Biography

Reed’s craving for international adventure began in St. Louis ’ inner city. While he collected stamps from around the world, he dreamt of visiting the far away lands. His desire for adventures was noted very early in life. His counselor wrote, “He needs an adventure big enough to make him feel small and hard enough to push him.”

Reed viewed every setback as an opportunity to re-examine himself and become a stronger person. For example, despite being on academic suspension in college, he went on to earn two undergraduate and two graduate degrees. He was even on the Accounting Honor Society in graduate school. And he became an adjunct professor and taught information technology, advanced accounting, income tax, business, and project management classes. His many articles were published in professional journals, including Computer World.

Professionally, he has over 30 years of information technology experience. This includes 25 years of project management and executive-level experiences. He’s consistently delivered global multi-million dollar IT projects on time and under budget. To help understand the business processes and to augment his technical expertise, he earned a masters degree in accounting at 37 years old and passed the CPA exam at 39. At 49, he earned the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. And at 52, he received his Supply Chain Management (SCM) certification. He’s never too old to learn or explore.

His other passions include travel, photography, and distance running. He’s combined all them by running over 90 marathons (26.2 miles) throughout the world. His breath-taking photos have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He’s run marathons on glaziers in Antarctica, along the shores of Australia and Denmark, and on the Great Wall of China, since turning 50 years old. His exploits have been documented in various running columns and magazines.

He became the first Black member of a very select group of distance runners, the Seven Continents Club. He has run a marathon on all seven continents. Fewer than 250 people in the world have achieved this goal.

A dedicated adventurer and speaker, he custom-tailors each presentation he delivers. By integrating various company ideals into his speeches, he demonstrates how the lessons he has learned, during his running and project management adventures, may be directly applied to every organization's challenges, such as project management, risk-taking, and coping with change. He has found a way to follow his passion and to be successful. With humor and dramatic photographs, Reed utilizes his business and athletic experiences to inspire people to overcome obstacles and pursue their goals.