Ducati executive Jason Chinnock explains how operating a tank during Desert Storm helped him helm a company

Jason Chinnock, the CEO of Ducati North America, told Fox News Digital his experience as a U.S. Army tank operator helped prepare him to lead the American division of the iconic motorcycle brand as the country commemorates Veterans Day. 

The Las Vegas native enlisted in the Army right out of high school in the 1980s and was stationed in Germany in 1990, just in time to witness the fallout of Berlin’s reunification.

“Imagine being an 18-year-old kid, 19-year-old kid with all of that history happening at your back door, which was amazing,” Chinnock told Fox News Digital.

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“Our job in Germany was to defend what was referred to as the Fulda Gap. This was still when there was an East and a West Germany. So yeah, it gives you an idea of how long ago it was,” he said.

Chinnock continued to witness history when, shortly after he was sent to Germany, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

“Quickly, this idea that we were going to be part of a European drawdown changed into a conflict in the Middle East,” Chinnock told Fox News Digital.

“And so I was shipped over in December of that year to Saudi Arabia. I went over there in an advance party, which I volunteered for, which was honestly a spectacular experience,” he said.

Chinnock enlisted as an M1A1 tanker, beginning as a loader, whose job it was to keep tanks like the M1A1 Abrams stocked with artillery. He marveled at the fact that he was entrusted with such a heavy responsibility as a teenager.

“At that age, to go and load every single military vehicle possible with someone just signing off your license for everything to unload them out of these ships…” he ruminated.

He worked his way up from loader to tank operator, and was deployed in the Middle East through Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm as part of the Army’s 3rd Armored Division, he told Fox News Digital.

It wouldn’t be the last time he worked his way from the ground floor into the driver’s seat.

Chinnock, who has led Ducati’s North American division for over a decade, also worked his way up from working at the parts counter in one of the brand’s Colorado stores to leading the company’s entire American operation.

“Working at a parts counter, I was at the epicenter of everything within the motorcycle business from a retail perspective: from the service department to the clients at the front counter, to the sales and everything. 

“My role was to really understand all facets of the business. That helped fuel my passion for motorcycling even more. While some people might look at that as a very basic job, I looked at that as the opportunity for the real foundation of my career,” he said.

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These unique experiences singularly prepared Chinnock for the role he has now, providing him with perspectives on leadership, following orders, presentation and other values he utilizes to helm Ducati North America today.

“A lot of what I’ve learned over the years and the things that I apply are directly related from that time in the military,” Chinnock told Fox News Digital.

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“In some cases, it’s the things that you learn not to do, as well. In the military, you have to take the order, and you take the order, and you follow the order, and you don’t question the order. 

“I had many commanding officers that would give me direct orders and I might not have agreed or understood, and they weren’t going to bother explaining it to me. But I understood that that was my role and it was OK. I can be, as we say, a good soldier,” he said.

This ability to follow directions not only helps Chinnock heed directions from his own higher-ups in Ducati’s Italian leadership, but also allows him to employ empathy with his own direct reports.

“You know, I’ll put my head down, and sometimes I still have to do that today where I might not agree with some of the things that we have to do on a business decision, but I also understand that there might be a bigger picture I’m not aware of. So I have to respect that position of my CEO or even my colleagues that I work with directly in Italy,” Chinnock explained.

“I also have learned that in a lot of cases, it’s better to bring people along than just to give them a directive. That’s one of the things that you learn what not to do, because in a free-will work environment, it’s different. I want to retain people. I want to build and guide them. I want to develop them. Not everybody responds and reacts well to that,” he said of top-down command-driven leadership.

“Going into the military, you know what you’re signing up for. You know that you’re going in, and it’s very clear-cut: you get to learn to take orders, and you learn quick where you don’t, it doesn’t work. When you come into the professional or private work environment, it’s a completely different scenario. 

“While I have team members that are great soldiers, I also have people that need to understand the ‘why,’ and I’m OK with that. So I’ve learned that I’ve had to adapt, and I can’t just take a single direct military-style approach,” Chinnock added.

Chinnock also brought one other key value to Ducati from the military that seems to mesh well with the company’s Italian penchant for style and tone: a dress code.

“I like to make sure when we’re working our activities and events as an organization that we look sharp. It’s one of the things that — from a matter of — we learned that in the military, and veterans understand the importance of looking sharp, clean-cut, presentable, and making sure that we look like a unified organization,” he told Fox News Digital.

The often sharp-dressed Chinnock said some team members still grumble over his adherence to presentability, but said he doesn’t mind because it’s more important that a clean style promotes cohesiveness within his team.

“There’s a time and a place for individuality. But when we’re out there at MotoGP in Austin, Texas at Circuit of the Americas, I wanted everyone to know if they want to come up and talk to somebody that looks like this, they know they’re talking to a member of the Ducati team,” he added.

Chinnock has used his experience to help guide Ducati through a tough time for international businesses amid rising fuel prices and inflation during the Iran war. But despite the challenges, Ducati, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year, debuted new dirt bikes in SuperCross and Motocross competitions in the U.S. in 2026, a feat Chinnock was quite proud of.

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“We’re a company that’s always looking forward; we’re always looking to that next element of technology, design, performance, sophistication, whatever it may be. But it’s also important that there’s a moment where we take a look back to see where we’ve come from because it helps us guide our path for the future,” he concluded.