Miguel McKelvey

McKelvey grew up in a "five-mother collective" in Eugene, Oregon.[1] His family started and ran a weekly newspaper called the Eugene Weekly.[2]

In a January 2020 interview with Fortune, McKelvey called himself "a wild kid" on the high school basketball court. He said that he found a sense of accountability from his coach, who was a strict disciplinarian. He said of Coach Stepp, "I didn’t grow up with my father, so I never had someone telling me to keep in line."[3]

He graduated from South Eugene High School in 1992.[4][5] He first attended Colorado College and, after seeing a sculpture he created, his professor, Carl Reed, recommended he consider architecture for graduate school.[6][7]  He transferred to the University of Oregon where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1999.[8][9][6]

McKelvey played on the Oregon Ducks basketball team for two years.[10] However, the official record book indicates he lettered for only one year, 1997.[11]

Before graduating from college, McKelvey worked as a busboy in a restaurant, and spent two summers at an Alaskan fish processing plant.[7]

After graduating from college, McKelvey went to Tokyo to visit a friend, and while there, he co-founded English, baby!, a web portal and social network for students to create and take foreign-language online courses.[12] The website offers vocabulary quizzes, grammar lessons, and a social network that connects English-language learners with English-fluent peers.[13][4] The business grew to 25 employees.[14]

McKelvey next moved to New York City, where he worked at Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture.[13][15] The firm was responsible for all the American Apparel projects, and McKelvey became the manager of the international retail roll out.[16][17]

Adam Neumann worked in the same office building, and the two met at a party.[17][18][19]  In 2008, the two convinced their landlord to let them divide the floors of an empty building into semi-communal offices and rent them out;[19] this was the start of Green Desk.[18] McKelvey designed the name, logo, and a working website for the new business in one night.[19] Green Desk was an eco-friendly coworking space, with a focus on recycled furniture and wind-power electricity.[6] McKelvey and Neumann eventually sold the business to their landlord, Joshua Guttman, and evolved the concept into WeWork.[20][21][18]

WeWork was founded in 2010, with its first office space in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo.[22] McKelvey served as WeWork's chief culture officer.[13][23] He directed construction, architecture, and web design for the company, and was also responsible for building and operating culture.[24][25] Since 2010, The We Company has launched several new ventures: WeLive, a co-living venture;[26] Rise by We, a luxury gym concept;[27] and WeGrow, a private elementary school.[28] In 2019, the company introduced The We Company, a parent brand that comprises WeWork, WeLive, WeGrow, and other ventures.[29]

In 2017, McKelvey was named WeWork’s chief culture officer and in 2019,[30][31] Fast Company named McKelvey one of its Most Creative People.[20]

On June 5, 2020, McKelvey announced that he would be leaving WeWork at the end of the month.[32]

McKelvey was married to Hiyam Khalifa, a former investment banker born in Detroit, before their divorce in 2017.[33][34]