Wally Armstrong, a veteran PGA and Champions Tour competitor, has played professionally and taught golf since 1968. After competing in over 300 PGA Tour events with 30 top-ten finishes and a fifth-place finish in the Masters, he gained a lifetime membership to the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. He is recognized by his peers as one of the most creative teachers of the game. Hall of Famer, Gary Player, says “Wally is a true master and teaches the feel of the golf swing in a clear, understandable, yet fun way.”
Wally is an accomplished clinician and speaker. Since leaving the PGA Tour in 1984, Wally has participated in over 500 teaching and speaking events. He has been used by corporations and charities around the world to entertain their clients with his unique and entertaining golf clinics.
After graduating from East Carolina University, Steve Bernhardt was a high school coach and teacher in North Carolina for 5 years. He and his wife Cathi moved to northern Virginia in 1976 to start a family and begin a new career in sales with the Xerox Corporation. Today Steve is a successful mortgage lender in the Vienna/Tysons area.
On November 17, 1988, the Bernhardt’s were involved in a tragic automobile accident which killed both of their young children. That day, Steve and Cathi’s lives were ripped apart and dramatically changed forever.
Jeff Bostic played professional football for the Washington Redskins from 1980 to 1993, helping them win Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI, thus earning a spot as one of the 70 greatest players in Redskins history.
Bostic was one of “The Hogs”, the Redskins’ famed offensive line that also included guards Russ Grimm and Mark May, tackles Joe Jacoby and George Starke as well as tight ends Don Warren and Rick Walker. Renowned for their ability to control the line of scrimmage, “The Hogs” established the Redskins under Coach Joe Gibbs as one of the most dominant teams in the NFL during the eighties and early nineties.
“The Hogs” was a term coined by offensive line coach Joe Bugel, when he once told his lineman, “Okay you hogs, let’s get running down there”. “The Hogs” provided protection for running back John Riggins and quarterback Joe Theisman. Riggins was accepted as an “Honorary Hog”, while Theisman, even though he threw a key block during one game and begged to be named an “honorary piglet”, was never admitted to this exclusive fraternity of men.
Spencer Brand is the Founder and President of the Endowment for Community Leadership, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing leadership and financial resources in the minority communities of America.
Prior to founding the Endowment, Spencer held senior positions at the Departments of Labor and Interior in Washington, D.C.
Spencer has also been a private and public consultant for over 25 years, serving the business and professional communities in the areas of success, interpersonal relationships and spiritual growth.
Stephanie Brown is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Administration at Akridge. Ms. Brown’s responsibilities include all aspects of the employee lifecycle from prospective candidate to retiree. This includes recruitment, on-boarding, employee relations, policy development, internal communications, awards and recognitions, leadership development and performance management. She is also extensively involved in corporate strategic planning, corporate learning and development and information systems. She is a tenured executive, with over 25 years experience with Akridge including service in the roles of Chief Accountant and Controller.
Elisa Levitz Cafferky has over 20 years experience in direct technology sales,
federal procurement operations, business development and sales management in
the commercial software and technology solutions industry.
However, after a major spinal cord injury paralyzed her oldest son in 2007, Elisa took off 18 months to be a full time caregiver to Nick.
Recently back in the high tech community, Elisa has returned to her roots as a technology sales rep to the community she has always loved working with—domestic and national intelligence. She is currently employed as an account executive in the newly formed SAS Federal National Security Group.
In the Spring of 2000, when challenged by some close friends and her husband to reconcile her strong Jewish faith with her love of the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Elisa read the entire Bible on a dare. Elisa’s journey to reconcile what she read in the Bible with her faith, her work/life philosophy and the tragic accident of her son has not been an easy one.
Ben Case serves as the National Rifle Association’s Special Counsel for Advancement to the Executive Vice President. He began his work at NRA in 2005. In addition, Mr. Case is President of Case Consulting Services, which since 2001 has advised non-profits in strategic planning and fundraising.
Ben has served in the nonprofit sector for 31 years as an advancement and management professional and leader. His experience includes work with internationally known institutions, such as Duke University and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as being involved in the start-up of a number of successful nonprofits. Ben’s work has resulted in over $3.3 billion raised to support the missions of worthy institutions.
