Roxane Battle
Roxane Battle is Vice President of Advocacy and Community at Sanvello Health, Inc., a tele-mental health company inside UnitedHealth Group Ventures. Sanvello has the #1 app for anxiety, stress and depression and provides insured behavioral healthcare to 40 million people. Roxane’s self-help video series, “Checking in with Roxane Battle,” is seen by 4 million subscribers on the Sanvello app.
Prior to coming to Sanvello, Roxane spent 20+ years as a television news anchor and Emmy-nominated reporter at NBC Minneapolis, CBS, and FOX.
As life-long public speaker Roxane uses her gift of humor and natural storytelling to help people develop personal strategies to better manage stress, build resiliency and find joy during times of transition.
Roxane was named an Architect of Change on mariashriver.com and has been featured in Working Mother and Ebony national magazines, and regularly makes podcast and television guest appearances.
A Minnesota native, Roxane earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She completed her master’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Her self-help memoir, Pockets of Joy: Deciding to Be Happy, Choosing to Be Free (Whitaker House 2017), became an Amazon Top 100 best seller in multiple categories.
She has an adult son, calls the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes home, owns a pair of roller skates and makes a mean mac and cheese.
Sam Richter
Considered a leading authority on sales intelligence and digital reputation management, bestselling author and National Hall of Fame speaker Sam Richter, CSP, CPAE delivers his top-rated, incredibly dynamic, highly entertaining, and extremely high-content keynote presentations and workshop sessions to audiences worldwide. Sam’s programs also include access to attendee bonuses, which ensures that the learning – and most important, the implementation and impact – continues long after the ovation subsides.
Sam was named one of the World’s Top 50 Sales Keynote Speakers, one of the Top 15 Virtual Presenters, and one of the Top 25 Most Influential Sales Leaders. In addition to his speaking, Sam is a technology entrepreneur, and he has developed numerous search-related programs used by thousands of top organizations and business executives around the globe. For his work, Sam has won numerous awards including a Gold Award at the International Film Festival and a Codie-Award, the ‘Oscars’ of the software industry.
Sam has been featured in thousands of news programs and publications including CNN, USA Today, and Forbes. He serves on the Board of Directors for numerous technology companies and he is a past finalist for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
Nicole Middendorf
Nicole is a money maven, a knowledge junkie, and a born coach. She is an entrepreneur who left Morgan Stanley in 2003 to run her own wealth management firm. Nicole is the author of five books, a world traveler, philanthropist, and an accomplished public speaker.
As a Wealth Advisor and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst with Prosperwell Financial, her main focus is to help people create wealth from the inside out. She is able to accomplish this through one-on-one client meetings, writing books, presenting at conferences, and appearing on TV, radio, and other media.
Nicole shares financial advice and a real-life perspective on saving, planning, and investing with audiences across the country. Her primary goal is to take complicated subjects and make them easy to understand. She works hard to empower her audience to make crucial and positive changes in their own lives. Nicole’s books have received local and national press coverage, where she has become known for her thoughtful concise quotes, relaxed on-air presence, and articulate delivery.
The world needs more people to be financially savvy and wholly independent. Nicole’s goal is to be the one who supports them on all levels and helps them find financial happiness.
Chris Heeter
Selected as a Top Ten Speaker by MeetingsNet, and as the highest rated speaker of Meeting Professional International’s 2014 World Education Congress, Chris Heeter is out to create a Wild revolution in the workplace. A wilderness guide since 1984 and professional speaker since 2001, Chris has led and worked with a diverse array of teams, both canine and human!
Featured on The Discovery Channel’s “National Geographic Today,” she brings decades of leadership experience indoors, to conferences and offices, working with teams and leaders, helping us recognize that leadership, teamwork, and inclusion don’t have to be so complicated.
