San Diego

Wellness, longevity & human performance

I help people turn their performance data into clear, actionable insight, then build the systems that keep them ready. I've done it in NBA locker rooms, with Navy Special Warfare, and alongside the performance technology companies shaping what comes next.

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Keke Lyles, human performance consultant, in a navy suit and blue tie

About

From the locker room to everyone

I spent twelve years in the NBA. It started with an internship with the Boston Celtics and a year as an assistant with the Indiana Pacers, then grew into building and leading performance departments of my own: first with the Minnesota Timberwolves, then the Golden State Warriors, where I worked alongside Stephen Curry and a staff that helped shape a championship era, and then the Atlanta Hawks, where I grew a team of 13 on a budget of roughly $4M and helped design the practice facility. Later I came back to the league as a consultant for the Charlotte Hornets. Along the way I worked with operators at Navy Special Warfare, advised sports technology companies, scouted health and performance startups for the venture firm Alumni Ventures, and ran fitness for The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe.

Those years taught me what world-class care actually looks like. Not one great session or one perfect metric, but a coordinated system built around a person, every single day. And the more I saw it work, the more I believed it shouldn’t be reserved for people with a jersey or a security clearance.

That is what drives me now: the pursuit of human optimization. Taking the data we can collect about ourselves and turning it into clarity, then turning clarity into action people can actually follow. Helping people move better, recover better, think more clearly, and stay strong for decades, not just for a season. Elite-level care, for anyone willing to do the work.

Mission

I spent my career at the highest level of sport building systems that helped players perform at their best, night after night. Peak readiness was never a single session or a single score. It was the whole operating system: how teams assessed, trained, recovered, and made decisions under pressure.

That same standard of care should not stay inside elite locker rooms. The principles that keep professionals durable and clear-headed apply to more people than the ones with a game on the schedule. My work now is to bring that level of care to all humans who want to feel and perform better over the long run.

The path is practical. Create clarity from the performance and wellness data we collect. Turn that clarity into action people can follow. And keep advising the latest technology so those tools create their greatest impact, not just more noise.

18+ Years in high performance

12 Years in the NBA

3 NBA organizations led

2015 NBA Strength Coach of the Year

5 → 13 Staff growth across NBA teams

$1M → $4M Budgets owned, Timberwolves to Hawks

My Approach

From data to action

Most people already have more data than they know what to do with. My job is to turn it into a few clear decisions you can act on. It's how I worked in the NBA, and it's what I help sports technology companies do for the people who use their products.

Collect

Wearables, force plates, movement screens, labs, sleep, and workload. We gather the right inputs, not every possible one.

Interpret

Cut through the noise to what actually matters for you: your body, your goals, and where you are right now.

Act

Clear decisions for training, recovery, and daily habits. Then we track the results and adjust as you go.

Career

Where the work was forged

From college weight rooms to NBA departments, tactical units, and luxury club operations. Each chapter added something the next one needed.

2022 NBA · Consulting

Charlotte Hornets · Performance Consultant

Consulting engagement with the Hornets, bringing the systems built across three NBA departments back into the league.
2023 – Present Venture

Alumni Ventures · Venture Scout

Sourcing and evaluating early-stage health, performance, and sports technology startups for one of the most active venture capital firms in the U.S., bringing an operator’s eye to which products can actually change how people train, recover, and live.
2018 – Present Consulting

Keke Lyles · Human Performance Consultant

Independent practice serving elite athletes, performance technology companies, private clubs, and hospitality clients. Year-round training and recovery for NWSL and U.S. Women’s National Team players; facility and program design for clubs and residential communities; advisory work across diagnostics, recovery, and performance tech.
2020 – 2021

The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe · Director of Fitness

Directed fitness and wellness for a private luxury club community: hiring and developing the team, programming, budget and vendors, and member experience through the COVID era.
2019 – 2020

Navy Special Warfare · Performance Specialist (via KBR)

Human performance for operators and support staff at NSW SBT12: assessments with force plates and mobility screens, recovery tracking with wearables, injury care, and individualized nutrition guidance.
2015 – 2018 NBA

Atlanta Hawks · Executive Director of Player Performance

Built a 13-person department on a budget of roughly $4M, spanning athletic trainers, physical therapists, strength coaches, sport scientists, nutritionists, sports psychologists, and more. Owned P&L, vendor and technology procurement, load management with Kinexon and Second Spectrum, and contributed to practice facility design.
2013 – 2015 NBA · Coach of the Year

Golden State Warriors · Director of Performance

Led a staff of 7 on about a $2M budget. Built an athlete management system integrating Catapult, STATS, daily health questionnaires, and Omegawave readiness. Named 2015 NBA Strength Coach of the Year.
2011 – 2013 NBA

Minnesota Timberwolves · Head Strength & Conditioning Coach

Led a staff of 5 on about a $1M budget. Corrective exercise and S&C, off-season development, workload monitoring, and custom nutrition protocols.
NBA

Indiana Pacers · Assistant Strength Coach

One season as an assistant, supporting player development, training, and conditioning.
NBA

Boston Celtics · Intern

Where the NBA chapter began: an internship inside a professional performance staff.
2007 – 2010

Northeastern University · Strength & Conditioning Coach

Programs across basketball, football, soccer, field hockey, swimming, baseball, and ice hockey while completing the DPT.

Consulting

How we can work together

My practice sits at the intersection of elite performance, wellness, and longevity. Two engagements sit at the center of the practice: designing the spaces where care happens, and building the systems that make that care repeatable.

Facility design for performance, wellness & recovery

Space planning, equipment selection, technology integration, workflow, and service standards for clubs, residential communities, and hospitality. Grounded in contributing to the vision, design, and implementation of the Atlanta Hawks practice facility and arena renovations, and in consulting that builds fitness, wellness, and recovery environments from the floor plan out.

Building high performance systems

Multidisciplinary department architecture, athlete and member monitoring, data-to-action workflows, staffing, budgets, and vendors. The same work that grew NBA performance teams from 5 staff and about a $1M budget with the Timberwolves, to 7 and about $2M with the Warriors, to 13 and roughly $4M with the Hawks.

Performance & longevity programs

Individualized training, recovery, and readiness for professionals and high-performing individuals, using the same coordinated model applied with NWSL and U.S. Women’s National Team athletes.

Performance tech advisory

Product strategy, clinical validation, and go-to-market support for diagnostics, biomarkers, recovery, motion analysis, and related tools, translating real athlete and member needs into requirements teams can ship.

Based in San Diego. Open to select projects nationally and remote advisory work.

Start a conversation

One-on-One

Work with me 1:1

I work directly with individuals to help them reach their goals. Whether you are an athlete chasing your next level, a CEO who needs energy and clarity to lead, or anyone who simply wants to be their best, we build it together around your life, your body, and what you want out of both.