Who is Jeff? The History of Jeff Kelly inc.

Jeffrey Ray Kelly was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1969. He developed his love for water as an infant and began swimming competitively at the age of seven. Preferring to swim in lakes and oceans, he began competing in triathlons at age 15. While in high school, Jeff worked for a local YMCA as a lifeguard and swim instructor. During that time, he studied the YMCA and American Red Cross swim instruction curriculums and became certified through the American Red Cross as a Water Safety Instructor (WSI). After graduating from high school in 1987, he created his own swim instruction business.

During his university years, he passionately pursued his athletic ambitions, while continuing to develop his business during the summer months. In addition to four top-ten finishes at US National Championships, he won the 1988 United States National Collegiate Triathlon Championships. In 1991, he graduated from Southwest Missouri State University with degrees in Psychology, Exercise Physiology and Applied Social Research.

Jeff training new instructors in the early days

By the summer of 1991, Jeff knew that he would need assistance to meet the growing demand of families and communities requesting his Personalized Swim Instruction© services. He recruited competitive swimmers and elementary education teachers, and taught them his methodologies and techniques. In addition to leasing indoor and outdoor pools at retirement communities and health clubs, Jeff routed these instructors to residences, homes association communities and country clubs throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area. Despite consistent, rapid customer growth, Jeff continued to limit all classes to a maximum of four students per instructor; never compromising his vision of providing a personalized approach to swim instruction.

In 1996, he expanded the company by creating his own swim league, providing Swim Team Development, Coaching and Management services to local communities. For many years, his customers requested that he provide other services related to their community swimming pool facilities. In 1997, he responded to these requests by further expanding the company’s services to include Aquatic Facility Management with the provision of Lifeguards as a component of these services. With this expansion, Jeff Kelly inc. also began providing instruction in the areas of Lifeguarding and CPR \ Basic Life Support.

In 2003, Jeff wrote and self-published a children’s book titled, “Amanda Panda Discovers the Wonderful World of Water.” After its publication in March of 2003, he dedicated some of his time to an international marketing effort.

Since 1987, Jeff and his team have:

• Provided instruction in swimming, water safety, water aerobics, lifeguarding and basic life support to more than 100,000 students (totaling more than a million 35-minute lessons) at more than 300 facilities and communities;
• Developed, coached and managed nine community and high school swim teams;
• Provided aquatic facility management services to 35 communities, guarding the lives of more than 150,000 patrons.

Book signing for “Amanda Panda

Jeff racing in a 1999 marathon

Pursuing his passion for studying other cultures and languages, Jeff began traveling the world in 1992. Since then, he has traveled extensively in 52 countries. Because the busy season in the aquatics industry is March through October, Jeff had often spent the other four months on the road. Many of his journeys had been in pursuit of his athletic ambitions; such as competing in Ironman triathlons and a four-month solo mountain bike expedition through the islands of New Zealand. In addition to expanding his cultural, linguistic and athletic horizons, Jeff has also traveled to promote his book.

In October of 2010, Jeff’s father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His mother had been partially disabled from a massive stroke in 2006. Without his father able to continue the primary care of his mother; Jeff and his siblings had to make significant changes in their lives. Thus began a new chapter of his life; balancing the demands of a corporation with assisting with the care of his parents. Additionally, Jeff had already been struggling with his own health challenges. Thus, in 2012, he began decreasing the volume, pace and intensity of the company and he stopped traveling.

In 2021, due to his ongoing health challenges, Jeff began a health hiatus from the provision of our aquatic facility management services; which had been the most time-consuming and stressful component of the business. Furthermore, Jeff limited our swim instruction services to our indoor location only. Based on his future health status; Jeff may eventually begin a gradual re-expansion of the corporation. For now, we will continue to remain focused on providing superior-quality swim instruction services, at only our indoor facility, from March through August.


Our Team

Presented by Jeff Kelly

Teresa Biron

Swim Instructor & Swim Instructor Mentor

Teresa Biron joined the Jeff Kelly Team as a Swim Instructor in 2007. She has continued in that role ever since. Going into her 16th year as a Swim Instructor for my company, she has provided superior quality aquatic education to more than 2000 of our students!

Her dedication and passion for teaching children to swim is a natural extension of her educational and professional experience. While raising two high-school-age children (who have both worked for my corporation as well) she obtained an Associate in Arts Degree at Kansas City Kansas Community College in 2007. Teresa then proceeded to earn her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education through Emporia State University in 2009. She has a long history in the educational field. She first began working as a paraprofessional in 2000 at the middle school level. In that role, she assisted in the special education resource room, teaching social and life skills. She transitioned to working in elementary school classrooms in 2006. Upon finishing her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, she has served in Kansas City Kansas Public School District and is currently teaching in the Shawnee Mission School District.

She began her swim instructor training with Jeff Kelly inc. during the spring of 2007 and began teaching classes for our company at multiple homes associations, country clubs and residences in the Northland and Shawnee areas of the city. In 2008, she began teaching spring classes at our primary indoor facility. For that summer and for many summers thereafter, she taught classes at homes associations, country clubs and residences during the mornings and early afternoons, and taught at our indoor facility during the late afternoons and evenings! Through the years, she has taught our unique curriculum at many communities and residences; always being willing to go wherever she has been needed most. In the spring of 2009, while finishing her professional teaching degree, she became a member of our Administrative Team, training as Enrollment Counselor. She has continued to serve in that capacity as needed.

