I was raised on a small Canadian farm and my early life was filled with manual labor, voracious reading and writing. I worked on farms, in restaurants and factories (including a GM assembly line) to pay for journalism school. After graduation, I took a bus to my first job…as a newspaper editor in the Northwest Territories. My adventures took me from the cold of the NWT to Mexico City, then back to Canada where I found my calling as a speechwriter — first with Agriculture Canada, then Transport Canada.

This path eventually led to the USA, Mexico and Germany, where I, in the mid-aughts, launched the first iteration of Global Speechwriter — one of the first online speechwriting training programs in the world. It was a success with my courses featured on online sites such as CNN, Newsweek, Mashable et al.

In 2017, my career took a turn when I put the Global Speechwriter on hold and agreed to join UN Climate Change in Bonn as their head speechwriter. Over the next six years, I played a pivotal role in shaping the organization’s narrative core during critical moments, including the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the global COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of the Paris Agreement Work Program and more — producing well over 1,000 speeches in the process. I wrote for four different Executive Secretaries and senior officials, while also providing occasional speechwriting contributions to the
UN Secretary-General. I've also written for Fortune 500 CEOs, ambassadors, ministers and senior officials across international organizations.

I relaunched Global Speechwriter in 2024 because the demand for speechwriting skills has never been higher — and neither has the pressure on communications teams to do more with less. Managers routinely ask employees to write speeches without proper training, vaguely referencing AI — for which the institution often has no support or plan — and it often ends in confusion and frustration for all.

I knew it didn’t have to be this way. That’s why I’ve returned to helping speechwriters not only understand the basics of writing decent speeches, but how to use AI responsibly and ethically to augment their work. It’s time to bring this topic out of the shadows!

I’m also pleased to join with a new partner — the Professional Speechwriters Association — to deliver our AI For Speechwriters & Communicators courses to public and private institutions globally.

If this is a topic that interests you or your organization, schedule a consultation with me to find out more — the link is below. I also invite you to join my Global Speechwriter Member Library and get a basic checklist to help you right away.

I also continue to write executive speeches for global leaders. If that’s the kind of support you’re looking for, my professional speechwriting services can be found at brentkerrigan.com.

I am based in Geneva, Switzerland along with my wife, Mexican diplomat Miriam Medel Garcia, and our two amazing daughters.