Humanities & Social Sciences

Esteemed speakers contributing their insights into human culture, behavior, and societal development

Manuel Dolderer

Manuel Dolderer

Manuel Dolderer is an economist, edupreneur, and advocate for transformative learning. He co-founded CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin in 2017 and served as its founding president until 2023, building an innovative learning environment based on curiosity-driven, project-based education.
Manuel studied economics, philosophy, and cultural studies at Witten/Herdecke University, and has now returned to his Alma Mater as project lead transformation.
As a keynote speaker, advisor and entrepreneur he is dedicated to redesigning learning for human agency in the age of AI.

Manuel Dolderer is an economist, edupreneur, and advocate for transformative learning. He co-founded CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin in 2017 and served as its founding president until 2023, building an innovative learning environment ba... Show more

Emma Ruck

Emma Ruck

Et si la pédagogie ludique rendait notre monde plus habitable ... ✨

Designer pluridisciplaire de formation, je me suis progressivement formée à l’animation d’atelier d’intelligence collective via la facilitation ainsi qu’à la création de serious game, d’atelier ludique et la gamification.
J’associe mes compétences dans l’univers jeu, de la facilitation & du design pour les mettre au service des enjeux des organismes que j’accompagne. J’aime être challengé et nourrir ma curiosité en découvrant sans cesse de nouveaux terrains d'explorations, avec une appétence pour les thématiques autour de l’éducation, la jeunesse, l'alimentation, l’innovation & l’écologie.

Mon crédo aujourd'hui :
Imaginer • Concevoir • Transmettre

🌱Imaginer des expériences ludiques et apprenantes pour tous publics.

🍀Concevoir et réaliser des supports intuitifs & impactant.

🍃Transmettre et animer ces expériences grâce à l'intelligence collective.

Et si la pédagogie ludique rendait notre monde plus habitable ... ✨ Designer pluridisciplaire de formation, je me suis progressivement formée à l’animation d’atelier d’intelligence collective via la facilitation ainsi qu’à la création de serious g... Show more

Thomas Thibault

Thomas Thibault

Designer et chercheur en écoconception au sein de Designers Éthiques, Thomas co-mène le projet de recherche Limites Numériques : une collaboration entre designers et chercheurs·euses en informatique et en design sur les formes, fonctions et usages d'un numérique s'inscrivant des les limites planétaires. Il a co-dirigé pendant 10 ans le studio de design numérique Praticable et est président de l'association de critique des technologies le Mouton Numérique.

Designer et chercheur en écoconception au sein de Designers Éthiques, Thomas co-mène le projet de recherche Limites Numériques : une collaboration entre designers et chercheurs·euses en informatique et en design sur les formes, fonctions et usages d'... Show more

Shweta Roy Chowdhury

Shweta Roy Chowdhury

Shweta is a UX Research Specialist.

Her core expertise lies in ethnography, service design and designing innovative solutions for products and services through the human centred design process.

Shweta is a UX Research Specialist. Her core expertise lies in ethnography, service design and designing innovative solutions for products and services through the human centred design process. Show more

Marco A J

Marco A J

Marco Ahumada Juntunen is an organizational developer who has over a decade of experience working with organizations navigating complexity — from development teams to leadership at companies including Spotify, IKEA, and Viaplay. His work centers on the dynamics that formal structures rarely capture: how culture moves, how change actually happens, and what gets lost when living systems are treated as machines.

Alongside his organizational work, Marco writes Post-Mechanistic Musings, a philosophical and poetic exploration of complexity and perception, and co-hosts the Complexity Cogitators podcast with Joakim von Prónay.

Marco Ahumada Juntunen is an organizational developer who has over a decade of experience working with organizations navigating complexity — from development teams to leadership at companies including Spotify, IKEA, and Viaplay. His work centers on t... Show more

Caleb Crable

Caleb Crable

Caleb currently works as a Staff Security Engineer on the Bill.com Red Team, performing attacks against critical financial infrastructure and production AI deployments to make sure that red team always gets a foothold. Previous to performing official red team work, Caleb spent 3 years consulting with Cylance Professional Services performing full-scope red team engagements for a variety of clients in every business sector. Before his consulting journey started, Caleb was a Senior Malware Analyst at Cylance and The Media Trust conducting deep-level file analysis, reverse engineering, incident reconstruction, and taking part in special projects such as research associate for the whitepaper “Influence Sketching: Finding Influential Samples In Large-Scale Regressions.” With over 14 years in offensive security, Caleb brings a practitioner's instinct to every layer of the stack, from physical entry and social engineering to AI red teaming and AL/ML research.

