Jim Kestner is one of the nation’s leading experts in character development and also coordinates web-based and alternative teacher certification programs at Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston, Illinois. For over 24 years, Kestner has been conducting research and working with teachers, parents and students to develop character in youth.

In 1999 and 2000 he developed the Dynamics of Leadership curriculum for Oprah Winfrey when she taught at Northwestern University. Kestner’s other clients and business associates include Stedman Graham, the National Education Association, Horace Mann Insurance Companies, the Abraham Lincoln Institute for Literacy in America, and several Olympic National Governing Bodies. Kestner has also worked with USC Track and Field, Stanford Women’s Basketball, Warren Buffett, Henry Kissinger, Manpower International, and NASA.

Kestner's first book, Program Evaluation for Sport Directors (Human Kinetics Publishers, 1996), helped launch a series of educational books for using sport as a means of developing not only good athletes, but good citizens as well. Kestner’s portfolio also includes nationally renowned Citizenship Through Sports and Drugs and Sport programs of the National Federation of State High School Associations and his own programs for teachers (Toward Higher Ground: Building Character by Teaching Self-Respect, Self-Discipline and Responsibility) and parents (The Highest Ground: A Parent Primer for Building Youth Character).

In addition to teaching a web-based graduate course on building character in youth at EIU, Kestner has taught at the University of Illinois campuses at Urbana-Champaign and Chicago and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Kestner lives in Hugo, Illinois, and has been married for 17 years to Tami (Hammer) Kestner. They have three children, Maxwell, sophomore, Jackson, 7th grade, and Gracyn, 5th grade. Kestner teaches a high school Sunday school class at Villa Grove First Christian Church. An avid runner, Kestner completed the 2008 Columbus Marathon as a fundraiser for his local community’s music booster organization. Kestner spent eight years as a volunteer youth soccer coach and this past year spent his first season helping coach 6th grade boys' basketball.