Faculty Bio
Shannon Burns
Shannon Burns (CEO) and Dan Cord (Chairman) are Republican political activists and entrepreneurs who have dedicated themselves to developing technology that empowers the right.
It started one day in 2004 while Shannon and Dan were sitting together in a Bush-Cheney Steering Committee meeting. As the meeting went on and grassroots goals were discussed it hit them both that better technology was needed in Republican campaigns. With that thought in mind a vision was born and Victory Solutions was created.
In 2006, Victory Solutions introduced Victory VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones. Victory VoIP was introduced in Ohio on Ken Blackwell's GOP primary victory for governor. Later that year, the Ohio Republican Party used Victory VoIP phones in Republican headquarters across the entire state.
The phone system was so successful that the company knew expansion was the next step. With that in mind, in 2007, Victory Solutions created the VAR (Valued Added Reseller) business model. Shannon and Dan began working hard to develop a VAR network of motivated political professionals from all over the United States. The VAR network is highly unique in that it empowers conservative consultants who use Victory Solutions' technologies to significantly grow their businesses.
Also in 2007, Victory Solutions introduced a major upgrade to Victory VoIP phones. The new and improved phones were debuted at the Iowa caucuses and on a special congressional election in the battleground state of Ohio.
In Iowa, the phones were used by a third party group operating independently from any Presidential campaign called Trust Huckabee. By mobilizing evangelical volunteers, thousands of calls were made with Victory VoIP phones to promote the candidacy of Governor Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee went on to shock the country and win the Iowa Caucuses.
In Ohio, Bob Latta's campaign used the phones to maximize the volunteers they had on the ground. With only eight phone lines, the Latta campaign made 40,000 volunteer phone calls in 5 weeks—including 10,000 GOTV calls in the final 72 hours of the campaign. Despite being outspent 3 to 1, Bob Latta won a tough primary battle, and went on to win the general election in a landslide.
News spread quickly from the successes in 2007, and in 2008 Victory Solutions' technologies were used on hundreds of campaigns in over 20 states. Building on the success of Victory VoIP, Victory Solutions is developing new products including a grassroots management suite, email and text blasting, fundraising compliance, donor management, and much more.
The key to success at Victory Solutions is the VAR network. VAR's understand the importance of utilizing technology in campaigns, and are consistently providing important feedback on product development. Because of relationships with national network of resellers, Victory Solutions is constantly improving existing technologies while developing new, cutting-edge products that will help Republican candidates win on Election Day.