Steven L. Blue | President & CEO | Miller Ingenuity
Visionary leaders are driven and inspired by what a company can become. They are not bogged down with technical details, but they are big-picture people who intend to usher in new eras of innovation and development. Steven L. Blue, President & CEO of Miller Ingenuity, is one such leader. Steve looks 5-10 years into the future to figure out what will happen in his industry and the company. “A perfect example is healthcare expenses.
Lisa Dughi | CEO | NAF
NAF’s design ignites students’ passion for learning. It allows businesses to play an active role in shaping America’s future workforce by transforming the learning environment into STEM-infused career-specific curricula and experiential learning experiences, including internships. Since 1980, NAF has been partnering with high-need communities to improve student outcomes by implementing NAF academies – small learning communities within existing high schools.
Lisa-Maree Blumenfeld | Founder and CEO | Retain, LLC
Lisa-Maree Blumenfeld, the founder of Retain, LLC, is an accomplished HR professional who has held many leadership roles for clients in a wide array of industries. Her vast experience spans from fast-moving startups to Fortune 500 companies.
“If you asked those who have worked with her to describe her, you’d hear words like: expert, trusted advisor, level headed, forward thinking, solution oriented, purposeful, dedicated, authentic,” explains Laurie, a Retain team member.
Jennifer Thornton | Founder and CEO | 304 Coaching
Jennifer Thornton is on a mission to help progressive organizations foster an environment of learning, experimentation, and innovation and meet the demands of exponential growth for business.
“This is the way we’ve always done it.” Those eight words have a lot to answer for.
According to Jennifer, the Old Ways worked when the world worked a certain way, but it’s a new dawn and the Old Wayss are no longer working. In fact, they’re holding us back. Instead of fear-based leadership styles that only work against us, she is a champion for Progressive Leadership.
Jacques-Olivier Joncoux | CEO & Chairman | Sphering Group
It took Jacques-Olivier Joncoux five years to be ready to profoundly transform Sphering Group and adapt the organization to a new and ambitious vision. For Jacques-Olivier, it was a big responsibility to lead the family-owned French regional company that his grandfather created and instill the best technology and ideology for the greater good, at a European leading level. The pioneering leader is proud to benefit from a heritage of a hundred years of existence, engineering, and innovations.
Frank Schürch | CEO | energie-cluster.ch
Frank Schürch believes it is essential not to give up if something doesn’t work out initially. Every company must adapt itself more often than a decade ago. So, one must try out things, adjust and then succeed. This is particularly important in today’s times, where the globalized market is much more volatile than before. “It is crucial to have a long-term vision, a clear mission statement and strategies which are subject to changes if necessary. We must be able to adapt quickly to new trends and market models. Aristoteles once wrote, ‘ we cannot change the wind, but we can set the sails differently,” says Frank.
David Duplisea | CEO | The Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce
David Duplisea took the reins at the Saint John Board of Trade just about ten years ago. Previous boards of Directors had discussed the possibility of partnering with the region’s Chambers and business associations to create a single organization. David’s first task as the CEO was to rebrand the legacy institution as a regional Chamber and merge four organizations into one from financial, by-laws, membership, and brand perspectives. The new organization, now known as The Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, has successfully reinvented itself and serves the region and the province with an expanded membership and cohesive voice that speaks as one. They have added power to the business voices and not diluted them as was feared with the merger.
Fernando Neves de Almeida | CEO | CENTROCAR
The primary motivation of Fernando Neves de Almeida, CEO of, Centrocar, is to deliver happiness. Happiness for all the company employees, meaning they should enjoy, love, feel well compensated, and be proud to work with the leader. As their business with Centrocar, happiness for the stakeholders must be profitable and repeatable in a way that we should be a reference in our sector. Happiness for the stockholder creates value exceeding their expectations. And happiness for himself, being an example for his employees, respected by the stakeholders, well paid by the stockholders, and loved by his family!!
Daniel Șologon | CEO & President of the Board | CEMACON
” Only by ensuring that all my colleagues are motivated, empowered, trained, that they are all connected to the company’s vision, that they work well as a team, we can expect to perform as a successful business. “
Cemacon has over 300 employees, and their performance as a team determines the company’s performance. Daniel cares about his people and invests time in the strategic alignment and harmonization of the management team.
Dana Lasenby | CEO | Oakland Community Health Network
Dana Lasenby is on a mission to inspire hope, empower people and strengthen communities. She is doing this by being part of Oakland Community Health Network (OCHN), a provider service network that assists approximately 27,000 Oakland County citizens at more than 300 service sites across the county. Dana is a Behavioral Health Care Executive and Limited Licensed Psychologist with more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors of the behavioral healthcare industry. Her unique administrative, clinical, managerial, and operational skills and attributes are critical to managing one of the largest public community mental health systems.