2026-2027 Dates and Agenda

2026 - 2027 Agenda 

September 15, 2026:  1-4 pm/ Welcome Reception 4:15 – 5:30 pm

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Introductions, StrengthsFinder, and Achieving Excellence

Dirk Dykson

After an early career in corporate finance with Fortune 100 companies, Dirk spent a decade in sales, marketing, and organizational performance leadership roles with global and national scope. During his 18-year career with Hewlett-Packard, Dirk led a turnaround of HP's iconic Calculator business, doubling global revenue in 18 months and eliminating 85% of channel inventory. He gained extensive global experience in sales, marketing, finance, strategy, general management, customer service, manufacturing, and distribution.

Dirk is an expert CEO/executive coach, Gallup certified Strengths™ coach, certified Value Builder™, sales/marketing ninja, and leadership workshop facilitator. With deep experience in technology, Saas, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and financial services, Dirk specializes in clarifying strategy, building healthy, high-performing teams, identifying processes to enable scale, and developing the next generation of leaders.

October 6, 2026:  9:00 – 12 noon

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Mastering Tough Talks: Strategies for Difficult Conversations

Lisa Smith

Managing conflict offers vital strategies for fostering trust, understanding conflict management techniques, and recognizing the constructive potential of conflict. As a natural element of the workplace, participants will learn to identify early signs of conflict, apply resolution strategies, and encourage an environment where conflict fuels innovation. The course empowers leaders and teams to transform conflict into a catalyst for success.

November 10, 2026:  9:00 – 12 noon

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Calm Confident Leadership: Increase Engagement & Reduce Stress

Jenae Anderson

Jenae Anderson leads the effort to expand the middle market and business banking presence of Fifth Third Bank in Colorado and is responsible for community development efforts in the state.

Jenae is a certified professional coach specializing in leadership. She has been active for several years in DEI efforts and leading Women’s groups. Jenae is currently a member of the DEI Education Council for Comerica and sits on the boards of ACG Denver and Illuminate Colorado.

Anderson holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Eastern Michigan University, a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University, an Executive Presence certification from Cornell and several professional executive and leadership coaching certifications from IPEC.
 

December 8, 2026:  9:00 – 12 noon

Leading Through Culture: How to Inspire and Motivate Performance

Kelsey Robb & Bill Shepard 

With the eye of an artist, the mind of an engineer, and the heart of an entrepreneur, Kelsey balances strategic vision with meticulous execution. Bringing over 15 years of leadership experience in a variety of organizations and industries, Kelsey brings extensive knowledge in translating complex business challenges into actionable strategies which deliver measurable results. She specializes in marketing and analytical strategy, leading initiatives which elevate organizational performance and employee engagement. Kelsey blends experience with cutting edge research to help you deliver everything from KPIs to cultural transformation. Passionate about people and community, she serves on a number of non-profit boards and regularly volunteers with local organizations.

Bill Shepard brings a wealth of business leadership experience to his clients at Portocol Business Strategies, a Denver-area management development and consulting firm. Bill's professional focus is singular: To help his clients achieve peak performance at all levels of management, so their businesses become among the most successful in our community. In his career, Bill has worked directly with C-level leaders in Fortune 500, small/medium-sized business, and entrepreneurial environments as an accomplished executive, project leader, and team builder in numerous high-visibility undertakings in transportation, logistics, telecommunications, and information technology enterprises. 

January 12, 2027:  9:00 – 12 noon

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Connection Revolution: Creating the Conditions for Transformation

Leslie Jones

A lifelong learner and entrepreneur, Leslie has started numerous businesses in her 25-year career – all based on a blend of interactive community practices that lead to personal transformation and sustainable, systemic change. Leslie is a master at uncovering the obstacles that prevent entrepreneurs, medium-size businesses, and Fortune 500 companies from performing at their peak.
As an executive coach, Leslie has had a significant impact on the lives and profitability of Fortune 500 executives, multimillion-dollar sales producers, business owners, and international innovators.

She has developed proven systems that resolve issues and create dramatic, long-term, sustainable results reliably for her clients.

Leslie has worked with thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations, including some of the most successful businesses in the world:
Microsoft, Starbucks, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Merrill Lynch, Xfinity/Comcast, Smith Barney, Wachovia, Vistage, Money Concepts, AXA Advisors

February 9, 2027:  9:00 – 12 noon

From Ideation to Impactful Presentation: Creating Engagement to Amplify Impact

Keith Bailey

My journey from the Netherlands to the United States at 8 years old wasn't just a change of scenery, it was a crash course in making connections. Picture this, a kid who doesn't speak the language, clad in mom-made outfi ts, trying to navigate the complex social waters of a new country. It was a challenge that I dove into head first, fueled by curiosity. My time in the United States Marine Corps as a photojournalist added another layer to my approach. There I learned the power of storytelling and a "go-giver" mindset. Putting the person before the profession became my mantra and weaving stories into my practice became a superpower. 

From the hospitality industry to fitness coaching to global corporate sales, I honed my speaking skills leveraging Toastmasters and the National Speakers Association as my training ground and improv stages as my playground. Through my experience I've learned that good speakers are created, not born. To give everyone the opportunity to live life well spoken I co-founded Articulated Intelligence, a communication up-leveling fi rm, along with Alyce and Renee where we play and practice so we can perform at our best when it matters most.

April 6, 2027: 9:00 – 12 noon

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Turning Crisis Into Innovation: How Great Leaders Weather the Storm of Change

Josh Allan Dykstra

Josh Allan Dykstra is a futurist pioneering the field of Future Design™, helping leaders transform from tomorrow's passengers into architects of the future they want to build.

Drawing on his journey from small-town outsider to rockstar to tech CEO to futurist, Josh reveals how the same creative audacity that builds legendary artists can architect amazing futures for everyone. His unique background offers a refreshing perspective on transformation, inspiring influential leaders to fall in love with tomorrow again and helping them dare to design what's next.

Over the past two decades, Josh has served a client list of companies (Microsoft, Sony, Genentech, CHANEL, Amazon, and more) that collectively employ over a million people. Josh is the founder and CEO of The Work Revolution, and his articles and ideas have been featured by Fast Company, Forbes, and The Huffington Post. He holds an MBA in Executive Leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his book, Igniting the Invisible Tribe: Designing An Organization That Doesn't Suck, is available on Amazon and Audibl

May 11, 2027: 1-4 pm/Graduation Reception 4:15 – 5:30 pm

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Accountability: How to Create an Ownership Mindset

Alecia Huck, MAVERICK & Company 

Alecia is an organizational development consultant with a wide range of fields, from human behavior to linguistic theory to process science. She specializes in providing high-value, pragmatic solutions to complex organizational problems and has extensive experience helping fast-growing companies build critical infrastructure and high-performing teams as they grow, and helping teams quickly resolve and recover from major conflicts.

She founded MAVERICK & Company in 2004, a small but feisty consulting firm based in Denver, CO that works with a wide range of industries, including retail, construction, manufacturing, professional services, and the criminal justice system.