JEFF PROUTY

Chairman and Founder

Jeff works with senior management teams and boards of directors on strategic planning and team issues.

He founded the business in 1987, after spending seven great years with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Minneapolis and New York City.

Professional/Community Involvement Includes:

• Editorial Advisory Board, Metropolitan Media Group
• Board of Directors, JMS Companies  
• Board of Directors, Sigma Phi Epsilon National Fraternity
• Board of Directors, RW Trend Inc.
• Member, Families with Children from China
• Member, Association for Strategic Planning (and host of monthly “Jammin' Sessions")
• Junior League of Minneapolis Community Volunteer of the Year (1996)
• Teacher, Maasai Girls School, Monduli, Tanzania (1997)

Previous Boards include:

• Board of Directors, Crisis Connection
• Board of Directors, ASTD Minnesota
• Board of Advisors, Junior League of Minneapolis
• Board of Advisors, B.E.S.T. United Way
• Board of Advisors, Stirtz Bernards

Recent Speeches:

• "10 Strategic Planning Pitfalls... and 31 Tips to Enhance Your Strategic Thinking Process"
• "10 Strategic Planning Pitfalls and 10 Target Turbo Topics"
• "Ten Things We Learned About Team Building and Leadership While Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro"
• "The Art of Strategic Thinking"
•  "The Syracuse Seven: Building your Legacy"

Education and Recent Conferences:

Graduated with honors, Iowa State University, B.S. in Business Administration (1979)

Recent conferences include:

• Fitness Ridge, St. George, UT
• Human Performance Institute/The Corporate Athlete, Orlando, FL
• Innovative Thinking Conference, Capetown, South Africa
• Strategic Leadership Forum, New York, NY
• The Strategic Coach, Toronto, Ontario

Family, Fun and Personal Pursuits:

• My wife, Mary, and I live in Eden Prairie, a southwest Minneapolis suburb.
• We have two beautiful daughters, Paige and Shea, both adopted from China.
• I love to climb big mountains (see STRETCH EXPEDITIONS on our website), workout at the Life Time Fitness "Boot Camp," scour magazines and entertain on Think Tank II.
• I am excited about:
  • The creation of our Stretch Foundation (2005).
  • Sharing stories with you from our "Radical Sabbatical" (much of it in China, 2006)
  • Participating in 2008 "Dancing Dads 'n Daughters" competition with Paige and Shea (hip hop)!