MEET THE SPEAKERS

Richard J. Bryan is a leadership coach, keynote speaker, and former CEO who helps business owners grow companies worth leading - and worth leaving. At 28, he stepped into a 100-year-old, $120M family business that was losing $3.5M a year. With the support of an inspirational mentor, he led a turnaround, scaled the business, and eventually navigated a successful exit.

Today, Richard coaches a select group of growth-minded CEOs and speaks internationally about building A-player teams, installing systems for sustainable growth, and reducing owner dependency. Through his firm, The Bryan Group Inc, he shares real-world lessons and actionable frameworks with leaders who want to scale without burning out.

Originally from the UK, Richard now lives in Colorado with his wife Melissa. He’s a proud father, avid skier and golfer, passionate traveler, and lifelong learner who believes that businesses grow when their leaders do.

He’s excited to connect with the Small Giants community who lead with purpose and people first.

Carl Churchill, the Chief Coffee Officer at Alpha Coffee, and his wife Lori, the Duchess of Coffee, started their business 15 years ago in their basement with their two teenage kids as their first unpaid employees. Today Team Alpha is made up of 32 employees, offers online subscription and retail, wholesale, and has two of the highest rated coffee shops in Salt Lake City. Through their Grounds for Good Program, they’ve donated over $150k to charities. Carl is also a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who earned a Bronze Star in Iraq and holds an Executive MBA from the University of Utah Eccles School of Business.

Bridget Falco is a purpose-driven leader with a strong background in operations, team development, and mission-aligned business strategy. She currently serves as Vice President of Program Sales & Sourcing at Alpine Power Systems, where she oversees the Aftermarket Division, helping organizations extend asset life and operate more sustainably. Her career spans sectors and geographies, including serving in the Peace Corps and working with an early-stage solar startup in Panama, where she developed fluency in Spanish and a deep appreciation for leading across cultures. Bridget is known for bringing clarity to complex situations, aligning teams around a common direction, and building the systems and relationships that enable organizations to grow with purpose. Originally from the Midwest and now based in Asheville, NC, she brings a grounded, adaptable perspective to her leadership.

In her free time, Bridget is most at home in the mountains or on the water—hiking, camping, or canoeing with her husband, Piere, and their dog, Georgino. Time outdoors is where she resets, reconnects, and draws inspiration from the natural world.

Sean has lived in Charlotte, NC for 40+ years, grew up a baseball player and played at UNC before being drafted by the Oakland A's in 2003. Sean joined his dad's family business while rehabbing an injury that never got fixed and fell in love with sales and business. QDS has grown from a 2M business in 2003 to just under 50M in 2025. Sean has been married 20 years to his amazing wife Kristie and has 3 boys, CJ (12) and twins Beau and Christian (7).

Loren Feldman is founder and editor-in-chief of 21 Hats, an online community for business owners. He hosts the 21 Hats Podcast, a peer group conversation that has been tracking the experiences of business owners for six years. He also edits the 21 Hats Morning Report, a daily email newsletter that has been named the best newsletter for business owners by Inc magazine and that offers daily examples of owners confronting challenges and seizing opportunities. Previously, he was a senior editor covering entrepreneurship at Inc, Forbes, and The New York Times. He has also been editor-in-chief of Philadelphia magazine and executive editor of George magazine. He has spoken and moderated discussions at numerous conferences and seminars on entrepreneurship.

Sana Gabula is a leader at the intersection of education, data, and technology with experience in scaling mission-driven organizations. She currently serves as Head of Operations at Goalbook, and has worked across classroom education as a Teach For India Fellow, an education consultant with McKinsey, and multiple senior leadership roles at education technology organizations. Sana brings a systems-level perspective to improving learning outcomes and organizational effectiveness, and holds an engineering degree from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Kornel Grygo is the Chief Executive Officer and Operating Partner at Tasty Catering, a Leading Caterers of America company serving the greater Chicagoland area. With more than 18 years at Tasty, Kornel began his career in business development, customer relations, and logistics before stepping into executive leadership. His approach is rooted in the belief that strong organizations are built on character.

Kornel proudly carries forward the culture established by Founder and former CEO Tom Walter—one grounded in trust, transparency, and shared success. Under his leadership, Tasty continues to operate as an open-book, values-driven company where every employee is trained in business literacy, participates in weekly financial huddles, and is empowered to make independent decisions guided by the company’s core values. This model cultivates ownership thinking, professional growth, and a unified commitment to exceptional hospitality.

Born in Poland, Kornel is fluent in English, Polish, and conversational in Spanish. He holds a B.S. in Business from the University of Illinois at Chicago and serves on the Board of Directors for the Better Business Bureau of Chicago.

