Alex Compton was born in the Philippines. The son of two educators, his family moved back to the US less than a year after he was born. Having experienced some success in basketball in high school, he received a scholarship to Saint Joseph’s University where he was Academic All-Conference and a Dean’s Lister. He then transferred to Cornell University where he was captain of the Men’s Basketball Team for two years.
After graduating from college, Alex headed back to Manila to begin a professional basketball career that he thought would last “maybe a year or two, then I would head back to grad school and start my real life.” Little did he know that he would absolutely fall in love with the Philippines, the people, the culture.
This love ended up keeping Alex in the Philippines for 22 years where he played professional basketball for 10 years, and coached professionally for 12. Alex was a head coach for 5 years in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and was an assistant with the Philippine Men’s National Team (Gilas Pilipinas) for 3 years.
Together with one of his closest friends, Alex started the Nike Elite Basketball Camp and the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC). The NBTC is now the National High School Championships for the Philippines. The tournament also features international teams from all over the world an a National Coaches Convention with approximately 2,000 attendees yearly.
In 2020 when the pandemic hit, Alex and his wife Michelle took their kids to Wisconsin to visit his parents. What was supposed to be a 3 month trip ended up being a family move as the Comptons could not get back to the Philippines and decided to migrate to the US.
It was during that time that Alex was exposed to business in the US, when he was asked to be CEO of a small company. It was a significant time of learning that eventually ended up leading Alex to spending more time talking with a good friend of his, Todd Marinshaw. Todd and Alex had been friends for decades and both had deep ties with the Philippines. It was out of these discussions that Valor Pro Global emerged as Todd and Alex both realized they could provide a great service to businesses in the United States.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:
- (3:05) Alex's background and how he ended up in Wisconsin
- (8:25) Alex's career mindset during Covid
- (11:35) How Alex knew he had something special with basketball
- (14:20) A moment that stood out in Alex's basketball career
- (17:08) The statement Alex made to his brother that eventually came true
- (22:50) How Alex started to figure out his next chapter
- (27:22) Passion and identity
- (32:23) How spiritually and faith help us on our journey
- (37:20) Networking and why it's better than looking at job postings
- (40:30) System/process that got Alex to where he is now
- (44:00) Signal acquisition
- (51:25) What Alex is doing today
- (57:45) The ideal client Alex serves
- (1:10:50) Other projects Alex is working on
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BOOKS AND RESOURCES
- Alex's Wikipedia page that Mike mentioned
- Connect with Alex on his website and LinkedIn.
