Laura Baxter is specialized in helping and advising international leaders to find their voice and develop their leadership presence across cultures and to shape their message to be compelling, inspiring and influential on the global stage.

As an opera singer and performance coach, she has studied the effects of the voice and body on non-verbal communication and leadership for over 25 years, and she brings this experience together to help her clients perform and communicate better. In her work, Presence is the key to success on and off the stage, when giving presentations and when dealing with other people.

A recipient of the prestigious Louis Sudler Award for the Arts at Emory University, she was on the faculty of Duke University pri- or to her move to Germany and has been on the faculty of the Frie- drich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany, since 1999. She is co-author of several books in German and author of Dealing with Divas and Other Difficult Personalities: A Mindful Approach to Improving Relationships in Your Business or Organization!

Monique Blokzyl is the founder of HeartPowered Business, which has helped hundreds of visionary entrepreneurs, business leaders and speakers from 50-plus countries with her Voice to Millions and her HeartPowered Business Frameworks to boost their visibility and multiply their income and impact by turning their voice into a scalable legacy business. Monique is also an award-winning international speaker and business mentor, podcaster, and published author.

Monique has won the Public Speaking Toastmasters competition twice on the European level. As a professional speaker, she has shared stages in more than thirty countries with top entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk and political leaders, including former U.S. foreign minister John Kerry, and many others. 

As a member of the Evolutionary Business Council, the German Speaker Association, and others, Monique has built a powerful network that reaches millions. Monique has received many awards, such as the Exceptional Woman of Excellence Award from the Women Economic Forum, and has been featured in BusinessWorld, Netcoo, Feminess, and more. 

Monique is also the Voice for Love movement initiator, to turn conflict into connection and competition into collaboration, and to bring appreciation into boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Monique worked for fifteen years in different corporate leadership positions. Combining her passion for business with her love for speaking, her mantra is, “Speak. Scale. Impact the World!”

www.HeartPoweredBusiness.com

Trudi Boatwright is an internationally recognised speaker and Playful Experience Designer. Combining experiential learning, design, and the creativity of storytelling, she brings a unique voice to stages across the world.

With a Master of Design Futures and twenty years in communications, Trudi is known for her ability to turn complex human dynamics into actionable insights. She is one of the few certified Experiential Learning Coaches in Australia and serves on the faculty of the Institute for Experiential Learning in the United States, grounding her work in globally respected methodology. 

Her facilitation and training credentials extend across corporate, government, education, and emergency services. Trudi has designed and delivered over 150 simulation scenarios at the largest simulation venue in the Southern Hemisphere. Her learning design has contributed to programs for policing agencies, environmental regulators, and nationwide education initiatives. 

A TEDx speaker, theatre-maker and writer, Trudi is known for blending evidence-based insights with humour, warmth, and an instinct for human connection. Her keynotes and workshops demonstrate what research confirms: play is not the opposite of work—it’s the catalyst for innovation, resilience, and high-functioning teams.

Trudi’s mission is to unlock the power of play-FUL leadership so people show up more courageous, connected, and capable of doing extraordinary things together.

www.TrudiBoatwright.com

Tim Borys is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and former New York Yankees draft pick who helps leaders and teams thrive at the intersection of human performance, business strategy, and corporate culture. With over two decades of C-suite and entrepreneurial experience, Tim blends insights from physiology, psychology, and elite athletics to create high-impact leadership programs that drive sustainable results. He’s the author of The Fitness Curveball book series and host of The Working Well Podcast. Tim’s mission: to build thriving humans, stronger teams, and profitable businesses in today’s rapidly evolving world of work.

Philippe Boulanger is the creator of the Innovational Intelligence™ System, a human-centered innovation framework that frees people from status quo thinking so organizations can thrive in an accelerating world. He is the author of Innovational Intelligence and an internationally sought-after innovation expert.

