Jim Kavanaugh

Jim Kavanaugh is an American businessman serving as the CEO of World Wide Technology.[3]

Jim Kavanaugh
Born1963 (age 56–57)
United States
Alma materSaint Louis University[1]
OccupationCEO of World Wide Technology[2]
Home townSt. Louis, Missouri[3]
Board member of
Children3
Websitewww2.wwt.com/people/jim-p-kavanaugh/

Soccer career

After winning a state soccer title at Rosary High, Kavanaugh went on to play soccer at Saint Louis University. In 1983 he was selected as MS amateur player of the year and competed for the United States in the 1983 Pan American Games.[4]

After college Kavanaugh was drafted to the Los Angeles Lazers, a Major Indoor Soccer League team, in 1986 as the second pick in the first round of the professional soccer draft.[5]

After a short stint in the Major Indoor Soccer League, Kavanaugh turned to a career in business but still remains involved in the St. Louis sports community. In 2012, Kavanaugh became the President of the Board at St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club and Saint Louis FC Board. He is also an owner of the St. Louis Blues.[6]

Business career

Kavanaugh worked at Future Electronics as a sales manager (1988–1990)[7] after his soccer career and prior to joining World Wide Technology.

World Wide Technology
Kavanaugh with President George W. Bush in 2008

In 1990 Kavanaugh joined David Steward in the latter's newest business venture, World Wide Technology, which provides technology products, services and supply chain services.

In 1999 World Wide Technology spun off its telecommunications division to form Telcobuy.com. Sales for the two companies continued to grow, although revenues slipped in 2002 as World Wide Technology felt the impact of the technology recession. In 2003 combined reported revenues passed $1 billion, and World Wide Technology Holding Company was formed as the parent company for the two firms.[8]

Almost since its inception, Kavanaugh focused on WWT's corporate culture, which he believes is essential to its success and growth. "WWT’s continued growth is tied to a business culture defined by core values, the first of which is trust,” said Kavanaugh. “We are committed to creating a profitable growth company that is truly a great place to work."[9] WWT has been recognized as a great place to work by Glassdoor[10] and Fortune.[11]

In 2009, WWT was doing well, but Kavanaugh wanted to make sure the organization was staying ahead of the competition. Kavanaugh's idea was to develop innovation labs that would be a "playground for super-smart people" and house cutting-edge equipment to deliver faster, better results to customers.[12] This idea led to the creation of WWT's Advanced Technology Center (ATC), a collaborative ecosystem to design, build, educate, demonstrate and deploy innovative technology products and integrated architectural solutions for World Wide Technology customers, partners and employees.[13] "It's a virtual ecosystem," Kavanaugh says. "We can bring in software, but we actually bring in the physical hardware too. So we’re able to replicate not only what the software looks like but we do it in physical environments that simulate that customer’s environment. … It's definitely not a standard offering for what systems integrators are bringing to their customers. I think it's very unique." [14]

WWT's annual revenue is estimated to be greater than $9 billion,[15] ranking it as one of the largest private companies in the US.[16]

In addition to growth overseas, WWT expanding its campus with a new headquarters in Westport Plaza in 2017.[12]

Awards
  • 2010: Saint Louis University Business Hall of Fame.[17]
  • 2007: EY Entrepreneur of the Year[18]
  • 1998: Forty under 40[19]
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gollark: No.
gollark: Why would you even do that? I assumed it was a joke - people do it enough on April Fools - but *this*?
gollark: Well, generally, to make people access your server, you should have interesting and useful discussion and not... try to trick people into thinking they have pings there?
gollark: Why?

References
  1. "Jim Kavanaugh Honored by St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame". slubillikens.com.
  2. Wwt.com
  3. "About Us". WWT.
  4. Lyons, Joe (July 26, 2015). "Questions with St. Louis FC's Jim Kavanaugh". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  5. "Lazers Trade Garcia, Kavanaugh". Los Angeles Times. February 21, 1987. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  6. Lyons, Joe (July 26, 2015). "Questions with St. Louis FC's Jim Kavanaugh". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  7. "Jim Kavanaugh 1963— Biography - Soccer leads to lessons in teamwork, leadership".
  8. "Company History". World Wide Technology. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  9. "Great Rated!™ Names World Wide Technology as One of the Best Workplaces in Technology". MarketWatch.
  10. "Best Places to Work". Glassdoor.
  11. "Corporate Social Responsibility". wwt.com.
  12. Feldt, Brian (January 13, 2017). St. Louis Business Journal http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2017/01/13/how-world-wide-technology-used-innovation-to.html. Retrieved February 2, 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "ATC". WWT.
  14. Barker, Jacob (June 14, 2015). "World Wide Technology readies strategy for continued growth". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  15. "Press Kit". World Wide Technology. December 22, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  16. Murphy, Andrea (October 28, 2015). "America's Largest Private Companies 2015". Forbes. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  17. Business.slu.edu
  18. "Local Entrepreneur of the Year winners announced". St. Louis Business Journal.
  19. "Forty Under 40". St. Louis Business Journal.
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