Opening and Closing Sessions
Prepare to Be Inspired
Opening and Closing Sessions
Opening Keynote: Everyone Is Sort of Autistic—Even Your Salespeople
Monday, May 19
8:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. CT
David Finch
Businesses thrive when they hire unique talents. The trick is knowing how to manage these gifted individuals, who sometimes operate a little differently from the rest of us. Drawing from sometimes hilarious personal experience in the Fortune 500 workplace, Dave Finch's practical discussion on both managing and leveraging neurodiversity in the workplace is as important as multicultural awareness and other de facto fixtures in today’s corporate training repertoire.
Opening Session and coffee sponsored by
David Finch is a senior-level business development and content marketing professional, New York Times bestselling author and technical writer, principal and founder of a successful content marketing studio, and creative and technical consultant to Hollywood studios including Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures Television, and Netflix. He has forged a rather unique career comprising semiconductor market development engineering, mass-market components distribution, firmware and software development, technical content marketing, neurodiversity consulting, and public speaking. His book, The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband, was featured in O the Oprah Magazine, People, Elle, Marie Claire, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and NPR’s All Things Considered.
His work as a writer and consultant has been seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR, SiriusXM, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, This American Life, The Howard Stern Show, Psychology Today, Slate, NBC.com, EETimes, EDN, Wireless Design, and the popular television series, NOT DEAD YET (ABC/Hulu) and ATYPICAL (Netflix).
David’s company, Elevated Studio, creates and manages technical marketing strategies and campaigns for the semiconductor, electronics, and entertainment industries. They also produce podcasts, written word, and other digital media for brands and individuals around the world including Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony, Netflix, Comcast, STMicroelectronics, Arrow Electronics, and others.
Closing Keynote: Bulletproof Strategies for Leading Fearlessly
Wednesday, May 22
3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. ET
Evy Poumpouras
As someone who broke glass ceilings in a male-dominated field, former Secret Service special agent, Evy Poumpouras, demonstrates how anyone can move beyond self-doubt to a mindset of strength and resilience. In this talk, she shares valuable methods for harnessing solution-based thinking at work and every day and filtering out the noise to lead and problem solve effectively. Poumpouras stresses how important it is for leaders to master emotional intelligence, enhance mental fortitude, and break through diminishing thought patterns and self-doubt, while providing powerful tools to add to your arsenal as you look to lead yourself and your people to conquering short- and long-term challenges.
Key Takeaways:
- Strength and Resilience: Poumpouras draws from her experience as a trailblazer in a male-dominated field to inspire others to move beyond self-doubt and cultivate strength and resilience.
- Solution-Based Thinking: Leaders are encouraged to adopt solution-based thinking, filtering out distractions and self-doubt to effectively lead and problem-solve.
- Emotional Intelligence: Mastering emotional intelligence is highlighted as crucial for effective leadership, helping leaders navigate challenges with clarity and empathy.
For more than 12 years, Evy Poumpouras served as a Secret Service special agent in an action-packed career during which she was responsible for protecting the world’s most high-value assets. She was a member of the Presidential Protective Division for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and also protected Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush.
In addition to safeguarding our nation’s heads of state, during her tenure in the Secret Service, Poumpouras worked complex criminal investigations, operated undercover, and was an interrogator for the agency’s elite polygraph unit specially trained in the art of lie detection, human behavior, and cognitive influence. She was among the first responders during the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and was honored with United States Secret Service Valor Award in recognition of her heroic efforts. In parallel to her work as a journalist and TV personality, Poumpouras is an adjunct professor for The City University of New York, where she teaches criminal justice and criminology.
Today, she is a widely recognized multimedia journalist, host, and producer who uses her skills in front of and behind the camera to conduct headline-grabbing interviews and investigate the biggest stories in the media. She appears regularly on “TODAY,” MSNBC, and “Good Morning America” to share her sought-after expertise on national security, law enforcement, and crime. In addition to her role as NBC’s law enforcement and national security analyst, she is the host of Bravo TV’s competition series "Spy Games." In parallel to her work as a journalist and TV personality, Poumpouras is an adjunct professor for The City University of New York, where she teaches criminal justice and criminology. She is also the author of the bestselling book Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, Live Fearlessly, in which she introduces unique and actionable strategies for influencing any situation and transforming yourself into a stronger, more confident, and more powerful person.
Poumpouras holds a master's degree in Psychology and Communications.
