John Chipponeri

I grew up in Ceres, a small farming town in Central California, in a big Sicilian family where values like hard work, perseverance, and community shaped everything we did. As the youngest of four kids, I learned early on that nothing came easy—you had to earn it. I poured that mindset into school and sports, eventually graduating as valedictorian of my high school while also earning MVP honors in football and serving as catcher and leader on my baseball team. Out of my entire class, only three of us went on to college, and I was proud to be one of them.

At UC Berkeley, I studied Mechanical and Petroleum Engineering, graduating with honors in 1984. I was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, and received the Outstanding Petroleum Engineering Student Award. Later, I expanded my business knowledge with an MBA, blending technical skills with leadership and strategy.

My professional life began at Chevron, where I spent more than three decades in roles that took me across the U.S., Indonesia, and Australia. Over the years, I served as a Facilities Engineer, Process Safety Engineer, Field Superintendent, Project Engineer, Business Manager, and Senior Project Manager. I managed projects worth up to $3 billion and led teams that crossed cultural, technical, and organizational boundaries. Those experiences taught me that while technology and numbers matter, people and trust are what make projects succeed.

While I was advancing in my career, I was also raising two sons who have since become successful engineers and business leaders themselves. I coached their sports teams for nearly a decade—soccer, swimming, baseball, basketball, and flag football—and became known as the coach who created a fun, supportive environment where kids could thrive. That’s some of the work I’m most proud of.

In my 40s, I discovered endurance sports, which became both a challenge and a passion. I completed more than a dozen half-ironmans and even swam the 13-mile Rottnest Channel off the coast of Perth, Australia. Endurance sports taught me lessons about discipline, mindset, and resilience that I now carry into my coaching and personal development work.

I semi-retired from Chevron in 2017 and shifted my focus to coaching and mentoring. I’ve pursued advanced studies in the Enneagram and am currently completing my Narrative Enneagram Teacher Certification. My current work centers on men’s groups, recovery programs, and leadership coaching—spaces where I support growth, resilience, and authentic connection. I also continue to coach swimming, triathlon, and pickleball, which allow me to combine my love of athletics with mentoring.

Today, I live in San Rafael, California, where I keep an active lifestyle with yoga, hiking, biking, and pickleball. Spiritually, I draw from Christian mysticism and Western Sufism, while continuing to explore recovery and personal growth. No matter the setting—whether leading a billion-dollar project, coaching athletes, or supporting men in recovery—I’ve tried to live by the same principles I learned as a kid: work hard, act with integrity, and help others succeed.