Morning Sessions

The future of HR isn’t about managing change—it’s about transforming it with a mindset SHIFT! In this engaging and energizing session, Dr. Kevin Snyder introduces the ShiftThinker™ framework: a research-based approach to developing the mindset, confidence, and resilience today’s HR professionals need to lead effectively.
With humor, storytelling, and actionable insights, Kevin equips leaders to reframe challenges as opportunities, strengthen team engagement, and inspire positive culture shifts within their organizations. Attendees will leave ready to navigate disruption with confidence, influence with purpose, and empower others to think differently and achieve lasting results.
Perfect for HR leaders, managers, and professionals seeking practical tools to adapt, lead, and thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace.

Dr. Kevin Snyder has inspired over 1,000,000 people across 1,500+ audiences worldwide, including SHRM’s Annual Conference, dozens of state conferences, and countless chapters. A best-selling author and multi-time TEDx speaker, Kevin empowers HR professionals to think differently, embrace resilience, and achieve measurable impact.
One of only nine speakers worldwide to earn both the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Accredited Speaker (AS) designations, Kevin blends humor, authenticity, and research-backed insights to create powerful audience experiences. His ShiftThinker™ framework equips leaders to navigate change with confidence, reframe “NO” into New Opportunity, and drive performance through purpose and belief"

In this exclusive talk you will entertained and energized as Sean Olson shares his secrets to being a truly influential leader.  Look behind you, if no one is following, you are not a true leader.  Do you want them lining up to follow you....move from Fixer to Influencer.

Sean Olson is a keynote speaker, executive coach, author and podcast host with over 25 years of experience helping individuals and teams reach their full potential and effectiveness.
He is the Co-founder and CEO of Renogize Professional Coaching.  Renogize provides executive coaching and leadership development to companies and organizations throughout North America.  Renogize has been voted the #1 Executive Coaching Firm in Central Ohio by Columbus CEO Magazine for the past five years.
He published his first book in December of 2019, This Is How I Role: 7 Strategies to Accelerate Your Leadership Growth and Promotability.  He is also the host of The Intentional Leader Podcast.  His driving passion is to bring out the incredible leader that is inside every person;YOU 2.0.

As AI continues to transform how we work and lead, leaders face a new challenge — how to integrate advanced technology while keeping people and purpose at the center. This interactive session explores how leaders can use AI to enhance strategic thinking, strengthen emotional intelligence, and lead teams with clarity and compassion in times of rapid change. Participants will leave with actionable insights, tools, and examples of how AI can amplify—not replace—the uniquely human qualities of great leadership.

Diane is the visionary founder and leader of Leadership Excelleration, a consulting firm renowned for transforming individuals, teams, and organizations. With over 25 years of experience partnering with more than 300 organizations and 1,500 executives, along with thousands of leaders, to enhance organizational performance and future talent readiness. Her firm is celebrated for its unique process, which includes talent assessment, prioritization, a strategic roadmap, and effective implementation. Diane’s team of servant leaders, each with decades of experience, serve as trusted advisors, partners, coaches, and facilitators and are focused on client success. They deliver customized, best-in-class solutions tailored to each client’s needs, covering Executive Coaching, Team Development, Talent Strategy, Culture Development, and Performance Enhancement. 

This will be a fun (and quite useful) one! Our people don’t quit jobs—they quit guesswork. If your high-potentials can’t see a path or find the right guides, they drift. In this fast-moving, high-energy session, we’ll turn mentorship from a “nice-to-have” into a repeatable system HR can launch in 30 days. You’ll build a simple, visual career map (Now → Next → Later), redesign mentorship as a Personal Board of Advisors (multiple mentors with clear “seat” roles), and plug both into the rhythms you already run—onboarding, 1:1s, performance reviews, promotions—without creating new bureaucracy.

Pete Schramm is a farm-raised founder, bestselling author, and award-winning speaker whose personal mission is simple: nobody should have to navigate their professional journey alone.
From the fields of Butler, PA, to basketball courts and then boardrooms around the world, Pete has delivered over 125 keynotes, grown two businesses, and empowered thousands through his book, Pathfinders: Navigating Your Career Map with a Personal Board of Advisors, his podcast, and his career development, mentorship, and survey software platform, Lattitude.

Change doesn’t care how comfortable you are — it’s coming anyway. You can resist it, complain about it, or learn to spark through it. This session shows HR leaders how to transform discomfort into energy, fear into focus, and resistance into resilience.
In this high-energy, story-driven experience, keynote speaker and mental fitness coach Todd Bertsch shares how to ignite transformation from the inside out using his SPARK Framework from his upcoming book.

Todd Bertsch is a dynamic keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and Positive Intelligence® mental fitness coach who helps leaders overcome fear and resistance to change by igniting a growth mindset that sparks positive transformation.
As the founder and CEO of Evolve Marketing, Todd brings over 16 years of leadership experience to every stage, offering a rare blend of creativity, strategy, and real-world business insight. Having worked across every business pillar—HR, Operations, Sales, Finance, Marketing, and Leadership—he delivers a holistic perspective that resonates with diverse audiences.

This session explores the systemic blind spots that stall engagement efforts and offers insights for re-imagining how organizations can cultivate a culture of engagement, not enCAGEment. Attendees will leave with fresh insights and actionable considerations to move the engagement needle.
This interactive session focus is on the SHRM Human Resources Functional Area of Employee Engagement and SHRM BoCK-Business Acumen. This developmental session will allow Human Resource professionals to re-consider its Employee Engagement strategies. 

Dr. Davis Robinson, AKA, “The Fulfillment Dr.” is the owner of Horizon Consulting Services, LLC. He is a national public speaker, leadership coach, Employee Engagement thought leader and is recognized as a Top 100 Human Resources Influencer by LinkedIn. He has over 25 years of experience in consulting and Learning and Organizational Development. 

In a rapidly evolving business environment, human capital strategy must move beyond traditional workforce planning and become a central pillar of organizational success. This session explores how to design and implement a human capital strategy that is tightly aligned with an organization's mission, vision, and values—ensuring the HR function is recognized as a strategic value driver rather than a support function. Attendees will gain insights into aligning talent priorities with organizational goals, demonstrating HR’s impact on business outcomes, and effectively communicating this value to the C-suite and stakeholders.

Jessica Palatka, SPHR, SHRM-SPC, is an expert in Human Capital Management (HCM) with distinguished service across academia, federal government, defense sector, and industry. Her leadership is recognized for aligning complex organizational requirements with strategic mission outcomes, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, workforce engagement, and institutional
resilience. As the Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Miami University, Palatka leads all HR functions throughout the university, including HR strategic programs and partnerships, operations and services, and compliance.