Our Speakers
Our 2023 Speakers
Announcing more speakers soon!
Sandra Joseph
Inspiration
Unmasking What Matters
Sandra Joseph is a history-making Broadway star, a #1 international Amazon bestselling author, and a TEDx and keynote speaker. Her legendary run as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera spanned ten years and over 1,500 performances. She holds the record as the longest-running leading lady in the longest-running Broadway show of all time. Sandra has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, The Today Show, The Early Show, The View, and many others.
Oprah has called Sandra “a Broadway legend and an inspiration.” Other luminaries that endorse her work are Jack Canfield, Mark Nepo, Martha Beck, Marci Shimoff, and Geneen Roth. Sandra is a proud member of The Transformational Leadership Council, an invitation-only group of 125 top thought leaders.
Sandra is the author of Unmasking What Matters: 10 Life Lessons from 10 Years on Broadway. She is also the co-author, with five-time New York Times best-selling author Caroline Myss, of Your Creative Soul: Expressing Your Authentic Voice.
Unmasking What Matters
Sandra Joseph | Speaker
Broadway’s longest running leading lady, Sandra Joseph, pulls back the curtain on her legendary career and reveals pivotal experiences and epiphanies that led to enduringly meaningful success on and off the stage. Her provocative stories, insights, and exercises help audiences unmask their own perspectives about life, work, love, loss, courage, perseverance, and what matters most.
- Find your authentic voice and stand in your “field of power”
- Perform at your absolute peak level especially when the stakes are high
- Connect with clients on a deep level so they know, like, trust, choose and stay loyal to YOU
- Stay fully engaged and passionate about your work even when you’ve been at it for a reeeeally long time
- Develop the courage to redesign your life and career to align with your own highest values
Andy Bailey
Entrepreneur
Live a Boundless Life
Andy Bailey can cut through organizational BS faster than a hot knife through butter, showing organizations the logjams thwarting their success and coaching them past the excuses we all use to avoid doing what needs to be done. He doesn’t ask for what’s easy, only what’s possible, and with his assistance the possible often expands to include the formerly impossible, as organizations learn that one step at a time gets you a long way when you step up to the challenge everyday. After all, as he tells his clients, 100% annual growth is only 2% growth every week. It’s not easy. But certainly possible. Andy learned to build great organizations by building his own great businesses, starting in college then, growing into an Inc. 500 multi-million dollar national company then successfully selling and exiting.
He founded Petra Coach in partnership with Gazelles/Scaling Up to pass on to other entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders the principles and practices he used to build his successful enterprises-all rooted in the Rockefeller Habits methodology. To date, Andy has been on the sell-side of 28 transactions with a median sale value in the nine figures.
His most recent venture, Boundless Life, borrows concepts from his work scaling organizations and applies them to the individual in their personal life. His program helps adults and children design their futures and achieve them through documented multi-step plans, discipline and accountability.
Living a Boundless Life
Andy Baily | Speaker
Andy introduces participants to the Boundless Journal & Guide, and takes them through foundational exercises, such as, ‘Where does distraction come from? How do you maximize your focus to create additional productivity? And what is your current state Your Now?’ to set the stage to develop the skills they’ll need in creating their actionable personal Boundless plan. The audience will leave with their own Boundless Journal which they can use to follow the steps toward living a boundless life.
LaQuita Cleare
Dynamic Communication
Hollywood Secrets to Engage: Connect, Engage and Sell Through Storytelling
LaQuita Cleare, CEO of Clear Communication Academy, is a highly sought-after communication and storytelling expert who believes in the power of communication to create change.
LaQuita’s degree in Psychology enables her work to be science/research-based, while her Theatre degree helps her clients’ executive presence, delivery skills, and ability to connect. LaQuita’s unique background in Hollywood allows her to help audiences use the magic of storytelling to motivate, inspire and persuade, helping to increase business outcomes.
Over the past decade, she has worked in more than 50 countries across 5 continents, on stages and screens, speaking at numerous prestigious schools and events such as Harvard, Loyola University, Milan Polytechnico, and INSEAD Business School She has worked with leading companies like Chase, Covergirl, Ikea, RR Donnelly, and Pepsi, and is a top-rated resource for YPO, the leading business organization with over 30,000 members. She has also been featured on ABC, FX Network, Lifetime, and LA Talk Radio.
