The 10 Greatest Gifts Project, Inc. was founded in 1990 by Steven Vannoy after a pivotal event led him to re-prioritize his life.

In the 1980's Vannoy was the head of a highly successful talent agency, the largest between Chicago and Los Angeles. He saw his life dream of having a loving family supported by a thriving business crumble into nothingness when he lost his business, and then his wife and children to divorce. In the months following these events, Steven realized a vital truth, "On our deathbeds none of us will be thinking about the "toys" we had or the other mundane things that occupy our lives. No, each and every one of us will be thinking about our families, about the lives we've touched, and the good we've left behind."

From that point on, Vannoy rededicated his life to building healthy functional families and relationships. In 1992, he wrote, "The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children." The book, republished in 1994 and translated into many foreign languages, has been a Simon and Schuster bestseller.

In 1994, Vannoy began developing and testing the tools and methodologies that are found today in the Pathways to Leadership program. He recognized the same leadership qualities that nurture a functional family unit also build a strong, successful work culture.

Due to the overwhelming success of this program, Pathways to Leadership, Inc. was formed to coordinate the expanding business leadership division. Its mission is to help companies build sustainable, high performance work cultures with trust, teamwork and respect, provides leadership training to companies around the world.

Clients include Ford Motor Company, Ford of Mexico, Novartis Consumer Health, Gerber Products Company, Schering-Plough Corporation, John Paul Mitchell Systems, Caraustar Custom Packaging, United Airlines, Duncan Aviation, and other corporations, small and large, that recognize their greatest resource lies in their people.

Today, Pathways to Leadership is recognized as a highly successful, cost-effective program that builds and sustains strong, change-friendly work cultures, and healthy functional families.

Vannoy and Craig Ross, Director of Pathways, are currently writing the first of several Pathways to Leadership books. Other relationship books, such as Vannoy's generational book, Heartstrings and Family Ties is due for publication soon. Vannoy and a team of Certified Facilitators travel extensively, conducting seminars and workshops.