Conference Keynote Speakers

TOM RATH

New York Time Best Selling Author of
Strengths-Based Leadership,
Vital Friends, and Eat Move Sleep

MARYJANE BULLEN

Barret Values Centre

Tom Rath will be speaking at 8:00am, on Wednesday, March 26, 2014

About Tom Rath

Tom Rath is one of the most influential authors of the last decade. He studies the role of human behavior in health, business, and economics. Tom has written five national bestsellers in the last decade.

Tom’s  New York Times bestsellers include How Full Is Your Bucket?, Strengths-Based Leadership, Wellbeing and Tom’s most recent book Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes. In 2012, his book StrengthsFinder 2.0 was the top-selling nonfiction book worldwide. In total, Tom’s books have sold more than 5 million copies, been translated in 16 languages, and made over 250 appearances on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list.

Tom is a senior scientist and advisor to Gallup, where he previously spent 13 years leading the organization’s work on employee engagement, strengths, and wellbeing. Tom also served as vice chairman of the VHL cancer research organization. He earned degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, where he is now a regular guest instructor. Tom and his wife, Ashley, and their two children live in Arlington, Virginia

MaryJane Bullen will be speaking at 3:30pm, on Wednesday, March 26, 2014

About MaryJane Bullen:

MaryJane Bullen, MSOD, is a trainer/consultant, coach, and facilitator with Barrett Values Centre and Coble Consulting. She provides Barrett Values certification training for individuals and organizations in the United States and Canada. In Washington DC area, her clients include: NASA and Goddard; American University; Industrial Bank, National Cooperative Bank; Washington Post; Catapult Technology (coach to Homeland Security leaders). Another client: TIAA-CREFF in New York and North Carolina.

As a management consultant at the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), MaryJane managed a technology team for
Latin America before moving to the Strategic Change unit to support the president’s office in creating deeper dialogues between vice-presidents during a large change effort. There she worked with Richard Barrett in 1996 as he was creating the Values assessment tools. MaryJane was appointed to serve on the Appeals Committee
for 5 years in support of better management and staff relations.

MaryJane received her Master in Organization Development from the American University/AUNTL program. In 2001, she became an adjunct professor in the MSOD program (course ‘Organization Analysis and Change’).

Recently, MaryJane and her husband moved from the Washington D.C. area to live on a lake near Charlottesville VA. In addition to consulting, MaryJane enjoys traveling and spending time with her four grandchildren.

DAN PONTEFRACT

Author, Speaker, Change Agent, Leader

DONNA DARE

Vice Chancellor for Academic
and Student Affairs
St. Louis Community College

Dan Pontefract will be speaking at 8:00am, on Thursday, March 27, 2014

About Dan Pontefract:

Dan is the author of Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization which published March 25, 2013 through Wiley. As Head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS (www.telus.com), Dan is responsible for the overarching learning, collaboration & leadership development strategy for the company. Dan championed the introduction of the TELUS Leadership Philosophy (TLP), an open and collaborative-based leadership framework for all 40,000+ TELUS team members. In parallel to these actions he has driven a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS views and experiences learning called “Learning 2.0”; the shift to a social, informal and formal learning and collaboration model bringing TELUS to the forefront of connected learning and leading. He further championed the use and deployment of collaborative technologies to complement both the learning and leadership frameworks. Between 2008 and 2013, employee engagement at TELUS soared from 53% to 81%.

Dan is a passionate leader in the learning, leadership and collaboration
technology spaces and is uniquely skilled to ensure an organization can move
from traditional models and cultures to those that embrace participative, connected and collaborative frameworks.

His career is interwoven with both corporate and academic experience, coupled with an MBA, B.Ed and multiple industry certifications and accreditations. Dan is also a renowned speaker and has been invited to deliver over 40 external keynotes and presentations since 2009, including a TEDx Talk. In 2012 he appeared on the front cover of T+D Magazine and Chief Learning Officer Magazine. His book, Flat Army, has been reviewed in both Forbes and The Globe and Mail and sat on the Amazon.com best sellers list in leadership.

He was recruited into TELUS in Q4 of 2008, previously holding senior positions with SAP, Business Objects, Crystal Decisions and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

Talk to him about Manchester United, cycling, his wife Denise or their three young children (Claire, Cole and Cate) and you won’t be able to shut him up. He’s an educator at heart. You can reach Dan on Twitter (@dpontefract) or via his personal site at http://www.danpontefract.com

Donna Dare will be speaking at 12:00pm, on Thursday, March 27, 2014

About Donna Dare:

Donna Dare was appointed vice chancellor for academic and student affairs in May 2009. Dare serves as the college’s chief academic and student services officer and is responsible for the overall planning, development, coordination, evaluation and continuous improvement of the college’s academic and student services functions and programs. She provides districtwide oversight of the college’s curriculum- and student-related policies, processes, systems and records. She also oversees articulation of courses and programs, assessment of student learning outcomes, and institutional and instructional resources. 

Dare joined the college in June 2005 as the district's director of career and
technical education. She served three years as dean of communications,
education, humanities and fine arts at Richland Community College. She also taught at Richland, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Millikin University. 

Dare earned her Ph.D. in education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Her bachelor's and master's degrees in English are from SIU-Carbondale.

MARK TAYLOR

Speaker, Entertainer

Mark Taylor will be speaking at 9:00am, on Friday, March 28, 2014

About Mark Taylor:

Dr. Mark Taylor is recognized across the USA, and in Canada, as educator, consultant and speaker who is on the forefront of transformations in educational practice and workplace management.  As an expert on the traits, developmental issues and learning outcomes of today’s students, he is dedicated to helping colleges and universities better understand and serve our students for learning, development, persistence and successful integration into the “after college” world.  His work with organizations and companies focuses on helping people understand and work more effectively with the generational groups, especially our young people from "Generation NeXt". 

Building on over 30 years of experience in higher education, management and the helping professions, Dr. Taylor’s has worked with over 500 organizations, businesses and schools in 47 states, made presentations at state, regional, national, and international events, and published in professional journals including, his recent articles on "Teaching Generation NeXt".  He has consulted with business clients like 20th Century Fox Motion Pictures, Wal-Mart, FEMA and the U.S. Army.  

 Dr. Taylor holds graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and academic appointments at Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Graduate School.