Jon Cassady has over 28 years experience as a senior global business development, marketing and sales executive with the IBM Corporation and the non-profit association, American Society for Training & Development. Jon has created and led strategic integrated marketing communications plans, including messaging, content, digital strategies, value propositions, design, and tactics consistent with corporate branding and image. His expertise includes deployment of global strategies and methodologies with established objectives and metrics.
Glastinne Celestin is a consultant with Booz Allen and Hamilton in northern Virginia, where his main client is the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
Glastinne grew up in the inner city of Miami, Florida, where in order to escape the horrible abuse by his family, he gravitated to the dark corners of urban life. He took tothe streets and quickly found himself in a gang. Nothing and no one mattered except his crew – the 68 Boyz.
Through the efforts of one man – a neighbor – Glastinne was rescued from this destructive lifestyle and able to escape the inner city, later graduating from Florida Atlantic University.
Today, of the ten gang members that were part of his leadership team, only three are still alive. In addition to his work at BAH, Glastinne devotes his time to mentorship, outreach and volunteerism in order to change the lives of at-risk men and women. He currently serves on the advisory board for Youth for Tomorrow, mentors youth at the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court for Judge Esther Wiggins of Arlington, and serves as a volunteer at the Juvenile Detention Center of Fairfax, Virginia.
Phil Covell is a business analyst with Forest Trends, a non-profit organization that seeks to expand the value of forests to society and to promote sustainable forest management and conservation. He is also active in the Willow Creek Good Sense Ministry.
As a 15 year veteran pilot with DHL Airway's cargo network, Mark Christiansen’s world hit turbulence as DHL announced it's plan to outsource it's flying and to shut down it's airline. Mark's leadership in both the union's Critical Incident Response Team and the Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel gave him a unique position to come along side the pilot group. How do you seek God in the midst of an airline moth-balling your airplane? Practical tips on flying through the turbulence of job loss will be shared along with the art of giving positive support to the friend going through this loss.
Chris Dowell is a principal in the Breckenridge Group Executive Search firm, which specializes in finding and placing top leadership for Associations from around the country.
Lorne Epstein, CEO of Arlington Soho and author of “You’re Hired! Interview Skills to Get the Job,” has been lecturing professionals and students on how to interview to get the job they want and dream of. Lorne has spoken at Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State, Virginia Tech and other schools around the country. He informs and entertains participants looking to take the next step in their careers and he has created the business networking application “InSide Job” on Facebook.
Dr. Gregory E. Ganssle is a lecturer in the philosophy department at Yale University and a senior fellow at the prestigious Rivendell Institute. A graduate of the University of Maryland, he also earned a Masters of Arts in Philosophy
from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Syracuse University, where his dissertation on God’s Relation to Time won a Syracuse University Dissertation Award.
He has published over thirty academic papers, chapters and reviews and has edited two books, Four Views of God and Time and God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature. He is also the author of two popular books, Thinking About God and A Reasonable God.
John Gilstrap, a resident of Fairfax, is the acclaimed author of seven thrillers: No Mercy, Six Minutes to Freedom, Scott Free, Even Steven, At All Costs, Nathan’s Run, and his latest novel, Hostage Zero. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.
He graduated from William and Mary with a degree in American history and earned a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, becoming an expert on explosives safety and hazardous waste.
He is a 15-year veteran of the Burke Volunteer Fire Department, and — while continuing to write novels — currently serves as the director of safety for a large trade association in Washington, DC.
Lou Giuliano retired as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ITT Corporation at the end of 2004. During his sixteen year tenure at ITT, Mr. Giuliano focused on leadership development and an overarching strategy of continuous improvement. Initiation of a corporate-wide Lean Six Sigma implementation allowed ITT’s leadership team to significantly improve their competitive position and operating performance. He also oversaw a rapid
expansion of ITT’s activities in China.
Prior to being named President and Chief Operating Officer of ITT Corporation in 1998, Mr. Giuliano was President and Chief Executive of ITT Corporation’s Defense and Electronics businesses and Senior Vice President of ITT Corporation for eight years. During that time, the businesses entered new, rapidly growing markets, and achieved consistent sales and income growth, despite dramatic reductions in the defense budget.
