James Michael Lafferty (born 1963) is an American businessman, speaker, consultant, psychologist, and social media influencer. He is known for his story of starting as a fitness trainer in the

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

Company in 1984 and progressing through marketing to become a division CEO for P&G,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, and

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

. He is also an Olympic athletics coach, keynote speaker and trainer, columnist, and women's rights advocate. Further, he is a marathon runner, an honorary coach, and consultant at the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association, and on the board of the Medical Wellness Association. He transformed the management board of Fine Hygienic Holding, where he served from 2018-2025 as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, to include 30% female members.

Personal life

James Michael Lafferty is married to Carol Lafferty and has seven children - Michael, Morgan, Kristen, John-Patrick, Kenji, Mikayla, and James Jr. Kenji is Lafferty's only adopted child. Kenji was an abandoned Filipino orphan, and after a period of foster care with the Lafferty family, was officially adopted by them.

Education

Lafferty graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1981. He graduated from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

with a bachelor's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

(1985).

Career

Coaching Lafferty started off his career as a corporate fitness trainer. As a professional track and field coach, he has coached Olympic-level track and field athletes in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

for the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. He also coached the Nigerian marathon team in the 2012 London Olympics. He coached 3-time Olympian long jumper, Marestella Sunang who returned from childbirth in 2014 to set a new national record in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and provided her with a team doctor, strength coach, masseuse, dietician and sports psychologist, among others. Lafferty has also coached

Ernest Obiena Ernest John Uy Obiena (born November 17, 1995) is a Filipino pole vaulter. He is ranked world No. 4 in men's pole vault by the World Athletics Rankings as of February 11, 2025. Obiena currently holds the Asian record with his clearance of 6 ...

, Esther Obiekwe, and Kristy Abello - all national level athletes in their various countries. He has co-founded a marathon titled, “The Bull Runner Dream Marathon” which takes place every year. Business James Michael Lafferty is recently retired CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding. He joined the FHH Board of Directors and officially began his duties as the CEO in April 2018. Lafferty began his career in 1985 with

, assuming various strategic leadership roles that include General Manager for the Near East region, chief executive officer of P&G for Poland and the Baltic States, Vice President of Paper in Western Europe, and CEO of the company's operations in the Philippines. After Procter & Gamble, Lafferty continued his career journey as the CEO of Coca-Cola Nigeria and as the CEO of British American Tobacco in the Philippines. He also worked as a consultant for P&G, Coca-Cola, HP,

Newell Rubbermaid Newell Brands Inc. is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage/or waste disposal containers; home organization and reusable container ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American multinational business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparati ...

, L'Oreal,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Hershey Hershey may refer to: People * Hershey (name), a list of people with the surname, given name or nickname Places * Hershey, Nebraska, a village * Hershey, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community, home to the chocolate company * Hershey, Cuba ...

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and many other Fortune 500 companies. Teacher and Columnist Lafferty is a regular columnist for The Philippine Star and teaches at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

, Ateneo de Manila University and

De La Salle University De La Salle University (), also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private, Catholic coeducational research university run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools with main campus in Taft Avenue, Malate, Man ...

. His column on “Why Diversity is still a business challenge” was a finalist under the CMMA Best Business Column category.

Philanthropy

Adopt an Olympian program Lafferty aimed to gather CEOs for his “Adopt an Olympian” program. The objective of the program was to help the country win the elusive gold, preferably as early as 2016. With the help of the program, one CEO funds the full range training of one Filipino athlete. Along with financial support, the program assists in the setting up of an entire system involving selection and hiring of a coach, yoga instructor, dietician, sports psychologist, as well as the design of an appropriate training program. Administering CPR at the airport Lafferty was widely covered by Filipino media after he saved the life of a stranger, Romeo Silva, in October 2006. Lafferty administered CPR after the man collapsed at the Nagoya Airport, Japan due to a heart attack. Team Obiena Pledges P500K Donation to Lydia de Vega James together with his wife Carol, and EJ Obiena Pledge a PHP 500,000 donation to the sprint queen Lydia de Vega who was battling cancer. James and Carol are EJ's long time supporters, advisors and Nutritionist.

Media

James Michael Lafferty has appeared on

The Chrissy B Show Christoulla Boodram (born 16 September 1973) and known professionally as Chrissy B, is an English journalist, author, television presenter, TV producer and mental health speaker, best known as the host of ''The Chrissy B Show''. Early life Boo ...

, SKY 203, sharing his thoughts about the qualities needed to succeed. He has also been interviewed by Barbara Be about how he started his career and reached the position he is in today. The interview was titled "Climbing the Ladder". He also appeared on Expat Insights with Raju Mandhyan where he talked about winners and champions. He was a speaker at AESC and Tissue World 2005.

Publications

Articles

*Lafferty (May 7, 2022). Truth Be Bold. Brainfeed Magazine *Lafferty (May 7, 2022). Making the World Better Place to Live in.Theincmagazine *Lafferty (July 15, 2022). Helping Organization Reach Full Potential. Cxooutlook *Lafferty (August 15, 2022) James Machael Lafferty: The visionary Leader Challenging the Health and Wellness Industry.Theledersglobe *Lafferty (May 28, 2019) What Sport can teach Business about 'Winners' Versus 'Champions.Arabianbusiness *Lafferty (November 3, 2020). The Winning Leadership Mantra; Mr. James Michael Lafferty. Mywestford

Speech

*Winners to Champions’ by James Michael Laffert *2018 Middle East Edition of Break the Ceiling Touch the Sky-The Success and Leadership Summit for Women Announces Final Speakers

Awards and recognition

Lafferty has been awarded CEO of the year 21 separate times in his career by various organisations and government-affiliated associations, as of 2021. Lafferty is the winner of the 2019 Burj CEO Of the year Middle East Award as well as GCC 2019 CEO of the year, and Daman Corporate Health and Wellness Visionary 2019 Award. He has been listed 4 times, most recently in 2024, as among top 100 CEOs by Forbes Middle East, and Best CEO of the Year 2022 in the Wellness and Hygienic Products sector. The following table lists the awards Lafferty obtained:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafferty, James 1963 births American businesspeople Living people American consultants 21st-century American psychologists University of Cincinnati alumni St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni 20th-century American psychologists