Nic Vandre

Nic Vandre is a Special Operations veteran, national security leader, and mission-driven philanthropist with over two decades of service to his country. His career was built in the communities that Red Star Foundation exists to protect. Operating alongside the warriors whose sacrifice does not end on the battlefield, and whose families carry a weight that most Americans will never see. He knows the cost of that weight. He has witnessed it up close, in uniform, and it never leaves you.

Veteran suicide is not a statistic Nic reads about, it is a reality he encountered throughout more than two decades in Special Operations. He witnessed the invisible wounds that follow warriors home and the devastating gap between the support that exists and the families who cannot reach it. Red Star Foundation’s commitment to honoring those families, the more than two million loved ones left behind,  speaks to a truth the broader veteran-support ecosystem has too often overlooked: grief is not a phase. It is a permanent part of life for millions of Americans who deserve recognition, community, and care equal to those who served.

As an Advisory Board member, Nic brings operational credibility, a national network, and the ecosystem-building expertise to accelerate the Foundation’s growth and reach. His career as Director of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) was defined by his ability to connect the right people, resources, and organizations to solve hard problems at speed. Building infrastructure where none existed and expanding who had access to it. That discipline translates directly to Red Star Foundation’s most urgent needs: expanding corporate partnerships, deepening legislative advocacy, and ensuring that every military family navigating loss knows this organization is there.

Today, Nic serves as Senior Director of Growth at 10x National Security and directs Military and Community Ventures at 21CV, a celebrity brand management and venture studio. He serves on the boards of the United States National Drone Association, Operation Honor: Rural Salute, and MilStreet USA, and is an Ambassador for The COMMIT Foundation. His network spans Special Operations, government innovation, corporate America, and the military nonprofit ecosystem, and he brings it to bear fully in service of every organization he commits to.

Red Star Foundation’s initiatives: the Red Star Banner, Peer-to-Peer Network, Governors Challenge, and veteran suicide awareness advocacy, are the kind of community-first, survivor-centered work that Nic has championed throughout his career. He joins this Advisory Board because he has seen the families Red Star Foundation serves. He has stood beside them in moments of grief that words cannot reach. And he believes, without reservation, that closing the gap between their pain and their support is among the most important work anyone in the veteran community can do.