We’re excited to bring you a great lineup of speakers and valuable education sessions as well as some excellent entertainment. Discover more about each of the presenters and check out the talented lineup of entertainers.
Keynote Speaker -- Nikki Stone
Nikki Stone, Olympic Gold Medalist, Award-winning Motivational Speaker and Best-Selling Author
At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic Champion in the sport of inverted aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable, was the fact that less than two years earlier, a chronic injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing down a slope at almost 40 miles per hour. Nikki came dangerously close to being sidelined from aerial skiing indefinitely.
Her tenacity and refusal to step down from a challenge brought Nikki Stone back to the top of the freestyle skiing podium. This top spot was far from foreign to Nikki, as throughout her career she earned 35 World Cup medals, eleven World Cup titles, four national titles, two yearlong Aerial World Cup titles, and a World Championship title. She also became the first pure aerialist ever (male or female) to become the yearlong Overall Freestyle World Cup Champion.
Nikki now travels around the world working as a sought-after inspirational speaker sharing her secrets to success. Nikki has spoken for hundreds of thousands now, including startups all the way to Fortune 500 corporations—some of her clients include John Hancock, Merrill Lynch, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, American Express, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Procter and Gamble, Morgan Stanley, AT&T, Visa, 3M, New York Life, Johnson and Johnson, Hilton Hotels, Anheuser-Busch, 3M, and many more. Nikki was even named the International Professional Speaker of the Year one year from American Speakers Bureau Corporation. She encourages and inspires her audiences to find their Turtle Effect by realizing their passions, triumphing over obstacles and take life-enhancing risks, like she did, to reach extraordinary goals that may initially seem unattainable.
Nikki has further parlayed her skills and knowledge into her popular Motivational Minutes program that share a year-full of inspiring videos filled with short segments that include unique, but relatable tips on peak performance, motivation, exercise, nutrition, and overall wellness to help people find their own achievements.
Because of Nikki’s successful background, the U.S. Olympic Committee engaged her to help train the current and upcoming athletes on overcoming challenges, finding motivation, and dealing with these pressures at the Olympic Games. And due to her constant referrals as a motivational speaker, the United States Olympic Committee also contracted Nikki to train the Olympians in speaking, presentation, and mentoring skills.
Nikki also authored the empowering book, When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How to Stick Their Necks Out, which was honored as an Amazon bestseller. Nikki was invited on the Today Show to share the success of the book. When Turtles Fly includes inspirational stories from successful individuals from all different arenas (politicians, actors/actresses, Fortune 500 business executives, musicians, bestselling authors, athletes, Nobel Prize winners, and more) and after each story, Nikki gives readers different activities that they can perform to help reinforce the behavior needed for success in their own business and lifestyle. Stone also writes articles and columns for a number of magazines, newspapers, and websites, including the Huffington Post. Nikki is also a contributing author to the inspirational book Awaken the Olympian Within: Stories from America’s Greatest Olympic Motivators.
In addition to her skiing, authoring, and speaking endeavors, Nikki is also a Magna Cum Laude undergraduate of Union College in New York and a Summa Cum Laude Master’s graduate of the University of Utah in the field of Sports Psychology. Nikki has helped counsel athletes in helping them strive towards world class productivity and performance. With her incredible academic record and her remarkable presentation skills, the University of Utah voted Nikki “Student of the Year” and asked her to work as a Visiting Professor to teach a class on Leadership.
Nikki’s contributions span far beyond her professional careers, as she devotes time to charities such as “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, “The Make-A-Wish Foundation” & “American Cancer Society”, hosts group skiing adventures, and participates in numerous sponsor promotions for major national and international companies. She has also remained very involved philanthropically by sitting on five different Olympic, sport, and charitable committees.
You may have seen Nikki through her numerous television appearances on such shows as The Today Show (4 separate times), Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman, CNN Early Addition, MSNBC Morning Line, ESPN’s Cold Pizza, FOX News Sports Express, CNN Business As Unusual, and FOX Sports News live. You could have also caught Nikki in one of her nationally televised commercials for companies like Chevrolet and Visa.
Nikki now resides in Park City, Utah and continually works to help people stick their necks out to reach whatever their gold medal may be.
The Champion’s Path to Leadership and Drive
Wednesday, May 18, 9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
As the old saying goes “champions aren’t born, they are made.” Olympic Gold Medalists have reached a level of success that very few people in the world have achieved. The path to strong leadership starts by setting a culture of performance and excellence, particularly in high pressure moments and overcoming adversities. Olympians constantly look to understand their strengths and how they can improve their weaknesses.
