Brad started The Kelly Group in the early 1990’s while a municipal government department head in response to several requests to offer consulting expertise. Due to a demand for grant writing services from small municipalities and non-profits, and his past track record in securing state and federal grants, this service has been added to the portfolio.
He has been Director of municipal parks agencies with annual budgets as large as $20 million, and has directed agencies that were awarded many state and national programming and management excellence awards.
Some of his clients include State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Recreation Resources Division; City of Trenton, MO; City of Kansas City, KS; Louisville, KY MetroParks, and many others. He also successfully wrote grant applications and received funding for federal grants totaling $500,000 to help fund the Cane Creek SportsPlex in Cookeville, TN, and an LPRF grant to help develop the City Lake Natural Area in Cookeville, TN. He was hired by the City of Sparta, TN to write a (successfully funded) LPRF grant that helped fund Sparta’s downtown park.
A nationally recognized instructor, he has served as Chair of the Board of Regents for both the Supervisors Management School and the School of Sports Management- executive development schools sponsored by North Carolina State University, the Oglebay National Training Center at Oglebay Resort, and the National Recreation and Park Association.
In 2015 he was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, a select group limited to 125 of the top parks and recreation professionals in the United States.
He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Central Michigan University, and a passion and drive to help make local governmental agencies and non-profits operate more efficiently. He has been hired multiple times, either as the first Director for an organization, or to fundamentally change an organization, and utilized his skills and experience in helping agencies discover and implement efficiencies and eliminate duplication and overhead. He recently donated many hours of time to advise several successful candidates in a recent City of Wheeling, WV Mayoral and City Council races, focusing on the value that parks, green space, downtown beautification and consolidation of quality of life services could play in Wheeling’s future.
Brad is a U.S. Navy Reserve veteran, serving as an Intelligence Officer and retiring as a Commander. As you might expect, research, analysis, and getting it right is his second nature!