Philippe holds a PhD in Computer Science and founded his first company while completing his doctorate, long before France had a startup culture. His corporate innovation journey took him to senior roles at Apple, where he ran their Communication Products and Technologies Group and oversaw their European R&D center during Steve Jobs's return; and Sony, where he launched VAIO PCs and the Aibo robot across Europe. As chief technical officer at Neopost Group (now Quadient), he managed over 1,100 engineers and researchers at 20+ locations worldwide and created Neopost Labs, the company's innovation division.

Philippe has been awarded multiple patents and created key innovations throughout his career. His Innovational Intelligence™ System combines his extensive experience leading innovation at global technology giants with research from neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and organizational development.

Currently, Philippe is a member of the French and U.S. Associations of Professional Speakers and  a director of the Global Speakers Federation. He coaches innovation methods at HEC Paris and works with clients worldwide in French and English.

www.PhilippeBoulanger.com

Bob has led six businesses and three substantial SMEs with hundreds of staff and revenues of up to £50M, driving operational turnarounds, merger integrations, and fundraising for new divisions he grew to profitability.

Before finding his calling as an SME leader, he gained broad experience across diverse industries and cultures, alternating between senior consulting roles at Accenture and PwC, and hands-on work with SMEs, implementing IT systems. He has an MBA and a first-class honours degree, providing him with a solid foundation before real business taught him the practical realities.

In recent years, he's served on eighteen boards, spanning the public, private, and charitable sectors. More significantly, through his own business, he has facilitated over 800 mastermind meetings with more than 300 SME leaders, creating confidential forums where they debated their thorniest leadership challenges.

The result? Insights into business and leadership that are unusually broad and deep, born from thousands of hours helping leaders navigate the messy reality.

Today, as an author, speaker, facilitator, and coach, his purpose is straightforward: to save clients time and money by sharing the shortcuts he's discovered and dead ends he's hit. He's made plenty of mistakes so you don't have to!

His philosophy? Real leadership wisdom comes from the trenches, not the textbooks.

Eksteen de Waal is an international conflict-resolution specialist, Leadership Architect, and former military officer, known for transforming strained relationships and fractured teams into resilient, high-performing units. His work is shaped by the death of his friend, Johnny, at the age of six, in a tragic accident, followed by the devastating moment when adults around him dismissed Johnny as “worthless” because he was Black. This early encounter with discrimination and cruelty sparked a lifelong mission: to help people transcend their baser instincts, interrupt cycles of retaliation, and build relationships grounded in dignity and humanity.

With more than three decades in the tech, pharma, and financial industries, Eksteen blends applied positive psychology, organizational behaviour, and deep motivational insight to help leaders navigate conflict with clarity and compassion. His military background, global relocations, and personal reinvention have shaped a worldview that sees conflict, not as merely a failure, but as an invitation to growth.

He holds an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management and mentors students at Harvard Law School and RSM. As founder of Exponentially Me, he works with executives worldwide to rebuild trust and unlock sustainable performance. Multilingual and globally experienced, he found his home in the diversity of Amsterdam, where he is inspired by the city’s rich tapestry of over 180 nationalities

From an early age, I valued learning and teamwork—my most treasured diploma was actually a Team Spirit Award in Year 3! 

As soon as I started working, collective thinking seemed obvious as key to results. However, I quickly discovered that, in many organizations, the impact of collective performance was often overlooked and misunderstood. 

After twenty years as a project manager, manager, and trainer, I realized how crucial collective performance was for a company’s success. This is why, in 2019, I decided to share my experience and expertise in Et si on la jouait collectif? (English title to come in March 2026), a book published by Pearson, providing a clear methodology, proven tools, and a model for collective performance. 

This book quickly became a go-to resource for managers, HR professionals, and students, so Pearson requested a second, expanded edition to be released in 2025, with the English version scheduled for publication in March 2026.

L'Oréal Group has acquired 700 copies of this title for its HR and executive teams as Jean-Claude Le Grand, L'Oréal Group HR Director, commented that “Facing a global societal crisis that calls for more collective engagement, this book is more relevant than ever.” 

