HEREABOUTS sandra baer
With a shrewd sense for business and an ability to keep audiences enthralled, 1990 Centerville High School graduate, Jon Petz, was almost guaranteed to succeed in life. After a successful career in telecommunications sales, Petz changed his professional focus by starting his own business, Bore No More’ (www.jonpetz.com/).
Using his trained voice and a sense of humor, he captivates audiences as a keynote motivational speaker, master of ceremonies and a corporate magician.
“I learned a lot of what I do now by flying around with billionaires,” said Petz, who was a top salesman in the insurance field. “I learned how to get a message across in an effective way.”
Petz was born in Lancaster, Pa., and moved to Centerville at the age of 6. He played soccer, was on the track team and honed his acting skills as a member of the Centerville High School theater program, where he was the lead in the school production of “Bye, Bye, Birdie.”
“My father showed me the famous penny trick when I was 7-years-old,” said Petz, of his father, Richard Petz of Centerville. “I got a magic kit and I began earning money performing at birthday parties and other events when I was in high school.”
After graduating from CHS, Petz earned a degree in communication technology at Ohio University and then began his career at Invision Systems, a company that provided desktop video conferencing equipment. A job change brought him back to Columbus where he worked for MCI Telecommunications and met his wife, Stacey, on the tennis courts. The couple wed in 1999 and have three daughters, Sydney, Mackenzie and Madison.
Within three years at MCI, Petz was in the top 2 percent of sales personnel but wanted a change.
“I wanted to start my own business, so I started an online coffee business and I also began performing again,” said Petz, who left MCI to work for a rapidly expanding dot com company before joining an insurance company as a vice-president in charge of motivating a staff of 250 sales representatives. “I had to present effective meetings and workshops, and that’s what led me to start my own business, Bore No More.”
In addition to working as a master of ceremonies for major corporations and the government, Petz also has worked on television and been the opening act for famous bands like Rascal Flatts and programs like American Idol. He has written three books, the most recent being “Boring Meetings Suck” (www.boringmeetingssuck.com/) published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, NJ.
Petz was named one of the top 40 business professionals under the age of 40 by the Business Journals Newspaper in 2008. He also received the 2008 CV Perry Advocate for Children Award, for his work with Miracles and Magic, a program he started with his wife, Stacey, to provide professional magic performances for children facing life threatening illnesses.
“We bring in top talent and present a family-friendly variety show with jugglers, magicians and entertainers for the children and their families,” said Petz.
“All the proceeds go to A Kid Again. The show is what we do to help kids and their families forget about hospitals and shots and just have some fun.
“We’ll be having a show at the Centerville High School Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 2.”
Contact this columnist at (937) 432-9054 or jjbaer@aol.com.
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