Learn how to be at your best from someone who studied and lived this for decades. Nikki will help attendees:
- Learn how your business and employees can adapt to modern updates without slowing momentum.
- Discover the alignment of 7 critical success factors of sport analogous to the alignment of business departments & divisions.
- Acquire tools champions use to pick up and re-energize after challenges by fortifying resilience and maintaining a winning attitude.
- Understanding how and why a strong goal can help increase profits.
- Finding passion and drive to increase customer and employee retention.
- Help everyone take ownership in the company’s or group’s success.
- Develop tools for dealing with stress and high-pressure moments.
- Discover how to handle healthy competition to land on top.
- Gaining the ability to chart clear paths and create new opportunities.
Experience the remarkable story of overcoming life threatening injuries to achieving the lifelong dream of winning the coveted Olympic gold medal. You will remember and relate to the extraordinary journey of a young athlete hitting rock bottom and learning the essential revival skills and mindset to catapult her beyond what anyone thought imaginable. Gain inspiration from the uplifting ascent of true heartache to explosive passion and pride.
In this highly acclaimed program, Nikki gives everyone the insider, behind the scenes story and her clear strategies for success. Your personal leadership plan includes a clear vision and focus, path to persistency, a winning attitude and a strong team. She has learned that we need to determine where we are going and why it matters. Nikki expresses the importance of setting the attitudes, mindsets, policies, practices and expectations for the culture of discipline. You can learn these skills from a champion that was virtually counted out by everyone. These strategies and hands-on activities will assist you and your people to use your collective knowledge to change your way of looking at the world. Realizing this strong, rational optimism and the can-do Olympic Spirit that is inside each of us, you will find that your potential is limitless.
The participants will recognize and be able to apply the skills it takes to be a champion in the workplace. Nikki will help guests increase output, become more productive and learn their true potential through a motivating and captivating story.
General Session Speaker -- Steve Stasiukonis
Steve Stasiukonis, President of Secure Network Technologies
Steve Stasiukonis serves as President of Secure Network Technologies, focusing on Penetration Testing, Information Security Risk Assessments, Incident Response and Digital Investigations. Steve Stasiukonis has worked in the field of Information Security for over fifteen years, specializing in the use of technology to identify information security vulnerabilities, assessing risk and the collection and interpretation of digital network intelligence. As a part of that experience, Steve is an expert in Social Engineering. He is listed in Wikipedia as one of the most notable Social Engineers and has written and demonstrated actual social engineering efforts involving pretexting, phishing and physically compromising banks, data centers and other highly secure operations and facilities. Steve carries numerous security certifications by various organizations and also serves as a columnist for Information Week magazine and DarkReading.
Cryptocurrency & the Blockchain: Digital Dollars or Counterfeit Currency
Wednesday, May 18, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
It’s like money, highly controversial, it’s not country-backed, it’s pseudo anonymous and becoming popular across the planet. In this session, cryptocurrency and its management vehicle known as the Blockchain are explained. The session will also explain how cryptocurrency is used for the purchase of anything like cars, homes, drugs and other illegal things. This session is an eye opener for anyone interested in digital currency, the technologies of Blockchain, and what you need to know as a financial person.
Breakout Session Speaker -- Tim Harrington
Timothy P. Harrington, President, TEAM Resources
Author, consultant and international speaker, Tim Harrington has inspired credit unions for three decades to be excited about change and push the envelope. He has had to reinvent himself several times over his career, just has credit unions need to reinvent themselves today. Tim has managed a manufacturing plant, been a partner with one of the leading Credit Union audit firms in the US, and for the last forever, has been a speaker and consultant moving the credit union movement forward. Tim has worked with credit unions in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and the Virgin Islands. His progressive ideas and broad knowledge of credit union issues has made Tim a valuable resource for credit unions nationwide. Tim has spoken to hundreds of thousands of listeners are over 1,000 events and continues to inspire people to improve their organization…to make a difference in the world.
Tim is President of TEAM Resources, a firm providing consulting, strategic planning, and training to credit unions from coast-to-coast. TEAM Resources’ clients range from a few million to the billions in assets.
Tim’s love for inspired leadership drove him to write the popular book Eisenhower on Enlightened Leadership, and his desire to give boards a road map to improvement led him to co-author the well-known, well-loved, and well-used book A Credit Union Guide to Strategic Governance.
