Chris Lischewski

In 2020, Carole and I were in a season of rebuilding. My friendship with Andris Pukke had led to the loss of more than $3 million in equity I’d accumulated after completing my prison term. Thankfully, because of a loan from my friend Geoff Richstone, I found a way forward. I bought a home in Laguna Niguel, intending to use it as a launching pad to create digital courses and share the values-based, goal-oriented strategies I had learned from leaders throughout my journey.

During this period, I met someone new—another leader who’d faced his own challenges: Chris Lischewski. Chris had an impressive background. As a young man, he understood the importance of education and earned his way into the University of Southern California, where he earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. He worked in various large companies, developing skills in business that eventually led to a career in global business, and also advanced him to become a leader in private equity, generating value for investors. He was still quite young when shareholders promoted him to become CEO of Bumble Bee Foods, one of the world’s largest seafood companies.

Over the course of his career, Chris created thousands of jobs and significant economic impact. Ambitious government investigators brought allegations against Bumble Bee, accusing it of colluding with StarKist, to set prices.

In this era of big government, a person like Chris can be a trophy for a prosecutor. Prosecutors see a person like him as someone that would make headlines in the financial news. Unscrupulous prosecutors would leverage those headlines to maneuver their transition from the DOJ to a white-glove law firm. They may not be after justice so much as a conviction.

Prosecutors brought a criminal case against Chris. Being convinced that he did not violate the law, he proceeded through trial. Unfortunately for him, a jury convicted him and he faced sentencing in federal court. Eventually, a federal judge sentenced him to serve a 40-month sentence.

When people ask how I survived multiple decades in prison, I explained that serving time was, in some ways, easier for me. In my case, I was guilty of selling cocaine, which was clearly a crime. For executives like Chris, serving a sentence is harder because they did not knowingly violate any laws. Chris believed his decisions advanced shareholder interests within the boundaries of the law. Yet, in an era where government prosecutions can portray successful CEOs as trophies, Chris found himself fighting criminal charges despite being a job creator with no criminal intentions.

Even so, Chris pressed on with strength and resolve. He assembled a personal plan, prioritized his life, and did what he could each day to make the best of a difficult situation. I learned a great deal from his resilience. When a judge sentenced him to 40 months, I stayed in touch and tried to offer support in the best way I could. I was impressed by the optimism he maintained throughout. Upon his release, Chris volunteered to help with structuring and building our nonprofit, offering strategic insights that would broaden our impact.

I’m grateful to call Chris a friend—someone I trust for advice on advancing our nonprofit’s mission of empowering more people to reach their highest potential, no matter the obstacles they currently face. True to his resilient nature, Chris rebounded after prison, taking on a leadership role as CEO of another fast-growing company and creating jobs for hundreds of employees. His journey reminds me that no matter where we are, the people we choose to surround ourselves with can inspire us to keep moving toward better outcomes.

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