Steve Glenn

Stephen VanHorne Glenn (born April 21, 1956), better known as Steve Glenn, is an American entrepreneur.^[1] While known for many things, he is best known for being a Husker football player under Tom Osborne and the co-founder of Executive Travel, Inc.^[2][3]

Glenn was born to Carolyn VanHorne and Stirling Glenn. He grew up in Pawnee City, Nebraska. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) College of Business Administration in 1979. He played football at UNL on the Husker football team as an offensive tackle under coach Tom Osborne from 1974 to 1979.^[4][3][5]

Glenn is a serial entrepreneur who has started over 40 companies. He and his family currently operate seven companies ranging from real estate development, international importing, travel management, and retail. Glenn is the past President of the Nebraska N Club, representing all letter winners at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Throughout his career, he has served as president, officer, and director in over 20 organizations nationally and around Nebraska.^[5] In 1986, Glenn established a privately held travel management company, Executive Travel, with his wife. He currently serves as its chairman of the board.^[3][6] He was a pioneer in the travel industry, online travel fulfillment, virtual agents, and zero online fees.^[2][7] He started the company with two employees in a small location, and today, over 70% of the company's sales is generated on the internet. Being in the travel industry for over 30 years, Glenn has become a key opinion leader in the space and is often asked to speak and write on various topics such as travel policy and how to enforce it properly.^[8] Executive Travel has been honored four times on Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016).^[9][10][5] Headwind Consumer Products, a company also owned by Glenn has also been listed on the Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies two times. Since 2000, Glenn has been the President of Glenn's True Value,^[11] a five-store chain of hardware stores in Nebraska,^[1] which was the recipient of the Best Hardware Store in Town Award by True Value Company. He has been a Managing Partner at Piedmont Shopping Center since 2014. Glenn is the President of Headwind Consumer Products, a division of Glenn Family Inc.,^[12] in Syracuse, Nebraska (2010–present),^[13] President of Zulu Solutions, a consulting firm (2015–present), and President and owner of Batteries Plus Bulbs (2015–present).^[14]

In addition to his business accomplishments, he has done much to serve his local community as well as international needs. When Ukrainians were seeking refuge during war, he spearheaded Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine to give refugees shelter.^[15] Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine was able to hundreds of Ukrainian refugees find shelter.^[15] Being a part of the travel industry, he created the ETGreen initiative to offset carbon emissions by having a goal of planting 1 million trees.^[16]

• Entrepreneur of the Year, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration, 1999 ^[17][5]
• Business Owner of the Year, Lincoln Independent Business Association, 2001 ^[17][5]
• Rotarian of the Year, 2022 ^[18]

Glenn is married to Marie Garri Glenn. He has two sons, Paul, CEO and President of Executive Travel, and Matthew, Vice President of Headwind Consumer Products. Glenn currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska and is very active in the community as a key opinion leader. Known for his bold nature, he often publicly comments on local happens to make sure Lincoln stays innovative while also staying fiscally responsible as seen in the development of Google data centers.^[19] He also stays closely connected to his alma mater the Nebraska Cornhuskers. As NIL and roster limits threaten walk-on programs, Glenn expressed concerns because he was once a walk-on and realizes how important the walk-on program is to Nebraska and the small towns it often represents.^[20]