Hollywood Secrets to Engage: Connect, Engage and Sell Through Storytelling
LaQuita Cleare | Speaker
In this keynote, LaQuita Cleare mixes her background of working in Hollywood with working with companies and business leaders in more than 50 countries, to help you engage your audience.
We will discuss the key elements of a compelling story and how to use these to help you build strong connections with your customers and to increase sales.
This presentation will provide you with the strategy to understand the power of engagement and the tools you need to increase your presence and tell better stories.
What you’ll learn:
- A strategy to connect and engage driving business results
- Elements of powerful stories
- Hollywood storytelling structure to be more impactful
- How to showcase your unique value proposition with stories
Shep Hyken
Best Selling Author
How to Create an Amazing Customer Experience
Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, researcher, and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He has been quoted in hundreds of publications and is the author of 8 books, including his latest, I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again. Shep works with companies and organizations that want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.
How to Create an Amazing Customer Experience
Shep Hyken | Speaker
Our customers are smarter than ever. They no longer compare us to a direct competitor but instead to the best experience they have ever had from anyone in any company. To remain competitive, businesses must continuously raise the bar of customer service and CX to keep up with customer expectations. In this fast paced and informative presentation, you will learn about customer amazement (it’s not what you think) and other strategies and tactics that can differentiate you from your competitors and create fierce loyalty. Now, more than ever, we must deliver an amazing customer experience that sets us apart from our competition and gets our customers to say, “I’ll be back!”
Anne Mahlum
founder of solidcore
Learning to Live Life on Your Own Terms
Anne Mahlum is an American entrepreneur, motivational speaker, experienced CEO, business owner, philanthropist and athlete.
Born in North Dakota and raised in a working-class family, there was very little in Anne’s childhood that would indicate she would one day be one of the most successful founders in the fitness industry. And yet her success as an entrepreneur has been remarkable.
Anne left a promising corporate career in 2007 to found Back on My Feet, a national non-profit organization that uses running as a vehicle to help those experiencing homelessness become empowered to change their lives. Since its inception Back on My Feet has helped thousands of individuals achieve employment and more self-sufficient living.
But Anne didn’t stop there. She found success again when she founded [solidcore] in 2013 and grew it into one of the country’s most successful boutique fitness companies. In just nine years, Anne raised more than $70M to grow [solidcore] to over 90 locations across the U.S. Anne is currently the Executive Chairwoman at [soldicore], which now has over 1,000 employees and over 100,000 clients, including Former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Learning to Live Life on Your Own Terms
Anne Mahlum | Speaker
Anne leads by example and will show you how to be unapologetically you. She will show you how to make the choices to live a happy and fulfilling life through understanding our path, our identities and the power of changing our minds.
Bronkar Lee
Motivation
Ignite By Possibility: Staying in Sync to Elevate Our Potential
Staying in Sync to Elevate Our Potential
Bronkar Lee | Speaker
No matter what our organizational goals are, the key element in achieving them is the individual human beings that lay the bricks, take the steps, and move the needle every single day. The way that we, as humans, collaborate and communicate can make all the difference between success and failure. Much like musicians performing a song, everyone benefits exponentially from staying in sync, keeping in tune,
and remaining in tempo with each other. This wildly engaging keynote performance (full of stories, music, and high energy inspiration) will have you ignited by the possibility of being a part of the thriving collaboration that is your organization.
You will:
- Reignite a sense of ownership in your contributions, finding new motivation to leverage skills you already have
- Build connection with peers and coworkers to create a thriving collaborative environment
- Build a culture that identifies hidden opportunity, realizes potential, and flourishes together
David Rendall
Leadership
The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness
During the last twenty years, David Rendall has spoken to audiences on every inhabited continent. His clients include the US Air Force, Australian Government, and Fortune 50 companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, United Health Group, Fannie Mae, and State Farm.
Prior to becoming a Certified Speaking Professional, he was a leadership professor and stand-up comedian. He also managed nonprofit enterprises that provided employment for people with disabilities.
