2020 KeeleyU CEO Series

By: John Regan

KeeleyU prides itself on hosting unique and valuable instructor-led courses for our Keeley’ns. In 2020, we have brought in incredible leaders from across the country to speak to our people about leadership, the challenges they’ve faced throughout their journeys, answer questions about their businesses, and to give advice and insight to our people and partners.

On February 27, our Keeley'ns heard from Ameren CEO, Warner Baxter, about Ameren's growth, his personal career growth, and what he is most excited about for the future. It was an inspiring afternoon and we are so excited to see our partnership with Ameren continue to grow and strengthen.

On March 11, we had the pleasure of hosting a panel of amazing women leaders. Facilitated by Gina Hoagland, the panel consisted of Carolyn Kindle-Betz, President of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation and member of the #MLS4TheLou ownership group, Alaina Macia, CEO of MTM, and Tara Mooar, Vice President of Global Engineering for Verizon. These three women educated our Keeley'ns on what it means to be a leader, what got them to where they are today, and provided inspirational advice on how to take your career to the next level. This was an exceptional session, and we are so grateful to have been given the chance to spend time with these women.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made sure to continue to bring KeeleyU to our Keeley’ns no matter where they are across the country. On April 21, Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology, joined us live from his home via Geniecast. World Wide Technology has been a longtime partner of the Keeley Companies and our partnership has been able to flourish through our cultural alignment. Jim began the session by going over the history of WWT, starting with when he co-founded the company in 1993. The most important thing to Jim and his team throughout the years has been creating a high performing organization that focuses on values, culture, and effective leadership. This mindset of creating a strong culture with the right people has allowed Jim to build an incredibly successful organization. Along with discussing “The World Wide Way”, Jim discussed the traits that he believes make a good leader and answered questions from Keeley’ns. This virtual KeeleyU may have been different than the other CEO Series sessions, but it was informative, engaging, and a great way to stay positive during these difficult times.

Thank you to all of the CEOs and leaders who have taken the time to educate and inspire our Keeley’ns! All sessions are available on the LMS now for future Keeley’ns to take full advantage of.