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About Glenn Proctor


“The thing to remember about the curves, turns, stops and starts of life is that you’re doing the driving.” – Glenn Proctor

Marine gunnery sergeant Vietnam vet Motivational speaker • Retired newspaper editor – Alcoholic – Prostate cancer survivor Career adviser Author and poet – Leadership trainer Certified Life Coach – Certified QPR (suicide prevention) Instructor/Mental Wellness advocate


Glenn Proctor established REDDjobb after a journalism career spanning 40 years. When he retired in 2011, Proctor was executive editor, vice president-news of the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch.

Beginning at a suburban Philadelphia daily and moving through the ranks at newspapers in Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, New York and New Jersey, Proctor also worked as a reporter for United Press International in Philadelphia, on Capitol Hill as a Congressional press secretary and as editor of the Marine base newspaper at Camp Lejeune, NC.

He shared in the 1987 Pulitzer Prize at the Akron Beacon Journal for coverage of the Goodyear takeover and has won numerous journalism and community service awards. During his tenure in Richmond, his team won the National Headliners Award for Breaking News for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre and Virginia’s top awards for public service and First Amendment journalism. Proctor was named to the UNITY Journalists list of top journalists of the past century.

From a very young age, Proctor has been a mentor – back then he was called a “know it all” – doling out advice, sharp jabs and life tips to anyone who would listen. A recovering alcoholic, he often didn’t heed his own advice.  But, he found ways to bounce back.

From teaching at Washington and Lee University the semester after his retirement as well as earlier adjunct work at Kent State University and lecturing at Columbia, Northwestern, University of South Carolina and dozens of universities to motivating cadets at the Marine Military Academy in Texas to standing-room only sessions at national journalism conventions, he preaches motivation.

Decades before receiving the National Association of Black Journalists’ Legacy Award in Las Vegas in August 2007, less than six weeks after prostate cancer surgery, Proctor was considered the “mentor’s mentor” by his professional colleagues. Proctor likens his style to castor oil: You don’t like the taste, but if you keep taking it, you’ll feel better.

Proctor is a member of Professional Networking Partners of the Carolinas and a volunteer with Mental Health America of Central Carolina – an MHA Storyteller and QPR Instructor and has taken MHA’s Mental Health First Aid and QPR Gatekeepers courses. He teaches creative writing at a Charlotte area private school for learning disabled students and facilitates leadership workshops for area veterans’ groups.

Life experience is the essence of Proctor’s teaching and coaching.  Here are his words:

 “Everyone has made and will make mistakes, some more serious than others, but mistakes just the same. How we bounce back is what counts and what sets us apart.”

“Most of what I know, I learned the hard way. Early on, academics were not part of my equation for life. My folks believed in tough work, manual work.”

“A foster kid at 3, I helped my grandmother carry home ‘government cheese’ as a teenager and was told at my last high school that I should get a job in a mill or join the military. That was great advice because I had no plan. I joined the Marine Corps, served six years on active duty in two stints, including a tour in Vietnam, six years in the Marine Corps Reserve and one year as an Air Force Reserve recruiter.”

“I am blessed. Being a Marine, a newspaper editor, a role model for my children and grandchildren and a professional and personal mentor to so many is such a wonderful life.”

In addition to mentoring and coaching current and former journalists, public relations practitioners and media executives, Proctor has coached and mentored  teachers and college professors, authors, high-ranking law enforcement officers and corporate managers at all levels.

What others say:

“Glenn is a man who shares willingly his experiences; mentors unselfishly; supports completely and accepts no excuses. He is no non-sense in his expectations for excellence.”

“Firm, fair, principled and professional as a leader and mentor.”

“Glenn Proctor asks the tough questions that no one else asks. What makes him standout from the others is that he also has the answers. Glenn is a superb motivator and gets right to the heart of the matter. I am humbled and honored to have benefitted from his career guidance. He challenges and encourages at every turn.”