Bruce Sellery

Bruce Sellery (born August 2, 1970) is a Canadian business journalist, personal finance expert, television news anchor, and keynote speaker.

Sellery is one of the journalists who helped found CTV's Business News Network (BNN) in 1999. He worked there until 2008, covering the stock market and the economy in depth, both as an anchor in Toronto and as BNN's Bureau Chief in New York City. He interviewed thousands of CEOs, economists and analysts, produced a series of documentaries and hosted a primetime show about the workplace.

In 2009, he founded Moolala,^[1] a company dedicated to "inspiring people to get a handle on their money so they can live the life they want." Sellery's first book, Moolala: why smart people do dumb things with their money (and what you can do about it), was published by McClelland & Stewart and became a Globe and Mail best seller. He followed with a second book called The Moolala Guide to Rockin' Your RRSP, published by Figure 1, which also became a bestseller.

Sellery is also known as the personal finance expert and host of Million Dollar Neighbourhood on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Sellery is currently the Money Columnist for CBC Radio, MoneySense and Cityline, a lifestyle TV show that airs across Canada and the United States.

Early life and Education

Sellery was born in London, Ontario in 1970. He received his undergraduate degree, an Honours Bachelor of Commerce, in 1993 from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He was an international exchange student at the Institut de Gestion de Rennes in Rennes, France in 1992 and is an alumnus of the Governor General's Leadership Conference^[2] in 2008.

Early career

Sellery began his professional career in 1993 at Procter and Gamble. From 1993-1998 he held several positions within the company, including brand manager for Royale Facial Tissue where he was accountable for managing a $60 million business unit, and assistant brand manager for Pampers Diapers where he spearheaded the re-launch of this $500 million brand with the "Pampers Baby Dry" campaign. Sellery headed up the design and rollout of P&G's highly successful diversity training programs to 2,000 employees across the country. He also led experiential training in strategy development and team effectiveness.

Television and Radio

Sellery began his career in journalism as a researcher on CBC Newsworld's Canadian Investor. He soon began delivering business updates on Newsworld International and filling in as the host for Investors Online. He was one of the founding staff members of Business News Network (BNN) when it launched in September 1999. He has anchored thousands of hours of live programming and worked with the BNN until 2008. During his time there, Sellery served as the host and senior producer of BNN Documentaries, host and producer of Workopolis TV, anchor for the daily financial show The Wrap, anchor of On the Money and served as the New York bureau chief covering US financial stories. In addition to filing reports for BNN, Sellery also appeared on CTV Newsnet, Canada AM and CNNfn. During his tenure at BNN, Sellery covered stories ranging dot com boom and bust, 9/11, and the War in Iraq to courtroom reporting from the trials of Martha Stewart and Bernie Ebbers. He also created the network's documentary unit and hosted specials on the nuclear energy industry and clothing retailer Lululemon.

Sellery left BNN in 2008 and began offering personal finance workshops in a local community centre as research for his first book, Moolala. After its publication, he was the personal finance expert and host of a reality TV show that aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network in Canada and the U.S. It was called Million Dollar Neighbourhood and was filmed in Aldergrove, British Columbia. The show challenged 100 families in Aldergrove to increase their collective net worth by $1 million in just 10 weeks.

Sellery was a frequent commentator for CBC News Network's The Exchange, and served as an interim host of the program in 2015-16. He has a weekly column on CBC Radio that can be heard on 19 local programs from coast-to-coast.

Sellery appears regularly on Breakfast Television and Cityline, a daily lifestyle show that airs across Canada on CityTV, and throughout the United States in syndication. He has been a guest on CNN, MSNBC and countless other radio and TV shows across North America.

Speaker and Consultant

Through his financial reporting on BNN, Sellery spoke to thousands of people about their finances and soon learned that people in all walks of life had trouble managing their finances. Instead of just reporting on financial matters, Sellery made a big switch in his personal career and decided that he needed to help more people and offer easy solutions to complicated money matters.

Sellery developed the Moolala Method designed to help real people get a handle on their money so they can lead the live they really want. In a series of keynote addresses, Sellery teaches smart people to stop doing "dumb" things with their money. Sellery delivers programs for corporations to teach employees how to improve their financial well-being and challenges people to connect with money and have fun in the process. Articles about his approach have been published in the Calgary Herald,^[3] Vancouver Province, Winnipeg Free Press, Windsor Star, Canadian Business, Alberta Venture and others.

Sellery works with some of Canada's largest financial services companies to develop financial literacy programs. He also serves as the Executive Advisor for Financial Literacy at Carrot Rewards.

Writing

Sellery's first book, Moolala: Why smart people do dumb things with their money (and what you can do about it), [published by McClelland & Stewart] was released in January 2011 and has since become a Globe and Mail bestseller. His second book is called The Moolala Guide to Rockin' Your RRSP. He is also a regular contributor to MoneySense, Canada's largest personal finance magazine.

In 2008, Sellery was a member of the program faculty that contributed to the book Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World with author Don Tapscott.^[4] This book was selected as a 2008 Best Business Book of the Year by The Economist.

Personal life

Sellery believes that giving back to his community is important and he uses his television, financial and speaking skills to help others.

He is the founding chairperson of Friends of Adoption Options and was the Executive Producer for their Building Family Video Series that helps adopted families create a strong, nurturing family unit.

In recent years, Sellery has served as a board member for Fast Company's "World of Work" conference, volunteered as a peer-support telephone distress hotline operator and serves as the VP of Communications for the Queen's University Alumni Association.

Sellery currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Smith School of Business at Queen's University and as President-elect of the Canadian Club of Toronto.

Sellery is married to theatre director Dennis Garnhum and has one daughter, Abby.^[5] He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

References

External links

• Adoption Options, Canada, founding member
• Moolala, personal financial training - founder, Bruce Sellery