DECA is pleased to announce that Rob Lawless, will deliver the keynote during the 2025 DECA International Career Development Conference Grand Opening Session.
Rob Lawless has a genuine passion for getting to know new people. Graduating with highest honors from Penn State University, he earned a finance degree with minors in accounting and entrepreneurship. Rob then joined Deloitte Consulting as a business analyst in strategy and operations, fulfilling his dream job. However, after a year and a half, he made a typical Millennial move, accepting a significant pay cut to join a $24 million venture-funded startup.
Yet in his post grad life, he missed the authentic connection he’d experienced in college. As a result, he set off on a journey, aiming to meet 10,000 people for an hour each for no specific reason. The responses were overwhelmingly positive, and he began meeting people from incredibly diverse backgrounds. To date, he’s connected with over 6,000 individuals from more than 90 countries worldwide. His travels have taken him across the nation six times, and he has been featured in prominent media outlets, such as “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” and the “TODAY Show with Hoda and Jenna.” He even appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, alongside Jane Lynch and Jo Koy, in front of an entire audience of friends from the project!
Rob remains deeply passionate about the value and adventure of connection, is excited to meet the next 4,000 of his friends and is eager to continue sharing what he’s learned from his journey — that every human interaction holds the potential to change your life!