Since 1994, Shira Harrington has been helping employers and job seekers successfully find one another. Developing a management and executive recruiting practice within the association industry and more recently a career consulting practice, Shira is keen on helping her clients identify their optimal match. For job seekers, her expertise is in exploring career goals, crafting powerful resumes that catch the eye of recruiters like her and preparing for engaging interviews.
Dan Hayes is the Executive Director of Atlanta Community Ministries, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization that consists of nearly 40 volunteer social service projects and programs. Over the last ten years, ACM’s 700 volunteers have served over 150,000 different individuals in need in the Atlanta area.
Prior to founding ACM, Dan was both a private and public consultant for over 20 years, serving both the business and academic communities in the areas of success, interpersonal relationships and ethics. During his career, Dan has spoken to more than 1 million people in 25 countries.
Doug Hill has earned a reputation as one of Washington’s most accurate and entertaining weather forecasters. As Vice President, Weather and Chief Meteorologist, he brings nearly 30 years experience to his daily broadcasts on ABC 7 News at 5, 6 and 11. Hill has been honored with a Washington Emmy Award for broadcast excellence. He has also been awarded the “Seal of Approval” from the American Meteorological Society.
Prior to joining ABC7/WJLA-TV, Hill served for 16 years as Chief Meteorologist for the Washington CBS affiliate. He began his broadcast career in 1978 at WWBT-TV in Richmond, Virginia. In 1980 he made the move to Detroit where he worked for both WDIV-TV and WXYZ-TV, before returning in 1984 to Washington. Doug also provides morning and afternoon radio forecasts on Washington’s WTOP 103.5 FM.
John Jordan is currently Manager of Subcontracts and Procurement within the Technical Services Sector at the Northrop Grumman Corporation. John’s background includes 14 years of supply chain related experiences in both commercial and defense industries, including NVR, Inc., and the Newport News Shipbuilding sector of Northrop Grumman. John’s experience also includes service as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy on the USS Normandy (CG60), a guided missile cruiser.
Dr. Alan Keiran is the Chief of Staff of the Senate Chaplain’s Office, where he coordinates all of the office’s activities and events in the U.S. Senate. Alan is a combat veteran who served 25 years as a Navy Chaplain, serving at a variety of posts around the world, before retiring as a Captain in 2003. His latest book is entitled, Take Charge of Your Destiny.
Bruce Knight is an alumnus of the Transitions group. He previously served in senior positions in the federal government and as a long-time lobbyist for the agriculture industry. He know has his own consulting firm.
Debby Kratovil is the president of Quilter By Design. She travels around the country teaching people how to quilt and writes books and instructional articles about quilting, having published two books and five calendars. She also runs The Calendar Girls quilt shop program for over a hundred national quilt shops, providing free quilt patterns based on her calendars.
Jonathan Lifland is the Media and Communications Manager for the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. He has spent over 12 years with a variety of research and non-profit organizations and is an expert in the area of networking, communications and strategic promotions.
Richard Lukens is the Regional Director of BNI (Business Networking International). He is a CPA with the Burdette Smith Group, focusing on services to businesses, nonprofits and individuals. He also specializes in teaching business networking to business owners and individuals.
John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. EQUIP, the organization he founded has trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and audiences as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and ambassadors at the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was named the World's Top Leadership Guru by Leadershipgurus.net. He was also one of only 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies.
Doris E. McMillon is the President of McMillon Communications. She is a veteran journalist, newscaster, producer, and movie star whose work includes posts at NBC News, WABC-TV, Fox Television, WJLA-TV and the U.S. Information Agency’s WORLDNET. A unique blend of knowledge, experience and talent, Ms. McMillon brings unequaled qualifications in broadcast journalism, publishing and
government to her assignments.
In the Washington, DC area, where McMillon resides, she rates high with every sector of this complex center of government. She anchors news and public affairs programs for Black Entertainment Television’s (BET) nationwide cable network. She also serves as the host for Education News Parents Can Use, a Department of Education production. The Washington Business Exchange Network recently honored her as one of Washington’s 10 Most Admired Women.
