Breakout Sessions and Speakers
12th Annual AAIM Leadership Conference
May 15, 2026 | St. Louis, MO
Where Leadership Gets Put to Work
These sessions are designed to move ideas into action — giving leaders space to think, apply, and walk away with insight they can put to use immediately with their teams. They’re just as valuable as the keynotes, because this is where leadership becomes practical.
Immediately after registering, you’ll select one morning breakout and one afternoon breakout. Each session is aligned to a core leadership theme and marked with a subtle color or symbol to help guide your choice.
Session Themes
Each session is tagged with a leadership theme to help guide selection
Engagement, Ownership & Momentum
These sessions focus on activating people, rebuilding trust, and restoring momentum.
Leadership Under Pressure
These sessions are about who leaders are under strain, how they adapt, and how their internal patterns affect outcomes.
The Road Ahead
Workforce forces and leadership capabilities shaping what comes next.
Morning Sessions
Engagement, Ownership & Momentum
Keeping the Human in the Workplace: Driving Engagement in an AI World
As technology continues to accelerate, leaders face a critical challenge: how to embrace innovation without losing the human connection that drives engagement, trust, and belonging. This session explores how leaders can balance AI and automation with authenticity by focusing on micro-connections — small, intentional interactions that create meaning in the workplace. Through relatable stories and practical examples, participants will learn how these moments strengthen culture, improve retention, and remind employees that behind every system and algorithm, there’s a person.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand the human side of engagement in a technology-driven workplace
- Learn how micro-connections build trust, collaboration, and retention
- Walk away with three practical ways to humanize work alongside AI
Meet the Presenter
Tanya Zion is Business Manager of Engagement Services at AAIM Employers’ Association, where she oversees Employee Opinion and Engagement Surveys and Affirmative Action Plans for members.
With more than 20 years of experience spanning operations, change management, employee engagement, and people development, Tanya brings a practical, results-driven perspective to leadership and workplace strategy. Her career includes leadership roles in telecommunications, startups, and Fortune 500 organizations, where she has driven growth, led large-scale transformations, and integrated cross-functional teams.
Tanya holds a BS in Business Administration and a JD in Health Care Law, along with certifications in Lean Six Sigma, mindfulness, change management, and training facilitation. Her ability to blend strategy, empathy, and execution makes her a trusted advisor to leaders navigating change.
Tanya Zion
Business Manager, Engagement Services
AAIM
Jim Morgan
Vice President, Business Development & Workforce Strategies
MRA
The Road Ahead
The Corporate Shock Absorbers: The Evolving Role of Middle Managers
Today’s middle managers are being asked to do more than ever — manage conflict, support inclusion, communicate up and down the organization, personalize the employee experience, and keep teams engaged through constant change.
In this session, Jim Morgan explores why middle managers have become the “shock absorbers” of modern organizations — determining whether workplaces experience smooth transitions or ongoing turbulence. Drawing on decades of workforce strategy experience, this session examines demographic shifts, workplace changes, and the growing pressure placed on managers caught in the middle.
Leaders will gain clarity on what’s changed, why it matters, and how to better prepare middle managers for success.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand why middle managers are critical to organizational stability and success
- Recognize the evolving demands placed on middle management
- Learn best practices for equipping managers to lead effectively in today’s workplace
Meet the Presenter
Jim Morgan is Vice President of Business Development & Workforce Strategies at MRA and has spent more than 30 years helping employers address talent attraction, development, and retention challenges.
Known for translating complex demographic and workforce data into practical strategy, Jim has facilitated strategic planning sessions for businesses, chambers of commerce, and economic development organizations across the Midwest. He has also led statewide initiatives focused on strengthening talent pipelines through collaboration between employers, education systems, and government.
Jim is a sought-after speaker whose presentations blend data, research, real-world experience, and humor — engaging audiences ranging from CEOs and policymakers to educators and students.
Leadership under Pressure
Leading by Serving: Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership is a transformative leadership philosophy that shifts the focus from authority and control to service, care, and shared success. In today’s workplaces — where trust, inclusion, and collaboration matter more than ever — leaders who serve create stronger teams and more sustainable results.
