Brian Rella

EverNext

You're talented, driven, and ambitious. You've worked hard to climb the ladder, and you’re grateful for what you have. But lately, it feels like you're stuck on a career dreadmill.

Whether you’re an aspiring executive feeling undervalued and unclear about your next steps or in the C-suite navigating high-pressure demands and critical career moves, your path forward doesn't have to feel overwhelming or uncertain.

Here's How I Can Help:

▶︎ Off the Dreadmill
My foundational program, "Off the Dreadmill," is designed specifically for aspiring executives committed to long-term career success. You'll gain access to a proven playbook—complete with actionable strategies, frameworks, and community support—that lays out a clear, intentional path toward meaningful career growth.

▶︎ Executive Career Coaching
For established leaders and C-suite executives, I offer highly personalized coaching that goes deeper, addressing strategic career growth, navigating transitions, and optimizing your performance at the highest levels. Using my proven frameworks and signature CASE method (Context, Assess, Strategize, Execute), you'll achieve measurable breakthroughs in your career trajectory and leadership impact.

This Isn’t Just About Your Career—It’s About Your Legacy.

When you perform at your highest level professionally, the benefits ripple through every area of your life. Improved career clarity and performance naturally lead to reduced stress, greater fulfillment, and deeper connections at home. While we lead with career excellence, the personal and family benefits inevitably follow.

What You Can Expect:

▶︎ Clear strategies for impactful career advancement.
▶︎ Personalized guidance for high-stakes transitions.
▶︎ Actionable tools for sustainable growth and peak performance.

Ready to step off the dreadmill and into meaningful, strategic career growth?

Let’s talk.

Book your strategy session here:

https://www.brianrella.me/

Founder / Head Coach

Wells Fargo

CIB Agile Transformation Coach

Partnering with executive leadership across the Wells Fargo Corporate and Investment Bank to transition all lines of business from Program Management to an Agile Operating Model.

Executive Director

Head of Business Execution Services for Electronic Trading. 

Serve as a trusted advisor and change management leader to the COO, Head of FICC, and Head of Equities. Lead planning and execution of strategic transformation initiatives across asset classes.

BGC Partners

Partnered with business and technology executive management to develop and lead strategic programs focused on revenue growth and operational efficiency. Measurables include customer satisfaction, productivity, stakeholder transparency, cost variance, and schedule variance.

•	Led 5 product teams to deliver a new D2C RFQ platform for Fixed Income. Year 1 revenue forecast of $1.2 million.
•	Led 3 product teams to redesign the Fixed Income API offering by consolidating 4 APIs. Collaborated with sales as an SME to establish a multi-quarter pipeline of 13 clients and $1.7 million in revenue.
•	Coached global integration team leads to overhaul onboarding processes resulting in a drastic reduction in client integration time, increased client satisfaction, and greater transparency across the company.

Director

Bloomberg LP

Revitalized the Bloomberg Tradebook offering for Futures, Options, and FI. Launched a new IaaS product.

•	Conceived and launched Tradebook Market Access Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering. Generated $450,000+ in recurring annual revenue in the first 7 months of going to market.

Senior Product Manager

HSBC Global Banking and Markets

Led a cross-functional, cross-business team to deliver strategic digital transformation projects.

•	Executed portfolio of algorithmic trading and UX redesign projects for fixed-income trading resulting in improved Fixed Income industry ranking from #18 to #5. 
•	Conceptualized futures and options electronic trading platform strategy. Proposed and delivered a 2-year roadmap resulting in technical debt reduction of 8 trading systems to 3. Shrank run costs $1.7 million (14%) over 2 years.

Vice President

J.P. Morgan

Directed a global team of project managers and business analysts to create and execute global electronic trading programs for Futures and Options. 

•	Increased e-trading revenues by repurposing equities algorithmic trading and analytics engine for futures & options. Increased algorithmic trading volumes by 40% YOY (2011-2012).
•	Improved straight-through processing for Futures trade allocations 200% YOY

Reval

Professional services lead for Reval’s hedge accounting software.

Senior Consultant

UBS Investment Bank

Co-head of Futures and Options Client Solutions Team.

SAC Capital Advisors

Senior Trade Floor Support

CS Technology

Staff Consultant

Get off the DREADMILL and into a Career that inspires you | Executive Career Coaching | Career Development | Job Search Strategies

This isn’t just about your career. It’s about your legacy.

I help high‑achieving leaders excel in their careers and thrive at home through my Dual Impact Leadership system. 