McMillon has appeared as herself in the role of a news anchor in Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster movie In the Line of Fire and played the part of a CNN reporter in Wesley Snipes’ movie Murder at 1600. She also played the role of a primetime news anchor in NBC’s Emmy Award winning drama, The West Wing.
Her best-selling book, Mixed Blessing, an autobiography of the search for her biological parents, has received high praise in reviews from The New York Times, Larry King Live and The Washington Times.
Carl Meyer is a veteran of the financial investment industry, having worked for Merrill Lynch from 1980 to 2003 in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. From 2000 to 2003, Carl led the second largest Merrill office in the U.S. during a time of great market turmoil, managing over 170 advisors, 300 employees, $154 million in total revenue and $17 billion in client assets.
During this time, he was present in the New York office of Merrill across the street from the Twin Towers during the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Today, Carl is a partner in the New York City boutique investment firm of InsCap Management, which is a leading firm in financing the purchase of life insurance for individuals and institutions. Carl manages the company’s retail distribution relationships which include some of the biggest firms in the insurance brokerage world.
Paul Mullis has 23 years of corporate marketing and sales experience. He began his career with IBM in Federal Marketing, then moved on to a career in corporate travel management where he was a partner in a large regional travel agency. He is now president of Travel Leaders, one of the top ten largest travel management companies in the world.
Randy Newman is the author of numerous articles and the books, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did, Corner Conversations: Engaging Dialogues about God and Life, and Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family Members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well.
He has been with the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ since 1980 and currently serves with Faculty Commons, their ministry to university professors. He ministers on campuses and elsewhere in our nation’s capital to students, professors and policy shapers. His teaching responsibilities have included serving with the Chaplain’s office at the Pentagon. Randy is a Jewish follower of Jesus and is the former editor of The Messiah-On-Campus Bulletin.
Karl Pierson has had a long and distinguished career in human resources, executive staffing and coaching, acquisition integration and personnel consulting, having worked for ITT, Marymont Corporation, Alyeska Pipeline, Associated Transport and the U.S. Navy.
Tom Rattray, an attorney practicing energy regulatory law for 17 years, lost his job in 2000 and was unemployed for three years. After pursuing scores of energy positions without success, he took an entry-level job that did not require an education. A series of unlikely events took him to the career of his dreams as an energy analyst in the intelligence community of the federal government.
Tom will share how he could not have gotten his job the traditional way, as he had applied for the same position before he had lost lost his job and had been rejected. Instead, through a variety of attitude and paradigm shifts, he was led to the job of his dreams.
Mark Reichenbacher is the founder of A1 Resume Services. A1 specializes in federal, private, and non-profit sector resumes to meet your specific needs. Their mission is to help you put your best foot forward so that you can land the career opportunity of your dreams.
Frederick E. Roach was President and CEO of Centennial Homes, a Weyerhaeuser subsidiary in Dallas, Texas, for 16 years. After his retirement from business, he served nine years as president of the Leadership Center of Baylor Health Care System. He has also served as a trustee and regent at Baylor University, as chairman of the board of trustees of Baylor Health Care System, and as chairman of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. Roach is the author of the book, Let's Talk, which is based on a series of inspirational ideas shared in letters to his son.
J. Knox Singleton is president and CEO of Inova Health System, one of the largest integrated health care delivery systems in the metropolitan Washington region and the largest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was first named to lead the organization in 1984 and through his vision and leadership Inova Health System has continued its nonprofit mission of providing health care to all, regardless of ability to pay, while offering state-of-the-art medical care to the residents of Northern Virginia. For the past three years, U.S. News and World Report magazine has named Inova Fairfax Hospital—their flagship facility—as one of “America’s Best Hospitals.”
Under Singleton’s leadership, Inova has grown from a system with three hospitals to one which now includes five hospitals, several emergency and urgent care centers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, medical office buildings, community clinics, and home health services.
In addition to his duties at Inova, Singleton serves as a director and officer of the Fairfax Symphony and is a board member of the United Way and several other community organizations, which address issues such as affordable housing and human services.
Joan Stansfield is a successful realtor with Long & Foster and is an expert on how to utilize social media to enhance and advance your career.
