Steve Robinson served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-fil-A, the nation’s most profitable food chain, from 1981 to 2015. Responsible for overseeing all of the brand’s traditional marketing support, advertising, brand development innovation, menu innovation, and hospitality strategies, he was integrally involved in the company’s incredible growth trajectory. Robinson helped take the chicken chain from 184 stores and $100 million in annual revenue when he assumed his position, to more than 2,100 stores and $6.8 billion in annual sales upon his retirement. He is credited with identifying and rolling out the company’s “Eat Mor Chikin” branding and campaign, which is now recognized worldwide. He is also the author of the new book, Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand, due out in Spring 2019. He offers insights on building brand loyalty, creating a unique brand culture that stands out in a crowded global marketplace, and why success and culture are often so tightly linked.

Cassandra “Cassi” Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many “firsts” across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI’s first African American female special agent assistant director as well as the Bureau’s first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. In addition to defining the tools motivational leaders need to mindfully build more high-performing cultures, Chandler provides actionable insights on how to move the needle while leading with empathy.

Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the post pandemic world. As a keynote speaker, Heather gives lucidity to complex topics through her research rich, graphic frameworks, and powerful metaphors. In 2017, LinkedIn ranked her as its #1 global voice for education and in 2020 McGowan was listed as one of the Top 50 Female Futurists in Forbes. NYT columnist Thomas Friedman describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work. McGowan is the coauthor of The Adaptation Advantage (April 2020) and the Empathy Advantage (March 2023).

Hailed as "Chief Troublemaker" by some of the world's largest corporations, Dustin Garis is a master of blending innovation and marketing together. His disruptive ideas have been put into play with companies all across the globe, including P&G, Coca-Cola, and many others. With his unique background and larger-than-life personality, Garis helps businesses across industries to deliver new and exciting products and services to consumers.

Have you ever wondered why more salespeople buy BMWs than other cars? Or why a name’s popularity grows after a hurricane of that name hits? Jonah Berger has the answers. A marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Times best-selling author of the books "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" and "Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior," Berger has spent the last decade studying how social influence works, why certain ideas and products catch on, and what we can do to make ourselves more influential. He shares with audiences the keys to harnessing this “influence” to forge great partnerships, sell slow-moving products, and be more intentional with business strategies. His work is regularly published in top-tier journals, he consults for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like Harvard Business Review often cover his work.

Susan David Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award-winning psychologist at Harvard Medical School. Co-founder and co-director of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard/McLean Hospital and an authority on leadership, organizational culture, and success, she has been named to the 2017 Thinkers50 Radar list; the thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led, and is a highly-sought speaker and scientific adviser. She is the author of the acclaimed Emotional Agility, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, Axiom Business Book Award Medalist, and a Nominee for the Books for a Better Life Award 2017. Dr. David and Emotional Agility have been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, TIME, Business Insider, Fast Company, MSNBC, INC.com, Forbes, Strategy + Business, National Public Radio (Here & Now), PBS News Hour, Harvard Business Review and many other leading publications. Dr. David’s academic books include: The Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford University Press) and Beyond Goals (Gower). Dr. David lives outside Boston with her family.

As founder of FutureSight Labs, Seth Mattison is internationally-renowned expert on workforce trends and generational dynamics. He advises many of the world’s leading brands on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the future of work. Recently named to the “Editors’ Picks for Favorite Speakers for 2013” by MeetingsNet, Seth blends storytelling and cutting edge research to develop fresh perspectives on the key strategic issues most relevant for today’s leaders.

Scott Deming takes his twenty years of business ownership, board positions, working with small, independently owned companies as well as multi-national corporations and employee relationship expertise. Scott Deming speaks for and trains companies across the globe – big and small, in just about every industry. From CEOs to business owners to managers to sales people to customer service reps, Scott Deming’s programs have transformed individuals and organizations alike, showing them the real process for customer evangelism and lasting customer loyalty.

Frances West is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inspirational speaker, strategy advisor, author, and women in technology trailblazer known for her work in innovation, technology, and business transformation. She is the founder of FrancesWestCo, a global strategy advisory company focused on operationalizing inclusion as a business and technology imperative through her unique Authentic Inclusion™ blueprint. Her insightful and impactful approach comes from her unique personal background as a first-generation, no-English speaking immigrant to her trailblazing professional path as one of the first women in the technology field and her experience as a global executive in sales, marketing, business development, and research as well as her ground-breaking work in accessibility as IBM’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. Frances brings a valuable business perspective to this human rights-based initiative. Because of her expertise, she was invited as the sole IT industry representative to testify before the US Senate on the need to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in recognition of her work in accessibility, research, and digital inclusion.

Keynote speaker John Jacobs is co-founder and CCO (Chief Creative Optimist) of Life is Good, which spreads the power of optimism through inspiring art, a passionate community, and groundbreaking nonprofit work. John and his brother Bert launched their business with $78 in their pockets, selling T-shirts in the streets of Boston and at college dorms up and down the East Coast. Today, Life is Good is a $100 million positive lifestyle brand sold by over 2,000 retailers across the US and Canada. John provides the creative vision to guide the art and messaging direction of Life is Good to inspire optimism in everyone the brand touches. To inspire others to choose optimism and grow the good in their lives, John and Bert wrote Life is Good: The Book/ How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride, published by National Geographic in September 2015.