Culture

Ray Brown is Senior Director of Pricing and Contracting at Medtronic PLC, the world’s largest medical device company by revenue.  His outstanding team of 44 is responsible for pre- and post-sale support of offer development, contracting, global pricing governance, asset operations, pricing operations, and contract compliance for the company’s $3.2B Minimally Invasive Therapies Group in the US.

Ray has been at Medtronic (which acquired his former employer, Covidien) since 2006.  He has held positions with the company in Boulder, CO, and Zürich, Switzerland.  Prior to his time at Medtronic, he worked for Qwest Communications (now CenturyLink) and AT&T.

Ray lives near Boulder, CO and is married with two adult children.  In his spare time he enjoys flying, running, reading, and German language.  He earned a BA in history from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Purdue University.

Jessica Rovello is the CEO and co-founder of Arkadium, which provides interactive, visual content to more than 450 of the world’s best-known brands and publishers. Founded in 2001, Arkadium has developed products ranging from games (notably Microsoft Solitaire Collection, one of the most played games of all time) to dynamic editorial tools allowing journalists to embed visual data and interactive content in their articles. Previously, at just 24, she pioneered modern digital viral marketing when she produced the website for The Blair Witch Project. A fierce proponent of evergreen business building and living a full life, Jessica was recently featured on the cover of Inc. magazine.  She lives in NYC with her husband and three sons.

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Jason Fried thinks deeply about collaboration, productivity, and the nature of work. He is the co-founder and CEO at Basecamp and co-author of Rework, Remote: Office Not Required, Getting Real, and the recently released,  It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work. You can get to know Jason before he takes the Summit stage through his TED Talk, Get Real Column for Inc. and Basecamp’s Signal v. Noise blog.

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Nicole Sahin’s mission is to make it easy for any company to expand into any country as easily as they hire team members in the United States. Her current focus is building the world’s most competent and trustworthy Global PEO to meet the standards of the company’s Fortune 500 clients. She led Globalization Partners to a ranking of No. 33 on the 2017 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, No. 6 on the 2016 Inc. 500 list, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year in New England, and has won numerous awards for breaking the traditional corporate mold by building a nationally-recognized company culture.

Prior to launching Globalization Partners, Nicole was a Managing Director at High Street Partners, a firm which provided international HR, tax, legal, and compliance services to CFOs, HR Directors, and General Counsel of fast-growing technology companies establishing subsidiaries and hiring in dozens of countries. Via her experience advising companies ranging from Tesla to HID Global on their international expansions, Nicole founded Globalization Partners to create a legal and technology platform that eliminated the need for companies to set up branch offices and subsidiaries in multiple jurisdictions prior to expanding their global sales footprint.

Jim Hume is the Founder and Principal of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Phire Group: a brand research + articulation + activation company. Phire is a fiercely independent agency focused on transforming organizations’ brands, their cultures, and their customers’ experiences. Using the power of research, community, and creativity, they help unleash brands that inspire and impact. With a focused and purposeful team of 25 all-stars, Phire Group has a wide range of experience working with clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to startups in consumer goods, healthcare, technology, education, business-to-business, the arts, and more.

Jeff Liscum is an executive business coach and co-founder of Prism Perspective Coaching, specializing in entrepreneurial business owners and leadership teams. Jeff’s expertise lies in combining a client’s Gallup Builder Profile and CliftonStrengths results for targeted professional development and intentional business growth through the lens of his client’s unique talents. With a previous career in advertising and marketing development, Jeff provides the most authentic and individualized experience for each of his clients, as he knows the importance and impact of a tailored growth plan.

In addition to his executive clients, Jeff contributes to the betterment of his coaching colleagues by administering his custom Builder Profile + CliftonStrengths comprehension workshops. Training certified coaches around the country hones his craft while encouraging the growth and continued development of his field. Jeff received his BP10 coaching certification through Gallup, Inc. and his CliftonStrengths training through Strength Strategy Coaching Certification.

Michael is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Big Path Capital, a leading boutique, impact investment bank focused on providing Corporate Finance, M&A, and Placement Agent services to impact companies and funds globally.  Big Path has worked with over 150 impact and sustainable companies and funds, more than any firm in the sector. In 2007 the old economy driven by the single gear of profit maximization reached a dead end in the financial crisis. It was a moment of reckoning during which Michael left his fifteen-year career in private equity to form Big Path Capital with his partner, Shawn Lesser, leveraging the engine of capitalism for an expansive economy built on natural, social, and financial capital.

Recognizing that impact investing isn’t just a different way of investing but a superior way of deploying capital, Michael is committed to challenging the status quo and to raising the expectation of capital.  In this vein, Big Path has created a number of first-in-class initiatives including the Five Fund Forum, Impact Capitalism Summits, and Impact & Sustainable Trade Missions.  Michael received his BA summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and received a joint MBA and MEM (Master of Engineering Management) from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Heidi Convery is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and founder of Flourish LLC, a strengths-based coaching firm focused on putting purpose back in the workplace. Through high energy retreats and intentional one-on-one coaching, Heidi ignites purpose and value in your team where complacency might be looming.

