Turning Up the Heat with Alliant’s New CEO
Alliant Principal Mike McCurdy and Alliant’s new CEO, Sean O’Brien, have been close friends for more than 20 years. When Alliant posted for a CFO position in 2019, Mike immediately thought of Sean and recommended him for the role. Sean joined Alliant as our first-ever CFO in 2020 and served in that position until the summer of 2025, when he was named President; then last month he officially stepped into the role of CEO.
Since Mike was the one who introduced Sean to Alliant, we thought it was only fitting that he introduce Sean to our clients, partners, and friends. Of course, a friendship spanning more than two decades doesn’t lend itself to a typical interview. Mike wanted to make it memorable.
Inspired by the hit show Hot Ones, Mike put Sean in the hot seat, asking him some spicy questions while they sampled hot sauces recommended by our employee-owners. As you’ll see in the video, Mike’s plan didn’t exactly go as expected. He struggled with the heat far more than Sean did.
After Sean and Mike had fully recovered, we hosted a Hot Ones-themed lunch where employee-owners could watch the video, get to know Sean a little better, and sample the same hot sauces themselves. Were more tears shed? Absolutely. Absolutely they were.
If this has sparked your curiosity, here’s the full list of hot sauces featured in the challenge so you can see how you’d handle the heat. Where do you land on the “Mike’s Discomfort Level”?
► Sauce 1: Miller’s Banana Pepper Sauce
► Sauce 2: Yellowbird Siracha Hot Sauce
► Sauce 3: Empress Pineapple Miso Hot Sauce
► Sauce 4: Chin-Su
► Sauce 5: Dullahan Blueberry (employee-owner homemade hot sauce)
►Sauce 6: Buldak Hot Sauce
► Sauce 7: Woodstock Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
► Sauce 8: Garlic Reaper Sauce
► Sauce 9: Da Bomb
► Sauce 10: Inferno Hot Sauce
One thing became clear throughout this interview: no matter how hot things get, even when his face is burning and his eyes are watering, Alliant’s new CEO knows how to keep his cool.