University of Denver - Daniels College of Business

Adjunct professor, teaching a newly designed course: “New Venture Growth: Scaling Beyond the Startup"; and a mandatory management course: "Business Strategy."

https://daniels.du.edu/directory/stephen-adele/

Adjunct Professor

Ready for Scaling

Helping entrepreneurs and executives scale their business -beyond the startup--using a proven framework to drive growth into 9 figures or a successful exit.

Co-Founder / Operator

QuickBox Fulfillment

Member Board Of Directors

Chief Executive Officer

iSatori, Inc. (FitLife Brands - "FTLF") 

Co-Founder

EAS, Inc. (Abbott Laboratories)

International Business Development

Helping entrepreneurs scale to 8 or 9-figures, without losing their soul 📈 Adjunct Professor @ DU 📚 Entrepreneur who leads from his ♥️ New Book (coming soon): "Scaling Your Company, Without Losing Your Soul" 📣

An entrepreneur who leads from his heart, Stephen is wildly passionate about creating successful companies and developing people to build extraordinary organizations.  A few high-level accomplishments: 

⭐️ 3x Inc. 500 Winner (three consecutive years, 2019,-20,-21)

⭐️ 3x Finalist, EY Entrepreneur of the Year 

⭐️ Inc. Best in Business award

⭐️ Best Boss in America (Top 10 Finalist)

Whether labeled as a serial entrepreneur, maverick CEO, or disruptive business leader, Stephen is an entrepreneur who leads from his heart and is wildly passionate about finding opportunities within problems, scaling companies to sell, while mentoring the next generation of leaders. 

Fresh out of college, Stephen started with EAS, where they grew to $220-million in sales and he set up distribution networks in 55 countries around the world. Next, he borrowed $50,000 from a friend of the family to start iSatori; where as the CEO, lead the Company public, through a merger with FitLife Brands (Stock Symbol "FTLF"), and exited in 2016. Over those years, Stephen has created, scaled and sold several dietary supplement brands, those greatest and most successful innovations being Voots, Energize, Living Orchards, BioGenetic Laboratories, and his crown jewell--BIO-GRO Bio-active Peptides--creating an entirely new product category. To date, these healthy product innovations have generated over $1-billion in retail sales. 

Stephen’s latest venture, QuickBox Fulfillment #onaMISSION (awarded Inc. 500, 2019-21), started with four incredibly talented partners, is designed for e-commerce companies' fulfillment, while fulfilling its mission to give people in their surrounding communities a "second chance" with a place to work. In 2019, Stephen and his co-founder group entered into a private equity transaction, and after 4.5 magical years as the CEO of QuickBox, he has transitioned into an active Board Member. 

At this stage in life, Stephen has decided to focus on himself and his family, giving back to the next generation as an adjunct professor at the Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver, and working with a select few business that want to benefit from his hard-earned wisdom, and who have the courage to implement it, so they can infinitely scale to breakthrough the $100-million mark.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember.

A huge part of this entrepreneurial spirit was fueled (and supported) by my mother.

And today, I’m happy to announce my mother just finished her final of six rounds of chemotherapy!!

…After her THIRD battle with non-hodgkins lymphoma (spaced out about tens years apart)

I’d go so far to say that nearly all of my character was shaped by mother.

You see, soon after my parents separated (when I was five), we moved in to an apartment with a friend of my mother’s from her work.

This kind lady, who had three children of her own, graciously allowed my mother to take her spare bedroom, and I would sleep in another bedroom, roomed with her two boys. 

I slept on a roll up cot, my mom purchased from the local Army-Navy surplus store in Olde Town Arvada. 

Thereafter, on many days, I vividly recall standing in line with my mother at the Arvada Food Bank—to get our free provisions of 

-powdered milk
-blocks of cheese 
-butter, as well as purchase
-various discounted dinged cans of food and dented boxes of dry goods including cereal. 

Make no mistake, even though we lived in government-subsidized apartments, I had a wonderfully happy childhood. 

There were so many kids in our apartment complex, that every day after school we found ourselves in small groups where we took our choice of 

-playing football 
-basketball 
-baseball
-hide-and-go-seek, or 
-building forts and 
-having rock fights

I may not have worn the latest pair of Nike® sneakers (I got Trax® from Kmart), and my parents didn’t drive the trendiest car, I absolutely positively enjoyed my childhood life. 

I had a mother who loved me dearly; a step-father who we’d meet at our apartment complex (he was their maintenance man) and would so graciously take me in as his own ‘son;’ and I had so many other kids to play with. 

Frankly, I rarely spent much time pondering the alternatives. 

That is, what it would be like to have ‘money,’ or to live in house, or what it would be like to take glamorous vacations.

At this early age, my worldview began to take shape... 

This is where, I believe, my entrepreneurial spirit began to blossom.

I saw the world as a place where, as a young man, I would need to figure out how to create my own value 

in exchange for whatever happiness, and in parallel, level of income I could generate. 

Clearly, no one was going to do this for me, nor would I have any generational wealth passed down to me. 

These experiences set me up for a what would become a glorious life of entrepreneurship. 

A life where I took it upon myself to create the opportunities, while trying to limit my risks, so that I could engender my own destiny.

I have so much to be thankful for, BECAUSE of my mother. 

But most of all, I’m grateful she’s here with us, with me, and I get to see her (and tell her how much she means to me) every day!

——
Who helped build your character? 

#mothers #entrepreneurship  #cancersuck

Stephen Adele

Not many people impress me, at the level this individual has.

Especially in a world where genuine selflessness feels increasingly rare

@DrKwaneStewart shines as a beacon of hope and humanity. 

Once owning a thriving veterinarian practice, Dr. Stewart made an extraordinary life pivot, 

...Now dedicating his heart and soul to a cause far greater than personal gain. 

He founded "The Street Vet."

A nonprofit organization, moving away from a traditional practice, to walk the often unforgiving streets of the unhoused to treat their pets. 

…overlooked places like Los Angeles’ skid row, and downtown San Diego. 

His mission? To provide compassionate veterinary care to the pets of the homeless, entirely free of charge.

His motto? No judgement, just help.

This remarkable journey of empathy and dedication does more than just mend the wounds of animals; 

It touches the hearts of their owners and restores faith in humanity for those who witness his work. 

Dr. Stewart's profound passion and selflessness have not gone unnoticed, earning him the well-deserved CNN Humanitarian Hero of the Year award recently.

(In fact, his selflessness is so overwhelming that he split his $100k prize money ten ways, equally with the other nine finalists up for the award!)

Dr. Stewart's story is a powerful reminder of the impact one individual can make by choosing compassion over comfort. 

He is a living example that true fulfillment and purpose are found in the service of others, especially the voiceless and vulnerable. 

As we marvel at his dedication, let it inspire us to look beyond our needs and consider how we, too, can make a difference in our corners of the world. 

____
Writing this made me really think harder about the questions: "What am I doing to change the world, or make it a better place?"
——-


#Inspiration #Humanitarian #TheStreetVet #CompassionInAction
#cnn #herooftheyear #Entrepreneurship #leadership #thestreetvet

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