Clyde Rucker (born May 23, 1963) is an American entrepreneur and businessman who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rucker Restaurant Holdings. As of 2019, he owns 80 Jack in the Box and Denny's restaurants in Arizona and Texas. Rucker, was formally a member of the

100 Black Men of America 100 Black Men of America is a men's civic organization and service club whose stated goal is to educate and empower African-American children and teens. As of 2009 the organization has 110 chapters and more than 10,000 members in different cit ...

and held a seat on the Board of Trustees of the

Florida Memorial University Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity. Histo ...

. As of 2016, he holds a seat on the Board of Directors for the Valero

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the second c ...

Early life and education

Rucker was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma in a military family. He is a 1981 Graduate of Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado and earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Ethnic Studies from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

in 1984. After serving in the U.S. Army, Rucker graduated in 1990 with a Master's of Science degree from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

Career

After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, where he achieved the rank of captain in the Inactive Ready Reserve, Rucker joined

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles ...

as a zone manager. Later, he accepted a position at

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

, owned by

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

at that time. Rucker then served a senior executive at

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant c ...

for 12 years. After the company went public in 2007, Rucker joined former Burger King Chairman/CEO Greg Brenneman at

Quiznos Quiz Holdings, LLC, doing business as Quiznos, is an American franchised fast-food restaurant based in Denver, Colorado, that specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lambatos and sold to Rick and Ri ...

, as an Executive Vice President, later President of International, and COO.https://www.franchising.com/articles/blue_chip_all_the_way_nothing_but_the_best_for_clyde_rucker.html , Franchising.com; accessed January, 2018. Rucker values his years on the

franchisor Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

side, which allowed him to work from the bottom up, helping him to become a well rounded, successful franchisee. “Working for a franchisor was an intermediate goal to gain a lot of learning, as well as to excel in a corporate environment. I enjoyed it tremendously and what it did, both directly and indirectly, was give me the opportunity to understand the true definition of a good franchisee and a good business model.” In 2010, Rucker saw the right opportunity to become a franchisee for a real blue-chip brand and formed Rucker Restaurant Holdings in Phoenix. As of January 2019, Rucker Restaurant Holdings manages over 80 restaurants in both the

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coas ...

and

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries. Description Originally opened as a coffee shop under th ...

brands in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rucker, Clyde American businesspeople Living people 1963 births