Upcoming Events

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• March Board Meeting

  • When
    23-Mar-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM
  • Location
    Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos | 1819 Main St UNIT 610, Sarasota, FL 34236

  
  

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• Spring Member Only Social!

  • When
    28-Mar-2023
  •  
    5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Location
    The Founders Club | 3001 Founders Club Dr. Sarasota, Fl 34240

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  CEO SPRING SOCIAL!

  Join us on the verandah at the Founders Club for cocktails and light bites on Tuesday, March 28th, from 5:30 - 7 PM.

   Availability is limited and registration is required. RSVP today if you plan to attend!

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• Ben Hammersley: The Future of Work, the Workplace and the Place of Work

  • When
    12-Apr-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  The Future of Work, the Workplace and the Place of Work

  

  
  

  Ben Hammersley, One of the worlds leading Futurist and the founder and principal of Hammersley Futures, an international strategic forecasting consultancy. Their main work is in guiding corporations and governmental agencies to think clearly about the future. They specialize in how society reacts to technological innovation: including the future of crime and conflict, the changing nature of the workplace and the market, and the new cognitive tools needed to flourish in the coming decades.

  Previously Ben was executive editor of WIRED, the writer and presenter of the BBC’s “Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley” (now on Netflix or Amazon Prime internationally), a war correspondent in Afghanistan, an advisor to the European Commission, a pilot and wilderness medic in the USA, the author of 5 books, and the inventor of the word "Podcast".

  Hammersley is the author of the acclaimed book 64 Things You Need To Know Now For Then, a guide to the new concepts of the modern world. His most recent book, Now For Then: How To Face The Digital Future Without Fear, is on the latest ideas in technology, culture, business, and politics. It demystifies the Internet, decodes cyberspace and ushers us through the innovation revolution in which we are all living. Additionally, Hammersley is editor-at-large for WIRED magazine, a columnist for BA Business Life magazine and the Principal of Onwards, Friend, a program that develops science and launch platforms for high-altitude and low-earth orbit. In fact, he is building his own personal satellite.

  When Ben Hammersley speaks to audiences, he dissects intricate concepts and developing technologies and adds fascinating stories and analogies to make these topics accessible. While some speakers and pundits use a “doom and gloom” method to scare people about our rapidly developing future, Hammersley employs humor and common sense to illustrate his views. His methods are especially helpful when illustrating that spheres of power and influence have dramatically changed in the last generation, and how most of us employ a way of thinking that doesn’t line up with today’s society—or the future. “Our jobs, our businesses, our institutions and governments, and civic infrastructure, the marketplace, the flow of ideas, wars and the supply chain, are all—to a degree I think most would find terrifying—far more complex and weird than we’re generally aware. This is partly because of a reluctance to truly look, partly because orthodox understandings of the world are deeply culturally embedded, and partly because we lack the cognitive tools to actually do that thinking,” Hammersley says.

  A speaker and consultant that can mold to any industry’s needs, Hammersley consults with organizations and corporations about trends, technology, and security, whether it’s in travel, financial services, human resources or government. But he doesn’t just talk to the big guys; he also consults with smaller associations and organizations. Through detailed research, he will sort through the issues troubling you, find your strengths, and devise a completely customized speech and action plan that will help your organization move forward. He’ll share what holds your company back, what or who the disrupters are in your sector and exactly how you to navigate, succeed and thrive—in the future.

  
  

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• Sam Silverstein: The Theory of Accountability

  • When
    10-May-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  The Theory of Accountability

  
  

  Sam Silverstein’s mission is to empower people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and to thrive at extraordinary levels. By challenging leaders to shift priorities, cultivate an organizational culture, and inspire both individuals and teams to take ownership in fresh and results-producing ways – he is helping companies dramatically increase productivity, profitability, and growth. Sam has been inducted into the CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame and Global Gurus has named Sam Silverstein as one of the World's Top Organizational Culture Professionals.

  Sam is the founder of The Accountability Institute™ an organization that certifies advisors to work with leaders and organizations to build greater accountability and develop stronger leaders. He is the author of eleven books including I Am Accountable, Non-Negotiable, No More Excuses, Making Accountable Decisions, No Matter What, and The Success Model.

  As a former executive and owner, Sam successfully sold one of his businesses to a Fortune 500 company. Today, Sam writes, speaks, and consults with organizations around the globe to think differently, work with renewed purpose, and achieve record-breaking results. He works with entrepreneurs, multi-national companies, corporations, and government agencies to drive increased accountability, engagement, and productivity.

