Jason Schechterle
After serving four years in the Air Force, at the age 26, Jason achieved his goal to work on the streets of Phoenix as a rookie police officer. Then, only 14 months into his career, Jason’s life took an unexpected tragic turn. On the night of March 26th, 2001, a taxi cab crashed into the rear of Jason’s patrol car. Upon impact, Jason’s car burst into flames, trapping him inside.Through a series of miraculous and fateful circumstances, Jason survived the crash and ensuing physical and emotional catastrophe. He suffered severe burns to over 40% of his body which drastically altered his appearance. He has undergone more than 50 surgeries just to have the ability to accomplish simple daily tasks we often take for granted.Jason’s journey chronicles his fight for life, his triumph over tragedy and the inspiration that enables him to continue to overcome unimaginable adversity. His personal narrative exemplifies that the power of the human spirit can never be underestimated or extinguished.
Steve Bench
Steve customizes keynote presentations and training sessions that deliver workforce retention strategies to attract Millennial and Gen Z talent, empower Gen X management, capture Boomer wisdom and cultivate future leadership by leveraging the strengths of each generation. Steve has shared his message with audiences across the country, earning the nickname “The Millennial Guy”. Steve is also the creator of “The Pitch!”, a Shark Tank-style business contest that puts the next generation of workforce talent in charge to create a start-up company and make the perfect sales pitch! When not in a classroom, Steve spends his time in gyms around the midwest coaching AAU basketball.
Aimee Cohen
If you want to know about Aimee Cohen, then you need to know what she believes…”There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” (Madeleine Albright). Let’s begin with a few questions…Do you wish you knew the secrets and strategies to advancing your career? Do you want to know how to stop sabotaging yourself and your success? Are you ready to Woman UP! with some practical tips, tools, and action steps so you can pull on your “big-girl panties” and manage your career like a boss? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need Aimee Cohen to speak at your next event!
Aimee is a sought-after national keynote speaker, best-selling author of Woman UP! Overcome the 7 Deadly Sins that Sabotage Your Success, and has been an executive career coach for more than 20 years with a nearly 100% success rate. In addition to many national TV and radio shows, Aimee’s career advice has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Fortune and Glamour magazines, and more. When Aimee is not speaking or coaching, she is a very proud military mom of an Army officer posting in Italy and a die-hard Survivor fan…she has auditioned for the show 5 times. Aimee Cohen is a bad-ass “Career Dream-Maker” and Woman UP! is more than professional development…it’s professional empowerment!
Tasha Schuh
A Must-Have for Your Next Corporate Event or Conference! When Tasha Schuh comes rolling in your door, you will get a lot more than just a story. A healthy meal of inspiration and hope, sprinkled with a layer of laughter and topped off with a few tears will leave people clamoring for more. Emotional, uplifting, and life changing are just a few ways to describe Tasha’s message.
Unique Story. After a tragic theater accident left her paralyzed from the chest down, Tasha discovered invaluable lessons that resonate with audiences of all demographics. Since 2007, she has been traveling across the country inspiring and challenging her listeners to overcome, no matter what life throws at them.
Recognized Speaker. Tasha received her first bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Winona State University and has been speaking ever since. Averaging 50-70 engagements every year, she has inspired thousands while creating a vast client list ranging from Mayo Clinic to IBM.
Relevant Message. A fit for all audiences, Tasha will inspire, empower and instill a renewed zest for life. Her clientele spans corporations, annual conferences, women’s conventions, education and healthcare.
Jesse Ross
Jesse is an international speaker, executive coach, & a diversity, equity, & inclusion leader, that works with leaders and organizations specializing in personal and professional development. He focuses on transformation from the inside out and believes that everyone he encounters should expect ascension.
Jesse has a keen ability to apply his education, training and certifications, over 15 years of business, nonprofit, and practical experience to motivate others to greatness, increase productivity, and to take their rightful place as a leader. Jesse has delivered over 600 speaking engagements at colleges, conferences, corporate and nonprofit companies, with a large number of Fortune 500 companies.
