A decorated veteran of the sea, air, land, and outer space, Captain Chris Cassidy is among the leaders of an exclusive and distinguished group of accomplished military astronauts who have made an impact on and beyond this world. Recognized for his leadership and achievements as a United States Navy SEAL and a NASA astronaut, CAPT Cassidy’s various military deployments and spaceflight missions provided the catalysts for an action-packed career where he made the most of every opportunity presented to him, even in challenging and high-stakes environments.

As a senior policy advisor, security professional, and leadership consultant, Jeff Eggers leverages 20+ years of experience managing strategic efforts and leading high-stakes, high-performing teams during his time with the White House, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Navy. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Eggers explains why humble leadership is more important than heroic leadership, why leadership’s role is to cultivate rather than control, how a sense of “we” is the common thread amongst all high-performing teams — ranging from Formula One Racing to the Tokyo String Quartet to Navy SEALS — and why the most significant risk factors to a corporation are internal.

Mark Penn’s career spans 40 years in market-research, advertising, public relations, polling, and consulting, and he has advised top world leaders, led companies, and written best-selling books. Currently, Penn is the president and managing partner of The Stagwell Group, a private equity fund that invests in marketing services companies and reinvents the traditional holding company model. Before founding The Stagwell Group, he served in senior executive positions at Microsoft, where as executive vice president and chief strategy officer, he was responsible for working on core strategic issues across the company, blending data-analytics with creativity to help set the company on a new course.

Michael Maslansky, renowned message strategist, advises industry associations, professional communicators, and Fortune 500 companies on language strategies that shift perceptions and move markets. Using research and a trademarked polling methodology, he provides clear and compelling advice for how to use the right language and the right approach to using it.

Afterburner Inc is a team of elite fighter pilots who help your team pursue flawless execution and take performance to the next level. The combination of sound organizational development and combat-proven methodologies has made Afterburner Inc one of the fastest growing training and consulting organizations in the country. The Flawless Execution Model is a proven process used by elite military professionals around the world to execute missions when the stakes are high and failure is not an option. Corporate success, like success in combat, depends on execution.

Most widely recognized for her service on September 11, Heather “Lucky” Penney is a renowned speaker on topics ranging from personal courage; decision-making under stress; leadership; organizational transformation; inclusivity; high performance teams; national defense issues; and aviation. She grew up around aviation and warbirds, but women couldn’t be fighter pilots when she went to college; congressional statute excluded women from combat. Pursuing her love of aviation, she stood up the first collegiate team to race in the Air Race Classic at Purdue University, where she earned her B.A. and M.A. She was in graduate school when she learned that Congress had opened combat aviation to women.