06/ 25/ 2007
Bob DeSousa pours his passion into serving his country and his company
Bob DeSousa is used to being on the front lines. As CEO of the Vartan Group, a Harrisburg, Penn.-based real-estate investment and management company, he calls the shots, sets the strategy and fights every day to keep the $3.5 million-dollar business thriving. So when DeSousa, also a National Guard reservist, learned last fall that his unit might be called up for active duty in Iraq this summer, he was more than willing to step up and accept his duty.
"The global war on terrorism couldn't be fought without the guard and reserve—they've become such an integral part of the effort," says DeSousa, a member of the 213th Area Support Group of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
As proud as he was to serve, he didn't want to leave the business or his employees in the lurch. So as soon as he received word in November of a possible yearlong deployment, he alerted his 18 employees and began preparing the company for his departure.
"While I can keep an eye on my business from afar with today's technology, once I'm activated I'm an employee of the federal government," he says. "My primary duty becomes my military job; you can't let a civilian job interfere with that."
"Immediately, we started looking at what needed to be taken care of while I was away and prioritizing what needed to be done before I left. We came up with a game plan for managing the company over the next 18 months so we would be able to continue operations."
DeSousa invested in a new laptop with wireless technology so he could stay in touch via e-mail during his absence, but he knew that once he got overseas his phone and Internet communication would be sporadic at best.
"In my off time there, I hope to keep an eye on what's going on and provide guidance from afar," he says.
"But because of the time delays, I won't be there physically, and there are a lot of things in a small business that you need to be there for to move things along."
A large part of his plan involved delegating many of his responsibilities to his vice president, John Logan—and that meant handing over more than just check-signing authority.
"Because we don't have an advertising department, the CEO does all of the follow through, calling people to see who needs office space and keeping an ear to the ground about who's moving into town," DeSousa says.
Though he sent e-mails to friends before he left asking them to notify his agents if they heard of anything new, "it's not the same as meeting someone for lunch about what's going on in the community," he says.
While DeSousa felt lucky to receive advance notice of his deployment—a luxury that reservists don't always get—he also knew that he couldn't anticipate everything, especially in a competitive and often unpredictable industry like his. Having a strong staff to rely on and six weeks to gradually shift his duties over to Logan made it easier to relinquish control when he left for training on April 23.
"It's hard to let go," DeSousa says. "The thing that's different in this situation is that I'm going to be so far away, and if something happens, I won't be back soon to set things right. It forces you to come to a quick realization of what you can and cannot do."
In Iraq, DeSousa, a 14-year guardsmen who has been deployed to the Middle East once before for a short stint, will serve as a legal advisor—otherwise known as a command judge advocate—to a logistics unit responsible for distributing ammunition, gasoline, food, water and other supplies to soldiers on the front lines.
"I'm looking forward to doing the best job that I can and returning home as quickly as possible to my wife and four kids and the company," he says.
Even in the desert, though, the business won't be far from his mind.
"Serving in the National Guard is a tremendous privilege—and an opportunity," DeSousa says. "For small-business owners, it can provide a whole new set of contacts, people with whom you can branch out and do business in the future."