In between presentations, David competes in ultramarathons and Ironman triathlons.
David has a doctor of management degree in organizational leadership, as well as a graduate degree in psychology. He is the author of four books:
- The Four Factors of Effective Leadership
- The Freak Factor
- The Freak Factor for Kids
- Pink Goldfish
The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness
David Rendall | Speaker
Do you want more happiness, fulfillment, and energy?
Do you want better relationships at work and at home?
Do you want to dramatically improve teamwork and increase productivity?
Our parents, teachers, and managers have told us that, if we want to succeed, we should find and fix our weaknesses. But what if our biggest weaknesses were also our biggest strengths?
What if we could create outrageous personal and professional success by amplifying flaws, instead of denying them? How would that change the way we parent, teach, and manage people?
Learning Objectives:
- Increase productivity
- Enhance employee engagement
- Improve teamwork
- Develop better relationships
- Increase self awareness
- Appreciate individual differences
- Amplify unique strengths
Kevin Sloan
EVP KEYBANK
The KeyBank CX Journey: Eliminating Inconsistency, the Enemy Among us
Kevin Sloan is Executive Vice President of the Branch Network at KeyBank, as well as a member of KeyCorp’s Executive Council. In this role, Kevin leads the execution of Key’s retail relationship growth strategy centered on helping clients and communities thrive. His responsibilities include leading 6,000 teammates across Key’s 1,000 branch offices, its Business Performance, Support & Enablement Team, and its Retail Private Client Team.
A 30-year veteran of financial services, Kevin holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Baldwin Wallace College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Xavier University. He is also a graduate of the Consumer Bankers Association Executive Banking School.
Kevin, his wife and three daughters live in Medina, Ohio. He served as the 2022 Chair of the Cleveland CycleNation campaign benefitting the American Heart & Stroke Association, and actively serves on several committees at his local church.
The KeyBank CX Journey: Eliminating Inconsistency, the Enemy Among us
Kevin Sloan | Speaker
Kevin will explain KeyBank’s passion and commitment to client experience and its current journey to improve CX through milestones, pitfalls and goals. He will set the stage by sharing personal stories about his banking career, highlighting the shift to a CX centric culture at Key where teammates focus on what they can do for their clients. Kevin also will share what Key’s clients are saying about the bank and how its CX culture influences the business.
Brett Eaton
High Performance
The High Performers 5 Step Playbook for Playing OFFENSE
Brett Eaton is a High-Performance coach, speaker, author, founder of multiple coaching programs, and co-host of The Better You Blueprint Podcast.
For the last 15 years, Brett has worked with thousands of clients all over the world. He has been invited to speak at hundreds of events and to companies all over the country, motivating and inspiring people to elevate their daily performance, maximize productivity, build efficient and effective habits and routines, and increase their overall fulfillment.
The High Performers 5 Step Playbook for Playing OFFENSE
Brett Eaton | Speaker
Join High Performance Coach Brett Eaton as he reveals the 5 essential steps to living on your terms and playing offense in every facet of your life. In this session Brett will challenge conventional definitions of success and guide you to define your own unique path to achievement and profound fulfillment. It's time to break free from outdated notions and align your success with your true aspirations and values.
John DiJulius
Chief Revolution Officer
The Great Retention
Have you ever thought how some organizations become the brands customers can’t live without? Do you think it is possible to make price irrelevant? John will show you exactly how to do both.
John is the authority on world-class customer and employee experience and best-selling author. He has worked with companies such as the The Ritz-Carlton, Lexus, Starbucks, KeyBank, Nestle, Chick-fil-A, Celebrity Cruise lines, and many more, helping them make the experience they deliver their single biggest competitive advantage.
The Great Retention
John DiJulius | Keynote Speaker
Great companies help people live great lives. The Great Retention is about obsessing over the experience culture you create for your team members and customers. During these economic times, you can’t compromise your hiring, training, or the customer experience your company delivers.
