Featured Speakers

Sara Ross

Saturday, October 22 | 5:00-6:15 p.m. 

Sara Ross and her company BrainAMPED provide brain-based tools to decrease stress and exhaustion and increase leadership vitality by strengthening the skills of energy management, emotional intelligence and resilience. Her ideas and research are earning her a reputation as a fresh and thought-provoking voice in the discussions focused on the future of work.

Before founding BrainAMPED, Ross spent a decade immersed in the neuroscience of emotional intelligence and performance at a leadership training company where she served as vice president and global head of leadership innovation, research and training. As head of faculty, she and her team led the development and delivery of award-winning leadership programs, assessments, coaching and accreditation programs, helping leaders from across the globe be their best, even in the most complex and pressure-filled moments.

Ross has worked with Fortune 500 companies, tech companies, financial firms, pharmaceutical companies, educational institutions, healthcare companies and with the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Balancing relevance and practicality with a contagious energy, she integrates cutting-edge science with real-life stories of success and failures. Her approach is guaranteed to challenge the status quo, provide new insights and inspiration, and most importantly, leave audiences with a blueprint of actionable strategies.

 Sponsored by    


 

Baratunde Thurston

Sunday, October 23 | 10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 

Baratunde Thurston is an Emmy-nominated, multiplatform storyteller and producer operating at the intersection of race, tech, democracy and climate. He is the host of the PBS television series America Outdoors With Baratunde Thurston, creator and host of How To Citizen With Baratunde, which Apple named one of its favorite podcasts of 2020, and a founding partner of the new media startup Puck. 

His comedic memoir, How To Be Black, is a New York Times best-seller. In 2019, he delivered what MSNBC’s Brian Williams called “one of the greatest TED talks of all time.” He is unique in his ability to integrate and synthesize themes of race, culture, politics and technology to explain where our nation is and where we can take it. He serves on the boards of BUILD.org and the Brooklyn Public Library and lives in Los Angeles, California.

 Sponsored by    


 

Dave Ulrich
Monday, October 24 | 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value. He is a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources and is known for continually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solutions, and creating real value to those he works with in the fields of organizational development, leadership and human resources.

He and his colleagues have shaped the HR profession by focusing on HR outcomes, governance, competencies and practices, and he has been called the “father of modern HR” and “HR thought leader of the decade.” He edited the book Human Resource Management and spearheaded a “gift” book on the future of HR (The Rise of HR) in which 70 thought leaders freely shared their insights.

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