Through guided self-reflection, interactive discussion, and real-world examples, this session helps leaders understand how Servant Leadership shows up in daily decisions and behaviors. Participants will explore how leading by serving others strengthens relationships, builds engagement, and empowers teams to perform at their best.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand the difference between servant leadership and traditional leadership styles
- Explore the core principles that define servant leadership
- Identify ways to foster a servant leadership culture within their organization
Meet the Presenter
Nikki L. Garry is a purpose-driven, God-centered Founder and Chief Evolution Officer (CEO) of Resolve To Evolve.
With the heart of a teacher and a gift for public speaking, Nikki’s passion for education and personal growth is contagious. She is known for her dynamic, energetic, and inspirational presence, captivating diverse audiences through transparent messaging, personal storytelling, and a deep commitment to service. As a transformational Keynote Speaker (speaking on Resilience and Purpose) and an Educator (specializing in Leadership Development and Financial Literacy), Nikki brings passion, relevance, and insight to every stage, engaging audiences with authenticity and drive.
A high achiever and lifelong learner, Nikki’s “secret sauce” lies in delivering high-energy content that blends practical skill-building with personal development. Her work empowers professionals to envision, embody, and evolve with excellence. Nikki’s impact spans corporations, higher education, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and professional associations – both nationally and globally.
Nikki holds both a BS and MS in Accounting and brings over 14 years of experience in Corporate America, with expertise in accounting, finance, facilitation, and leadership within the agricultural industry. She also served as an Adjunct Professor for six years, teaching courses in accounting, finance, and diversity.
Beyond her professional work, Nikki is deeply committed to community outreach and philanthropy. She is an avid herbal tea enthusiast, enjoys traveling and watching basketball, and treasures quality time with family and friends. Originally from Central Illinois, she now resides in the Nashville, Tennessee metro area.
Nikki Garry
Chief Evolution Officer
Resolve to Evolve, LLC
Lauren Patel
Engagement Manager
AAIM
The Road Ahead
Dual Fluency: The Leadership Blueprint for the Human + AI Workforce
AI is reshaping how work gets done — but the future isn’t human or AI. It’s both.
This session equips leaders with a clear, strategic framework for designing a blended workforce where human judgment, creativity, and adaptability work alongside AI-enabled speed, capacity, and support. Lauren introduces Dual Fluency as the core leadership capability needed to guide, question, interpret, and integrate AI while elevating the human strengths that drive culture and performance.
Leaders will assess where their teams sit today, learn how to introduce AI safely and strategically into workflows, and prepare their organizations for the next evolution of AI-enabled execution — where real ROI emerges from alignment, not isolated tools.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand Dual Fluency as a core leadership competency
- Assess their team’s position on the Leadership Readiness Ladder
- Design AI-enabled workflows that bring clarity and confidence
- Prepare their teams for future agentic AI capabilities
Meet the Presenter
Lauren Patel is a strategist, trainer, and leader who helps organizations turn AI into practical, business-ready solutions. As Engagement Manager at AAIM Employers’ Association, she leads engagement, communications, and AI adoption, aligning sales and marketing efforts to drive revenue, retention, and member success.
Lauren has been a driving force behind AI adoption for HR professionals, championing Aaime Hart and creating programs like AI in HR Week that bring hands-on, usable AI tools into real workplaces. Known for her candid, approachable style, she reframes AI as an opportunity for HR and leaders to focus on people, performance, and impact.
The Road Ahead
The Coming Population Squeeze: Aging, Slowing Growth, and the Workforce Future
Demographic shifts are quietly reshaping the future of the workforce, economy, and regional stability — and the implications are far-reaching.
In this data-driven session, Dr. Ness Sándoval examines population trends affecting the United States and Midwest, with focused insight on Illinois, Missouri, and the Greater St. Louis region. Drawing on birth and death patterns, migration data, and population momentum models, this session offers a 50-year outlook on aging, declining birth rates, and slowing growth.
Leaders will gain a deeper understanding of why supporting families with children and young adults is foundational — not optional — to long-term economic resilience and community strength.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand key demographic trends shaping the Midwest and U.S. workforce
- Explore the long-term implications of aging and declining population growth
- Learn why family and young adult migration is central to regional stability
- Gain insight into how demographic realities impact workforce planning and policy
Meet the Presenter
Dr. Ness Sándoval is a Professor of Sociology and Demography at Saint Louis University and a founding member of the Taylor Geospatial Institute. His research integrates demography, spatial data science, and big data to examine socio-economic and population trends in American cities.