Furkan Amil Gur is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Department of Management at Northern Illinois University and he is also the lead faculty for entrepreneurship and innovation in the college. He received his PhD in Management from Louisiana State University. Furkan has worked in the advertising industry and started two entrepreneurial businesses before his academic career. He helped more than 150 student businesses and provides consulting to local, national, and international startups. Furkan's research has been published in top management and entrepreneurship journals. Furkan has also received various accolades for his teaching. Furkan is married and has two daughters.

Brandy Hall is the Founder & CEO of Shades of Green Permaculture, a sustainable landscape company and certified B Corp named to Inc.’s 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2025. Since founding the company in 2008, she has led a team of 20 in working with thousands of clients to design and build regenerative, resilient landscapes. With nearly two decades of experience as a general contractor, stone mason, and educator, Brandy is recognized nationally as “part of a new guard of landscape designers” (Garden & Gun) and her first book, The Complete Guide to Home Permaculture, was published in January 2026. She also serves as Mayor of Pine Lake, GA, and enjoys spending time outdoors with her daughter.

Brad Herrmann is the founder and president of Text-Em-All, a mass texting company that provides solutions to over 15,000 clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small churches. Founded in 2005 and employee owned since 2023, Text-Em-All is Certified Evergreen and has been recognized on Forbes’ 25 Best Small Companies, the Inc. 500 list as well as local and national Best Places to Work lists. Brad is a Texas A&M graduate with a passion for healthy company culture, employee ownership, gardening, playing sports, travel, learning and generally just having fun.

Chris Hutchinson is CEO and Abundance Influencer of Trebuchet Group – an organizational improvement firm that helps teams get breakthrough performance. Chris has over 30 years of experience as a leader, facilitator, leadership mentor, and coach of leaders and teams in military, public, and private companies and not-for-profit organizations. His education includes a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA. He is a Distinguished Toastmaster and a sought-after speaker. Chris is the author of a practical leadership book, Ripple - a Field Manual for Leadership that Works.

Sean is an EVP at Chenmark, where he focuses on the new acquisitions, leadership development, and the growth of its family of small businesses. Previously, Sean went through Chenmark's leadership development program. He worked at a commercial landscaping company in MA, and then led Gulf Coast Adventures in Destin, FL. Gulf Coast Adventures provides an array of tourism activities from boat cruises to tiki pubs and rock climbing, serving over 100,000 guests annually.

Before joining Chenmark in 2021, he worked at Ares Management, specializing in restructuring and performance improvement across diverse industries.

Sean lives in Nashville, TN with his wife Taylor, and their Australian Shepherd, Arya.

Ron leads marketing at Text-Em-All, where he drives revenue growth by owning the full customer journey—from first touch through long-term retention. He blends deep customer analysis with hands-on execution, turning insights about behavior, usage, and churn into clear improvements across messaging, product workflows, onboarding, and lifecycle programs.

With 30 years in marketing and nearly two decades in telecom, Ron specializes in uncovering what drives adoption, expansion, and loyalty in complex environments. He focuses on making the product’s value immediately clear, optimizing trial-to-paid conversion, and designing experiences that reduce friction and increase engagement at every stage. He works closely with product, sales, and support to ensure growth is grounded in real customer behavior and long-term success—not just top-of-funnel activity.

He’s known for challenging assumptions, simplifying complexity, and finding practical ways to get results—especially when others can’t or won’t. Ron is crazy about fishing, travel, loves a great old-fashioned, and lives in Frisco, TX.

Scott Jeffrey Miller is a highly sought-after speaker and moderator and an 9X Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling author.

Scott was a twenty-eight-year FranklinCovey associate, serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of thought leadership, and hosted the world’s largest weekly leadership podcast, FranklinCovey’s On Leadership with Scott Miller, interviewing 500+ of the world’s most renowned thought leaders.
Scott is a founding partner in the Gray + Miller Agency, the nation’s fastest growing speaking, literary, and talent agency, with over 300 creators, authors, and artists under representation.

Sarah Grace Mohr is CEO of MACKEY & The Prosperity People, two woman-owned, queer-owned, and family-owned financial firms where prosperity means time freedom, mind freedom, and money freedom. Growing up as "the boss's daughter," she played hide-and-seek in the file room and made confetti from old marketing materials—but swore she'd never work there.

Starting as Marketing Coordinator in 2009, curiosity kept her asking questions, failures taught her resilience, and iteration propelled her through Operations Manager, Communications Director, COO, and finally CEO in 2025. Each stumble became a stepping stone as she discovered that transformation isn't about having all the answers—it's about staying curious enough to find them.

Today, she leads strategic direction, business development, and culture creation while helping business owners unlock prosperity through financial fluency and mindset work. 

Jean Moncrieff is the Head of Community & Purpose at the Small Giants Community, where he guides a global network of values-driven leaders committed to building businesses that are great instead of big. He brings a founder’s heart and a coach’s mindset to stewarding a movement rooted in purpose, people, and long-term thinking.

