Background

After an initial rocky start to his college career, John Spence eventually graduated from the University of Florida, where he was recognized in his senior year by the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) as the top public relations student in the Southeastern US and in the top three in the entire nation.

John’s business career began as Director of Development for a fledgling non-profit group. In just three years John was named Executive Director of that organization and working side-by-side with the agency’s president, Winthrop P. Rockefeller, Spence was instrumental in growing The Billfish Foundation into one of the world’s leading marine conservation organizations with contributing members in 26 countries and research projects spanning the globe. In his role as director, Spence testified before Congress, negotiated international fishing regulations with foreign diplomats and also co-hosted several national television programs focusing on fishery conservation. At the age of 27, Spence was nominated as one of the top CEO’s in Florida under the age of 40 and was also recognized by Inc. Magazine’s “Zinc Online” as one of America’s up and coming young business leaders.

Looking for new challenges, Spence left the foundation in 1994 to form his own consulting and corporate training firm. Since that time John has let his passion for learning drive his work, which has literally taken him around the world assisting his clients with critical business issues and often working on projects in excess of $100 million dollars.

Each year Spence also sets aside a portion of his busy consulting and workshop schedule to share his insights and lessons learned with select audiences as a keynote speaker and seminar leader. In 1999, the Florida Employees Advisory Council, an organization representing more than 3,000 businesses in that state, named John Spence “Outstanding Speaker of the Year.” He has also received the “Highest Award for Achievement” from the Dale Carnegie Institute for his professional speaking skills.

When not on an airplane, John is an avid outdoorsman, fanatical fly fisherman, voracious reader of topics other than just business and always working on writing his next book!