Ralph Heath

**Ralph HeathRph Heath - Keynote Speaker“Ralph Heath is a master storyteller,

and the life lessons he shares send a

powerful message.”

• Jerry Kember, Superintendent,

School District of La Crosse,

November 2009.

Author

Ralph’s first book, published in July 2009 by Career Press, is called

Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes, and

Thinking Big.

Celebrating Failure and Audible, a division of Amazon, bought the audio

rights.

As a former ad agency owner Ralph has worked with Career Press and

their ad agency Newman Communications to promote Celebrating Failure.

The book has received excellent reviews from TimeMagazine,Soundview, Blue Ridge Business Journal, andHoustonMagazine. Prepublication testimonials about Celebrating Failure can

Executive Book Summaries

Style

be found on the book’s web site that include quotes from Senator Russ

Feingold and best-selling authors James Autry and Jeff Thull.

He writes a weekly blog called Thoughtful Leadership and Marketing that

explores leadership issues.

Background information

Ralph was founder and president of Ovation Marketing, a successful ad agency, located far from

Madison Avenue that represented some of America’s most iconic brands, including Budweiser, Hershey’s,

Betty Crocker, State Farm and Microsoft. The company was twice named to Inc.magazine’s 500 fastestgrowing

companies and recognized frequently for their management and health innovations.

Ralph is a member of the National Speakers Association. He has taught advertising and marketing

courses at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his B.S. in mass communications from the University

of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He is past-president of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy and Human Powered

Trails, organizations dedicated to preserving a natural environment. He serves on the board of the

La Crosse Fitness Festival. The U.S.A. Triathlon Association has honored Ralph as a four-time Triathlon

All-American. He is a two-time finisher of the Hawaii Ironman competition and a 2008 and 2009 bronze

medal winner in the Wisconsin Cycling championships.

“I want to thank you for your excellent presentation to our students, faculty, and

community leaders on Tuesday evening. Your lecture, The Leadership Manifesto,

was very well done, informative and interesting. I have received many positive

comments from the approximately 200 attendees.”

• Bill Colclough, Dean, College of Business, UW-La Crosse, November 2009.

“Ralph’s real-life examples put to words many management concepts I knew or felt subconsciously.

I especially enjoyed the “burning the pile of purchase orders” story as a vivid example of how to

enforce taking ownership.”

• Michael J. Juran, President, HAB Inc, October 2009.

“I had always feared failure, but after listening to your speech I have a new appreciation for

the value failure delivers to my learning. Outstanding presentation!”

• UW-La Crosse student, November 2009.In December, McGraw Hill bought the international rights to**