This is just another post to make you feel old. NHS CEO/President Bob Denike has now been with the company for 25 years, according to a post on Strange Notes. During a celebration last week Denike shared the story of how he ended up with the company.
“I first met NHS founder Richard Novak at Winchester Skatepark in 1977, he was with the “S” that day, Jay Shuirman. I was 15 years old. They gave me a set of wheels to test ride and when my Mom saw us talking, she pulled me away and told me to never talk to those guys again. They looked pretty wild back then; long hair, dark glasses, beards, smoking, and she was just being a Mom. Well, I did not listen to her. (Good decision number one for me.) I remained in contact with Richard and NHS off and on all the way through college. After graduation, I had a “real job”, working at Frito Lay in L.A. and I absolutely hated it. One weekend in 1986, I decided to go to an ASR tradeshow and I ran into Rich at what was the craziest tradeshow booth at the show. It struck me that a few people working at the NHS booth were either severely hung over and/or drinking beer in the middle of the day. Getting a taste of what I had been missing, a couple weeks later I resigned from Frito Lay (good decision number two), telling them “I need to pursue my dreams”, which at the time consisted of skateboarding, playing music, drinking beer and hanging out with my future wife Kay.
Follow your bliss, kids. For the rest of the Denike story, follow the jump.
[Link: Strange Notes via Thrasher]
