The Spring 2026 SSB Collective
Each year, Speaker Story Bank curates voices and ideas that are shaping the conversations that organizations need to be having — sometimes quietly within small teams, and sometimes boldly across entire enterprises.
​Our 2026 Spring Collective is about voices and perspectives that matter now — expressed through very different humans and leadership contexts.
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In a time defined by uncertainty, polarization, and constant change, leadership requires more than expertise. It requires courage and conviction, and the ability to move people forward when the path isn’t clear.
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The Spring Collective centers Courage & Conviction as a lived leadership practice — tested under pressure, shaped by uncertainty, and revealed through change. Some of these perspectives come alive on the keynote stage, while others are most powerful in moderated conversation, where reflection, lived experience, and strategic insight create real substance.
Here’s a closer look at our four Featured Voices.
David Gomez
Reclaiming Value with Courage and Confidence
Helping leaders and sales teams stop underselling themselves and start defending their value in markets that reward courage over concession.
In markets that reward sameness and pressure leaders to compete on price, David Gomez helps organizations lead with conviction instead of concession.
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David challenges a deeply ingrained belief: that competitiveness requires being cheaper. Instead, he shows leaders how to defend their value with clarity, align teams around differentiation, and make courageous strategic choices that drive profitable growth. His work helps organizations move away from reactive pricing and toward confident positioning that customers can clearly understand — and choose.
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A renowned international keynote speaker and bestselling author, David draws on decades of experience in corporate sales and marketing, including extensive work in Latin America’s fiercely price-driven markets. His books, including Stop Competing on Price (originally Bueno, Bonito y Carito) and It’s the Small Things, have become global references for leaders who want to stand out by delivering meaningful, memorable value — not discounts.
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For leaders and sales organizations ready to defend their value, not discount it.
Sir Conor Burns
Leadership with Courage & Conviction Under Pressure
Insights from the rooms where decisions shape leaders, nations, and futures — and what it truly means to stand for something under pressure.
Leadership today isn’t tested in moments of agreement — it’s tested in conflict, complexity, and pressure.
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Sir Conor Burns has led in rooms where decisions mattered, disagreements were real, and outcomes carried global consequences. As a former UK Minister of State for Trade Policy and Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy for North America, he negotiated across governments, industries, and cultures — requiring clarity, conviction, and the ability to move forward without consensus.
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What makes his perspective distinct, is his focus on Leadership with Courage and Conviction — anchored in principles, not popularity. Drawing on his trade experience and his close work with Margaret Thatcher, as Chairman of The Margaret Thatcher Centre, he explores how values-based leadership drives progress in divided, high-stakes environments.
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Today, he advises business leaders navigating uncertainty, expansion, and polarized decision-making — and helps audiences understand how to lead decisively when the pressure is on.
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For leaders who don’t have the luxury of easy agreement.
Renée Marino
The Courage to Communicate with Presence, Authenticity, and Impact
Bringing conviction into the room, and the moment — through grounded, human communication that truly connects.
In distracted, fast-moving systems, Communicating with Courage and Presence has become a leadership act.
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Renée Marino helps leaders and teams slow the moment down — in order to connect with greater presence, intention, and impact. Drawing on over 30 years as a performer on the world’s largest stages, Renée brings a uniquely human lens to communication, where authenticity in an environment has usually been replaced by speed over substance.
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Through her book, Becoming a Master Communicator, Renée offers a modern blueprint for blending digital fluency with real human connection — helping individuals and teams by teaching practical tools that help them show up more clearly, listen more fully, and be truly heard.
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Renée’s approach has been embraced across corporate, creative, and personal development worlds, earning her recognition from Yahoo Finance as one of the “Top 10 Communication Coaches to Follow,” and placing her alongside leading voices in business, entertainment, and personal growth, including her role as the recent Emcee for Tony Robbins' Virtual RISE Summit.
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For leaders ready to replace autopilot communication with presence and impact.
Brian Tierney
Courageous Storytelling in Times of Uncertainty
How the stories leaders choose — and avoid — determine what’s possible in moments of disruption, uncertainty, and change.
In moments of disruption, the stories leaders tell determine what happens next.
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Brian Tierney helps organizations lead with Courageous Storytelling — not as performance, but as a leadership discipline. His work centers on helping leaders name reality honestly, replace fear-based narratives with possibility-driven ones, and guide teams forward with clarity and conviction when certainty is in short supply.