Combining business expertise with hilarious stories from her sled dog team and from guiding whitewater trips, Chris challenges and inspires organizations and individuals to be Wildly Present, Wildly Original, and Wildly Welcoming
Mike Max
Mike Max is the sports director at WCCO TV (CBS), hosts a nightly radio show on WCOO Radio in Minneapolis and has been on the speaking circuit for 25 years. He draws stories from thousands of interviews over the years that range from Michael Jordan to the captain of the Special Olympics softball team, all offer amazing insights into life. Mike received local and national acclaim for his six days of reporting from the front lines of “Minneapolis Riots” following the death of Gorge Floyd that reached millions of viewers throughout the country, earning him numerous awards but more importantly changing his life because of what he observed and connected with the most inside view of the beginning of an international movement. He owns his own company, Mike Max Productions, and has produced over 1000 hours of television programs with it. He also hosted “Life to the Max”, a magazine show that allowed him to travel the United States seeking out stories of inspiration through common people that did the uncommon. He has served as keynote speaker for companies, education groups and associations all looking for stories that only he can tell, because only he was there. He will make you laugh, make you cry, but most importantly, make you think!
David Horsager
David Horsager, MA, CSP, CPAE is the CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute, Global Trust Expert, Trust Expert in Residence at High Point University, Board member and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. David has advised leaders on six continents, from FedEx, Toyota, MIT, and global governments to the New York Yankees and the Department of Homeland Security.
Trust is a fundamental, bottom line issue. Without it, leaders lose teams, salespeople lose sales, and organizations lose reputation, retention of good people, relationships and revenue. But with trust, individuals and organizations enjoy greater creativity, productivity, freedom and results. Through David’s industry leading research The Trust Outlook™ and firsthand experience working with the world’s highest performing organizations, David reveals how top leaders and organizations drive business results to become the most trusted in their industry.
Petra Marquart
Petra Marquart is an inspirational speaker who has received rave reviews at conventions and conferences around the globe. She is currently principal in the global speaking and training firm, Petra Marquart and Associates and president of See ME, Inc., which provides customer-service training for long-term care communities. She is listed in Who’s Who of American Women and the author of the best-seller, The Power of Service: Keeping Customers for Life.
Petra has written customer-service training programs for Mall of America, US Bank, Fairview Health Services, Honeywell Space Systems, Minnesota Department of Administration, US Department of Veteran Affairs, US Department of Homeland Security, The MENTOR Network, Senior Linkage Line, and the Wisconsin Department of Child Protective Services.
Whether speaking on customer service, leadership, personal power, or performance, Petra’s skilled stage presence comes, in part, from her experience working as a performer in Las Vegas with such stars as Elvis Presley, Tina Turner,and some of the most recognized names in the world.
Sarah Ciavarri
Sarah Ciavarri, M.Div., PCC, BCC, CDTLF, CDWF-C
Transformational. Playful. Power-packed storytelling. Daring. Authentic. Riveting. = So engaging participants actually put their phones away. = This is how event players and participants often describe Sarah’s presence. Through empathy, vulnerability, and her ability to dance in the moment, Sarah has the rare ability to connect with audiences live and virtually at a deeper level. Sarah is a sought-after creative thought leader on vulnerability and resilience, trained in all of Dr. Brené Brown’s curricula, who leaves her audiences with clear action steps to craft a life they love, minimize regrets through bold strategic action, and to achieve professional excellence in the midst of uncertainty and division.
During the pandemic Sarah worked on a COVID healthcare unit and knows in her bones the resilience and dedication to mission that is needed to stare down stress, fatigue, and fear and do what needs to be done.
Sarah’s programs help you and your team:
- Develop Resilience
- Unleash Kindness and Curiosity to Transform your Culture
- Harness the Power of Authentic Vulnerability
- Tap into Dr. Brené Brown’s Research on Leadership and Courage
- Learn How Empathy Can Increase Sales
- Move from Surviving, Through Striving, to Thriving
All of Sarah’s keynote programs are customized to each audience through a pre-event call to learn your organizations goals and what success looks like for you. Sarah does her research on your industry! Each program can be tailored to be delivered virtually, hybrid or in person. Most of these programs can be presented as a keynote, ½ day, or full-day workshop.
Sarah’s Virtual Experience: We got this! Sarah has facilitated hundreds of virtual events so you can trust your virtual event will go off without a hitch.
