 |
Rainey Foster, Partner & EVP
Rainey Foster is executive vice president and partner of Leading Authorities, Inc, serving on the company’s Management Committee. During her 14 years at Leading Authorities, Foster has developed strong working relationships with both her clients and the firm’s exclusive talent. She understands the critical needs of the company’s high-profile speakers and the requirements of major companies and associations who book their services.
Rainey Foster joined Leading Authorities in 1996 following a successful career in entertainment and the arts. A musician, recording artist, and actress, she produced a hit single record and was on contract with legendary songwriter, Hal David, in Nashville.
Foster continues to work with clients to write and produce original music for charitable causes.
She is a five-year member of the Corporate Advisory Board of SOME—So Others Might Eat, and her goal is to put a song to the face of the mission for organizations like SOME, Rebuilding Together, Service Source, Home for Our Troops, and Operation Smile. She is a member of the Women’s Forum in Washington, DC, and on the Board of Governors for the Live Music Awards, where she also acts as a producer.
|
 |
Matthew Jones, Chief Operating Officer
Matthew Jones is the chief operating officer at Leading Authorities Inc., one of the nation’s most prominent event design and lecture agencies, with unique capabilities in lecture representation, media and event production, and entertainment.
Prior to joining the company, he worked on political campaigns in the advertising, media buying, and fundraising capacities.
A thirteen-year veteran of Leading Authorities, Jones heads the company’s effort to recruit and manage new talent and manages the company’s day-to-day operations including sales, marketing, customer relations, and new business ventures. He has been cited as an expert on the lecture circuit and the events industry in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, the New Yorker, and Time magazine.
|
 |
Helena Lehman, CMP, Senior Vice President, Client Services
Helena Lehman is one of Leading Authorities’ senior staff members, having worked for the past 12 years on hundreds of events. She also serves on LAI’s management committee. In her role as head of client services for Leading Authorities she is committed to understanding the business of meetings as a crucial element that adds to the bottom line of an organization in addition to their impact on the membership and attendees.
Helena’s favorite speakers combine whip-smart insight with practical lessons for the audience, like economic expert Jeffrey Garten.
|
 |
Marina (Mimi) Hair, Senior Vice President, Colorado Office
Our longest serving employee, Mimi Hair has worked at Leading Authorities since 1993. She assists corporate and association clients in securing speakers and entertainment for a variety of successful events. After her first five years working in the D.C. headquarters of Leading Authorities, Mimi moved to Colorado to open a satellite office in the Rocky Mountains where she says she has a big city job in a picturesque location.
She loves it when her clients keep her on her toes with current events, news, and popular culture and appreciates the opportunity to work with amazing speakers who are changing the world through business, technology, innovation, adventure, politics and sports.
Mimi’s favorite speakers are the very examples of persistence, strength, and the human spirit—blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and American hero Mike Durant.
|
 |
Tony Berardo, Senior Vice President
Tony Berardo is a senior vice president of Leading Authorities, Inc. He is a certified meeting planner, and works with dozens of corporations and trade associations all over the country, helping to design world class meeting experiences. Tony has experience booking many of Leading Authorities most high profile speakers, as well managing all international clients and bookings.
Tony joined Leading Authorities in 1996 after leaving a D.C. based corporation where he served as an energy analyst and meeting planner.
|
 |
Ned Jovanovich, Regional Vice President, Chicago Office
Ned Jovanovich is Regional Vice President for Leading Authorities Chicago office. Since 2007, he has helped corporate and association clients leverage their meetings to achieve their business objectives. Jovanovich excels at finding the right speaker for the event, and truly understanding the strategy behind the meeting.
Jovanovich is a fourteen year veteran of the hotel industry, where he worked with corporations and associations. This experience makes him well-versed in the logistic side of planning meetings, including hotel contracts, meeting requirements, and event spaces.
|
 |
Debbie Saylor, Vice President
Debbie Saylor is a marketing and public relations professional with more than 18 years of experience, including 14 years working directly in the lecture industry. She joined Leading Authorities in 1998 as the director marketing, working at the company for nearly 10 years before leaving to raise her two sons. During that time she also managed several speakers, helping them with their marketing and promotional efforts. Her enthusiasm for the industry led her back to LAI, rejoining the team in 2011.
Debbie enjoys the excitement and energy of events and finds value in helping her clients find the perfect speakers to enhance their meetings, impact their audience, and entertain their guests. Known as a strategic thinker and superb negotiator, Debbie has partnered with organizations within the bureau, association, hospitality, and corporate worlds, and she embraces the mindset that leveraging partnerships fosters innovation and growth. Debbie attended The University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied English and Spanish. Her favorite speaker is Erik Weihenmayer due to the combination of her love of adventure travel and learning.
|
 |
Lisa Raines, Senior Program Consultant
For more than ten years, Lisa Raines has helped clients design programs that engage, excite, and inspire meeting attendees. As a veteran program consultant, she has seen change in the industry and in the way clients pick speakers. Lisa asks targeted questions to get to the core of a client’s meeting objectives, and make sure her recommendations are a good match. In addition, she has seen video become a vital tool for speaker selection. She recommends clients preview raw speaker samples, and not just promos or sizzle reels, to get a clear sense of the speaker’s style.
