Meet J. Chad Mitchell
Parent · Speaker · Author · Coach · Lawyer · Mentor

From the sidelines to the woods, Chad has spent three decades pouring into young people. He’s coached youth football, basketball, and high-school lacrosse, guided teens canoeing through Minnesota’s Boundary Waters and up Mt. St. Helens, and—alongside his wife—led more than 300 teens and adults on immersive forest retreats. Chad has also served as a Boy Scouts leader and mentored youth in church groups in Oregon, Utah, Illinois, and Washington—focused on helping kids grow emotionally, physically, and spiritually.As president of the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties, Chad helps steer strategy, fundraising, and staff support for 29 club sites that serve more than 4,000 young people each year and hundreds of thousands more through its Virtual Club. 

Chad Mitchell has spent more than three decades shoulder-to-shoulder with young people—first as the oldest boy of eight siblings, then as a team captain and Scout leader, and eventually as a father of six who has coached, taught, and mentored thousands across sports fields, classrooms, summer camps, and wilderness retreats. During the pandemic he watched his own kids, athletes, and Boys & Girls Club members struggle with isolation and self-doubt. That urgency sparked Change Your Game, a dynamic, hands-on guidebook that proves teens don’t have to wait for a diploma or job title to lead. Built on self-awareness, confidence, and decisive action, the book shows how one values-driven choice can launch a ripple of hope that outlives them. Chad now shares this message everywhere from high-school assemblies and law camps to lacrosse practices and board meetings—always with the same goal: to help youth step into leadership now and inspire their peers right where they are.He and his wife, Bonnie, live in Richland, Washington. They’ve raised six children and are proud grandparents to four granddaughters (so far). Chad’s why: to spark a worldwide wave of youth leaders whose everyday choices roll out as ripples of goodness across the globe.

Off the field, Chad is Chief Operating Officer and partner at Summit Law Group based in Seattle, where he resolves high-stakes commercial and employment disputes. Before moving back west, he was a partner at global powerhouse Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. His experience as a lawyer sharpened the strategic thinking and real-world storytelling he now shares with students, teams, and audiences.