McKeel Hagerty is the Chief Executive Officer and driving force behind Hagerty (NYSE: HGTY), an automotive enthusiast brand offering integrated membership products and programs as well as a specialty insurance provider focused on the global automotive enthusiast market. Based in Traverse City, Michigan, the company has more than 1,700 employees in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Germany.
McKeel was elected by his CEO peers in 2016-17 to serve as the international board chair for YPO, a global leadership organization with more than 34,000 extraordinary chief executives from 142 countries. During his term, he traveled the globe speaking to leaders and thinkers like former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, philosopher Yuval Harari, and countless business titans. These experiences deeply affected his views on the possibilities of leadership in a rapidly changing world.McKeel continues to work with YPO as an ambassador, speaker, moderator and strategic consultant.
McKeel is passionate about entrepreneurship and helping young leaders emerge. He was co-founder of Grand Ventures, a Michigan-based venture capital firm providing emerging companies with early-stage capital and strategic support.
He serves in many board and advisory roles, but is especially proud of being a founding member of the advisory board for McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas, home to the only four-year Bachelor of Sciences degree in Automotive Restoration Technology in the United States. He also serves as a board member for the Petersen Automotive Museum, a nonprofit specializing in automobile history, and America’s Automotive Trust, a not-for-profit whose mission is to secure America’s automotive heritage. All of these efforts culminate in the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, which serves the Hagerty purpose of “saving driving and car culture for future generations.”
McKeel is a lifelong fan of great cars and great roads. As a 13-year-old, he restored a 1967 Porsche 911S with his father Frank. He still owns the car and it is the first car out of his garage each spring. Among his many recent motoring adventures, he has driven the Porsche to the top of Pike’s Peak and on many other dream roads, a 1903 Knox in the famed London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, a McLaren 600LT through Tennessee’s beautiful but treacherous Tail of the Dragon, and many other tours and rallies. He also served for decades as a judge for the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where he continues to serve in an honorary capacity.
In Traverse City, he is known as a passionate community supporter and an advocate for government, business and local organizations working together to create a more sustainable economy based on scalable businesses.
He lives with Soon in Traverse City, Michigan. They have three wonderful daughters, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, and a Boston Terrier, named Hudson (after the car, of course).
