Like most guys, I'm not proud of my challenging times. I have struggled as an entrepreneur, had court fights, made poor hiring decisions, brother died of substance abuse, family alcoholism, divorce, crashed cars as a kid, cut school for the beaches, and my body has suffered from injuries, arthritis, surgeries, and colitis. The list goes on and gets uglier. But you get the picture. 

 

At the same time, there are a lot of things I am proud of. I was raised in California by parents with strong Croatian and Irish roots. I began pumping iron at 10 years old, played sports in school, excelled academically, and I earned BS and MS degrees. I started my career at Price Waterhouse in Silicon Valley, became licensed as a Certified Public Accountant, founded a CPA firm focused on the talent industry, and then moved to Boston for my MBA at the MIT Sloan School. In Boston, I worked in the institutional investment business for 27 years, most of the time at the global marketing firm I founded, where we raised over $5 billion for our money manager clients. At Harvard University's Extension School, I developed, taught, and wrote the textbook for my popular Financial Accounting courses. In the nonprofit sector, I'm proud of my former role as chairman of the board of an organization focused on disadvantaged youth and education. Lately, I'm excited I launched Pavlina Academy in 2022 to focus on Health & Wellness for Men Over 50. For more details see my LinkedIn profile.