Because of his knowledge, wit and unpretentious delivery, Tim is a much sought-after speaker in the credit union movement. Tim has made presentations at conferences for CEOs, Directors, Supervisory Committees, lenders, marketers, and many more. Tim is on the faculty of the CUNA Finance for Non-Financial Managers and Volunteers School, CUNA Board Certification School, CUNA Supervisory Committee Certification School and CUNA Management School. He has spoken for all the biggest organizations in the movement at their biggest events: NAFCU, CUNA, CUES, the Credit Union Leadership Convention and more.
Tucson, Arizona has been home for Tim since 1980, but he is a native of Montana. He holds a BBA in Accounting from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He has also attended universities in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico and Florence, Italy and speaks several languages.
Gauges the Board Needs to Watch Edging Out of the Pandemic Recession
Wednesday, May 18, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Credit unions are not out of the woods yet. As one wise CU CEO said, “This is the calm before the storm. 2021 is going to be a tough year.” Boards need to keep an eye on all the Key Gauges that tell them if the credit union is doing well, holding its own, or slipping. This session will help boards understand what those key gauges are, how to understand them, and how to work with management if the situation takes a bad turn. There’s a saying, “The bend in the road isn’t the end of the road…unless you fail to make the curve.” This course will help you navigate that curve.
Doorways to Success: Energizing Your Team to Create an Innovative Organization
Wednesday, May 18, 3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
In this inspirational talk, Tim uses doorways as a metaphor. Doorways that attract you. Doorways that Block you. Doorways that confound you and doorways that repel you. The question is, what are the doorways your credit union needs to identify and open? The coming years will continue be a challenge for credit unions. The competitive marketplace, technology, human resources issues and regulatory challenges will force you to re-evaluate your place in the financial services industry. Each of these challenges is also a key opportunity…a doorway. Tim uses his own paintings and insightful words to help you change your thinking and overcome internal roadblocks holding back your credit union and help you tap into the creative genius abounding in your people to push through to the successful future you want.
Breakout Session Speaker -- Susan Hochsprung
Susan Hochsprung, Vice President, Sales, CUNA Mutual Group
Susan Hochsprung is Vice President of Sales for CUNA Mutual Group. In this role she is responsible for leading the dedicated small market sales team as well as those serving larger credit unions in 29 western states.
Hochsprung joined CUNA Mutual Group in 1997 and has held numerous sales and sales leadership roles working with credit unions of all sizes and across all 50 states.
Prior to joining CUNA Mutual Group, she spent five years in sales and marketing within the real estate appraisal and home mortgage industry.
Hochsprung earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Minnesota along with a Master of Business Administration from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn. She earned her Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designation in 2010.
Making Strategic Choices for Growth
Wednesday, May 18, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Like many other financial services incumbents, credit unions are facing serious headwinds, including the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, competition from non-traditional players, and changing consumer preferences. Hear the latest research on credit union growth strategies and how they relate to performance.
- Learn how credit unions’ strategic choices including mergers, product mix, digital capabilities, and other areas of competitive advantage were linked to loan and membership growth and ROA before and during the pandemic.
- Examine how top performers’ strategic choices differed from those of less successful credit unions, and review how those choices are evolving to continue driving growth and performance in the wake of the pandemic.
- Find out how your strategic choices today drive your growth for into the new future.
Power Up Entertainment
Vendor Exposition Entertainment
Tuesday, May 17
Chuck Fulcher, Creative Director, Musician, Painter
Born and raised in Great Falls, Chuck graduated from Great Falls High School. After earning a BA in design from Montana State University, Chuck became a freelance designer and illustrator in Los Angeles. After three years, he returned to Montana as Art Director for Wendt Advertising. From Wendt, Chuck started his first business venture, Fulcher Concepts. In 1996, he joined the team at Lodestone Advertising. Two years after that, Chuck purchased the company. Today, Chuck is Lodestone’s creative director as well as president and CEO of the company.
Chuck has been a member of the Great Falls Advertising Federation since 1991. He has served on the Board of Directors, and has chaired numerous Auction committees, and currently a Life Member. In 2013, Chuck received the prestigious Silver Medal Award from the American Advertising Federation.
Chuck is serving a 6-year tenure on the Parking Commission Advisory Board for the City of Great Falls, and for the past three years, Chuck has been a Russell Country FCU board member, and is up for re-election this spring.
In his leisure time, Chuck enjoys playing music, oil painting and restoring old cars.
Awards Dinner Entertainment
Wednesday, May 18
Ten Years Gone
Ten Years Gone is a classic rock, alternative, and pop dance band. Winners of the Best Of Helena! Ten Years Gone is all about putting out great, danceable music for all ages.