Jim Kavanaugh

Soccer career

After winning a state soccer title at Rosary High, Kavanaugh went on to have a solid soccer career at Saint Louis University for college. In 1983 he was selected as MS Amateur Player of the Year and competed for the United States in the Pan Am Games. He also played as a member of the 1984 Olympic team.

After college Kavanaugh was drafted to the Los Angeles Lazers, a Major Indoor Soccer League team, in 1986 as the second pick in the first round of the professional soccer draft.

After a short stint in the Major Indoor Soccer League, Kavanaugh turned to a career in business but still remains involved in the St. Louis sports community. In 2012, Kavanaugh became the President of the Board at St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club and St. Louis FC Board. He is also an owner of the St. Louis Blues.

Business career

Kavanaugh worked at Future Electronics as a sales manager (1988-1990) after his soccer career and prior to founding World Wide Technology.

World Wide Technology

In 1990 Kavanaugh and David Steward founded World Wide Technology, a technology solution provider that provides technology products, services and supply chain solutions.

In 1999 World Wide Technology spun off its telecommunications division to form Telcobuy.com. Sales for the two companies continued to grow, although revenues slipped in 2002 as World Wide Technology felt the impact of the technology recession. In 2003 combined reported revenues passed $1 billion, and the founders formed World Wide Technology Holding Company as the parent company for the two firms.

Almost since its inception, Kavanaugh has focused on WWT's corporate culture, which he believes is essential to its success and growth. "WWT’s continued growth is tied to a business culture defined by core values, the first of which is trust,” said Kavanaugh. “We are committed to creating a profitable growth company that is truly a great place to work." WWT has been recognized as a great place to work by Glassdoor and Fortune.

In addition to culture, Kavanaugh lives for innovation and feels it's definitely a team effort. "[I've read so many] innovation books over the last few years...and what I've learned is that innovation is a team sport. It requires collaboration from a number of different people and the whole team working together."

In 2009, WWT was doing well, but Kavanaugh wanted to make sure the organization was staying ahead of the competition. Kavanaugh's idea was to develop innovation labs that would be a "playground for super-smart people" and house cutting-edge equipment to deliver faster, better results to customers. This idea led to the creation of WWT's Advanced Technology Center (ATC), a collaborative ecosystem to design, build, educate, demonstrate and deploy innovative technology products and integrated architectural solutions for World Wide Technology customers, partners and employees. "It's a virtual ecosystem," Kavanaugh says. "We can bring in software, but we actually bring in the physical hardware too. So we’re able to replicate not only what the software looks like but we do it in physical environments that simulate that customer’s environment. … It's definitely not a standard offering for what systems integrators are bringing to their customers. I think it's very unique."

WWT’s annual revenue is estimated to be greater than $9B, ranking it as one of the largest private companies in the country.

With continued growth on the horizon, WWT is projected to grow 25 percent overseas in the next couple years. In addition to growth overseas, WWT is expanding it's campus with a new headquarters in Westport Plaza.

Awards

2010: Saint Louis University Business Hall of Fame.
2007: EY Entrepreneur of the Year
1998: Forty under 40