Andrew is the President & Chief Executive Officer for The IRONMAN Group. Andrew joined IRONMAN in 2011 from AEG, where he served as President of AEG Sports from 2007.
He previously served as Senior Vice President, International at the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2000-2007. Andrew joined the NBA from Sara Lee Corporation, where he held a range of business development, marketing, and general management positions in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Prior to Sara Lee Corporation, Andrew worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. in Chicago and Amsterdam.
Andrew earned dual BA’s in Economics and Psychology from the University of California, Davis and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He understands and appreciates the authenticity of the lifestyle that is at the core of The IRONMAN Group Brands: Andrew is an experienced road cyclist, trail runner, mountain biker, and marathoner. He is also a four-time IRONMAN finisher who also qualified for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
Walk us through your morning routine.
I live on the west coast and lead a company based on the east coast with offices all over the world. Because of this, my mornings are very work-centric. I wake up about 2 hrs before my family, make coffee, read emails and check in with people around the world. This all happens well before 7am my time. I then try to have breakfast with my family before my son goes off to school. After that, I am at my desk dealing with work in a typical fashion.
Do you have an exercise routine?
Given my mornings are focused on work, I typically train in the afternoons. Up until the end of 2021, I was competing in many events. I completed the OCC at UTMB Mont-Blanc in August 2021. Unfortunately, I had some degenerative knee issues at the end of 2021, which required rehab; then I ruptured my ACL skiing a few months ago and had surgery. So I am out of pretty much everything for the next few months due to this injury.
Do you follow a specific diet?
I have been an endurance athlete seriously for over 25 years — there have been times when I have been super disciplined around diet, focusing on race weight and being really meticulous with my diet, but now as I have gotten older, I just don’t care about being light as much as I used to. I prefer to have the second cup of coffee and enjoy life a little more now.
How many hours do you sleep each night?
I am lights out at 10pm. That lets me get enough sleep and start the day when I want to. Being on the West Coast, it is nice because no one else is awake at that time so I am rarely interrupted.
I know each IRONMAN race location is special, but if you had to choose your 3 favorite IM or IM 70.3 race locations, which would you choose?
IRONMAN 70.3 Hawai`i is magic. I have been to that race more than any other outside of the IRONMAN World Championship at Kailua-Kona. It is one of those community races where the same people come year-after-year, so I get to see lots of familiar faces.
IRONMAN Lake Placid is the only IRONMAN triathlon I have done twice. The Adirondacks are fantastic and the swim, bike, and run are all top notch.
As far as great places to visit, I would also say IRONMAN Nice, IRONMAN Frankfurt and IRONMAN Austria are all special too.
There are a select few people that have done every single IRONMAN around the world. You should ask them! The stories they have are absolutely amazing.
How has your background at AEG and the NBA impacted how you approach the IRONMAN Organization?
The NBA was really influential in how I thought about my tenure here at IRONMAN. I had the privilege to work with David Stern and Adam Silver and those guys taught me a lot about managing an international brand. I learned how to think about fundamental brand values consistently across time and different regions around the world.
Is there a particular IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 race where a racer really inspired you? I am sure this is frequent but if you can share one, that would be great.
It is easy to be inspired by professional athletes. What they do is remarkable, but I think what is also remarkable is the stories of everyday people.
Carlos Moleda is one example I can share — he was born in Brazil, moved to the U.S., and became a Navy SEAL — he got shot and became paralyzed in combat during our capture of Manuel Noriega down in Panama. Over the years, Carlos has competed as a Handcycle Athlete and won his division at the IRONMAN World Championship 5 times and is a member of our IRONMAN Hall of Fame. There is another exceptional athlete named David Bailey that was a highly accomplished motocross rider that got injured — he also raced as a Handcycle Athlete. Bailey and Moleda competing against each other was unbelievable. This may be one of my favorite rivalries ever. They both had this incredible drive to ring every ounce of potential out of the body they have, and watching Carlos and David inspires me every time.
IRONMAN has grown from a single race, mom and pop business to a company with 250 events and around 600 full-time employees globally – how would you describe your leadership style?
We are most focused on inspiring people to live an active lifestyle and give people a community through sports. I believe we do that by organizing world class events and being hyper focused on the athlete experience. We aim to make every person that competes in one our races feel special, supported and have a great sense of accomplishment when they cross the finish line.
Do you have any life mottos or principles you follow?
Effort is what differentiates people in the long run. Talent matters, but the only things that you can control in life are your effort and attitude. I have come to appreciate this more over the years.
Is there anything that you haven’t done that you still want to do?
I have run marathons, finished IRONMANs, raced in dozens of IRONMAN 70.3s, earned 4 Leadville Buckles, but there are still activities I would like to accomplish in the next couple years.
- Race all night – I want to run a 100km 24 hour race. I want the experience of racing in the dark with a headlamp.
- I have never completed a mountain bike stage race. I have done parts of them but never a full one.