Papa John's embattled CEO Steve Ritchie braces for fight: 'Pizza is my life'

He bought his first pizzeria, in Hikes Point, for $16,000, when he was 18 and a senior at Seneca High School.

He skipped college altogether, instead earning what he jokingly calls a degree from “Papa John’s University.”

Starting in 1996 as a $6-an-hour worker taking phone orders at a Papa John's store in St. Matthews, he rose to manager, then multi-unit supervisor, major franchisee, director of global operations, president and chief operating officer before finally being named CEO of the world’s third-largest pizza chain on Jan. 1, 2018.

“I fell in love with the brand,” Steve Ritchie said.

But until Papa John’s founder John Schnatter launched a very aggressive, very public effort to oust his hand-picked successor from the troubled company, you probably never heard of the 43-year-old Louisville native who has described himself as a “very shy and introverted person outside of the workplace.”

Read more: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/08/11/papa-johns-ceo-steve-ritchie-pizza-passion/945196002/

I don't if we should admire his dedication or be saddened by everything else he has missed in life.