ABOUT:

Many of our Naval Academy graduates have gone on to lead national and global teams, become innovators in their fields and lead impressive careers in the private sector following their military service. This conversation series allows our fellow shipmates to share their professional point of view and lessons they took from the Academy and how they applied them to their personal and professional lives. We hope you will join us for our next conversation!

Recent VIRTUAL Conversation:

Our society places great value in resilience—the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. We’ve all had our resilience tested in ways large and small since the COVID-19 pandemic first gripped the world in early 2020. Now, four Naval Academy alumni executives in industries particularly affected by the pandemic are coming together for a virtual discussion on how they and their organizations have faced the challenges of the past year, learned from them and seized new opportunities.

Thank you to those who were able to join us along with our panelists:

• Tom Fricke ’81, CEO of Bar Louie, a bar and restaurant chain with 73 locations nationwide that entered bankruptcy in January of 2020 and had to then navigate both through that process and COVID simultaneously
• Rick Stollmeyer ’87, co-founder and CEO of Mindbody, the leading software-as-a-service platform for fitness, wellness and beauty businesses worldwide
• Carrie Ask ’91, C-Suite omnichannel retail executive
• Jen Donahoe ’94, owner, Mills Fine Wine and Spirits Annapolis

Moderated by RADM Alan T. “Blues” Baker ’78, CHC, USN (Ret.), Timothy and Susanne Sullivan Director of Influencer Development, Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership.

The panelists shared how their experiences at the Academy and in the Navy prepared them for the unique challenges of the past year.

Click here for event recording.

Listen TO PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS:

November Event: Tony Wells ’86, Chief Brand Officer for USAA

October Event: Joe Femenia ’98, Global Head of Distressed Trading and Special Situations, Jefferies

September Event: Dan Greene ’93, SVP US Sales, Impossible Foods

August Event: Craig Malloy ’83, Founder and CEO, Lifesize, Inc.