Mar 18, 2021 | 3 min read

Breaking Down Barriers to Success with John Kett

By: Patrick Emmons

Breaking down Barriers to Success with John Kett

Sometimes leadership isn’t about being a visionary. Sometimes leadership is about assembling a team of experts and breaking down the barriers to their success. This is the belief of John Kett, CEO and President of IAA.

John joined Patrick on this week’s episode of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise to discuss his approach to leading high performing, creative teams and how IAA is disrupting the car sales industry. Take a listen to the episode.

  • (01:47) - Driving business forward at IAA
  • (02:57) - Leveraging technology
  • (06:04) - Footprint in emerging markets
  • (10:27) - Specialty vehicles
  • (11:28) - AuctionNow
  • (14:31) - De-risk the transaction
  • (16:37) - Who are the buyers?
  • (18:29) - Increasing miles driven
  • (21:19) - Setting a vision
  • (22:42) - Unique data set
  • (25:08) - Electrification
  • (28:16) - The Advantage
  • (30:22) - American Icon

John W. Kett is CEO and President of IAA Inc., the leading multi-channel vehicle marketplace (NYSE: IAA).

John became CEO in May 2014, after serving in a variety of executive roles at IAA for nearly 20 years. In June 2019, he led IAA through the process of becoming an independent public company reaching over $1.3 billion in annual revenue and selling more than 2.5 million vehicles. IAA is a global leader in technology innovation, analytics and operational execution.

Formerly with IAA, John served as senior vice president of planning and business development, CFO and president. He sits on the national board of directors for SkillsUSA and the Northern Illinois University Board of Executive Advisors. John is also an active member of the Economic Club of Chicago, Alliance of Chief Executives, and in 2020 became a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development (CED).

Prior to IAA, John held senior financial roles at Central Steel and Wire Co., and Safelite Glass Corporation, Newark Electronics and Deloitte LLP. He received a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a B.S. from Northern Illinois University.

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About Patrick Emmons

If you can’t appreciate a good sports analogy, movie quote, or military reference, you may not want to work with him, but if you value honesty, integrity, and commitment to improvement, Patrick can certainly help take your business or your career to the next level. “Good enough,” is simply not in his vernacular. Pat’s passion is for relentlessly pushing himself and others to achieve full potential. Patrick Emmons is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Patrick co-founded Adage Technologies in 2001 and in 2015, founded DragonSpears as a spin-off dedicated to developing custom applications that improve speed, compliance and scalability of clients’ internal and customer-facing workflow processes. When he is not learning about new technology, running a better business, or becoming a stronger leader, he can be found coaching his kids’ (FIVE of them) baseball and lacrosse teams and praising his ever-so-patient wife for all her support.

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We interview leaders from early-stage start-ups to billion-dollar enterprises who distill their lessons from their victories and their failures. Learn how these high-performing leaders organize their teams, establish a growth-minded culture, and leverage new technologies such as DevOps and Cloud.