Originally from South Africa and now based in Switzerland, Jean’s career spans technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership coaching. After scaling and selling an eight-figure business, he turned his focus to helping other business owners grow intentionally—building companies that are not only financially successful, but also deeply aligned with their values.

Jean is also currently the host of the Growing with Purpose podcast and a longtime member of the Small Giants Community. His first book, Finding Freedom, is out this year.

Kandi O’Connor is the Chief Operating Officer at Vya, where she has spent the past 29 years helping the company grow and evolve. Vya develops and executes marketing solutions that help organizations succeed in the business channels they serve. Having worked her way up through the organization, Kandi brings deep institutional knowledge and a strong sense of stewardship to her role. In addition to leading culture and people initiatives, she also guides strategy and operational management.

Kandi is especially passionate about building strong relationships with customers and believes meaningful conversations are at the heart of great partnerships. Her leadership philosophy centers on finding the right people, investing in their growth, and supporting them well—believing that great teams always return that investment many times over.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kandi was drawn to the Small Giants community by its belief in building companies that choose to be great, not just big. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children—often cheering them on at sporting events—and relaxing with her dogs.

Jean joined ACE Metal Crafts Company in 1983 as a sales representative and advanced through leadership roles before becoming CEO in 2003. Over more than four decades, she helped shape ACE into a company defined by trust, accountability, and care for its people and customers.

As CEO, Jean focused on building a culture where strong customer relationships begin with respect and care inside the organization. Under her leadership, ACE earned recognition for both workplace culture and business excellence, including the APA Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award and The Fabricator magazine’s Fab 40.

Now serving as Chairman of the Board, Jean remains closely connected to the business, supporting its leaders and helping reinforce the values and culture that have long defined ACE. She also serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards and holds degrees from UW–Platteville and Northern Illinois University.

Davin Salvagno is a 2X bestselling author and inspirational speaker known as one of the top voices on purpose and leadership. His bestselling books include: “Finding Purpose at Work” and his new book “Thieves of Purpose: 12 Mindsets Robbing You of Your Potential.” His talks and books have inspired countless lives, organizations and teams, from Fortune 500 companies, to the NCAA and the NFL. 

Davin is also the Co-founder of The Purpose Summit - one of the most significant annual global gatherings of purpose-driven leaders and organizations, and the Co-founder of Maison Vero - the publishing house of Small Giants Press.

Keith Stout joined ACE Metal Crafts in 1992, following in the footsteps of his father, who dedicated 40 years to the company. For more than three decades, Keith has helped shape ACE’s culture of craftsmanship, trust, and continuous improvement. Today, he serves as CEO of ACE and President of Genesis Automation. With a mechanical engineering degree, Keith pairs technical rigor with a deep commitment to the people side of leadership. He believes strong culture and strong operations are inseparable. Lean thinking is practiced as discipline, not as a program. Customer relationships are strengthened through consistency and follow-through, and teams are developed with clarity, ownership, and trust.

Married for 30 years and a proud father of four adult children, Keith views leadership as a responsibility to model character at work and at home. His focus is steady: build resilient systems, invest in people, and lead companies that endure.

Nenuca Syquia is the Founder and CEO of Better Organizations by Design (BOxD), a consulting firm that helps purpose-driven organizations navigate growth, change, and complexity without losing sight of what matters most. She partners with founders and executive teams to align leadership, structure, and culture so that they can achieve their goals.

Nenuca has worked across family-owned, founder-led, and mission-driven organizations and global companies, giving her a grounded perspective on how leadership and operations must evolve as organizations scale while staying true to their north star. Her work is rooted in the belief that sustainable success comes from designing organizations that honor people, relationships, and long-term well-being alongside performance. She holds graduate degrees from Cornell University and the University of San Francisco. Outside of BOxD, she serves as a city commissioner, non-profit board member, and an advocate for responsible business.

Tom Walter is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and author.

Tom founded or co-founded 44 companies in his career. Some of his employees have co-
founded, with Tom, 9 of those companies. Tasty Catering has twice been named the
Psychologically Healthiest Workplace in the United States by the American Psychological
Association. (An honor that has also been won by fellow Small Giant Company Ace Metal
Works led by Jean and Angela Pitzo). Tasty has also been recognized as a top USA
company by Inc. Magazine, Forbes Magazine and Wall Street Journal among others.

He has addressed both business and academic institutions during his speaking career. One
of his favorite audiences is the Academy of Management which is a global group consisting
of 12,000 + professors of business. They have named him a “Practitioner-Scientist” in the
fields of employee engagement and organizational culture.

Tasty Catering has been the subject of six doctoral dissertations. Tom has co-authored four academic journals on culture and engagement. In addition, he coauthored the award- winning book on employee engagement, It’s My Company Too!