Bio
Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968. The very next day, T.J. Sullivan was born in Washington D.C. — yes the city, not the suburbs. He didn’t stay long. By age 16, he was off to Indiana University paying his own way as a pizza chef, newspaper reporter, and as a cable television technician. At 19, he graduated from IU with his BA in Journalism.
While at Indiana, T.J. became a founding father of his Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity chapter. The whole thing was kind of a fluke – he had not planned on joining a fraternity. But, the right guys, the right opportunity, and all of his friends turning 21 (two years before him) led him to join. Turned out, he really got into it, and although he had numerous offers from small newspapers for reporting and photojournalist jobs, his path took an unexpected turn. He moved to Charlotte, N.C., and went on to work for his fraternity, helping to run Push America, his fraternity’s service project. For three years, he led fund raising efforts and developed projects that gave people with disabilities more recreational opportunities. While at Pi Kapp headquarters, he dabbled in stand-up comedy, bartended for extra cash, and authored his fraternity’s new member manual, The White Diamond.
In 1991, Sullivan moved to Denver to join the staff of The BACCHUS Network, promoting alcohol awareness and healthy choices to college students nationwide. While at BACCHUS, he began doing educational keynotes and workshops for colleges and national fraternal organizations on a variety of topics.
In 1992, he created an educational keynote called “Friendship in the Age of AIDS” with his friend, Joel Goldman. Over the next seven years, the pair was one of the busiest acts on the college circuit, speaking to nearly a million students. Joel talked about his experiences dealing with HIV infection, and T.J. talked about oral sex and orgasms. On a typical night, Joel would touch the hearts of audience members, and T.J. would do a pretty hysterical bit comparing sex cravings to the craving for a Taco Bell chicken burrito. It was a pretty cool way to spend your 20′s.
The two were featured in hundreds of newspapers and television news stories. They won the Silver Medal from the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the Ryan’s Angel Award from the Ryan White Foundation for their AIDS prevention work. In 1999, T.J. received the Jack L. Anson Award, the top award from the Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors (AFA).
In 1999, after seven years of insane travel, Sullivan returned home to Denver to start a family. His friend and fellow campus speaker, David Stollman, suggested they start a speakers agency together. Since then, CAMPUSPEAK has become the nation’s premier agency providing educational speakers and interactive workshops to the nation’s colleges and universities. He has mentored dozens of speakers working the college market.
T.J. has remained active with Pi Kappa Phi, serving as a volunteer at the local and national levels, a member of the Nu Phi Society, and as a team member of the 2000 Gear Up Florida bike team.
In addition to serving as CAMPUSPEAK’s full-time CEO, T.J. is still speaking, keynoting at dozens of campuses and collegiate conferences every year. To date, he has spoken to more than 2-million students. His blog on student leadership has received several recognitions. In 2010, T.J. was awarded the North-American Interfraternity Conference’s “Alumni Award of Distinction.”
T.J., his partner Scott, and their two sons live in Aurora, Colorado, with their rescue beagles Sam and Bagel.
