Speakers
2022 Speakers Coming Soon
Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Tim Gard, CSP, CPAE
Tim Gard, CSP, CPAE is a tears-in-your-eyes-laugh-out-
Eleni Kelakos
Eleni Kelakos (a.k.a. The Speaker Whisperer®) is a presence and presentation expert, and president of The Eleni Group, now in its second decade. She uses performance techniques learned over twenty years as a professional actress in New York and Hollywood to help executives be real, relaxed and relatable when they give presentations. When she’s not coaching individuals or facilitating trainings at companies like General Motors, Eleni practices what she preaches, raising the roof with her signature keynotes at conferences nationwide. An award-winning, nationally touring singer/songwriter, Eleni has sung the national anthem at Shea Stadium for three (winning!) Mets games.
Dez Thornton
Dez was professionally trained at the University of South Carolina and Dale Carnegie. Dez is a past president of the Georgia Chapter of the National Speakers Association and the winner of Speak Tank, a speaking competition hosted by the NSA. He has been a speech coach for TEDx Peachtree, coached hundreds of professionals and corporate clients, and even taught a public speaking class for 7 years at a federal prison. At the tender age of nine, Dez forgot his lines in a church play but he never forgot the embarrassment and humiliation that followed. Since then, he’s dedicated himself to learning and teaching the art of speaking and helping thought leaders say the right words in the right way when they matter most.
Brenda Abdilla
Brenda Abdilla is a respected and sought-after career and leadership coach. She works with corporate leaders who want more effective strategies for team accountability and collaboration, and with professionals who are navigating a change in their high-level careers. More than 90% of Brenda’s coaching clients get promoted, land the role they desire, or address their core issue within 12 months of engaging Brenda.
Brenda’s new book, Outsmarting Crazytown: A Business Novel About How Derailed Professionals Can Get Back On Track is Brenda’s second career-centric book. Outsmarting Crazytown hit the Amazon bestseller list for new releases in career. She is also the author of: What’s Your Lane: Career Clarity for Moms Who Want to Work a Little, A lot, or Not at All (2013), and serves as the professional facilitator for two Denver-based Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) groups.
Lisa Apolinski, CMC
Lisa Apolinski, CMC is the CEO of digital consulting agency 3 Dog Write, helping businesses accelerate revenue using digital means.
In the last decade, she has helped her clients create over $1 billion in new revenue growth. Because of her thought leadership, she has been dubbed “America’s Digital Content Futurist.”
Lisa is the author of Weathering Your Digital Storm and Persuade With A Digital Content Story!
Geoff Ramm
Geoff Ramm is the creator and author of Celebrity Service & Celebrity Service Superstars. He challenges and inspires audiences across 44 countries to create award-winning ideas to outperform the competition. His clients include, Emirates, Warner Brothers & McDonalds. FORBES called him…. ‘A Game Changer’.
David Koehser
David Koehser is a Minneapolis attorney who has over 30 years’ experience representing clients in the publishing industry. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota Law School, and he is a past chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Art & Entertainment Law Section and the Hennepin County Bar Association Business Law Section.
Jill Lublin
Jill Lublin is an international speaker on the topics of Radical Influence, Publicity, Networking, Kindness and Referrals. She is the author of 4 Best Selling books including Get Noticed…Get Referrals and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Her latest book, Profit of Kindness, went #1 in four categories. Jill is a master strategist for positioning your business for more profitability and visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course, and consults and speaks all over the world. She also helps authors to create book deals with major publishers and agents, as well as obtain foreign rights deals.
Russell Trahan
Russell Trahan is Owner/President of PR/PR Public Relations, and author of Sell Yourself Without Saying
A Word. PR/PR has a 20+ year track record of getting 100% of their speaker, consultant, and author
clients’ placements in front of their target market. A full-service agency, PR/PR specializes in targeted
media such as trade, industry, and association in-print and online sources. PR/PR: Public Relations
Producing Results.
Patrick McGowan
Patrick is the Founder of Punch’n™, The Video Presence Company. He works with speakers & consultants of all types who want to punch up their video engagements & maximize their impact over video. With over 25 years of experience in marketing, business development, & design – combined with a keen eye for what works & doesn’t work on camera – he shows people how leveling up their video presence can lead to increased engagement with their prospects, clients, teams, & audience. After working with him, people report having more confidence, more energy, more business, and more impact over video. His first book, Fearless Virtual Presence™, is scheduled to be released mid-2021 and he will complete three Spartan obstacle course races in the next 12 months.
Theresa Ashby, Ph.D., MBA
Well-known expert Dr. Theresa Ashby is a reformed Corporate Executive turned Entrepreneur.
She is known as a Stratologist and Business Scaling Expert. She consults Speakers, Authors, and Consultants on how to build e-learning courses, digital academies, and membership & community sites for business scalability and success.
Theresa is the author of Better Implementation Now! Eight Ways Great Strategies Fail and How To Fix Them.
Mark LeBlanc, CSP
Mark LeBlanc, CSP, the founder of Growing Your Business and cofounder and chairman of Indie Books International, runs a speaking business in Minneapolis. He conducts presentations for professionals who want to create an extreme sliver of focus and put more money in their pocket. He has given over a thousand presentations and conducted over 150 business retreats called The Achievers Circle. He is the author of five books including Growing Your Business, Defining You, and Never Be the Same.
Henry DeVries
Henry DeVries is the CEO of Indie Books International, a company that works with consultants and professionals who want to attract high-paying clients by marketing with a book and speech. He trains
business leaders how to sell more services by persuading with a story. He is the author of thirteen books on marketing, including How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett and Client Attraction Chain Reaction. He has a monthly column with Forbes.com.
