Latest / Winning With Winans! / Lester Lumbad is our guest this week on Winning with Winans
Transcript
- Speaker 1: Well guess it's another time for an episode of Winning with Winans. Let's go. back to Winning with Winans and I hope you enjoyed our last episode with Assemblyman Joe Dalia, which by the way, we had a whole nother segment and went on for about 25 minutes where we talked about a lot of other issues. You can find that on our podcast. So go to winningwithwinans.com to find that. But as you notice, I have a different hat on. And for those of you who are veterans, you probably ⁓ recognize it as a hat for the first armored cab of the army. But remember, we're in Nevada, which means Calvary so we have a guest on the show that is tied to veterans and military and all kinds of good stuff Lester Lombard is a good buddy of mine and Lester Welcome to the show and we're gonna talk about your intro in a moment Okay, but you asked a question because you like my intro with me wearing my as military people my sidearm Yeah, you were curious about it, right? You want to know what it was? Okay. All right. It's a heavy beast here, buddy Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I was curious about that. Speaker 1: It is, I have it here for those of you are curious. It is unloaded of course, gun safety. It is an 1847 Colt black powder pistol. So Lester, if you wanna take a look at that heavy beast, can you imagine the Calvary officers that had to carry that thing around? Speaker 2: Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Speaker 1: ⁓ Yeah, imagine them. I mean, I can't even imagine that the weapon tree of that day crazy stuff But anyway, so there you all know now, you know what I have on the intro here So Lester I want to again welcome you to winning with wine ins and listen a little bit about your background because you and I met and actually I think I might have told you you were a Christian you and the group Were critical on me deciding to move to Las Vegas kind of like the last straw And it was going to one of the wonderful events at the Southern Nevada Veterans Chamber of Commerce, which we'll talk in a moment about the change. But we have a lot of fun events, know, veterans in business and all that. But more important than that, your event, you have a long, your family, multiple years of service to this country, your wife. You are truly a military veteran family. you know, and yet you're carrying it forward with what you're doing after your military career. Yeah. So what you were in the Navy, right? You were in the Air Force. Speaker 2: I was in the Air Force. Yeah, myself and my wife who were both in the Air Force. My dad is retired Navy. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Speaker 1: That's what it was, yeah. And your wife is in what branch? She was in the Air Force. Speaker 2: She was also in the Air Force. Both of us were at separate times. I joined the Air Force when, shortly after we met at a young age and then, you know, I left service several years later and she had ended up joining the Air Force for the purpose of ⁓ applying and attending medical school. She was able to get an opportunity to pursue medical school and the career path that she wanted to pursue in medicine and it was... Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Speaker 2: that was afforded to her by military service. Speaker 1: That's one of those tremendous win-wins. of course, you we have, well, and know, most of you probably know, you know, we often don't think about it, but the Las Vegas Valley is very much a military town. We have two major Air Force bases here, not to mention Area 51, where it seems to always capture the attention. You know, and let's talk a bit about that, that it is kind of funny that here we have this tremendous veterans population in the Vegas Valley. and Nevada in general. What made you decide to get involved with the veterans area? And really, very quickly on that, mean, you were at one point where the civilian representative for the Army for Veterans Affairs in what, all of Nevada? Southern Nevada. Speaker 2: Southern Nevada. was one two in state. my counterpart was up in Reno. Retired United States Marine Corps Colonel, I believe, and amazing person. But yeah, I was one of two in the state. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So that was great because it was great to be associated with the Secretary of the Army at that time, Honorable Christine Wormuth. She was who swore me in at the Pentagon. But as an Air Force veteran to be able to be able to represent the heritage of the Army in our community and be able to help share that story and help to grow engagement in our community. I was really grateful to have that opportunity. Speaker 1: It's amazing and I was at one of the parties you had celebrating your year. