About Jeff Shuford

Three professionals, two men and one woman, are engaged in a conversation at a conference or seminar in a well-lit room. The man on the left is wearing a black suit with a white shirt, the man in the center is wearing a gray suit with a white shirt, and the woman on the right is wearing a red dress. The woman is holding a camera. Other attendees are seated or standing in the background, with a presentation screen and an American flag visible.

Jeff Shuford

National Invest In Veterans Week Co-founder

Jeff Shuford

Founding Architect | National Invest In America Week℠ Braintrust

Jeff Shuford is a nationally recognized civic technologist, Iraq War combat veteran, and the founding architect behind both National Invest In Veterans Week® and National Invest In America Week℠. Though now formally retired from public leadership, Shuford continues to serve in a strategic advisory capacity within the National Invest In America Week℠ Braintrust.

The grandson of legendary doo-wop pioneer Jim Freeman of The Five Satins, Shuford represents a rare fusion of cultural inheritance and civic design. Freeman’s voice helped define American music with “In the Still of the Night”—a song that echoes from the 1950s into the halls of the Grammy Hall of Fame, and even into the Nixon Presidential campaign, where The Five Satins were enlisted to inspire patriotic participation.

Decades later, Shuford would transform that artistic legacy into civic structure, becoming one of the youngest African-Americans to secure a federally registered national observance, and one of the few civic entrepreneurs to be recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record (2024) alongside his grandfather (2015).

From this generational blueprint, Jeff co-founded National Invest In Veterans Week® (NIVW) in 2017, which today spans 40 markets across 19 U.S. states and 21 international territories. The initiative empowers veteran entrepreneurs through public-private alignment, legislative innovation, and one of the largest collections of veteran-focused web domains globally.

In 2025, Shuford introduced National Invest In America Week℠, reviving President Nixon’s 1970 proclamation of “National Invest-in-America Week” and reframing it as a regional civic and economic observance. This initiative became the embodiment of Shuford’s “invest where you are” strategy, connecting digital platforms, regional governance, and cultural storytelling under the umbrella of economic patriotism.

Though fully retired, Shuford’s frameworks endure through:

  • The Jeff Shuford Roadmap℠

  • The Invest In America Challenge™

  • A decentralized model of regional leadership

  • Strategic integration with bipartisan policy goals

His published research has been cited by global institutions including the University of Cambridge, Microsoft Azure Quantum, and NIH, spanning topics from ethical AI to veteran-focused healthcare innovation. Shuford’s work has also been featured in Rolling Stone, Black Enterprise, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more.

Now retired, Jeff lives quietly with his family, having stepped back from all formal operations. His enduring influence is embedded in the very architecture of National Invest In America Week℠—an initiative he envisioned not as a campaign, but as a permanent civic institution rooted in service, identity, and investment.

“Jeff Shuford built more than a movement—he built an operating system for civic capitalism. His voice, like his grandfather’s, will never stop resonating.”
— LTC Rickey L. Pope, Co-Founder and President, NIVW

Jeff Shuford currently holds an honorary role on the National Invest In America Week℠ Braintrust. He has no active or executive responsibilities.