Buddy Teaster

CEO, Soles4Souls

Prior to joining Soles4Souls, Buddy Teaster was the President/COO of StarKart and the National Association of Local Advertisers where he first encountered Soles4Souls.

About

Buddy served as Chief Network Officer for Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a non-profit organization committed to developing better leaders through education and idea exchange. YPO is the largest CEO network in the world with more than 25,000 CEOs in 130 countries.

He has been a YPO member since 2010 and received several awards from the organization, including the “Global Impact Fellow” honor and the “Inclusive Business and Community” Award. Buddy was also recently named to the National Retail Federation’s 2018 List of People Shaping Retail’s Future.

His extensive speaking experience includes topics ranging from leadership and philanthropy to managing excess inventory and social enterprise. Buddy earned his BA in Religious Studies and French from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, and holds an MBA/MA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He serves on the national board for the Social Enterprise Alliance, as board chair of I.D. Plates in Mesquite, TX and is on the advisory board of GHP Environmental + Architecture in Nashville, TN.

Published Book

Shoestrings

How Your Donated Shoes and Clothes Help People Pull Themselves Out of Poverty

Soles4Souls’s elevator pitch is simple: create sustainable jobs and provide relief through the distribution of shoes and clothing around the world. But it’s not as easy as it sounds! Soles4Souls’s mission to “Wear Out Poverty” means going beyond simply putting shoes on the feet of those in need to putting…

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From Tailspin to Tailwind

Leadership Lessons for Turning Crisis into Clarity

All businesses and organizations face frequent change. Sometimes those changes are enough to threaten the entire enterprise. In 2012, Soles4Souls, a global nonprofit that creates opportunities for people through shoes and clothes, faced a reputational and financial crisis that threatened to shutter it. Within months of engaging new leadership, it…

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