Michael Fairless Email & Phone Number

Ottawa, On, Ca

Ontario, Canada

Growing up in the 90’s on a steady diet of HipHop and Hardcore ignited two great passions in my life; music and social justice. I love the power music has as both a tool to educate and unite people around a common cause. A successful music business, just like social change, requires a lot of dreaming and a lot of organization. As a Business Manager, I get the opportunity to bring my creative business intelligence and operational experience to the table with each of our clients and provide them with the infrastructure, guidance and belief to chase those dreams.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Toronto, Canada Area

Recruited to the People and Culture team to work in collaboration with the Head of Talent to develop and implement an organizational learning strategy that positions the Learning & Development Team as a center of excellence at WE.• Increased management and leadership capacity through the design and delivery of an enterprise-wide, 2-day people leader bootcamp focused on building common principals, practices, and expectations for team leaders across all levels of work. • Decreased time to proficiency for new hires by 70% by redesigning WE’s in-person orientation program, to be a blended program consisting of 3 in-class sessions, eLearning, and functional onboarding resources. • Increased alignment to organizational objectives, and employee development through the design and implementation of a performance management program focused on defining role clarity, developing performance and development goals, and the continuous improvement of staff through ongoing coaching & feedback from their manager.• Increased learning mobility and accessibility to training through the development of a digital learning strategy to move WE beyond traditional in-person training, including the rollout, management, and adoption of learning management systems.

Toronto, Canada Area

Promoted to oversee the largest youth leadership program across North America reaching 100,000+ youth annually and overseeing the management and development of 24+ staff. Accountable for developing a multi-year strategy focused on diversifying frontline program offerings, collaborating with cross-functional teams and corporate sponsors, and increasing program quality and impact reporting. • Increased overall program quality through the introduction of Net Promoter Scoring, achieving an average NPS rating of 9.1 across 7 national programs. • Increased corporate sponsor engagement achieving 85% partnership renewal, while decreasing the administrative workload for the frontline team through the development of video impact reporting and testimonials.• Fostered a culture of growth and succession, averaging an 83% promotion rate through a people plan focused on increasing both business intelligence, skill upgrading, and career development.

Toronto, Canada Area

Brought in to oversee the operational quality and impact of 7+ national programs including, recruiting talent, workshop and module design, developing sales targets, and communicating and monitoring program objectives to managers and frontline staff. • Executed strategy that increased revenue generated from frontline teams by 600% over 4 years by developing and implementing common performance indicators including sales quotas and program deliverables. • Increased staff retention by 35% through the development of a mastery program, personal stretch projects, manager trainings, and a mandate of ongoing coaching and feedback from all levels of management.

Toronto, Canada Area

Promoted to oversee the development, coordination, and delivery of ME to WE leadership programs representing a portfolio of 300+ clients and the management and development of a team of 6-8 facilitators.• Developed and delivered a multi-year volunteerism management program for students of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (2010 - 2012)• Developed and delivered a multi-year leadership conference and mentorship program for marginalized youth in partnership with Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts (August 2009 - 2012)

Toronto, Canada Area

Recruited to deliver a keynote speech and facilitate workshops to high school students across the Greater Toronto Area.• Delivered 120+ speeches and workshops, reaching 5,000+ youth in 4 months focused on developing students’ skills and knowledge related to social issues and coaching them to create personal action plans.• Built and maintained high touch relationships with a portfolio of 50+ educators.

Toronto, Canada Area

• Managed day to day logistics of the band; planning travel routes across North America, Europe and Asia, booking hotels, tour buses, and flights• Coordinated press between the band and media outlets as a liaison to the band's publicists.• Provided leadership and direction to a crew of 5+.• Collected contract payments, tracked payroll, expenses and managed tour budgets. • Collaborated with Universal Music Canada, Vagrant Records, and The Agency Group on developing strategic tour opportunities.• Worked in collaboration with artists and managers to develop and maintain band's brand.

• Coordinated tasks between the stage manager and crew. • Managed crew’s daily schedule. • Led the crew in building and striking the stage for the 50 dates of the 2006 Warped Tour. • Responsible for running the stage in the absence of the stage manager.

Ottawa, Canada Area

• Acted as bands representative in contract negotiations with Fearless records.• Booked and organized National tours.• Developed and nurtured relationships with promoters, record labels, booking agents and bands.• Secured a recording contract with US record label, Fearless Records.• Secured booking representation through The Agency Group.• Secured management representation through Outerloop Management.

Masters Certificate In Performance And Learning Competencies (Expected Completion Fall 2020), Learning & Development

Bachelors Degree Incomplete (Left To Run My Own Business), History

I made the difficult decision to put my formal learning on hold in order to pursue a once in a lifetime growth opportunity to run my own.