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J. Patrick Doyle, ’88, president and CEO of Domino’s Pizza, never intended to steer far from his original career path of banking. But the economy and his passion for fixing troubled business led him in unexpected directions.
Doyle was interviewed by Mark Zmijewski, deputy dean and Leon Carroll Marshall Professor of Accounting, and shared his nonlinear road to CEO with a student audience at Gleacher Center. The Office of Alumni Affairs & Development and the Evening/Weekend Student Advisory Council sponsored the event.
“I expected to stay in banking and finance for the rest of my career,” said Doyle, who worked at First Chicago (now JP Morgan Chase) for five years as they paid his way through graduate school. “Then interest rates went up dramatically and the deal business came to a screeching halt,” he said of the 1989 economy.
Doyle joined the start-up medical device business Intervascular SA, and moved to France, where he launched the firm’s European operations.
“It was a fabulous experience,” he said. “It got me general manager experience at a very early stage in my career. I was 26 and carrying a card that said ‘European General Manager.’ ”
After the company was sold, Doyle went to work for Gerber Products Company, first as head of finance for its international division, then as general manager of Canadian operations, which he described as “mostly a marketing and sales job.” It was his first exposure to marketing.
“I had one marketing course here at the university - and it was excellent,” he told students with a smile. But it was a mentor at Gerber who “taught me everything I needed to know about marketing in two days at a Paris café over a lot of coffee.”
He turned the Canadian operation from “a mess that wasn’t making money” into profitability.
When Gerber was bought out by a Swiss pharmaceutical company that showed little interest in baby food, Doyle decided it was time to look elsewhere. In 1997, through networking, he landed a job as senior vice president of marketing at Domino’s Pizza, running its US marketing business.
“It took me about six months between my decision to leave and getting the Domino’s job,” he said.
“I went from banking to medical devices to baby food to pizza - there was clearly no plan. I’ve covered finance, manufacturing, marketing, sales forces, and general manager responsibilities. I’ve just moved where they’ve needed someone to go in and fix something. For me, that was always the most fun, and frankly, the place where you could make a name for yourself.”
At Domino’s, Doyle continued his strategy of taking a fixer-upper and making it great. He turned around the company’s poorly performing international division by focusing resources on developing and expanding franchises in existing overseas markets instead of sequentially opening stores in new countries. Currently, Domino’s operates more than 9,000 stores in 70 markets. The pizza giant is the largest international restaurant chain in India and has a strong presence in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, and South Korea.
“In about 15 months, Domino’s will be bigger outside the US than in the US,” Doyle said. “We’re a global business and we’re building up a team to drive that going forward.”
Doyle also significantly boosted the profits of 600 corporate-owned stores that were underachieving compared to franchise operations. His most high-profile victory was playing a central role in relaunching the Domino’s brand with an improved pizza recipe and expanded menu. He even starred in commercials that unveiled the new pizza.
Consumer response to the ad campaign was phenomenal. Company shares have gone from as low as $3 in 2008 to the current $24.50.
Since his appointment to CEO in March 2010, Doyle has found “the higher you go, the more it becomes about leading people.” He’s also had to make the change from being “Mr. Inside” to serving as the public face of a company.
Evening MBA Program student Tim Erickson said he hopes his fellow students will take note of how Doyle’s career took many unexpected turns. “A lot of students here think they’re going to follow one career path. He showed that your path could change.”
—Mary Paleologos