Jesse offers trainings, workshops, evaluations, assessments, and strategy development for your school, business or organization. Jesse has been engaging his audience with his Morning Minute call-to-actions on his Instagram and LinkedIn social media pages.
Billy McLaughlin
Billy McLaughlin is recognized internationally as a world-class guitarist, composer and inspirational performer who has appeared on Billboard’s TopTen Chart. Previously signed to Virgin Records’ Narada label, McLaughlin has 14 CD releases, 3 National Campus Entertainer of the Year Awards*, 5 Minnesota Music Awards and his decades of national concert touring earned him the Hall of Fame Achievement Award*.
But in 1999 McLaughlin vanished from sight as his career crumbled due to a little-known neuro-muscular disorder called Focal Dystonia. After suffering several years without a cure, he embarked on an unlikely attempt to regain his career by re-learning his instrument left-handed. His remarkable comeback is captured in the documentary film Changing Keys (airing on PBS 2010) and a concert film called Coming Back Alive featuring McLaughlin with string orchestra and a reunion of his longtime rock band.
Now serving as Ambassador for Awareness for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, McLaughlin is the winner of the 2010 Public Leadership in Neurology Award** whose previous winners include Paul Allen, Julie Andrews, Leon Fleischer and Michael J. Fox.
McLaughlin has resumed an international schedule of concert appearances and keynote speaking. He resides in his home state of Minnesota where he is proudly raising two boys.
Mike McKinley
Mike McKinley has the experience and expertise that people in business need to succeed from his history as a teenage entrepreneur which led to leadership positions in manufacturing, retail, radio, television, and ownership of a multimillion dollar publishing house, professional speaking, and consulting business. Mike helps people recognize the challenges to success, open their minds to new ideas and current methods, and helps business maximize performance and profitability.
Hired for the fun but paid for the content, Mike entertains while he teaches – presenting as the keynote speaker at corporate trainings, in-house programs, and for professional association meetings. An example of his client list includes Great Clips, The Toro Company, Subway, Gillette, and American Family. Many clients have Mike return multiple times for their organizations. Hundreds of companies – from construction to healthcare, high technology to the auto industry- have relied on Mike for insight into furthering today’s business growth, innovation, and success.
Mike’s performance ingredients (topics) include Change, The Customer Journey, Maximizing Performance, Teamwork, Leadership, Motivation, and Balancing Work & Home. Working with Mike’s consulting clients and his vast array of businesses gives him a breadth of real life experience and business expertise on which to draw when he shares his ideas and performs for large audiences, individuals, management teams and boards of directors across the country.
Education and training on the customer journey, partnership advocacy, generational and diversity issues, leadership and day-to-day business operations is the heart and soul of Mike’s presentation. It’s time to think fresh thoughts and seek new perspectives. Mike uses real life photos for fun and humor yet ties them into serious points about life and changing business creating the easy learning transition. He works to share his message of maximizing performance and enjoying the ride!
Don Shelby
Don Shelby is widely considered the most decorated and honored local television journalist in the country. He has won three national Emmys, the Columbia-duPont, the Scripps-Howard, the National Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and he has been honored twice with the Pulitzer Prize of broadcasting, the George Foster Peabody.
Don continues his 45 year career in reporting after retiring from daily journalism in November of 2010. He continues to write for MinnPost, on the online daily, and is often read in Salon and dozens of other internet news aggregators.
Don was inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008 and into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle. He was named the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian of the Year, and honored by B’nai Brith with the Great American Traditions award. In 2010 he was named Distinguished Minnesotan, an honor he shares with other luminaries such as Sigurd Olson and Will Steger.
Don’s reporting has taken him around the globe from Romania to Egypt, Venezuela, Australia and the Arctic Circle. He originated the I-team concept of investigative reporting and served on the board of directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the county’s preeminent investigative journalism organization.
He has served as a war correspondent covering conflicts ranging from the Yom Kippur War in 1973 to the war in Iraq in 2009. Major General Richard Nash, commander of forces in the southern half of Iraq called Don, “…our Ernie Pyle,” referring to the noted combat correspondent of World War II.
