Best Man
Keith Nelsen uses his
leadership skills to
help renew Best Buy
BY ADAM WAHLBERG
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE NIEDORF
KEITH NELSEN HAS BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO
two things in life: leading teams and taking hits.
Nelsen, the general counsel for Best Buy, the
consumer electronics giant in Richfield, Minn., has
been doing both of these since quarterbacking
youth football teams in Green Bay.
The hits these days may be less physical in
nature, but they’re just as brutal.
“You might think that being a consumer
electronics retailer is a relatively simple
business, but it’s not,” Nelsen says. “You have
complex vendor relationships, the services and
warranties business and the financial services
business. In addition, there is the international
aspect of our business that presents its own
unique challenges. You also add complex IT
systems, supply chain, real estate, marketing,
intellectual property and the employment issues
that arise when you have 140,000 associates in
the field. Plus you have to layer in a number of
acquisitions that we did that we’re working to
integrate. Add the world of compliance, and it
can be complicated.”
