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.

From Navy SEALs to legislative and policy experts, the McChrystal Group brings a wealth of practical leadership experience in running multi-national, multi-agency, culturally diverse, and geographically dispersed organizations. From the battlefield to the boardroom, McChrystal Group has assembled the best leadership practices into a transformational leadership system called CrossLead

Vincent K. Brooks is a retired four-star general who was in command of all US Forces in Korea, where he concurrently commanded United Nations Command as well as the Republic of Korea. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he led the 4,000 cadets as the cadet brigade commander or “First Captain.” A history-maker, Brooks is the first African American to have been chosen for this paramount position. He is also the eighth African American in history to attain the military’s top rank—four-star general in the United States Army. Widely respected as a speaker and leader of cohesive, innovative organizations, within and beyond the military, his areas of expertise are: leadership in complex organizations, crisis leadership, and building cohesive trust-based teams, national security, policy, strategy, international relations, military operations, combating terrorism and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as diversity and inclusion.

Tall and thin, with remarkable onscreen energy and ease, the actor possessed intense malleable features that he used to good effect in both dramatic and comedic roles. Despite this gift, he surprisingly began his career with off-screen pursuits. Jones worked as writer and story editor for NBC's college-set comedy "A Different World" from 1991 to 1992. In 2000, he took on a role in a sports-themed feature set in the recent past in "The Replacements" and in 2002, Jones portrayed a band director out to prove that he has the best band/drumline that the historical black colleges and universities have to offer in the drama "Drumline." Jones has appeared in numerous television series including "Rules of Engagement," "Necessary Roughness," "House M.D." and "Pushing Daisies."

Stephanie is Owner & CEO of Asutra, where we're passionate about helping people take care of themselves on purpose so they can get the most out of life – what we call active self-care. Asutra offers magnesium-powered remedies for pain relief, sleep and mood, so you can care for yourself well. At Asutra, we’re proud to provide good jobs with career pathways at a living wage with benefits. Asutra is women-owned and women-led; 60% of our team are people of color; and 100% of our staff would recommend Asutra as a great place to work. Stephanie is an enthusiastic board member of Hope Chicago, which sends students and their parents to college debt-free; Very Asian Foundation, which amplifies AANHPI stories; and Naturally Chicago, which creates an ecosystem for natural products companies to thrive. Stephanie was honored to be named to Inc.’s Female Founders 200 list in 2023 and Beacon Award Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021. In her spare time, she’s an avid urban gardener who grows everything from tomatoes to lilacs.

On September 11, 2001, Jay Jonas was the Captain of Ladder Co. 6 and was one of the first responding units to the World Trade Center. Jonas and his unit were rescuing a woman from the north tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed on them.

Throughout his career, Mr. Oczkowski has worked at the intersection of where product development meets data science to forecast, predict, and analyze commercial markets and American elections. Prior to his work at Data Propria, Mr. Oczkowski also served as Head of Product for Cambridge Analytica where he most notably ran the team of embedded technical specialists inside the Trump Campaign that led to the scientific understanding of the eventual outcome of the election - a scenario that pundits missed. Using tactics from the worlds of: behavioral science, growth hacking, machine learning, sentiment analysis, and NLP, Mr. Oczkowski successfully connects behavioral dots together to make informed decisions about groups of people.

Mike Abrashoff is at the center of a tale of amazing organizational transformation. He took command of the near-worst ship in the Pacific Fleet; within twelve months it became the best ship in the entire Navy – using the same crew. How underperformers turned into overachievers makes for an inspiring presentation filled with practical lessons about learning to lead differently and new ways to create a high-performance culture of trust.

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.

Richard William Stanton MBE is a British civilian cave diver who specializes in rescues through the Cave Rescue Organisation and the British Cave Rescue Council. Rick is from Coventry and was formerly a firefighter with the West Midlands Fire Service for 25 years prior to his retirement. Rick has been recognized as a leading cave diver, and in 2012 he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire. He has participated in numerous cave diving rescues and recoveries including the 2004 rescue of six British soldiers who were trapped for eight days in a flooded cave in Mexico. In 2018 he played a leading role in the Tham Luang youth soccer team cave rescue. Rick and diving partner John Volanthen were the first to make contact with the team and played a leading role in the successful rescue thereafter.

Brian Solis is Principal Analyst and Futurist at Altimeter, the digital analyst group at Prophet and a digital anthropologist who studies disruptive technology and its impact on business and society. He is also a world-renowned keynote speaker who has earned accolades from organizers, audiences and media alike. Additionally, Brian is an award-winning author of seven best-selling books including X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, What’s the Future of Business (WTF) and The End of Business as Usual.

At the White House, Mr. Pfeiffer served as Senior Director of the Situation Room where he independently led the President’s 24/7 operations and intelligence center, providing timely intelligence and information to the President and most senior National Security advisors. He also expanded and managed the President’s national security secure communications and information technology infrastructure to better support senior leaders during times of greatest emergency. Building on an expansive career across multiple intelligence organizations, Mr. Pfeiffer served six Directors and two Acting Directors at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including three years as Chief of Staff.