How WeSalute continues to build respect, recognition, and rewards for those who serve
WeSalute’s story begins with Vietnam War Army veteran Scott Higgins and his spouse Lin, whose father served as a WWII Marine Lieutenant. After Scott’s return from Vietnam, he pursued an MBA at Wharton and a successful Wall Street career, but he also experienced the lack of recognition so many Vietnam veterans faced. Determined to change this, he supported the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) during its formative years and co-chaired the New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission alongside Donald Trump under Mayor Ed Koch.
In September 1999, Scott and Lin founded WeSalute—originally known as Veterans Advantage—with a vision of providing greater respect, recognition, and rewards for those who serve. Their mission expanded beyond veterans to include military families, frontline heroes, and eventually other service communities such as nurses, teachers, and first responders.
Today, WeSalute is not just about discounts—it’s a trusted platform and advocacy movement that improves the lives of millions of service members and public servants, backed by longstanding partnerships with brands like Amtrak, United Airlines, CVS Health, Apple, Dell, Ford, and more.
We recently sat down with Lin Higgins, Co-Founder & CEO of WeSalute, to learn more about her leadership approach, the organization’s journey, and its future.
How does a typical day look for you, and what helps you stay productive?
My typical 10 hour day at WeSalute starts by blocking the first two hours of my work day from any meetings. I reserve the start of the day, when my brain is fresh and energized, to do the deep thinking required to strategically lead WeSalute. It also leaves me an opening, if needed, for anything unexpected that comes up and has to be addressed immediately. This productivity hack is based on something called the Pareto Principle as well as the 80% rule, a highly effective time management technique followed by other business leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, both overachievers!
Throughout the rest of the day, meetings will follow with my team members reviewing feedback from our community members, who are active-duty, veterans, families, and our frontline heroes. WeSalute offers free one-on-one personal benefit consulting meetings for our members who are premium subscribers and live member support for our free basic community members. These valuable daily interactions not only deliver enhanced responsiveness as a benefit of membership, but also give us real-time, valuable insights to what our members need most, whether it’s more travel discounts, new health benefits, or better experiences in being recognized for their service. My day will also involve meetings with our WeSalute benefit partners, to refine their current WeSalute offers and marketing strategies, or meetings to plan new products for our members. Most of all, our days stay productive from being grounded in our mission of advocacy for recognition of service and delivering A Real Thank You. Every meeting and task must tie back to our goal of creating greater respect, recognition and rewards for the dedicated service groups that protect our communities and our country.
In what ways do you turn your ideas into reality?
WeSalute brings forward ideas by seeking innovative solutions that deliver real and tangible value for our members. We start by asking the questions: “Can we deliver a salute to service that is sincere, effortless, and trusted with this idea?” or “Does this idea enhance the lifestyles of our members with tangible benefits?” If the answer is yes, we advocate for bringing it to life. Our first partnership with Amtrak, launched in February, 2001 is a great example. We pitched the idea that military veterans deserved year-round recognition with a discount on our nation’s railroad. However, they needed a way to show their eligibility for their ticket discount. Using a government- issued military ID, like the CAC card, was not an option; for security purposes, the DoD does not recommend using an active-duty ID in civilian life and veterans do not have CAC cards. So, we built the first online military verification system so members could safely submit their credentials and receive a secure way to prove their active duty, military veteran or family member status . We then created our own military ID card personalized with the member’s name and branch of service to show in Amtrak stations nationwide, plus a unique military member code for booking ticket discounts online at Amtrak.com. For more than two years after 9/11, our members could get 50% off their Amtrak tickets by simply using their member ID. From this one partnership, we built a network of trusted retail and travel brands that could also use our member’s secure military ID card to identify their customers as eligible for military discounts. That’s how we bring ideas to life.
Today, we call it the WeSalute+ ID Card.
What is one current trend that excites you the most?
We are excited by the continuous enhancements in online security so we can deliver a trusted marketplace for our members. Military service members are particularly vulnerable to fraud, as they are nearly three times more likely than the general public to be targeted by scammers or become victims of identity theft. WeSalute is always investing in ways to protect our member’s identities with the best technology and maintain secure online benefits redemption.We love knowing that WeSalute technology can help protect active-duty and veterans from scams and rip-offs, and we can give them trusted access to protected offers on our platform.
What daily habit keeps you consistently productive?
Daily reflection on our mission. Every day, we meet with our teams to ensure our productivity is aligned with our mission of delivering A Real Thank You®. This habit keeps us working towards the same goal, and reminds us that productivity is not measured in output alone, but in the real and tangible value we deliver to our member community that serves to enhance their lifestyles.
If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
I was certainly my younger self when we launched WeSalute 25 years ago! So my advice would be to understand that getting recognized and rewarded for service is not a given; the goal of WeSalute should be to create an enduring way to deliver on that promise. My dad served as a Marine Corps Lieutenant in WWII and was stationed on the Pacific island of Peleliu. When he returned home, he received not only a warm welcome but also many tangible expressions of thanks that recognized his service everyday. He’d get a free coffee or a free shoeshine as he went about his daily life.
