Biography

Kevin is a top entrepreneur speaker, author, venture capitalist, guest judge on ABC’s Shark Tank and costar of CNBC’s Money Court. As a venture capitalist, Kevin is a self-proclaimed “ecopreneur” focusing on environmentally friendly investments. He provides audiences with insights on business, finance and financial literacy. Kevin has recently announced a partnership with CNBC for a brand-new prime-time TV show. 

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Kevin’s engagements include Fortune 1000 companies and strategic clients such as Pitney Bowes, Straumann, CCA Global Partners, Inc. and SME Entertainment Group. 

Kevin was born on July 9, 1954. As the son of a United Nations ILO official, he had the opportunity to live and be educated in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Ethiopia, France and Switzerland. 

Kevin attended the University of Waterloo, where in 1977 he received an honors bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology. He attended the Ivey Business School, where he received his MBA in 1980.  

After working briefly as an assistant product manager at Nabisco Brands, he left to pursue a career in television production and became a founding partner in Special Event Television, an independent production company that produced original sports programming such as The Original Six, Don Cherry’s Grapevine and Bobby Orr and the Hockey Legends. 

Kevin cofounded SoftKey Software in 1986. SoftKey was the first software company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. SoftKey grew quickly as the price of personal computers declined and millions of North American families began to buy software for family education and entertainment. 

In January 1994, SoftKey became a catalyst of consolidation in the software industry, raising over $ 1 billion in a series of debt and equity financings and completing the first trans-border three-way pooling, merging with Spinnaker Software and WordStar International. As a result of this merger, the company moved its headquarters to Boston, Massachusetts. In late 1995, SoftKey acquired Compton’s New Media and The Learning Company. In early 1996, SoftKey completed the acquisition of the Minnesota Educational Computer Company. In late 1997 and early 1998, the company acquired three more of its competitors, Creative Wonders, Mindscape and Broderbund, making SoftKey the world leader in the development of educational, reference and home productivity software and the world’s second-largest consumer software company with annual sales over $800 million, 2,000 employees and subsidiaries in 15 countries. In 1996, SoftKey changed its name to The Learning Company. In early May 1999, The Mattel Toy Company acquired The Learning Company for $4.2 billion. 

In 2003 he became co-investor and a director in Storage Now, a leading developer of climate-controlled storage facilities. Through a series of development projects and acquisitions, Storage Now became an owner/operator of storage services, with facilities located in 11 cities and serving such companies as Merck and Pfizer when it was acquired by the In-Storage real estate investment trust (REIT) in March 2007 for $110 million. 

In July 2007, Kevin became a founding special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) investor and Director of Stream Global Services Inc., focused on the growing outsourcing business services market.  

Kevin is 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 US. He is a contributor to CNBC, ABC News and Good Morning America and an entrepreneur/investor cohost for the Discovery Channel’s “Project Earth” series that explores innovative ways people could reverse global warming by implementing large-scale geo-engineering infrastructure projects. He is also an investor/host of ABC Television’s four-time Emmy Award-winning venture capital reality programs Shark Tank and Beyond the Tank, produced by MGM/Sony/ABC. 

Kevin is an active photographer, watch collector, guitarist and the author of three best-selling books: Cold Hard Truth; Men, Women and Money; and Family, Kids and Money.