“I am so grateful and impressed by the executives who volunteer for our mentorship program,” said Paul Thiel, Chairman of the CRT. “These six mentors who have joined our group bring experiences from major national sports leagues, Caterpillar, Deloitte, and PepsiCo as well as exciting start-ups and non-profits – across industries and continents. The insights and guidance they will be infused into our local businesses is such a gift to the executives they mentor and to our community as a whole.”
KEN DERRETT is a veteran of more than three decades in sports marketing at an executive level. His experience extends beyond borders and across three major North American sports leagues the NFL, NBA, and MLB. He led a successful launch of the NBA in Canada and later went to the League’s New York headquarters where he served as senior vice president of global marketing partnerships. More recently, Ken served as senior vice president – chief marketing officer for the Los Angeles Chargers from 2010-2017. He joined the club in 2001 and was responsible for the team’s marketing and sales functions for 16 years. He has since launched his own consulting practice helping brands and properties connect with consumers in the sports and entertainment space.
RICH DETWEILER has been tasked with leading challenged publicly listed and private companies in turnaround, rebuilding, and strategic repositioning based on his senior management experience in finance, planning, and operations, with Caterpillar’s Solar Turbines. After completing the divestiture of the last business he led, Rich, became a partner in a merger and acquisitions, a private equity investment firm to identify companies to acquire and to provide direction for those acquired businesses, after transaction completion. Rich also serves as a director on the board of numerous companies and gains great satisfaction from assisting in the development of management teams and identifying strategic direction and initiatives for those businesses.
ROBERT HILL is a seasoned Global Management Consultant focused on promoting inclusive growth by helping small businesses and their owners succeed. He is a Board Advisor and Student mentor at the University of San Diego, the University of California at San Diego, The Ohio State University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology and a member of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Center. Robert has deep expertise in helping global companies transform sales, marketing, engineering, and supply chain functions via leading-edge technologies such as digital, mobile, big data, analytics, and AI. He spent 32 years at Deloitte Consulting, including 10 years living and working in Japan. Robert’s management consulting experience includes leading accounts (Nissan) globally and managing Deloitte’s practices (Technology, Clients and Industries, and Automotive) in Asia. Prior to joining Deloitte, Robert served six years as a US Navy Officer.
SCOTT KRAWITZ is the Founder of PDSI, which offers Technology Advisory Services. Launched in 2009, clients range from start-ups, SMBs, and Non-Profits to Fortune 50 organizations. The signature service is the “Virtual CTO” which provides fractional technology leadership, driven by an informative Holistic Technology Assessment. Leveraging a global, 200 + partner ecosystem, PDSI offers solutions via onshore, offshore and nearshore resources. An innovative and seasoned business technologist and entrepreneur, Scott’s 15+ year career includes engagements consulting executives and leading teams through all project phases from strategic planning, analysis, design and development to implementation, iterative improvement, and ongoing support. Industries served to include Financial Services, Healthcare, Software, Retail, Business Services, Legal, and Education Technology.
JOHN RILEY spent the past two decades developing strategies, financial plans, and mergers and acquisitions for PepsiCo. He was most recently the CFO of PepsiCo’s North American Nutrition division where he led the financials and drove success in the multi-billion dollar Quaker Oats, Tropicana and Gatorade businesses. Headquartered in Chicago, the division had 19 plants and 25 distribution centers across the US and Canada in addition to numerous co-packers and distribution partners that made up the complex go-to-market system. John has managed strategic alliances developing new products with Lipton and Starbucks, as well as integrating smaller businesses like Naked Juice and Kevita into the PepsiCo portfolio. He joined PepsiCo after getting his MBA from The Wharton School and nine years as a Naval Flight Officer flying P-3s in the U.S. Navy.
BETH SIRULL is a mission-driven leader whose career has spanned the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She recently joined the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of San Diego as President and CEO. JCF has over $500 million in philanthropic assets under management and is San Diego’s largest philanthropic funder. They provide philanthropic consulting and donor education services to the Jewish and secular communities. Previously, Beth served as President/CEO of Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) a hybrid for-profit/nonprofit organization dedicated to driving investment in underserved communities. Under her leadership, PCV launched a small business loan fund, scaled a small business advisory service nationally, built a nationally recognized consulting practice in the assessment and communication of the social impacts of investments, and established a global reputation as a thought leader in impact investing.
About the Chairmen’s RoundTable
The Chairmen’s RoundTable is a non-profit volunteer organization composed of more than 40 current and former Chief Executive Officers, with extensive board experience and diverse industry backgrounds, and a broad base of sponsor and partner organizations. CRT mentors provide invaluable advice without compensation to CEOs of private businesses in the Greater San Diego area as a way of giving back to the community. CRT’s well-defined mentoring program is ideal for privately-owned small to mid-sized companies that are at a strategic crossroads and are looking to gain an outside perspective on key business issues. CRT serves around 30 clients per year and to date, over 500 local companies have benefited from CRT’s mentorship. For more information and to read about past client successes, please visit www.crt-sd.com.