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. There's no such thing as a bad military party. That's That's right. We better stop there. know, we're kids are watching. So, Lester, getting into so you and your family moved from California. You. Well, how long ago did you move to Vegas? Speaker 2: You So, we actually moved here from the United Kingdom. we moved here from England. Okay. were originally, both myself and my wife, were both originally from California. I grew up mainly in San Diego because my dad, spent the majority of his Navy career in San Diego, but he ended up retiring in San Francisco at Treasure Island when it was still open. And my wife, her dad also served in the Navy, ended up retiring as a reservist over in Alameda, also in the Bay Area. So, both of our families live up that way now, but... ⁓ but we haven't lived in California for a long time. What, ended up happening was, my, my wife, as I mentioned a few seconds ago, when you asked, you know, about her medical school pathway and ended up completing her residency over at Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia in the Washington DC area. After, after that period of time passed, was, was about a seven year period, which then extended into a seven year service commitment. So was basically you go to med school and X number of years of residency. and whatever number of years that adds up to, that's the number of years that you owe back in service. So that was what she had. those seven years of service that ended up being three years in Tokyo, three years in England, and then the seventh year ended up being here in Las Vegas, which is what brought us here. Speaker 1: So really see the world. The commercials tell the truth. You might not like what part of the world you're going to see. It's a bad joke. know. We know so many people who've, and you know, obviously I'm a vet as well, members of our staff here are vets, but Lester, what made you decide? I mean, you have a business career, you have a family, and yet you started this really great effort with Veterans Chamber of Commerce. What made you decide to do this? Speaker 2: Yeah, depending on who. So really, ⁓ you know, when we came here, especially because of our family situation, when we came here to Las Vegas, I needed to have a high level of flexibility with what I was doing because, you know, we have four children. At the time, they were very young. ⁓ And the need for flexibility kind of made me lean toward looking at entrepreneurship and at different ways that I could use my ideas to become involved in. turning those ideas into businesses basically. ⁓ But when it came time for me to look for resources to support those ideas and some of that business development, I had some difficulties trying to find whatever available resources there were in our community. There were some great resources that I was able to connect to, but then as far as, I'm a big believer in the value of relationships. And I just couldn't really see how I was going to be able to navigate the community by just starting from scratch in that way. Right. So then I started to look, look for something that resembled a veteran's chamber of commerce. Didn't really have much luck finding anything that, I could connect with. ⁓ so because of that, I was like, okay, well, why don't we just create one? You know, like that's literally how that came about. You know, it's like, why, why not? why not me, know, kind of thing, you know, so, Speaker 1: grew. How many 400 members I think now? Speaker 2: Right around 275, 300. Okay. Yeah. But it was definitely very well received, still is, you know, in the community, you know, when it came to engagement and community involvement and just how people saw how it was filling a gap, you know, that was there. I didn't realize how well received it was going to be until these relationships started to become... you know, more and more ⁓ relevant than the community. people just really gravitated toward what was happening. And a lot of people were telling me that, you know, they've, they've kind of wished that something like that had came about sooner, but it just took somebody to take the time to do it. So I was, I was grateful to be, you know, involved in, in helping to put that together and helping it to grow. You know, we're about four and a half years in now. And, you know, it's, it's really been in my opinion, I'm ⁓ very thankful for this, but it's been a an important part of bringing a lot of different organizations together and helping to promote more collaboration and cohesiveness in the community. Speaker 1: And I would say people. know, it seems sad. mean, you know, the camaraderie that you brought back with your organization. I I've met a lot of friends from it. You know, and you want to do business with people who you know. Yeah, exactly. know, and veterans were a special group. And, know, one of the things we're going to talk about is, you know, the veterans transition into business life. As you said, you did not find a lot of resources. It's kind of sad in a way. You know, we hear often about VA issues, but there's, you know, thankfully UNLV is our friend Ross is doing a great job there on helping vets with their education, getting out there in the real world. Yeah. We're trying to work together on. with many of them want to go into financial services. We're trying to maybe do a licensing program for them. That's beautiful. But Lester, I have to say too, and I think again, what makes Vegas so special, ⁓ I get asked all the time about the differences I've seen between here and other parts of the country and most notably California. There's so many vets here and so many vets who go to church. And nobody is from here. So you can't say who did what to whom or no, no, none of that matters. It's a true community here. the veterans are revered. I mean, they really are. I people here love their vets and the vets love the community. So they just find it all over. And I think that's special and groups like yours do it. Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I totally agree. know, like the veteran community here in Nevada in general, but definitely here in Southern Nevada, it's a significant part of our population, you know, and I feel like it's a significant part of our local culture also. Like you mentioned, we have two active military installations with Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base, all within about 35, 40 minutes of any direction in town. But aside from that, all branches of the military are very well represented here in our region. We have obviously a ton of Air Force veterans, people who decided to stay here in this area, but great Marine Corps representation, US Army. ⁓ Navy is getting there. We don't have as many Navy vets. Speaker 1: And don't forget Space Force. We got Space Force that knows they're there, you know, they're active. That's right. You know, we can't forget them. And of course, the Coast Guard. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you run into those guys every now and then right? Speaker 1: ⁓ be careful. And by the way, one thing that Lester and you know, being a good leader that you are with this group, one thing you said very clearly, because we've opened it up to other parts of public safety. Yeah. And you said, look, if you were a dog tag, we're not going to get into how many ribbons you had and where you served. not going to get into that. If you are a vet and you serve the country, you're welcome. And I love that about your group because some of these groups can become kind of a pecking order. It's almost like you fall back into rank and, you know, years of service and hash marks and, I don't know, we're not. Speaker 2: There's something for everybody, feel like, know, when you open it up in that way to not only veterans, but also veteran supporters, veteran family members, people who just want to be involved in the veteran community in a genuine way, you know, then it's great to be able to be involved in creating that ecosystem or that environment where people can come and connect with the resources that resonate with them. And if they were somebody who didn't, you know, necessarily see heavy combat maybe then, you know, like maybe it's just other resources that they're looking for that can help them with employment or starting a business. But then if it was someone who experienced a lot of maybe combat related trauma, there's going to be those resources plus other resources that can help them in other areas too. And it's just a matter of making the community aware that those resources are there. We're definitely not about trying to reinvent anything that's already there, you know, because there's no... There's no point in spending time doing that when there's already an abundance of resources. It's just a matter of promoting the, you know, the partnerships that can already be created. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Lester, I just committed an unforgivable sin. I went over my clock. So listen, we're going to be right back with our guest, Lester Lindblad, and we'll be back with Winning with Wine as of just one moment. Thank you. This is Ken Winans, host of Winning with Winans. And before I started the Morningstar top-ranked investment management firm, Winans Investments, I worked on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange with commodity traders. And yes, I actually know what all those crazy hand signs mean. 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I am your host, Ken Winans and Lester Lumbat, who's my friend. I mean, he's been one of the, actually since I've been coming to Vegas, he's one of my oldest Vegas friends. So Lester, again, welcome to Winning with Winans. And we've been talking about the veterans, the very unique veterans community that's going on in Southern, certainly in Southern Nevada. All of them that I would say is very patriotic. You're trying to spread the word. So let's talk about where our organization is going, which by the way, I'm a member of this organization. Lester's actually asked me to help with, you know, some of the political things that go on in Carson city. don't know. I might get us in trouble with Northern Nevada. You never know, but I'll try to keep us out of a, out of a fiefdom, but Lester, made a change in the organization and it's called the new name is the veterans community and founders exchange. Okay. What are, what, what's the change? Speaker 2: So really, aside from the name and the visual branding of the organization, there really is no real significant change. We want to make sure that the model that we've created here in Las Vegas, here in Southern Nevada, that we're able to ⁓ take that model and copy and paste it into other communities and other cities that have a prominent veteran presence. And the limitation that... that I knew it was going to be a limitation from the beginning was in the name branding of what we've started with, which is the Southern Nevada Veterans Chamber of Commerce. That name is obviously specific to Southern Nevada. we wanted to be able to just make that adjustment to where, ⁓ you