Whether you’re an up‑and‑coming exec feeling undervalued and unsure of your next move or a C‑suite leader under relentless pressure, you don’t have to navigate complexity alone.

We start with pinpointing your highest‑impact actions at work. When your clarity and performance improve, the effects spill over into every area of your life. As you gain momentum professionally, you’ll notice the benefits ripple out, resulting in less stress, deeper fulfillment, and a more present, connected family life.

That’s the power of Dual Impact Leadership. Strategic growth at work that naturally elevates your life at home. 

What You Can Expect Working With Me:

▶︎ Clear strategies for impactful career advancement.
▶︎ Personalized guidance for high-stakes transitions.
▶︎ Actionable tools for sustainable growth and peak performance.

Ready to step off the dreadmill and into meaningful, strategic career growth?

Let’s talk.

Book your strategy session here:

https://www.brianrella.me/

CEO and Head Coach

Career coach and job search strategist helping executives get the career they want 🎯

Normal 40

Normal 40 was created the day I resigned from a life I spent 15 years building. I had achieved more than I thought possible only a decade earlier, but my work there was done, and I knew it. So, I quit.

Normal 40 is the crossroads in life where the comfort of what you've already built meets the desire for change. It's a place where you question if your current path truly aligns with your known potential, where you feel lost, alone, and trapped in your own success--where you have nobody to talk to about how you feel ... really.

Normal 40 is not about the years behind you but the years in front of you. Normal 40 is a state of mind where you decide whether to settle for the life you have already built or muster the courage to explore something new.

This is where you decide: Do I live the rest of my professional life on defense, or do I go back on offense? Do I want to guard against losing what I have and run out the clock, or do I want to go for something more? Do I want to take the shot before I run out of time?

It's a feeling that twists in your gut, wakes you in the night, keeps you perpetually annoyed, and steals your ability to be present anywhere or have the joy you once had. And worst of all, you know it--and you've not yet done anything about it.

I left my job to put my life back on offense. I had no guarantees. I had kids entering college and 5th grade. I had a mortgage and was not independently wealthy. But I had a greater story to tell and a wife who was up for an adventure. So, I made The Trade of a Lifetime.

My mission is to inspire change in a thousand lives. I want to inspire people to create a plan to chase what is inside and ensure they don't get ten years older, look back, and wish they had tried.

I am a certified Executive Coach. I coach elite performers who have dedicated the last 20 years of their lives to something great but have another chapter to write. I help them write that chapter. And we do that ... on offense.

Founder and Elite Performance Coach

Strategic Advisor & Coach

Raven Industries

Acquisition Strategy │ Alignment Leader │ Executive Coach │ Business Analytics  

Created acquisitions department from scratch and dramatically grew acquisition pipeline and closings by 300%.  Helped build division strategy and growth portfolio. Analyzed targets, identified opportunities and accelerated company’s strategic growth strategy through acquisition or strategic investment. 

Pipeline Development
Quadrupled the acquisition pipeline in first two years leveraging only existing company resources, successfully closing five acquisitions since 2017.

New Opportunities 
Sold four product lines or subsidiaries out of two divisions in 18 months; invested proceeds into new opportunities.

Strategic Solutions
Embedded acquisition strategy across all operating divisions as part of long-term growth strategy.

Acquisitions
Created pipeline of acquisition targets and built connection to target. Prioritized targets by strategic fit. Lead negotiation. Managed buyer/seller relationships through due diligence, close and post-close.

Senior Director Corporate Development

President – Aerostar Division, Aerostar International, Inc. (2010-2015)
CEO and Chairman of the Board – Vista Research Inc (2012-2015)

Change Agent │ P&L Management │ Business Strategy Design and Implementation │ Operational Leader

Lead executive in charge of company strategy and P&L. Led transition of the company from a multimillion-dollar contract manufacturing company into a world-leading proprietary product company for aerospace and defense and commercial markets. Responsible for strategy, business development, business and manufacturing operations and P&L in five plants simultaneously across four states. 

Sales Growth
Grew sales of proprietary products by 40% per year over 3 years, while simultaneously winding down contract manufacturing operations. 

Acquisitions
Led acquisition of sensor technology company Vista Research to support proprietary product growth, an acquisition enabled by personal vetting and receipt of Top Secret (TS) Security Clearance. 

Profit Growth
Quadrupled profits from stratospheric technology through new partnerships with NASA, Google, DoD, US Navy, DARPA and Joint Special Operations Command.

