We believe that great organizations are built on great stories and storytelling. And great stories work on multiple levels: they spark the imagination, challenge the mind, touch the heart, and cause the hands to take action.

The Mark of a Leader was created by a team of global communications experts and storytellers, committed to using the latest and most powerful multimedia tools to help organizations create better leaders.

Our CEO and Chief Storyteller, Doug Keeley, is one of North America’s leading communicators, and a self-professed “leadership junkie”.

Doug started his first business in 1977, just weeks after graduating from York University in Toronto with a degree in Fine Arts, Music. A working musician and producer at the time, he was intrigued by the power of storytelling using multimedia, and his company, ICE, became a pioneer in the world of corporate communications.

Over the next two decades, he continued to chart new courses in the marketing and communications industry, particularly in multimedia, live events, television, and the Internet. His companies became creative powerhouses, and he traveled the globe working with many of the world’s top corporations and executives.

In 2004, it was time for a change, and he embarked on a journey to help create a new generation of leaders with The Mark of a Leader program.

In addition to writing The Mark of a Leader book, he has appeared as a subject expert in two books on creativity and corporate culture, and been interviewed many times on radio and television on the subjects of leadership and innovation.

Master Storyteller:
Don Allison

Don Allison was born and raised in the picturesque seaside town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. From his earliest years his passion was the stage, and he joined local summer productions in grade school.

At the end of high school he successfully won a place at the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada, paying his way by voice-dubbing foreign films and a few television and film performances.

For the next many years he worked in theater around Canada and the eastern seaboard, did radio and television, and taught theater workshops. He worked with many well known personalities including Leslie Nielsen, Jacqueline Bisset, Tony Randall, Cheryl Ladd, Gordon Pinsent, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Robert Young.

In the early 1990s he got his first job as a corporate storyteller, working with Doug Keeley, now the CEO of The Mark of a Leader. Doug was the creator and producer, Don the storyteller. Together they created breakthrough programs for corporate events integrating a live storyteller, video, and music. They traveled the world for clients like Apple, American Express, The Bay, Canada Post, Computerland, Levi Strauss, Nortel, Sears, Zellers. and many others.

Today he and Doug share the duties as storytellers for The Mark of a Leader, to which Don brings his unique style and performance magic. He still keeps his love of traditional theater and television alive with gigs and theatrical production when he can fit them into his busy schedule.