Steve Hawes has spent the majority of his post-graduate career as an entrepreneur building, running and investing in start-up businesses focused on consumer products and consumer experience. His experience and holdings are in industries such as hospitality (hotels, restaurants, and real estate); media (radio stations and a media marketing enterprise responsible for the first Japanese informercials in Japan); packaging, consumer finance, software, and travel. Regarding his restaurant holdings, Mr. Hawes was one of the largest Five Guy’s franchisees in the world at the time of his selling of the business. In several of these experiences he assumed the role of CEO/COO and managed and grew the businesses until disposition. Immediately prior to joining CHAiNGE, Steve was the Founder and CEO of Go&Give, a business with the primary goal of helping foundations and other worthy causes raise money using Go&Give’s donated travel platform. Before returning to business school, Steve was Regional Manager for WordPerfect Corp in New York City – or as he likes to call it, the only “real” job he has ever had.
Steve holds a BA in English from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.