Author Dan Heath headlines EntreCon


  • July 25, 2017
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   entrecon

Since 2015, more than 100 leaders in local small and medium sized businesses have participated in small-group “SCI Roundtables” with local entrepreneur Quint Studer.

On Monday night they converged in downtown Pensacola for their first-ever networking event, and some exciting news about the Studer Community Institute’s EntreCon event and the organization’s future home at the former SunTrust building.

Studer announced to the packed room of SCI Business Roundtable participants that New York Times Bestselling Author Dan Heath will be the keynote speaker for the two-day business conference this November.

“Dan Heath is one of the leading names in helping communities and businesses be successful, create social impact, and manage change,” said Studer. “Dan’s expertise in helping both businesses and communities improve themselves is a great opportunity for us in the Pensacola area.”

Also speaking at EntreCon will be Authors Bert Thornton, Kevin Sheridan, and Liz Jazwiec. Thornton is the Vice Chairman Emeritus of Waffle House and will be speaking about tactics for success. Sheridan’s books have spent time on six of the bestseller lists, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY. Jazwiec has more than 30 years of healthcare leadership and her “workplace trilogy” focuses on creating strong leaders and engaged employees.

SCI also unveiled the conceptual renderings for their future home, the former SunTrust Building. The drawings represented some of the ideas for a multi-million dollar upgrade to the iconic building on Garden Street.

Studer said the goal of the purchase and renovations was to turn the building into a place for community discussions and dialogue, host expert speakers on issues important to Pensacola, and create an open public space for citizens to meet and enjoy downtown.

“Our goal has always been to improve the quality of life for people in Northwest Florida,” said Studer. “From Entrecon to the Business Roundtable to the future SCI building, we hope to help our community and our local businesses be more productive and profitable, which means more jobs and a better trained workforce,” he continued.

In addition to the planned upgrades to the bottom two floors, Studer noted that several meetings had already taken place to solicit feedback from current tenants at the building on ways to improve their work experience there.

Tickets can be purchased here for this fall’s EntreCon event, Nov. 14-16. For more information on the Studer Community Institute business roundtables, contact Nicole Webb Bodie at [email protected].

EntreCon Guest Speakers

Bert ThorntonIn 1971 Bert joined Waffle House as a manager trainee. Four years later, he became a Vice President. In 1994, he was elected to the Board of Directors. For over 40 years, Bert worked with both Company and Franchise Operations in Waffle House and in 2004 was named President and Chief Operations Officer of Waffle House, Inc. Today, he is the retired Vice Chairman Emeritus of Waffle House.He is the recent author of the book Find an Old Gorilla, a handbook for the development of emerging leaders.Presentation: “Success Tactics, the basic laws of success”

Kevin Sheridan

Kevin Sheridan is an internationally-recognized Keynote Speaker, a New York Times Best Selling Author, and one of the most sought-after voices in the world on the topic of Employee Engagement. For five years running, he has been honored on Inc. Magazine’s top 101 Leadership Speakers in the world, as well as Inc.’s top 101 experts on Employee Engagement. He was also honored to be named to The Employee Engagement Award’s Top 100 Global Influencers on Employee Engagement of 2017.Having spent thirty years as a high-level Human Capital Management consultant, Kevin has helped some of the world’s largest corporations rebuild a culture that fosters productive engagement, earning him several distinctive awards and honors. Kevin’s premier creation, PEER®, has been consistently recognized as a long-overdue, industry-changing innovation in the field of Employee Engagement. His first book, Building a Magnetic Culture, made six of the best seller lists includingThe New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He is also the author of The Virtual Manager, which explores how to most effectively manage remote workers.

Kevin is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conventions, including those hosted by the National Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), Harvard Business School, The Human Capital Institute, and the American Hospital Association. He regularly conducts Leadership Development workshops on Employee Engagement, Virtual Workers and Remote Work, Generational Differences in the Workplace, and a wide array of other Human Capital related topics.Prior to forming Kevin Sheridan LLC, Kevin founded HR Solutions International in 1995, a firm specializing in measuring employee engagement and teaching best practices, which he sold in 2011.

Kevin received a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School, concentrating his degree in Managerial Decision-making, Strategy, Human Resources Management, and Organizational Behavior.

Liz Jazwiec

Liz is a registered nurse and a speaker, strategist and author who has shared her passion for leadership, engagement and service with audiences across industries. She is the author of the bestselling books “Eat THAT Cookie!” “Hey Cupcake! We are ALL Leaders,” and “Service Excellence is as easy as P.I.E. (Perception Is Everything.) She has had a long and distinguished career in hospital management. Today, she uses her expertise to inspire other organizations interested in building a culture where excellence is driven by strong leaders and engaged employees.

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