Season premiere of ‘Undercover Boss’ features grad

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True Value president and CEO John Hartman ’85 (criminal justice) transforms into “Louis Lapresi” (right) for the season premiere of CBS’ hit show “Undercover Boss” airing at 8 p.m. Sunday.

True Value president and CEO John Hartmann ’85 (criminal justice) will rely on his experiences as an FBI agent when he investigates the frontlines of his company in the season premiere of Undercover Boss.

Under the guise of new True Value employee “Louis Lapresi,” Hartmann learns about his company’s day-to-day operations and how his employees will be affected by the business’ new strategies. The episode kicks off the sixth season of Undercover Boss and airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

“When I joined True Value in 2013, I spent a great deal of time on the road talking with our retailers, visiting our stores, visiting the co-op facilities around the country—but it was as me, as the CEO,” said Hartmann. “The real opportunity that the show gave me was to be just a regular person working side-by-side with our retailers and our associates.”

After graduating from RIT with his pre-law degree, Hartmann enrolled at Syracuse University to earn his JD. From there, he went to work as an FBI agent. Over the course of his 10-year career with the bureau, Hartmann worked a variety of assignments, including violent crimes and major offenders, narcotics and two undercover investigations. Hartmann is the first “Undercover Boss” who has actually done undercover work previously, according to CBS.

“Given my past, I was very comfortable going undercover for the show,” said Hartmann. “Although I have to say, wearing an elaborate wig was certainly new for me.”

When he wrapped up his career with the FBI, Hartmann entered the corporate market. Hartmann worked in executive positions at Cardinal Health, Home Depot and New Zealand hardware retailer Mitre 10 before he was hired as the president and CEO of True Value.

Despite his considerable corporate background, Undercover Boss was an entirely new experience for Hartmann. The True Value leader said that he was very thankful for the opportunity and that he learned a great deal about his business.

“This was an opportune time for me to ensure that the plans we’ve been putting together at True Value aligned with the needs of our retailers and were well-grounded in a factual basis about how our business actually runs today. For me, that was the best outcome about participating in this great show.”