Steve Vannoy, The 10 Greatest Gifts Project

Steve’s Nebraska farming roots are deep. He still gets giddy when it rains. And when it hails, he doesn’t worry about his car, he worries about the wheat. 
Over the 50 years of his career, he’s held many positions, Divisional Sales Manager for Rockmount Research and Alloys. VP of Marketing and Sales for Nemdaco.  He’s also founded many companies including Vannoy Talent, Verus Global, and The 10 Greatest Gifts Project. These companies have given him nearly five decades of in-depth experience in selecting, training, certifying, and coaching successful presenters, and well as in building solid, successful organizations. 
Steven has written seven books, five have been published. The central theme of all five is the leadership it takes to build healthy and productive families and organizations. 
He’s has a few hobbies that he’s crazy about, namely writing and performing music, backpacking and canoeing, gardening, and exploring our world. Steven is married to the world’s greatest first-grade teacher, now retired. She is also his best friend and the best decision he’s have ever made!
In 1993, Mr. Vannoy wrote a book called The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children based on his personal parenting journey and the journeys of other parents. He approached many top publishers to get the book into the hands of other parents. After countless rejections, he self-published the book. Because of strong reviews and strong word of mouth, the book quickly climbed to the top five best-sellers in Colorado. Before long, those same publishers entered into a bidding war to republish it. Steven chose Simon and Schuster, and it quickly became one of their all-time best-selling parenting books.
Steven became one of the most sought-after speakers for various associations and organizations, such as the National School Counselors Association, National Pediatrics Association, National Housing Authorities Directors, and hundreds of school districts who used his program for teacher in-service days. He also held open seminars for parents and grandparents who saw the value in the tools discussed in his book.
Other parenting books are often written by referencing experts and clinical research in the field. The distinction of The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children is that it goes to the source of parenting: parents and grandparents in the trenches. This book was created not only by Steven’s personal experiences in transformative parenting but also by the valuable information he gleaned from over 400 focus groups and thousands of family interviews. Many of these accounts appear in the book, prompting parents to learn from each other. 
Not long after the rise in the demand for his speaking engagements, a former participant asked Steven, “Your book saved my family. Do you have anything that will help my corporation? “Knowing that these tools had a transformative effect on adults, Steven started a company called Pathways to Leadership to teach the tools for corporate leadership. Its mission continues today — engaging organizations who want to see their employees work and morale soar. Many Fortune 100 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Ford Motors, and many others have adopted the wellness concepts of Verus Global as their primary leadership approach.
In 2018 Steven Vannoy founded and became the Executive Director of our new nonprofit The 10 Greatest Gifts Project. Mr. Vannoy and many of our team members had retired and literally sailed off into the sunset. Others were already busy with new careers or serving at other nonprofits. The one thing they all have in common? A deep belief that building healthy families is the number one thing we can do to build our healthy future. A belief so strong that they all shifted their priorities and schedules.
Our team knew they had to create a new business model. The Verus Global model is very effective at uplifting families and organizations but in very small quantities. Not impacting the 50 million-plus people The 10 Greatest Gifts Project aspires to impact. Our team knew a new approach had to be pioneered. In the next 10 years, The 10 Greatest Gifts project will train, certify and coach 1000 dedicated presenters delivering a transformational program that will soon be uplifting over one million family members per year. These family members will then utilize a one-of-a-kind, entertaining app that will support their continuing mastery and usage of the 10 Greatest Gifts tools and concepts… mastery that will lead to their children growing up with priceless character and qualities and values.  
The 10 Greatest Gifts Project aims to gift parents and grandparents with these valuable tools and continue a deep connection so that these concepts become second nature. We desire to see people so excited about the tools they gain, they’re eager to share them with their friends and family!

For more information about The 10 Greatest Gifts Project go to https://10greatestgifts.org/