Welcome, we're so glad you're here!
Browse our 2026 Agenda Sample
Morning
Doors Open At 8:15 am
Coffee, light bites, networking, and visiting vendors.
Conference Begins at 8:45 am
Opening Keynote at 9:00 am
Leveraging EQ in an Age of Uncertainty
Uncertainty isn’t going away — but the leaders who thrive aren’t the ones who have all the answers. They’re the ones who have mastered themselves.
In this keynote, Eric Pennington makes a compelling case for emotional intelligence not as a soft skill, but as a foundational leadership capability — one that can be learned, developed, and applied in the most challenging of times. The good news? EQ is not fixed at birth. Every leader in the room has the capacity to grow it.
Drawing on years of work with leaders across industries, Eric shows how emotionally intelligent leaders don’t simply react to uncertainty — they rise above it. By developing greater self-awareness, emotional regulation, and relational acuity, leaders create an internal stability that external chaos simply cannot shake. EQ becomes the anchor that holds when the environment shifts.
Equally important, EQ is a direct pathway to mental clarity and sustainable health. When leaders understand their stress signatures, manage their emotional triggers, and lead from a grounded center, they think more clearly, decide more wisely, and show up more fully — for their teams, their organizations, and themselves.
Audiences will leave with
- A renewed confidence that EQ is a skill — not a trait — and growth is always available to them
- Practical tools to stay grounded, clear-headed, and effective when uncertainty intensifies
- A new understanding of how emotional intelligence protects and strengthens mental health over the long haul
Eric Pennington
Eric Pennington is the Managing Partner of Spirit of EQ, where he sets the strategic direction and drives sustainable growth while personally guiding every new client relationship from initial conversation through seamless onboarding.
A certified practitioner in multiple emotional intelligence and neuroscience-based assessments, Eric brings more than 20 years of real-world entrepreneurial and leadership experience across startups and Fortune 500 environments.
He is the author of the highly regarded book The Well-Being Guide: Making the Most of Life and Work—a practical, deeply personal roadmap to greater fulfillment. Written as the natural successor to his groundbreaking 2008 book Waking Up in Corporate America, The Well-Being Guide invites readers to examine their own lives, uncover what truly matters, and take meaningful action.
Break
Visit vendors, network and grab some more coffee. Remember to get your vendor passport stamped for a chance to win at the raffle!
Keynote at 10:30 am
Built to Hold it: A Nervous System Approach to Sustainability and Legacy
Most entrepreneurs and leaders know how to build. But very few stop to ask the harder question: are you actually capable of sustaining what you’re building toward? Not in your systems or strategy — in your body. In your identity. Because success doesn’t just show up in your revenue, it lands in your nervous system. And if that system was never wired to hold wealth, visibility, or real responsibility at scale, it will quietly move the money and the momentum somewhere else.
Drawing on trauma-informed psychology and somatic work, this keynote argues that the ceiling on your impact isn’t your strategy—it’s your capacity to inhabit the identity of someone who builds for more than themselves. Attendees will leave with a framework for understanding why nervous system patterns cap most leaders’ wealth and influence, and what shifting from accumulating success to building something lasting actually requires.
Dr. Alaina Puff
Dr. Alaina Puff is the founder of Flow State Coaching & Consulting. She is an Intuitive Business Coach and Mentor for entrepreneurs and leaders who feel deeply and think expansively.
Built from her own journey of returning home to herself, Dr. Puff’s work is rooted in a simple truth: who you are in your business is inseparable from who you are in life. She guides leaders to the intersection of purpose, personal growth, and inner wisdom, so they can create meaningful impact and lead from their truth.
With a PhD in psychology and a mind, body, soul framework, Dr. Puff blends trauma-informed practices, nervous system regulation, and holistic care to free her clients from what’s holding them back and unlock the fullest expression of who they’re meant to be.
Network & Visit Vendors at 11:30 am
Network and start filling out your passport by visiting vendors.
Afternoon
Lunch Time at 11:45 am to 12:25 pm
Enjoy the chef prepared meal.
