Peter Nolan '80, MBA '82

Biography

College Leadership Council Member, Membership Term: 2024-2027
Schools Represented: Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management

Peter Nolan leads Nolan Capital Inc., the family office that makes control investments across a range of companies. Its hospitality-related holdings include Fresh Brothers Pizza, a Los Angeles-based chain, and ExplorUS, which manages concessions in U.S. national parks. Nolan is also the majority owner of Water Engineering, Coastal Farm and Ranch Supply and Diamond Wipes.

Since 2014, he has served as a senior advisor at Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm based in Southern California. He previously spent 17 years as a managing partner at the firm, where he supported investments in companies including Union Square Hospitality Group and the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Nolan also serves on the boards of Activision and AerSale Corp.

Nolan has been actively engaged with Cornell University, serving as a presidential councillor and emeritus trustee. He was a member of the university’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2016 and served on its investment committee through 2020. He is also a member of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Leadership Council and the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration. He previously co-chaired a major campaign for the undergraduate business program and has lectured in classes across the Johnson and Dyson schools.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1980 and an MBA from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1982. He and his wife, Stephanie Nolan, are Cornell alumni, and their three children are also Cornell graduates.