Saucy Second Acts

For two UND alums, the next chapter begins in the kitchen.

Mixing up a Second Career

Tony Hebert, ’93, goes from Fed to Founder with Punch House cocktails.

What began in the dugout as a youth baseball friendship eventually became a business venture for Tony Hebert, ’93, and fellow Decatur, Georgia, resident Chuck Job.

The two baseball dads had been experimenting with cocktails at home when they discovered they shared the same hobby. Before long, they were batching drinks for family, friends and neighbors.

“We like to tell people we’re just two baseball dads from Decatur who make cocktails,” Tony said.

The hobby soon outgrew the kitchen. In 2025, the pair partnered with the Distillery of Modern Art in Atlanta and launched Punch House, a premium bottled cocktail company.

Tony’s Path

In the early stages of Punch House, Tony was acting chief data officer at the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Although he planned to retire at 60, an attractive early retirement package accelerated the timeline.

“That was my ‘fork in the road,’” he said. “I’d spent most of my career in risk-averse sectors, so I decided to take the risk, make the leap, and see how it goes.”

Through his federal work, Tony managed millions of dollars and hundreds of employees. “A lot of those skills transfer,” he said.

Tony said UND helped lay the foundation for many of those leadership abilities.

“UND was totally formative for me,” he said. “The classes and ideas I was exposed to, along with my involvement in the Student Alumni Association and leadership roles in Kappa Sigma, taught me how to organize and lead.”

Building Punch House

One of Punch House’s biggest learning curves involved alcohol regulations and licensing requirements. “We were able to get all that done in seven months and launch two bottled cocktails,” Tony said.

Punch House currently offers two products, with two more in development. Mai-Tiki is a tropical rum cocktail, and Old Timer is made with rye whiskey. Both have won numerous international awards, and are sold in 20 Georgia businesses, with plans to expand into South Carolina and Florida, and eventually into Minnesota and North Dakota.

“Growth into these markets is dependent on our ability to attract investors and scale,” Tony said. “Premium bottled cocktails are one of the fastest-growing categories in liquor.”

For Tony, the uncertainty of entrepreneurship is part of the appeal.

“This is a completely different beast,” he said. “There’s less certainty and fewer resources, but there’s more growth each day. When you’re constrained, it really puts creativity on steroids.”

A career in three acts

Tony Hebert, who earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida, describes his career in three acts: academia, which included a stint as an adjunct instructor in UND’s anthropology department; federal service at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and, most recently, startup founder at Punch House.

Chico’s Second Inning

Baseball player turns his childhood nickname into a gourmet brand.

Mark Monson, ’74, has been known as “Chico” since childhood, when a baseball coach gave him the nickname.

In 2015, the former UND baseball player turned that nickname into Chico’s Gourmet Products. Though he initially assumed selling them would be simple, Mark quickly learned the realities of manufacturing and distribution.

“I thought I’d slap some labels on the jars and then sell them in a whole bunch of stores,” he said. “I figured out pretty quickly that it doesn’t work that way.”

Mark persevered though, expanding his product line and his distribution. Today, Chico’s Gourmet Products are produced in Hillsboro, North Dakota, and sold in hundreds of stores throughout the Midwest. Mark’s lasagna sauce — which he once considered discontinuing — has become one of his best sellers.