Chris Saraceno

Saraceno was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on January 9, 1962 to Angelo and Wanda-Lee Saraceno. In his childhood, he took part in school sports such as baseball and wrestling. Saraceno credits his older brother Perry for inspiring his competitive spirit in sports. He attended Salisbury High School in Allentown, where he served as captain of the wrestling team. In ninth grade, Saraceno would forge lifelong business and physical fitness mentorship relationship under Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom partner Robert Plarr. Saraceno credits Plarr for demonstrating to him the power of mentorships; this would create the template for Saraceno’s personal philosophies, and would go on to serve as the basis for his book, The Theory of 5.[1]

Saraceno graduated from Salisbury High in 1980 and enrolled at Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA, where he graduated in 1984 and earned his degree in Marketing and Communication.[2]

Following college, Saraceno contemplated taking a job in Philadelphia but found the everyday commute from Allentown to Philadelphia inconvenient. He voiced this concern while working out with Plarr.[3] During this time, local car dealership sales consultant Steve Munyan overheard their conversation and, because of Saraceno’s positive and encouraging demeanors, encouraged him to consider selling cars.[4] Saraceno first sold cars at Ruhe Oldsmobile in Allentown from 1984 to 1989. It was at Ruhe where he undertook his next significant business mentorship experience, this time under dealership president Harvey Ritter.[5] Between 1989 and 1997, Saraceno worked for various car dealerships within the Lehigh Valley, PA area. In 1997, he was recruited by Robert P. Kelly and Greg Kelly of the Kelly Automotive Group, where he started as a salesman and rose to Vice President and Partner — a position which he continues to hold.

There are currently seven dealerships under the Kelly Auto Group that Saraceno helps oversee: Buick GMC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Mitsubishi, Kelly Risk-Free, and Nissan, all based in the Lehigh Valley, PA [6], along with INFINITI of Melbourne and Kelly Ford in Melbourne, Florida in 2019.[7]

Saraceno met his first wife, Julie, when he was 17 years old. They later married and had two daughters, Tia and Taylor. In 2000, at age 38, his first wife filed for divorce. Five months following his divorce, Saraceno would meet his soon-to-be second wife, Lisa, through a common friend. Saraceno and Lisa would later marry.[8]

Saraceno would endure various personal tragedies in the years that followed: Lisa would twice battle cancer; his family had to face the premature deaths of his 19-year-old nephew and godson, Michael, and 29-year-old stepson, Brandon; he would experience the sudden deaths of three close friends; his parents would separate after 56 years of marriage, and his father Angelo would be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease (for whom Chris would assume responsibility for as main caregiver). Saraceno cites these events as major factors where The Theory of 5’s philosophy of using life’s tragedies to strengthen and improve one’s outlook would prove essential.[9]

Saraceno currently lives in Merritt Island, Florida, with Lisa. He has four children, five grandchildren, with a new baby grandchild coming soon.

Collecting 36 years of valuable mentorship advice he had gained over the years from various mentors, Saraceno wrote and published The Theory of 5, a self-help book developed with David Falkirk Davis. Saraceno designed The Theory of 5 so that anyone can achieve personal happiness and prosperity by selecting mentors in the five most significant areas of a person’s life — spirituality, marriage, parenting, business and finance, and health. “I consistently found the happiest, most prosperous people succeed in each of these areas,” he wrote.[10]

According to Saraceno, he wrote The Theory of 5 to create a positive professional and personal legacy that can be passed on to his children, grandchildren and further generations. Saraceno regularly shares his life philosophies and advice with other notable entrepreneurs and colleagues in the automobile industry through podcast interviews.[11][12] Recently, Saraceno sat down with CBT News to discuss how the Kelly Auto Group and the automotive industry, in general, are dealing with Coronavirus concerns.[13]

In 2019, Saraceno entered into a collaboration with Lehigh Valley-based nonprofit marketing agency Haydenfilms Institute to host a screenwriting competition to adapt an original film inspired by the philosophies of The Theory of 5, which is currently accepting submissions for all screenwriters and filmmakers. The competition is slated for an early 2022 release.[14]

• Official website
• Official website (The Theory of 5)
• "Chris Saraceno". Author. Amazon.
• Sharpening Iron with The Theory of 5: Chris Saraceno on YouTube