Phil McCarthy

Phil McCarthy is an adjunct leadership and team performance coach at Burnham Law. He is also an adjunct Professor and an Executive in Residence in the Entrepreneurship Department at the Daniels College of Business.

Phil started his career as a Futures and Options trader on the Nikkei for Spear Leeds Kellogg (SLK) on the AMEX in New York City. He then transferred to Singapore for SLK to head operations and trading on the Simex. He returned to the US as a NASDAQ Trader for Troster Singer, a subsidiary of SLK. After Wall Street, Phil changed his sights for Denver, Colorado and founded Breakaway Sports, a national hockey and lacrosse sporting goods company. He grew the company to seven locations across the US and developed a National Team Sales Division and operated the business for 20 years before a successful exit in 2016.

While building Breakaway Sports, Phil was also building a Real Estate company to support his sporting goods business which he successfully exited in 2016/17 and a performance apparel company, Wicked Smart Apparel, which he successfully exited in 2009.

Today, Phil is a Director of Operations for 3d Lacrosse, an Adjunct Professor in the Entrepreneur minor in the Daniels School of Business where he teaches Leadership and Execution, and is an Executive in Residence. He sits on the Advisory Board for Entrepreneurship at DU. He is also an experienced Leadership, Motivation and Team Performance Coach working with C-Suite Executives and their Executive Leadership Teams as a soundboard and Leadership Coach. Founding North Star Leadership Consulting. He is also the Associate Director of The Psychology of Success and Failure Research for Columbia University and writes a blog on Athletic Approach at Athlete2lifelite.com.

He has been a Public Speaker, most recently presenting to the CU Football Team on Leadership, Mindset and Financial literacy.

Phil believes that great people have a great impact on the lives of others. He is excited about working with the Leaders of Burnham Law and supporting our goals of constant personal growth so we can help our clients achieve great results and move forward with their lives. Phil is also available to assist Burnham Law clients in certain circumstances. 

Phil’s Favorite Quote by Positive Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “The best times in life are when our minds or bodies are stretched to their limits in pursuit of a goal that is difficult but worthwhile. It’s about taking bold action, making a real impact in the lives of loved ones, customers, colleagues, learning and growing and accomplishing great things with others.”