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Kevin O'Leary

Top Business Speaker, Respected Investor, Author, Venture Capitalist, and Judge on ABC’s Shark Tank and CNBC's Money Court Reality Show

Renowned investor and star of ABC’s Shark Tank
Founded Softkey Software Products, a world leader in educational software acquired by Mattel for $4.2 billion
Chairman of O’Leary Funds which holds $1 billion for investment purposes
Regular contributor on ABC, CNBC and CTV, and a two-time bestselling author

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As the son of a traveling international business expert, Kevin O’Leary, had the opportunity to live and be educated in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Ethiopia, France, and Switzerland.

After completing his MBA, O’Leary founded Special Event Television, an independent production company that produced original sports programming such as The Original Six, Don Cherry’s Grapevine, and Bobby Orr and the Hockey Legends.

O’Leary founded SoftKey Software Products—later called The Learning Company—in 1986. SoftKey was the first software company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. SoftKey grew quickly as the price of personal computers declined and millions of American families began to buy software for education and entertainment. SoftKey soon became a catalyst of consolidation in the software industry, raising over $1 billion in financing and completing a series of aggressive acquisitions, including WordStar International, Spinnaker Software, Compton’s New Media, The Learning Company, Creative Wonders, the Minnesota Educational Computer Company, Mindscape, and Broderbund. By 1998, O’Leary’s company was the undisputed world leader in educational, reference, and home productivity software and the world’s second largest consumer software company, with annual sales over $800 million, 2,000 employees and offices in 15 countries. In 1999, Mattel acquired the company for $4.2 billion.

In 2003, O’Leary co-founded Storage Now, a leading developer of climate controlled storage facilities. Through a series of development projects and acquisitions, Storage Now soon had operations in 11 cities, serving such companies as Merck and Pfizer, and was acquired by In Storage REIT in March 2007 for $110 million.

In 2007, O’Leary became a founding investor and Director of Boston-based, Stream Global Services Inc., focused on the growing out sourcing business services market.

Today, O’Leary is the Chairman of O’Leary Funds, a Canadian mutual fund company with $1 billion under management and the Chairman of O’Shares Investments. He is also the founder and Chief Sommelier of O’Leary Fine Wines, an award-winning wine label, as well as a member of Boston’s 107-year old Hamilton Trust. In addition to Shark Tank, O’Leary is a regular contributor on ABC, CNBC and CTV, and a best-selling author of two books, Cold Hard Truth and Men, Women and Money, and Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids and Money.

O’Leary holds a BA in environmental studies and psychology from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, where he serves as a board member.

Cold Hard Truth.

Kevin O’Leary, one of North America’s most successful entrepreneurs, reveals the secrets that made him rich, and shares his personal advice for readers from every walk of life. Kevin describes his incredible journey, from his sometimes difficult childhood to the way he built his first company, managed personal pressures, and ultimately achieved remarkable success. His advice is engaging and practical—and will help those who read it become the best entrepreneurs and business people that they can be. Topics cover business, money, and life, including, how to find your calling and turn your talents into a profitable venture, building a dream team, transforming adversity into opportunity, as well as making and growing your business and your money.

Lessons From A Dragon.

Kevin O’Leary will take you on a behind the scenes look at his two hit shows, Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank. He customizes every presentation for his audience to bring unique business information to each event. He’ll share entertaining and insightful outtakes from his TV shows—video’s you can’t see anywhere else, along with a current economic overview and how it relates to your industry, and finally he’ll be a ‘secret agent’ for your industry with insights into how your industry is performing, where the innovation is coming from and more. All based on a content review of your industry prior to the event.

An Evening With Kevin O’Leary.

With candor and unmatched business smarts, Kevin O’Leary draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of finance, investing, economics, and business to discuss a variety of topics. How, for instance, will the global recession affect a myriad of industries, including your own, and what can you do to protect your company, and come out stronger than ever? Razor sharp and quick on his feet, O’Leary pulls no punches in his enlightening and timely talks.