John Howard, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and owner of the Chick-fil-A franchise at the Long Beach Towne Center for the past 12 years, was installed as chair of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce on June 13, replacing outgoing chair Kent Peterson of P2S Engineering.
John Howard, the new chair of the board for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, became the first owner of a freestanding Chick-fil-A franchise in Los Angeles County when he opened his restaurant in 2006. The restaurant, which has 95 employees, is located at Long Beach Towne Center in Northeast Long Beach. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Pat Flynn)
Howard is a native of Compton, where he was raised by a single-mother and kindergarten teacher with a passion for education that she was determined to instill in her son. He recalled that she would come home from work when he was a toddler and teach him the same lessons she taught to her five-year-old students. She sacrificed to put him through private schools, including the Southern California Military Academy and Brethren Christian Junior & Senior High School. Howard and his mother moved to Long Beach when he was about 13.
When Howard graduated from high school in 1991, the Air Force recruited him, offering to pay for him to attend a college of his choice so long as he enlisted when his studies were completed. “I decided to go to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach . . . and the rest is history. I learned how to fly airplanes at Embry Riddle,” he said.
Upon graduating, Howard became a second lieutenant in the Air Force and did a stint at Vandenberg Air Force Base before undergoing military pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. “After that, I went to Little Rock Air Force Base flying C-130s, and then back to Nashville at the Air National Guard Unit to fly C-130s there,” he said, referring to the “work horse” aircraft used to transport everything from the president’s motorcade to paratroopers.
“The highlight of my C-130 career was on the afternoon of September 11,” Howard said. “We were just watching on TV like everybody else . . . . And the next thing you know, our phone is ringing at the squadron and it’s Tennessee Donor Services. They said that they had a dying baby at Vanderbilt Hospital. They were taking the liver out of this baby to get to a donor recipient in Houston, Texas. But all the commercial flights were grounded,” he recalled. Howard and another pilot assembled a crew, coordinated with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration, and managed to get permission to fly the liver to Houston even as nearly all air traffic in the nation was being grounded. The donor recipient of that liver is now 17 years old, Howard said.
“Because of that 9/11 mission I really got the bug to do something more impactful and influential for people,” Howard said. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career as a franchise owner within the Chick-fil-A brand. He filed an application with the company in 2003, which reached out to him a year later to see if would be interested in applying to run its first standalone location in Los Angeles County at the new Long Beach Towne Center.
“What they encourage people like myself who had not worked in the restaurant business to do was just go meet owners, franchisees,” Howard said. “That’s what I was doing when I was in Nashville. So on days when I wasn’t flying, I was literally going to my local Chick-Fil-A and learning from a guy named Bill Fender and his wife, Karen.”
Howard left the Air Force in 2005 and opened the restaurant in Long Beach in 2006. He started with about 10 employees. Today he has 95. “We roll our biscuits fresh every day. . . . There is a lot of labor that goes into Chick-fil-A products, because it’s all done by hand,” he said.
“I joined the chamber in 2005 before my restaurant was even open. I am that passionate about business in this community,” Howard said. “I learned that from other Chick-fil-A operators around the nation: just to get involved in the community and try to give back and have a working relationship. It really is important.”
Since then, Howard has served a total of nine years on the chamber board and has previously served as vice chair of membership and vice chair of community development. He has also been a member of the chamber’s government affairs council and sits on the small business council.
At the chamber’s annual retreat last month, Howard debuted his theme for the year: “TEAMwork Makes The Dream Work.” “I use TEAM as an acrostic where the T stands for Talent, the E stands for Evolve, A is for Atmosphere, M is for Membership,” Howard said. “Those are the four major areas of focus I have for this year.”
Talent is a major focus for Howard because it is under his watch that a future replacement for Senior Vice President Jeremy Harris will be selected. Harris is due to step into the role of president and CEO of the chamber when Randy Gordon leaves the position in 2020. “First and foremost we have to make sure we nail that one,” Howard said, calling the position vital.
“I definitely want us to continue to evolve and to do it in a positive atmosphere. And that includes working closely with city hall, elected officials and staff people,” Howard said of his priorities. “We are going to continue to foster that and then focus on membership for our large and small businesses so they can see the value.”
John Howard, left, the new chair of the board for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, meets with outgoing chair Kent Peterson of P2S Engineering outside Howard’s Chick-fil-A restaurant at the Long Beach Towne Center. The two share a passion for small business. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Pat Flynn)
Howard noted that some members of the chamber aren’t as active as they could be. “I want to convey to the membership that you are only going to get out of it what you put into it,” he said. “Me as a small business owner, I tried to attend breakfasts, and if I couldn’t I would go to an evening mixer of some sort. But there are a lot of people who are in the chamber who just don’t do that. . . . So we are going to try to get the membership to understand the value.”
Howard sees the role of the chamber in the Long Beach community as a driving force for business. He quoted Harris’s philosophy that the chamber should focus on “three C’s,” which include being “a catalyst for business growth, a convener for leaders and influencers, and the champion for stronger communities in Long Beach,” he explained. “If we can do those things and do them well, we will be the premiere business force in the city.”
Asked if he approves of the chamber having an affiliated political action committee (PAC), Howard said the PAC is important to business advocacy. The PAC is a separate legal entity from the chamber, he noted. “I am a big fan of the PAC. I really believe it’s vital, because so many things come down – from electing officials, to propositions and measures in the city – and we need a body that can look at that and advise the chamber membership as to the validity of it and whether or not it’s helpful for business,” he explained.
Howard added, “For a small business owner like myself . . . I can remember clearly days when I just did not have a chance to look at anything political. And my main go-to source was the chamber and the chamber PAC.”
There is improvement to be made as to the business friendliness of the Long Beach City Council, according to Howard. “One of the reasons that we do get involved with advocacy . . . is to hopefully get more candidates elected that are business friendly,” he said.
Going forward, Howard said the chamber needs to “come together and be a united front for business.” He explained, “I think there are a lot of other challenges that are going to come about that we are probably not even aware of right now. Going forward, I think you need someone there to be a voice and a warrior to charge and lead the way to make sure that business is heard, and that business is recognized in order to make a difference.”