Since 2020, I have been working as a speaker, consultant, and coach, supporting leaders and teams in unlocking and maximizing the full potential of collective performance.

www.vecdas.fr/book-in-english/

Trish Goodfield is a speaker, coach, and facilitator who helps leaders and teams unlock their Weird Wisdom®—the unique mix of experience, values, perspective, and insight—that fuels innovation, inclusion, and meaningful change. With decades of leadership experience across community, education, government, and corporate sectors, she knows that the most powerful ideas often come from the edges, not the centre, and that diversity of thought is essential for resilient, engaged teams.

As the creator of Weird Wisdom®, Trish invites people to bring their whole selves to the table, including the unconventional and unfinished parts. Her work is grounded in five guiding principles: comfort with uncertainty, learning through failure, holding paradox, exploring the unconventional, and challenging norms. She helps organizations move beyond box-ticking inclusion toward cultures where curiosity, compassion, and creativity thrive.

Trish’s background includes frontline and executive roles in disability, health, aged care, employment, and community services. She has led large teams, delivered complex change initiatives, and coached senior leaders through uncertainty and transformation. Clients value her warm, no-nonsense style—playful when it helps, direct when it matters—always delivered with empathy and respect.

Based in Tasmania, Trish works across Australia and internationally, inspiring people to lead more humanely and build workplaces where people can show up fully, speak up confidently, and belong.

www.TrishGoodfield.com

Adam Harris is a leadership coach and Professional EOS Implementer® based in Taranaki, New Zealand, and co‑founder of Frank & Fearless. He helps growth‑minded owners and leadership teams turn strategy into traction by installing simple, durable operating rhythms so people know what to do, why it matters, and how to win together.

A former tech founder and association CEO, Adam has owned and sold two IT companies and led a national industry body he later merged into a global organization. He co‑hosts The Business Hour on Most FM, interviewing leaders and builders across the region. His work blends carefrontational honesty with practical systems: clear outcomes, right seats, weekly cadence, and the courage to talk about the real issues.

When he’s not coaching or on air, you’ll find him outdoors, cheering on Nottingham Forest at ungodly NZ hours, or trading ideas with leaders who want their teams to own the outcome and their lives to feel lighter because of it.

www.FrankandFearless.com

Gijs Hillmann is an international corporate trainer, speaker, and contributing author, specializing in leadership and performance in culturally complex environments across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). He works with organizations where cultural diversity, labour mobility, and operational pressure intersect, and where leadership clarity directly affects safety, trust, and results.

Gijs works comfortably across national, organizational, and professional cultures. His experience spans leadership development for international consultants, operational managers, and organizations employing large groups of labour migrants alongside local and expat workers. This places his work at the frontline of today’s key leadership challenges: international integration, workforce mobility, and cross-border collaboration.

As founder of CultureBeatz, Gijs designs and delivers leadership programs, keynotes, and facilitated dialogues that move beyond theory or cultural stereotypes. His approach translates cultural complexity into clear leadership behaviour—how expectations are set, standards are protected, feedback is delivered, and trust is built in diverse teams.

His writing and speaking are grounded in real-world practice and informed by psychology, organizational dynamics, and operational leadership. He is well known for addressing the first critical months of international leadership, where credibility and authority are either established or quietly lost.

www.CultureBeatz.com

Franziska Höhne is a Project Management Professional (PMP), an industrial engineer, a certified coach, and an international speaker specializing in communication during organizational transformation. With nearly twenty years of experience in complex, global environments, she works at the intersection of technology, leadership, and psychology to help leaders and teams navigate change with clarity and confidence.

Her perspective combines engineering precision with psychological insight. She focuses on how language, tone, and interaction influence alignment, decision-making, and trust, especially when organizations restructure, adopt new systems, or shift their operating models.

She supports and leads transformation projects by designing frameworks that make change understandable, transparent, and actionable. Her work turns uncertainty into shared direction and enables teams to move from reaction to ownership. Her approach is grounded in practical tools, intercultural experience, and nearly two decades of hands-on projects and audit work.

