Mike O'Krent, founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC, specializes in making personal history videos for families that value their heritage. They create family heirlooms in video – digitally mastered records of life stories with personal accounts, photos, and mementos of family history.
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and graduating from Southern Methodist University with a BBA in Marketing and Management, he entered his family’s retail floor covering business as the 4th generation in that business.
Between 1996 and 2000 Mike interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. During that incredible experience, he discovered the process and the importance of recording the life stories of our loved ones.
Mike moved to Austin in 1998 when he bought and managed a local floor covering business; then sold it in 2004. He finally found his passion in business when he started LifeStories Alive at the end of 2005.
Since the beginnings of LifeStories Alive, the business has expanded its expertise beyond capturing personal histories for families to now include recording the histories of businesses and non-profit organizations. The professionally produced videos can be used externally to promote the organization or internally as a training tool for new employees/volunteers.
Mike's unique interviewing skills bring out the heart and essence of the interviewee, thus making powerfully valuable connections to the intended audience.
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Renaissance woman and entrepreneur Jennifer Iannolo brings her insights to audiences from Harvard to Kathmandu. As a featured speaker for the U.S. State Department, she travels the globe fostering women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, including a recent tour of Nepal. In 2015 Jennifer launched The Concordia Project™ to bring forth a global conversation of inclusive empowerment, as well as programs to guide young women through their key decision-making moments in life. She recently shared insights from the project at UN Headquarters during the Commission on the Status of Women.
A pioneer in digital content, Jennifer co-created Culinary Media Network® — the world’s first all-food podcast channel — in 2006. She’s been featured in media from television to Bloomberg Businessweek, to a New York Times bestseller, and the documentary Eat. Cook. Love.
While an undergraduate at NYU’s Stern School of Business, she built her second company and chaired a conference on social entrepreneurship (before it was an official major or buzzword). Today she collaborates with leaders of social impact, including the Centre for Social Innovation, the ONE Campaign, and various UN organizations. Jennifer lives in New York City, and can be found in the ether as @foodphilosophy.
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For more than a decade, Ron Kaminski has been helping organizations and leaders build high performance teams. Specializing in workplace culture, change management, and team development, Ron excels at helping companies engage their employees to grow and thrive.
Ron is a graduate of John Carroll University. He has been a small business owner, entrepreneur and speaker since 2003. As a consultant and facilitator, Ron has worked with organizations including: Bank of America, Siemens, Ingersoll Rand, Charles Schwab, and the U.S. Army as well as dozens of small businesses. His style and practical solutions have also made him a trusted advisor to many midsize CEO’s who seek better engage and leverage their people.
Ron serves as board member for the Cleveland Chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). When he isn't helping teams and leaders tap their full potential, Ron is spending time with his two children, preparing for the next obstacle course race, or on a paddleboard somewhere.
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Phil Gerbyshak is a LinkedIn trainer and technology expert who teaches salespeople and leaders to leverage technology for business growth. Whether it's using LinkedIn and other social selling tools, choosing the right mix of technology, creating webinars and online universities, publishing a book, maximizing speaking engagements, or knowing why and how to use technology tools, Phil can help you.
You may have seen Phil speaking at a conference, sharing some insights featured in the Wall Street Journal, Daily Globe and Mail, Inc.com, USA Today, as articles in Speaker Magazine or on PhilGerbyshak.com or heard his voice on NSA's Voice of Experience or on his podcast Conversations with Phil. When he's not teaching the world to be less afraid of and more profitable with technology, you can find Phil relaxing on one of Florida's beaches, reading a book, or playing pinball, or spending time with his iPhone, his girlfriend, and his trademark glasses, though not all at the same time.
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Croft Edwards is a Master Certified Coach, Social Media Influencer, President of CROFT + Company, and the genesis behind LeadershipFlow, the study of how to help individuals and organizations be at their best. He has been helping leaders and their teams find their Flow since 2001 in a variety of fields: mining, refining, government agencies, sovereign nations, manufacturing, start-ups, small businesses, and healthcare. Two miles down in a mine or up on the 8th floor, Croft coaches wherever there are leaders who desire a different result.
He is also a retired military officer having served over 20 years in the Army, on both active and reserve duty. He held leadership positions throughout his career and has an MBA and a MA in History. These experiences help him understand leadership from a historical, practical, and academic perspective. He also is himself a Flow connoisseur, finding Flow in running woodworking, and of course in his coaching.
Croft lives on a small farm in New Mexico with his wife, three daughters, and a menagerie of animals.
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