Virtual LeaderCon 2021 - Speakers

As a sought-after author, speaker, consultant, and trainer, Mary helps clients develop the strategies, skills and sensibilities needed for success in the 21st century. Her expertise lies in helping clients create dynamic and productive workplaces that foster professional and personal excellence and growth.

Mary is a frequent expert contributor for television, radio and print publications where she provides practical leadership and career advice. In addition to her role as a Forbes.com contributor, her work and advice have appeared in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, Money Magazine, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Monster, and the BBC.

In 2010, Mary was named as one of Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business and was a Smart CEO Brava Award recipient in 2017.

An accomplished entrepreneur in his post-football life, Gary is a two-time author (WINNING, 2011, and GRIT, 2021), podcast host, corporate trainer, and success coach; but his greatest passion (outside of being a pro dad to his three beautiful children) is helping people thrive—not only in business, but in life.

Gary brings the same energy to his speaking engagements and coaching clients that he did to the field—inspiring, motivating, and empowering audiences and clients alike to find the best within themselves, apply championship strategies to leverage success, and to realize their goals and enjoy a life of fulfillment and happiness in all areas of their lives.

Gary’s background and diverse business and leadership experience gives him a unique perspective, allowing him to specifically relate to audiences and businesses of all types and sizes. He began pursuing his love for business in college, receiving an Economics degree from Rutgers. Then, after receiving invaluable leadership experience with the Indianapolis Colts Defense, he received his MBA from George Washington University in the accelerated Executive Leadership program.

Jeff has personally coached hundreds of successful podcasters around the globe – many of them award nominees and winners themselves – and has consulted on podcasts for the US government, two of the largest churches in the US, and numerous multi-million dollar companies. Jeff and his work have been featured in Inc., Entrepreneur, and Hubspot, the blogs of Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Jeff Goins, and Social Media Explorer, as well as publications like the Nashville Business Journal, the Tennessean, and hundreds of other blogs and podcasts.

Since 2017, Burkus has been ranked as one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He’s worked with leaders from organizations across all industries including Google, Stryker, Fidelity, Viacom, and even the US Naval Academy.

A former business school professor, Burkus holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University.

His real-world solutions, shared with millions through his books and articles in top business publications, have been praised for being practical, relevant and highly actionable — the kind of advice you can use Monday morning.  Jack Welch, former Chairman of GE said, “He has the rare ability to distill meaningful from meaningless and transfer it to others in a quiet, effective way.”

Professor Charan has coached more than a dozen leaders who went on to become CEOs. He reaches many more up and coming business leaders through in-house executive education programs. His energetic, interactive teaching style has won him several awards, including the Bell Ringer award at GE’s famous Crotonville Institute and best teacher award at Northwestern.

He was among Business Week‘s top ten resources for in-house executive development programs. Ram has authored or coauthored more than 30 books that have sold over 4 million copies in more than a dozen languages.  Four of his books were Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including Execution (coauthored with former Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy), which spent more than 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He also has written for publications including over 12 articles for Harvard Business Review, 12 articles for Fortune and numerous articles for BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive and USA TODAY.

Ram was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and was named one of the most influential people in corporate governance and the board room by Directorship magazine. He has served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance and serves or has served on a dozen boards in the US, Brazil, China, India, Canada, and Dubai.

Marlene is a recognized expert on the Linked In / Lynda global learning platform, producing educational videos on Anger Management, and Having Difficult Conversations.

She is the author of three commercially published books: Stop Workplace Drama (Wiley 2011), No-Drama Leadership (Bibliomotion 2015), and Stop Drama in Your Healthcare Practice (Greenbranch 2018).

Her newest book to be released in 2022 is From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading.

As a seasoned professional speaker, Marlene’s transformational message of personal responsibility, and alignment is making its way around the globe at leadership academy’s corporate retreats, association conferences, and customized webinars.

Marlene has a degree in communications from Drury University, and a master’s degree in HR Development at Webster University.  She is an advanced practitioner in Narrative coaching.

Chris is the author of the best-selling book, The Power of Company Culture, which was released in 2018. He is also the Founder and CEO of PeopleG2, a background check provider that has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Companies four times.

A passionate talent management enthusiast, Chris is the host of TalentTalk, a business podcast with over 3.65 million downloads that features interviews with top executives about their strategies for hiring and promoting talent.

Chris strongly believes in community involvement, and he is active with a number of organizations. Additionally, he runs two book clubs for Senior Level and HR Professionals in Southern California. In his free time, Chris enjoys traveling with his wife and kids, and playing live music with his band. He resides in Orange Country, California.

She and her team of fellow experts collaborate with the world's leading businesses and governments on three primary topics: how to convert business operations from physical to virtual, how to build products and content for the remote work market, and how to leverage workplace flexibility to solve global concerns. In addition to being a regular Forbes contributor, Laurel’s subject matter expertise has also been showcased by brands like Zoom, VMware, Gallup, NPR, Logitech, BBC, New York Times, Office Depot, Abbott, Fast Company, and Upwork.

