About

Leo Bottary is the founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC. and an award-winning author of three books, including Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High Performing Teams (2020). Leo is also a speaker, podcaster, Rutgers University adjunct professor, and CEOWORLD Magazine Opinion Columnist.

Leo’s first book, which he co-authored with Leon Shapiro, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership Growth & Success (2016), explored why peer groups for CEOs and business leaders are so effective. His second book, What Anyone Can Do: How Surrounding Yourself with the Right People Will Drive Change, Opportunity, and Personal Growth (2018), examined the power of enlisting and engaging the complete circle of the people who surround us to get what we want in life.

Prior to teaching at Rutgers, Leo was an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, where he led graduate-level online and on-campus learning teams studying leadership and strategic communication. In April 2015, he was named adjunct teacher of the year for Seton Hall’s College of Communication and the Arts.

Earlier in his career, Leo served in senior leadership positions at Mullen and Hill & Knowlton, where he was also director of client service for the US. In the mid-1990s, he founded a public relations agency that a leading trade publication hailed as a regional powerhouse, new media pioneer, and great place to work.

Leo earned a BA from Jacksonville University, an MA in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall, and completed his doctoral coursework at Northeastern.