Kevin Harrington has been a successful entrepreneur for over 40 years. He is an original member of the cast of ABC’s hit, Emmy Award-winning TV show, “Shark Tank.” Also known as the “Inventor of the Infomercial” and pioneer of the “As Seen On TV” label, he co-founded the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA) and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). Kevin has launched over 20 businesses now worth over $100 million in sales, been involved in more than a dozen public companies, and launched over 500 products generating more than $5 billion in sales worldwide with iconic brands and celebrities such as Jack Lalanne, Tony Little, George Foreman, and the new I-Grow hair restoration product on QVC.
Kevin got his start as a young entrepreneur in the early 80’s when he launched Quantum International with $25,000. Entrepreneur Magazine has called him, “one of the top entrepreneurs of our time.” As a business thought leader he is often featured and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, CNBC, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fortune, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News, The View, Squawk Box, Fox Business, and more. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and Inc.com and has published acclaimed books like, “Act Now! How I Turn Ideas Into Million Dollar Products,” the best-seller, “Key Person of Influence,” and “Put a Shark in Your Tank.”
Drew McLellan is a 25-year marketing veteran who helps clients create authentic love affairs with their customers. In 1995, Drew started his own agency — McLellan Marketing Group that he still actively runs today. He also helps other agency owners learn how to take their business to the next level through the consultancy — Agency Management Institute.
Drew is also one of the world’s top marketing and branding bloggers, according to AdAge’s Top 150 index. He’s written the book 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing and co-edited the Age of Conversation series of books.
Drew often appears in publications like Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Agency Post, AdAge, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”
Drew also hosts the brilliant Build a Better Agency Podcast.
He also speaks at leading agency conferences and is often cited in agency centric content for his expertise in the industry.
When he’s not hanging out with clients or agency owners and their staff, Drew spends time with his daughter and cheering for the Dodgers.
Amy Norman knew in the 4th grade that she would become a dentist. She began dental assisting at the age of 16 and worked her way through college as an assistant in various dental specialties. Dr. Norman has worked in the dentistry field for 31 years. Amy received early acceptance to dental school at the University of Washington and was dubbed Doogie Howser by her team. Later, she studied and taught at the prestigious Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies with an emphasis on Cosmetic and Neuromuscular Dentistry.
Over the last 18 years, Dr. Norman’s office has come to be known for excellence in complex cases including worn-down teeth, headache and migraine patients, multiple missing teeth, and bite problems. She also provides cutting-edge services such as non-extraction orthodontics and Fountain of Youth Dentures. Her office is also known for its amazing, highly-skilled and healthy team with virtually no turnover.
Dr. Norman is attracted to Dentistry because of its unique nature combining art and science while routinely changing lives. The rush of giving someone a new smile or relieving a lifetime of pain from TMJ, headaches or migraines, is magical and addicting. She is one of the lucky ones because her hobby is her job.
Robert (Bob) Glazer is the founder and Managing Director of Acceleration Partners and the founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. He is a serial entrepreneur with an exceptional track record and passion for growing revenue and profits for B2C-based companies. In demand by top brands and investment firms, he has extensive experience in the consumer, e-commerce, retail, online marketing, and ad-tech industries partnering with brands such as Adidas, ModCloth, Reebok, Target, Tiny Prints, Gymboree, and Warby Parker.
Bob is a regular contributor to numerous outlets, writing about performance marketing, strategy, and culture. He is the recipient of the Boston Business Journal 40 under 40 award, the SmartCEO Boston Future 50 award, and a finalist for the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in New England, among other accolades. A sought-after speaker, Robert presents to global audiences and serves as an advisor to high-growth businesses.
Bob strongly believes in giving back. He serves on the Board of Directors for BUILD Boston, is a global leader in Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) and founded The Fifth Night charitable event (www.fifthnight.org). He previously served on the boards of the Performance Marketing Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mass Bay and participated in the annual Rodman Ride for Kids for a dozen years, raising almost $100,000 for charity.