Douglass and Lisa-Marie are also co-authors of Win With Decency: How to Use Your Better Angels for Better Business. Rooted in business storytelling, their book makes the business case for decency. It takes five human qualities—Humility, Empathy, Vulnerability, Gratitude and Generosity—and shows you how to transform those qualities into business skills that will help you and your business win in an increasingly-competitive marketplace.

Prior to co-founding communicate4IMPACT, Douglass led thought leadership and executive communications at Mastercard in Purchase, New York. Before making the move to Mastercard, he spent two decades in Washington, DC, working on Capitol Hill in senior positions in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Lisa-Marie worked in various roles in both the public and private sectors as well. Those roles ranged from working for the Comptroller of the Army at the Pentagon to managing global accounts for American Express to growing sales for two pharmaceutical companies.

Stacy brings twenty-five years of experience to CenterBranch from a variety of global industries where she held roles in senior leadership, HR, executive coaching and operations.  Her customers span F50 aerospace, F100 manufacturing, F500 HVAC, private equity startup, mid-size insurance underwriters, ministry & faith-based organizations.

When Stacy is not Growing Great Leaders through her work at CenterBranch, she enjoys spending time outdoors either hiking in the mountains or getting some sun near a beach!

Typical client concerns prior to working with Guy are forging a team from a group of individuals, moving a team past the conflict stage of team development, developing other leaders, expanding personal influence within the organization, communicating more effectively, and developing buy-in for new programs and processes.

As a consultant, trainer, and coach, Guy has worked with large and small clients, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals from Boston to Brisbane and from Ottawa to Orlando. His past clients include: Sun Chemical Co., Ivy Tech Community College, The Good Samaritan Society, Redbox, Purdue University, Delta Career Education, The American Farm Bureau Association, Butler University, Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, Panda Express, and many others.

Guy is the co-author of From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership, Sell Naked on the Phone, and The Behavior Bucks System. He has been a contributing author, content developer and editor on other books and training materials including: Presenting With Style; Leadership @ Work, Leadership Brief and To The Point, and Leadership: It’s an Inside Job.

Guy’s blog, The Recovering Engineer Blog, is about learning to get out of your own way and learning to take a close look at your thoughts, feelings, responses and reactions to find better and more effective ways to build and maintain both personal and professional relationships.

He also hosts the Talk Like a Leader Podcast, a weekly podcast exploring the mindset, skillset, and habit set of leadership communication.

Jim’s career spans over four decades of corporate leadership, from FORTUNE 500 organizations to privately held companies, including serving as CEO of a company recognized four times as one of the “25 Best Companies to Work for in America.” Jim’s teams have won national awards for customer-service excellence, business ethics, and an outstanding culture, as well as numerous local and regional awards as a workplace of choice. Jim’s personal awards also include being selected for the Turknett Leadership Character Award recognizing CEO’s who demonstrate the highest standards of ethics and integrity.

Jim holds degrees from the University of Alabama and Birmingham-Southern College, and serves on the boards of several local organizations, as well as the Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics, and Character.

Jim is most proud of his wonderful marriage of over forty years to his sweetheart, Donna; being Dad to two phenomenal adults, Scott and Sarah; and “Papa” to his three grandkids. He holds a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo and is an avid CrossFit athlete.

Tatiana is a member of the Association for Business Communication and is accredited through the Center of Applied Psychological Testing and The Leadership Circle. She is a World Works licensed mentor, a program designed to help professionals be successful when managing cross-cultural teams and individuals in a global work environment.

In her previous position, Tatiana worked with University Human Resources at Indiana University as an Organizational Development Consultant. Tatiana has designed and conducted seminars, facilitated retreats, and helped professionals accomplish optimal work performance. As a professional speaker and trainer, Tatiana has presented in numerous US conferences and in 15 countries around the world. Her topic emphasis is on interpersonal and cross-cultural communication, lifestyle balance and workplace effectiveness. Clients include P&G, Cummins, Inc., Ralph Lauren, Red Bull, ONB Bank, Chinese International Marine Containers, Carlisle Inc., Milestone and Brown Forman. Tatiana has authored 16 courses in the Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning library, including best-selling Communication Tips with over 2 million views.

Tatiana holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Indianapolis and lives with her family in Bloomington, Indiana. She was born and raised in Athens, Greece.

She draws upon practical business know-how, life's experiences and years of consulting to major national and international organizations that have ranged from global pharmaceuticals to the US Armed Forces, from health care associations to religious institutions. Her programs are content rich, interactive, provocative and playful—even downright hilarious.

In 2021, Global Gurus International, a British-based provider of resources for leadership, communication and sales training, also ranked her third as one of the World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals following a global survey of 22,000 business professionals.

Her newest book, Burnout to Breakthrough: Building Resilience to Refuel, Recharge and Reclaim What Matters has been generating great response and interest.  You can find it on Amazon in paper, digital and audio formats.

Her book, Unlocking Happiness at Work, received the distinguished UK Business Book of the Year Award. Moss also sits on the Global Happiness Council. To acknowledge her contributions to business and public service, Moss was named a Canadian Innovator of the Year, an International Female Entrepreneur of the Year, and recipient of the Public Service Award from the Office of President Obama.