Mergers
Merged one of Aerostar’s sister divisions, a contract manufacturer of non-proprietary but high-tech electronic systems, into Aerostar. Over 18 months, profitably exited $50M of that business and retained highest caliber talent.

Product Management
Strategically exited $60M of contract manufacturing revenue by 2015 and replaced it with $50M of more-profitable proprietary products.  

Market Leader
Established Aerostar as the world leader of proprietary product sales in stratospheric balloon capabilities. 

Joint Venture
Decisively created a JV with strategic partner that enabled deployment of service teams into Afghanistan to support products in theatre. Awarded the Secretary of Defenses “Rapid Fielding Award.”

Organizational Leadership
Led company through ISO:9001 qualification. Closed facility that was no longer strategically viable.

President – Aerostar Division, Aerostar Intl, Inc │ CEO / Chairman of the Board – Vista Research Inc

Organized sales channel, built relationships, and created transitional strategy. Completed plan outline; promoted to Company President in six months.

Vice President of Business Development

Product Development │ International Market Share Growth │ Business Planning

Wrote and executed on a plan to grow distribution throughout Latin America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Hired staff in Latin America, Europe, Canada and Australia, and worked with internal engineering teams to ready product for international markets. 

Growth Strategies
Created, and led implementation of, a long-term international growth strategy for Applied Technology Div.

Revenue Growth
Doubled international sales revenues from in two years (2008-2010). Revenues then doubled again by 2014.

New Accounts
Landed two major OEM accounts (Canada and Brazil).

International Sales Director

First Bank & Trust

Created and launched strategy to move bank into a larger loan market and swiftly grow. As the second employee in new market, recruited six other leaders to build and launch a loan production market focusing on the highly affluent. 

Business Development
Established a substantial real estate lending business within one year.   

Sustainable Revenue Building
Created a new department in a bank with a radical business concept that didn’t exist anywhere else in the market. 12 years later, division was still leading the market while five other banks in the market tried and failed to match the concept.

United States Senate

Outreach Coordinator, Office of US Senator Tom Daschle (1999-2004)
Regional Director, US Senator Tim Johnson (2002)

Assisted in agriculture and economic development legislation; represented Senator across South Dakota. Managed outreach and constituent communication, as well as public presentations.

Outreach Coordinator, Office of US Senator Tom Daschle │ Regional Director, US Senator Tim Johnson 

By February 2022, I was at the top of my game and I had caught what I chased: The C-Suite office. Pay. Travel. Image...everything. Then, I quit.

Most think I left unhappy; I'm smarter than that. What I did was harder. 

I left something extraordinary, a place that I helped to build—a place that helped build me.

The story: Most elite performers I know have a bigger dream resting inside them, but the very success they've built is now holding them back. They feel trapped by golden handcuffs, tethered to a career, schedule, or life that no longer inspires them. At the same time, they're wrestling with the newness of risk aversion and the fear of regret, wondering if they'll ever take control of their life's best days.

I know what that feels like because I've been there. After decades of leading companies, building teams, and achieving milestones, I realized my biggest challenge wasn't building another quarter of growth—it was redefining my life. That's why I created Normal 40: a movement, a mindset, and a process designed to help elite performers step out of their own shadows and into their next chapter.

At Normal 40, our relationship-based process starts by helping you articulate your dream—identifying the bigger life you've been waiting to build. We then organize those dreams into bold, actionable steps, remove the perceived risk, and design a life aligned with your aspirations. This is about betting on yourself, avoiding future regret, and creating an impactful family legacy.

Our framework guides executives, physicians, entrepreneurs, attorneys, and career professionals through the discomfort of change. The truth is, you don't need more credentials, money, or even more time. You need clarity, courage, a community, and a guide who's been where you are. 

I have been that guide to thousands.

I've had the honor of leading people through this journey, from Vintage One Cohorts to the Normal 40 Insider Community--I've been there.

My book, The Trade, is a best-seller endorsed by leaders like General Stan McChrystal and Ryan Daniel Moran, and my Normal 40 Podcast has become a trusted space for real talk about midlife transitions and reinvention.

Here's what I've learned: The golden handcuffs are real but not unbreakable. Success doesn't have to mean stagnation. And the life you want? It's already within you—you need the proper process and support to bring it to life.

If you're an elite performer with a dream that won't let go, I'd love to ramble. 
Your future self is waiting--don't let them down.

Let's be up to something--pure.

taplio

The Battle

Brian Rella

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