Notable Alumni Highlight: Bill Hankes ʼ83, Forbes Chief Communication Officer

Ever the entrepreneur, teenage Bill Hankes knew what he wanted and discovered Missouri Military Academy was the way to get it. The decision he made 40 years ago to attend MMA has paid him back in spades over the course of his career, evidenced last summer with his appointment as chief communications officer at Forbes.

But success wasn’t always his watchword. As a high school junior, Hankes was floundering at a military academy in Illinois, struggling with poor grades and no plan to change his lot.

“Before MMA I was a poor student,” he recalls. “Halfway through my junior year, with no promising college or post-high school prospects, I felt strongly that I needed a reset.” Learning about MMA from a family friend, Hankes saw the possibility of changing his life. “I’m not sure my parents were on board initially with my desire to transfer, but they were willing to roll the dice and give me another shot — something I’m eternally grateful for because that was the exact moment everything changed for me. MMA was transformative.”

Then-Cadet Bill Hankes with fellow MMA brothers. Front to back: Lt. Scott Spangler, supervisor; Bill Hankes, Bill Battle, Doug Priestley, Jeff Lombardo, Scott Nussbaum, Matt Rollings, Mark Prose, David Cunningham, Jeff Kays, Clif Westin, John Coover, Eric Aronowitz, Chet Plegge, Gordon Henderson and Scott Rennard.

Transferring midyear, Hankes dove into MMA activities, making the most of his three semesters. In his first month at the Academy, he earned the academic fourragère, “aka the ‘brain cord,’ my first of many,” he says. “Considering I was previously a D student, this was a huge and emotional accomplishment for me.”

He spent a week in Washington, D.C., for Presidential Classroom, enjoyed battalion boxing and track, and earned a varsity letter in football. “I wasn’t a particularly good player,” Hankes says, “but at the letter ceremony, Coach Dave Steinmetz made a point of talking about how I worked harder than most. It meant a lot.”

1983 Colonels Football. Hankes is #33 in the third row.

He fell in love with journalism in the basement of the cadet hospital working on The Eagle and the yearbook Taps, serving as yearbook editor-in-chief his senior year. The lessons of adviser Scott Spangler stuck with Hankes as he pursued journalism in college, earning a degree in communications from Florida Southern College. His impressive resume plots the trajectory that carried him to his current position at Forbes: public relations work at companies ranging from startups to blue chips such as Perkins Coie law firm, Internap Network Services, Cyclone Commerce, AT&T’s Sterling Commerce, Destinator Technologies, RealNetworks and Microsoft’s Bing. In 2013, he founded Sqoop, an online platform for journalists to research aggregated public data in one place.

Senior photo for then-cadet Bill Hankes, 1983

“MMA taught me that I can change and shape my life — a belief I practice today,” Hankes says. “At the time, I viewed MMA as my last chance. Literally. I knew I needed to get good grades in order to have a successful life, even though I’d never had them before. So, I worked harder than I ever had.”

He recalls the night he was written up for studying after lights out. “So instead of staying up late, I started getting up at 4 a.m. to study early,” he says. “Echo Company’s resident adviser, Col. Bob Johnson, tapped on my door one dark morning and summoned me out into the hallway to ask what I was doing. I was terrified that I was going to get into trouble, but worse, I feared that if I didn’t have the extra time to study, my plans could be in peril. Probably seeing how shaken up I was, he told me to get back to work and if anyone bothered me, I should send them to him.”

Hankes credits the “productive recipe” he found at MMA for his professional success. “I tried to work harder than everyone else,” he says. “I asked for help when I needed it, and the teachers and cadet leaders helped me. It wasn’t long before I was helping others. Working hard and helping others has been a productive recipe throughout the rest of my career.”

That tried-and-true recipe will come in handy at Hankes’ new position. While overseeing Forbes’ integrated global corporate communications strategy, he works to reinforce the company’s business objectives. His experience leading communications for publicly traded companies is another asset for Forbes as the 104-year-old media conglomerate wraps up the process of going public.

Hankes’ time at the Academy left him with a strong bond to the MMA brotherhood. “You can’t not feel connected after that kind of experience!” he says. “Over the years, I’ve been able to connect with some alums in person and others online: the late Mike Walker, my battalion commander, in Florida when I lived there; my company commander Gary Cline in Arizona when I lived there; the late Clif Westin, who visited me at Microsoft when I worked there; Wayo DeLeon, roommate Matt Vis, Jason Falbo and fellow Seattleites Michael Posner (my junior year roommate) and Chris Arbow.”

The Academy bond also reaches back to where it all began for Hankes. “Of note,” he adds, “I’m connected to Mr. Scott Spangler, who taught me journalism.”

Feature photo credit: Sophie Hankes Photography.