Caleb currently works as a Staff Security Engineer on the Bill.com Red Team, performing attacks against critical financial infrastructure and production AI deployments to make sure that red team always gets a foothold. Previous to performing official... Show more

José Lecaros

José Lecaros

He works as a Support Engineer at Chronosphere, helping both customers and the Fluent community. He's been a developer and support engineer for 20+ years.

He works as a Support Engineer at Chronosphere, helping both customers and the Fluent community. He's been a developer and support engineer for 20+ years. Show more

Scott Burgholzer

Scott Burgholzer

Cloud Engineer with over 8 years of experience leading migrations from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. As an AWS Community Builder, he is dedicated to advancing cloud practices and sharing insights with the broader tech community. Scott is currently pursuing a Doctor of Technology at Purdue University Online, focusing his research on the intersection of artificial intelligence and ethics.
He is passionate about staying at the forefront of AWS developments and enjoys mentoring others in cloud technologies. Outside of work, Scott can often be found storm chasing, reading, painting, playing video games, or simply relaxing.

Cloud Engineer with over 8 years of experience leading migrations from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. As an AWS Community Builder, he is dedicated to advancing cloud practices and sharing insights with the broader tech community. Scott is c... Show more

Giorgia Gibellini

Giorgia Gibellini

UX Generalist tutto fare, scrivo scriptini per ottimizzare processi, mi diletto nel mondo della formazione e dei social (da poco), proiettata nel futuro con lo strategic foresight e legata anche al fare manuale tramite la nuovissima officina di quartiere a Modena

UX Generalist tutto fare, scrivo scriptini per ottimizzare processi, mi diletto nel mondo della formazione e dei social (da poco), proiettata nel futuro con lo strategic foresight e legata anche al fare manuale tramite la nuovissima officina di quart... Show more

Luisa Escalona

Luisa Escalona

With nearly 18 years in the software industry, Luisa has evolved from being passionate about writing great code to focusing on building and nurturing high-performing teams. A Certified Encouragement Consultant and Empowering People in the Workplace Facilitator, she brings together deep technical expertise and a talent for fostering human-centered growth.

Since 2019, Luisa has delivered engaging talks and hands-on workshops that inspire teams and individuals to achieve their full potential. Her unique approach empowers organizations to drive both technological innovation and positive, sustainable change through collaboration and impactful leadership.

With nearly 18 years in the software industry, Luisa has evolved from being passionate about writing great code to focusing on building and nurturing high-performing teams. A Certified Encouragement Consultant and Empowering People in the Workplace F... Show more

Jeremy Darling

Jeremy Darling

Jeremy Darling is a Principal Consultant at Centroid, where he partners with organizations to design and deliver resilient, secure, and scalable technology platforms in complex and regulated environments. With decades of experience across distributed systems, cloud and edge architectures, and Kubernetes-based platforms, Jeremy specializes in translating ambitious technical goals into operational reality.

His work spans data-driven systems in healthcare, public sector, and higher education, including large-scale analytics initiatives and mission-critical platforms operating under strict security and compliance constraints. Known for navigating high-stakes technical challenges, Jeremy brings a pragmatic, systems-thinking approach to architecture, delivery, and long-term sustainability.

Beyond the technology, Jeremy is deeply committed to the human side of engineering. As a leadership speaker and mental health advocate, he focuses on empathy, resilience, and communication during moments of stress, loss, and organizational change. He believes strong systems are built by healthy teams—and that leadership matters most when things don’t go as planned.

Outside of client work and speaking engagements, Jeremy practices yoga and continues exploring the intersection of mental health, leadership, and sustainable engineering culture.

