About James Kernan
James A. Kernan is an American author, public speaker, M&A broker and business coach. Kernan is the author and creator of, The Millionaire Mastermind Peer Groups, The 36 Month Millionaire Program, and recently published,Tech Up or Lose Out, Business Tips and Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives.
Kernan is recognized widely as one of the top tech industry success Coaches focused on Leadership, Sales and Marketing. CRN Magazine said he is “He is a rising star executive to watch.”
Early Life, Education and Sports
Kernan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the youngest of the five children. Kernan was raised in the Omaha and Lincoln areas of Nebraska and was a 1983 graduate of Lincoln East High School. He attended Nebraska Wesleyan University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1987. While at Nebraska Wesleyan Kernan was a four-year letterman in football and finished his playing career as the one of Prairie Wolves leading defenders of all-time. Kernan still ranks amongst the top 10 in career tackles, season tackles, career sacks and season sacks. Kernan holds an all-time sports bench-press record of 460lbs. He was also the winner of the Mr. Nebraska Collegiate Bodybuilding contest in 1986. In 2014, he was named to the Wesleyan/Doane All Century Football team. In 2020 he was elected into the Nebraska Wesleyan Sports Hall of Fame.
Professional Career
Over 30 years’ experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, Executive Sales Management, Business Consulting, and Information Technology Sales. Knowledge includes Business Intelligence, Security, Storage, Disaster Recovery, Cloud Computing, Managed Services, Virtualization, VoIP, Business Process, Document Management, CRM, Kernan has excellent leadership and teaching skills. Team oriented, motivating, enthusiastic, and assertive style coupled with an excellent business and technical background.
His sales teams have sold over 1 billion dollars in technology goods and services over his career. When you review his 25+ year track record of creating dazzling leaps in sales, profits, and growth for IT companies, you don’t need to wonder why.
James Kernan is the author of the Mastermind Coaching program and recently published books, Tech Up or Lose Out, Anthology of Cyber Security, Business Tips, and Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives. He also is a facilitator for The Millionaire Mastermind Peer Groups, a Sales/Marketing focused CEO Peer Group in the IT Industry.
After selling his tech company in 2006, he formed his consulting business called Kernan Consulting. At that time Kernan began teaching his fast growth approach to I.T. Consultants and business owners. He very quickly became an internationally-recognized authority. Since the start of Kernan Consulting, he has been involved in over 50 M&A transactions, and coached thousands of technology business owners how to grow their business.
Public Speaking/Media
Frequent speaker for TechSelect, GTIA, XChange, Mastermind LIVE, Convergence, CEO Summit, Robin Robins Bootcamp, Tigerpaw, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, and Microsoft IAMCP events.
Kernan’s expertise includes recruiting, building, and compensating “top gun” sales and marketing teams, creating a culture of success, developing strategic go-to-market plans, managing strong financials and profitability for IT/MSP service firms. He has been recognized and written up as an extraordinary “example of success” in industry publications such as CRN, Business Solutions, VAR Business, CRM Today, and Inc. Magazine.
Career Highlights and Training
- One of the Top Rated M&A Brokers for the technology channel
- Author of the “36 Month Millionaire Coaching” program in 2008-Present
- Author of the “Mastermind Coaching Program” 2017
- Author of “Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives” book in 2013
- Author of “Business Tips” book in 2020
- Co-Author of “Tech Up or Lose Out” in 2021
- Co-Author of “Anthology of Cyber Security Experts” in 2024
- Developed management, sales and marketing plans for business that grew over 3000% (300k to 12.1m) in a five-year period at Networks Plus Technology Group, Inc.
- #1 Fastest Growing Reseller nationally in 2003, CRN Magazine.
- Fastest Growing Privately held company in 2004, SD Business Journal.
- INC Top 500 in 2005, INC Magazine.
- 3 Time SMB Top 150 Most influential people by SMB PC Magazine.
- 2 Time MSP Mentor Top 250 Most influential people by MSP Mentor
- Podcaster on the SMB Community Podcast
- Extensive experience with Mergers and Acquisitions