In 2010, she further expanded her repertoire of aquatic skills by participating in our Lifeguard course. At age 52, she successfully completed the rigorous, American Red Cross Certification for Lifeguarding, First-Aid, CPR & AED! That summer, she became a much-needed mature presence among younger lifeguards serving at the neighborhood communities where we provided our Aquatic Facility Management Services. This was in addition to her roles as a Swim Instructor and Enrollment Counselor! It was not long into her service as a Lifeguard when I had promoted her to a management position as a Lifeguard Leader. In this role, she mentored and supervised our Lifeguards. She also shared in the responsibility of the overall management of the communities for which we provided our aquatic facility management services, including training and mentoring the “Facility Care Teams”; ensuring proper water chemistry and maintaining the swimming pools’ operational equipment. In helping to winterize and “de-winterize” the outdoor swimming pools, she has demonstrated that age was no barrier to her willingness and ability to perform tasks that involved heavy lifting. As needed, she also assisted our American Red Cross Lifeguard Instructors with the lifeguard certification courses for our employees.

In 2013, after six years of teaching swimming for my company, I promoted her to the position of Swim Instructor Mentor. In this role, she assisted with the training, mentoring and evaluation of the Swim Instructor Team; helping to maintain the standard of excellence of our Personalized Swim Instruction Services.

As imparted to her daughter Liz, she has a strong commitment to her church, and she volunteers for Parent’s Night Out in which she cares for children with specials needs. In addition to her ongoing commitment as a swim instructor for our company, she makes time each summer to volunteer at a camp for special needs children.

Teresa has been an immense blessing to my corporation. In the aforesaid roles, she has worked some extremely long days. For many years, she worked all day as a special needs teacher, drove to one of our facilities, taught swim classes for 4-5 hours and would still be at the swimming pool until 10:30 PM tending to the water chemistry and maintenance of the pool’s operating equipment! Then she would do it all over again Monday through Thursday from March through the end of May. During the summers in which she was part of the Aquatic Facility Management Team, she often worked six and sometimes seven days per week. There were many days during which she would start at the crack of dawn to help prepare one of the swimming pools; then teach swimming for 5 hours; then supervise lifeguards, etc. during the afternoon; and finish a 14-15+ hour-day teaching swimming and doing the water chemistry work in the evening at one of our facilities. That kind of dedication, commitment and loyalty is “beyond rare”. For 16 years, she has been an integral part of the fabric of the success of Jeff Kelly inc. I will be forever grateful for all her immense contributions to my company and thus to me personally!

Elizabeth Biron

Swim Instructor & Enrollment Counselor

Elizabeth “Liz” Biron joined the Jeff Kelly team as a swim instructor in 2011. She has continued in that role ever since. In addition to sharing her love of the water, she feels a strong commitment to helping children in multiple capacities. This commitment led her to Pittsburg State University where she studied elementary education, obtaining her Bachelor of Science in Education in 2013. She continued there to complete her Masters of Science in Special Education in 2015 with an emphasis in K-12 Adaptive/Functional Education. Following her education, Liz pursued her passion to work with special needs children by serving as a teacher in the Kansas City Kansas Public School District, in both elementary and middle schools.

As an extremely important member of the Jeff Kelly inc. team, Liz has served in many different roles through the years. In addition to providing swim instruction, Liz has served our customers as part of our Aquatic Facility Management Team. In 2012, she obtained the American Red Cross certification for Lifeguarding, First-Aid, CPR & AED. In 2013, she advanced to become a Lifeguard Leader. In this role, she mentored and supervised our Lifeguards. She also shared in the responsibility of the overall management of the communities for which we provided our aquatic facility management services, including training and mentoring the “Facility Care Teams”; ensuring proper water chemistry and maintaining the swimming pools’ operational equipment. In helping to winterize and “de-winterize” the outdoor swimming pools, Liz has demonstrated that she has never been afraid of manual labor, as these tasks involved heavy lifting and dirty work.

In 2017 and 2018, she was our Assistant Lifeguard Instructor. In 2019, she obtained certification as an American Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor, thereby becoming the Primary Lifeguard Instructor for our company. Of course, in these roles, she assisted and then conducted the lifeguard certification courses for our employees.

Liz has a strong commitment to her church where she teaches Sunday School. Additionally, she volunteers for Parent’s Night Out in which she cares for children with specials needs. In addition to her ongoing commitment as a swim instructor for our company, she makes time each summer to volunteer at a camp for special needs children.

The following paragraph is 99% identical to that which I have written about her mother, Teresa Biron. In this case, “Like mother – like daughter” because what I had written about her mom is true for her. Therefore, I will simply echo it here for Liz. Liz has been an immense blessing to my corporation. In the aforesaid roles, she has worked some extremely long days. For many years, she worked all day as a special needs teacher, drove to one of our facilities, taught swim classes for 4-5 hours and would still be at the swimming pool until 10:30 PM tending to the water chemistry and maintenance of the pool’s operating equipment! Then she would do it all over again Monday through Thursday from March through the end of May. During the summers, in addition to teaching at one of our facilities, she taught classes at some of the homes associates and country clubs we had served through the years. During the summers in which she was part of the Aquatic Facility Management Team, she often worked six and sometimes seven days per week. There were many days during which she would start at the crack of dawn to help prepare one of the swimming pools; then teach swimming for 5 hours; then supervise lifeguards, etc. during the afternoon; and finish a 14-15+ hour-day teaching swimming and doing the water chemistry work in the evening at one of our facilities. That kind of dedication, commitment and loyalty is “beyond rare”. In 2022, Liz has become a member of our Administrative Team, serving as an Enrollment Counselor. For 12 years, she has been an integral part of the fabric of the success of my corporation. I will be forever grateful for all her immense contributions to my company and thus to me personally!