Franziska serves as Vice President, Marketing, of the PMI Germany Chapter, part of the global Project Management Institute (PMI), and is a member of the German Speakers Association (GSA).

www.ProQuadrat.com

Katie Hornor is a homeschooling mom of five who rose from poverty to become a successful entrepreneur and international speaker. Today, she is known as The Speakers Advocate and is famous for the flamingo metaphors she uses to empower leaders, speakers, and business owners to design a life and business aligned with their divine purpose: creating more joy, sales, and impact while standing out in their industry. 

Hornor is the founder of the National Christian Association of Professional Speakers (NCAPS), an award-winning business strategist, TEDx speaker, and prolific author of over ninety titles, including The Flamingo Advantage: How to Leverage Unique, Stay Relevant and Change the World. 

Named Visionary Coach of the Year by Insider Weekly and a recent recipient of the Stevie, TITAN, and SUCCESS® Magazine Women of Influence awards. She has also been featured in top national news and on a Times Square billboard. Audiences rave about her keynotes as being “brilliant,” “fun,” and “transformative,” and walk away inspired to take more excellent action with their messages.

www.KatieHornor.com

Tony Hunter is a Global Food Futurist Speaker, Strategic Foresight Consultant, Food Scientist, and author specializing in the Future of Food and Agriculture. He has over thirty years’ experience in the food industry, including over a decade in senior management, having been general manager of two food companies. He now operates his own company, Future of Food Consulting, providing global speaking and consulting services.

 Tony has spoken on four continents and appears regularly in print, podcasts, and on radio globally as an expert on the future of food. He has presented to industries throughout the food chain, from animal feeds in Vienna to food in Dubai, confectionery in Melbourne, the restaurant industry in Auckland, and the travel industry in London.

In his consulting role, he provides expert and strategic foresight advice to global food companies from PepsiCo to KFC on the impact of cutting-edge food technology and consumer trends on the food industry. He also advises the government, VC investors, and top four global consulting companies, such as Accenture, on these topics.

He delivers a unique perspective on the future of food based upon his distinctive combination of scientific qualifications, business experience, and detailed understanding of food technologies.

www.TonyHunterSpeaker.com

Mohamed Isa speaks, writes, and consults on leadership. An Amazon bestselling author who speaks internationally, including at Google, Toyota, and American Express, he works with organizations from startups to global companies. Fluent in Arabic and English, he connects with audiences across cultures.

Mohamed began his career at Unilever, where he received multiple Chairman's Awards. As CFO of a dual-listed investment bank, he grew the company's assets from $63 million to $528 million in four years. He has held board positions across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, bringing over twenty-five years of strategic leadership experience.

In 2022, Mohamed trekked to Everest Base Camp. That experience inspired him to pursue the Seven Summits Challenge, summiting the highest peak on each continent. He has since reached the top of Mount Kosciuszko in Australia and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. His "Leadership Lessons from Everest" keynote draws directly from these climbs. He has written Everest Inspiration and is working on an adventure novel, Summit of Unity: Six Nations. One Mountain.

A PhD scholar at Kathmandu University, Mohamed researches how mountaineering develops leadership qualities like resilience, decision-making, and teamwork. In 2024, he created the Peak Leadership Model, which maps leadership development to Everest's six camps, from self-awareness at Base Camp to leaving a legacy at the Summit.

www.EverestSpeech.com

Michael Lee is a Creative Breakthrough Catalyst, a working creative professional who facilitates breakthroughs for leaders and their teams. With over three decades of experience, Michael helps businesses understand how creativity delivers results. 

A two time TEDx speaker, Michael is the world’s only certified Master of Creativity and Innovation Coaching. He is also a Master NLP Practitioner, and trained in six other coaching disciplines, as well as a certified Coach Trainer and an accredited an Adaptability Quotient (AQai) Professional Practitioner. 

He is an International Advisory Board Member of World Creativity and Innovation and an EXCO Member of the Creative Community of Practice of the BIC Foundation.

He holds an MA from Stanford University and is currently studying for an MS in Creativity and Change Leadership from Buffalo State University. He has spoken at numerous creativity conferences (Iceland, Oregon, ACRE, Miami of Ohio, Buffalo State, Illinois State, etc.).

