Tom Yorton

As CEO of Second City Communications, Tom Yorton is creating a positive, disruptive force that changes how people communicate, collaborate and learn in the business world. His work is guided by a fundamental assumption: Business is an act of improvisation. Through comedy, his organization brings sorely needed humanity and authenticity to work environments by challenging unproductive conventions in marketing, learning, business development, and internal communications.

Yorton has particular expertise at the intersection of marketing, communications, change management, and corporate training. He has evolved and grown the corporate division of The Second City into the largest and most diverse corporate comedy and improvisational training entity in the world, serving a broad range of Fortune 500 clients and nonprofit organizations.

Yorton's background includes positions as a senior marketing executive at 3COM corporation and Sears, and as a vice president in the advertising firms Hal Riney & Partners and Ogilvy & Mather. He has experience in numerous industries, including high tech, Internet, retail, automotive, airline, fitness, restaurant, lodging, financial services, and healthcare categories.

Yorton writes and speaks widely on his undying belief in the power of improvisation and humor to improve individual performance and to transform organizations.