Kevin O'Leary Speaker Biography
Frank and opinionated, speaker Kevin O’Leary is one of North America’s leading business moguls. On Shark Tank, he invests in entrepreneurs who have potential, while dutifully deflating those who don’t. Now he brings that cutting insight to CTV and BNN. With the same candour, his keynotes help you make sense of the day’s financial rumblings—connecting them, entertainingly of course, to your industry.
As a Shark Tank judge, O’Leary ruthlessly grills entrepreneurs, which a) makes for great television, but b) serves to show them—and anyone watching at home—that starting a business and growing it is vastly complicated and requires much more than simply having an idea. Formerly on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and The Lang & O’Leary Exchange, he offered the same hard-hitting analysis to millions of Canadians.
O’Leary’s track record in business gives him the force of authority. In 1993, with no money, he launched The Learning Company, which developed software that helped kids with reading and math. Six years later, he sold it to Mattel for 3.7 billion dollars, one of the largest tech deals in Canadian history. As an “Eco-preneur,” O’Leary specializes in investments that make money—and are environmentally friendly. In 2003, he co-founded Storage Now, Canada’s leading developer of climate controlled storage facilities; in 2007, it was acquired by In Storage REIT, for $110 million dollars. He is also the co-host for Discovery Channel’s Discovery Project Earth, which explores ways we can reverse global warming. He is the author of bestselling books Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life, Cold Hard Truth About Men, Women & Money, and Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids & Money.
A shrewd investor, O’Leary is on the investment committee of Hamilton Trust, and on the strategic advisory board of Genstar capital, a $1.5-billion private equity firm. He received his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and now serves on the Ivey executive board.