Michael’s other clients as a speaker and trainer include Pernod Ricard, Multichoice, ABSA, HP, DHL, Business Engage, GIBS, Aions Creative Incubator, Joe Public, Leaderex, SADAG. He has also spoken at the annual conventions of the Professional Speaker’s Association of Southern Africa and the Professional Speaker’s Association of India.

He was recently named a top fifty thought leader in Creativity by Thinkers360.

www.MichaelBrianLee.com

Michaela Merk is a Franco-German award-winning international speaker, professor, coach, and author specializing in leadership and customer experience through Relational Intelligence. She has worked with leading premium and luxury brands, such as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel, as well as other major industries, such as energy, real estate, and healthcare. She has spoken in over 30 countries in English, French, and German.

Recognized as one of Europe’s leading voices on human connection in business, she is the only female European speaker holding both titles of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Global Speaking Fellow (GSF). Michaela has held senior executive roles at L’Oréal and Estée Lauder and serves on the boards of Champagne Lanson-BCC and the Association Française des Conférenciers Professionnels (AFCP).

Holding a PhD in Marketing from the Sorbonne and HEC Paris, she has taught at top business schools, including the University of St. Gallen and ESSEC. She is currently Professor of Marketing at Audencia Business School, where she directs the MSc in Sustainable Luxury Management.

Michaela is the author of several books, including The Power of Relational Intelligence: 30 Golden Rules for Successful Leadership and High-Performing Teams (Dunod), and hosts the podcast Luxury Leadership Talks, featuring conversations with global luxury CEOs. In addition, she uses her background as a former acrobatic gymnastics champion to inspire her audiences.

www.Michaela-Merk.com

Ally Nitschke is a leading expert in leadership and communication, known for transforming individuals and organisations from the inside out. As the Founder of Made For More, she works with executives and senior teams to build courageous leadership, stronger communication, and meaningful impact.

Her approach brings together leadership development, emotional intelligence, and behavioural science, helping leaders grow mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Ally created the T.R.A.N.S.F.O.R.M. model, a practical framework that elevates leadership from theory into action, equipping teams to inspire, engage, and perform at the highest level.

A keynote speaker, best-selling author, and award-winning presenter, Ally has spoken to thousands across industries on topics including courageous conversations, executive presence, and authentic leadership. Her storytelling and real-world experience make her a trusted advisor in high-stakes and fast-paced environments.

A strong advocate for women in leadership, Ally helps women own their voice, lead confidently, and challenge outdated workplace norms. Her work is reshaping leadership across Australia and beyond. Every partnership with Ally is tailored, transformational, and focused on real outcomes.

www.MadeForMore.com.au

Antonio Ortiz discovered his passion for communication at a very young age, which led him to study Communication at Universidad Intercontinental and later pursue a postgraduate degree in Strategic Marketing of Services at Universidad Iberoamericana. His career began creating newspaper ads and working at an advertising agency before moving into the production of corporate and commercial events.

At the same time, he built a solid career as an actor and voice actor, collaborating with companies such as Warner, Disney, Dreamworks, and Fox. He has worked on communication and advertising projects for brands like Colgate, Herdez, L’Oréal, Tefal, and Pepsi, among many others. In the late nineties, he produced more than 200 radio spots across Mexico, and a few years ago, in the pandemia, he developed a Team Building training program, which he named: Improbuilding.

Currently, he collaborates with the Latam Speakers Association in Mexico in the area of audiovisual content production and development for social media and the association’s official website, including the Latam Speakers Association Update Sessions in 2024 and the Second International INSPIRA Congress in Cancún, Mexico, in 2025. His love for communication is reflected both in the human connection he establishes with his interviewees and in the production, editing, and post-production of every project.

www.speakerslatam.org/speakers/antonio-ortiz/

Olatunji Pariola is currently a director/principal at one of South Africa’s leading banks. With a focus on strategy, Olatunji has extensive experience in the financial services industry, having worked for over two decades in corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and retail banking. Olatunji’s professional career spans across the financial services and management consulting industries, where he held roles at Nedbank Limited, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Accenture Management Consulting (Australia), and Deloitte Consulting (Australia). Olatunji’s broad areas of expertise are: strategy, communications, business transformation, and change management.