Jeremy Darling is a Principal Consultant at Centroid, where he partners with organizations to design and deliver resilient, secure, and scalable technology platforms in complex and regulated environments. With decades of experience across distributed... Show more

Francesco Esposito

Francesco Esposito

Author of "Programming LLMs with Azure Open AI" (Microsoft Press, 2024), Francesco is currently Chief Technology Officer at Crionet, a primary sport-tech firm, where he started writing software and algorithms at the venerable age of 12. He coordinates a team of 30 developers and data scientists doing applications primarily on the .NET stack. As an entrepreneur, he founded Youbiquitous, a data analysis and software factory working primarily on the Python stack for major public Italian companies and universities, and KBMS Data Force, a startup in Digital Therapy and intelligent healthcare, where he serves as CTO.

Author of "Programming LLMs with Azure Open AI" (Microsoft Press, 2024), Francesco is currently Chief Technology Officer at Crionet, a primary sport-tech firm, where he started writing software and algorithms at the venerable age of 12. He coordinate... Show more

Arjun Sharda

Arjun Sharda

Arjun Sharda is the 14-year-old Executive Director of TLEEM (Arabic: تعليم), Texas's largest K-12 networking nonprofit with over 4,000 K-12 and college student members from 11 countries through 37 clubs. Aside from TLEEM, he's been programming for over seven years and has written for outlets such as the Washington Post and the Austin-American Statesman. He has received recognition from Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas State Board of Education.

Arjun Sharda is the 14-year-old Executive Director of TLEEM (Arabic: تعليم), Texas's largest K-12 networking nonprofit with over 4,000 K-12 and college student members from 11 countries through 37 clubs. Aside from TLEEM, he's been programming for ov... Show more

Harrison Crawford, LPC, LIAC

Harrison Crawford, LPC, LIAC

Harrison Crawford, LPC LIAC - Harrison has worked in the field of mental health for 15 years and is a Licensed Professional Counselor with additional licensure focused on addictive disorders. Harrison has a passion for working with fathers through direct services and helping systems implement gender-responsive and trauma-informed programming. Harrison completed his graduate work at Argosy University in Phoenix, earning Master’s degrees in Mental Health Counseling and Sport-Exercise Psychology. Harrison lives in Gilbert, Arizona with his wife, Jenna, and two children, Grayson and Kinsley.

Harrison Crawford, LPC LIAC - Harrison has worked in the field of mental health for 15 years and is a Licensed Professional Counselor with additional licensure focused on addictive disorders. Harrison has a passion for working with fathers through di... Show more

Mark Porter

Mark Porter

Dr. Mark Porter is the founder of Soteria Alliance and the architect of its governing doctrine, Performance Mastery Culture (PMC). His work is grounded in sustained exposure to organizations where excellence was expected to hold under pressure, endure leadership change, and remain reliable over time. His Best-selling book: The Architecture of Excellence: Engineering Excellence that Endures Under Pressure outlines the foundations of Performance Mastery Culture (PMC):
• Systems thinking: identify why current efforts fail at the root level
• Behavioral science: understand how people think and respond under pressure
• Structure: clarify roles, accountability, and decision ownership
• Anti-Drift doctrine: recognize the inevitability of performance decay
• Architecture: governing laws that organize structure into coherent performance
• Design: embed architecture into daily behaviors that sustain excellence

Across more than two decades, Mark has operated inside large, complex organizations with direct responsibility for the enterprise conditions under which excellence either persisted or decayed. His experience spans executive leadership, system-wide organizational responsibility, and post-acquisition integration in environments defined by regulatory scrutiny, operational interdependence, and real consequence.

Repeated exposure to these conditions revealed a consistent failure pattern. Capable leaders intervened more frequently, carried increasing load, and applied greater effort as excellence became less reliable. Intent, experience, and commitment were present. What failed was the architecture’s ability to preserve excellence once conditions changed.

Performance Mastery Culture emerged as the architectural response to that reality. It exists to govern excellence as a permanent institutional condition, independent of individual leaders, episodic initiatives, or cultural reinforcement.

Mark holds a Doctor of Business Administration in Leadership and a Master of Science in Organizational Psychology. His academic grounding informs his work, but it is the sustained responsibility of operating inside consequence-bearing systems that ultimately shaped the architecture now embedded within Soteria Alliance.

His work spans North America and Europe and is confined to environments where authority, accountability, and institutional continuity cannot be delegated or diluted.

