Experience has been David Novak's greatest teacher. The Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands (including KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), Novak never went to business school. Instead, he went to work, and became one of the most unconventional and innovative business leaders in the world.

While selling encyclopedias door to door, working as a hotel night clerk, and copywriting, Novak hoped to someday become a creative director, but ended up as head of the world's largest restaurant company.

Novak earned a B.A. from the University of Missouri in 1974. Since then he's been on executive boards, served as COO, CEO, lead marketing and sales, worked as President and Vice President for businesses like Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., Pepsi-Cola, KFC, Pizza Hut, JP Morgan Chase, & Co., and Banc One Corporation. Mr. Novak is also a director of the Friends of the United Nations World Food Program and his company is heavily involved in global hunger relief. 

His unique approach to leadership and coaching individuals has been honed over the 15 years he's served at Yum! Brands, and is shared in his new book, Taking People With You, due January 2012. His previous title, The Education of an Accidental CEO: Lessons Learned from the Trailer Park to the Corner Office, was published in 2009 to generous reviews.

David Novak has been called one of the 30 Best CEOs by Barron's, one of the Top People in Business by FORTUNE, and Harvard Business Review has dubbed him one of the 100 Best Performing CEOs in the world.

Novak lives in Louisvile, Kentucky.