Damon Dunn
A true American success story, Damon Dunn shares his inspiring program on transformation, resilience, leadership, and how to turn failure into opportunity.
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Damon broke the cycle of poverty by earning a full scholarship to Stanford University and pursued a path to the NFL. He later founded two companies with institutional investors and became a Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Damon’s journey transcends age, race, and geography, offering valuable insights and inspiring others to live BOLD.
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Climbing out of Poverty
Born in 1976 in Fort Worth, Texas to a 16-year-old single mother, Damon Dunn grew up in dire poverty, living in a three- bedroom trailer with ten people. Damon grew up hunting and fishing as means to provide food and wore Salvation Army clothes. From these humble beginnings, Damon learned the value – and the rewards of hard work, which he has demonstrated throughout his life.
Excelling in Education and Athletics
In high school, Damon was an honor student and earned recognition as a Texas All-State Football player. On these merits he was awarded a scholarship to Stanford University.
At Stanford Damon had a record setting college football career, ran track and earned many academic and athletic awards, including the NCAA Academic Scholarship, All-PAC 10 Honors and Academic All-Pac 10 Honors, and the NFL and College Hall of Fame Award.
Upon graduation Damon played in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys. Damon had the privilege to play under and be mentored by coaching legends such as Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Tyrone Willingham, and Tom Coughlin.
Success in Business
Damon is the CEO of Sagan Sign Talent, which specializes in sourcing global talent for the sign and graphics industry. He founded Lagunita Franchise Operations, expanding it to 38 locations with over 500 employees and $30 million in revenue. Previously, as President and Co-Founder of Tricor SW Corporation, he sourced and developed 31 retail properties across the U.S., attracting major tenants like Walmart and CVS, and delivering over 20% annual returns for investors.
Leading Through Public Service
Despite these achievements, Damon has never forgotten what it is like to go to sleep hungry and wake with a sense of hopelessness. This is why Damon has committed himself to serving others; to show them there is another way and to help them find it for themselves.
While at Stanford University, Damon served as Executive Director of the East Palo Alto Stanford Summer Academy, which provided tutoring and mentorship to underprivileged Latino and African American students from East Palo Alto, CA. In recognition of his work at the Academy and elsewhere in the community, Damon received the James W. Lyons Award and JE Wallace Sterling Book Award given to students who demonstrated outstanding service to the greater Stanford community.
In the NFL, Damon worked with the Make a Wish Foundation to visit kids with terminal illnesses. He started the Fighting Giants Ministry that ministers to children with life-changing injuries. He also worked with St. Augustine Soup Kitchen, the Cops-N-Kids program, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Damon volunteered the in Santa Ana elementary schools implementing the Latino Educational Attainment Initiative (LEA). The purpose of the LEA is to help Latino parents become more effective advocates for their children, particularly as it relates to their education. During his undergraduate days at Stanford, Damon served as associate pastor at Jerusalem Baptist Church where he managed the children’s and youth ministries. Since his time at Stanford and the NFL, Damon has started the Joshua Project, a leadership development ministry that mentors aspiring young Christian leaders and the Long Beach College Prep Academy which sent 158 students, from low-income families to college.
Damon transformed his life from severe poverty to success at Stanford University, the NFL, the Hoover Institution, and in business leadership. Despite living in a cramped trailer with ten others, he envisioned a future at Stanford. He founded two companies, secured investments, and brought them to life through determination. Now, he uses his experiences to inspire others in complex organizations to elevate their expectations and broaden their perspectives. As your organization grows, it will encounter new challenges, making it essential to adapt your strategic vision and market approaches. Damon’s message will inspire transformation and reflection among attendees, equipping them to evaluate and implement innovative strategies and BOLD EXPECTATIONS.
Enhance your leadership skills and advance your career by understanding key leadership trends. We all engage in various forms of leadership as our roles evolve. Damon draws on his diverse experiences from the NFL, corporate sector, and academic pursuits at Stanford, as well as his fellowships at the Hoover Institution and the Pacific Research Institute, to explore effective strategies for downward, lateral, upward, and introspective leadership. Damon’s presentation aims to inspire a vision for diverse leadership development within your organization, encouraging attendees to become versatile leaders who enhance their impact and create a culture of BOLDNESS.
The macro-business landscape now embraces unpredictability and change, introducing numerous uncertainties that impact decision-making and increase the potential for error. A risk-averse approach can hinder success and relevance in a fast-evolving environment. How an organization navigates challenges and engages in calculated risk-taking will shape its future. Those that foster a culture of resilience and quick recovery from failures will gain a competitive edge. Damon’s message will provoke your organization to learn to use failure as an essential tool for accelerating success. Learning how to fail fast, fail forward and fail cheap will allow the organization to face both success and failure without losing forward momentum.
Sharing many compelling stories recalling his growing up in rural Texas outside Fort Worth in a single-wide trailer dependent upon government assistance programs, Dunn recounts: “We lived on government support and stayed poor for as long as we relied on those programs. We gamed the system, maintained our eligibility; and survived on the bare minimum that ensures access to every free program possible. But in the end, we did not find economic freedom until my mother got her degree, secured a good job, and paved the way for me to do the same.” (Punting Poverty: Breaking the Chains of Welfare by Damon Dunn 5/2020) Dunn advocates for what he calls “skills-based economics,” or equipping all Americans with an Associate’s degree or vocational training to get a good job, start a business, move up the economic ladder, and acquire.
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