CHAPTER 3 “Corporate Guy” Meets a Different Kind of Environment

I want to thank the many Homeboy board members (current and previous) who have given generously of their time and who have helped guide the organization along with a generous heart. In particular, I want to thank our Board Chair, Pernille Lopez, who has been a good advisor to me and who has imparted quiet wisdom to the organization with a steady hand.

I want to thank again and again the many volunteers and donors of Homeboy; many I’ve developed good friendships with. Homeboy would not be the organization it is today without their steadfast support.

I want to thank the many advisors and mentors I had in my career. In particular, I want to thank Elmer Orloff, whose sage advice was always on the mark. Additionally, I want to thank all the men and women who have worked with me over the many years—your support and friendship have been special.

I’ve come to appreciate the value of balance in life, and I want to thank my many friends who have always been there for me. For all the members of our HHF trail hiking club, who weekly have helped keep me fit and always were there as a sounding board for me as we hiked down the mountain. Likewise, I very much appreciate the efforts of Jenna, who consistently encouraged me to keep setting goals to keep me whole, mentally and physically.

I also thank Gordon Bennett and Randall Roche, who have been my spiritual advisors and who patiently and gracefully led me to a deeper understanding of God.

As I look at my extended family, I am grateful for all the support I’ve received from all the Vozzos and Bruckers. The values I learned from all of

them and the generations before them have formed and impacted my life.

To my sons, Louis and Paul. I’m proud of the fine men you are, and my heart bursts with love for each of you.

To my wife, Lindy. We have been together since we were eighteen years old, and you have always been there to support me—through all the phases of our life—and you have always believed in me. My love for you is everlasting and complete. You are my soulmate forever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For much of his career, Thomas Vozzo was a global business executive with a proven track record, leading highly successful businesses in the service, retail, and distribution industries. He is well regarded for growing businesses and is known for strong execution skills, constantly exceeding earnings targets, even during challenging economic times. His last corporate role was as CEO of the $1.8 billion ARAMARK Uniform and Career Apparel Group.

His definition of transformation changed dramatically with his introduction to Father Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries. As he began working at the nonprofit organization, Vozzo himself noted, “The blind spot I had is typical for so many of us. Through no fault of our own, by just being in the mainstream of society, we stay isolated from those most unlike ourselves and outside our station in life.”

In 2012, Vozzo started serving as the first CEO of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. Vozzo, as a non-paid employee, has led the organization, bringing his business expertise and vision to implement a strategic and mission-driven plan, resulting in a near tripling of the size of the organization and increasing its impact. In helping Homeboy Industries thrive over the past several years, Vozzo says he has “gained knowledge and insight about my own spirituality and the plight of the underserved and marginalized in our society. ”

In 2020 Homeboy was awarded the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize for its humanitarian impact. Vozzo has also launched a $15 million Homeboy Ventures and Jobs Fund, which will provide likeminded people

a way to invest in businesses that produce quality jobs that lead to real economic impact for our society.

It is Vozzo ’ s goal to work himself out of his current CEO role and get out of the way—to make room for the homeboys and homegirls to run Homeboy. He is confident they will lead the organization into a bright future.

Breaking the Rules

Leading with heart, authenticity, and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect antidote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities.

By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. In his world of billion-dollar revenues and million-dollar profits, he knew exactly what shareholders wanted and how to get it for them.

Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle. “I arrived at Homeboy at a time when I needed to learn more about myself and my life’s journey,” Vozzo writes. “And after 8 years of working with the poor, forgotten, and demonized people of our society, I’ve come to learn that I didn’t really know as much about life as I thought.”

Vozzo’s enlightening journey leads to his recognition that a radical approach is needed in business and in life: “What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently. . . . We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.”

Blending personal stories of his day-to-day with Fr. Greg and the homies along with counterintuitive business ideas that are changing lives for the better, Vozzo shows you how you can live, lead, and shake things up with kinship, determination, compassion, and grit.

That’s the Homeboy Way.

100% of author royalties go to support the mission of Homeboy Industries.

ISBN: 978-0-8294-5456-7