Dr. Musgrove specializes in helping people unleash their potential by becoming increasingly more grounded in who they are and who they want to be. Leveraging decades of research and proven practices of adult development, Sara has helped thousands of leaders identify their personalized growth opportunities and create development plans that result in accelerated growth and increased effectiveness.

Sara received her Master’s and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology at the University of Georgia. Sara also has a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, which uniquely equips her whole-person approach to growing leaders.

Tanveer's work and writings have been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc Magazine, The Globe and Mail, The Economist Executive Education Navigator, CBC Radio Daybreak, Global News, and the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

Tanveer is the recipient of several awards and recognitions as one of the world’s top thinkers/writers in the leadership sphere, including being recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts.

Tanveer has been very active on speaking circuit, giving keynote speeches and talks in Canada and the US, including his TED talk “Forget Passion – Purpose is the Real Spice of Life”.

His engaging and thought-provoking style and content has to his recognition by Inc. Magazine as one of today’s “100 Great Leadership Speakers”, a list that includes such highly sought-after thought leaders as Sir Richard Branson, Tony Hsieh, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ken Blanchard, Brené Brown, and Marshall Goldsmith.

In addition to his work speaking, writing, and consulting on leadership, Tanveer is also the host of the podcast "Leadership Biz Cafe", which Inc Magazine has described as feeling "like you're sitting down for a cup of coffee with two leadership experts to learn about how to become that leader our employees need us to be." You can listen to Tanveer's leadership podcast on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Deezer, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher Radio, and on many other podcast platforms. You can also listen to every episode of his podcast - as well as find links to subscribe - on the show's podcast page.

Tanveer's first book, “Leadership Vertigo” has received rave reviews and endorsements by many of today’s top leadership thinkers and practitioners. In fact Doug Conant, Chairman of Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute, has praised Tanveer's book as offering “practical and effective tools for avoiding self-deception and empowering those we seek to lead.”

Tanveer is a graduate of McGill University's Department of Medicine where he obtained his Master of Science degree in Pathology. He currently lives in Montreal, Canada with his wife and their three daughters.

Nate is the author of three books: Beyond Drama: Transcending Energy Vampires; Conflict without Casualties: A Field Guide for Leading with Compassionate Accountability; and his newest book, Seeing People Through: Unleash Your Leadership Potential with The Process Communication Model. He hosts a podcast called “On Compassion with Dr. Nate,” writes a weekly blog, contributes to multiple industry publications and blogs, and is a regular guest on podcasts.

Learn more about his free leadership workshop series: https://www.next-element.com/workshops/.

Michael's first book, Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, and Productivity (2007), made him one of the earliest thought leaders on the power of human connection at work and introduced the concept of cultures of connection. Wishlist recognized Michael as one of the top leadership coaches of 2021 and his latest bestselling book, Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work, now in its 2nd edition, was selected as one of 100 leadership books recommended by Leader to Leader and was an editor's choice selection by getAbstract. You can read his blog here.

A former business executive, sought after speaker and business consultant, she is author of several books, including the international bestseller Full Steam Ahead: Unleash the Power of Vision (co-authored with Ken Blanchard) which is translated into 22 languages. Her clients include Marriott, Skanska, Stanley Black & Decker, SAP and T.J. Maxx to name a few. Jesse writes an award-winning leadership blog and was named American Management Association’s Leader to Watch, a Top 50 Leadership Expert by INC magazine, and a recipient of the Conant Leadership Award. Her writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post and Forbes. She serves on the board of directors of Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Lisette has given presentations at a wide range of events, from conferences and Meetups all over the world to a TEDx talk on the theme Unbox the Future in Kaunas, Lithuania. Her workshop clients include Air France, ING, CrossKnowledge (Wiley), Rabobank, and Saint-Gobain.

In 2018, both the Collaboration Superpowers podcast and the 21st-Century Work Life podcast series were deemed among the Best Remote Work Podcasts by Workplaceless.

For 7 years (2013-2020), Lisette was also the remote office manager for the 100 percent remote company, Management 3.0, a global company focused on helping organisations create better leadership with fewer managers.

Carlos credits growing up as the middle child of 11 for his passionate interest helping groups work better together. He holds an MSOD from American University and an MFA in Theatre from Florida State University.

Carlos honed his expertise in collaboration at the highest organizational levels. For 17 years he was an internal consultant at Mars, Inc., and was directly involved with brands like M&M's, Snickers, Uncle Ben's Rice and Wrigley's Gum. There he won the company's prestigious Global Make the Difference Award for his work on the Mars Framework for High Performance Collaboration.

Before Mars, Carlos was at IBM as an executive coach and consultant to the top 35 global IBM leaders. Through DDI in 1993 Carlos' other clients included AT&T, Pfizer, General Motors and Lockheed Martin.

Besides speaking, writing, podcasting and blogging, Carlos is Managing Principal of Corporate Collaboration Resources, LLC, an organization and group effectiveness consulting firm. His speaker credits include at the North American Organization Development Network, The Conference Board, the Organization Design Forum, the Midwest Technology Leadership Forum, some of which are on his YouTube channel with his Lessons From Mars Vlog or on his website, carlosvdapena.com.