Kelly Business Advisors differs from other business brokers because of our experience in buying, building, and selling family-owned businesses. Our extensive business ownership history and passionate entrepreneurial spirit enable us to view the sale of a business through the eyes of both buyer and seller.

John P. Kelly started his business career with a paper route to earn some money. Thinking outside the box, he used an auction process to sell it for three times what he paid for it.

He started a moving and storage company in Milwaukee with his best friend from college, whom he bought out after the first year. That second business was sold after seven years to fulfill John’s dream of working with his father in Oconto, Wisconsin, where his dad who owned Bond Pickle Company.

After purchasing the business from his family, John grew the company from $3 million to $10 million in sales by building a strong team. The team that became Kelly Pickle Company developed the industry-leading banana pepper ring that remains a popular sandwich topping at Subway restaurants. As a 3rd generation pickle producer, the toughest personal and business decision in his career was selling his family-owned pickle company to the industry leader after 11 years of developing and leading his team.

Today, John P. Kelly is the Managing Broker of Kelly Business Advisors LLC where he brings the depth of business management and expertise to help clients achieve the best possible outcome with the sale or purchase of a business. He is a member of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), M & A Source, the Midwest Business Brokers and Intermediaries, and co-founded the Green Bay Area Consultants Advisory Board. He is a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) with IBBA and a licensed real estate broker.
John and Kimi have been married for more than 25 years and have three adult children.

As part-time empty nesters, they enjoy spending time sailing, skiing, golfing or helping the kids with one of their projects. John is also working with non-profit Green Bay Sail and Paddle which teaches sailing and paddle sports.

Experienced in but not limited to the following services and sectors. Contact for a full list.

• Kelly has been a member of International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) since 2014 and became a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) in 2015. He attends the association meetings twice a year to build his knowledge base and his network of experts in the business broker industry. Additionally, Kelly is active on the IBBA Membership Committee. Kelly attends M&A Source association meetings on a regular basis to further his network and education in selling larger businesses and building relationships with private equity groups Most of the work that Kelly does is in Wisconsin and his involvement with the Midwest Business Brokers Intermediary’s (MBBI) is key to building relationships with his local competitors and affiliated partners. John attends at least three of the MBBA’s events every year. Kelly graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire in 1985 with a BA in Business Administration and a minor in Communications. Kelly is the co-founder of a networking group of consultants in Northeast Wisconsin that helps members in building their practices. Kelly has a referral relationship with his former exclusive customer, Cornerstone Business Services where Cornerstone refers businesses with revenues under $2M to Kelly and Kelly refers larger deals to Cornerstone.