Olatunji is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds the qualifications of Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Olatunji also has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Curtin University in Western Australia and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

www.linkedin.com/in/Olatunji-Pariola-mba-acma-cgma-a128699

Joni Peddie is a behavioural strategist, certified speaking professional (CSP), and CEO of Resilient People. Known as the “Bounce Forward™” expert, she helps leaders and teams cultivate mental clarity, emotional agility, and physical resilience in a fast-changing world. She is the creator of the CAN DO™ Adaptive Leadership Blueprint, the globally recognised Resilience Up Assessment, and the REBOOT™ Well-Being Framework.

With more than thirty-three years of experience across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the USA, LATAM and Australasia, Joni has coached executives, guided leadership teams and delivered keynotes across diverse industries. Her work blends neuroscience, behavioural psychology and emotional intelligence with practical everyday habits — equipping people to lead with steadiness, energy and impact.

Joni is vice president of the Global Speakers Federation and a proud Speaker Hall of Fame recipient. In September 2025, she launched her latest book, From CAN’T to CAN DO: 9 Human Leadership Capabilities AI Can’t Replicate, a blueprint for thriving in an age of AI, automation, and disruption.

Joni’s personal story also shapes her work. Widowed when her daughters were seven and nine, she learned that “bouncing back” wasn’t possible. Instead, they chose to #BounceForward™. Today, her daughters are twenty-six and twenty-eight, and, in 2025, her eldest was married. Joni has since remarried the much-loved “Gorgeous Gavin,” and together, they travel widely, exploring new places and cultures. Joni has run five Comrades Ultra Marathons (90 km): her way of navigating grief and loss.

www.ResilientPeople.co.za

Learning and human development have always been part of Bavani’s life. They were her lived values. This early exposure shaped her belief that growth happens not through pressure or control, but through guidance and trust.

Her professional journey reinforced this belief. Having experienced both fear-driven workplaces and enabling, people-centred cultures, Bavani witnessed firsthand how leadership behaviours shape not only performance, but confidence, resilience, and long-term sustainability at work. Through these contrasting environments, she came to understand gratitude and appreciation not as courtesies, but as leadership capabilities. Leaders are a crucial element for employee growth. 

Today, Bavani speaks and facilitates conversations specializing in gratitude-centred leadership, appreciative workplace cultures, and psychologically safe learning and working environments. She supports leaders and organizations in translating appreciation into daily leadership practices using structured frameworks that turn gratitude into observable behaviours, coaching conversations, and sustainable performance habits that reduce disengagement and burnout.

Her work applies gratitude as a disciplined practice grounded in leadership theory, emotional intelligence, and adult learning principles. Through keynotes, leadership programs, and facilitated workshops, Bavani supports organizations to build cultures where people feel valued and developed, strengthening trust, performance, and resilience while reducing burnout.

www.BavaniPeriasamy.com

Certified Speaking Professional CSP®, Recipient of the Real Leader Top Executive Coach award in 2025, Most Empowering Confidence Coach in North America in 2023, the Peter Legge Philanthropic Award in 2024 and Canadian Presenter of the Year in 2021, Nathalie Plamondon-Thomas is a Confidence Expert. She is the author of eighteen books, including twelve #1 Bestsellers and a book co-written with Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, and endorsed by Tony Robbins. She is the founder and CEO of the THINK Yourself® ACADEMY, offering keynotes and training, leading-edge online courses, laser-focused business strategies and one-on-one transformation coaching.

Over the past two decades, she has inspired over 100,000 audience members internationally with her high-energy and dynamic presentation style, teaching neuroscience in layman’s terms. She is known for her use of metaphors, hilarious stories, and fun, interactive segments to teach how the brain works, how people use it incorrectly, and what to do to make it work for them. 

She provides simple and concrete tools for the audience to implement the knowledge right away into their daily lives, along with a multi-touch-points-follow-up-approach to ensure a longer-term impact.

