Jay Gladney
Greater Phoenix SCORE, a national nonprofit dedicated to mentoring small business owners, announced that Jay Gladney is the region’s new president.
Gladney took a very non-traditional route to lead the Phoenix-based business organization, spending more than four decades in the U.S. Intelligence Community. Gladney joined Score in April 2013, serving as the Vice President for Operations before being named to the organization’s top post.
Throughout his career, Gladney has maintained top secret military clearance, serving 23 years as an Air Force officer and non-commissioned officer focusing on intelligence collection and analysis. He spent an additional 24 years with defense contractors supporting the U.S. military and National Intelligence Community. As an Associate Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Gladney taught international relations and defense policy. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in International Relations.
“With a background rich in intelligence and military control and communications, I believe I bring new insight to an organization celebrating 50 years of service in Phoenix,” Gladney said. “It may seem like my background is a perfect fit for an undercover or spy organization, but frankly it’s perfect for an organization like Score which is looking to spread our message and infiltrate a much greater audience.”
Gladney’s vision is to make the Greater Phoenix SCORE chapter better known, more relevant and more effective in promoting the establishment, growth and profitability of small businesses. He also is working on creating a small business owners’ roundtable to share their business experiences, problems and solutions.
“It is our goal to become recognized by the community as the primary business advisory and coaching resource for Phoenix small business owners,” Gladney said.
SCORE provides free business mentoring to any small business owner or entrepreneur to provide support in all areas of business development, including the creation of a business plan, to marketing, social media, legal and financial.
About Greater Phoenix SCORE Greater Phoenix SCORE has been in existence for more than 50 years, providing free mentoring to small business owners, along with classes, seminars and special events. In 2015, SCORE helped 647 new businesses start and created 1,017 new jobs. Overall, the Greater Phoenix SCORE chapter delivered mentoring and classes to 7,288 people. SCORE has more than 70 mentors, each with extensive business experience, ready to help individuals start up a business, grow a business, or work through difficult business management issues. Experts in all functional areas and many different businesses are available as a resource for business owners. For more information, visit http://www.scorephoenix.org/.
