Editor’s note: The Ascent is a new SESO series spotlighting the career journeys of executives across the surf, outdoor, and action sports industries. Each installment features a candid Q&A about the moments, decisions and hard-won lessons that shaped a career worth studying.
Key Takeaways:
- Fong says hard leadership conversations actually get easier with age, because seniority removes personal stakes from the outcome.
- Z Supply is deploying agentic AI in its customer service operation as part of a broader push to operate more like a technology company than an apparel brand.
- Fong says the key to Z Supply’s growth strategy is doing one initiative exceptionally well each year rather than spreading execution thin across many.
When Ann Fong found out she won the Orange County Business Journal 2026 CFO Lifetime Achievement Award, she was grateful for the honor and for the opportunity to reflect on her career.
But then, she said, she got scared. Lifetime achievement awards are, well, for old people.
“I’m like, ‘I did get old,’” she said. “And now I have to think about my next 20 years, I better see the world or something, because I’ve definitely been working quite a lot.”
That might be the understatement of the interview. Over the span of her 30-plus-year career, Fong has worked at companies from Ernst & Young to Volcom and Trina Turk to Incipio.
By the time she joined Z Supply in 2020, she had worked on multiple mergers and acquisitions and led finance and operations at companies with annual revenues in the hundreds of millions.
Now, a month after winning the OCBJ award, Fong shared some of the defining moments of her professional path, including what she thought she’d be doing when she was 25 and what she’s excited about next.
What was the job or moment that first made you think you could actually build a career in this industry?
Z Supply CFO/COO Ann Fong: That was at Paul Frank Industries when Mossimo Giannulli took over all shares. So, when Paul decided to exit, Mossimo came in. He was a true businessman. I think that’s when I said to myself, this is for me. I came from Ernst & Young for four years, so I did public accounting. Then I worked at Volcom, which was action sports, and it was “youth against establishment,” it was one of my favorite places to work.
I was the adult in the room, that’s for sure. I did everything opposite of what they did. They surfed, I boogie boarded. They skated, I rollerbladed, they snowboarded. I ski. I had a 1976 Jaguar that said Ann F Jag on the plate. I would pull in when they didn’t know me, and they’re like, ‘Ann’s effing Jag is here.’ I only had suits or gardening clothes, and I chose the suits. I should have chosen the garden clothes (to go to work in).
Then I went to Paul Frank. I think selling Paul Frank to Haim Saban with Mossimo being there, that was the first taste of saying, ‘Oh, I like the M&A space.’ I really enjoyed going through the diligence. I really enjoyed learning about how one sells a company to a billionaire.
What did you think your career was going to look like at 25, and how far off were you?
Ann Fong: I was always ambitious and I always try to do more than what is required. I thought originally that I would stay at Ernst & Young and become a partner. When I got EY, I realized that I would be really good at bringing clients in, because really it’s a service industry, but it’s not fun.
I went through this stage before I got into Volcom. I really like cars, and at that time women were not being hired at car companies, but I did try to apply. So when I went to Volcom, I realized that I could take the craft that I know that I’m good at and apply it to something that I’m interested in, and I think that is success.
What was missing was the connection, and that is what makes me successful today, because I realized that I cannot work for a company that doesn’t resonate with me, that I don’t have interest in. Like, I’m not interested in catheters. But I’m very interested in clothing because I like clothing. I’m interested in consumer goods products because I like electronics, I like to know how things are made.
I was always very analytical, just very curious. My mother wanted to strangle me — she’d leave me at home and I would take apart the speaker because I’m like, ‘How does the sound come out of that speaker?’
But when I was leaving EY, you get opportunities to work for all the big companies. I literally answered an ad from Volcom that said ‘apparel company in Costa Mesa seeks controller. Fax resume.’ My thought process was, ‘Well, I like clothes.’ So I sent my resume.
My brother was 12 years older than me. He had finished his MBA from Pepperdine, and he worked at AT&T and became an executive. He’s like, “Don’t be like me; go to the entrepreneurial company.’
So I did. There would be a Corona on my desk on Fridays, and they would have pizza parties, and when kids were on spring break, we were also on spring break. I had to be the adult because everyone would just do crazy things, and they would call me Principal Fong. I was their age, but it seemed like I was so much older.
What’s the conversation you’ve had to have repeatedly as a leader that never gets easier?
Ann Fong: As I get older, I have gotten wiser in the sense that my leadership style is very transparent, and to some people it’s difficult. Because transparency requires honesty, and sometimes honesty, in this industry, because they’re very much passionate, can be a challenge.
When you get to my level, it’s not about, ‘I have to keep this job because I have rent to pay.’ No, I sell companies to be in a comfortable place (financially). What that does is it gives you options. So for me, I want to do my job right.
The conversations don’t get harder as I get older. When you finally get to be a leader, and you’re confident, and you’re good at what you do, it makes the conversations a lot easier, because they know there’s really nothing in it for me. I’m trying to just do this right. When you start those types of conversations on a very hard topic, whatever it may be, I always say, ‘There’s no ego here, because I’m already at the top. I get paid the same, whether or not you choose A, B, or C. My choice is B, because of this, this, and this, and here’s where you can poke holes. Here are the advantages.’
I’m always about growth, and I think a lot of people my age, they start to do preservation because ‘I’m closer to retirement, I don’t want to ruffle the feathers, that just seems like more work than I need to. I’m not going to get involved, because that just means more work for me.’
That’s a very normal thing for people to do. I think when you’re younger, you call it ambition. I think when you’re older you don’t look at it that way. But if you’re a good leader, leaders make other leaders. My job is to uplift my people to take over my job someday.
What’s a brand outside of the outdoor/surf/action sports space you study, and why?
Ann Fong: We all study Alo for their community. But also Anthropologie and Free People and their community and their fashion style.
We look to see what those brands are doing, and also brands like Sezane. Plus, there are a lot of aspirational brands that Mandy (Mandy Fry, President and Co-Owner, Z Supply) looks into, especially those building a community, building loyal customers.
What are you working on right now that excites you most — even if you can’t say much about it?
Ann Fong: I’m working on what we need to scale to $300 million. It’s just a number, but it’s not really just the number. It’s every milestone that you need to get to that next level. It’s extremely difficult, especially when you’re a privately held company, and you do not borrow money. You’re not asking for investors to scale you to the next level, you’re not asking the bank to give you $50 million to get you to the next 100 million dollars. I was talking to the founder today, I said what I’m trying to teach the team is, if you can get one initiative done every single year, you are much more ahead than most companies. Because a lot of companies do this, this, and this, and don’t really execute.
So this year it’s about upgrading systems and working in AI technology. One of the things I tasked the customer service team with: I said, ‘I would like you guys to execute an AI strategy or an AI application that is going to be efficient and helpful.’
So we put in an agentic AI that works with efficiencies and all the questions that (a shopper) would have, like ‘Where’s my order?’
I love what (Z Supply Co-Owner) Greg Garrett says, that we have to look at ourselves as a technology company, not as an apparel company. My analogy is we won the race in our NASCAR car, now we’re going Formula One, and we just need to upgrade our pit crew. Not because they’re not good, but because we have a different car that we’re driving to that next level.
This year was to tighten the bolts and make sure we’re ready for that next phase in our space.
