#081 Building Leaders Before You Need Them with Jenn Harrold and Franco Greco

Built For This Podcast, with Carly Pepin

September 14, 2026 by

Carly Pepin

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In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jenn Harrold, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at NewDay USA, and Franco Greco, Chief Revenue Officer, to explore how NewDay is intentionally developing the leaders it will need for its next stage of growth.

Jenn and Franco share why the company recruits recent college graduates and invests heavily in training, mentoring, and clearly defined career paths. Rather than constantly looking outside the organization for leadership talent, NewDay gives high performers opportunities to progress quickly and begin developing others.

They also discuss the company's "fail learn" mentality, radical transparency, immersive onboarding, and why leaders need to continually reinforce the organization's priorities as the business evolves.

Carly, Jenn, and Franco also explore how this approach extends beyond employees to NewDay's customer experience and its broader commitment to serving veteran families.

Key Takeaways

Don't Just Hire for the Role You Need Today

NewDay looks for ambition and leadership potential from the beginning. Employees are shown what progression can look like and given opportunities to mentor, manage, recruit, and develop others as they move through the organization.

Make Failure Part of How People Learn

NewDay's "fail learn" mentality recognizes that emerging leaders will make mistakes when taking on new responsibilities. The focus is on honest feedback, understanding what happened, and carrying those lessons forward.

You Can't Communicate the Priorities Too Often

As the company grows and priorities change, Franco believes leaders need to keep repeating what matters most. Consistent communication helps people understand not only where the business is going, but why.

About Jenn Harrold and Franco Greco

Franco Greco is Chief Revenue Officer at NewDay USA, a national VA mortgage lender. After joining the company as an Account Executive in 2013, Franco progressed through the organization to become CRO. Today, he focuses on scaling revenue operations, developing talent, and helping NewDay continue serving more than 100,000 veteran families.

Jenn Harrold is Senior Vice President of Human Resources at NewDay USA and brings more than 20 years of HR experience across fintech, technology, and logistics. She specializes in talent acquisition, performance management, culture, and building the people infrastructure organizations need to grow.

Together, Jenn and Franco are helping NewDay build high-performing teams and develop an internal pipeline of leaders capable of supporting the company's continued growth.

Memorable Quotes
"We always tell people we're an overnight success, and we've been doing it for 26 years." — Franco Greco
"Don't get tired of saying the goals. And once you've repeated it, repeat it again." — Franco Greco
"It's not just about getting bigger and having more people doing more work. It's also about making sure that the infrastructure and the leadership... is in place." — Jenn Harrold

Jenn Harrold and Franco Greco