In his spare time, Bob is an avid writer, skier, traveler, cyclist, and serial home renovator.
Nitin Chhoda is an immigrant who arrived in the US penniless in 2002, in a post 9-11 world. Delivered pizza, slept in his car, and didn’t have money for winter clothes, but always a hustler. Became a licensed physical therapist, entrepreneur, author and public speaker in 2007. Now owns and runs several multi-million dollar companies with 30+ employees worldwide.
He is the author of “Total Activation: The 5 Step Fitness Mantra”. It is a dynamic new approach to weight loss and personal wellness. It is a system modeled in three stages of change: Identity, Compare, Integrate (ICI) which has 5 components: Emotional, Physical, Social, Spiritual and Intellectual (EPSSI).
Matt Miller spent the first 9 years of his career as an Air Force pilot, before entering the private sector to work in both the medical device and advertising industries. While a top performer in the corporate world, his long-term desire was to be his own boss. A good friend one day mentioned the gumball machines he and his young daughters owned, and that conversation began a 10-year business quest that has brought Matt’s company, School Spirit Vending, to the cutting edge of both the vending and school fundraising industries. Today, School Spirit Vending’s franchising program provides a proven and profitable business system for busy professionals and their families looking to develop secondary income streams with a limited time commitment.
Bill Prater, business owner, entrepreneur, publisher, author, speaker, consultant, and coach. He is best known for long-term success enabling business owners and leaders to quickly eliminate personal barriers, rapidly reach their current dreams, and to embark on a journey of business mastery.
Peter Winick is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage, a company that helps thought leaders turn foundational ideas into thriving businesses. He is an entrepreneurial-minded director who leverages the power of internal and external relationships, accelerating the growth of aspiring thought leaders and exponentially increasing the value of their intellectual property.
For over twenty years, Peter has worked with thought leaders to monetize their content by developing products and solutions applicable to large enterprises. Further, his accomplishments with start-ups, turnarounds, and M&A (in the b2b services sector) have equipped him with the ability to drive results using practical strategy, focused execution, and a disciplined method of cost control.
As an information junkie and avid reader of business books, he is capable of taking great content and creating a platform to best support it through a combination of art, science, logic, focus, passion, and creativity. Peter knows that visionaries, whether speakers, authors, corporate leaders, or just really smart people, need help with moving beyond one-book-one-gig. He’s here to bring you solutions.
Rochelle Lisner’s mission is and has always been to energize, inspire, and educate business owners to achieve productivity, profit, and peace. Since 2007, she has worked with family-owned businesses and entrepreneurs resolve their sales, internal communications, and business growth headaches.
Rochelle brings an interactive and practical approach to sales and scaling key talent, borne out of dealing with diverse industries, crisis management, multicultural clients, and demanding customers.
Rochelle’s deep understanding of how to communicate powerfully in a noisy world (both internally and externally) supports business owners and their teams engage in Story Telling, not Boring Telling for the consistent and powerful verbal branding needed for greater focus and profits.
Evan Hackel, creator of the concept of Ingaging Leadership and author of “Ingaging Leadership,” is a successful businessman who has started more than 10 companies. During his tenure at CCA Global Partners, he ran a $5 billion division. One of his signature achievements was turning around a bankrupt business in four years, more than doubling system-wide sales to exceed $2 billion. As CEO of Tortal Training, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm that specializes in developing and implementing interactive training solutions for companies in all sectors, Evan is a leader in the training field. He is also Founder and Principal of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. He is recognized as a thought leader, speaker, and author on leadership.
Corey Jahnke is the Chief Imagineer at Mind*Star Academy, a Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Coach, Community Pharmacist, Lifelong Learner, and Enthusiastic Dog Lover.
Corey has devoted his life to helping people reengineer their confidence levels so that they can explode their businesses, expand their influence, and live the kind of magical life that he gets to live on a daily basis.
