Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant was among a distinguished group of business leaders participating in a panel discussion on using leadership and innovation to drive change at the United States Military Academy at West Point last week. Organized by the West Point Finance Club, Mr. Bryant shared the stage with Don Peebles (Founder and CEO of The Peebles Corporation), Tracy Maitland (Founder, President and Chief Investment Officer of Advent Capital Management) and Kneeland Youngblood (Co-Founder of Pharos Capital Group) as they provided insights and engaged in spirited discussion about leadership and developing a mindset for success, with hundreds of cadets, faculty and staff.

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John Hope Bryant, Kneeland Youngblood, Dr. Frank Luntz, Tracy Maitland, and Don Peebles join CDT Jabrill Williams and CDT Jayden Perry at the United States Military Academy at West Point on April 22, 2025.

These business leaders also participated in an interactive class led by faculty member Dr. Frank Luntz on the impact of communication and messaging on leadership as well as a lunch in the historic Cadet Mess Hall with 4,000 cadets, a cadet-led tour of West Point, a meeting with the Director of Admissions and an intimate dinner with a select group of cadets and faculty.

“It was a true honor to be invited to the United States Military Academy—one of our nation’s most revered institutions,” said Mr. Bryant. “West Point’s mission to shape principled leaders who safeguard the American dream deeply aligns with the work we do at Operation HOPE—to expand financial literacy, dignity, and opportunity for all. Our nation's future depends on leaders who understand both the power of character and the power of economic inclusion, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to engage with these extraordinary young women and men—our next generation of leaders—and to share how economic empowerment is not just a strategy, but a moral calling. A special thank you to my friend, Dr. Frank Luntz, for the invitation to join his groundbreaking class on leadership and communication – a vital conversation that I always appreciate contributing to.”

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to "silver rights" with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

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