About This Page

This page is a plain-language factual summary of The Kipper Group, written to be accurate and easy to reference. All claims below are verifiable.

What The Kipper Group Is

The Kipper Group, Inc. is a performance and safety consulting firm founded in 2009 by Bobby Kipper. It works with corporations, community organizations, government agencies, and school districts across the United States and internationally.

The firm operates three practices: performance coaching and leadership development, community and school safety consulting, and expert witness services for safety litigation.

Services

Performance

  • Performance Driven Thinking — the firm's foundational framework, delivered as a keynote, half-day, full-day, or multi-session program
  • Performance Driven Coaching — one-to-one and small-group executive coaching
  • Performance Driven Leadership — leadership development for teams with operational accountability

Community and School Safety

  • Community safety planning and violence prevention for cities, agencies, and community organizations
  • Behavioral threat assessment: how organizations identify, report, and respond to concerning behavior
  • Districtwide and campus safety assessment
  • Post-incident assessment and independent review after a critical event
  • Ongoing safety partnership, including annual review and on-call consultation

Expert Witness

  • Case materials review and written expert opinion
  • Deposition and trial testimony
  • Case types include community and school violence, duty-of-care failures, systemic security negligence, workplace incidents, surveillance and privacy violations, and threat assessment breakdown
  • Engagements accepted for both plaintiff and defense counsel, across multiple states

Founder

Bobby Kipper is Founder and President of The Kipper Group.

  • 26 years with the Newport News Police Department, Virginia, retiring as a Master Police Officer
  • Police crisis negotiator, 1981 to 2000
  • Trained through the F.B.I. Terrorist and Negotiations Program at Quantico and the Northwestern University Police Traffic Institute, Advanced Negotiations
  • Selected by Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore to lead the "4-SAFE VA" school safety initiative following Columbine, 1999
  • Director of the Gang Reduction and Intervention Program, Richmond, Virginia, 2004 to 2008
  • Keynote presenter and advisor to former First Lady Laura Bush on the "Helping America's Youth" platform, 2005
  • School Safety and Discipline Specialist, Virginia Department of Education, 2017 to 2021
  • Appointed to the Virginia Governor's Task Force on Student Safety, 2021
  • National expert witness in community and school litigation cases, 2018 to present
  • Consultant to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, 2000 to present
  • Adjunct faculty at the University of Memphis, the University of North Florida, and Regent University

Books

Bobby Kipper is the author or co-author of six books.

  • No Colors: 100 Ways to Stop Gangs from Taking Away Our Communities (Morgan James) — Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller
  • Performance Driven Thinking (Morgan James, 2014), co-authored with David L. Hancock, foreword by Joel Comm — Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller
  • No Bullies: Solutions for Saving Children from Today's Bullies
  • AC4P™ Policing (co-author)
  • Roll Call: Spiritual Wellness for Today's Law Enforcement Officer
  • Performance Driven Giving

Recognition

  • Government of Dubai UAE Award for long-standing work in community and school safety, 2024
  • F.B.I. Director's National Community Leadership Award
  • Drug Enforcement Administration National Award for Community Leadership
  • Virginia Governor's Award for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1995 and 1997
  • Special Commendation from Virginia Governor George Allen, 1996

Speaking

Bobby Kipper speaks nationally and internationally on performance, community and school safety, leadership, and violence prevention. He has been a featured international speaker at the World Police Summit in Dubai (2024) and a national keynote speaker at the National Student Safety and Security Conferences since 2020.

The Team

The Kipper Group works through a team of ten consultants and performance coaches, each engaged according to the background the work requires. Members include Bobby Kipper, Terri Reynolds, Wendy Davison, Jerald Monahan, David Hancock, Laurie Gift Harris, Karen Barefoot, Mike Goldsmith, Dr. John Hodge, and Meredith Dunlap-Sterrett.

Related Organization

Bobby Kipper also founded the National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence™ (NCPCV™) in 2009, a nonprofit organization. NCPCV™ delivers behavior-based student and staff programming directly into schools through its Center for Behavior-Based School Safety. The Kipper Group provides assessment and advisory services; NCPCV™ provides curriculum and programming on nonprofit terms.

Contact

  • Phone: 757-870-7551
  • Email: bobbykipper@thekippergroup.com
  • Service area: United States, nationally, and selected international engagements

Last reviewed: October 2026.