David is the Founder and President of Website Properties. After graduating from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce and Major in Marketing, he traveled extensively through parts of Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, and Central America. It was during his travels that he made various contacts and connections that would lead him to start his first entrepreneurial venture. He created a business importing hammocks and selling a wide variety of styles via mail order, trade shows and wholesale. Soon thereafter he expanded operations establishing an online presence that eventually became Hammocks.com and would later be sold to the billion dollar company, Hayneedle.com Over the next six years, David personally developed, bought and sold Strollers.com, Drums.com, Unicorns.com and over 60 website businesses in multiple niches and of various business models.
During this same time period, the e-commerce market was growing rapidly and while there were many business brokers assisting with brick and mortar businesses, there were none that specialized in the sale of internet businesses. Identifying the need for a business broker with e-commerce industry knowledge and experience selling online businesses, he started down the path of his next entrepreneurial venture. David established Website Properties as the first online business brokerage specializing in selling established and profitable Internet-based businesses. From 2002 – present, he continues to enjoy and draws great satisfaction from bringing buyers and sellers together to complete a transaction that is a win, win for both parties.
With his industry knowledge, years of experience, and successes, David Fairley is considered an expert in online business marketing, appraisal, and sale. He is often retained as a consultant for companies seeking to maximize their exit strategy or by companies looking for strategic website opportunities to grow their business through acquisitions. He has been invited as a panel member and speaker at various domain name industry conferences, cited in DN Journal for a number of high profile domain name sales and interviewed by Domainsherpa, The New York Times, and local radio shows for his expertise in the sale of online web based businesses.
Heather Picken is The Entrepreneur Catalyst and renowned success and business coach, Bestselling author with her third book, "Woman On Fire Entrepreneur: How to Own your Power Profit from your Passion and create Prosperity." She leads teams and entrepreneurs worldwide on how to create a global impact through her brand, La Dolce Vita: The Formula For Fabulous Living™, which teaches the science, psychology, and philosophy of living the sweet life.
Heather combines the latest technology from neuroscience to online marketing in helping her clients create massive visibility with their product, service, and mission. She has appeared on many TV & Radio stations including ABC, FOX, and Hay House Radio.
Heather also hosts a national show called La Dolce Vita: The Formula For Fabulous Living™, where she interviews entrepreneurs and leaders across the world in demonstrating that there is a unique formula for life and business mastery, and each person on this planet has the ability to unleash their own creative genius. Heather says with this formula you can create your fabulous vision, mission, and purpose and live an inspired life.
With 30 years of leadership experience, Guy Neal serves as President of PBS Engineering and Environmental, recognized as a Top 500 Engineering Firm by Engineering News-Record. Guy’s engagement with the firm began 24 years ago as one of PBS first civil engineers. His unique background blends engineering with environmental science, assisting clients with the challenges of meeting regulatory standards as they expand. He later became Principal of PBS Engineering Division, overseeing environmental, geotechnical, and civil engineering services.
As President, Guy’s leadership has played an important role in assuring the growth of PBS amidst an economic recovery which heavily impacted the engineering design industry. Now in its 35th year, the firm has emerged as one of the Northwest’s premier engineering and environmental practices, with a well-diversified client base and expanding geography. Guy leads the firm’s efforts to reinvest in the local community through sustainable practices, environmental volunteerism, and participation in STEM education programs that support a new generation of engineers.
Kathleen Trotter is the author of “Finding Your Fit.” Kathleen has been a personal trainer, Pilates specialist, and fitness writer for over fifteen years. Kathleen writes for publications including the Globe and Mail and Huffington Post, makes regular TV and media appearances, is the featured trainer in the Globe and Mails Fitness Basics video series, and blogs for Flaman Fitness. Kathleen holds a Master of Exercise Sciences from the University of Toronto and a nutrition diploma from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition.
Lolly Daskal is one of the most sought-after executive leadership coaches in the world. Her extensive cross-cultural expertise spans 14 countries, six languages, and hundreds of companies.
