Michael Crooke


Dr. Michael W. Crooke is an American businessman and academic. Best known as the CEO of Patagonia, Inc. from 1999 to 2005, Crooke has held a variety of corporate leadership positions in industries ranging from outdoor equipment and apparel to venture capital. From 2010 to 2015, Crooke served on the faculty of Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management. Crooke was also the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Avamere Professor of Practice at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business from 2015-2017. He served as Professor of Strategy and Leadership at The Honor Foundation, and as a strategic business consultant to high-growth and established companies. He is currently the Chairman of RandE Holdings LLC, a family office focused on healthcare, wine and venture capital. In addition, he is the Chairman of the Avamere Health Services Advisory Board. As a consultant, Crooke’s stated focus is on “embedding environmental and social considerations into a great product or service increases differentiation and maximizes shareholder value over the long-term” as well as “developing direct to customer strategies that create an emotional connection to the brand.” Most recently, Crooke co-founded and is co-Chairman of the Board of , a values-led company reinventing on-the-go gear for family adventures.

Early life

Michael W. Crooke was raised in Eugene, Oregon and attended Aloha High School. Crooke served as a Navy SEAL with Underwater Demolition Team 12 for four years, after successfully graduating from BUD/S training class 89. As reported in business publications, this experience with the SEALs proved foundational, informing Crooke’s style as a future business leader.
He earned a degree in Forestry and an MBA from Humboldt State University, and followed with a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University where he authored his dissertation, “ReEvolution of Business: A Mandala for the 21st Century,” under the tutelage of preeminent psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Examining the connection between values alignment, Flow and high performance, this work represents the culmination of research and personal experiences as a young Navy SEAL and while CEO of Patagonia, Inc. and would form the basis for the SEER model.

Career

After leadership roles at outdoor equipment/apparel companies, Yakima Racks, and Moonstone, and serving as President of Kelty Packs in 1995, Crooke became CEO of Pearl Izumi in 1998. Crooke was recruited by founder Yvon Chouinard to be CEO of Lost Arrow Corporation and Patagonia, Inc., where he increased employee engagement and enriched the brand such that the company rose to rank highly on numerous “Best Companies to Work For” lists. He left Patagonia to serve as CEO at Revolution Living backed by AOL-founder, Steve Case, where he oversaw Revolution’s portfolio companies, Miraval Resorts, and Flexcar among other sustainable and socially responsible holdings. In 2008 Crooke became CEO of prAna Living.
Crooke formerly served on the board of directors of The Nantucket Project, an annual gathering of some of the world's leading thinkers, visionaries and performers intended to help shape the national dialogue.
Dr. Crooke is a regular keynote speaker for conferences, companies and universities including Opportunity Green, Harvard University, Stanford University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University. He is also a featured guest on business talk radio on the subject of long-term business strategy.
Crooke has served or is currently serving on the following nonprofit and corporate boards: Earth Day Network, Santa Barbara Channel Keeper, One Percent for the Planet, Patagonia, Inc., Revolution Living, , Pearl Izumi, , , , , , and RandE Holdings, LLC.

Academia

SEER at Pepperdine University

Crooke served as founding and lead faculty of the Socially, Environmentally, and Ethically Responsible business certificate program at the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University. Based on Crooke’s doctoral research, The focuses on innovating business strategies that incorporate social, ethical and environmental values profitably.
Developed to satisfy student demand, SEER certificate program at Pepperdine University aims to provide students an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of the strategic issues facing corporations through four interrelated macro-values: Financial Strength, Product/Service Quality, Social Responsibility and Environmental Stewardship. Pepperdine's literature states that through the SEER certificate program, students learn to integrate an eco-systems approach not only in emerging businesses but also existing organizations that aspire to evolve their business model and embed corporate social responsibly into the firm’s DNA. By intention and design the certificate is meant to complement existing concentrations by offering electives in such fields as Strategy, Finance, Marketing and Organizational Management. Crooke personally taught the Capstone Class required to receive the SEER certificate.
Under Crooke’s direction, Pepperdine hosted an annual conference focused on socially responsible entrepreneurship called the SEER Symposium. SEER Symposium speakers have included Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Rick Ridgeway, Chip Conley, Charlie Ayers, Ankur Jain, Ayr Muir of Clover Food Lab and more.

Advanced Strategy at University of Oregon

Dr. Michael Crooke is the inaugural Avamere Professor of Practice and founding faculty of Advanced Strategy at the Lundquist College of Business at University of Oregon, rated first for Green MBA programs in the United States by The Princeton Review in 2015. Along with John Hull, Dr. Crooke co-founded the MBA Leadership and Advanced Strategy Certificate in 2017. Using a combination of cases, practitioner viewpoints and active learning, Crooke's Advanced Strategy classes combine all four centers of the Oregon MBA: Finance, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Sports Marketing, connecting these disciplines through Systems Thinking, Values and Creativity.

The Honor Foundation

Dr. Crooke serves as Professor of Strategy and Leadership at The Honor Foundation, a San Diego-based 501 national non-profit charitable foundation. The Honor Foundation is a transition institute created exclusively for Navy SEALs and the U.S. Special Operations community. The foundation prepares special operators for the business world before or shortly after they leave military service, and its program is uniquely tailored to draw on the experiences of special operators.

Publications

Dr. Crooke is a regular author on articles regarding the subject of business strategy and has been featured in publications by the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Crooke has published several peer-reviewed articles including "Clover Food Lab: Sustainability as Competitive Advantage",
“Leadership in a Complex World: How to Manage 'The Tragedy of Choice'”, “Creating Advocates: A Values-Oriented Approach to Developing Brand Loyalty” connecting Values and Purpose to customer acquisition and retention, "Personal Responsibility for Improving Society: The Role of Graduate Education", and "Households’ Willingness to Pay for “Green” Goods: Evidence from Patagonia’s Introduction of Organic Cotton Sportswear". Additionally, he has authored an article about MBA programs fostering sustainable entrepreneurship for GreenBiz.com, and wrote the foreword to the book, Management Reset: Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness by Edward E. Lawler III, Christopher G. Worley, David Creelman, Michael Crooke.

Awards and Accolades

In 2012, SHFT.com and the Ford Foundation named Crooke one of ten “Innovators Changing Our World.” The short film dubbed Dr. Michael Crooke a “Sustainable Business Maverick.” Trust Across America has named Dr. Crooke one of the top-100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior for two consecutive years. Healing Lifestyles & Spas recognized Crooke as one of ten "metro spiritual pioneers" in 2006. Two of Crooke's alma maters have honored him: Humboldt State University named him one of 2010's Distinguished Alumni while California State University recognized him among distinguished alumni as being a "Force of Nature."
In 2014, Dr. Crooke won the Reinmuth teaching award within the University of Oregon MBA program. This prestigious award is given to the professor who is chosen by the graduating MBA class as the most inspiring and influential professor.
Dr. Crooke and fellow University of Oregon faculty member Dr. Michael V. Russo won first prize in the corporate sustainability track in the 2016 Oikos International case competition for their case study, “Guayakí: Securing Supplies, Strengthening the Mission.” The case reviews the rise of Guayakí, a company that sells energy drinks produced with leaves from Yerba Mate trees.