Jeff Shuck

Long Version

Hello! Welcome. 

Do you really want the long version?! One thing you should know about me is, I love the long version – although you could probably tell that after talking a glance at the length of my Short Version! 

So let's settle in then.

I haven't always known, at least consciously, that there has been a consistent throughline to my life. As I get older, my hips get creakier but my wisdom gets clearer, and I can see the fundamental ideas that have guided me.

"I believe in you" is what I have written at the top of this page. It seems silly, almost childish – and it is. But it is also a profound idea, the fundamental belief that each person matters. Overly earnest and yet sincere  – just like me.

Your part matters. That's the gist of it. Again and again, I see evidence that the most important step to creating the world we imagine is to help each and every person believe in themselves. Helping people turn that key has been the fundamental mission, calling, and joy of my life. 

I've searched for different ways to actualize that calling, which has taken me down a variety of different paths – working, waiting, wandering, and wondering about how, collectively, we can improve each other and the world. I'm grateful that my work at Plenty blends a variety of different disciplines, from business strategy to analysis to art to leadership. 

In my early career, I worked in leadership development, creating and facilitating curriculum on values-centered leadership for college students. When friends offered me the opportunity to move to Utah to be a part of the first internet boom, I jumped at the chance and became one of the early members of Campus Pipeline. It was a jump into the deep end of the start-up culture and the place where I met my co-leader Jennifer Mulholland. 

Fate intervened in the form of a cancer diagnosis that took my mother's life in 1999. I could hear the world calling me to step more directly into social impact. I left Campus Pipeline and became the VP of Productions for the fundraising firm Pallotta Teamworks, responsible for the planning and production of all the company's events.

The experience at Pallotta Teamworks, in turn, led me to co-found my own firm, Event 360. For 11 years, I served as CEO of the 200-person firm. We raised nearly a billion dollars for charity through creating and producing large-scale fundraising events.

During that time, I came to understand that revenue problems are really strategy problems, and strategy problems are really people problems. As such, revenue strategies can only go so far. Ultimately, that realization compelled me to step further into creating impact through strategy and leadership, and Plenty was born in November 2013.

I graduated from the University of Rochester and have an MBA from Kellogg School of Management. I also earned a second master's degree in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern. For many years it seemed that an analytics degree was destined to be relegated to the "seemed like a good idea at the time" bin, but the recent burst in AI opportunities and LLM development has me often reaching for that analytics experience nowadays. I'm grateful for that. 

I live with my wife and four children in the woods of Niles, Michigan. It's a heavenly spot; come visit and see. I'm most fulfilled when I stimulate my heart and mind in a variety of ways, so I passionately pursue a variety of interests, from songwriting to weightlifting to good Napa red wine. Right now, thanks to my youngest son, I'm trying my hand at golf – frustrating but compelling!

I'd love to talk with you more about what you're looking for and how we can help. Feel free to schedule a meeting with me here. 

That really was long! We made it. Thanks so much for reading. You matter.