Jeanne Keshishian, President
With a degree in International Business from Eastern Michigan University, Jeanne was also a Rotary Club Scholar, spent at the University of Aix-en-Provence, France. She spent a year in Paris at the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris with an internship in the marketing department at Renault’s world headquarters. She successfully defended her thesis on “The Socio-Economic Aspects of Robotics” before the Paris Chamber of Commerce.
Jeanne’s first industry experience was in the automotive marketplace in Detroit, working in inventory control, international supply chain and technical document translations. In 1990, she left the automotive industry and moved to the Insurance industry, where she earned her Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) professional designation, as well as Securities, Life/Health and P&C licenses. Beginning in retail sales, she progressed into third-party distribution as a wholesaler, to regional wholesaling management and as the National Sales Vice President at a Fortune 500 insurance company. She was responsible for new product development, marketing collateral and sales development. With the 2008 financial meltdown, she next served as President of a broker/dealer’s insurance agency, creating new business processes, ensuring access to suitable products from financially sound carriers and suitability review of new business.
In 2018, Jeanne relocated to Chicago and joined a living green wall manufacturer as VP of Sales. She was first charged with creating processes for sales through Steelcase dealers, made them scalable and quadrupled the number of dealer-resellers after joining the team. Upon completing the roll-out, she began new business development on the East Coast.
Jeanne also served a 2-year term on the Board of Rotary One, the first service club in the world, and enjoys gardening, yoga, reading and needlework.