Don is the author of The Season Never Ends, a collection of stories about teamwork. It is currently ranked as the #2 best seller in the coaching section of Amazon.com. He is in the middle of writing his second book on the developing failure of American journalism to meet the needs of voting citizens in a democracy.
Don is an avid outdoorsman and primitive survival specialists. He spends much of his free time climbing ice falls, mountains, hiking and canoeing his beloved BWCAW. He has a wife and three grown daughters.
Lori La Bey
Humorist, Heartfelt Stories, Practical Tools & Resources
Families and healthcare professionals are looking for the same thing when it comes to caring for those they serve. They want new, innovated way to assess and share knowledge. Lori La Bey has been recognized by Oprah as “Health Hero,” Maria Shriver as an “Architect of Change,” Dr Oz as the “#1 Influencer Online for Alzheimer’s,” and by AARP MN as a “Disruptor, Caring Creator, and Inspiring Leader.” Members of Lori’s audience benefit from her humor and heartfelt style as she:
- Delivers simple, practical tools and techniques they can easily implement,
- Provides a wide array of resources, and
- Demonstrate techniques to shift mindsets from crisis to comfort.
Been There Done That
Lori understands the lived experience of caring for others and herself. Her own family maneuvered the roller coaster of dementia with her Mother for 30 years, the journey of brain cancer with her Father, having a child almost die from Meningitis, taking in teens and adults in her home that no longer could live with their families. She knows what it’s like to be in the trenches of care: the stress, exhaustion, tug of war with family and friends, frustration of lack of access to support, knowledge, plus lack of a cure. Her healthcare background allows Lori to understand service delivery systems and how to adapt to move forward. Her marketing experience allows her to create unique strategies, create friendly onboarding processes, which provide dignity, respect, and empowerment to all involved. Lori understands we must provide a variety of platforms to engage and reach various learning styles. Some initiatives Lori has launched:
- The first, radio show dedicated to dementia and caregiving in the world,
- The first, video platform which raised the voices of people living with dementia in the world,
- The first, Dementia Friendly Community in the United States,
- Bringing the Memory Café’ concept to the United States from the United Kingdom, and
- The first global resource directory for dementia care.
- Her emotional based training to get people to feel the need to change, not just the mandate to do a job.
Caring Has No Boundaries
Lori La Bey specializes in dementia care, but her programs are easily adapted to a variety of groups as caring has no boundaries. Other prime audiences are: Hospice & Palliative Care, Loss and Grief, Conscious Compassionate Selfcare, Divorce, Bullying, Empowerment and Well Being, Cancer and Other Terminal Illnesses, Struggling Teens, Ageism, Economical and Simple Culture Adjustments, Living with Purpose, Marketing to Be Remembered, Caregiving and more. Lori presents to patients, families, and professionals and can easily adapt to be inclusive and respectful when speaking to combined audiences. She is available for keynotes, breakouts, and training programs range from an hour to multiple days.
Lori La Bey – Changing How Care Is Perceived, Received and Delivered
Paul Douglas
Paul Douglas is Penn State meteorologist with over 45 years of television and radio experience. A serial entrepreneur, Douglas has launched 7 businesses. Founder and Chief Meteorologist at Praedictix, providing weather services, consulting and briefings for media and corporate interests. Developers and engineers create unique streams of weather data, imagery and API’s for corporations via AerisWeather. The latest science and models are leveraged to provide insight for corporations factoring climate trends into investment, resilience and sustainability via ClimaTrends. Douglas is a member of the Climate Science Rapid Response Team. In 2017 he co-authored a book on climate, focused on matters of faith and science: “Caring for Creation, the Evangelical’s Guide to Climate Change and a Healthy Environment”. A frequent contributor to MSNBC, Douglas was featured in NOVA’s “Decoding the Weather Machine”, Douglas has spent the last 25 years connecting the dots between climate volatility and weather disruption.
Paul uses weather as a metaphor to track the “storms of business”, telling his unique story, and the lessons he’s learned from starting up 6 companies – often the hard way. He is also the perfect Emcee for your next event.