Jeffrey Kearney, Mentor, Conductor and Coach
Jeffrey Kearney owned his first business at the age of 18 and hasn't looked back. For the last 3 decades, he has worked in a range of entrepreneurial, crown and corporate environments, the most recent as Vice President of Production and Senior Producer with Radical Entertainment, a privately owned Vancouver video game production company of 200 employees. In 1998, Jeffrey became one of 6 principal owners of Radical dedicated to lifting the company back to its feet from bankruptcy. At Radical, Jeffrey led a team of 12 direct reports responsible for 125+ staff. His team was accountable for the creative design and development of multiple projects, each lasting up to 18 months.
Within this environment, Jeffrey's strength in coaching and directing leaders and developing support systems flourished. His team's goal was to create a company culture that attracted and kept demanding high-end Gen X and Gen Y art and technical staff and supported the creation of outstanding work. Within 4 years, Radical Entertainment went from losing half its staff, most key employees and all its revenue to being named the Best Place to Work in BC (Watson Wyatt/BC Business Magazine) and one of Canada's 50 Best Run Privately Owned Companies (Globe & Mail Survey). Radical created such hits as The Hulk, Simpons Hit and Run and CSI and recently completed a Master Development/Option to Purchase deal with Vivendi-Universal valued at US$20m+.
Prior to joining Radical, Jeffrey was, for 9 years, a freelance project leader in Toronto. He brought together project teams to work on a diverse range of projects including international traveling exhibitions, interactive science centre exhibits, magazines and corporate identities. In his first post-university job, Jeffrey lead several successful project teams for the Expo 86 Corporation including the controversial Highway 86, Land Plaza and others.
Jeffrey attended UBC, casually studying Asian History while spending most of his time working with a dedicated team who successfully applied for a CRTC broadcast license for a community radio station. As a key member of that team, he was responsible for leading 100+ volunteers. At the same time he partnered with a colleague and started his first business with a written balance sheet - a small company importing alternative records from the UK.
In 2003, Jeffrey made his third career shift. He followed his passion of working with individuals inspired to develop personally and professionally. Jeffrey has established his own business as an executive coach and mentor, working with groups like ViRTUS who share his vision and values.
Jeffrey lives by his own personal philosophy of leadership - to keep growing and developing. He believes that continuous development is essential in any organization and that leaders must make a conscious choice to change, develop and grow personally. As a result, he has worked with a Master Certified Coach for 4 years and is also a 4-year member of a ViRTUS Presidents' Exchange(TM). He has completed numerous other development courses ranging from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats to SNS Professional Negotiation and Influencing and VTSL Theatresports Improv. Currently, he is training for his CPCC coaching designation with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI).
In his freedom time, he enjoys his family relationships with partner Suzanne and twin teenage boys, Sean and Alex. He also spends time with his extensive music collection, reading about creativity, innovation, design and architecture and playing Ultimate.