Lou Stoops is a humorous, inspirational, motivational Keynote speaker, corporate trainer, marketing consultant, newspaper and web columnist, actor, Life Coach/Workplace Coach and Pastor. He speaks and trains on a wide variety of topics, including: communication, conflict management, stress management and burnout prevention, transformational leadership, ethics, teambuilding and spiritual development. He is also a Certified Training Consultant through the Ball State Center for Entrepreneurial Resources.
Sally Strackbein is a speaker, presentation coach, and storyteller. Her clients create and tell stories that connect, persuade, and sell both online and face-to-face. Sally offers presentations, workshops, and coaching on presentation skills, business storytelling, and Strategic Bragging (www.DefiningStory.com).
Tom Tarrants was raised in the deep South during the civil rights turmoil of the 1960s. While in college he became a militant segregationist and eventually joined the Ku Klux Klan. He rose to top leadership in the Klan and became a terrorist in the elite group known as the White Knights.
In the summer of 1967, J. Edgar Hoover ordered a massive FBI operation aimed at stopping and apprehending the notorious White Knights, who had begun bombing Jewish synagogues throughout the South. A year later, the hunt ended after a car chase and shootout left one woman dead, an FBI agent seriously wounded, and Tarrants lying in his own blood after receiving four shotgun blasts at short range.
Mr. Tarrants survived the wounds and was imprisoned in the Parchman, Mississippi, maximum security state penitentiary. During his eight years in prison, Tarrants escaped once and spent three years in solitary confinement. Since his release, Mr. Tarrants has attended seminary and is now the President of the C.S. Lewis Institute in Washington, DC. He has authored two books, The Conversion of a Klansman and He’s My Brother and speaks frequently to groups about the consequences and solutions to hatred, racism and anti-Semitism.
Monica Thakrar is the owner of Joyful Soul Coaching, a coaching firm that specializes in holistic coaching focused on the body, mind, and spirit. Monica’s mission is to help people and organizations live joyfully and authentically by finding their true passions and taking the risks to go after them. She believes that when people’s actions are in alignment with their true heart’s desires they can achieve their greatest dreams.
Rico Tice, a former Hewlett-Packard executive and native Chilean, has served on the staff of All Souls Church in London, England, since 1994. He is the author of Christianity Explored and his focus at All Souls is to help the hundreds of enquirers about the Christian faith who come through the doors of the church each year.
Jim Traficant is vice president and Senior Executive Account Manager for the Healthcare Solutions and Government Communications Systems Division of Harris Corporation. Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries.
As a two-time liver transplant survivor, Mr. Traficant is passionate about transforming communication within the healthcare industry. Healthcare Solutions is delivering the full value of Harris to the healthcare industry, providing enterprise imaging, information and communications technology to government and commercial healthcare organizations. Mr. Traficant has over 20 years of business development and operational leadership experience in both government and commercial markets.
Bob Waddell has worked as a professional recruiter for over 10 years, with an emphasis on positions in the federal government. He also enjoys helping individuals, couples, and families with financial challenges as a result of his training through the Dave Ramsey Financial Freedom program.
Congressman Frank Wolf, the most senior of the 11 members of the House of Representatives from Virginia, is serving in his 15th term in Congress. He represents the 10th District of Virginia, which stretches from McLean to Winchester, and is well known for putting the interests of his constituents above politics.
Congressman Wolf sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he is the lead Republican on the Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee. He also serves on the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. In addition, he is the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan organization made up of more than 200 Members of Congress who work together to raise awareness about international human rights issues.
Congressman Wolf is one of the House’s leading crusaders for human rights and believes that members of Congress have an obligation to speak out for those who are persecuted around the world. He has traveled to Ethiopia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and other countries in Africa to see firsthand the tremendous suffering of the people at the hands of corrupt governments, war, AIDS and famine.
Jim Wolfe is an international consultant, management executive, and attorney with more than 30 years experience. Jim is the CEO and co-founder of J Street Consulting, a Washington, DC management consulting firm, and also serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at George Mason University, where he teaches courses on entrepreneurship and innovation. Jim has been a founder, director, or consultant to more than 50 early-stage firms in a wide range of service and manufacturing industries around the globe.