Operation Song Appoints Jon Foti As CEO

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Jon Foti

Operation Song, the 501(c)(3) non-profit that pairs veterans, active-duty military and their families with professional songwriters to tell their stories through song, has appointed a CEO, Jon Foti.

In this newly created role, Foti leads Operation Song into its second decade, overseeing fundraising development and the expansion of partnerships within the music industry and veterans organizations. Currently, Foti is leading the non-profit’s search for new office space in Nashville to accommodate its growth.

Founded in 2012 by Grammy, Dove and 11-time ASCAP award-winning Bob Regan (Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Hank Williams Jr., Randy Travis), Operation Song has produced over 1,600 songs at year-round retreats and songwriting sessions and inspired other organizations to adopt similar missions.

“It’s an honor to join Operation Song and connect gifted songwriters with veterans, for whom self-expression can be challenging. As a nation we often forget the impact of service but in giving veterans a voice, we ensure that all Americans remember the sacrifices our freedoms are reliant on,” shares Foti.

Navy veteran & Operation Song Board President, Bob Leonard, shares, “Operation Song is expanding our ability to inspire every veteran to tell their story through the expressive power of songwriting. Jon’s proven leadership with veterans’ non-profits will allow us to be more strategic in our efforts to reach more veterans in more places across this country as we enter into our second-decade as an organization. It’s also our intent to broaden our involvement with the veterans we serve by creating a community resource network through our Operation Song ‘alumni’ program that gives our veterans access to Operation Song on a regular basis regardless of where they live. The ultimate goal; ensure every veteran has the opportunity to inspire every American through song.”

Foti graduated from the University of Tampa as a Distinguished Military Graduate and joined the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in 2012. His first assignment was the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky as a flight line Platoon Leader of a Blackhawk Helicopter Air Assault Company. Deployed to Afghanistan in 2015, Foti served as a combat aviator and Battle Captain for the Aviation Taskforce’s Command and Control Center. In 2018, he transitioned into private aviation management in Colorado while completing his Masters in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

In 2019, Foti worked as a Wounded Warrior Fellow for the U.S. House of Representatives conducting congressional inquiries into the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. In 2020, he became the CEO of the Dale K. Graham Veterans Foundation, based in Norman, Oklahoma. There, Foti led a team in the service of 5,000 veterans per year, mostly in the VA claims and benefits application process and fundraised millions of dollars to expand veterans services nationwide.

Foti can be reached at jon@operationsong.org.

LB Cantrell
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