As founder and CEO of Lead From Within, her proprietary leadership program is engineered to be a catalyst for leaders who want to enhance performance and make a meaningful difference in their companies, their lives, and the world. Based on a mix of modern philosophy, science, and nearly thirty years coaching top executives, Lolly’s perspective on leadership continues to break new ground and produce exceptional results.
Of her many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Experts by Inc 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference and Speakers at your next event by Inc. magazine. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others.
Lolly’s proprietary insights are the subject of her new book, “The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness.”
Tara Christopher has been in the health industry for 30 years. She started as a competitive AAU swimmer at the age of 5 swimming five days a week and completed her first swim-a-thon at age 9. She continued swim-a-thons annually to raise money for different nonprofit organizations. At 12 years old was the first 20-mile walk-a-thon. The understanding of the power of her own body to help others and be grateful for health began at a very young age.
Tara began teaching Aerobics and was part of a team that opened a health club at the age of 17. While opening the new health club McDonald’s was trying to incorporate the veggie burger and Tara hosted the McDonald’s commercial to launch the idea of a healthier choice. Always one that was up for the challenge, she did her first sprint triathlon at 21 years old. She was featured on the cover of Triathlon program as the cyclist.
After moving locations to teach weight training and classes she was invited to speak at the corporate office of Anheuser-Busch inspiring a room full of upper management and executives to educate them on exercise and better nutrition. This was the first of many engagements to teach health and wellness.
After she received her degree from Hunter College, she launched a successful career at a highly demanding gym on 57th street in NYC. Her strategy was to develop a roadmap for individuals to reach their goals based on their own health needs. With her rapid growth and success, she launched her own business on 57th street at Lift gym NYC. In the process of launching her business, she finished the NYC marathon. Since then, she has completed many endurance events including the Ford Ironman.
Throughout her career she was featured in many national publications, was in an exercise layout in fitness plus, wrote a TV clip for Life Time Live and featured in the episode, was chosen to represent a book Baby to Bikini traveling to many news morning shows. In 2012 she was on Dateline NBC as the coach, After the showing, the clip was featured on TMZ and the O’Reilly factor. With social media and the changing format, Tara was inspired to reach to many people with her message. This lead to her passion for spreading the word Just Keep On Movin!!!
Eric Miller grew up in Everett, WA. When he was 6 he was diagnosed with a serious case of ecoli-0157, and through that experience became very close with his pediatrician and the process of medicine. From then, Eric became obsessed with the human body and how using science, testing, and insight can cure illnesses. He set his sights on becoming a doctor.
Fast-forward 12 years, Eric went to University of Washington to pursue a career in medicine. He made it through the Pre-Med undergrad curriculum with a degree in Medical Anthropology & Global Health. During that time, he was working for the eye-bank as a tissue harvesting as well as volunteering in a research lab gaining the experience he needed for the next step: Medical School.
However, as much as his brain loved science and systems, it was also equally creative and imaginative. Art has always been a huge part of Eric’s life, so when he picked up a video camera in high school, that unknowingly put the rest of his life’s plans of becoming a doctor in somewhat of an existential crisis. While pursuing his degree, Eric would film snowboarding, music videos, weddings, and short films. What started as a hobby turned into a burning passion. So when Eric graduated college, he made the difficult decision to put Med School on hold for one year, to see where video could take him.
It’s been 6 years since, and he hasn’t looked back. Vidbotz is a culmination of his science and art background — systematizing the production process, much like the scientific method.
Rob is President and Co-Founder of imageOne, a Document Lifecycle Management company. Rob’s journey began in ninth grade when he and his current business partner, Joel Pearlman, launched their first business selling blow pop candy out of their school lockers. Rob and his partner realized early on that their passion for delivering an extraordinary customer experience would be key to their success. It is this passion that has become the driving force behind imageOnes success. Rob has completed 14 marathons and is an avid meditator and loves spending time in Northern Michigan with his family and friends.
