John Kelleher

Background

About John Kelleher

John Kelleher is a Managing Partner and Global Head of the CVC Operating Team. He heads a global group that partners with CEOs across 150 companies to drive value through operational excellence and next-gen levers such as AI/data science, cybersecurity, talent, and sustainability. With experience leading more than 75 corporate transformations, John has held roles as a PE-backed CEO, operating partner, PE investor, board director, and Chief Transformation Officer across industries including aerospace, energy, technology, consumer, healthcare, media, financial services, real estate, and industrials. Before joining CVC, he was a Senior Partner and Global Opco member at McKinsey RTS, where he was an in-house interim CEO, CXO, and Chief Transformation Officer, and co-led McKinsey’s sponsor-backed portfolio company work globally. He also co-founded Private Equity CEO Alpha with Harvard Business School, the first global executive education program to train private equity CEOs for peak performance. Earlier, John served as CEO of several PE-backed firms for six years, was a senior member of the PE operations group at Brookfield Asset Management and co-founded a middle-market PE firm. He also worked at Goldman Sachs in New York. John's views on private equity value creation, corporate governance, and the impact of artificial intelligence have been featured in Harvard Business Review, Private Equity International, McKinsey Quarterly, Director Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, and Bloomberg television. He holds an Honours BA from Western University’s Ivey School of Business (Gold Medalist), a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.