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I attended Duke University on a Naval ROTC scholarship. My parents were delighted because they had both served in the Navy. In August of my junior year, I announced that I was “going Marine option,” meaning I would commission as a Marine officer upon graduation. Nearly speechless, their response was, “Don’t you understand that when Marines storm the beach, half of them die? That’s the dumbest move in the world, not to mention that you will be wasting your Duke education.” This was just after the end of the Vietnam conflict and military service was deeply unpopular. But I wanted to serve my country and be where the standards were the highest, the camaraderie was the best and the mission mattered most.
Serving six years as a Marine infantry and recon officer gave me more than structure and discipline. It gave me high quality reps of leading young Marines in a wide variety of challenging environments, often solving complex problem sets. That experience has shaped everything I’ve done since, from M&A on Wall Street to running restaurants, building consumer brands and mentoring the next generation of leaders. And today, as I face the biggest battle of my life—ALS—it’s that same experience that keeps me pressing forward.
From the Corps to the C-Suite
As I transitioned out of the Marine Corps, my next goal was to earn a Master of Business Administration. I was initially set on UCLA given how much I enjoyed three years at Camp Pendleton. But when I turned down Harvard, my mom staged an intervention. She called everyone I respected—coaches, mentors, friends—asking them to knock some sense into me. I endured weeks of phone calls. I went to Harvard.
I launched my business career in mergers and acquisitions, first at Goldman Sachs, then at PepsiCo, where I got to see how great companies are built. In the early ‘90s, I pitched Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on partnering with Pepsi to distribute the coffee chain’s products. That conversation led to the now-ubiquitous bottled Frappuccino, a business worth billions today.
While M&A was exciting, it felt like a staff role. I missed leading troops. I needed to be on the front lines. At that point, Taco Bell was still part of PepsiCo, and Taco Bell senior leaders were willing to bet that my Marine Corps experience would translate. That’s how I found myself in charge of 300 Taco Bell restaurants with no prior restaurant experience. It was like being a Marine company commander again.
Everything was on me—from team morale to operational results. This was my first opportunity to apply Marine Corps leadership principles to a business at scale. Taco Bell was struggling to increase same-store sales at the time. The corporate playbook was to cut field overhead costs by thinning out first-line leaders. That approach made no sense to me as restaurant managers needed more support, not less.
I went against the grain, investing in training, leadership development and recognition programs. I repackaged basic Marine Corps tactics for business. Of course I was at odds with Taco Bell senior leaders. It was a “bet your career” situation that fortunately worked out and ultimately led to my promotion to chief operating officer and a founding executive of Yum Brands.
Scaling Mission-Driven Brands
I then joined Brentwood Associates, a Los Angeles private equity firm, to invest in fast-growing consumer businesses. I was directly involved with some highly successful investments, including buying all the Taco Bells and Pizza Huts in the Hawaiian Islands, and Zumiez, a teen retailer. My focus was to invest in businesses with plenty of runway for growth, but more critically, top leadership who understood that prioritizing mission, culture and people development was the major unlock for value creation.
I’ve been very fortunate in that opportunities seem to find me. When I was leading M&A at PepsiCo, we made a minority investment in the Panda Restaurant Group, owner of Panda Express. While at Brentwood, I wanted to invest in Panda, so I met the founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng for lunch multiple times. It turns out they didn’t want institutional capital—they wanted me to become CEO. Over the next five years, we updated the company’s mission, invested in recruitment, training, leadership development and physical fitness. These efforts, supported by menu innovation and improved marketing, led to accelerated growth: we doubled the restaurant count to 1,200 and grew revenue to more than $1.2 billion.
It was 2010 when I joined 5.11 Tactical as chairman. I loved the clothing, but when I came home one day wearing shades of tan my wife Molly said that I looked like Elmer Fudd!
In those days, 5.11 had great purpose-built products for law enforcement, fire and EMS professionals, but it had no consumer business.
The board ran a process to find a CEO but kept coming back to me, saying I had the necessary credibility. I was trying not to take on another full-time CEO role, so I insisted on a demand I thought would help me avoid this job: move the headquarters from Modesto to Irvine. Surprisingly, the board agreed. It turned out to be a great business decision because the surf, skate and snow apparel industry has a large footprint in Orange County.
5.11 was a gemstone that needed to be polished, focused and directed. Product innovation and brand building were the most visible drivers, but behind the scenes culture building, training, leadership development and physical fitness were key enablers. Five years later, we sold it in 2016 for more than $400 million to Compass Diversified. Today 5.11 has more than 120 retail stores and generates more than $500 million in annual sales from over 90 countries.
Black Rifle Coffee and Mentorship
I was transitioning out of 5.11 when I met Evan Hafer, a Special Forces operator who had founded Black Rifle Coffee Company in his garage in Salt Lake City. After I joined the board of directors, Evan asked me to come aboard to help scale the business. I don’t care about titles, so I took the co-CEO title. We split duties so Evan could do what only a founder could do uniquely—embody the spirit of the brand. I focused on building the company’s processes, people and infrastructure to sustain growth, making company culture a top priority. BRCC grew rapidly, leading to a public listing in 2022 (NYSE: BRCC).
At last count, I have mentored more than a dozen up-and-coming leaders who are now CEOs. That is a key part of my legacy. Along the way, I have passed on some of the mission-oriented leadership techniques I learned from the Marine Corps. As the CEO of any business, one has to deliver on financial commitments to shareholders. I believe that leading with purpose, culture and leadership development requires more effort but creates more sustainable results. What I like to say is, “the soft stuff drives the hard results.”
A Life-Altering Diagnosis
Last September, I noticed I was having a hard time keeping my head up straight, obviously troubling for a Marine. My neurologist eventually told me that his “diagnosis by exclusion” suggested I had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I knew of ALS because my good friend Augie Nieto fought this disease for 18 years before he succumbed in 2023.
Augie and his wife Lynne founded a research nonprofit, Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS, and Lynne carries on the fight. What causes ALS is still being studied, but military veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS compared to the general public.
The science is progressing quickly; there is a lot of research underway and artificial intelligence will likely be a major accelerant. So today, I have a new mission. Standing on Augie’s shoulders, I’ve joined the fight to find a cure. Just like in the Marine Corps. Just like at Panda, 5.11 and BRCC. I partner with great people. I believe in the cause. And I do whatever it takes to help the team win. That’s why I’m part of Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS.
Learn more at www.augiesquest.org