Jason Caldwell

Jason Caldwell Speaker Biography

Jason Caldwell is a world record holding athlete, a professional adventurer, and founder of Latitude 35 leadership, an organization that engages in leadership development for the world’s top business schools and private organizations.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jason was introduced to the sport of rowing while attending Sonoma State University. His success in rowing at the collegiate level earned him an invitation to row for Vesper Boat Club’s prestigious Elite team in Philadelphia, upon graduation. During his three years at Vesper, Jason won two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze at US Nationals, amongst others.

Upon retirement from Vesper, Jason began a career in leadership development, using the sport of rowing to teach managers and other influencers how to lead effectively. Using a curriculum that sees participants spending half their time in a unique experience, and the other half in a rich academic deconstruction of that experience, Jason created a program that is not only indelible but has earned recognition and acclaim by organizations and Business schools around the world. In his 12-year tenure, Jason has personally delivered these successful leadership and team-building programs to more than 100 companies in over 20 countries.

With years of leadership training under his belt, Jason became inspired to put into practice his leadership philosophy and decided to recruit and train a four-man team for the world’s toughest race. The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge (TWAC) is a 3,000-mile unassisted rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean. Starting in the Canary Islands and finishing in Antigua, this race is held every year with teams representing countries from around the world.

In 2015 Jason Caldwell created and captained Latitude 35, the all-American team that took on the TWAC against 25 other teams. Only 600 miles into this 3,000-mile race, and firmly in 3rd place, the team was forced to anchor and wait as a sailboat came to evacuate two of their four members due to illness and injury. Undeterred, Jason and remaining teammate, Tom Magarov, elected to continue the race. Despite falling to 24th place while waiting two days for the evacuation, rowing in a boat never before rowed by with less than four people, and facing another 2,400 miles of brutal and violent storms on their own, Jason and Tom persevered over the next 41 days, climbing back up to 11^th place and finishing the race as the fastest American four-man team in race history.

Disenfranchised by his lack of solid leadership and his ability to hold the team together, Jason re-entered the TWAC the very next year, recruiting a new team, and training them based on the lessons learned from the year prior. With tenacity reserved by only those with unfinished business, Jason led this new team back to the start line, through the treacherous Atlantic once again, and to the finish line, this year not only winning the race, but breaking the World Record as the fastest crew to ever row across the Atlantic Ocean at 35 days, 14 hours, and 3 minutes. Latitude 35’s efforts were recognized and enshrined in the 2018 Guinness Book of World Records.

Jason Caldwell’s journey of leadership through the seemingly impossible has given him stories that he has been sharing with businesses and academic institutions around the world. His book on leadership titled “Follow” has also been used to supplement his stories and lessons learned from the various teams he’s had the privilege of being part of. Jason continues to enter and lead Latitude 35 teams in seemingly impossible adventures around the world while sharing his lessons learned along the way. He currently lives with his wife Amelia in Danville, California