She combines over ten years of experience in human resources, twenty-five years of experience in sales, and over thirty-five years of distinguished service in the fitness industry. In 2007, she was Canada’s Fitness Instructor of the Year. She is 2026 President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS).

www.ThinkYourself.com

Morgane Rollando is an international speaker, strategist, and investor who brings twenty-five years of high-level business transformation to the stage. She speaks from lived experience, years spent navigating M&A, hyper-growth, crises, and restructuring across forty countries with global tech leaders such as Oracle, EMC, and Autodesk, as well as private-equity-backed firms supported by Eurazeo, BlackRock, Salesforce Venture, and others. These intense environments have shaped her unique view of organizations as living systems with purpose, rhythm, and evolutionary paths.

Her keynote themes explore purpose-driven leadership, robustness, quantum thinking, and the future of business. Drawing on her S.O.U.L.® approach, she invites audiences to sense weak signals, align people and capital, and build organizations that thrive in turbulence. She has delivered conferences and keynotes in more than twenty countries, inspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and conscious leaders.

Morgane is certified in purpose-led business by ESSEC, a B-Leader, and holds an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management. She is the author of Reveal the Purpose of Your Organization—10 Practical Keys and PURPOSE UNLEASHED, and hosts Luxury Leadership Talks. As a board member, lecturer, and active business angel with fourteen investments, she brings a grounded, visionary voice to the future of leadership and organizational transformation.

www.MorganeRollando.com

Silva Schröder is a medical doctor specializing in integrative medicine, sleep, and mental health. She completed her studies at Charité Berlin, Germany, and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. While still a student, she worked in the sleep laboratory at Charité hospital and in the research sleep laboratory at Charité, as well as later as a licensed physician. Over the course of her career, she has treated several thousand patients with sleep disorders.

What drives her is the conviction that sleep is the most fundamental basis for health, performance, and mental stability. Without restful sleep, no system can function, neither the body, nor the mind, nor the ability to lead..

She currently works in both the clinic and her own private practice.

Her focus is on sleep medicine, chronobiology, mental health, and respiratory therapy. She combines health, performance, and leadership. She takes an integrative approach, combining conventional medical knowledge with modern psychotherapeutic methods such as hypnotherapy.

Silva Schröder supports individuals as well as companies and executives in workshops, programs, retreats, and keynotes.

www.DocSilva.com

Richard "Richie" Seidl is Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Podcaster and Software-Expert.

As a former programmer, he now combines his in-depth knowledge of the software and tech industry with the coach perspective of humanity and empathy. 

Over the past 25 years, he has encountered a vast array of software development projects throughout his professional journey: from the good to the bad, the large to the small, the new to the old. He's experienced software so magnificent it could bring one to tears, and others that make one cringe.

Richie has helped managers, teams and projects in various industries, such as administration, finance, automotive, and logistics, to improve their personal skills, implement methods and tactics, and establish self development.

He is the author of several books on software development, host of two podcast about technology and people-skills, and an international keynote speaker. In 2025, he was awarded with the German Prize for Software Quality.

www.Richard-Seidl.com/en

Mel Sherwood is a Presentation Skills and Personal Impact Speaker, founder of The RED Effect®, and author of The Authority Guide to Pitching Your Business: How to Make an Impact and Be Remembered—in Under a Minute! She works with business leaders and teams who want to be more confident, credible, and compelling in their communication.

Drawing on forty years’ experience in front of audiences and over two decades in business, Mel blends performance techniques with the psychology of learning to transform how people show up and speak up. A former actor, presenter, and singer, she brings stagecraft, storytelling, and presence to every room. Her expertise is supported by studies in NLP and a CIPD Learning and Development Practice.

Through her speaking, training, and coaching, she has helped thousands of professionals—from global organizations and UK companies to government bodies, universities, and SMEs—to elevate their communication and presentation skills and personal impact.

