After 20 years flying jets off aircraft carriers and working for NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Tesh Rao turned down airline jobs to pursue sports. The path went through Starbucks first—not as a detour, but as essential preparation. Working on government affairs and an Arizona State educational partnership, he learned to navigate corporate environments and built relationships that eventually connected him to Ray Anderson, the AD who hired him as Senior Associate AD at ASU despite zero college athletics experience.

Tesh became one of the few 20-year military veterans to reach senior associate AD level at a Power 4 school. He oversaw 10 teams, launched the Veterans in Sports Law and Business program, and proved that service mindset and leadership transfer across industries. This conversation covers what works in non-linear transitions: how corporate experience prepared him for college athletics, why cultural intelligence matters more than credentials, and how answering cold emails builds real careers.

What You'll Learn:

• How Starbucks taught navigation skills that translated directly to college athletics bureaucracy
• Why an Athletic Director bet on a veteran with zero college experience for a senior leadership role
• What being trilingual and culturally aware meant for recruiting and developing international student-athletes