godliness and just that element of the world seems to gel when people find the ability to be present for their families, enjoying their profession and their work life. And then helping the next generation, especially your loved ones, inherit those philosophies, but also become unique individual people as they move forward and support their own, their own choices of charities and, and nonprofit causes. And I think the charitable pay raise, one of the fun things there is as we, as this business grows, it’s been interesting to see where the clients focus their dollars and those nonprofits and charitable causes that they believe in.
And it covers the entire fruited plane, which is, which is really fun. And everybody’s got their own history and their own, and how it plays into the decisions they make about that. One of the nice things about the charitable pay raise is, is it’s not just for the C-suite, it also is for what we call every man from basically anybody who’s got appreciated assets, employer stock in their retirement plan, or what we call an overfunded IRA, something that’s quite sizable that might be problematic actually from a tax standpoint, whom we can, whom we can help both improve their own stance financially while helping the charity in the form of a permanent planned gift. And then a legacy-defining bequest at the finish line. with regard to your career aspirations and what you see ahead, you mentioned where you are right now, and I believe that’s relatively new, is it not?
Steve O’Bryan:
Yeah, I just took a, a job as a corporate officer with one of a big, a large aerospace and defense company and, and you know, the, obviously I’m heads down working just as I, I’m sure you know, all the shareholders of this company would want me to be. And, and it, you know again, it, it’s going to delay the decisions on some of these things, but it, it, it as you’ve said to me Bill in the past is, is just, you know, it allows you, or, or what a charitable pay raise does, allows you to run the numbers at different points in, in a scenario and, and see what’s best for every individual as they, they do it. And, and you know, for me this is, this is a great opportunity. It’s a unique opportunity. It’s still a lot of fun. I still enjoy it working with the team, especially as my son. Everybody’s ready to go to college.
Bill Lloyd:
<laugh>,
Steve O’Bryan:
We’ll have an empty house.
Bill Lloyd:
<laugh>, Is anybody going to follow you into aerospace?
Steve O’Bryan:
I don’t know, I don’t think so. I, I I, I, I did get a few nibbles as they all watched Top Gun Maverick, but that was about it. <laugh>,
Bill Lloyd:
<laugh>,
Steve O’Bryan:
Even that one.
Bill Lloyd:
Well, God bless you and your industry for all you do. And Steve, thank you for taking time out today to spend with us. It’s been a pleasure. as we continue to build this series we’re especially appreciative of you spending time with our board. It’s been a pleasure to have a couple of other board members step up and share some time and their perspectives on the charitable pay raise pec, especially for those who are athletes who are right now enjoying watching the US Women’s Soccer team compete abroad and have affiliations with nonprofits supporting their efforts, which is kind of fun. But at any rate, we thank you for your time today, Steve, and we look forward to seeing you in the future and all good things. Thank you.
Steve O’Bryan:
Thanks, Bill.