Former Commander, USS Benfold and Author, It’s Your Ship
Mike Abrashoff was the most-junior officer in the Pacific Fleet when he took command of the near-worst performing ship. Twelve months later, the USS Benfold was the best ship in the entire Navy – using the same crew. The story of that stunning transformation has lessons for every organization: leadership matters – and culture is everything.
Award-Winning International Flow State Speaker, Peak Performance Expert, TEDx Speaker, Thought Leader, Violinist
Flow State Speaker & Violinist Diane Allen is an Award-Winning International Speaker, Peak Performance Expert, and thought leader who speaks on increasing the meaning, joy, and fulfillment in one’s work and life by accessing the flow state. Diane is best known for her experiential Keynotes, Training, and Coaching programs that go Beyond Engagement™. Her three-step Flow Strategy™ system empowers people to get into their flow state, be in their genius, and love their job & life.
Advocate, Award-Winning Journalist, Author
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author of five books, international speaker, strategist, and advocate for maternal and infant health. A former senior editor at Essence and writer at Fortune magazine, Kimberly is a leading commentator on birth, breastfeeding and motherhood and the intersection of race, policy, and culture.
National Broadcast Journalist, Host of “Banmiller on Business”
Brian Banmiller is a national business journalist and public speaker who has spent more than 40 years in the news industry, covering business, politics and the economy on television, radio and in print. Currently, his “Banmiller on Business” reports and speeches are delivered to an audience of millions nationwide.
Design Leader, Staff Product Designer at Faire, Former Director of UX at VICE
Jessica Brown is staff product designer at Faire. She previously led design and user research teams at Vice Media and Rent the Runway. Fascinated by the co-evolution of culture and technology, she loves leading teams to find simple design solutions to complex problems. Jessica speaks on executing redesigns at scale and common philosophies and practices guiding creative people of all disciplines. She has established design and research practices that brought users’ stories to the heart of the product.
Co-CEO of US Market Access & A3 Global Collider
Chris is a serial entrepreneur with global experience. Since 2010, he has focused on bringing the lessons of Silicon Valley to entrepreneurs around the world. He is the co-founder of the US Market Access Center and the A3 Global Collider. Through USMAC, Chris has trained and mentored more than 1,000 startups from 25+ countries.
DEI Truth Teller, HR Change Maker
Madison Butler is a Black, queer woman, and a survivor. Her work is focused around designing spaces and creating scalable strategies to achieve psychological safety. An outspoken advocate for mental health, she is passionate about facilitating hard conversations through storytelling, data, and tough empathy, and removing stigma around trauma, and advisor for being “human at work”.
Award-Winning TEDx Speaker, Bankable Brand Strategist, Author, Mentor
Kelly Charles-Collins, is a Keynote & Award-Winning TEDx Speaker, Speaker Mentor, Retired Law Partner & Trial Attorney, and Author. She’s sought-after authority specializing in courageous conversations, unconscious bias, and bystander intervention. As a transformative keynote speaker and mentor, Kelly has been featured in some of the biggest media publications and outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS, Time.com, Forbes, Fast Company, Authority Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Thrive Global and more.
Executive Coach, Author and Yogi
Vish Chatterji is an accomplished business leader turned executive coach with a twenty-year business track record spanning multiple industries. In parallel, he has studied and practiced yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda (mind-body medicine). Vish coaches business leaders enabling more of their greatness to show up at work.
80’s Pop Culture Guy, Author, Marketing Consultant
Chris Clews combines 22 years of marketing experience in a variety of industries with global brands and ad agencies with his unmatched passion for all things 80s to bring a fun, informative and unique presentation to your group.
Executive Coach and Strategy Expert, Former Salesforce VP
Heidi Connal is a seasoned technology executive with over twenty years of experience building collaborative, compassionate, and high performing individuals and teams. She works with visionary leaders to identify new opportunities within themselves for growth, learning, and contributions. Her techniques cultivate emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and courageous introspection.
Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst, Author on Allyship
Melinda Briana Epler, author of “How To Be An Ally”, has over 25 years of experience developing business innovation and inclusion strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs. As CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda currently works with the tech industry to solve diversity and inclusion together. Using her background in storytelling and large-scale culture change, she is a strategic advisor for tech companies, tech hubs, and governments around the world.
Award Winning Author and Speaker
Mike has developed a unique perspective from 20+ years working alongside world-renowned thought leaders. He is a leading authority on unleashing personal and organizational accountability. Clients rely upon Mike’s solutions to accelerate change, shape their optimal culture, flawlessly execute key strategies, ignite leadership capacity at all Levels, amplify employee engagement, and cultivate peak performance.
Cofounder & CEO of Reboot Accel, Author, Executive Coach
Diane Flynn is co-founder and CEO of ReBoot Accel, designing diverse work cultures where every employee thrives. She is co-author of The Upside, resenting the impact of diversity on business performance and 5 levers that work.
Internationally Recognized Speaker, Generational Expert
As an internationally recognized speaker, Phil has shared his wisdom and inspired audiences in 40 different states and four continents to over 100,000 people. He is a firm believer that with the proper motivation, training, and support system, members of any generation can become capable of remarkable accomplishments.
Speaker, Trainer, Marketing Consultant, Business Strategist
Melissa Harrison is the CEO and founder of Allée Creative, strategic content and experiential marketing agency in the Twin Cities. Melissa is a four-time recipient of the Hermes Creative Award and a nationally recognized speaker. In 2015, she was named one of 100 women to watch in the U.S. as part of the Inspirational Woman Project
Engagement Expert, Author
Roger Haskett helps to make meetings, organizations, and individuals be more engaging. In his award winning career as a speaker, actor, emcee and entrepreneur, Roger developed a unique formula for maximizing audience engagement and influencing employees, members, participants, and everyone he meets to be more engaged and authentic individuals.