know, we can change the name up in a way that we can take the same model like I've mentioned and then bring that to other places like, say, San Diego or... ⁓ San Antonio or Hawaii or other places where we know that there is a strong ⁓ veteran community presence, but it's just a matter of helping to be a part of bringing those available resources together. Speaker 1: So is it safe to say that we're gone from being a ⁓ state type organization to more of a region type organization? Yeah. Would that be a good way of? ⁓ Speaker 2: Yeah, eventually, eventually the goal would be able to expand into a national full national nationally scaled organization to where, know, whether it's, ⁓ you know, I mean, like Jacksonville, Florida as a, as a great veteran community, ⁓ New Jersey, Washington, obviously, you know, so places like that. And then obviously, you know, places around Texas, there's so many different areas. Speaker 1: didn't know this while Lester. It's gonna be like McDonald's, we're gonna franchise out? So the next couple of years, we're gonna see a lot of these kind of things happening. That's the Do you have any concerns? I mean, I'm just gonna raise these issues. We know there's a, you know, I've always say state lines matter. Yeah. And there's a reason we all left California. Correct. Do you have any concerns about getting into some of these very weird social kind of issues? Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, that is it. Speaker 1: Because I mean, hate to say, but veterans, in my opinion, I mean, here we have license plates. I mean, we probably have it on our driver's license. You just don't see it there. And I don't feel there's the same fondness for vets. Am I wrong in saying that or? Speaker 2: Well, you know, I mean, I really can't speak for any other community, but then I know that, ⁓ you know, the difference, I guess, would be that the difference in approach would be that we would want to focus on the community itself and bringing members of that community together and different organizations in that community together rather than necessarily engaging with the politics of that region. you know, whether that support is there or not, hopefully we can find the right support and the right advocacy, but you know, if not, the first step is always going to be to bring the community together. then when you can do that, that, that creates a lot of value for a lot of partnerships that can be formed in that community anyway, when you're able to bring certain populations together and the, and the veteran community is such a, ⁓ such an important part of any community. It's an important part of that community's voice that, that when, ⁓ when you can accomplish that first step, then a lot of other positive things can happen too. Speaker 1: Well, I like to think too, you know, there's been a pronounced shift in the military. Certainly, you know, we're going from the Department of Defense to Department of War. But also since too, there's a big change in how we treat our vets. mean, there's more focus on the VA now than there had been in quite a while, which we needed it. know, obviously we have some very large VA centers here. I mean, I heard even the veterans cemeteries, they're going to do a makeover on those because they need to expand them. So I'm just glad to see that it seems like veterans issues. just with a little bit that I read and hear from you and other folks. Speaker 2: You know, I feel like the more prominent that voice can become in the different communities where, you know, because veterans are everywhere in the country, obviously. the more prominent that we can make our voice as a community, the more likely that will be heard, you know, for some of those issues that exist, whether it's with ⁓ the veteran affairs ⁓ services that are available to us or any other issues that, you know, like that, that can be improved upon, you know, then. It's always a positive thing to be able to bring the community together and voice those things together. And that's really what we're focused on again, just promoting that on the unity, that ⁓ collaboration throughout the community, trying to eliminate feelings of competition, you know, because there's not really any need for that. doesn't really, as far as community building, don't really feel like that helps anybody. You have competing entities that are looking for attention in different ways, you know, like that. Speaker 1: And if there's a fairly competitive group of people, you don't want to start that up with veterans. Speaker 2: This is just not a good use of energy, you know? Speaker 1: You know, Lester, I don't know if you know this, but you know, I've been doing some work with folks at Nellis. There's a very serious interest in trying to have an aerospace museum or an aerospace center. I would call it STEM based, but it's good to see that Nellis, I mean, it always blows me when I talk to people and say, there's a major air force base. It's the home of the Thunderbirds. And they go, what? That's right. Yeah, you see those runways when you're landing at Reed Airport. They're off on the, that's, but people don't know that. So it's good to see that the bases are trying to get more involved with the community too. Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a huge positive thing. know, like one thing that I've been involved in over the years, which I've really been thankful for has been the ⁓ kind of the nomination or nomination board process for our youth who are applying for military service academies. And a lot of those academic pathways with the service academies are STEM based. to be able to... build that relationship with the local military installations and highlight those STEM pathways when kids are still in school, then they can, you know, maybe use some of those experiences to say, maybe that's what I want to pursue in life, you know, but they have to see it first, you know, and Las Vegas is so much more than hospitality and gaming and thank you. Like there's so much more to our community than that. So it's, it's, it's always a positive thing to, ⁓ to be able to highlight what's available here. Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought it up because, you know, obviously I'm a very big believer that as we expand our economics of just not the biggest valley, but in Nevada in general, financial services. I mean, I'm glad you, as you said, I'm tired of people saying, it's just tourism. No, every, this is a, this is a bipartisan, nonpartisan issue. We need to grow the economy in different places. And vets are well suited. mean, especially vets wanting to start businesses, it is well suited for them coming here, as you said, it's a great place to raise children. It's a great place to start a business. It's a very open, welcoming, non-judgmental community. Come here and do your thing. It is wonderful from that standpoint. then I have to say too, I believe we're going to have a lot of veterans-based businesses moving here from California. Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully so. know, I mean, there's a lot of, a lot of benefits, a lot of advantages of, of developing business here in Nevada and starting a business here in Nevada. And, ⁓ and, and again, because the community is so receptive to veterans in general, then, then the support is going to, you know, it'll be there. So, so, you know, efforts like, like ours with the VCFX, like you mentioned that the name change and a lot of other groups that we promote collaboration with, know, like that can really help get the word around about businesses that are available and, you know, ideas that could be turned into businesses and, you know, all those different things. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Lester, we're almost out of time. So if people want to get a hold of you or find out more, especially vets out there who want to join our group, how should they get a hold of you? What's the best way? Speaker 2: Yeah, so really, I would say the best way is to come attend one of our events. know, we have a pretty regular, you know, cycle of events that you're able to attend, you know, and you can get all of that information on our website, on our web calendar. That website address is going to be vcfx.org. ⁓ And you can also email me if you like. I'm happy to engage with any direct questions and provide more direct information at ⁓ My first initial L last name Lumbad at VCFX.Vet and again, happy to answer any questions there. Speaker 1: And we're also open to anybody from law enforcement, public safety. We'd love to hear from them as well. Yeah. Yeah. We're kind of an all open group. Speaker 2: There's a ton of veterans that come from those sectors as it is. again, it takes a whole community to support the veteran community. can't just be our veterans and their family members that live here. Speaker 1: Absolutely. And it's just a great group. It's a non-judgmental. It's just like I said, it's a lot of fun and we have fun and we do a lot of great things together. Lester, my friend, thank you for coming on Winning with Winans. It's been great having you and we'll have you back. Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun to have some things. So listen, we're just about ready to wrap up. ⁓ If by chance you missed any of this podcast, please go to Winningwithwinans.com because like we said, it was an expanded podcast with more content. ⁓ Listen, I just wrote a new Forbes article. Please go to Forbes.com. You read all about that. Does deal with things that were surrounding tax issues. Many of you, even though taxes are over, you're planning for next year. Hey, I just wrote some books like behind me here. If you'd to get ahold of one of those copies, go to Amazon.com. And I just want to thank our audience. Look, you have a lot of choices of who to listen to. Please email me on winningwithwindings.com. If you would like to be a guest or a sponsor, we'd love to hear from you. Anyway. We'll see you next week for another episode. And I won't be wearing my calvary hat next time, only, but you know what? Let's start one word on veterans day. There you go. They're veterans day. Anyway, you all have a good week. We'll take care now. Boy, that time went fast. I hope you had as much fun as I did during this segment of winning with one and make sure and tune in next week for another round of guests and interesting topics. And if you miss this. Make sure and check us out on Spotify, YouTube, or go to our website, WinningWithWinans.com, where there's a lot more information for you to follow. So good luck this next week. Look forward to seeing you then. Take care.