Hugh Shields

Hugh is a founding partner and executive advisor at Shields Meneley Partners. As a Master Coach, Hugh is one of the top leadership and career coaches in business today. His clients appreciate his peer-to-peer “straight talk” way of helping them see, own, and overcome their leadership blind spots. The result is that clients are better able to achieve the results they want for their careers and the organizations they lead. Clients include AON, Baxter, Deloitte Consulting, Dow Chemical, Exelon, Motorola, Northern Trust, PepsiCo, Quaker Oats, R.R. Donnelley, and W.W. Grainger.

Hugh has extensive P&L, strategy development, sales & marketing, and operations experience in a variety of industries including professional services, specialty chemicals, electronics and controls, and electrical products. He ran Valspar Corporation’s multi-plant Federal International Chemicals Division and accomplished a difficult turnaround-to-growth strategy. At Emerson Electric Company, he held positions of increasing responsibility in the EL Wiegand “Chromalox” Division and led the Heat Tracing Systems Division. He began his career at Sunbeam Corporation at the corporate headquarters and in marketing and sales roles for the Schaefer Division.

Hugh is a member of The Executive Club of Chicago as well as The Metropolitan Club. He is a founder of Thrive Chicago (servant leadership) and has served on a number of private boards and non-profit organizations.