Brian Audia

Audia Consulting, Founder and President

Brian Audia is an inspirational leader in the movement to promote business as a tool for human flourishing.

He is passionate about increasing organizational performance through a scientific-based methodology that helps people engage more fully in their work and give more discretionary effort. Organizations with the highest levels of employee engagement will consistently outperform the markets and their competition over time through more significant innovation, higher customer satisfaction, and increased profits. They attract greater investment and sell at higher multiples. Most importantly, though, places of work with high engagement are places of joy where people thrive.

As a businessman, organizational development expert, and former nonprofit executive, Brian is honored as one of the Top 40 Alumni of Auburn University at Montgomery for his impact on the world, alongside two former Chairs of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brian has directed humanitarian and social service operations in over 40 nations and two dozen cities across the United States. He is recognized widely as a coalition builder and collaborative enterprise leader. He, his staff, and boards have consulted hundreds of organizations and managed tens of thousands of volunteers, raising millions of dollars around the globe and impacting lives for the better.

Brian serves as the President and CEO of AUDIA, a growth-oriented consulting company providing organizational performance and executive leadership services to increase the performance of businesses, nonprofits, and ministries. He has been married to his wife Melissa since 2000, and they have three boys, Caleb, Joshua, and Silas.

Richard Blackaby

Spiritual leadership is not an occupation; it is a calling. Christian business leaders must take this calling seriously and be equipped to impact the world and extend God’s kingdom. Richard Blackaby is one of the countries leading voices in this space. Richard is president of Blackaby Ministries International. He grew up in Canada where he served as a pastor and a Seminary President. Richard writes and speaks around the world to Christian leaders and has written four powerful books on leadership and business as well as having written or co-authored over 30 other books, including, Spiritual Leadership, Moving People onto God’s Agenda, God in the Marketplace: 45 Questions Fortune 500 Executives Ask about Faith, Life, and Business, The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence and Called to Be God’s Leader. Richard is married to Lisa and they have 3 children.

Web: blackaby.org

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richardblackaby

Jim Daly

Jim Daly is an author and broadcaster, president of Focus on the Family and host of its daily radio broadcast, which is heard by more than 6.6 million listeners a week on nearly 2,000 radio stations and has been honored as Program of the Year by the National Religious Broadcasters.

Abandoned by his alcoholic father at age 5, he lost his mother to cancer four years later. Daly, the youngest of five children, and his siblings to fend for themselves after their mother’s funeral. “I am living proof, that no matter how torn up the road has already been, or how pothole-infested it may look ahead, nothing – nothing – is impossible for God.”

Under his leadership, Focus has taken on a major role nationally in encouraging and helping facilitate foster-care adoptions, earning recognition from the White House and Congress for its efforts. The ministry also has reinvigorated its traditional focus on helping couples build strong marriages and raise healthy, resilient kids.

Daly encourages parents to realize that they, like their children, aren’t perfect and don’t need to be – they’re called to do their best in Christ, knowing that God works through all the messy family situations that are a normal part of this life. Daly and his wife, Jean, have two sons and live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Web:focusonthefamily.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jim-daly-a7b6b013/

Greg Leith

CEO, Convene

Greg Leith is a CEO to CEOs as he stewards the role of CEO at Convene corporation, which has served thousands of Christian CEOs over 25 years. He was born in Canada and lived in all four corners of North America. His career spans over 45 years of senior leadership roles in corporate, nonprofit, and academic sectors, including serving as Director of Strategic Alliances for 13 years at Biola University in California, where he helped architect and lead a $180 million capital campaign.

Greg has served the persecuted church with food, brought relief and long-term jobs to Orissa, India, assisted mission agencies in China with strategy, and helped envision a School of Journalism in Haiti. He and Shelley, his wife of 41 years, have crisscrossed Canada for over a decade speaking on marriage and parenting for FamilyLife, helping thousands of marriages. Greg was a senior executive for 20 years with the $9 billion ServiceMaster company, serving in various leadership capacities. He was Vice President of Arrow Leadership and Director of Leadership Development for Christian Leadership Alliance, creating learning experiences for the most influential Christian leaders and organizations in the world. Greg and Shelley have raised five thriving young adults.

Jose Hernandez

Jose Hernandez is a University of California Regent and President and Chief Executive Officer at Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC, an aerospace engineering consulting company.

Dr. Hernandez worked at NASA Johnson Space Center from 2001 to 2011, where he was an astronaut, legislative analyst, branch chief and materials research engineer.

