How I got here.
I help founders, CEOs, and wealth creators work through the decisions that matter most: raising or deploying capital, leading through growth or crisis, and figuring out what comes next. That guidance comes from having done the work myself: more than twenty years building, running, and turning around companies, not just advising from the sidelines.
The mindset
I care about substance over performance, for myself and for the people I work with. As a TIGER 21 Chair and longtime Member of YPO and EO, I spend most of my time in rooms where people are honest about what’s actually working and what isn’t, because pretending gets expensive fast.
That same instinct runs through NutriScience Corporation, where I’ve helped build and grow consumer brands including EnergyFirst and Greens Plus, not by chasing trends, but by staying disciplined when it would have been easier not to.
I bring the same approach to my own life. Training for Ironman races and marathons was never about the finish line; it’s a reminder that real progress comes from unglamorous habits, repeated consistently. That’s the mindset I bring to the work.
- Private Pilot License
- Real Estate Broker
- USCG-Licensed Captain
- Fluent in Spanish
- Spirit of Inquiry Alumnus Award
- Eagle Scout
- Silver Beaver Award
- Rotarian of the Year
- Pacifica District Award of Merit
- Harvard Business School, HBS/YPO President’s Program in Leadership (2019–2020)
- MIT Sloan School of Management, Entrepreneurial Masters Program (2007–2009)
- UCLA Anderson School of Management, Executive MBA (2003–2005)
- Clayton College, MS Nutrition (2004–2006)
- University of Arizona, Eller College, BSBA Entrepreneurship (1991–1995)
The long version.
1995
Learning to listen first
My career started in enterprise software sales, closing deals with organizations like the FDA. It taught me the skill that still matters most in advisory work: understand what someone actually needs before you offer an opinion.
1998
Watching growth outpace process
I joined Interwoven as an early sales hire and watched it become one of the fastest-growing software companies in the country. Scaling that fast taught me how quickly growth can outrun the systems meant to support it, a pattern I now help other leaders catch before it costs them.
2001
Making it, losing it, making it back
I left the corporate track to build Morton Development, developing property across the South Bay. I made a fortune at 28, lost most of it in the 2001 crash, and built it back. That stretch taught me more about capital and risk than any deal that went smoothly, and it is the part that tends to be most useful in the room.
2003
Running the whole business
I became CEO of NutriScience Corporation and launched EnergyFirst. Running a company end to end (product, capital, people) is where most of what I now teach other operators actually comes from.
2014
A harder kind of turnaround
As Chairman and Council President for Boy Scouts of America in Los Angeles, I inherited an organization years into decline. Turning it around took slower, more patient work than any business deal I’d done, and it shaped how I think about accountability and long-term stewardship ever since.
2016
Distribution over everything
I took over Greens Plus and helped grow it into a national, shelf-stable brand. It reinforced something I tell every founder I advise: distribution discipline matters as much as the product itself.
2017
Learning in community
Serving in chapter leadership roles inside YPO’s Global One Chapter put me alongside thousands of CEOs working through the same problems at every stage. It’s where I first started doing, informally, the kind of advising I now do as a discipline. The same year, the City Council appointed me to the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission, where I served six years and chaired for two: a different kind of room, with residents at the microphone and every decision on the public record.
2024
The work I care about most
Today I chair two TIGER 21 Groups in Los Angeles, helping founders and wealth creators work through the decisions that don’t have easy answers: what to do with capital, when to step back, what comes next. It’s the reason this site exists.
“The timing of world updates was well managed so we heard from everyone and also had ample time for other components of the day. Gerry managed the entire meeting flawlessly.”
TIGER 21 Member, August 2025