  
  

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• May Board Meeting

  • When
    25-May-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM
  • Location
    Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos | 1819 Main St UNIT 610, Sarasota, FL 34236

  
  

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• Lisa Walden: Creating a Workplace That Doesn't Suck

  • When
    14-Jun-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  Creating a Workplace That Doesn't Suck

  
  

  Lisa X. Walden is a speaker, strategist, and consultant dedicated to helping businesses create authentic, empowering workplaces that don’t inspire the dreaded Sunday scaries. Her presentations deliver action-oriented insights that help people better connect, collaborate, and communicate.

  As co-founder of Good Company Consulting, her work is centered on the (strangely revolutionary) concept that people and strategy don’t have to be mutually exclusive. She takes a holistic approach to workplace strategy, keeping human beings - arguably the most valuable resources - at front and center. Lisa Walden’s speeches focus on how to maintain thriving cultures, best-practices for mindful communication practices, and tactics for nurturing the single most important component of a healthy work environment—trust.

  Walden has worked with a broad range of clients and organizations, ranging from architects, to finance, real estate, and hospitality. In her speeches, Lisa strives to inspire mindset shifts by presenting valuable, research-based insights in a way that resonates, engages, and entertains. She weaves in stories, statistics, case studies, and some good old-fashioned self-deprecating humor into each and every one of her presentations.

  Lisa Walden is the co-author of Managing Millennials for Dummies and is deep in the trenches of planning her next book. She is a voracious consumer of all business-related books, podcasts, magazines, and think pieces.

  
  

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• July Board Meeting

  • When
    27-Jul-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM
  • Location
    Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos | 1819 Main St UNIT 610, Sarasota, FL 34236

  
  

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• Kelly Keenan: Restart Your Story

  • When
    09-Aug-2023
  •  
    11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  Restart Your Story

  
  

  Kelly Keenan has been specializing in brand and culture development for his entire career. He opened his first ad agency at the age of 24. In 2007, he was named Clear Channel’s Innovator of the Year for the creation of a national Influencer Podcast Series. In 2009, he developed and trademarked a story development process used to clarify, define, and summarize the most inspiring aspects of a brand’s story. That same year he began Brand Story Experts where he works with a team of innovators who specialize in the process of Culture Development Marketing. In 2018, Kelly partnered in the development of The All In App, an internal communications app that creates a cohesive system for keeping teams informed while gamifying internal content creation.  In November of 2021, Kelly released the book, Everyone is An “Influencer”, which received the Axiom Award for the Best Marketing/PR book of the Year and the International Book Award for the Best Marketing/Advertising Book of the Year. Kelly is originally from Ohio, and a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University who was inducted into the Baldwin Wallace Athletic Hall of Fame.

  
  

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• Kim LaMontagne: The 4 Pillars of Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace

  • When
    13-Sep-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  The 4 Pillars of Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace

  
  

  Kim is President / CEO of Kim LaMontagne, LLC, Corporate Trainer, International Speaker, and Author. She is also the Well-being Director for HR Florida State Council. 

  Kim was a top-performing professional who suffered in silence from depression, anxiety, alcohol misuse, and intense suicidal thoughts. She feared judgment, retribution, job loss, and damaging her professional integrity if she spoke openly and acknowledged that she needed help.  

  As a result, she remained silent and almost lost her life. A conversation with an observant leader was the turning point that changed and saved her life.

  At 13 years sober and healthy, she shares her journey to teach leaders how to shift the culture and normalize the conversation about mental health in the workplace.

  On April 1st 2020, Kim stepped away from her corporate job and created a leadership training solution called "The 4 Pillars of Creating and Sustaining a Mentally Healthy Workplace Culture to teach leaders (in all industries) how to recognize the impact of unaddressed mental health in the workplace, decrease stigma, shift to person-centered language, create a peer support network, and build a 'culture of safety' in the workplace that fosters open dialog about mental health. 

  She has the unique ability to teach through the lens of the lived experience and the lens of the leader. She has worked with clients in healthcare, education, legal, corporate, construction, HR, and non-profit, and is a frequent Keynote Speaker. 

  She earned her MBA from the University of Roehampton in London, is a State Trainer for NAMI's In Our Own Voice Program, and is a Teacher in the NAMI Family to Family program. Her mission is to share her lived experience to teach leaders how to create a safe culture where everyone is empowered to speak openly about mental health.

  
  

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• September Board Meeting

  • When
    28-Sep-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM
  • Location
    Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos | 1819 Main St UNIT 610, Sarasota, FL 34236

  
  

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• Alex Weber: Unstoppable

  • When
    11-Oct-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  Unstoppable

  
  

  Alex Weber is an American Ninja Warrior, Award-Winning Leader & Entertainer positively inspiring millions to achieve breakthrough success! Not only does Alex talk the talk as an in-demand international speaker, he’s walked the walk as an elite competitor on NBC’s Emmy-nominated series American Ninja Warrior. Well, more like, leaped the leap! This wildly popular TV show has sparked a global phenomenon to the extent that hundreds of thousands of people apply, and only a few hundred are given the rare opportunity to compete. Alex is the only person to host and compete on NBC American Ninja Warrior.