About Sarah:
Sarah Ciavarri, founder of Level Up Leadership, LLC, is a gifted keynote speaker, author, and thought leader who has been helping organizations, leaders, and teams achieve professional excellence and craft a life they love through increased resilience and authenticity for over a decade. Sarah is able to quickly connect with audiences large and small and travels the country inspiring participants to be courageous, resilient, and authentic. Sarah wrote, “Finding Our Way to the Truth: Seven Lies Leaders Believe and How to Let Them Go” to inspire leaders through her own relatable and humorous stories and to provide readers easy steps to be more successful in their own skin. Sarah is keenly attuned to the inner life of leaders and regularly presents on resilience, burnout prevention, and compassion fatigue.
Sarah is a Certified Facilitator of all of Dr. Brené Brown’s curricula: Dare to Lead, Daring Greatly, Bold, and The Gifts of Imperfection. Sarah has facilitated over 200 workshops on Dr. Brown’s research and has supported thousands of leaders to dream and live big. Sarah is among those who have been facilitating Brené’s research since the beginning. Sarah has the unique honor of being among just a handful of facilitators dual certified in Dare to Lead and Daring Greatly. In addition to this honor, Sarah was asked by the Daring Way senior leadership to step into greater responsibility eight years ago within Brené’s organization as a Case Consultant supervising candidates through integrating Brené’s research into their context. Sarah is Vice President of Spiritual Life at a large senior healthcare organization headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.
Sarah’s Alphabet Train: Sarah’s got lots of letters behind her name but really why you should care is this means Sarah is always learning and adding rigor to her coaching skills. If you want more details, here they are: Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and is a faculty member with Coaching4Today’s Leaders and LeaderWise, Leadership Agility 360 Assessments, Train the Trainer Certification, 1600 hours of Clinical Pastoral Education, and Board Chaplain Certification. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Luther Seminary where she was a Presidential Scholar. Sarah is an Advisory Board member for the Women in Leadership Program at Mankato State University, Mankato, MN.
Sarah is Vice President of Spiritual Life at a large senior healthcare organization headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.
A few fun things:
- Sarah got her afrave on this summer when she sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a nationally televised Twins game.
- Sarah lives on 10 gorgeous acres with her family, a small herd of goats, and two horses that are the best therapy money can buy.
- Sarah and her spouse designed and built their home. She can use a plumb bob, wire a house, and hang drywall with the best of ‘em.
- Sarah put herself through grad school by singing and dancing.
James Robilotta
James is an author, professional speaker, personal coach, and trained improv comedian. After nearly 15 years of building, training, supervising, and evaluating teams, James followed an entrepreneurial dream and built two successful businesses. The first is an organization that incorporates freestyle rapping into improv comedy (a success story for another day). And the second is his speaking and coaching business (a success story for today).
James has been speaking professionally to willing and unwilling audiences for years and has found that quality humor — not your lame, laugh-track, dad-joke humor — is the secret to hosting powerful conversations that make a genuine impact. His attendees leave feeling recharged, introspective, and ready to get out of their own way. With years of research (and a few too many real-life case studies within his work), James learned everything he could about authenticity in the workplace and uses this insight to host conversations about communication, rapport building, engagement, feedback, retention, promoting memorability, life balance, increased productivity, and more.
James’ cornerstone concept is that we as humans can’t learn from people who are perfect, we can only learn from people who are imperfect. And companies like American Express, GE, and Afterpay have gravitated toward this message and found the insights to be invaluable in shifting the way their teams communicate. Simply put, James is working to bring humanity back into the workplace and is on a mission to ensure that in their personal and work life, every human realizes they are enough.
Pam Borton
Research shows that professional speakers from outside the organization and industry bring invaluable insights, perspectives, and expertise. The best professional speakers are masters at motivating, inspiring and bringing a different voice and experience to your audience.
Pam Borton is a true pioneer and expert on leadership and teamwork. As an author, speaker, executive coach and CEO of ON Point Next Level Leadership, Pam has spent her entire career shaping people, teams and organizational success by helping leaders develop high performing teams and engaged employees. With her signature mix of inspiration, authenticity, storytelling, and no-nonsense practicality, Pam has lead, coached and spoken to thousands of leaders and is consistently sought after as a strong female presence that is relatable to her clients and audiences. Whether she’s addressing Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, government agencies, non-profits, schools or churches, Pam’s down-to-earth nature and insightful concepts will resonate.