In sharp contrast to his Shark Tank reputation for investing in risky start-ups, O’Leary’s current acclaim on Wall Street comes from his street-beating success as Chairman of conservative O’Shares ETF Investments managing over a half a billion in assets. Designed for long-term investors, O’Shares was lauded by Forbes for enjoying “a gush of investor inflows and eye-popping returns” and “a formula for beating the stock market." In its first year, O’Shares outperformed every benchmark through a conservative strategy focused on income, wealth preservation, and capital appreciation. As the Chairman of O’Leary Financial Group, he leads a group of 44 companies that includes O’Shares, O’ Leary Publishing, award-winning O’Leary Wines (serving as Chief Sommelier) and a continually growing roster of companies. In addition to Shark Tank, O’Leary appears as a contributor on CNBC’s Squawk Box, ABC, CNBC and CTV and is the bestselling author of three books: Cold Hard Truth, Men, Women and Money and Family, Kids and Money. He also lectures future entrepreneurs at MIT, Notre Dame, Waterloo and McGill, belongs to the prestigious Hamilton Trust in Boston and is an avid chef, wine lover, world traveler, electric guitarist (and guitar collector) and die-hard New England Patriots fan.

O’Leary’s success story began like many: “with a big idea and zero cash.”  Unlike most, he eventually built a fortune launching a succession of groundbreaking companies that were acquired for billions. In 1986, he founded SoftKey Software Products (later called The Learning Company) in his basement. Under O’Leary’s leadership, The Learning Company became the undisputed world leader in educational, reference and home productivity software. It was later acquired by Mattel for $4.2 billion. In 2003, O’Leary co-founded Storage Now, which was acquired only four years later for $110 million. His next investment, Stream Global Services, was acquired after seven years for $820 million. In 2004, O’Leary began appearing on business programs on television. This included Discovery Channel’s show Project Earth and ABC’s Shark Tank. A Shark since 2009, “Mr. Wonderful” has been integral to the show’s tremendous success as one of America’s most popular family shows. Shark Tank recently won its fourth Emmy and O’Leary has called it “the most successful venture capital firm on earth.”

Sharing a life story that began with humble beginnings and reached the pinnacle of business success, Kevin O’Leary’s keynotes are fueled by a genuine passion to pass on what he has learned and motivate others to achieve. From what’s next for financial markets to why it’s almost always better to hire a woman CEO, he shares hard-won wisdom, actionable advice and time-tested philosophies that will inform your perspectives, challenge your potential and quite possibly, change your life. Read Less ^