A sports fanatic and diehard Redskins fan, Lisa loves booking sports personalities. A favorite booking is Pat Croce, the former president of the Philadelphia 76ers and a powerful motivational speaker. She’s also continually impressed with business thinker Jason Jennings, and the level of preparation he puts in to customize his message for each client.
|
 |
Ryan Foltz , Senior Program Consultant
Ryan Foltz began his career at Leading Authorities in a business development role, teeing up clients for program consultants. He quickly exceeded expectations and took on the client consultation responsibilities, making recommendations and booking talent for top trade associations and corporate meeting professionals. Now, almost a decade later, Ryan heads up the Minnesota office for Leading Authorities managing key relationships in the Midwest.
Ryan especially enjoys developing long-term relationships with his clients and delivering trusted advice on their meetings. He likes to attend client events to observe audience reaction to speakers and entertainment and noting new best practices.
|
 |
Lisa McFadden, Program Consultant
Lisa McFadden loves the energy of meetings and events. Since 2004, she has helped Leading Authorities' clients bring people together to share ideas, learn new concepts, and hear from the industry’s top speakers. Lisa excels at big picture strategy, helping clients create a fully integrated event plan that goes beyond just picking an individual speaker for a slot.
A lover of all things entertainment, one of Lisa’s favorite bookings was the Goo Goo Dolls. Seeing meeting attendees dancing the night away after hours of keynotes and workshops was a truly rewarding experience.
|
 |
Saul Farber, Program Consultant
Saul Farber provides quick and intelligent speaker recommendations, feedback, and industry news for meeting professionals putting together their meeting.. He gives clients as much information as they need – all the selling points, research, and consensus-building materials to help them communicate well with their internal planning committees and book the best speaker for their event.
A veteran of the industry, Saul shares his musings about meetings on his blog, Speaking Agent. He’s well-versed in a realm of speaking topics, but one of his favorites is team building and leadership development. Some of Saul’s can’t-miss speaker recommendations on this topic: Pat Lenchioni, Marshall Goldsmith, AG Lafley, and Steve Farber.
|
 |
Kathleen French, Program Consultant
A Leading Authorities veteran, Kathleen French believes a great speaker can make an impression long after the event is over. She still remembers hearing blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer speak when she was just a teenager, and the lasting message of inspiration and possibility he shared. Now, as one of Leading Authorities' program consultants, she is passionate about helping clients find relevant speakers with lasting, impactful messages for their team.
The daughter of Leading Authorities founder Mark French, Kathleen grew up in the lecture industry. She previously served as Leading Authorities' marketing coordinator, working with speakers, sponsors, and venues to plan and execute all internal events. That experience is highly beneficial to her work as a program consultant, giving her a deep understanding of the logistics of events.
A political junkie, Kathleen enjoys booking political speakers, from Terry McAuliffe to Ed Gillespie to Fred Grandy. She often recommends political panels to clients, but stresses that a panel should be a conversation, not just a series of monologues.
|
|
Katherine Bentley, Program Consultant
Katherine Bentley loves the speaking business because she has the opportunity to hear insights from experts in many fields and personal stories from some of the most interesting people in the country. She takes the extra time to really understand the speakers, their insights, and the needs of the corporations and associations with which she works. Taking pride in coming up with lesser known speaker recommendations, Katherine enjoys helping her clients create great events.
A former Congressional staffer and government affairs professional, she is especially drawn to Leading Authorities’ political speakers. Katherine is also an avid sports fan, and enjoys pairing clients with the right coaches, athletes, and commentators. Her favorite sport is college football and on Saturdays you can find her cheering for the Miami Hurricanes. She graduated from the University of Miami, Florida, with a double major in broadcast journalism and political science.
|
|
Morgan Giddings, Program Consultant
Morgan Giddings came to Leading Authorities for the people – both her clients and the top-tier talent that Leading Authorities represents. Her goal is to ensure that these amazing people share their knowledge with the right audiences, through the powerful impact that speeches can have on individuals, teams, and businesses. Drawing from her experience as event manager for the Carson Center Business School at her alma mater, Washington State University, and as a part of a worldwide event team for Microsoft, Morgan relates to clients and provides stellar, customized recommendations. She is knowledgeable about the many meeting planning demands – timeline, budget, audience profile, and overall theme, and focuses on choosing the best speaker with the greatest value and return on investment.
Her favorite speakers are candid, practical, and relatable. She is currently a member of the Association of Meeting Planners and Meeting Planners International.
|
|
Tara Newman, Program Consultant
Tara Newman believes choosing the right speaker for an event is like matchmaking – fun and fulfilling when you successfully find the best lecturer to “wow” a crowd. Having been a meeting planner at several non-profits, she understands both sides of the planning process, so she can better serve her clients, and – like any good matchmaker – she also loves knowing that she is helping people by pairing them with the most effective speakers for their audience. Tara especially enjoys political speakers and the adventurers that Leading Authorities represents – particularly Bob Ballard, who discovered the Titanic.
She graduated from American University with a masters in public administration and received her undergraduate degrees in English and marketing from the University of Tampa. Tara’s natural curiosity, academic background, work experience, and up-beat personality make her a true asset to clients.
|