In addition to academic research, Dr. Sándoval writes Rediscovering America Through Demography, a newspaper column translating population data into accessible insight for policymakers, business leaders, and communities. His work connects demographic data with long-term planning, economic development, and social impact.
Ness Sandoval
Professor of Demography & Sociology
Saint Louis University
Afternoon Sessions
Holly Pyatt
Principal
Pyatt Consulting Company
Engagement, Ownership & Momentum
Empathy Is Your Leadership Superpower
In a world where leaders are expected to deliver results, navigate rapid change, and support increasingly diverse teams, empathy has emerged as one of the most powerful leadership skills available.
This session reframes empathy as a strategic, learnable leadership capability — not a soft skill. Participants will explore the three types of empathy and how each one strengthens communication, improves decision-making, builds trust, and drives performance.
Through real-world examples, interactive reflection, and practical tools, leaders will learn how to apply empathy in high-stakes situations such as conflict, feedback conversations, and organizational change. Attendees will walk away with strategies they can use immediately to lead with clarity, connection, and accountability.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Understand the three types of empathy and how each supports effective leadership
- Strengthen empathy-based communication skills that build trust and psychological safety
- Apply empathetic leadership strategies in conflict, feedback, and change conversations
- Identify a personal action step for integrating empathy into daily leadership practice
Meet the Presenter
Holly Pyatt is a leadership development and organizational effectiveness consultant with more than 20 years of experience helping individuals and organizations grow to their fullest potential. As the founder of Pyatt Consulting Company, L.L.C., she partners with businesses, nonprofits, and franchises to design and deliver tailored solutions in leadership development, succession planning, team building, and talent development.
Holly’s background spans healthcare, technology, and energy, where she has led initiatives that strengthened culture, developed high-performing teams, and equipped leaders to navigate change. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Six Sigma Green Belt, MBTI practitioner, and certified Crucial Conversations facilitator.
Known for her engaging, empathetic, and highly practical facilitation style, Holly blends interactive learning with tools leaders can apply immediately. She holds an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership, an MBA, and dual bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Marketing.
Engagement, Ownership & Momentum
Courageous Commitment: Re-Igniting Ownership in a Disengaged Workforce
Today’s workforce is stretched thin, emotionally exhausted, and increasingly disconnected from purpose — and traditional motivation tactics no longer work.
In this energizing and practical session, leadership expert and former VP Kendra Mack introduces Courageous Commitment™, a modern leadership approach designed to rebuild ownership, engagement, and accountability. Drawing from her experience coaching thousands of employees — and her own journey from disengaged professional to executive — Kendra reveals the four challenges every employee faces on the path to success.
Leaders will leave with actionable tools to reignite motivation, strengthen accountability, and create a culture where people show up with purpose.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Identify the four employee success challenges driving disengagement
- Activate ownership instead of compliance
- Communicate with clarity and psychological safety during change
- Align daily work with meaning and long-term growth
- Apply the Courageous Commitment™ framework to build momentum and consistency
Meet the Presenter
Kendra Mack is a Courageous Commitment™ keynote speaker and employee activation specialist who helps teams trade burnout and self-doubt for bold, consistent action.
As the creator of the STEP™ Activation System, Kendra equips individuals and organizations to move through the four tests of success with clarity and identity-level commitment. With more than a decade of experience delivering leadership training for organizations like Deloitte, Korn Ferry, and World Wide Technology, she is known for high-impact sessions that don’t just inspire — they activate.
Her dynamic style blends insight, energy, and real-world strategy, helping leaders and employees show up powerfully in their current roles.
Kendra Mack
Keynote Speaker & Corporate Trainer
Jenny Beilsmith
Coach, Author, Speaker
Leadership under Pressure
Uncovering Leadership Blind Spots: The Benefit of Seeing Differently
Even the most capable leaders can unknowingly limit their effectiveness — not because of lack of skill or effort, but because of blind spots that shape decisions, behaviors, and team dynamics beneath the surface.