My spouse and co-founder, Scott Higgins, who volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War as an Army Lieutenant, encountered a totally different experience upon his return. There were no ticker tape parades or other thank you’s. When we started WeSalute, Vietnam had been largely forgotten, as well as the sacrifices of those who had served and their families. It was late 1999, and our efforts to gain traction with brands that would support our mission met with failure, as we were rejected again and again. Earning the trust of veterans was also tough, because in the past, they had not experienced anything like what we were doing. Still, we persisted in pioneering our new platform for greater recognition, respect and rewards, finally launching the first national military discount in partnership with Amtrak in 2001, followed by Dell, Apple, United Airlines (then Continental Airlines) and Avis, Budget. It continued to require deep advocacy and persistence in building our WeSalute community, now with over 3 million current and former service members and their families, and the WeSalute Marketplace that offers meaningful rewards as a real thank you from over 1000 brands. So, my advice would be to simply not give up and remain steadfastly committed to creating recognition where none exists. We are about to embark on this same path for other service groups, such as nurses, who do not get the recognition they deserve.
What is one thing you consistently practice and encourage others to adopt as well?
We repeatedly ask: “Who is not being properly recognized for their service to others? We recommend everyone do this. Finding real and tangible ways to express our gratitude is the key to inspiring the commitment to service that protects our communities, our country, and our world. It has helped WeSalute expand our mission beyond military veterans to include nurses, first responders, medical professionals, teachers, and government employees. We are working hard to keep our brand inclusive of all who deserve recognition, while staying true to our military roots.
What strategy has been most effective in helping you grow your business?
Building trusted partnerships. Rather than chasing every brand, we look for those brands that have similar values and are sincere in truly wanting to honor and recognize service with tangible benefits. This selectivity builds long-term trust, and is why we’ve had longstanding military discount partnerships since our company’s founding, with so many top brands and travel providers, such as United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Wendy’s, Harry & David, Avis Budget Group, CVS Health, Apple, Dell Technologies, and Ford Motor Company, among others.
What challenges has WeSalute faced, and how were you able to overcome them?
WeSalute has experienced several external threats to our business continuity that we have proudly met and overcome. Over the past twenty-five years, we have navigated numerous economic storms, from the dot-com bubble of 2000 and the profound societal shifts after 9/11, to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the recent COVID pandemic. Our journey has been defined by our unwavering commitment to our mission, particularly in the face of the financial challenges these events produced. As a registered public benefit corporation, our members’ well-being is always our top priority. We stand alone in this commitment, and do not rely on outside investors or government funding, ensuring their interests never overshadow those of our valued members. Our growth has been entirely organic, fueled by the dedicated support of our benefit partners and, most importantly, our members themselves. We are incredibly proud of our resilient track record and enduring presence. The statistics speak for themselves: while 10% of startups fail within their first year and a staggering 90% of all new businesses ultimately cease operations, we have consistently demonstrated our ability to thrive and continue serving our community. Our longevity is a testament to the trust our members place in us and our steadfast dedication to recognizing their service.
Can you share one business idea you’d be willing to give away?
The best business idea I can offer is this: Brands should make a genuine, on-going commitment to recognizing our military and other service communities. By offering meaningful recognition discounts everyday, without blackout dates, they’ll see a massive return on investment. This strategy goes beyond a quick sale; it builds incredible brand loyalty and creates a powerful ‘halo effect’ that attracts new customers. The key to success with this strategy is to avoid marketing missteps that can alienate this valuable audience and damage the affinity for your brand. This is why partnering with a trusted platform like WeSalute is essential. We know how to get the message right and amplify a brand’s offer to produce a successful ROI. What’s more, a trusted platform like WeSalute delivers a powerful network effect, making a brand’s marketing of its recognition discounts more sincere, effortless and cost-effective than trying to market these offers directly to consumers on their own.
Which software tool has been most valuable for boosting your productivity?
We are very excited by the productivity gains our teams are experiencing with new AI software developments. Speeding up our productivity with AI helps us get our message out more quickly and effectively, so those who can benefit from WeSalute learn about us and can engage in getting the recognition they deserve.
What’s the best $100 you’ve spent recently, and why?
I spend $100 every year on WeSalute+ (I qualify as a veteran family member) which is less than $60 for an annual membership and then another $40 to add on WeSalute Travel Protection. Our low-cost WeSalute Travel Protection insurance provides me year round coverage with up to $50,000 in emergency medical evacuation services anywhere in the world, and anytime I’m more than 100 miles from my home, whether I’m driving, flying, taking the bus or train, or a cruise. We enjoy travel as a family, and we actually had to use our travel insurance policy for the medical evacuation of our son with a life threatening condition out of a remote Caribbean island to an ICU unit in Miami. The private emergency air ambulance was almost $40,000, all covered by our emergency medical travel policy. You won’t find this kind of value anywhere else. As for WeSalute+ membership, I’ve saved thousands of dollars on everything from 20% off CVS/pharmacy for my everyday purchases to huge savings on our Ford vehicles–Ford Escape, Ford 150 and Bronco– with the WeSalute+ Ford X-plan benefit. So my spending of $59.95 a year for WeSalute+ and $39.95 for WeSalute Travel Protection totals less than $100, which is the best investment I can ever make!
What’s a movie or series you’ve enjoyed lately, and what about it resonated with you?
Band of Brothers remains a favorite with our entire team at WeSalute. It’s not just about war, but about connection, loyalty, and the shared sacrifice that comes with service — themes that align with our mission. In partnership with HBO, who produced the highly-acclaimed award-winning 10 part series, WeSalute has given away hundreds of free, limited edition collector’s tins of Band of Brothers to our members enrolled in WeSalute– just another way to deliver A Real Thank You.
Key Learnings
- Recognition is most powerful when it becomes part of daily life, not just symbolic holidays.
- Authentic partnerships grow stronger than wide but shallow networks.
- Failures in identity verification led to innovations in secure ID systems.
- Asking “Who is left out?” keeps mission-driven organizations inclusive and forward-thinking.
- Community feedback is not just useful but central to guiding strategy and productivity.
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