Since earning his MBA from the University of Southern California in 2014, Scott Lan has taken a beating.
And he keeps asking for it. Lan is in his second year as a resident business strategy director for Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. But when he’s not at his day job, Lan has participated in two world-class obstacle course races in October and he’s gearing up for a third in December.
The BattleFrog Championship is an obstacle course series operated by former U.S. Navy SEALs and the competition is set for Dec. 12.
“I’m a sucker for pain and torture. I love to test and push my body beyond its limits, both physically and mentally,” Lan said in an email. “It gives me a goal to accomplish—always trying to get faster, stronger—and is a great way to get out of the office and get back to what humans were meant to do: move, explore, and be one with nature and the elements.”
His older sister introduced him to obstacle course races in 2011. Since then, he’s competed in more than 25 such races. The last, in October, was the Spartan Race World Championships (with a time of 5:57:36) and the OCR World Championships.
When he’s not pushing his body through physical obstacles, he’s working on theoretical obstacles in other areas of his life. He’s a Broad resident, a leadership program that places business professionals “into high-level managerial positions in school districts, charter management organizations and federal/state departments of education.”
As a Broad resident, he works with Alliance College-Ready Public Schools leading a large-scale operational change initiative that will affect all 27 schools and 11,000 middle and high school students that are part of Alliance, a nonprofit charter school organization in Los Angeles.
He’s founded the Los Angeles chapter of Young Education Professionals, which is planning its launch event for January 2016. He was appointed board co-chair of the Teach For America LA Collective (TFA’s alumni of color network); and beginning April 2016, he will serve on the Teach For America Collective National Advisory Board.
Pictured above: Scott Lan “getting pummeled at the finish line at a Spartan Race,” as he describes it. “It’s just one of the obstacles to get through. They hit you with pugil sticks (like American Gladiator).”
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