In a landmark announcement timed with National Invest In Veterans Week® (March 1–7), ITA International unveiled the formation of ITA Growth Partners, a dedicated family office investing in veteran-owned businesses across all sectors. This move, led by the Melo family, signals a bold recognition of veterans as high-performance business leaders—and represents a strategic shift toward long-term, values-based capital deployment that aligns with the initiative’s founding philosophy: that military service is an investment in the nation, and one that demands an institutional response.

The launch of ITA Growth Partners adds substantial momentum to National Invest In Veterans Week® as it continues its expansion beyond U.S. borders. On March 4, 2025, Canada became the first international participant in the observance when Northern Ontario Business published “Investing in Veterans: A Call to Northern Ontario’s Business Community”. The article urged Canadian industries to embrace veteran entrepreneurs as a skilled labor solution, echoing the same economic logic advanced by the U.S. initiative.

This milestone affirms National Invest In Veterans Week® as the first U.S.-based veteran business observance to be celebrated internationally. Its transnational traction is built upon a foundation of legal, legislative, and rhetorical validation: a federally registered trademark, multiple gubernatorial proclamations, and two entries in the U.S. Congressional Record (May 24, 2023, and March 8, 2024) that embedded its core language—“Investing in Our Veterans”—into the official record of American civic discourse.