  Alex’s greatest passion is championing your highest potential by helping you find your Edge, because success is about more than just knowing what to do, it’s knowing how to do it.

  Alex shows Top Professionals and Leaders how to bring their very best every day, and to the most high-stakes situations that can make or break your success. It's his sincere understanding of peak performance and peak challenges, mixed with inspiring stories and actionable strategies that makes Alex unforgettable and your human shot of espresso. With his contagious energy and passion, Alex shares his game-changing secrets to record-breaking success!

  
  

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• Julian Placino: Personal Branding:The Game-Changing Approach to Winning Trust

  • When
    08-Nov-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  Personal Branding: The Game-Changing Approach to Winning Trust

  
  

  Julian Placino is a recruiting strategist who helps organizations create a culture of recruitment where people thrive. As a recruiting practitioner for over 15 years, he’s led talent acquisition at world-class companies and has hired and coached thousands of top performers throughout his career. For 7 years, Julian led recruitment at Bottle Rocket, one of the world’s top mobile development firms. Through speaking and consulting, he teaches recruitment strategy, personal branding, and leadership development. As Host of Pathways to Success on YouTube, iTunes, and Spotify, he interviews inspiring leaders about their business and keys to personal success. 

  
  

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• November Board Meeting

  • When
    16-Nov-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM
  • Location
    Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos | 1819 Main St UNIT 610, Sarasota, FL 34236

  
  

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• Matt Walsh interview with John Lilly - Managing Partner Lateral Capital Advisors, Former P&G executive / CEO Pillsbury

  • When
    13-Dec-2023
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Sarasota Yacht Club

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  Matt Walsh interview with John Lilly - Managing Partner Lateral Capital Advisors, Former P&G executive / CEO Pillsbury

  
  

  John Lilly has an extensive background in business management, for both large and small companies. He built more than 50 branded businesses in 25 countries over 27 years as an executive at Procter & Gamble and then as CEO of The Pillsbury Company. John began his career at P&G in 1976 and was responsible at one time or another for almost all of Procter’s laundry, paper, food and beverage brands. This culminated in a six-year assignment as Regional Vice President in Frankfurt, Germany, where John had managerial scope for the paper and beverage businesses in P&G’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Division. His P&G experience base includes responsibility for Pampers, Pringles, Always, Folgers, Gain, Duncan Hines, Sunny Delight, Dawn and Attends.

  In 1997, Mr. Lilly left P&G to join The Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis, first as President of Pillsbury North America and then as CEO for The Pillsbury Company worldwide. Pillsbury was a $6.8B manufacturer of such brands as Pillsbury, Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, Totino’s, Old El Paso and Progresso. Pillsbury had leading retail and foodservice businesses in 25 countries including China and India. The company was sold to General Mills in 2002 for $10.5B (12.2X EBITDA), in what is broadly seen as a highly successful transaction.

  After Pillsbury became part of General Mills, Mr. Lilly changed careers to work full time as an investor/advisor. Between 2003 and 2016, John Lilly Strategic Insights, LLC (JLSI), provided investment sourcing, due diligence and operating counsel on more than 200 Private Equity and Venture Capital projects in the U.S., Europe and Israel. He has advised Calera Capital, TPG Capital, TPG Growth, Goldman Sachs PIA, Centerbridge Partners and EGI, the fund of Sam Zell. As a FINRA registered representative, he has advised Compass Advisers, Lehman Brothers, Duff & Phelps and Morgan Joseph TriArtisan on dozens of transactions.

  Today, John works exclusively as a full-time investor in Early Stage Companies. Through Lateral Capital Management LLC (LCM) and its associated Limited Partnerships, he is one of the country’s most active Micro Venture Capital investors. Lateral Capital has invested in more than 100 companies in six Funds in a wide range of industries; across 24 states. Lateral Capital investments are identified through Angel/Accelerator groups across the U.S., where John makes frequent presentations on Sustainably Profitable Early Stage Investing (SPESITM). Invested companies range from tire pressure management for trucks and concussion assessment software to drone freight airplanes and a treatment for Alzheimer’s.

  Beginning with Fund IV, Lateral Capital has been open to accredited Limited Partners. Lateral Capital IV made its final investment in 24 companies in Summer 2018. Lateral Capital V, launched in early-2019, completed investments in 30 companies. Lateral Capital VI completed investments in 30 companies in May 2022. Lateral Capital VII launched in September 2022.

  
  

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