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.
America's First Black Female Combat Pilot, Former Marine & Cop, Entrepreneur, Author, Zero To Breakthrough, and Consultant to Business
Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour is America's first Black female combat pilot, a diversity liaison officer, entrepreneur, and author. As a top keynote speaker and consultant, she helps individuals and organizations achieve breakthrough results using her "Zero to Breakthrough" success model. Vernice is also a member of the Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors and COMCAST/ NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council. Her story has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, and Oprah Winfrey.
Mavericks Champion, Guinness World Record Holder
International Inspirational Speaker; Big Wave Surfing Mavericks Champion; Stand-Up Paddleboarding Guinness World Record Holder; Chris Bertish shifts boundaries, shatters perceptions and achieves what most people perceive impossible.
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”.
Millennial Generation Expert and Technology Speaker
Jeff Butler is a speaker, author, and international consultant who helps organizations improve their relationships with millennial employees. Unlike other experts on millennials, Jeff has been in the trenches of what it means to be a millennial and what it takes to retain and keep them engaged. You may have seen him on Forbes, USA Weekly, or on the TED stage.
Co-Founder & CEO of ShearShare
Courtney Caldwell is the Cofounder & CEO of beauty-tech startup, ShearShare, the largest provider of on-demand salon and barbershop space rentals and the most affordable leases in the market. She is also an award-winning entrepreneur and tech founder and has spent two decades building winning teams in tech marketing.
Cofounder & Chief Strategy Officer of ShearShare
Dr. Tye Caldwell is the Cofounder & Chief Strategy Officer of ShearShare. Recognized as a tech visionary and industry pioneer, Dr. Caldwell’s mission is to help beauty and barbering professionals around the world maximize their earnings potential. He has worked in beauty for 25 years as a master barber-stylist, educator, and small business coach, offering his 20+ years of industry knowledge as a proven roadmap.
Business Communication & Human Behavior Expert, Hall of Fame Speaker, Author
Colette Carlson is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), an inductee into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, and a top human behavior keynote speaker. With over 20 years of experience, she helps individuals make positive and lasting changes by teaching them the psychology, mindset, and skills required for success. Her personalized keynote programs focus on the power of connected conversations, using engaging content and humor. Colette's trusted clients include Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and the US Government.
TEDx Speaker, Self Defense Expert, Health & Empowerment Coach, Author
Jennifer Cassetta is a nationally recognized speaker, empowerment coach, and self-defense expert. She has worked with tens of thousands of professional women around the country to help them unleash their inner badass. Equipped with her 3rd-degree black belt in HapKiDo, Master’s degree in Nutrition, and health coaching certification, she develops programming that helps women feel strong, safe, and powerful from the streets to the boardroom.
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.
The Change Specialist, Award Winning Consultant, Author
Three-time Top 25 Speaker Award recipient, change-consultant for the NASA Space Shuttle Program and transition-advisor for $50 billion mergers and acquisitions, Mark DeVolder distinguishes himself as a change management specialist and is one of today’s original thinkers on transitions.
Serial Entrepreneur & Inventor
Dawn Dickson is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over 20 years of experience in technology, marketing, and business development. Her most recent ventures are Flat Out of Heels and PopCom. Dawn is a seasoned professional speaker, business advisor, and angel investor. She continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s top retail tech entrepreneurs.
Founder & CEO of Empovia, 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 Empovia, 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.
Founder and CEO Ferrazzi Greenlight, Bestselling Author
Keith Ferrazzi is a bestselling author, speaker, investor, philanthropist, and executive team coach who helps teams transform enterprises. As Founder and Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight, he coaches executive teams in top organizations to achieve extraordinary outcomes. He formerly served as CMO of Deloitte and Starwood Hotels.
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.
Expansive Leadership Expert
Andrea Guendelman is a writer, speaker, and entrepreneur who specializes in Expansive Leadership—helping individuals and organizations unlock potential through openness. She is a leading force in creating platforms for minority professionals and the tech industry. Through her own experiences as a Harvard-trained corporate lawyer and an entrepreneur, she co-created Bevisiblelatinx, Wallbreakers, and most recently, Speak_.
Healthcare Entrepreneur, Bestselling Author, Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School, Host of American Express Business Class Docuseries & Podcast
As the founding CEO of RISE, a breakthrough wellness company, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people build better habits for life and work. Now as a bestselling author, host of an American Express Docuseries & podcast, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School, Suneel has taken his mission one step further – helping organizations and teams reach peak performance by lifting their people’s emotional resilience.
Founder Backstage Capital & Runner, Author, and Venture Catalyst
Arlan Hamilton is a remarkable entrepreneur who built a venture capital fund from the ground up, while homeless. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a VC firm dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT.
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 & CEO of Bandwagon
Harold Hughes is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based live experience technology company. As a web3 builder and community leader, Harold published "A Kids Book About Blockchain" to help educate people "from 6 to 60" about the revolutionary technology that Bandwagon specializes in. Harold is also an active angel investor, primarily investing in women, people of color, and Black founder-led companies.
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.
Speaker, Author, Investor, Innovation Expert
Joseph Kopser serves as an Executive-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business. Prior to that his company, RideScout, was acquired by Mercedes. He served in the Army for 20 years after graduating from West Point and Harvard. He was recognized as a White House Champion of Change in clean energy and won the U.S. DOT Data Innovation Award. Co-author of, Catalyst, he is an advisor for CleanTX.
