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JON PLAYER

Leadership Trainer, Speaker & Coach
Bell Leader since 2016
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When Jon works with your company, you aren’t surprised to learn about his background as an attorney and a scientist. Jon takes an investigative approach to identify and analyze issues that hinder growth, and he is a skilled presenter who has sharpened his skills before judges and juries. For nine years at a boutique litigation firm, Jon developed a reputation as an attorney who could analyze complex issues and break them down into essential manageable elements. Clients sought his counsel on the most complex cases, as well as for his measured approach to dispute resolution.

Jon lived in Guatemala volunteering for a medical organization, managed large-scale research studies investigating the role of genetics in cancer development and helped start an institute to exonerate wrongly convicted prisoners in Virginia. Companies who turn to Bell Leadership for training and consulting appreciate Jon’s unique perspective from his manifold experiences and the value he brings to their organizational cultures.

Jon can be spotted on a North Carolina trout stream or perfecting a dish in the kitchen for his wife and two boys.

  • J.D., cum laude, from the University of Richmond School of Law
  • M.S. in Environmental Health from University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health
  • B.S. in Biology from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Fun Facts About Jon

Tacos – no question. I could eat tacos for every meal for the rest of my life and be happy. I think my coworkers here at Bell are tired of having to find the best tacos wherever we travel – it probably borders on an obsession.
Raising Arizona. It’s such a funny movie to me – the dialogue between the characters makes me laugh so hard. It was the first movie I watched with my now-wife and she fell asleep in the first thirty minutes. It obviously Wasn’t bad enough to preclude another date though.
Can I choose to continue changing? In thinking about this, I’m realizing that each stage of life has been better than the last. I’m not sure I would freeze at any one age.

I read John Hart’s Down River recently. He came to speak at my old law firm and I finally read his book. I didn’t want to put it down. Contextually, I had some background to Hart’s personal story as an ex-lawyer turned author, so I felt like I understood some of his characters in a different way.

This is a tough one – lots of superheroes in our house of all boys. I watched the newest animated Spider Man movie with them recently and just loved the character Miles. The backstory of him learning to be Spiderman and finding ways to overcome his insecurities and doubts was impactful to my kids.

Had to be He-Man. I never missed an episode after school. I recall refusing to go to an after school event because it conflicted with the time of the show. I watched an episode recently with my boys – it’s much better in my memories.