OpsLens Deck of 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders
In 2018, as a spin-off and salute to the original 2003 deck of 52 Most Wanted playing cards, let’s honor post 9/11 frontline leaders here at home. Once a week, for 52 weeks this year, OpsLens will post a card highlighting one of the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders. You’ll learn the top facts about their business or organization, as well as why they made the list, which comes down to impact, scalability, health, and unique value proposition.
I encourage you to look for these weekly updates, share the card with your network, and support or buy the products and services they offer. See the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders launch story here.
Queen of Spades | Sword & Plough
Sword & Plough was founded by U.S. Army veteran Emily Nunez Cavness, and her sister, Betsy Nunez, in 2012. It is a socially conscious fashion company that repurposes thousands of pounds of military surplus. Hence its name, which originates from the ancient saying, “to turn swords into plough shares”—or, to take military technologies and materials and apply them to peaceful civilian applications. Sword & Plough combines these durable materials with other military-grade fabrics and incorporates them into stylish bag and accessory designs. They work with U.S. manufacturers that are owned or partially operated by veterans (from design, to sewing, management, fulfillment, sales, even modeling) and donate 10% of profits to veteran initiatives. Inspired to give back to the veteran community through sustainable fashion, another aspiration is that Sword & Plough could help bridge the civil-military divide; they hope their repurposed bags could be used as conversation pieces and the company could become a platform to strengthen understanding between civilians and the veteran community. Both sisters and their company have been widely recognized with a slew of awards, most notably Business Insider’s selection of Sword & Plough as one of the Top 20 Most Inspiring Companies of 2014 and one of the 50 Coolest New Businesses in America in 2015.
Sword & Plough is a frontline leader that should be on your list of most wanted businesses to support in 2018.
Frontline Leader (Founder(s)): Emily Nunez Cavness and Betsy Nunez.
Name of Company/Organization: Sword & Plough, founded 2012.
Location: HQ is Denver, Colorado (and can we say showroom too!). Bags and accessories are made by veteran owned or partially operated manufacturers in California, Colorado, Florida, and Kentucky. Fulfillment center is in Indiana.
Post 9/11 Service Connection: U.S. Army (Emily), and both sisters are also military family members, growing up at West Point as their father served too.
Tours of Duty: Afghanistan (4th Engineer Battalion), and was the first female intelligence officer to serve in 10th Special Forces Group.
One sentence tagline & mission statement: Repurposed for a Purpose. American Made – Veteran Owned.
Website: https://www.swordandplough.com/