Franchise Expert, TV Host, Global Business Leader
The entrepreneurial genius, Troy Hazard, has founded and nurtured twelve businesses over two decades, has turned around businesses that were making enormous losses, and has consulted to countless successful companies including Goodyear, Baskin Robbins, Subway, Fisher & Paykel and many more.
Founder & Executive Director at Holistic Underground
Mazin Jamal is the founder of Holistic Underground: a leadership & organizational development agency for social movements & businesses. He honed his craft working with leaders and teams around the world. He has coached, consulted, and presented for executive leaders and teams from Apple, Google, Postmates, Atlassian, and more. He is also the creator of the PurposePlace™ Methodology.
CMO of Watty, Self-Made Marketer, Influencer
Maral, also known as, ‘Maral from Twitter’, ‘Powerhouse’, ‘energy pack’ or ‘Curly’ is one of the most familiar faces in the Nordic tech scene. Maral is the CMO at Watty, one of the hottest startups in Europe. She is also the co-founder of Peppy Pals, an active ambassador for diversity in tech. Former StartupGrind chapter director and SUP46 Femtech co-organizer.
Co-Founder & CEO of Apprentice and Remembering Live, Bestselling Author, Serial Entrepreneur
Dave is a serial entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, Co-Founder & CEO of both Apprentice and Remembering Live. He is also the Executive Chairman of Florence Health. Previously in his career, Dave was the Founder and Chairman of Likeable Local, as well as the chairman and co-founder of Likeable Media.
Internationally Acclaimed Inspirational Performing Artist
With over 20 years in the Performing Arts - from Broadway to comedy clubs to high-profile television to commercials including a Super Bowl spot - Victoria Labalme helps people perform at their highest levels by awakening their hidden genius.
Internationally Recognized Speaker, Author, Corporate Trainer
Jones Loflin equips individuals and organizations with real tools to conquer today’s tsunami of work and life challenges. Jones’ innovative solutions on leadership, change, and time management has attracted the attention of organizations around the world.
Communication Expert, Author, TEDx Speaker
Sarita Maybin is a communication expert, author, TEDx speaker, and international keynote speaker with more than 20 years of experience providing audiences with strategies to stay positive, constructively confront tough communication situations, and work together better.
Dynamic Motivational Speaker, Award-Winning Author
Connie Merritt, BSN, RN, PHN, has more than 25 years experience of speaking nationally with leading companies, organizations, and associations in Business and Healthcare industries.
Motivational Speaker, Certified Speaking Professional
Brad Montgomery teaches people how to use happiness to boost productivity, creativity, innovation, and profits. He specializes in using humor, interactivity, music, and visuals to ignite audiences so that they can use happiness as a tool to improve their lives and their jobs.
Founder and CEO of Culture Creative, Anthem Award Winning Diversity & Inclusion Leader, Author
Julian Newman is the founder and CEO of Culture Creative, an international award-winning leadership development and diversity & inclusion consulting firm. Julian is a certified and Anthem Award-winning Diversity & Inclusion leader based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a cultural intelligence strategist, author, and motivational speaker, Julian has spoken to more than 100,000 people nationally and internationally during the past 20 years.
Chief Vision Officer at Opie Consulting Group, Professor, Author
Whether as a keynote speaker or interactive workshop leader, Tina’s focus is on creating more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplaces. Using her Shared Sisterhood framework and proven approaches for unearthing blind spots within individuals and organizations. Tina serves as a catalyst for new thinking and needed change.
The Race Healer
Milagros Phillips designs strategic learning initiatives for clients seeking to enhance their diversity and inclusion programs by adding race literacy to their initiatives. With more than 25 years of experience in learning and development, Milagros has consulted with, designed and delivered customized programs across many industries and services, including financial/insurance, healthcare, higher education, and national and political leaders.
Early Stage Investor at Backstage Capital, Inventor
Christie Pitts is an experienced early-stage investor at Backstage Capital and co-founder of Backstage Studio. Additionally, Christie led the launch of the first global accelerator program for underrepresented founders. She identified a passion for working with early-stage companies while working as Venture Development Manager at Verizon.
Bestselling Author, Leadership Coach, Professor
Barry Posner has received countless awards and has been ranked among the most recognized and influential Leadership Coaches, Most Influential HR thinkers, and among the top Leadership and Management Experts in the world.
Director of Technology for Microsoft Accessibility, Author, BIPOC Woman in Tech Leader
Dona Sarkar is the Director of Tech for Microsoft Accessibility, a BIPOC woman in tech leader, Multi-published author, and Owner of the ethical luxury fashion brand Prima Dona Studios. She was recently named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Productive People and Cosmopolitan magazine's Businessperson of the Year.
Certified Speaking Professional™ and Author
Marilyn Sherman is dedicated to training people to let go of obstacles and live and work with courage, commitment, and confidence. For the last 22 years, she has motivated audiences all over the country, and internationally with topics about hope, inspiration, and practical tools to implement immediately.
TEDx Speaker, Founder, Strategist, Author, Tech Investor, Philanthropist, Coach
Ramona Wright, a TEDx speaker, author, tech investor, producer, tech investor, and philanthropist, has more than 15 years of strategic communication expertise. She’s a trailblazer who taught public relations and social media marketing to more than 200. Ramona is an accomplished speaker who has spoken on behalf of the American Heart Association, Google, and Microsoft. She worked with Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar Award-winning talent.
Generational Expert, Gen X Speaker
Scott Zimmer has developed a uniquely personable style and uses insight, humor, and data to foster an environment where every generation feels valued and understood.
