"After completing his master's degree from Purdue, Cain left the Department of the Navy and began working for The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta as a computer systems analyst. In 1977, he moved to Minneapolis to join Pillsbury, soon becoming director of analysis in its restaurant and foods group in 1978.[citation needed]
At age 36, Cain was assigned in the 1980s first to analyze and ultimately to take the reins of Burger King, which at the time was a Pillsbury subsidiary, where he managed 400 stores in the Philadelphia area. Under Cain's leadership, his region went in three years from the least profitable for Burger King to the most profitable. According to a 1987 account in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pillsbury's then-president Win Wallin said: "He was an excellent bet. Herman always seemed to have his act together."[13] At Burger King, Cain “established the BEAMER program, which taught our employees, mostly teenagers, how to make our patrons smile” by smiling themselves. It was a success: “Within three months of the program’s initiation, the sales trend was moving steadily higher.”[14]
His successes at Burger King prompted Pillsbury to appoint him President and CEO of another subsidiary, Godfather's Pizza. Cain arrived on April 1, 1986, and told employees that, "I'm Herman Cain and this ain't no April Fool's joke. We are not dead. Our objective is to prove to Pillsbury and everyone else that we will survive."[15] Aiming to cut costs, Cain, over a 14-month period, reduced the company from 911 stores to 420. As a result of his efforts, Godfather's Pizza became profitable[citation needed]. In a leveraged buyout in 1988, Cain, Executive Vice-President and COO Ronald B. Gartlan and a group of investors, bought Godfather's from Pillsbury. Cain continued as CEO until 1996, when he resigned.[citation needed]
Later in 1996 he became CEO of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group and lobby organization for the restaurant industry, where he had previously been chairman concurrently with his role at Godfather's Pizza.[16].
Cain became a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1992 and served as its chairman from January 1995 to August 1996, when he resigned to become active in national politics.[17]
Cain was a 1996 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award.[18]
Cain was on the board of directors of Aquila, Inc. from 1992 to 2008, and also served as a board member for Nabisco, Whirlpool, Reader's Digest, and AGCO, Inc.[19][20][21]"
Also, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." That was Joe Biden talking about Obama. If you say second instead of first the quote works on Cain.
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