Maureen Kelly

Maureen leads our team in delivering on our promise to clients — to awaken, inspire and get leaders ready to deliver on the human side of strategic change. She’s responsible for shaping our company vision, strategy, and ongoing contributions to and innovations with our social mission partners. She has led Performance of a Lifetime in a decade of extraordinary growth — launching our strategic change programs, expanding our team and capacity to deliver globally, and securing a spot on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List for three consecutive years.

In her role as Chief Executive Officer, Maureen leads the POAL team in breaking new ground in the use of play and performance as a catalyst for human development in the workplace.  She thrives on innovating with our clients, whom she loves for their bravery, business savvy, and humanism. Trained in Social Therapeutics — a psychology of “becoming” that combines play, performance, practical philosophy, and group creativity to inspire human growth and community development — Maureen is committed to bringing this revolutionary approach to transformation and human development to all, including people without means. Through pro bono and low-fee leadership programs and POAL’s ongoing financial support to community-based nonprofits, our clients are contributing to making the world a better place.

Maureen made her father very proud by beginning her career in banking, with vice president roles at both Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.  She joined POAL in the early days, after experiencing the power of performance to build bridges and transform communities in her philanthropic work with The All Stars Project. Along the way she also earned her Masters in organizational psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed her postgraduate studies and clinical work in psychology at the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy. A former high school athlete, Maureen loves to win. These days she feeds her competitive soul by cheering for her son on the soccer field and racing her snowboarding husband on the slopes.