Heidi specializes in improving Business-to-Business connections by aiding your team in understanding the unique Strengths of your business partners and how to tailor communication for intentional relationship development. With a previous career in university administration, she also has in depth experience in motivating Millennial and Centennial employees. Heidi maintains a selective number of executive clients for management-based Strengths coaching – understanding how an individual’s Strengths motivate and discourage the growth of his/her business and people.

Heidi is a co-author of the Amazon International Best Seller, “Turning Talents into Strengths: Stories of Coaching Transformations.” She holds a B.A. in French, an M.Ed. in University Administration, and CliftonStrengths Coaching Certification from Gallup, Inc.

Corey is the publisher of Conscious Capitalism Press, the founder and CEO of Round Table Companies (RTC), and a speaker, artist, and storyteller. He previously starred in one of the 50 greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time (Mountain Dew, Bohemian Rhapsody), has won 15 independent publishing awards, and has been featured on the cover of the Wall Street Journal as well as in the New YorkTimes, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Wired.  Corey is the creator of the Vulnerability Wall and the Vulnerability is Sexy^TM card game. His documentary of the same name won 2017 ADDY and HERMES awards for branded content.

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Steven Dyme is the Co-Founder & CEO of Flowers for Dreams, a socially conscious flower company named one of Business Insider’s 20 Most Inspiring Companies in America (2012). Every bouquet his company sells benefits an amazing local charity in Chicago, Milwaukee, and soon Detroit. To date, they’ve donated over $400,000 from the sale of flowers.

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I’m the CEO of Know Your Team. My life’s mission is to help people become happier at work.

I write regularly on leadership at the Know Your Team blog, and have been published in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, CNBC, Inc, Fortune, among others. I speak internationally on how to create more open, honest work environments. I teach as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at my alma mater, Northwestern University.

People matter to me, most of all. I love my family and friends. I also enjoy painting, yoga, cooking, and any project that requires a pencil.

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Jana specializes in helping people magnify what they’re passionate about and connecting them to resources and people. In her work at Trebuchet Group, she uses her extensive background in organizational management and marketing to help companies get clarity around where they need to go and the confidence to find the right path to get there. She creates and delivers workshops and keynotes on leadership and entrepreneurship, and gets delighted when people realize they need more healthy conflict to accomplish great things.

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Since 2002, hundreds of leaders have trusted Chris Hutchinson and Trebuchet Group to help them achieve great accomplishments through creating great teams. Chris brings together real-world experience and understanding to support leaders who feel the weight of their company on their shoulders, and are frustrated by teams not achieving their potential. Chris wrote Ripple: A Field Manual for Leadership that Works in 2015 to help leaders increase their personal impact and create long lasting results.

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For the past eleven years Blair Kellison has been the CEO of Traditional Medicinals, a mission driven, organic and fair trade botanical wellness company based in Sonoma County, CA.

Traditional Medicinals purpose since its founding in 1974 has been to connect people to the power of plants to change lives through its social business model.  This business model has enabled the company to continually be in a leadership position on social and environmental sustainability practices. This philosophy
coupled with the Company’s financial sustainability has resulted in five decades of commercial success and created a truly sustainability organization. The Company is now the 4 th largest bagged tea company in North America.

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Paul Spiegelman is the co-founder of the Small Giants Community, a peer-group of purpose-driven business leaders.  He is the former chief culture officer of Stericycle, the co-founder and former CEO of BerylHealth and the founder and chairman of The Beryl Institute.

Paul is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Paul is a sought-after speaker and author on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, culture, and leading a purpose-driven life. He has made many radio and TV appearances and his views have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and he is currently a columnist for Forbes.com.

Paul practiced law for two years prior to starting BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University.

Bo Burlingham is the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio, 2006) and an editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine. Bo joined Inc. in January 1983 as a senior editor and became executive editor six months later, a position he held for the next seven years or so. In 1990 he became editor-at-large for a number of reasons, including his desire to go back to writing. He subsequently wrote two books with Jack Stack, the co-founder and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management. One of the books, The Great Game of Business, has sold more than 300,000 copies. The other, A Stake in the Outcome, has also done pretty well and gotten great reviews.

Before joining Inc., Bo freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. Bo was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine. In 1982, he joined Fidelity Investments, where he wrote for Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, and other honchos until coming to Inc. From 1992 to 1997, he served on the board of The Body Shop Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the international cosmetics company. He was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, a weird international networking group that gave him a chance to meet a lot of zany—and brilliant—people from around the globe.