Leadership & Personal Growth

An authority on brave leadership and founder of The Brave Initiative, Carol has been educating, empowering, and entertaining audiences internationally for almost a decade. She is committed to helping building braver workplace cultures - where every person is brave enough to bring all of who they are to all of what they do. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance, an MA in Communication, two postgraduate certificates in coaching and mentoring, and has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, International Associations, and thousands of leaders and individuals to get their brave on. Whether it be asking for a raise or promotion, nailing a presentation, or climbing Africa’s highest peak, her clients attribute her insights and inspiration to achieving what they never thought possible. She is also a dedicated mental health advocate, and founder of Brave Beyond Diagnosis, a community dedicated to empowering women living with mental health challenges. In speaking openly about her own experience with mental illness, she makes it okay to not be okay. Her work on creating safer spaces in the workplace, and inviting braver conversations around mental health, is changing the landscape on this important topic. Carol is a published author, been featured in numerous magazines and podcasts, and is a returning guest expert on Rogers TV in Canada. Having lived and worked in 16 countries including Ashrams in India and vans in New Zealand, rocked dreadlocks in Thailand and shaved her head for breast cancer, she certainly walks her talk and brings a global perspective to all she does. When she’s not traveling or speaking on stage, you can find her volunteering as a bereavement facilitator, training for her next triathlon, or practicing her serious carpool karaoke game! 

Nancy Woolever, SHRM-SCP, joined SHRM in 1997 to plan SHRM’s conference, seminar, e-learning and executive education programs. In 2006, she began leading SHRM’s academic initiative to raise HR educational standards and led the test development and administration of SHRM’s student capstone exam before joining the certification team as director of exam development in 2017. In 2019, Ms. Woolever became the vice president of certification operations as overall product and project owner with responsibility for exam development, certificant care and testing administration. Before joining SHRM, Ms. Woolever held various management positions in industry and academia. Her specialty areas are test development, training and development.  Ms. Woolever holds a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in HR both from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Psychologist and humorist, Bruce Christopher, is America's foremost "Enter---Trainer" today. He has earned this distinction because of his high-energy style and humorous presentation of his material. He is a licensed psychologist holding degrees in Professional Psychology and Interpersonal Communications. Bruce has Enter-Trained audiences internationally because of his humorous approach to today's hot topics which impact our personal and professional lives. He combines excellent content with loads of laughter and contagious comedy.  He has earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation (CSP), which is the speaking profession's highest merited international measure of professional platform competence.Psychologist and humorist, Bruce Christopher, is America's foremost "Enter---Trainer" today. He has earned this distinction because of his high-energy style and humorous presentation of his material. He is a licensed psychologist holding degrees in Professional Psychology and Interpersonal Communications. Bruce has Enter-Trained audiences internationally because of his humorous approach to today's hot topics which impact our personal and professional lives. He combines excellent content with loads of laughter and contagious comedy.  He has earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation (CSP), which is the speaking profession's highest merited international measure of professional platform competence.

Alden Mills is the bestselling author of Be Unstoppable and Unstoppable Teams and a keynote speaker. His acronym for successful leadership practices, C.A.R.E, is described in Unstoppable Teams. Alden has experience leading dynamic teams as a nationally recognized rower and three-time Navy SEAL platoon commander. After his time in the Navy, he led his first company, Perfect Fitness, to over $90 million in sales in just three years. Now, Alden helps inspire other teams like Lennox International, Marriott, and USAA to be unstoppable. 

With 25+ years of experience and several prestigious awards, such as the 2021 OnCon HR Professional of the Year Award, Erika Lance is truly a distinguished leader in the Human Resources field. Currently, Erika is the Chief Human Resources Officer at KnowBe4, the world’s largest integrated platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing. Here, she ensures KnowBe4 continues to run properly while maintaining a unique and fun company culture. Under her leadership, the People Operations team has grown from just 10 team members to over 50 team members in 11 countries across 6 continents. Erika is most well known for her radical transparency and her people-centric approach to Human Resources.

Jennifer McClure is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and high-performance coach who works with leaders to leverage their influence, increase their impact, and accelerate results.

Frequently recognized as a global influencer and expert on the future of work, strategic leadership and innovative people strategies, Jennifer has decades of in-the-trenches leadership and executive experience working in and with startups, privately held companies, and Fortune 500 organizations in a variety of industries.

As a top-rated keynote speaker, Jennifer has shared her insights with thousands of leaders at conferences and corporate events around the world. Clients include Procter & Gamble, General Electric, IBM, SAP, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab, Stryker, LinkedIn, Notre Dame University, Society for Human Resource Management, Association for Legal Administrators, and Association for Talent Development.

In her informative and entertaining keynote programs and workshops, she shares a blend of research, best practices, case studies and storytelling which leaves audience members inspired and motivated to take action when they return to work.

Jennifer is also the Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR, a global community designed to move the collective thinking forward when it comes to talent in the workplace, and she hosts a weekly podcast – Impact Makers with Jennifer McClure – sharing conversations with practitioners, entrepreneurs, authors and speakers who are changing the world while building careers that they love, and lives that matter.

Tracy Stock is one of the most in-demand and top-rated female speakers in North America today because of her ability to inspire behavior change and achieve positive outcomes. As a workplace culture expert, an engaging Certified Speaking Professional®, highly skilled live and virtual training expert and a best-selling author with five published titles, her 25 years of experience include clients such as the U.S. Army, Motorola, True Value, US Bank and Subway, to name a few. As a speaker of choice, Tracy is committed to helping energize workplace culture, enhance employee engagement and empower high performance. 

Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP is the Chief People Officer for LaRosa's, Inc., a regional Pizzeria chain. He has 35+ years working as an HR professional in a variety of industries. He has a globally recognized HR blog and author of three books, HR on Purpose !!, HR Rising !! and HR Unleashed !! He is a past member of the SHRM Board of Directors. Steve also runs a global HR network called the HR Net which reaches 15,000+ HR and business professionals weekly.

Valerie helps companies improve their bottom line by elevating employees from tactical thinkers to strategic leaders.

She served in senior leadership roles at RollsRoyce Aircraft before helping to found InterActiveCorp, parent company to Expedia, Home Shopping Network and TicketMaster. She then went to work for Oprah Winfrey, helping to found the Oxygen channel which was later sold to NBC Universal.

Valerie obtained her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University and her MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Val’s book, Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality, helps leaders manage multiple generations in the office.