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Peter Nolan leads Nolan Capital, Inc., the Nolan family office that makes control investments in a number of companies, and whose hospitality-related holdings include Fresh Brothers Pizza, a Los Angeles-based chain of 22 pizza delivery stores, and ExplorUS, which manages concessions for 60 U.S. parks under licensing agreements with the U.S. National Park Service, among others.  Peter is also the majority owner of Water Engineering, Coastal Farm and Ranch Supply, and Diamond Wipes.

Since 2014, Peter is also a senior advisor at Leonard Green & Partners, a $75 billion private equity firm in southern California.  He was a managing partner at the firm for 17 years, during which time the company invested in Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which included Shake Shack, and bought a controlling interest in the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.  Peter serves on the boards of Activision, Inc. and AerSale Corporation.

Peter serves Cornell as a Presidential Councillor and an Emeritus Trustee, having served on the university’s Board of Trustees from 2004-2016, and its Investment Committee until 2020.  He is also a member of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Leadership Council and the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration Dean’s Advisory Board.  Peter was previously a member of the SC Johnson College Ad-Hoc Campaign Committee, and an ex-officio member of the advisory council for the Undergraduate Business Program (today, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management).  He co-chaired the campaign for the Undergraduate Business Program following its accreditation in 2002.  Peter has lectured in classes in the Johnson and Dyson Schools.

Peter earned an B.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1980, and an MBA from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1982.  He is married to Stephanie Nolan, who earned a B.S. from the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration in 1984.  Their three children are also Cornellians: Michael (Dyson ’16), Bobby (Dyson ’18), and Ellie (Hotel ’20, MPS ’21).