Patrick Carey
Government Affairs in the COVID Era: What to Watch for from Washington D.C. to Your State Capital
Patrick assists clients with legislative and policy related issues at the national, state, and local levels with a special concentration in local government matters. He also possesses vast experience with economic development, regulatory, and procurement related matters.
Patrick worked as a senior vice president in the Illinois state government relations group of his previous law firm. Prior to that, Patrick worked as a special assistant for Governmental and Legislative Affairs to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. In that position he directed President Preckwinkle's legislative agenda before the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Patrick also previously served as an assistant to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and held other roles with the City of Chicago.
Alex Chausovsky
Moving Forward
Alex Chausovsky is an accomplished speaker and serves as senior business advisor at ITR Economics™. A highly experienced market researcher and analyst, he has more than a decade of expertise in subjects that include macroeconomics, industrial manufacturing, automation, and advanced technology trends.
Alex has consulted and advised companies throughout the US, Europe, Brazil, China, and Japan for the last 15 years and has been featured on NPR, the BBC, and in The Wall Street Journal.
Jill Davie
Labor Trends: Hiring & Retention through COVID-19
Jill Davie started full time with TEAM Software in May 1998 as an account manager after working at the company as an intern during college. Over the next two decades, she held various roles, including senior vice president of client experience. Davie is now using her deep industry knowledge, her focus on our customers and her passion for TEAM’s people to serve as TEAM’s president. She earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration and marketing from Iowa State University.
Dan Heath
Leading a Switch
Dan Heath is the co-author, along with his brother Chip, of four New York Times bestsellers: Decisive, Switch, Made to Stick, and The Power of Moments. The Heath Brothers’ books have sold over 3 million copies worldwide and been translated into 33 languages.
Dan is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. Previously, Dan worked as a researcher and case writer for Harvard Business School. In the late 1990s, Dan co-founded an innovative publishing company called Thinkwell, which for almost 25 years has been producing a line of online college textbooks that feature video lectures from some of the country’s top professors.
Dan has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the Plan II Honors Program from the University of Texas at Austin. One proud geeky moment for Dan was his victory in the 2005 New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, beating out 13,000 other entrants. He lives in Durham, NC.
Mark Herbick
BSC M&A During COVID-19
Mark Herbick is the Founder and CEO of Pursant, LLC. Pursant is an Investment Bank that helps middle market business owners optimize the value of their businesses, manage strategic transactions and orchestrate liquidity events. Prior to founding Pursant, Mark was a serial entrepreneur and buyer/seller of businesses, having bought, sold and operated over a dozen companies of his own and advised on countless strategic transactions in numerous sectors. His businesses employed as few as a dozen people and as many as 1400. He grew his companies, including companies in the BSC sector, through acquisitions, strategic divestitures and managed organic growth. The businesses operated at local, regional and national levels. During his time as an operator, Herbick found that to best grow enterprise value, it was necessary to become proficient at optimizing company performance and executing strategic transactions. He honed his skills in these areas and in 2009 founded, Pursant, LLC.
Mike Maddock
(What's Your) Plan D?
Mike Maddock is an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker and a writer. He calls himself an Idea Monkey because he loves to solve problems with disruptive ideas. This passion for problem solving led him to establish Maddock Douglas, Inc. in 1991. Maddock Douglas has become an internationally recognized innovation consultancy that has helped more than 25% of the Fortune 100 create and launch new products, services and business models.
Mike has launched six successful businesses. He also co-chairs the Gathering of Titans Entrepreneurial Conclave at MIT, he is past Chapter president of Entrepreneurs' Organization and Young Presidents' Organization, both chapters located in Chicago.
A doodler, turned cartoonist, turned author, Mike has been using words and pictures to get laughs and build ideas his entire life. Today, Mike is a contributor to Forbes and author of four bestselling books: Free the Idea Monkey...to focus on what matters most!, Brand New: Solving the Innovation Paradox and Flirting With the Uninterested, Innovating in a Sold, Not Bought Category. And finally, Plan D––his latest book about Disruptors.
Stanley McChrystal
Team of Teams
A one-of-a-kind commander with a remarkable record of achievement, General Stan McChrystal is widely praised for creating a revolution in warfare that fused intelligence and operations. He is also known for developing and implementing the counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan and for creating a comprehensive counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the way military agencies interact and operate.