Fireside Chat at 12:30 pm
Becoming for Real: Leadership, Identity, and the Courage to Evolve
Lachandra Baker
LBB Edutainment transforms workplaces into spaces where people feel seen, heard, and empowered to do their best work. Led by Lachandra B. Baker, the firm blends strategy, storytelling, and real-world application to help organizations unlock stronger teams, deeper trust, and lasting impact.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and Communications from Central Washington University and an MBA with a Marketing specialization from the University of the Southwest. Lachandra is a Cornell University Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion certification program graduate (CDP) and holds certifications as an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) and Experience Columbus Insider (ECI).
Recognized as a 2021 Columbus Future50 leader, a 2022 WELD Women WELDing the Way calendar honoree, and a 2023 Columbus Delegate for the Harvard University Young American Leaders program, she serves on several boards, including The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, Leadership Columbus, and Small Biz Cares, along with advisory roles at Cinema Columbus, Creative Mornings Columbus, and Franklin University’s Communications Department.
As an award-winning communicator and TEDx speaker/performer, Lachandra is deeply involved in community issues such as voting rights, affordable housing, civic engagement, and liberation for all. In her leisure time, she enjoys exploring new cultures, savoring delicious food, and engaging in fun projects with her family.
Joe DeLoss
Joe DeLoss is a serial entrepreneur and leader focused on building transformational experiences and businesses.
He’s best known for a restaurant chain he built and exited called Hot Chicken Takeover. The business gave Joe the privilege of leading nearly 1,000 people impacted by adversity, ranging from incarceration to addiction to bouts of homelessness. HCT earned critical acclaim as a break-out brand in the industry and garnered national attention, enabling Joe to encourage and coach countless other entrepreneurs and leaders towards impact. He continues this legacy of HR innovation through a fractional culture practice he co-founded called HRT Systems.
Currently, Joe’s pulling a new thread of personal and professional development by launching Baker Road, a retreat center and guide-service based in rural Ohio. Baker Road offers venues and experiences for people, teams, and leaders to truly retreat, allowing them to re-enter life and business from refreshed vantage points. From backcountry experiences to boardrooms, Joe’s demonstrating the transformational power of hospitality, wildness, and grounded support.
Joe’s work been highlighted by The Today Show, Forbes, Harvard Business School, Politico, The Rachael Ray Show and many others. He lives adventurously and abundantly on a farm in Knox County, Ohio with his wife and two wild daughters. When not serving as a “dirtbag concierge” and guide to Baker Road guests, he spends time training for endurance races, advising entrepreneurs, and dreaming up new adventures.
Break at 1:30 pm
Visit vendors, network and grab some more coffee. Remember to get your vendor passport stamped for a chance to win at the raffle!
Keynote at 2:00 pm
From Fixer To Influencer; A Leader Others WANT To Follow
Sean Olson
Sean Olson is a keynote speaker, executive coach, and author with over 25 years of experience helping individuals and teams reach their full potential and effectiveness.
He is the co-founder and CEO of Renogize Professional Coaching. Renogize provides executive coaching and leadership development to Universities and Companies throughout the United States. Their team of over 20 coaches are impacting 1000’s of leaders. Renogize has been voted the #1 Executive Coaching Firm in Central Ohio by Columbus CEO Magazine for the past five years.
He published his first book in December of 2019, This Is How I Role: 7 Strategies to Accelerate Your Leadership Growth and Promotability.
He is the host of The Intentional Leader podcast. He is a PCC certified coach with the International Coaching Federation and a member of the National Speakers Association.
His driving passion is to bring out the incredible leader that is inside every person; YOU 2.0
Wrapping Up at 3:00 pm
Raffle winners announcement!
Your Emcee for the Day
Lachandra B. Baker
LBB Edutainment transforms workplaces into spaces where people feel seen, heard, and empowered to do their best work. Led by Lachandra B. Baker, the firm blends strategy, storytelling, and real-world application to help organizations unlock stronger teams, deeper trust, and lasting impact.