Keith Ellison runs The Ellison Group, Inc., leadership development and management consulting firm, with an emphasis on improving managerial and communication skills and reducing cycle-times of operational processes. Since 2000, business leaders across multiple industries have used his firm’s services to improve sales, profits and shareholder value. His client list has included Schering-Plough, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lockheed Martin, Novo Nordisk, CIGNA, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia Gas Works, International Broadcasting Bureau, Philadelphia Department of Human Services and Philadelphia Department of Public Health, to name a few.
Prior to launching The Ellison Group, Keith served for two years as the Director of Consulting Services at the Wharton Small Business Development Center, providing technical assistance to high-growth businesses. Under his leadership, the Center coached more than 1,200 individuals and small businesses resulting in over $50 million in debt and equity financing.
Between 1995 and 2000, Keith launched and published Next Step, a quarterly magazine about cultural diversity. In 2004 he co-authored Conversations on Success, a life enhancement book with candid, insightful and inspirational lessons on success (Insight Publishing). Building on his experiences in publishing and consulting, he became a professional speaker, facilitator and expert witness at various conferences, seminars and public hearings. His most notable events: testifying before the U.S. Congress (1999); teaching entrepreneurial management in Beijing, China (2000); airing on Talk to America (90 million world-wide listeners); and appearing on three segments of The Black Enterprise Report.
Keith teaches management communication at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and facilitates a six-month leadership development course for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Development Institute in Harrisburg, PA. Furthermore, Keith serves as the program director for the Urban League of Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Center, where he leads a team of consultants in providing business advisory services and training to entrepreneurs in southeastern Pennsylvania.
His corporate background includes positions at IBM, Proctor & Gamble and Manor Care, Inc. Keith earned an MBA from the Wharton School and a B.S. in electrical engineering and mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Keith and his wife, Sheree are silver-level ballroom dancers, who participate in various competitions. The two coreograph routines for high school students, including Jack & Jill of America and occasionally volunteer their time by performing at a local senior residence facility.