A four-star general, he is the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military’s most sensitive forces. His leadership of JSOC is credited with the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein and the 2006 location and killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He is also the author of the best-selling leadership books, My Share of the Task: A Memoir, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, and Leaders: Myth and Reality. McChrystal, a former Green Beret, is known for his candor, innovative leadership, and going the distance. Called “one of America’s greatest warriors” by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, few can speak about leadership, teamwork, and international affairs with as much insight.
Dr. Catherine Sanderson
The Science of Success: Understanding the Power of Emotional Intelligence
The Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College, Catherine Sanderson speaks regularly for public and corporate audiences on topics such as the science of happiness, the power of emotional intelligence, the art of aging well, and the psychology of courage and inaction. These talks have been featured in numerous mainstream media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Atlantic, CNN, and CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley. She is the author of four college textbooksThe Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity. Her latest book, published in North America as Why We Act: Turning Bystanders Into Moral Rebels (Harvard University Press) and internationally as The Bystander Effect: The Psychology of Courage and Inaction (HarperCollins), examines why good people so often stay silent or do nothing in the face of wrongdoing.
Howard Schweitzer
Government Affairs in the COVID Era: What to Watch for from Washington D.C. to Your State Capital
Howard Schweitzer is CEO of Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies and served in high-level political and executive appointments in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, including a pivotal role in the federal government’s financial crisis response as Chief Operating Officer of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Howard counsels clients regarding a variety of regulatory and policy issues before the U.S. government and represents clients before U.S. Executive Branch agencies and Congress.
In October 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appointed Howard as the first COO of TARP. In this position, Howard led program execution and built the TARP infrastructure. He served as a key point person regarding the financial crisis through the presidential transition and continued to serve as TARP COO under Secretary Timothy Geithner until August 2009. In this position, Howard played a critical role in overseeing the program administration and was responsible for ensuring that multiple agencies and government parties were aligned and coordinated in their understanding of the program and its priorities.
Scott Tackett
Creating a Culture of Trust
Scott Tackett is recognized as a leading authority in the areas of human resources, organizational development, and organizational leadership within the restoration and cleaning industries. As a Business Development Advisor for Violand Management Associates, he consults nationally with companies and professionals on all facets of business.
Scott is a sought-after speaker on human resource topics and how they apply to the day-to-day operations of small businesses in the service industry. He is also a facilitator, business trainer, and former adjunct professor for Kent State University.
Scott earned his bachelor’s degree in human resource management and his master’s degree in organizational leadership, both from Geneva College.
Rene Rodriguez
CEO Seminar Bonus Session: The Science of Modern Leadership
René Rodriguez is entertaining, but he is NOT an entertainer. His clients describe him as “powerful”, “thought provoking”, and “authentic”. They say things like, “you could hear a pin drop as everyone was so captivated.” Rene’s engaging speaking style, backed by his scientific approach, makes him a top-rated speaker at every event.
For the last 20 years, René has researched and applied behavioral neuroscience as a dynamic keynote speaker, leadership advisor, world class sales expert, and renowned speaker coach. Yet, he believes that we are only scratching the surface of what is possible and that every profession can benefit from fully engaging human mind/brain.
His company has trained more than 100,000 people in applying behavioral psychology and neuroleadership methodologies to solve some of the toughest challenges in leadership, sales and change. As an entrepreneur and CEO of multiple companies, Rene brings a practical business approach while inspiring his audiences to take action. He helps leaders create influence, transformation, and immediate results in their business and personal life. René connects company vision and strategy to fundamental and applicable neuroscience in a way that empowers anyone to engage with courage and grace.
He has been named to the 40 under 40 list for 7 years straight and has been a trusted adviser to leadership teams at Coca-Cola, 3M, Medtronic, Nestle’, Microsoft, Bank of America, and Cargill. He was featured on the Cover of the Niche Report Magazine and has authored dozens of magazine articles.
A captivating, high-energy speaker, Rene is in high demand for annual events, conventions, and keynote speeches. He has shared the stage with the likes of Tony Robbins, George W. Bush, Magic Johnson, Ken Blanchard, and Jeffery Gitomer to name a few.