David Covey is the 3rd son of Stephen R. Covey, author of the groundbreaking book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” David was the chief operating officer of FranklinCovey. He then left Franklin Covey to start his own company, now called SMCOV. SMCOV works with the best intellectual property content experts on the planet and helps distributes their content globally through licensees. David loves working with impactful IP and setting up distribution systems around the globe.
Mo Gawdat is the Chief Business Officer at Google’s [X], an elite team of engineers that comprise Google’s futuristic dream factory. In the past ten years, he has made happiness his primary topic of research, diving deeply into literature and conversing on the topic with thousands of people in more than a hundred countries. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded more than twenty businesses. He speaks Arabic, English, and German. In 2014, motivated by the tragic loss of his son Ali, Mo began pouring his findings into his first book, “Solve for Happy.”
Here are some words from Mo on his book:
“This book is my attempt to fulfill the task assigned to me by my happiness idol, my wonderful son, Ali. My hope is that by sharing his message, his peaceful way of living, I may be able to honor his memory and continue his legacy.” – Mo Gawdat
Kelly Hatfield is co-founder of Enginuity Advantage, Advantage Staffing Group, Enginuity Virtual Recruiter and Impact Real Estate Real Estate Group based in Everett, Washington. She has been in the recruiting and HR field for over 20-years and loves serving others. Kelly and her business partner have built three successful companies with the purpose of helping others succeed and delivering remarkable results. Kelly and her team strategically align themselves as “The Partner of Choice” with clients and strive to be the first place clients call when they are looking for extraordinary service, quality, and reliability. The resulting outcome has been an outstanding referral network that has built and continues to build their companies.
As Co-Founder and Owner of Enginuity Advantage, Advantage Staffing Group and Enginuity Virtual Recruiter, April (together with her amazing partner) has created and developed three successful businesses aimed at matching exceptional talent with the top organizations. With 17 years in the human resources and staffing realm, April has experience, knowledge and a love for people and aims to offer solutions to all who are served. Being a natural problem solver, she prides herself on developing and leading a team of recruiting professionals whose mission is focused on connecting people to opportunity. Through creative and exhaustive methods, the Enginuity Group successfully matches the right talent with the right businesses each and every day.
David Winter is the American Council of Engineering Companies Engineer of the Year. David is CEO of Hart Crowser. He has been with Hart Crowser for nearly 27 years total and steadily worked up through the ranks as a staff engineer, project manager, market leader, officer, and now President and Chief Executive Officer. Through those many years he has organized and led many company initiatives, targeted and overseen expansion into new geographic regions and into new technical disciplines, negotiated and integrated acquisitions, and mentored young staff in business, project management, and client development.
It’s Steven’s job to set and execute GoDaddy’s vision of providing elegant, end-to-end technology solutions for their more than 14.5 million small business customers. He also heads up the Online Bookkeeping and WorkSpace teams.
Steven brings over a decade of experience from Intuit, where he built solutions to help small businesses use the Web to grow and run their stores. He also has small business experience as the founder of a Web company that simplified shopping for insurance. Steven earned an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.A. in physics from the University of North Carolina.
After hours, Steven serves as President of the Board of the Bay Area Glass Institute, a non-profit glass studio, and enjoys spending time with his wife Allison and their son, Jackson, at many sports and arts events.
Lee Caraher is the CEO of Double Forte PR & Digital Marketing; an acclaimed communication strategist, she’s known for her practical solutions to big problems. Her company works with some of the top consumer and technology brands in the country. Lees the author of Millennials & Management based on her experience with failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials. Her next book, The Boomerang Principle will be published in April 2017.
Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn’t hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble.
Lee is active in the community and currently serves on three nonprofit boards. A graduate of Carleton College with a degree in Medieval History, which she finds useful every day, Lee lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two sons, and a blind cat.