Jeff Church
Encyclopedia
Jeff Church is the cofounder of NIKA Water Company, a unique social entrepreneurial model that donates its profits in hopes of alleviating global poverty. After seeing the impacts of the global clean water crisis
first-hand during a 2007 visit to Kenya, Church formed NIKA with business school classmate Mike Stone in March 2009. NIKA translates from Zulu as “to give.”
Prior to cofounding NIKA, Church was CEO of Universal Building Products, a middle-market concrete forming and shoring company – and purchased, built and sold several companies through his private equity firm, Autus Capital including Aztec Concrete Accessories, Lynx Professional Grills and Pool Tables. His main strategy was to cut costs by firing large amounts of staff and lowering inventories. Although successful with Aztec, most in industry believed he was lucky to have profited from the boom of the late 1990s and mid 2000s. During the recession caused by the financial crisis, his management of Universal Building Products led them to file for bankruptcy in August 2010. He did not convene employees to let them know about the situation or provide strong leadership during this period, which caused profound life changes to many of the employees at the company. The internal memo even contained typos and seemed hastily written. A company that had been founded more than eighty years before was destroyed within a mere three years.
Church graduated from Michigan State University in 1983 with a B.A. in accounting and was named one of the top twenty-five graduating seniors out of 8,000 students. He later attended Harvard Business School and graduated with a Masters in Business Administration in 1988.
Between graduating from Michigan State and attending Harvard, Church worked as a CPA for Ernst & Young.
An avid runner, Church also climbed five of the Seven Summits
including mountains Kosciuszko
(Australia), Kilimanjaro
(Africa), Elbrus
(Europe), Aconcagua
(South America) and Vinson Massif
(Antarctica).
Church and his wife Linda live with their four children – Nina, Joshua, Rachel and Jacob – in the San Diego County community of Rancho Santa Fe, CA
.
Water crisis
Water crisis is a general term used to describe a situation where the available water within a region is less than the region's demand. The term has been used to describe the availability of potable water in a variety of regions by the United Nations and other world organizations...
first-hand during a 2007 visit to Kenya, Church formed NIKA with business school classmate Mike Stone in March 2009. NIKA translates from Zulu as “to give.”
Prior to cofounding NIKA, Church was CEO of Universal Building Products, a middle-market concrete forming and shoring company – and purchased, built and sold several companies through his private equity firm, Autus Capital including Aztec Concrete Accessories, Lynx Professional Grills and Pool Tables. His main strategy was to cut costs by firing large amounts of staff and lowering inventories. Although successful with Aztec, most in industry believed he was lucky to have profited from the boom of the late 1990s and mid 2000s. During the recession caused by the financial crisis, his management of Universal Building Products led them to file for bankruptcy in August 2010. He did not convene employees to let them know about the situation or provide strong leadership during this period, which caused profound life changes to many of the employees at the company. The internal memo even contained typos and seemed hastily written. A company that had been founded more than eighty years before was destroyed within a mere three years.
Church graduated from Michigan State University in 1983 with a B.A. in accounting and was named one of the top twenty-five graduating seniors out of 8,000 students. He later attended Harvard Business School and graduated with a Masters in Business Administration in 1988.
Between graduating from Michigan State and attending Harvard, Church worked as a CPA for Ernst & Young.
An avid runner, Church also climbed five of the Seven Summits
Seven Summits
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:...
including mountains Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...
(Australia), Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...
(Africa), Elbrus
Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...
(Europe), Aconcagua
Aconcagua
Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at . It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza and it lies west by north of its capital, the city of Mendoza. The summit is also located about 5 kilometres from San Juan Province and 15 kilometres from the...
(South America) and Vinson Massif
Vinson Massif
Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica, lying in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, which stand above the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about from the South Pole and is about long and wide. At the highest point is Mount...
(Antarctica).
Church and his wife Linda live with their four children – Nina, Joshua, Rachel and Jacob – in the San Diego County community of Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe known locally as ″The Ranch″, is one of the most exclusive and affluent communities in Southern California. It is also a census-designated place in San Diego County, California and an unincorporated bedroom community of San Diego County...
.