Brian P. Swift, J.D.

Corporate trainer, motivational speaker, author and founder/president of a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating accessible outdoor recreational opportunities for individuals
with physical disabilities
Class of 1982
Brian P. Swift, J.D. has over 20 years of corporate training, sales and marketing experience. Outside of the corporate world, Swift is a motivational speaker, author and founder/president of a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating accessible outdoor recreational opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities.

When Swift was 17 years old, he became a C5/6 quadriplegic after sustaining a spinal cord injury while playing football with his friends. Finding the courage and strength to recover through rehabilitation, he was determined to defy statistics, achieve more than anyone expected of him and become the best person he could be.

Swift took his first classes at Moraine Valley in 1980, less than one year after his injury and graduated two years later with his Associate in Arts degree. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Saint Xavier University in 1984 and being selected as a Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, he attended DePaul University College of Law, where he received his juris doctor. Swift said the strong foundation he learned while attending Moraine Valley equipped him to further his education.

After working as a law assistant for a personal injury attorney and an accessibility consultant for American Accessibility, Swift took a position with telephone directory publisher YP Midwest Publishing LLC (formerly DonTech). Within his first year of employment, he earned the company’s Rookie of the Year Award for his accomplishments in sales.

While in sales, he developed and implemented many new employee training initiatives, built strategic alliances to achieve aggressive sales objectives and created a new unit of the company, which involved interviewing, hiring and training 60 sales professionals. At one point, Swift was asked to oversee a team with historically low sales figures and, within a year, led them to become one of the top sales teams. When he departed in 2006, he earned awards for being in the top 10% and 5% in sales for multiple years.

In 2015, Swift started Swift Outdoor Accessible Recreation (SOAR) with his wife, Monica. SOAR is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run nonprofit organization which offers equipment, programs and services for individuals with disabilities to help them get back outdoors and promote being close to nature. The organization provides access to adaptive recreational equipment and outings for fishing, camping, cycling, hunting, water sports and all-terrain wheelchair riding. Since its founding, SOAR has disbursed over $1.3 million in support, funded $700,000 in grants, served over 200 athletes and empowered over 2,000 individuals and families to enjoy the outdoors.

Beyond Swift’s professional career, he became a certified John Maxwell speaker and has used his leadership development practices to deliver keynote addresses and executive coaching, even returning to Moraine Valley to share his story. His success strategy, as he explains it, is CIA: commitment, integrity and attitude.

Also an accomplished author, Swift has written nine motivational books: “The Quadfather,” “Swift Fixes:
Overcoming Pain,” “Swift Fixes: Goals and Inspiration,” “Swift Fixes: Overcoming Traumatic Injury,” “Rising Up: Difficulties Disappear When Faced Boldly,” “Have A Ball: Being Your Best,” “Go Ask Your Dad: Questions, Answers & Stories About Fathers, Fatherhood & Parenting,” “Up: Getting Up is the Key to Life” and “Developing True Grit: Become Unstoppable.”

Swift and his wife, Monica, live in Mokena with their three children, Spencer, Sydney and Callaghan.