About the Author

Ned Colletti has worked in Major League Baseball for 36 years and has become one of the most successful executives during the last 20+ years. He has scouted, signed, or developed numerous Hall of Fame and championship-caliber baseball players.

He was the General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2005 to 2014, leading the team to five postseason appearances, including three trips to the National League Championship Series. The five postseason appearances during his tenure equaled the best nine-year period in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. During these nine years, no other National League General Manager won more games than Ned Colletti. In 2017, even after Colletti was no longer GM, a Dodgers team that included some of his best acquisitions qualified for the postseason yet again.

Prior to working in Los Angeles, he began his baseball career with his hometown team, the Chicago Cubs, where he worked for 13 seasons. He left Chicago for California and spent 11 years with the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers fiercest rival. As the Assistant General Manager in SF, he helped change and build a winning culture that helped lead the Giants to four post-season appearances while he was there and three World Championships since he left.

During a nine-year stretch, the Giants played just 15 of 1,458 games eliminated from post-season play. While Colletti was in LA, the Giants continued building the culture he helped develop and won three World Series between 2010 and 1014. The breakeven point in Major League Baseball is 81 wins and in 19 of the last 21 seasons, Colletti's teams have surpassed the 81-win mark, including 12 seasons in which they had surpassed 90 wins. Of the numerous top-level baseball executives, only one has a better win-loss percentage during the past 20+ seasons.

Eventually he transitioned into a new career as an analyst for the Dodgers on the Spectrum SportsNet LA Network, providing valuable insight on scouting and player development. Colletti also served as an analyst for the Major League Baseball Podcasts on TuneIn, a popular audio streaming service.

He recently authored his fourth book and his first in 30 years: The Big Chair: The Smooth Hops and Bad Bounces from The Inside World of the Acclaimed Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager. Besides being the keynote speaker for top executives from many large companies, law firms, and other professional sports franchises, Colletti has spoken at many different colleges. Besides teaching at Pepperdine, he has lectured at the following universities: USC, UCLA, Stanford, University of San Francisco, Arizona State, Michigan, Illinois, DePaul, Cal State Fullerton, Concordia University in Montreal, Que., Southwestern School of Law (in Los Angeles), and his alma mater Northern Illinois University.

Colletti was born in Chicago and lived the first five years of his life in a garage before the family moved into an 899-square foot, four-room brick home in suburban Franklin Park, two miles southeast of O'Hare International Airport. He was the first in his family to attend and graduate from a university. From his blue collar roots, he developed a work ethic that is relentless, loyal, and passionate. It has given him the background to relate to both corporate leaders and executives, as well as entry level employees.

Respecting his career opportunities and having a strong desire to give back, Colletti has helped many local charitable organizations. He is on the board of Vision to Learn, a non-profit which helps children in low-income communities receive eye exams and glasses free of charge. He also works very closely with A Place Called Home and Get Lit Words Ignite, two organizations that have helped underprivileged students gain confidence in setting goals and establishing good lifestyles to help become successful later in life. At A Place Called Home he has assisted seven students with resources and guidance in order to help them graduate from universities. Presently, he is assisting eight additional students who are in college, all of them, like him, being the first of their family to attend. He is also mentoring students and alumni from Get Lit-Words Ignite as they begin careers in drama, movies and television.