Learn:
- How to position yourself to make 2023 your best year ever
- What the future of customer experience looks like and how you need to get there now
- How to recession proof your business. Participating in the recession is optional
- Now is the time to play offense and lap your competition
- How do adjust your customer experience to marry A.I. with the human interaction
- How to create a recruitment experience that makes you the employer of choice
- How to build strong employee loyalty in a virtual world
Dave Murray
VP of Consulting for The DiJulius Group
Internal Culture
Complaints 101
Dave helps clients generate fresh, game-changing ideas and then turn those into actionable systems.
Dave’s role at the DiJulius Group is that of a facilitator, where he strives to make all participants feel comfortable – creating an ideal environment for idea generation and sharing.
Dave’s passion is helping organizations create new standards that help them deliver a better experience to their customers – and also make the company an even better place to work!
Prior to joining TDG, Dave had 20 years of experience in customer service, marketing, and sales, primarily in the sports and entertainment industry. Dave’s experience varies from leading call centers and front-line team members to working closely with key partners and stakeholders.
Internal Culture & Complaints 101
Dave Murray | Speaker
Internal Culture
Building teams that work together - focused on the Customer. Departments operating in silos, poor internal handoffs, and miscommunication are all employee dissatisfiers - and have a negative impact on customers. Learn how to fix these common pitfalls and get all team members focused on your customer’s experience.
Complaints 101
Complaints to any organization are truly a gift, especially these days as consumers have so many options. Are your teams handling these important interactions consistently well? Are you tracking the issues and outcomes to monitor trends and bigger issues? Learn some easy-to-implement standards and how to create a service recovery playbook.
Nicole Paul
Experience Consultant for The DiJulius Group
Internal Culture
Complaints 101
Nicole Paul is a Customer Experience Consultant with The DiJulius Group who previously held the role of Chief Experience Officer. She also serves as Dean of the Customer Experience Executive Academy. She has been an integral part of our team for over a decade, and a passionate advocate for the customer’s experience for 20+ years.
She has advised and supported multiple industries from retail, hospitality and government to start-ups and automotive. It’s evident when you work with Nicole that her attention to detail and proactive approach will ensure your team has the tools necessary for success. You can trust Nicole to help improve processes, create employee engagement and develop measurements to guarantee a return on your investment. Nicole also has a visual communications background which gives her trainings added impact.
Internal Culture & Complaints 101
Dave Murray | Speaker
Internal Culture
Building teams that work together - focused on the Customer. Departments operating in silos, poor internal handoffs, and miscommunication are all employee dissatisfiers - and have a negative impact on customers. Learn how to fix these common pitfalls and get all team members focused on your customer’s experience.
Complaints 101
Complaints to any organization are truly a gift, especially these days as consumers have so many options. Are your teams handling these important interactions consistently well? Are you tracking the issues and outcomes to monitor trends and bigger issues? Learn some easy-to-implement standards and how to create a service recovery playbook.
Cal DiJulius
Experience Consultant for The DiJulius Group
Internal Culture
Complaints 101
Cal DiJulius was born to be a Customer Experience Consultant. He began his career at The DiJulius Group developing partnerships for the Customer Service Revolution, while he completed his MBA at Georgetown University. He garnered additional experience working in the mortgage industry and in a high intensity startup environment, where he was contracted under the Co-Founder of Spotify to implement customer service systems for a new venture in Stockholm, Sweden.
He has researched, lived and worked in global environments over the seven years which has given him a unique perspective on culture and customer centricity. Cal has studied Swahili in Kenya, built rainwater harvesting systems in Tanzania, and started a nonprofit in Cleveland, Ohio with his father. He is a dynamic idea generator who will compel you to think critically and creatively in order to build a culture of “yes” within your brand.
Internal Culture & Complaints 101
Dave Murray | Speaker
Internal Culture
Building teams that work together - focused on the Customer. Departments operating in silos, poor internal handoffs, and miscommunication are all employee dissatisfiers - and have a negative impact on customers. Learn how to fix these common pitfalls and get all team members focused on your customer’s experience.
Complaints 101
Complaints to any organization are truly a gift, especially these days as consumers have so many options. Are your teams handling these important interactions consistently well? Are you tracking the issues and outcomes to monitor trends and bigger issues? Learn some easy-to-implement standards and how to create a service recovery playbook.