Kevin O’Leary

Entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary is a co-host of the Emmy-Award-winning reality television show “Shark Tank,” a businessperson, investor, writer, and television personality.

O’Leary co-founded SoftKey Software in 1986. It was the first company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. After a number of key consolidations and acquisitions, SoftKey rose to be the world leader in software for family education and entertainment. In 1996, the company changed its name to The Learning Company. It was sold to the Mattel Toy Company in 1999 for $4.2 billion.

O’Leary’s later investments included Storage-Now, a leading developer of climate-controlled storage facilities that was later acquired by In-Storage REIT for $110 million; and Stream Global Services Inc., focused on the growing outsourcing business services market. He is currently the chairman of O’Shares ETF Investments and Beanstox, an automated internet-based investment advisory service. He also holds investments in over 30 private venture companies across a wide range of sectors.

He is a member of Boston’s 120-year-old Hamilton Trust, the oldest investment club in the U.S. In addition to his iconic role on “Shark Tank,” O’Leary is a contributor to CNBC, ABC News, and “Good Morning America” and an entrepreneur/investor co-host for the Discovery Channels’ “Project Earth” series that explores ways people could reverse global warming by using large-scale infrastructure projects.

A native of Canada and the son of a United Nations International Labour Organization official, O’Leary lived and was educated in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Ethiopia, France, and Switzerland. He received a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and psychology from the University of Waterloo and his MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario. He is a photographer, watch collector, guitarist, and author of three number #1 best-selling books: “Cold Hard Truth,” “Men, Women and Money,” and “Family, Kids, and Money.”