ADVANTAGE - Key Persons
Corky Messner was born on November 15, 1956 in Altoona, PA into a blue-collar family. Corky's father was an automobile mechanic and his mother was a waitress. At the age of 17, Corky joined the U.S. Army to attend USMAPS, then at Fort Belvoir, VA he entered West Point in the summer of 1975 and graduated in 1979, "Top of the Line, '79". While at West Point, Corky was a member of the football team, attended Ranger School and earned his Ranger Tab in the summer of 1977, and attended Jump School and earned his Jump Wings in the summer of 1978. Corky was one of the few West Point cadets to earn a football letter, Ranger Tab and Jump Wings while a cadet.
Corky served in the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Schweinfurt, West Germany and the Berlin brigade from January 1980 until June 1984. His last duty assignment was as an Infantry company commander. After his service, he attended the University of Denver, College of Law and graduated with a J.D. in May 1987.
Corky started his legal career at the international law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. After working there for six years, and after a brief stay at a small firm, Corky founded the law firm of Messner Reeves, LLP in 1995. Today, Messner Reeves, LLP is a national full-service business law firm with 11 offices located throughout the United States and employs over 110 lawyers and more than 200 staff members. The most notable client of Messner Reeves, LLP is Chipotle Mexican Grill, which the firm began representing soon after Chipotle was founded and when it had only a few restaurants. Chipotle now has almost 3,000 restaurants throughout the world. From 2005 until 2018, Corky served as general counsel to Chipotle. Corky has made the notable accomplishment of persuading Chipotle to open a restaurant at West Point, which it did in 2020.