Speakers

Bailey Ronnebaum

Throughout her career, Bailey has helped companies grow their digital presence and overall brand awareness. Her marketing background enables her to provide strategic marketing plans, website best practices, and reputation insights to increase engagement and enhance clients’ brands. Having worked with over 100 financial institutions, Bailey is passionate about helping clients achieve their business goals, fostering growth and innovation together. She truly loves learning the latest trends and implementing new, innovative techniques along the way!

Becki Drahota

Becki is the founder and CEO of Mills Marketing, which she established in 1975 and remains passionately involved in today. She excels at transforming data into effective solutions and is a sought-after speaker on leadership and strategic planning. Becki is also deeply committed to education, serving on multiple advisory boards, including those for UNO and Drake University.

Her accolades include being named Iowa Small Business Person of the Year in 2007 and receiving the Drake University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001. Becki has also authored Taking Your Bank’s PR from Entitlement to Enlightenment and volunteered with Hospice. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her seven grandchildren and has a love for St. John Knits, desserts, and “no-wrinkle” packing. Family, faith, and Diet Dew are her essentials.

Ben Pankonin

Ben Pankonin is a seasoned entrepreneur, tech innovator, and community leader. A veteran in the banking and financial services space, Ben is especially knowledgeable about the obstacles community banks, credit unions, and financial brands face in authentically engaging their customers and communities in an increasingly digital environment. As a thought leader and speaker, Ben draws on decades of experience leading scaled growth and is particularly adept at navigating the complexities of heavily regulated industries. His approach is to challenge teams and leaders to take realistic and actionable next steps toward innovation and growth with the big picture in mind.

Ben serves as CEO of Social Assurance–a SaaS company he co-founded in 2011 that today serves over 1,500 financial brands nationwide. Ben studied computer science and business administration at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He remains actively involved in numerous community groups, including serving on several nonprofit boards and within entrepreneurship groups and programs, including the Pipeline Entrepreneurs and the Chamber of Commerce Founders group.

Brandi Spurling

Brandi Spurling is a keynote speaker, writer and founder of Sage Culture Co. Thanks to years of training and content development, leading over 300 workshops and keynotes herself, she gets audiences and has a gift for bringing ideas to life.

If she isn’t supporting aspiring keynote speakers through their own messages, she’s writing online courses for thought leaders, or traveling the country working with organizations and leaders through her own keynotes and trainings.

Brent Hinders

Brent Hinders has over 18 years of legal experience in Iowa and holds degrees from Simpson College, Drake University College of Business and Public Administration, and Drake University Law School. Since 2020, he has been recognized as a “Best Lawyer” in Iowa for his work in employment benefits, labor and employment law, and as a litigator in related fields.

Brent advises and litigates for both private and public employers and employees on issues such as employee policies, discrimination, and workplace conditions. He also investigates employment claims for various employers.

As an attorney for government bodies, Brent has extensive experience advising boards, interpreting laws, drafting policies, and negotiating collective bargaining agreements. He has represented municipalities in court and handled a range of municipal law issues, including ordinance interpretation, zoning, and open records.

An experienced speaker, Brent presents on employment and municipal topics at seminars and conferences across Iowa.

Danielle Damon

Danielle Damon is a manager in Wipfli’s financial institutions practice. She works with financial institution clients as a consultant in the areas of operations, process improvements, customized gap analysis, call report preparation, review and training, and risk-based internal audit.

Danielle’s experience includes over 20 years of working in the financial institutions industry. She uses this experience to evaluate processes, understand risks and regulations, develop solutions and consider the internal control environment to provide customized process updates and training to lead financial institutions to success.

Derek Deprey

Derek’s passion in life is to help you become the leader you’d want to follow. After 7 years in basketball operations at the NCAA Division 1 & NBA levels, 13 years in the fitness industry, and 3 years in the automotive industry, he transforms managers into leaders at Living as a Leader & Fit to Lead, as an author, keynote speaker, and leadership coach. Derek is the author of 2 books, SHIFT: Move from Frustrated to Fulfilled & Everyday Leaders: Small Actions, Big Results. When Derek isn’t geeking out on leadership, he’s working out, coaching youth basketball, or carting his daughters all over like an Uber driver.

Jill Jensen-Welch

Jill R. Jensen-Welch is an attorney at Dickinson Mackaman Tyler & Hagen, P.C. in Des Moines, Iowa, specializing in Employment and Labor Law. She holds a B.A., M.S., and J.D. from Drake University and is licensed to practice in Iowa and Minnesota.

With over 15 years of experience as a human resources professional at organizations such as the State of Iowa and Principal Financial Group, Jill is HRCI-SPHR and SHRM-SCP certified. She is a regular speaker and author on employment law topics and has taught Employment Law as an adjunct professor at Drake University Law School.

Jill has been recognized annually since 2008 as a Leading Lawyer for Business in Iowa in the Labor & Employment Law category by USA Chambers and Partners, and has been included in the Best Lawyers in America for Employment Law for Management since 2013. From 2020-2022, she served as chair of the Law Firm Alliance’s Labor and Employment Law Community.

Suzi Kalsow

Suzi Kalsow is currently using her experience as an educator, coach, leader, and corporate trainer to share her expertise on a variety of topics as leader of Suzi Kalsow Leadership Development. She has been a Dean of Education, Academic Vice-President, and Vice-President supervising between 7-70 direct reports. Her experience in PK-12, higher education, and the corporate world give her a unique perspective on learning, leadership, and leaving an impact.

She has a doctorate in leadership from Drake University, and has decades of real-world experience. She is certified as trainer for Fierce Conversations, People Skills, DISC, Leadership and has created programs related to facilitation, confrontation, courageous leadership, and corporate training. Suzi lives in Arnolds Park, Iowa, and enjoys anything on the lake, music, and golf.