The RED Effect® distils Mel’s philosophy: when people present their best, most authentic selves, they build stronger connections, achieve better results, and create more human workplaces. Whether on stage, in the boardroom, or online, Mel is known for her warm, engaging style and practical tools that participants can apply immediately.

www.MelSherwood.com

Lana Starchuck is a record-holding skydiver with over 1,000 jumps. She is a resilience strategist, writer, and wellness enthusiast who brings a rare perspective to leaders and teams working under pressure. Born and raised in small-town Saskatchewan, Lana has a background in theatre, education, and creative writing, and her adventurous spirit led her to have a portfolio career in video production, communications, and marketing. 

Her next book is forthcoming in 2026. What Happens When Your Parachute Doesn’t Open and Other Failures Successes is a memoir and self-improvement book to help you confront your fear, reframe failure, and live fully. 

Her keynote presentations combine the guiding principles of competitive sports with practical realities of leadership and change. Through storytelling, psychological insight, and lessons in formation skydiving, she delivers unforgettable sessions that remind people they already have the tools within them to see challenges from a new perspective. She has inspired audiences to realize their potential and act in bold new ways.

Whether through writing, speaking, or coaching, Lana is a voice for transformation, risk, and resilience. She invites us to lean into the unknown, show up before we feel ready, and use our fear to fuel personal and professional growth. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

www.LanaStarchuck.com/

Growing up in the Allgäu region of the German Alps, where praise was often scarce, Christian Thiele made it his life's work to transform leadership culture. Today, he is a sought-after international speaker, author, and expert on Positive Leadership and Workplace Wellbeing. He combines current research from Positive Psychology with his own management experience to help leaders and organizations work more efficiently, creatively, and meaningfully.

Christian serves on the board of the German Association for Positive Psychology, has produced several LinkedIn Learning courses, teaches at renowned German and international universities, and trains the next generation of coaches. His books serve as practical toolkits for modern leaders; his keynotes combine fun, insights, interaction, and concrete, evidence-based hacks. Recognized as a XING TopMind and LinkedIn Top Voice, he brings necessary grounding to the business world—scientifically sound, but always with heart, humor, and a healthy portion of Alpine down-to-earth spirit.

www.Christian-Thiele.com

Penny Vilagos is an Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming, a keynote speaker, and an author. Her long road from remedial gym to Olympic podium was steep, but thanks to her coaches’ expert guidance and strong teamwork along the way, she was able to achieve victory. Since 1992, she has helped thousands reach their goals through customized on-site and virtual keynote speeches, as well as interactive workshops designed to reinforce lessons learned. Penny inspires teamwork excellence, demonstrates the power of champion traits, and helps clients overcome the fear of change in order to realize their true potential.

She obtained her Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and now has more than thirty years of successful corporate and entrepreneurial business experience. With a clear understanding of what it takes to succeed in both sports and business, she talks your language. Penny works with organizations that want to triumph through teamwork, with sales professionals who want to be champions, and companies that want to win when the game keeps changing.

In addition to winning her Olympic medal, Penny was a seven-time National Duet Champion with her twin sister and a World Champion in the Team event. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic and the International Swimming Halls of Fame. She is a contributing author to nine books, including four in the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, and donated 100 percent of the royalties from two of her publications to charities. Penny is fluent in English and French and flies from Montreal, Canada.

www.PennyVilagos.com

Azadeh is an insightful brand strategist, marketing expert, speaker, #1 bestselling author, performer, and founder of Gogo Telugo Creatives. With 15-plus years of international experience, she’s worked at top agencies in Paris and NYC, built remarkable brands, and earned several marketing awards. 

Azadeh is passionate about supporting clients who want to grow their businesses and ultimately leave behind a positive, lasting legacy. She works with entrepreneurs and organizations who want to get to the heart of their brands so they can attract their ideal clients, build trust, and accelerate growth. 

She is the past president of CAPS (BC Chapter), 1st Canadian team leader of the West Coast Alliance with the NSA, and a proud mentor at Futurpreneur. In her free time, she enjoys flamenco and salsa dancing, and taking long walks along the seawall with her loving husband in spectacular Vancouver, Canada.

www.GogoTelugo.com