Employee Experience Pioneer, Globally Minded HR Leader
Mark Levy is a seasoned globally-minded Employee Experience Leader who has chosen to work for big-hearted companies and focus on how he can unleash the talents and passions of a company’s employees. Mark was the pioneer of designing the Employee Experience at Airbnb and most recently at Allbirds, showing organizations what is possible when you empower employees and rethink HR.
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.
High-Performance Leadership, Team Building, Motivational Speaker
Ted Ma is a leadership development expert. As an entrepreneur, he built an international sales team of over 6,000 agents, had been featured in Success From Home magazine and helps organizations develop high-performance leaders and create a collaborative team culture.
CEO of FutureSight Labs, Thought Leader, Advisor, Author
Seth Mattison is an Internationally renowned expert and author on workforce trends and business performance. As Founder & CEO of FutureSight Labs, Seth advises many of the world’s leading brands and organizations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the future of work.
Performance Expert, Former NFL Linebacker
Matt Mayberry, a former NFL linebacker for the Chicago Bears, is currently one of the most-read columnists for Entrepreneur Magazine, as well as an acclaimed keynote speaker, author, and peak-performance strategist. Using a real-world approach, He specializes in maximizing the performance of organizations, teams, and individuals all over 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.
The Business Sculptor
Scott offers an unusual mix of experience, having worked as a research scientist, HR director, business consultant, rock musical producer, writer, keynote and TEDx speaker. His delivery style, which he has developed across the sectors in over 20 years, is humorous, well-crafted, inspiring and direct.
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.
Founder & CEO of Pilotly
James Norman is a serial entrepreneur who at the age of 16 built his first online company. While previously he may have been known as a visionary in automotive product planning, over the past 10 years in the media and entertainment industry, he has become a thought leader in over-the-top media and consumer video consumption behaviors.
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.
VP of Operations at Mahmee, Investor, Inventor
Christie Pitts is VP of Operations at Mahmee, a maternal healthcare company on a mission to make the US the best place in the world to give birth. She is also an experienced early-stage investor, formerly at Backstage Capital. She co-founded the VCs for Repro initiative, focused on the intersection of the economy and reproductive justice, and hosts the Moms at Work liveshow to build community, raise awareness, and advocate for better experiences for working moms.
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.
IBM Master Inventor, AI & Technology Expert, Author
Neil Sahota (萨冠军) is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations (UN) Advisor, Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert, Faculty at UC Irvine, and author of Own the A.I. Revolution. With 20+ years of business experience, he works with organizations to create next-generation products/solutions powered by emerging technology.
The President of Sanborn & Associates, Hall Of Fame Speaker, Leadership Strategist, Bestselling Author, Global Expert On Leadership & Customer Service
Mark Sanborn is an international bestselling author and award-winning keynote speaker on leadership, customer service, business growth, and organizational performance. He has given over 3,000 presentations globally and authored eight best-selling books. Mark is the President of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., the Leadership Expert in Residence at High Point University, and a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. Mark's clients include top brands such as FedEx, Harley-Davidson, ESPN, GM, and IBM.
Founder & Executive Creative Director of Sarofsky
Erin Sarofsky is the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Sarofsky, her own design-driven production studio. Her work with a Who's Who list of top-level marketing and entertainment industry executives has her collaborating on main titles for the Marvel blockbusters, among others.
Founder of Amplify, Author, Writer, Host of the Redefining HR podcast
Lars Schmidt is the Founder of Amplify, an HR executive search and consulting firm that helps companies build progressive people teams and capabilities. He was named a Top 100 Influencer by HR Examiner and included in The Huffington Post’s Top 100 Most Social HR Experts on Twitter, and named a top 50 recruiting influencer by LinkedIn.
Humorous Corporate Entertainer, Author
Greg Schwem is more than just a business humor keynote speaker and sought after corporate emcee, Greg is also an author, nationally syndicated humor columnist for the Chicago Tribune, award-winning greeting card writer and creator of funnydadinc, voted one of the top Dad humor sites of 2016.
Founder & CEO of Karrikins Group, C-Suite Advisor, Thought Leader, Author
Peter Sheahan is the founder & Group CEO of Karrikins Group, a C-Suite Advisor, and a bestselling author. Sheahan is also known internationally for his innovative business thinking and thought leadership. With over 120 staff, in 24 cities, across nine countries, Sheahan knows firsthand the challenges of growing a business in these rapidly-changing times. He helps leading brands turn challenges into opportunities and disruption into growth.
Entrepreneur & Innovator, Co-founder of Fast Company, Bestselling Author
Bill Taylor shows business leaders a path to go from now to next in a world filled with nonstop disruption. As a young entrepreneur, Bill co-founded Fast Company, the bold business magazine that redefined the genre and chronicled the tech-fueled revolution that transformed business and work.
Thought Catalyst, Team Builder, Future Proofer
Eric Termuende is a globally-recognized thought leader, author, and keynote speaker on the future of work and building teams that thrive. Eric is helping leaders build incredible teams and tomorrow’s greatest places to work. His one-degree shift methodology enables leaders to build trust, remove friction, and create a culture of experimentation. Eric has delivered over 400 keynotes to organizations including IBM, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Zoom, TD, BMO.
Founder of Urbangeekz, Award-Winning Journalist
Kunbi Tinuoye is an award-winning British-born journalist and broadcaster based in the United States. She is the founder of UrbanGeekz, a groundbreaking video-centric African-American, Latinx, and multicultural digital news platform focused on technology, science, business, and startups.
Go-to Expert on Brand Leadership, Bestselling Author
Denise Lee Yohn is the go-to expert on brand leadership for national media outlets, an in-demand speaker and consultant, and an influential writer, authoring the bestselling book What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest.
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.