Dr. Mark Porter is the founder of Soteria Alliance and the architect of its governing doctrine, Performance Mastery Culture (PMC). His work is grounded in sustained exposure to organizations where excellence was expected to hold under pressure, endur... Show more

Samantha Goldberg, MSW

Samantha Goldberg, MSW

What happens when a clinically trained social worker builds a multi-seven-figure business from the ground up, and then watches her entire team walk out the door? If you're Samantha Goldberg, you don't retreat. You rebuild. And then you take everything you learned about shame, failure, and what real leadership actually requires, and you bring it to every stage you can find.

Samantha Goldberg, MSW, is a clinically trained social worker, entrepreneur, executive coach, and keynote speaker who works at the intersection of shame resilience, leadership, and self-worth. Named a Woman of Steel by PNC Bank and the Pittsburgh Steelers, she's on a mission to help people show up boldly and lead intentionally--without shame, imposter syndrome, or fear of failure calling the shots.

Samantha is the Founder & CEO of a group mental health therapy practice and multidisciplinary wellness hub in Pittsburgh established in 2018, built around a staffing model centered on business mentorship and entrepreneurial support. She built her practice into a large multimillion dollar operation, navigated a significant organizational crisis, and rebuilt it with radical transparency--an experience that grounds every framework she teaches in real operational leadership, not just research. Through her executive coaching and speaking platform, Unleashed Impact, she helps leaders and high achievers break free from shame, imposter syndrome, and the confidence barriers holding them back. She also serves as a private practice business consultant, providing business coaching to group practice owners across the country.

With 15+ years in the field, Samantha brings rare clinical depth to the leadership conversation--delivering keynotes that are equal parts research-backed and disarmingly honest, turning complex psychological frameworks into tools that actually change how people lead. Samantha is known for her sharp wit, radical honesty, and an uncanny ability to make a room full of high-achievers feel deeply seen--and ready to move.

Off stage, she lives in Pittsburgh with her first responder partner, two dogs, and a cat who has never once struggled with self-worth.

What happens when a clinically trained social worker builds a multi-seven-figure business from the ground up, and then watches her entire team walk out the door? If you're Samantha Goldberg, you don't retreat. You rebuild. And then you take everythin... Show more

Tim Huff

Tim Huff

Tim Huff is a decorated combat veteran, certified executive coach, and award-winning CEO recognized for servant leadership and character. A graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, Tim served 14 years as an Infantry Officer, culminating in a year-long deployment to Afghanistan with the US Army National Guard as Chief of Operations for a brigade responsible for training and sustaining the Afghan National Army. For his leadership in combat, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

After active military service, Tim made what he calls his ‘most extreme transition’… from command of over a dozen tanks and leading 100 troops, and a few months later, to a cubicle at The Walt Disney Company, managing spreadsheets. That moment reinforced in him that genuine leadership isn’t tied to uniforms, titles, or settings. It’s about character: the one constant that endures when pressure mounts. He later advanced in technology leadership roles with Macy’s, CRH Americas, and Owens & Minor, but his life took another defining turn in 2017 when he became the client of an executive coach. The experience gave him a profound sense of leadership freedom and clarity and set him on a new mission: to help leaders everywhere discover the same success based in character.

Today, Tim is the President of Turknett Leadership Group, a 38-year-old Atlanta-based firm trusted by Fortune 500 companies and global organizations. He is a Titan 100 honoree and recipient of the Servant Leader of the Year Award, recognized for his commitment to building leaders who live and lead with integrity, respect, and responsibility. In 2024, he extended that commitment in the most personal way, by donating a kidney to help save the life of a colleague.

Tim’s message is clear: skills can be taught, strategies can shift, but character is the bedrock of leadership. Whether on the battlefield, in the boardroom, or at the side of someone in need, it’s character that inspires trust, courage, and authentic leadership.

He lives in Cumming, Georgia with his wife, Kristin, and enjoys hiking in the North Georgia mountains where he finds both rest and renewal for his life of service!

Tim Huff is a decorated combat veteran, certified executive coach, and award-winning CEO recognized for servant leadership and character. A graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, Tim served 14 years as an Infantry Officer, culminating in a year-l... Show more

Margaret Juhae Lee

Margaret Juhae Lee

Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of the award-winning Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which was named a best book of 2024 by the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. A former literary editor at The Nation, she received a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies Fellowship from Harvard University and a Korean Studies Fellowship from the Korea Foundation. Her articles have been published in The Nation, Newsday, Elle, ARTnews, Writer's Digest and The Rumpus. A seasoned public speaker, she has lectured and taught workshops at universities, libraries and community organizations on searching for family history and how to talked to loved ones about the past, She lives in Oakland, California, with her family.

Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of the award-winning Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which was named a best book of 2024 by the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. A former literary editor at The Nation, she received ... Show more

Tim Tamashiro

Tim Tamashiro

Tim Tamashiro is a keynote speaker and bestselling author who helps people rediscover purpose, clarity, and joy through the Japanese concept of Ikigai.

He is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller How To Ikigai and a former national CBC radio host, where he spent a decade connecting with audiences across the country. Today, his work helps individuals and organizations move beyond burnout and busyness toward meaningful direction and contribution.

After a successful career in broadcasting and music, Tim found himself asking a deeper question many people quietly carry: What actually makes life feel meaningful? That question led him to the study of Ikigai, wellbeing, and the mechanics of the mind.

Blending storytelling, humour, and practical insight, Tim delivers keynote experiences that re-energize audiences, sharpen focus, and leave people feeling clear, inspired, and ready to engage with what matters most.

Tim Tamashiro is a keynote speaker and bestselling author who helps people rediscover purpose, clarity, and joy through the Japanese concept of Ikigai. He is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller How To Ikigai and a former national CBC radio host... Show more

Liene Freija Lund

Liene Freija Lund

Liene Freija Lund is a leadership and communication consultant with over 15 years of experience in international organisations, including senior roles within the United Nations system.

She works with leaders and teams to improve how they think, communicate and make decisions in complex and high-pressure environments. Her work focuses on attentive communication, emotional intelligence and decision-making as practical leadership tools — not abstract concepts.

Liene is the co-founder of Pathfinder Duo, SIA, a consultancy combining leadership development with cybersecurity and organisational resilience. She designs and delivers executive trainings, workshops and coaching programmes for organisations across Europe.

Alongside her professional work, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Communication, Behaviour and Credibility Analysis, where her research explores how emotional intelligence and communication directly impact team performance.

Her speaking style combines clarity, depth and real-world experience, offering audiences practical insights they can apply immediately in their leadership and professional roles.

Liene Freija Lund is a leadership and communication consultant with over 15 years of experience in international organisations, including senior roles within the United Nations system. She works with leaders and teams to improve how they think, co... Show more

Nicolle Petersen

Nicolle Petersen

Nicolle is a certified Personal Performance & Relationship Coach specializing in conscious relationships and embodiment, including feminine embodiment. Her work helps high-achieving women navigate love, leadership, and personal growth with greater presence, clarity, and connection. Drawing on transformational coaching, mindfulness, high-level communication, and trauma-informed somatic practices, she has coached individuals, teams, and businesses and facilitated workshops and seminars with organizations such as Simon Sinek’s The Optimism Company and Lululemon.

Nicolle is a certified Personal Performance & Relationship Coach specializing in conscious relationships and embodiment, including feminine embodiment. Her work helps high-achieving women navigate love, leadership, and personal growth with greater pr... Show more

Seconde Nimenya

Seconde Nimenya

Renowned for her ability to captivate audiences globally, Seconde Nimenya draws on her rich life experiences and multicultural heritage to inspire and empower individuals. With a compelling repertoire of life-changing insights, she offers invaluable perspectives on navigating adversities and achieving personal growth.

Nimenya is an author with five published books, including her latest, "Unlocking Diversity: Your Guide to Becoming an Inclusive Leader Beyond Surface Level," a book that delves into the timely and thought-provoking topic of inclusive leadership. Her TEDx talk, "We Are Not All That Different," is an exploration of race and other identity constructs that has garnered widespread acclaim and continues to serve as a powerful catalyst for embracing diversity across the globe.

Recognized for her leadership and unwavering commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, Nimenya has been instrumental in forging connections across varied multicultural communities.
Her academic credentials include a master's degree in business administration and a graduate certificate in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging leadership from Harvard University.

