Gregg’s Bio
Gregg Vanourek
Gregg works in and connects the realms of leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal development.
Vanourek is co-author of three influential books: Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations (a 2012 USA Best Business Book Awards finalist), Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives (Jossey-Bass), and Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education (Princeton University Press).
Vanourek is course director and adjunct instructor at the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and adjunct instructor at the Royal Institute of Technology in the division of entrepreneurship and innovation. Previously, he taught at the Euromed School of Management, University of Denver, and Colorado Mountain College.
Vanourek is founder of Far Horizon, a training venture that connects the realms of leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal development. Before that, he co-founded New Mountain Ventures (an entrepreneurial leadership development company) and served as Senior Vice President of School Development for K12 (an online education company) during its startup years. While at K12, his team launched a number of innovative virtual schools all over the U.S., helping the company become the market leader in the space. The company now has $700 million in revenues and is publicly traded.
Previously, Vanourek helped to launch and served as Vice President for Programs at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (an influential education reform foundation) and research fellow at the Hudson Institute (a think tank).
He has written several book chapters and reports, as well as numerous articles for leading journals and media outlets, including Harvard Business Review blogs and Washington Times columns. His writing has been featured in or reviewed by Fast Company, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, New York Times, Leader to Leader, Publishers Weekly, Entrepreneur, American Management Association, Center for Creative Leadership, and more.
Vanourek is a graduate of the Yale School of Management (M.B.A.), London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Sc.), and Claremont McKenna College (B.A.). He serves on the board of the Vail Leadership Institute.
A native of California, Vanourek lives in Sweden with his wife and two daughters.
Follow him on Twitter: @GVanourek and @TripleCrownLead (with his father and co-author, Bob)
Books:
Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations (McGraw-Hill, a 2012 USA Best Book Awards finalist), co-authored with Bob Vanourek
Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives (Jossey-Bass, 2008), co-authored with Christopher Gergen
Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education (Princeton University Press, 2000), co-authored with Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Bruno V. Manno
Recent Book Chapters:
Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, “Dynamic Organizations for an Entrepreneurial Age,” in Organization of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Insights on Managing in a New Era (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Leader to Leader Institute/Drucker Foundation, 2009).
Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, “Talent Development: Looking Outside the Education Sector,” in The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship, American Enterprise Institute (Cambridge: Harvard Education Press, 2009).
Recent Articles:
* “Is the Maverick at Your Company a Genius or a Jerk?” Fast Company, September 25, 2012
* “6 Crucial Keys Every Startup Has to Find a Fit For,” Fast Company, July 10, 2012 (excerpted from Triple Crown Leadership with permission from the publisher)
