Veteran Lucas Naccarati ’25: A Mission-Driven Path to Business Success

Originally from Glendale, Naccarati’s family moved to Brazil when he was an infant, and returned to the U.S. when he was seven years old. Although he traveled back to Brazil to visit family many times as a child, his Brazilian citizenship wouldn’t come to play an imperative role until later in life. Growing up in Southern California, Naccarati’s parents consistently encouraged him to go to college and get a degree. After graduating from high school, Naccarati went to Pasadena City College for a semester, but quickly dropped out. “School wasn’t for me back then. I was immature and didn’t have the discipline I needed to succeed academically,” he said. When one of his best friends decided to join the Marine Corps, it piqued Naccarati’s curiosity. “I looked into what it would mean to join the military and researched all of the branches. The Marine Corps was supposed to be the most challenging one, so I prayed about it and that’s the one I chose,” he said. “It’s definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Naccarati was ready and willing to serve his country. Over his time in the Marines, he was stationed in California, Mississippi, Arizona, and Missouri. Naccarati quickly learned the challenges of the military, witnessing the struggles of soldiers as they trained for combat. “At the same time, there were lots of great moments. I met some of my best friends,” he said.

We had camaraderie and I learned leadership skills and the discipline I needed to be mature physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Most importantly, I learned the importance of adapting and overcoming any obstacles. That experience shaped me into the man I am now.

Soon after his time in the Marines, Naccarati’s military training and instincts  would come into play in a way he could never have imagined. While attending the Astroworld Festival in Houston on November 5, 2021, a fatal crowd crush occurred among the 50,000 concert fans. Naccarati quickly assessed the situation and sprung into action. “I gave CPR to two people. I was going in and grabbing people and taking them out as well. It was nonstop. With CPR, I didn’t even realize how long I was doing it, there was so much going on.”  

That drive to protect others, which was so ingrained in him through the Military and his experience at the concert, led him to his first business endeavor. With the alarming rise of shootings making headlines around the country, Naccarati felt called to do something. “I prayed about it and thought about what I could do. That’s when I had an idea for HuskyPak, a bulletproof backpack,” he said. Naccarati made a pitch to an investor and within seven months, the idea went from concept to reality, a bulletproof backpack that could keep people safe. Although he initially marketed the backpack to the military and law enforcement, Naccarati found a much bigger market, parents who wanted to keep their children safe at school. Three years later he received an offer to purchase his company, a decision he made that would open the door to new opportunities.

Next Naccarati took a job with his brother, who owns one of the top neuropathy clinics in the country, Premier Health Institute. That experience taught him a lot about how a successful company should run. “My brother puts his employees first. He pays them well and takes them and their families on corporate trips,” Naccarati said. “He knows that if he invests in them, they’ll invest back in him and the company will thrive, and it has.” Naccarati enjoyed serving as Chief Operating Officer for the company for three years, but deep down, he knew he wanted to build a business again.

In March 2024, Naccarati received a call from an old connection in Brazil. “I flew out there the next day to hear his pitch for the company, PayTech,” he said. “We founded the company and now I’m a majority owner. The company is essentially a payment banking platform.” Naccarati had thought about entering the fintech (financial technology) sector in the U.S., but the Brazilian fintech economy is far less developed, which represented a good opportunity for him to invest in it early. His capital would also go further in Brazil; he would benefit from higher interest rates; and his Brazilian citizenship allows him to easily travel back and forth to run the company while also spending time at home in California. As PayTech has grown, Naccarati reflected on what the future of the company holds. “When I first invested in PayTech, I asked my partners to come up with a delusional goal and a realistic one. The delusional goal was to take the company public, while the realistic one was to sell it if we got an offer over $200 million,” he said. “That number has grown since then, but I think there’s a real chance of that happening in the next 5-7 years.”

Around the same time that he invested in PayTech, Naccarati decided to go back to school. Although he already ran a successful company, he knew there was a lot he still needed to learn about the business world, but his decision went beyond that. “My mother and father always wanted me to go back to school,” he said. “Whether I was in the Marines or was running a company, they  said, ‘but imagine if you got a bachelor’s degree.’ I knew that it would make them happy.” Naccarati researched business programs and decided to attend Azusa Pacific University for his degree.

I liked that it was a Christian school, and I knew my mom would too. I also appreciated that I was able to do most of my program online. I came to campus a few times a semester to maintain my VA benefits, but most of the time I completed my work remotely, which was exactly what I needed because I was constantly traveling back and forth to Brazil for my business.

Naccarati completed his degree in just two years, an accelerated pathway in which he excelled. The Marines had given him discipline and strengthened his work ethic. “Being back in school with a mature mindset helped me focus and get it done as fast as possible,” he said. “I also wanted it to be a surprise  so finishing my degree quickly helped me keep it a secret.” On November 28, 2025, two weeks before his graduation, Naccarati finally revealed what he had been working on to his family. “I had a video recorded of my admissions interview with APU. I  watched it with my family,” he said. “They thought it had just happened and I was about to start school, but then I swiped to the next slide which was a photo of me in my graduation regalia. My mom and dad started crying. That was definitely not on their bingo card for 2025, or ever for me. It brought me a lot of joy to fulfill their wish for me.”

While Naccarati learned practical and theoretical knowledge in his courses, one of his favorite parts of his APU experience was faith integration. Although he had grown up in a Christian family and faith was always a part of his life, it hadn’t been as big a part of his work before APU. Naccarati was presented with hypothetical scenarios in his classes where his professors would ask—how would you handle this situation being a person of faith?  “Learning to ask, ‘what would Jesus do in this scenario’ really restructured the way I think. I found Bible verses that supported my decisions, and the whole process deepened my faith.” Naccarati seeks the Lord’s guidance through prayer as he continues to build his business and waits with faithful anticipation for whatever comes next.