Biography of Kelly Perdew

Kelly is an experienced entrepreneur and a proven winner, having led major negotiations and implemented successful operational strategies at a range of companies, with a record of motivating groups to achieve aggressive goals.  Kelly is a managing director of Angel Venture Partners, where he and his two partners are raising $100M to co-invest with the leading angel groups across the country in early-stage ventures.  Prior to the venture capital fund, Kelly’s entrepreneurial skills and strategic thinking abilities were put to the test on the highly acclaimed NBC show, “The Apprentice.” 

During his sixteen week job interview on “The Apprentice,” Kelly was challenged in tasks ranging from selling ice-cream and designing a women’s fashion line to the creation of a full marketing campaign for Pepsi-Cola.  Notably, in the final stages of the series, Kelly went under the microscope with the CEOs and leaders of four of America’s foremost businesses: Unilever HPC, Bear Stearns, The New England Patriots and Pepsi-Cola.  All four business leaders agreed that Kelly, more than any other candidate, ‘has what it takes’ to work and manage some of Donald Trump’s most important projects.  Donald agreed and hired Kelly.  During his year with Trump, Kelly worked on several high-profile projects including 40 Wall Street (1.3M square feet of commercial real estate in downtown Manhattan, Trump Tower Tampa (50 story upscale condominium in Tampa, FL) and Trump Ice (Trump branded bottled water).  At the end of his year contract with “The Donald,” Kelly decided to move on to pursue the venture capital fund and several other exciting projects. 

On the real estate front, Kelly is working closely with his family to develop a $50M 25-project self storage company in Florida and a 600-acre fishing and hunting preserve in Montana.  Kelly is also the host of “GI Factory,” a new series that examines military technologies and where they are made on The Military Channel.  Kelly published his first book in early 2006 entitled, “TAKE COMMAND: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump.”  The book explores the ties between military training and business success.  Supported by interviews with some of America’s leading business icons Kelly’s book provides an inspiring message to those involved in the military and invaluable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs or anyone embarking on a new career.

Prior to winning ‘The Apprentice’ Kelly held multiple Chairman and CEO positions.  As the Chairman and co-founder of www.MotorPride.com, Kelly took the lessons he’s learned from a history of successful entrepreneurial ventures and brought them together to build the perfect community website for car, truck and motorcycle enthusiasts.  Kelly sold MotorPride to ZAG.com in 2006.  As the former President of CoreObjects Software, Kelly provided leadership in strategy, sales, business development, legal, finance and operations.  As the former Acting President for www.eteamz.com, Kelly helped secure Angel and VC financing, grew the value of the company through acquisitions and strategic relationships, and led the negotiations for the successful sale of the company to www.Active.com in 2001.  eteamz now serves over 2.5 million amateur sports teams.  Kelly was also the co-founder, President & CEO of K12 Productions, LLC, an event marketing and production company that he grew to profitability.  The Layoff Lounge, K12’s premier nationwide platform, was a networking event for job seekers, hiring companies, recruiters and all of their associated service providers.  Prior to eteamz and K12 Productions, Kelly was a strategy manager at Deloitte Consulting in the technology practice. 

Kelly also served as a military intelligence officer in the US Army and successfully completed both Airborne and Ranger training.  He holds a BS degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, and earned his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA and his JD from the UCLA School of Law.

Kelly Perdew is a proven businessman who time and again has raised the bar, delivering unprecedented results with relentless enthusiasm.  His military training, academic study, and substantial experience have instilled a strong sense of duty and integrity.  Overall Kelly Perdew is a role model for the youth of America, a symbol of the success that can be attained from hard work, discipline and sacrifice.  He donates his time as a celebrity spokesperson for both Big Brothers/Sisters and the National Guard Youth Challenge Program.  Kelly is also donating royalties of ‘Take Command’ to the United Service Organization.