HARVEY MACKAY

Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times #1 best-sellers Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. Both books are among the top 15 most inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times.

Mackay’s third book, released in 1993 and titled Sharkproof, also became a national best-seller within weeks. Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, Mackay’s fourth book, made the New York Times best-seller list 12 days after its release on April 20, 1997, and remained there for five months. In January 1999, Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top became his fourth New York Times best-seller. It is full of business and life lessons, including how to lick the competition, and is guaranteed to ear your stamp of approval. His latest book, We Got Fired!...And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Us, became his third New York Times #1 best-seller. Mackay interviewed 28 Americans who were fired and landed on their feet – people like Muhammad Ali, Michael Bloomberg, Lou Holtz, Billie Jean King, Larry King, Robert Redford, Joe Torre, Lesley Visser, Jesse Ventura, and many more. Mackay’s books have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, been translated into 35 languages, and sold in 80 countries.

Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist for United Feature Syndicate, whose weekly articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country, including the Detroit Free Press, Denver Post, Orange County Register, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Arizona Republic.

He also is one of America’s most popular and entertaining business speakers, speaking on average once a week to Fortune 500-size companies and associations. Toastmasters International named him one of the top five speakers in the world. In addition, Mackay is Chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, an $85-million company he founded at age 26. Mackay Envelope employs 500 people and manufactures 23 million envelopes a day.

Mackay is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Program. He is an avid runner, marathoner, and former #1-ranked tennis player in Minnesota.

In 2004, Mackay received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award. He was inducted into the Minnesota Business all of Fame in 2002. He is the past president of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Envelope Manufacturers Association of America, and the University of Minnesota National Alumni Association, to name only a few. He is currently a director on Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, the Minnesota Orchestral Association, and the University of Carlson School of Management. He has been a guest lecturer at various universities and business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Cornell, Wharton, and Penn State.

All of which is why Fortune magazine refers to him as “Mr. Make Things Happen.”