Brian is trusted in moments when reputations, futures, and institutions are on the line because he has lived inside those moments himself. From building and selling multiple companies, to leading the turnaround of one of America’s most iconic newspapers, to advising CEOs and boards under real pressure, Brian understands that story is not cosmetic. It is consequential.
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Often at his best in moderated conversation, Brian brings reflection, perspective, and lived experience to leaders navigating change — helping them understand not just what story to tell the world, but what story they must first believe themselves in order to move forward together.
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For leaders navigating disruption who understand that story is strategy, not spin.
The Fall 2025 SSB Collective
Rachel Druckenmiller
Too many smart and capable people are burned out, checked out, and holding back. They’re silencing themselves instead of showing up fully, and it’s costing them and their companies. Recognized by Smart Meetings as a Best of the Stage Speaker, Rachel helps organizations and leaders amplify the voice, value, and vitality of their people—fueling higher performance, deeper engagement, and lasting impact. Her thought provoking approach gets results as she empowers people to reconnect to their voice, activate clarity and agency, and take meaningful action—so they lead with confidence, speak up with courage, and contribute with purpose.
Recognized by Smart Meetings as a Best of the Stage Speaker, Forbes as a Next1000 Honoree, and Workforce Magazine as a 40 Under 40 Game Changer. For 13 years, led national wellbeing and employee engagement initiatives in the corporate world and today helps organizations and leaders amplify the voice, value, and vitality of their people—fueling higher performance, deeper engagement, and lasting impact.
Ian Beacraft
As founder and Chief Futurist of Signal and Cipher, Ian leads a strategic foresight and development agency guiding companies through the rapidly changing technology landscape to find meaningful routes to innovation that impact the bottom line, inspire cultural change, and create new products and services. As a Gonzo Futurist, he is actively experimenting with new and emerging technologies before they leave the research lab to understand the implications and applications for the future of work and society at large. Previously responsible for P&L’s and innovation departments at the largest agencies in the world, Ian is known for making bleeding-edge technology understandable and monetizable. Brands he has advised include Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Universal Pictures, and dozens more.
Considered one of the top voices in AI and the future of work, Ian is a trusted advisor to the world’s most innovative companies by decoding the future of work with the tech of tomorrow.
Jeanne Sparrow
With the advent of AI and social media, people have begun to lose their sense of themselves. It's time for what Jeanne calls "The Power of Authenticity" where individuals and leaders become empowered to move with greater intentionality, speak with more presence, and lead in ways that create real connection—and lasting results. The real challenge is doing it on purpose and without fear, especially in high-pressure environments where expectations are high, communication is complex, and connection feels just out of reach.
Three decades of award-winning work in the media with a reach of more than 500 million people, combined with her wealth of experience as a respected speaker, trusted leadership and communication consultant, have led to a renewed focus on being more aligned with what truly matters.
Mike Robbins
Organizations face fast paced change and challenges every day. In order to create a winning team culture, he teaches how to navigate change by sharing practical techniques that allow for deeper trust, better collaboration, and greater results. Drawing on decades of experience in high-performance environments—from pro baseball to Silicon Valley-Mike believes that mindset, communication, and connection skills are what drive resilience, psychological safety, and lasting success.
Expert in teamwork, leadership, and emotional intelligence and author of 5 books. Empowers people, leaders, and teams to engage in their work and perform at their best while realizing that "we are all in this together."
The Spring 2025 SSB Collective
Liz Bohannon
The most innovative and resilient organizations of today share one thing in common: a culture fueled by curiosity, connection, and community. Liz has spent her career building award-winning, mission-driven brands and transforming workplace cultures. Utilizing her Community Quotient™ framework, she inspires teams to break free from limiting mindsets and build thriving, connected communities. Her approach isn't theoretical—it's backed by over a decade of building global, community-driven organizations that consistently outperform through the power of human connection.
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Top 1% VC-Backed Female Founder, Award-Winning Social Entrepreneur
Faisal Hoque
Recognized as one of the world’s leading management thinkers and technologists. Faisal's work is characterized by a unique blend of technology expertise and management science, which he applies to foster sustainable and transformational change. Integrating Eastern philosophy with American entrepreneurial spirit, he emphasizes connectivity, mindfulness, and the collective good throughout his body of work.