Prior to that, Dr. Hernandez worked 17 years for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and worked on the X-ray laser project, co-developed the first full-field digital mammography system for the earlier detection of breast cancer and worked in the nuclear non-proliferation arena where he served as the Lab’s Deputy Program Manager in the Russian Highly Enriched Uranium Implementation Program and as Program Manager at DOE Headquarters for Office of International Material Protection and Cooperation.

Dr. Hernandez holds a Master’s of Science in Signals and Systems Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara, a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific and has been honored with eight Doctorate Degrees, honoris causa.

Rob McKenna

CEO + Founder of WiLD Leaders

Dr. Rob McKenna has been named one of the top 30 I-O Psychologists alive today. He’s passionate about developing leaders and transforming the way we see the people in our organizations. He’s an author, company founder, TEDx Speaker, and has been featured in Forbes and Psychology Today. Dr. McKenna is focused on developing a generation of courageous and sacrificial leaders who bring thoughtfulness, conviction, hope, resourcing, strategic thinking and deeply rooted care to the institutions and people they serve.

Rob brings approachability, authenticity, expert knowledge, and humor to his talks. If “real” were a language, Dr. McKenna speaks it. He’s a subtle catalyst, a data-backed realist, and a real-life disruptor. The models he uses are based on decades of research on leadership, team functioning, organizational health, and individual development.

Rob believes we have the tools at our fingertips to invest in our people in ways that are meaningful to them and will get the results we need. He is the author of several books, including Dying to Lead: Sacrificial Leadership in a Self-Centered World. His most recent book, Composed: The Heart and Science of Leading Under Pressure.

Website:wildleaders.org

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/drrobmckenna

Jim Morgan

When Jim Morgan arrived at Krispy Kreme he stepped into a failing company and an unhealthy culture. For this turnaround, Morgan said it was not going to be just about selling more doughnuts to get the business back on its feet. “Let’s find a vision bigger than selling doughnuts,” he told the Krispy Kreme team. This led to the creation of their current mission and vision statements, “Our mission is to touch and enhance lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme. Our vision is to be the worldwide leader in sharing delicious tastes and creating joyful memories.” Jim says, ‘the employees just needed someone to love them like Jesus does, so I did my best to love them.’ By 2013, Krispy Kreme had made a significant turnaround as a company. All of this, Morgan noted, was a testament to culture change within the company rooted in rooted in his approach to creating a Christ glorying culture that values people.

Morgan resolved to put Christ at the center of his approach to business. He implemented Faith, Family, and Community Days in which employees were encouraged time to nourish their faith, spend time with family, and serve the community. 

Jim Morgan, is the retired chairman and chief executive of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., and invests his time as the founder's chair of Leighton Ford Ministries in Charlotte. Morgan has led six different companies, including as chairman and chief executive of Wachovia Securities. He also served on the boards of Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., Lowe's Cos. Inc., The YMCA of Greater Charlotte and Youth Commission International.

Tom Nelson

After years of pastoral ministry, Tom Nelson realized he’d spent the majority of his time preparing Christians in his church for Sunday mornings, neglecting the rest of their lives as workers. Tom realized he’d committed “pastoral malpractice,” neglecting to disciple his congregants in the whole of their lives. He realized that work needed a new story. Nelson and a team of church, business, and private sector partners launched Made to Flourish in order to “empower a growing network of pastors” to better engage, equip, and encourage each other as they integrate a more robust theology of faith, work, and economics into their churches. Closing the gap between Sunday and Monday is why Made to Flourish exists.

Tom is the author of Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work and The Economics of Neighborly Love. Tom is also the senior pastor of Christ Community Church in Kansas City. He is on the Board of Regents of Trinity International University. He holds a master’s of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Tom and his wife, Liz, have two grown children and reside in Leawood, Kansas.

Website: madetoflourish.org

Cheryl Scanlan

Cheryl Scanlan has coached leaders for over 10,000 hours. Of the 20,000+ coaches in the world, she’s one of 4% certified as a Master Certified Coach. She has helped thousands of leaders achieve aggressive personal and team goals that revolutionize how they lead at home and at work. Cheryl is President of Way of Life Coaching, a coaching firm focused on the professional and personal development of its clients. She’s personally trained over 1,000 coaches and is the former executive of a $30 million dollar firm. She was raised in the Midwest and graduated from Pace University. Today Cheryl resides in North Carolina with her husband. Together, they’ve raised two boys.

Website:wayoflifecoaching.com

Linkedin:linkedin.com/in/cherylscanlan