Kevin Edwards started at Real Leaders as an intern. Today he serves as its CEO — and the distance between those two points is a story about what happens when someone decides to build a movement rather than just a career.

Real Leaders began in 2010 as a magazine spun out of YPO, dedicated to writing about a new standard for business success — one that recognized impact alongside revenue, and celebrated CEOs who were innovating for good rather than growth at all costs. Kevin joined that mission early and spent the past decade transforming it from a publication into a global community. Under his leadership, the Real Leaders Awards program grew to more than 500 recognized companies in four years, connecting and elevating the top impact-driven business leaders in the world.

He is also the host of a Top 100 U.S. Business News podcast, where he has conducted more than 1,000 interviews with leaders including Gary Vaynerchuk, Mel Robbins, Daymond John, Jay Shetty, and Simon Sinek — building a body of work that reflects his core conviction: that better leadership creates a better world.

Kevin is widely regarded as a connector, a community builder, and an organizer who understands that the most meaningful things in business don't happen in transactions. They happen in rooms where the right people are finally in conversation with one another. That instinct is exactly what he brings to the ROI of Why Conference, where he will facilitate the Real Leaders CEO Mixed Forum — giving attendees a firsthand experience of the peer-driven dialogue that has made Real Leaders one of the most trusted communities in purpose-driven business.