In this session, leaders will explore how unrecognized patterns, assumptions, and habits influence trust, collaboration, psychological safety, and performance. While blind spots never disappear entirely, awareness creates a powerful shift in how leaders see, respond, and lead.
Participants will gain practical strategies and tools to identify personal and organizational blind spots, adapt their leadership approach, and increase effectiveness in today’s complex workplace.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- Identify common leadership blind spots and how they impact effectiveness
- Understand the influence of blind spots on trust, collaboration, and team performance
- Assess personal leadership patterns to uncover unseen barriers
- Apply practical strategies to address blind spots and lead with greater clarity
Meet the Presenter
Jenny Beilsmith is a people development specialist, coach, and facilitator dedicated to unlocking potential and inspiring transformational growth in leaders and teams. With a foundation in education and human development, she brings decades of experience as an educator, executive coach, speaker, and facilitator.
Jenny’s work centers on self-awareness, behavior change, and leadership capacity — helping leaders turn insight into action and potential into performance. Her engaging, results-oriented style has impacted thousands of leaders across industries and levels.
She holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Education and is certified in executive coaching, Everything DiSC, EQ-i 2.0 Emotional Intelligence, trauma-informed coaching, and team leadership development. Jenny leads Elevation Professional Consulting and partners with AAIM and BEATTY as a facilitator and executive coach.
Leadership under Pressure
Driving Results Through Conscious Change
The pace of change in today’s business landscape is relentless. An organization’s ability to adapt is only as strong as its leaders’ ability to navigate uncertainty — and influence themselves and others through it.
This interactive session equips leaders at every level with a practical framework for stepping out of comfort zones, breaking old patterns, and driving results in the face of disruption. Participants will explore how mindset, habits, and behavior directly impact outcomes — and how small, intentional shifts can lead to meaningful, sustainable change.
This is not theory for theory’s sake. Attendees will leave with tools they can apply immediately to lead more effectively, inspire stronger performance, and guide their teams through change with clarity and confidence.
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- A practical blueprint for navigating change and influencing outcomes
- Greater self-awareness around habits, beliefs, and behaviors that impact performance
- Tools to help teams embrace change, increase adaptability, and deliver results
Meet the Presenter
Betsy Grzybinski is a high-impact executive coach and leadership consultant who helps successful leaders unlock what’s next — not just in their business, but in themselves.
She brings a people-first coaching philosophy shaped by more than a decade working with student-athletes and coaches at Lindenwood University, where she developed leaders in performance, resilience, and growth. Today, Betsy is the founder of One Percent Today, where she partners with leaders to create powerful, intentional shifts that drive clarity, connection, and sustainable results.
In addition to her coaching work, Betsy serves as Director of People Operations at Lewis & Clark Capital, a private equity firm, where she supports leadership teams through mergers, acquisitions, leadership transitions, and high-growth environments. She is also President of the Board of Directors for the Disabled Athlete Sports Association (DASA), a local nonprofit empowering individuals through adaptive sports.
Betsy Grzybinski
Founder & CEO
One Percent Today
Dr. Scott Koeneman
Principal, Matrix Enterprises (AI Automation & Process Excellence), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Former Sr. Director, Process Excellence Equifax Workforce Solutions
(Coming Soon)
The AI Litmus Test: When to Ship, When to Skip
(Coming Soon)
Key Session Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Participants will:
- (Coming Soon)
Meet the Presenter
Dr. Scott Koeneman is a transformation leader, AI practitioner, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt who helps Main Street and mid-market companies turn AI automation into measurable results — leveling the playing field with larger organizations.
A former Senior Director of Process Excellence at Equifax Workforce Solutions, Scott holds a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership and specializes in building practical, 30-day playbooks that drive real business outcomes. He is also the author of Quantum Intern: Year One, a 2025 International Impact Award winner.
Scott brings a unique blend of operational rigor, leadership insight, and applied AI expertise, helping organizations move from experimentation to execution.
Put Your Skills to Work After These Sessions!
“I learned so much today and can’t wait to implement these learnings in both work and my personal life.”
– Anonymous, 2025 Conference Attendee
