Angie Bastian, entrepreneur, co-founder, and namesake of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP, took a kernel of an idea and popped it into one of the fastest growing brands of natural popcorn. She and husband Dan founded their snack company in their Mankato, MN garage in 2001 as a means of creating a college fund for their children. Their gluten free, non-GMO, whole grain popcorn is proudly sold in natural food, grocery, club and mass retail outlets nationwide with a product presence in Canada, South Korea, Peru, Japan, the Caribbean and Mexico. The company is constantly innovating and is one of the fastest growing and most successful popcorn brands in the market today. Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP is loved by fans as an empowered, spirited brand that represents authentic, real food that delivers on the attributes of clean, transparent labeling and great taste experience.

A beauty industry vanguard, Jessie Hayes-Stallings is the founder and CEO of Skinphorea Facial Bar & Acne Clinic who took her passion for skincare and manifested it into the first facial bar and acne clinic in Metro Detroit — a concept that has made waves in the industry. She has set Skinphorea apart by providing customers with medical-grade skin treatments while creating an elevated and personalized, yet convenient relaxation experience. Not only does she create experiences for Skinphorea’s skincare clients, she also creates opportunities for beauty industry hopefuls. As an investor and a mentor, she has partnered with the state to develop an apprenticeship program that offers aspiring estheticians the opportunity to train to earn their esthetic license at Skinphorea before being offered a full-time position at the company.

When the world’s top companies want to understand what’s next for their businesses and how they can create the next big breakthrough in their industries, they turn to world-renowned futurist Sheryl Connelly. Connelly is a global trends and consumer expert whose mastery at identifying what’s coming around the corner and the potential influences on customer attitudes and behavioral patterns that directly impact business strategy is unparalleled. From 1996-2023, she was a cornerstone presence on Ford Motor Company’s global trends and futuring team, working her way up the ranks at the automotive juggernaut and becoming the company’s chief futurist. Connelly draws upon her business foresight expertise and experiences at Ford to help organizations in any industry identify and analyze global consumer trends in order to lay the groundwork for long-term, future-focused planning and strategy across the entire company, and anticipate the ever-evolving needs and desires of the people they serve.

Ryan Estis is a well-known Business Performance Expert helping companies, leaders and sellers more effectively connect to their two most important audiences: employees and customers. He has established himself as one of the premier speakers in the business field. Mr. Estis is regarded as one of the Top 100 Keynote Speakers by Meeting & Conventions Magazine, and has offered his services to companies including AT&T, Mayo Clinic, CDW, Cabela's, Giant Eagle, Hewitt, Microsoft, Medtronic, Equifax and BlueCross BlueShield.

Co-author of the best-selling book When Generations Collide, David Stillman provides a comical and intuitive perspective on recruiting and managing four generations. True to his own Boomer and Xer personalities, Stillman offers strategies for marketing and selling to customers of each generation.

Amanda Brinkman makes the Energizer Bunny look lethargic. Fueled by fountain Diet Coke and a meticulous daily water intake, she’s a revolutionary brand marketer, a passionate speaker and a respectable water skier. She believes all brands can build loyalty by doing good, and she’s constantly on the lookout for new opportunities to share her “Do Well By Doing Good” mantra with audiences large and small. In 2015, Amanda was recruited to transform Deluxe Corp.’s 100-year-old, $2 billion brand. She spearheaded the “Small Business Revolution,” first showcasing 100 businesses across America, then going on to award $500,000 transformations to inspiring small towns. She produced and stars alongside Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s Ty Pennington in the acclaimed “Small Business Revolution – Main Street” series, which chronicles the program’s impact on communities and countless lives.