A Humble and High-Velocity CEO
By MOLLY URNEK, ’20 // Advancement
Elbow deep in suds, 14-year-old John Fieldly polished the local restaurateur’s car until it threw back the Pasco County sun in a blinding flare. Working at a car wash after his lawn-care venture folded, he scrubbed harder, buffed longer and made the chrome gleam so bright, it would pose a potential traffic hazard.
And it worked. Impressed by the teenager relentless with a washrag, the owner of Steve’s Place offered him a job as a dishwasher — the first of many opportunities Fieldly would seize through sheer drive and instinct.
“You have to make your own career path,” says Fieldly, now 46, an ’04 accounting alum. “Opportunities come by every day, but it's on you to make a difference and capitalize on that moment.”
That mentality — equal parts grit, grind and resilience — would carry Fieldly into the C-suite of one of the fastest-growing beverage companies. Today, as chairman and CEO of Celsius Holdings, Fieldly oversees a global energy drink portfolio, a team of 1,300 employees worldwide and a company that generated $2.5 billion in 2025.
“I’ve always had drive,” he says. “Even when I was younger, I was trying to make an impression that would get me to the next level.”
In high school, he landed a job at Eckerd Drugs — then the country’s second-largest drugstore chain. Fieldly spent eight years observing shopper behavior, reorganizing displays and learning what it takes to appeal to customers.
“At Eckerd, I got real retail experience,” he says. “Shopping patterns, impulse purchases, placing products in the right space — that’s where I learned how the consumer thinks.”
He carried that realworld education into USF’s classrooms, studying accounting after work at night and on weekends. As a student, he felt seen by his professors, including Bill Parrott, who changed his trajectory.
“He got me excited about going after my CPA license and really shaped the direction of my career,” Fieldly says.
He also fondly recalls others, including the part-time accounting professor who split his time preparing his clients’ tax returns, teaching in Jimmy Buffett T-shirts and going on fishing trips after lectures.
“I went into accounting because he made it look amazing,” Fieldly admits with a grin. “I think I got bamboozled — I’ve never worked fewer than 60 hours a week, but it’s been great.”
After graduating, Fieldly landed a staff accountant role at Lebhar-Friedman through USF’s recruiting services and built a reputation for financial problem-solving during the 2008 crash. When half the company’s revenue evaporated, Fieldly analyzed cost structures and advised senior managers on survival strategies.
Passed over for a promotion because he was "too young," Fieldly moved on to Oragenics, where he spent two years as corporate controller. Then he made a phone call that changed his life.
“I picked up the phone and asked how it was going at the new company and if he needed a CFO,” he recalls. The company was Celsius, then a small public beverage company that was rapidly losing sales distribution at the time.
On the other end of the line, the CEO, his former colleague and mentor Gerry David, replied that maybe he did. Weeks later, Fieldly, at just 31, impressed investors and got the job.
“When I started in 2012, we were doing $7 million in revenue,” he says. “We were getting delisted out of every retailer in the country. I honestly thought it would be a four- to six-month opportunity.”
It wasn’t.
Over the last 14 years, Fieldly has fueled Celsius’ meteoric rise by leveraging finance as a language that powers operations — a strategy he picked up from Parrott — and by tapping into an innate brand-building talent.
“We translate data and insights into tactics that will grow the business,” he says.
Under his leadership, first as CFO then, in 2018, as CEO, Celsius evolved from a functional “diet” drink into a modern lifestyle brand with broad consumer appeal. New flavors, new consumers and a new message: Live Fit.
Founding College of Nursing Dean Gwendoline MacDonald (right) speaks with students from the doorway of one of the five portable classrooms that housed the program in its early years.
Saunders strolls with a few of the 34,000 employees she oversaw as president and CEO of Wellstar.
Then came the uplisting. From penny stock to OTCQX to Nasdaq, the company expanded into a portfolio platform — CELSIUS, Alani Nu and Rockstar Energy — part of a sweeping distribution partnership with PepsiCo.
“John was a big driver of the brand’s identity,” says Toby David, chief of staff and son of former CEO Gerry David. “He’s a rare finance type who can be both meticulously granular and an incredible visionary.”
From a scrappy dozen employees in 2012 to 1,300 in 2026, with 200 arriving in the last quarter alone, the team’s growth is exponential. Yet the lessons from his first chaotic years on the job stay top of mind.
“Those early years taught me to stay disciplined with every dollar and never lose sight of the responsibility we have to our shareholders,” Fieldly says.
Long before investor decks and bellringings, his wife and high school sweetheart, Ashley, and two children helped with the early legwork.
“We used to iron logos on T-shirts and go to 5Ks to hand out cans,” Fieldly says. “My daughter, then a convincing six-year-old, was the one who got people to take samples.”
“We were really laying track for the College of Nursing at USF.”
– Candice Saunders
Even after more than a decade at the helm, he still gets a kick out of a Celsius sighting.
“The first time I saw a can in the wild was really exciting,” he laughs. “I still get excited when I see people drinking it.”
Fieldly has maintained ties with the university that helped chart his course. In 2024, he joined USF’s President’s Global Leadership Council, and Celsius became a two-year corporate partner for the Muma College of Business Center for Marketing and Sales Innovation. He has also stocked his team with fellow Bulls, describing them as “curious, ready to learn and here to win.”
At Celsius, employees are shareholders and are encouraged to grow with the business, fueling a competitive, highenergy culture.
“John has a very strong work ethic,” David says. “He’s earned every opportunity he’s gotten and loves giving others the chance to succeed and prove themselves.”
At the Boca Raton headquarters, Fieldly rarely sits at his desk. He lives Celsius’ high-energy brand, from tasting new flavors and hosting company town halls to negotiating contracts and traveling the world to bring the company to new markets.
“I’m hands-on, probably more hands-on than some managers want,” he laughs. “But it’s what keeps us moving.”
A good swig of Celsius helps — he usually cracks his first at 10 a.m.
“You’ve got to stay energized because you never know where life is going to take you,” Fieldly says.
While he acknowledges life took him a long way from his days at the car wash, Fieldly’s work ethic hasn’t changed.
“I still wash my own car,” he says.
Saunders (back row, ninth from left) was one of 49 students in the nursing program’s charter class.