2020 Annual Leadership Summit, Still Vibrant Online

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce 2020 Leadership Summit, sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, brought over 60 business leaders from the greater Springfield Area together for an opportunity to hear from experts and discuss challenges facing the business community in 2020. This two-day virtual summit featured presentations from key leaders in the areas of managing remote workforces, change management, managing difficult conversations, and building a blueprint for diversity.

Robert Steck, CEO of Partnered Solutions IT, kicked off the summit with a toolkit of platforms for keeping a remote workforce engaged and IT safe. Attendees had an opportunity to discuss their own strategies for measuring performance, maintaining company culture, and keeping employee engagement.

David Elgarico, CEO of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center presented on Change Management. He stressed that in times of immense change, communication is critical. His toolkit included ways to track stakeholder engagement and communication.

On the final day of our virtual summit, Keynote speaker, Kelly Graves, Head Coach for the University of Oregon’s women’s basketball team, delivered an inspirational keynote on the importance of teams – whether it’s a team of athletes or a team of business professionals, both take trust, passion, and leadership to really thrive.

Dr. Bill Davis with the University of Oregon led a work session on managing difficult conversations, based on theories from the Crucial Conversations research.

Our final speaker, Dr. Shari Clarke, currently serves as the inaugural Vice President for Diversity & Chief Diversity Officer at Eastern Washington University. Clarke’s session encouraged attendees to explore their own self-awareness of diversity, discussed understanding the language of inclusion and helped attendees develop a personal diversity commitment plan.

We again thank our Title Sponsor: Kaiser Permanente, Tech Sponsor: Partnered Solutions IT/Ruby Porter Marketing, Facilitation Sponsor: NW Natural, Keynote Sponsor: McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, and Table Talk Sponsors: PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.