For further details about Seconde Nimenya's work, visit: https://www.bechangegroup.com/home

Renowned for her ability to captivate audiences globally, Seconde Nimenya draws on her rich life experiences and multicultural heritage to inspire and empower individuals. With a compelling repertoire of life-changing insights, she offers invaluable ... Show more

Mable Amuron

Mable Amuron

Mable Barbara Amuron is a researcher examining the intersection of artificial intelligence, digital culture, and society, with a focus on misinformation and disinformation. Drawing on her editorial and literary background, she investigates how AI systems shape the creation and perception of information online. Her work explores the risks of AI-driven mis/disinformation, such as deepfakes, automated content, and
algorithmic amplification, and their effects on public trust and democracy. Through interdisciplinary research, Mable analyses the ethical, social, and technical dimensions of emerging technologies while advocating for transparency, accountability, and equitable access to information. Her expertise spans
misinformation studies, election analyses, AI and society, and research communication, combining critical analysis with ethical storytelling to promote informed and resilient communities.

Mable Barbara Amuron is a researcher examining the intersection of artificial intelligence, digital culture, and society, with a focus on misinformation and disinformation. Drawing on her editorial and literary background, she investigates how AI sys... Show more

Florencia Gabriele

Florencia Gabriele

Florencia Gabriele, PhD, is an economics professor, instructional designer, and speaker specializing in artificial intelligence in education, inclusive teaching, authentic assessment, and faculty development. She teaches economics and personal finance and works with educators across disciplines to design more engaging, accessible, and student-centered learning experiences.

Her work focuses on helping faculty and institutions use AI in practical, thoughtful ways to improve teaching, support diverse learners, and strengthen course design. She is especially interested in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), accessibility, and the role of AI in creating more flexible and equitable educational environments.

Florencia has presented on topics including AI-powered teaching, assessment in the age of AI, economics and personal finance education, and AI-supported inclusive course design. She works with educators, schools, and organizations in both English- and Spanish-speaking contexts, bringing an international and interdisciplinary perspective to her sessions.

Her presentations are known for being practical, engaging, and immediately useful, with strategies participants can apply right away in their own classrooms and programs.

Florencia Gabriele, PhD, is an economics professor, instructional designer, and speaker specializing in artificial intelligence in education, inclusive teaching, authentic assessment, and faculty development. She teaches economics and personal financ... Show more

Sonya Andrew

Sonya Andrew

Dr. Sonya Andrew is a public administration scholar, researcher, and speaker whose work sits at a critical and largely unexplored intersection: how media shapes and distorts the delivery of public policy, particularly for Black and marginalized communities.

Drawing on her doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California, Dr. Andrew makes the case that public policy has a media problem — and the field has been slow to recognize it. Her research traces how media narratives have historically undermined equitable policy implementation, from Jim Crow-era rhetoric to present-day communications failures in government institutions.

Her presentations challenge practitioners, academics, and policymakers to confront two urgent realities: the field needs rigorous research into how media influence public policy outcomes, and public agencies must build their own independent, well-resourced media arms if they want their work to reach and serve the people who need it most.

Dr. Andrew has delivered paid presentations for institutions, including California State University, Long Beach. She brings a rare combination of scholarly rigor, lived perspective, and actionable insight, making her a compelling voice for conferences, academic programs, government agencies, and policy organizations.

Dr. Sonya Andrew is a public administration scholar, researcher, and speaker whose work sits at a critical and largely unexplored intersection: how media shapes and distorts the delivery of public policy, particularly for Black and marginalized commu... Show more

Cara Holt

Cara Holt

Cara Holt is a leadership and enablement speaker with a lifelong passion for helping people find their voice and perform at their best. She began public speaking at the age of eight, consistently winning speech competitions through high school and college, long before she realized it would become a defining part of her career.

In her third year as an educator, Cara transitioned from the classroom to training adults, quickly becoming a sought-after professional learning facilitator. She has presented at both state and national conferences and served as a national speaker for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s ECET2 initiative, supporting educators across the country in building confidence, instructional expertise, and sustainable systems for learning.

Over the course of her career, Cara has trained teachers and leaders nationwide and now applies that same learning science and human-centered approach to enablement, where she trains and coaches sales professionals daily. In 2025, she spoke at the Sales Enablement Collective, where a spontaneous conversation with an attendee’s leadership team led to a virtual speaking invitation and a defining moment: when asked how long she had been motivational speaking, her honest answer was “since 12 p.m. today.” That moment clarified what had been true all along—speaking is not new for her; claiming it publicly was.

