John Jell was born to immigrant parents in Canada. English was not his first language. At an early age, his parents divorced, and as a result, he grew up in a dysfunctional, single parent, blue collar family. The age of seventeen was a turning point for John. He laid out some plans for his future, which included going to college. He paid his own way through college and earned degrees in business and political science from McMaster University, one of Canada’s top universities. While in college, John was frustrated that books did not teach enough real-world skills, so he embarked on a path to develop these skills while maintaining a full-time course load.

Based on his preparation, upon graduating from college, he was immediately hired by The Coca-Cola Company after they created a position for him. At the time, Coca-Cola was one of the hottest companies on the planet and did not recruit from colleges in his area. The company preferred to hire people with 3-5 years of professional experience gained at another company’s expense. Some of John’s professional career highlights include:

• Being hired by the world’s #1 beverage company, Coca-Cola, as a Sales Supervisor at the age of 22, the youngest in Canada at the time.
• At 25, he was promoted to Assistant Sales Manager, the youngest in Canada at the time.
• At 27, he was promoted to Logistics Analyst.
• At 29, he became the first person ever promoted from the bottling company in Canada to the parent company in the United States. To this day, he remains the only person to achieve this transition.At the time of assuming the position of Cold Drink Development Manager in Los Angeles, he was the youngest individual (by 14 years to his closest peer) in that position in the USA. He was responsible for developing one of Coca-Cola’s most lucrative business segments which represented over $350 million in sales.
• Becoming one of only 4 people globally to earn ‘Master’ status as a sales trainer at The Coca-Cola Company, setting 4 business development precedents, developing two global best practice communication newsletters, plus the concept for the most successful summer promotion.
• At the age of 34, John was recruited by Weisman Enterprises, one of North America’s largest transaction management companies to be their Vice-President of Sales for the Western United States and Canada. Keeping with tradition, Mr. Jell was their youngest Vice-President when hired.
• Today, John is employed by the world’s #1 food company, Nestlé, where he leads North American beverage national account marketing for their billion dollar Foodservice division .

John’s passions for writing a book on School-to-Career transition began while he was still in college. After graduating, he was invited to speak to the freshman body at his college on preparing for life after school. Realizing the need for a student friendly book on the topic, over a period of 10 years, he worked with many educators, students, and business professionals to fine tune the content of his books prior to publication.

Please look at the “Distinguished Endorsements” for each of Mr. Jell’s books. No other books on school-to-career transition have received as much support from educational leaders and editors.

Because of his message and inspiring speaking style, John is a sought after motivational speaker who does only a limited amount of speaking engagements annually.  Please see the “Public Speaking” section for reviews and a distinguished client list.  Practicing what he preaches, he served as President of the parent booster club for Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Dixie Canyon Avenue Elementary School (K-5) for 5 years. In his first year, he took annual parent fundraising from $15,000 to over $100,000 to enhance student programs and teacher support. That goal was achieved every year he was involved. Having been one himself, John Jell also works with At-Risk youth.