Founder

Some History

There are plenty of people and companies you could partner with. While I’d rather focus on you and your business, a little background might help explain where I’m coming from—and where Propelrco is headed.

The short version? I’ve worked with a lot of businesses over the years. Most recently, I spent several years in a C-level role helping scale a large, privately held company into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. Along the way, I’ve optimized operations, expanded into new markets, driven acquisitions, and successfully integrated businesses across multiple industries.

If you want the longer story, keep reading.

Jeff Kirkham, Principal

My career began by tearing off shingles for my buddy’s dad’s roofing company during high school summers—5 a.m. starts, dump truck loads, and clearing two houses a day so the real pros could lay down new shingles. The rest of my spare time was football, wrestling, and track. Early jobs and sports introduced me to hard work.

I went to college in Salt Lake City, pausing in the middle to do mission work in Colombia. I studied Economics and Spanish but also spent my college years working. While in school and for a couple years after, I worked with two small consulting firms focused on leadership development. These were sales roles, but I got a behind-the-scenes look at many large companies, traveled frequently, and spoke in front of groups of professionals at a young age.

In 2002, my wife and I moved to Houston, closer to her family, for an MBA. While in school, I connected with a team at Citigroup and soon joined them, first part-time and then full-time after graduation. Our group managed about $1 billion in assets and supported stockplans for 15 public companies. I worked closely with company executives and the trading desks in New York on significant stock option trades—fast-paced and high-pressure work that taught me a ton.

Eventually, I was recruited to Merrill Lynch to build my own practice. That was in 2007—right before the financial crisis. After a couple tough years, I stepped away from financial services and joined Continental Airlines, a former client.

I worked in Corporate Real Estate, managing the real estate P&Ls and negotiating everything tied to our space at airports—gates, hangars, ops areas, you name it. I handled negotiations with airports and airlines across 57 locations in the U.S., Mexico, and Central and South America. When the United merger got serious, I helped lead integration work for our team across 126 airports—a huge, multi-year effort.

I relocated to Chicago taking a role overseeing the New York-area airports. After wrapping up a major deal in Newark and with the integration work largely completed, it felt like the right time to make our way back West.

I joined Savage, a family-owned industrial supply chain business, where I started in a finance and operations support role for a $250M business group supporting power plants, refineries, and other customers across North America and in Saudi Arabia. Over time, I took on leadership of a $40M business unit with multiple operations and new development in Mexico. In 2017, I was asked to join the senior leadership team reporting to the CEO, helping scale the company and leading multiple shared services teams.

In my time at Savage, I worked closely with leaders across 250+operations, driving growth, improving performance, pursuing new business, and integrating acquisitions. During my years on the senior team, we more than doubled the size of the company—and had a lot of fun doing it.

In 2024, it was time for my next chapter. Combining everything I’d learned inspired me to launch Propelrco: a way to help private companies achieve the kind of growth and operational excellence I’d been fortunate to be a part of—and to eventually build a team that will accelerate business success around the globe.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-kirkham-173a5a7

Personal Life: To summarize—extremely blessed. My amazing wife and six children are my greatest joy. In my free time, I enjoy boating, hiking, staying active, learning - including satisfying my aviation fascination - and finding ways to give back.

back to Updates
Made by Riffmax & Powered by Webflow