Jacob Brown is one of the most electric voices rising in the world of professional speaking.

A former NFL athlete turned serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, and transformational keynote speaker, Jacob has quickly become a go-to expert for companies and conferences that want to shift mindsets, build resilient leaders, and transform workplace culture.

Today, Jacob is a trusted keynote speaker for organizations like Intel, Meta, LinkedIn, UPS, General Motors, the Dallas Cowboys and many more. He’s delivered standing-ovation keynotes at top universities including Notre Dame, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and his insights have been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Good Morning America. Jacob is also the author of Fail Forward Mentality, a powerful book designed to help individuals and organizations break free from perfectionism, embrace resilience, and transform setbacks into growth.

His book is a natural extension of his message on stage, equipping readers with actionable tools to reframe failure and lead with courage. As co-founder of Varlo, a global athletic apparel brand, Jacob knows the entrepreneurial hustle. But it’s his work with executive teams, HR leaders, and frontline managers that sets him apart. His keynotes go beyond motivation - they activate change. Using humor, hard-earned wisdom, and practical frameworks, Jacob helps leaders unlock their teams' potential by transforming failure into strategy and adversity into alignment.

Whether guiding companies through burnout, broken culture, or leadership drift, Jacob equips audiences to embrace discomfort, lead with authenticity, and build failure-resilient organizations that thrive in uncertainty.

He lives in Metro Detroit with his wife and their four children. Offstage, you’ll find him cheering at basketball games, attending ballet recitals, or sneaking in a family vacation - always leading from the core.

Ready to connect? Text or call me @ 248-805-6093 or email me at jacob@failforwardbrown.com

For speaking inquiries: www.jakebrownspeaks.com

Jacob Brown

U.S. Bank

• Facilitate Daily Stand-Up, Sprint Planning, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Review & Sprint Retrospective 
• Track & report on metrics to measure progress & effectiveness of Agile adoption & Agile maturity 
• Proven ability of Agile delivery; experience in digital product development & B2B technology
• Contribute to Agile communities supporting continuous learning & foster an Agile mindset
• Foster continuous improvement environment building high-performing marketing teams
• Experience with organizational transformation & change management methodologies 
• Create & maintain a safe environment, where the team is respected & empowered

Scrum Master

Silicon Valley Bank

• Ensured success using Scrum framework, practice & guidelines in Jira & Confluence
• Resolved impediments, increasing effectiveness of Scrum & Agile within the organization
• Guided product manager teams, defining MVP's, story mapping, writing stories, and backlog 
• Reduced project intake to final publish from months to days, improving speed to market by 90%
• Promoted empowerment of the pod; established an environment where the pod was 95% effective
• Continually refined and evolved Agile process for rapid delivery, resulting in 99% on-time deadlines
• Transformed the team's waterfall mindset to Agile with daily practice, increasing workflow by 55%
• Served as an Onboarding Ambassador for new hires; providing guidance & support to ensure success for new employees

Scrum Master and Sr. Project Manager

• Streamlined best-practices for a Digital Asset Management tool to include governance, taxonomy & nomenclature
• Executed quarterly Business Continuity exercises guaranteeing operations in the event of an emergency
• Identified, documented & executed processes which fostered efficiencies for the organization 
• Partnered with sales and field marketing teams; orchestrating social media communications 
• Spearheaded professional headshots for leadership and executive profiles for sales teams
• Created a process for sponsorship ads: resulting in an 85% increase of speed to market
• Onboarded new team members on proprietary marketing content management tools
• Evaluated new technologies to optimize performance for the marketing organization
• Facilitated bio creation for client facing executives; resulting in over 300 bios created

Marketing Operations Project Manager

Dell EMC

• Managed multiple projects from concept to launch for print collateral & online campaigns 
• Partnered closely with virtual teams; senior leadership, account, creative & production
• Collaborated with senior management to assess resource needs for the agency
• Created timelines, tasks, and milestones for team members using Clarizen
• Continuously tracked & reported the progress of projects & deliverables 
• Ensured all projects delivered on-time, within scope & budget
• Routed all deliverables for Compliance & Intel review

Sr. Project Manager, Marcom 

Dimensional Fund Advisors

• Served as primary client contact; initiated projects, ascertained scope & defined deliverables 
• Coordinated internal resources & print vendors for flawless execution of projects
• Developed timelines for project deliverables, tracking milestones & progress
• Managed the relationship with internal clients & all project stakeholders
• Maintained comprehensive documentation for project stakeholders
• Routed projects to Legal & Compliance for reviews & approvals
• Ensured resource availability and allocation for project success
• Reported & escalated concerns to management as needed

Project Manager, Marketing 

Charles Schwab

• Orchestrated all schedule phases for marketing campaigns using proprietary software and MS Office
• Mentored new team members on agency process & protocol, improving on-boarding 
• Developed & implemented process, best practices & guidelines for project workflow 
• Managed multiple projects concurrently from concept to completion
• Drove process & created efficiencies with-in the department

Project Manager

• Created project schedules and managed workflow in the agency’s proprietary online tool
• Served as liaison between account, creative, production, and technical teams
• Facilitated weekly status meetings, validating agency workload
• Prioritized projects to accommodate resource availability

Traffic Manager, Consultant

Advertising Agency Experience

•	J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency
•	Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Agency
•	Anderson & Lembke | McCann Erickson Agency
•	Lot 21 Digital Agency
•	Duncan Channon Agency

Traffic Manager

Accomplished, multi-certified Project Manager and Scrum Master/Agilist with a proven record of implementing Agile methodologies and Scrum ceremonies. Adept at creative project management, collaborative problem solving and acknowledged for the ability of handling diverse assignments. Excels at identifying areas of improvement, ensuring the highest efficiency and excellence level. Recognized for a true passion of promoting a positive atmosphere along with a demonstrated growth mindset.

Gallup Top Strengths
Harmony ❘ Empathy ❘ Woo ❘ Communication ❘ Discipline

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