41: CEO Dads

In this episode of Parents at Work, Lori Mihalich-Levin and Jason Levin continue with their tradition of interviewing moms and dads in various professional roles. 

Today, Lori and Jason talk to two amazing CEO dads, Bob Spagnoletti and Charles Bonello. Bob serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the District of Columbia Bar, and Charlie is the Co-founder and CEO of Vivvi, a provider of childcare and early education for children of all ages. 

The District of Columbia Bar is the largest integrated bar in the United States, with over 110,000 members practicing in fifty states and more than eighty countries. Bob also serves as the Executive Vice President of the DC Bar Pro Bono Center, an independent 501(c)(3) affiliate of the DC Bar. The Pro Bono Center recruits, trains, and mobilizes volunteer attorneys to take pro bono cases, serving individuals living in poverty who are at risk of losing their homes, livelihoods, and families. Bob and his husband, Bernard, have been together for twenty years. They have two boys, Hunter and Anthony, and one grandson.

Vivvi has programs across the country, including on-campus, in-home, in-office, and virtual tutoring. Vivvi partners with employers of all different sizes to make child care more accessible and affordable to provide parents with peace of mind and allow employers the most powerful tool for recruiting retention and productivity. Before co-founding Vivvi, Charlie co-founded Grand Central Tech and was a venture partner at RTP Ventures. He is a graduate of Tufts University and currently lives in New York with his wife and their three children. 

In today’s conversation, Bob and Charlie share their respective journeys as working fathers who also happen to be CEOs. Bob talks about his and his husband’s experience of fostering and then adopting children as a same-sex couple. Charlie describes what it was like to go from an academic exercise in childcare to needing childcare in real life. They also discuss what it has been like, day-to-day, being both parents and CEOs, how their parenting experiences have enhanced their careers, and how their careers have helped them become better parents. Stay tuned to hear Bob and Charlie’s inspiring stories!

Show highlights:

• Bob talks about how his older son, Hunter, came to him and Bernard, as a foster child, in the mid-90s. (3:52)
• Bob and Bernard adopted Anthony many years after Hunter came into their lives. (4:58)
• Bob worked the whole time, and Bernard, a special-ed teacher, took time off work when they had Anthony. (5:45)
• Charlie got to see first-hand the impact that child care had on working families and their employers. That inspired him to go out and make things happen! (8:40)
• Although it took a lot of juggling, serving families in need of childcare during the desperate time of COVID motivated Charlie and his wife, a nurse, to keep on going out and driving their programs. (10:05)
• Being both a parent and a CEO can sometimes feel all-consuming. Charlie explains how he manages to cope with both roles successfully. (12:34)
• Being a parent and a CEO has sensitized Bob to the parental concerns and issues that members of his staff are facing. (15:01)
• It was helpful for Bob to have a diverse executive team, great work colleagues, flexibility, and the power to make operating decisions when he became a parent. (17:34)
• Offering free childcare to all his employees has proven to be the most impactful and effective recruiting, retention, and productivity tool ever for Charlie. (20:47)
• The DC Bar now has a policy in place that allows moms, dads, and adoptive parents to take time off after the birth of their children. (26:40)
• Back-up care is an essential resource for working parents. (30:21)
• Bob feels the need to jump in and fix things that are broken. As a parent, he has worked hard to figure out who needs to be addressing a problem before jumping in. (32:55)
• Parenthood has helped Charlie improve his communication and how he empathizes with others and supports them. (38:44)

Links and resources:

The District of Columbia Bar

Vivvi

Audible 

Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey, HBR article by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass 

Books mentioned: 

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

Jason Levin’s upcoming book, Relationships to Infinity: The Art and Science of Keeping In Touch, will debut in January of 2022.