Chip Conley

Chip Conley started Joie de Vivre (JDV) at age 26 in 1987, and, as the founder and CEO for nearly 25 years, grew it into the second largest boutique hotel company in the US. Chip’s time-tested techniques and transformational leadership practices have been featured in TIME, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal.

As the preeminent thought leader at the intersection of psychology and business, and a successful practitioner of emotional intelligence at work, Chip shared his unique prescription for success in his bestselling book, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow based upon how to apply humanistic psychology to create peak performance. In his new book, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success (Free Press, January 2012) Chip guides readers further down the path from emotional intelligence to emotional fluency – using math as a way to better understand and manage our emotions.

Chip is a highly sought after international speaker (including being one of the highest rated speakers at the TED conference) and has been honored with the highest accolades in the American hospitality industry.  The San Francisco Business Times named Chip the Most Innovative CEO – and JDV the "2nd Best Place to Work" – in the entire Bay Area.  After two dozen years as CEO, Chip has come to realize we are all “Chief Emotions Officers" since leaders - whether it's in the context of an organization or a family - are the "emotional thermostats" for those they lead. Chip received his BA and MBA from Stanford University, and was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate in Psychology from Saybrook Graduate School, and will be the school’s 2012 Scholar-Practitioner in residence.