Founder @ Shadoka, NextChapter,#1 WSJ Bestselling Author, Transformation and innovation partner for CACI, an $8 billion dollar company focused on U.S. national security. Contributor at MIT's IDEAS Social Innovation program, Thinkers50, and the Swiss business school IMD.
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Dr. Karen Macneill
Dr. Macneill bridges the elite worlds of Olympic athletics and Fortune 500 leadership, offering unparalleled insights into sustaining peak performance. With over two decades of experience as both an Olympic athlete and mental performance consultant, she equips leaders and teams with the psychological tools to thrive under pressure in both professional and personal arenas. She is an expert at teaching us all how to cultivate the 'freedom to perform' - a state where mental fitness and resilience drive high levels of excellence even in turbulent times.
Performance psychologist, mental performance consultant, professional speaker
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Charles Vogl
The most successful organizations of our era share one critical advantage: the ability to forge genuine human connections that spark innovation and drive extraordinary results. Drawing from personal experiences, extensive research, and three thousand years of spiritual traditions, Charles introduces powerful concepts that can revolutionize how we build communities and foster genuine connections, both online and offline. He combines ancient wisdom with contemporary strategies to enhance organizational culture and personal connections in our modern era.
Trusted thought leaders for Google School for Leaders, International bestselling author, founding member of Google Vitality Lab, Yale M. Div. graduate and guest lecturer.
Terence Mauri
An influential and outspoken thinker, engaging organizations to get "Future-Fit," Terence is one of the world's most requested headliner keynote speakers who inspires leaders to unlock the Upside of Disruption. He has a track record of battle-tested ideas to turn disruption into a tailwind for laser-like focus, strategic courage, and value creation.
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Founder, HackFuture Lab, Best Selling Author, Entrepreneur Mentor at MIT, Global Insights Panel Advisor
The 2024 SSB Collective
Michael Gorton
Michael's mission is to revolutionize corporate cultures by inspiring personal agency in all team members that is reflective of how he has built unicorn businesses for over four decades. Best known for igniting corporate innovation through the power of entrepreneurial disruption.
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Pioneer of the Half-Trillion-Dollar Telemedicine Industry, Founder of Teladoc/Serial Entrepreneur, Innovation and, Disruption Speaker, Bestselling Author
ABIGAIL POSNER
Shares thought provoking insights on culture, technology and leadership to audiences of thousands and proves that her own expansive approach to life has infused her work with a creative and innovative edge.
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Director, Creative Works at Google; Agent of Change on Culture, Creativity, Innovation & Disruption; Podcast Host, HUMAN CODE
HEATHER MONAHAN
Demonstrates that a confident mindset is the key to transforming challenges into opportunities for success, especially in times of turmoil.
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#1 Confidence Authority for the Modern Workplace, Top 10 Business Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Best Selling author of the The Confidence Creator
Jenn Lim
Step into a new era of workplace transformation with Jenn (Co-founder and CEO of Delivering Happiness; Founder of BEYOND HAPPINESS). A global workplace visionary and bestselling author, she brings her unparalleled expertise shaped by her pivotal leadership role in the early years of Zappos' world-renowned culture, igniting conversations that redefine organizational success.
CEO, Founder & Bestselling Author, World’s Top 50 Keynote Speakers, Global Workplace Visionary (or Iconic Pioneer of Workplace Culture)
The 2023 SSB Collective
We loved working with our roster of speakers from 2023, who have seen success in building their businesses and also some who have signed exclusively with great speaker bureau partners and managers.
Follow them on LinkedIn and reach out to them via their websites if you want to learn more about how they can create impact at your next event!
BEN WHITING
Creating Limitless Cultures, because no matter the problem, your people are the solution, and Ben guides you to understanding the tools that you can easily give to your people in order to see them shine and rise to any challenge.
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Fortune 50 Keynote Speaker & Business Consultant; Transformative Corporate Culture Expert; Award-Winning Entertainer
ELIZABETH LOMBARDO
Taming Stress & Negative thoughts with strategies to create better relationships, more productivity and overall success.
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Acclaimed Clinical Psychologist; Transformative Keynote Speaker on Positive Psychology; Author, Get Out of The Red Zone: Transform Your Stress and Optimize True Success