As a busy mom of four, Cara brings a grounded, real-world perspective to the stage. She speaks on leadership, enablement, spirituality, gentle parenting, and raising self-aware, resilient kids, meeting audiences where they are and helping them grow with intention. Her talks blend credibility, authenticity, and actionable insight, leaving people both inspired and equipped.

Cara Holt is a leadership and enablement speaker with a lifelong passion for helping people find their voice and perform at their best. She began public speaking at the age of eight, consistently winning speech competitions through high school and co... Show more

Pierre Neis

Pierre Neis

Pierre E. Neis is a French‑German organizational transformation consultant, agile coach, and executive coach who has supported more than 200 organizations worldwide in their agile journeys across finance, industry, IT, the public sector, and hospitality. He is the creator of the AO (Agile Organizations) Method, a systems‑based approach that treats “Agile” as a dynamic of the organization rather than a team‑level process, and helps leaders answer the question: “What kind of Agile is your Agile?”

Author of The New Normal: AO Concepts and Patterns of 21st‑Century Agile Organizations and Swarming X4, Pierre designs adaptive, people‑centric operating models that increase coherence, cohesion, and responsiveness without burning people out. Over the last decade, he has created several practice‑oriented frameworks and serious‑game formats, including the AO transformation patterns, Swarming practices, and the Agile Animal Farm and PLöRK leadership‑through‑games workshops, which have been used by Swiss SMEs to global players.

Pierre speaks regularly at conferences such as Agile Tour, CAS (Conferencia Agile Spain), PMI Switzerland events, and other European communities, where he focuses on agile systems dynamics, AO transformation journeys, and practical patterns for moving from “doing Agile” to designing truly agile organizations. He works today as Agile Org Coach & Supervisor at Menschgeist GmbH in Switzerland, helping leadership teams, HR, and coaches design viable structures, clarify roles, and build transformations that are measurable through five experience‑based AO metrics.

Pierre E. Neis is a French‑German organizational transformation consultant, agile coach, and executive coach who has supported more than 200 organizations worldwide in their agile journeys across finance, industry, IT, the public sector, and hospital... Show more

John Mead

John Mead

John Mead is a youth development speaker and entrepreneur dedicated to helping young people recognize their potential and change the trajectory of their lives. For 15 years, John worked inside a juvenile detention center, where he witnessed firsthand how environment, mindset, and opportunity shape the choices young people make.

Those experiences transformed his perspective and inspired him to build a mission focused on empowering youth through empathy, accountability, and growth mindset. Today, John is the founder of MVA Wellness, where he delivers workshops and talks that help students develop self-awareness, resilience, and self-efficacy.

Through powerful storytelling and real-life lessons from working with justice-involved youth, John helps students challenge limiting beliefs and recognize the power they have to rewrite their future. His work focuses on leadership, personal responsibility, and helping young people believe in what is truly possible for their lives.

John Mead is a youth development speaker and entrepreneur dedicated to helping young people recognize their potential and change the trajectory of their lives. For 15 years, John worked inside a juvenile detention center, where he witnessed firsthand... Show more

Lambert Heller

Lambert Heller

Librarian.
Head of Open Science Lab @ TIB - Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology

Librarian. Head of Open Science Lab @ TIB - Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology Show more

Srishti Jha

Srishti Jha

From engineering floors to global boardrooms, Srishti has built trust across languages and time zones.
Surrounded by gears and doubts, she learned that impact creates space for belonging.

Lessons have followed her through four continents—designing EV parts in the U.S., leading cross-cultural teams in Europe, and managing a $120M manufacturing project at Northvolt.

There, in a melting pot of languages, cultures and metric systems, she saw the real challenge: it wasn’t strategy, budget or deadlines.

It was trust.

So she flipped her leadership style: informal tech huddles replaced rigid meetings, rituals replaced policies, and engineers started celebrating together instead of competing in silence.

The result? Engagement soared. Silos cracked. Delays dropped.

Today, Srishti brings those same tools to stages and boardrooms, helping leaders everywhere build teams that don’t just work together, but thrive together.

Her talks blend engineering clarity with cultural empathy, packed with real-world strategies you can use next week, not next quarter.

From engineering floors to global boardrooms, Srishti has built trust across languages and time zones. Surrounded by gears and doubts, she learned that impact creates space for belonging. Lessons have followed her through four continents—designin... Show more

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