Chairman Godfather’s Pizza, Inc. Chief Executive Officer & President National Restaurant Association – Omaha, Nebraska
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Herman Cain graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1967. He earned his Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 1971. Following employment with the Navy and Coca-Cola, he joined The Pillsbury Company in 1977, rising to Vice President, Corporate Systems and Services in just three years. In 1982, Cain gave up that position to learn the restaurant business at Pillsbury’s Burger King subsidiary. He was named Vice President and General Manager, responsible for the Philadelphia region, after nine months with Burger King. In less than three years, Mr. Cain turned the Philadelphia region into one of Burger King’s best performing regions. In 1986, Mr. Cain was selected by Pillsbury to assume the presidency of the declining Godfather’s Pizza subsidiary. He succeeded in turning around that company’s performance in less than eighteen months. In 1988, he successfully led a group of Godfather’s Pizza senior management in purchasing the pizza chain from The Pillsbury Company. In addition to chairing Godfather’s, he is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Restaurant Association. Mr. Cain serves on several prestigious boards, including Nabisco, Inc.; SuperValu, Inc.; UtiliCorp United, Inc.; Whirlpool Corporation; and Edmonson Youth Outreach Program. He has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia; Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi; New York City Technical College, New York, New York; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska; and Johnson and Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island. He is the recipient of the 1996 Horatio Alger Award, and the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association’s Operator of the Year/Gold Plate Award in 1991. Mr. Cain served as a member of the “Economic Growth and Tax Reform Commission” established by Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole, and chaired by Jack Kemp.
