Sean O'Keefe

Sean teaches in the Leavey School of Business and in the LEAD scholars program that supports first-generation students. As course coordinator of the Business Communication team, Sean's responsibilities include curriculum design for all the business communication courses in the undergraduate and MBA programs. In the classroom, Sean teaches classes that focus on career and professional development. 

Sean O'Keefe is Founder and Partner of Career Launch, a mission-driven social enterprise incubated through SCU's Bronco Venture Accelerator. Career Launch partners with colleges to equitably scale students' ability to create professional relationships and launch effective job or internship searches in the hidden job market, especially for students with few to no employment connections.

Sean regularly speaks, trains, and consults for colleges, universities, and career education nonprofits and government agencies. Professor O'Keefe loves to share both researched-back data and evidence-based success stories of former students. 

Before transitioning into academia, Mr. O’Keefe was the Vice President of Business Development for Shamrock Office Solutions, a local technology and IT services company. He joined the organization in 2009 where he had P&L responsibility and led Shamrock’s growth initiatives and operational excellence.  He had a team of 14, including 5 direct reports. Shamrock more than doubled its staff and quadrupled its profit during his seven year tenure. Prior to Shamrock, Mr. O’Keefe led the Premium Seating Department with the Oakland Athletics Baseball Company where he and his team set several sales records in the luxury suite, group ticket and corporate sponsorship categories over a seven year period.

After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2002, Mr. O’Keefe began his career working for the Oakland Athletics. During his undergraduate studies, Mr. O’Keefe landed an internship with the Oakland Athletics in Marketing, an internship with the San Francisco 49ers in Player Personnel, and part-time work for the San Francisco Giants. In 2008, he graduated from the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business with a Masters in Business Administration with emphasis in International Business and interest in Social Entrepreneurship. During Mr. O’Keefe’s graduate studies, he and his team won the prestigious Belotti Award, which honors the best report on business strategy.

Mr. O'Keefe was an Adjunct Lecturer at Santa Clara University from 2010-2016 while working in industry. Sean has been a guest lecturer and an advisor for programs at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. Mr. O'Keefe served on the City of Dublin's Green Task Force in 2010 and was chosen to serve on the City of Dublin’s Planning Commission beginning in 2011. In 2013, he was appointed to Chair of the Planning Commission, a role he was nominated for by his peers.  
While on-campus at SCU, Sean supports the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the Conscientious Capitalism course. He has served as an advisor for the Miller Center's Global Social Benefit Fellows program and as a member of the Leadership Development Team for the Conscientious Capitalism course. 

July 2021