ABOUT DEREK
First and foremost, I’m a husband to my beautiful wife, Rachel, and I’m a proud father. We’ve been blessed with two curious and energetic daughters, Ellie and Mia, who constantly remind us of the simple joys in life.
HEAD OF EMPLOYEE SUCCESS
Much of my day is spent as the Head of Employee Success and Director of Leadership Development for ETE REMAN, which is the nation’s largest remanufacturer of transmissions and a USA Top Workplace. At ETE, I teach over 100 managers the core principles of leadership, management, and personal development. Additionally, I create roadmaps for the following initiatives: culture, employee engagement, talent acquisition, leadership development, talent management, onboarding, and employee wellness.
WAC LIFE & SHIFT
Before joining ETE, I spent 12 years at the Wisconsin Athletic Club as the Director of People & Service, Director of Training & Development, and General Manager. During my tenure, I published the book SHIFT: Move from Frustrated to Fulfilled and became certified to teach content from John Maxwell.
BECOMING FIT TO LEAD
Shortly after joining the WAC, I couldn’t get enough of what I was studying, learning, and applying, so much that I created my own business, Fit to Lead, as an avenue to engage and impact others through keynotes, workshops, and writing. Fit to Lead gives your people-leaders a roadmap with the tools needed to create or refresh their leadership skills and has a multi-phase curriculum that consists of the following three sections: (1) Leading Yourself (2) Leading People (3) Leading Teams.
MY PAST CAREERS
In my past career, I spent 8 years as an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at Wisconsin Lutheran College, a top ranked college by Forbes, Money Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. My diverse career endeavors also included four years as a Video Scout in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks, two years as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations in the NCAA with Marquette University, and one year as the Director of Player Development with the University of Utah.
If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past decade, it’s that now is the time to build your career, shape your life, and strategically work on laying the foundation for accomplishing your dreams and prospering to your true potential. While there are many people who try to accomplish this, very few of them are given a roadmap of where to start; thus, I hope you will find me as your resource for getting your compass pointed in the right direction.
DEREK’S APPROACH
Derek understands the challenge of finding the right speaker. In his role as the Head of Employee Success at ETE REMAN, a USA Top Workplace, he is responsible for hiring speakers and trainers. Like you, Derek researches a number of prospects to ensure the right fit. For that reason, he created a Pre-Event Speaking Questionnaire to make it easy for you to get the information you need to make the best decision possible.
Derek realizes that the success of many events comes down to the quality of its speakers and trainers. If they are engaging, people will talk about the event for years. If they are boring, participants will dread the next one. Derek is committed to partnering with you, and he is honored that you are considering him for a future event.
I help organizations create energized and effective leaders and cultures, so that they can fully realize their mission, vision and goals.
