New BOT member Ritch Allison talks love of UNC, board goals and Domino's

On Jan. 30, Ritch Allison, the former CEO of Domino's Pizza Inc., was announced as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. University Desk senior writer Emmy Benton spoke with Allison about his background, skills and plans for his time on the board. 

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: Since pizza was the big talk before the Duke game, I have to ask, did you have any say in Bill Belichick sending Domino’s pizza to fraternities and sororities? 

Ritch Allison: No, actually, I didn't at all. But you know, Domino's now is the pizza that’s served at our athletics venues. I suspect that's why Coach Belichick went to Domino's. 

DTH: How did you become a potential appointee to the Board of Trustees? When was it first proposed to you, and who managed the communication?

RA: Back in 2010 when Holden Thorp was the chancellor, he invited me to join the Board of Visitors, which I did, from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, Doug Shackelford, who was the dean of Kenan-Flagler Business School at the time, invited me to join the business school's board. In 2023, I became the chair of that board. As Dave Boliek and Brad Briner were elected to office, there was obviously a need to fill a couple of roles on the Board of Trustees. Several folks reached out to me to assess whether or not I might be interested in doing that, and I said if asked to serve, then I would view it as an honor to do so. I was very pleased that the Board of Governors ultimately asked me to serve and voted on it to make it all official. 

DTH: What specific plans do you have for your time on the BOT? What are your priorities for improvements to the University?

RA: I think the chancellor has a very well-thought-out set of priorities for Carolina. He's talked about a lot of those things publicly, like growing enrollment over time and the campus master plan. I suspect those things will be central to what we’ll be engaged with Chancellor Roberts on as a board, and I hope to make a positive impact in those areas. I have many years at Domino's of managing a business that was growing very rapidly, and hopefully some of that experience will be helpful. 

DTH: What values and skills will you bring to the board?

RA: As it relates to values, this place means the world to me. I'm a first generation college graduate in my family, my wife is also a first generation college graduate in her family, so we were lucky enough to both be born in North Carolina with a premier public institution that was very affordable for us to attend. I do have a fair bit of experience in terms of governance of large organizations, and I hope to be able to bring some of that experience to Carolina, recognizing that we're not a for-profit company, but many of the principles of good governance still apply. My time on the Board of Visitors and the Kenan-Flagler board has given me a decent amount of exposure to the University, and some of our strengths, opportunities and challenges. 

DTH: How do you foresee your position influencing the decisions of the BOT? 

RA: As a member of the board, I will obviously be engaged in the meetings, the discussions and the activities of the board. We'll have an opportunity to hear the opinions of others, and I'll have the opportunity to voice my own opinion along the way, and hopefully, in that way, contribute to the board over time, having a very positive impact on Carolina. 

DTH: Last question, how do you feel about pineapple on pizza? 

RA: The beauty of pizza is that you can put anything on it that you want. I would never tell someone that they can't have pineapple on pizza. It's not something I order on it myself, but that's sort of the beauty of it. I think we have 30 million possible configurations of pizza, if you ran the math on all the different toppings and crust types.

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