Entrepreneur Pete Jernigan built his company from nothing, sold it to a private equity group for $60 million only to be fired while he battled prostate cancer.

Such simultaneous health and business setbacks would devastate most people and Pete was no exception. But he fought back with tenacity and resilience, overcame cancer, and launched new hugely successful business ventures.

Pete regards himself as a “thirsty horse,” someone with an unquenchable thirst for work, and a work ethic that inspires and leads teams of like-minded thirsty horses.

He shares his business philosophy and strategies both in his book “Thirsty Horse: (Sub-title tbd)” and as an engaging speaker to audiences large and small.

Pete, born and raised in North Carolina, earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University, served in the Marine Corps, and then entered the cell tower industry where he climbed hundreds of towers and analyzed thousands. In 1995 he created the process that standardized tower structural mapping industry-wide.

With his wife, Gayle, in 1997 he founded Tower Engineering Professionals (TEP), funded with two $15,000 second mortgages on their home. He remained CEO for eighteen years until his cancer diagnosis motivated him to sell majority control to private equity. Within six months he was fired after a series of clashes with the new owners. The leadership team that he hired, trained and nurtured remain the leaders of a business that has grown to almost a thousand employees.

Today, Pete is cancer-free and has launched eight new businesses in a variety of industries. His lifetime of experiences, accomplishments, and accumulated knowledge along with his innate fighting spirit makes him an ideal mentor, coach, role model, partner, and investor. As he says in the Introduction to his book, “First and foremost, I am still a thirsty horse who finds other thirsty horses with the goal of setting them up to win.”