Ritz Carlton
Ritz Carlton
Ritz Carlton
https://ritzcarltonleadershipcenter.com/
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Ritz Carlton
Ritz Carlton
Jack Armstrong
Sportscaster
Toronto Raptors, TSN, NBA TV Canada
Jack Armstrong recently finished his 25th season with the Raptors organization, having served as the analyst on all TSN games. He has worked in the past as a radio analyst for the Raptors following a successful 14-year coaching career at the collegiate level.
In addition to his duties with the Raptors, Armstrong is a studio analyst at TSN for the NCAA Tournament, NBA Finals and NBA Draft; and a television analyst for NCAA basketball on CBS Sports Network, Comcast, Empire Sports Network, Fox Sports, MASN TV and New York/MSG while also working with ESPN’s regional coverage and the Atlantic 10 Conference TV Network. His commentating also extended to the WNBA where he worked for MSG on New York Liberty telecasts for two seasons. Armstrong hosted the popular radio show ‘The Game Plan’ on Sportsnet 590 the Fan (2008-10) and served as the television analyst for the 2002 FIBA Men’s World Basketball Championship.
Armstrong has received many accolades during his broadcasting career. He has been nominated by the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Sports Analyst in a Sports Program or Series four times (2017-20), winning on three occasions (2017-19). Armstrong’s 2017 award marked the first time a basketball analyst received this prestigious honour. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work on Liberty telecasts on MSG TV Network during the 2002 season.
In the college circuit, Armstrong spent four years as an assistant basketball coach at Fordham University. He moved to Niagara University and served as an assistant coach for one season before being named head basketball coach of the Purple Eagles while also serving as assistant athletic director. His nine years as head coach was the third longest in school history and his 100 career wins rank fourth on the school’s all-time chart. Armstrong had his most successful season in 1992-93 when he led the Purple Eagles to a 23-7 record and a spot in the National Invitational Tournament. The accomplishments earned him Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and New York State Division I Coach of the Year awards. Despite his success on the court, Armstrong is still most proud of his 100 per cent player graduation rate during his stint as head coach.
He earned both a master’s degree in public communications and a bachelor’s degree in history from Fordham University. Jack and his wife, Dena, have three children, Kevin, Brian, and Timothy. He is an avid runner and has completed the New York, Chicago and Boston marathons.
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Sportscaster
Toronto Raptors, TSN, NBA TV Canada
Robert Rudy
Owner, Rudy Advisory
Rudy Advisory
Rob has spent the past 30 years building and leading companies and developing leaders through inviting change, making critical choices, and achieving results. He has been an entrepreneur in a family business, managed in a public company, and led privately held companies.
Rob was President of Louisville Bedding Canada, a manufacturer of bedding products such as pillows, comforters, and mattress pads, selling to big box retail stores such as Walmart, Costco, and Sears, from 2001-2010. This $40m company consistently delivered a customer experience that was rewarded with double digit sales growth, and a very strong ebitda.
In 2011, Rob was named COO of the parent company, a $180m company located in Louisville Kentucky. With manufacturing in Ontario California, as well as 3 factories in Kentucky and 1 more in Montreal Canada, Rob oversaw a reorganization, and eventual sale of the parent company in 2013.
In 2013, Rob became COO of Standard products, a lighting manufacturer. The industry was going through unprecedented change due to the commercialization of LED lighting, and Rob helped position the company to adapt to new expectations in service, supply, and people management.
In 2017, Rob was recruited to join Medicom, a manufacturing leader in the medical device sector in North America, as their President. As a global supplier of masks, gloves and gowns, Rob introduced a more collaborative culture, which focused on alignment of strategy to execution.
In 2019, Rob founded Rudy Advisory, dedicated to working with entrepreneurs and their leadership teams by crafting actionable strategies, nurturing leaders through continuous learning, and fostering adaptable business cultures for sustainable growth.
Rob focuses on what’s most important; “How to engage and empower people to achieve company goals while exceeding client expectations.” Doing so, Rob believes, allows companies to exceed their goals by taking smart and healthy steps to achieve great success.
https://www.robertrudy.ca/
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Owner, Rudy Advisory
Rudy Advisory
Nicole Larson
COO, American Swim Academy
American Swim Academy
Nicole started competitively swimming at the age of 7 and continued through college. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development, a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential and a Supplemental Teaching Credential in Physical Education from California State University Bakersfield. Nicole was an elementary school teacher for 10 years before joining American Swim Academy in 2004. Nicole came to ASA with 20+ years of swim lesson experience and also coached swimming at the youth competitive level and high school level. Nicole started as a Director managing the Fremont location, she was promoted to Area Director overseeing all school Directors, then promoted to VP of Operations overseeing the daily operations at all 5 schools, she is current the COO managing the daily business operations with her team at the American Swim Academy. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband Nels, they met swimming in college and have been married for 26 years, they are lifelong 49er and Golden State Warrior fans. They are empty nesters, their daughter Natalie (22) graduated from the University of Oregon and their son Kyle (19) attends San Diego State University. Family is their number one priority so they love when the “kids” are home and the highlight of their week is Sunday dinner with their extended family.
https://americanswimacademy.com/
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COO, American Swim Academy
American Swim Academy
Mark Cecil
CEO, Paul Sadler Swimland
Paul Sadler Swimland
Mark started at Paul Sadler Swimland in 1997 as a part time swimming teacher whilst studying to become a school teacher at University.
He taught swimming for 4 years until having a break to become a full time school teacher (also teaching swimming on the side...).
Clearly missing the smell of chlorine, Mark returned to Paul Sadler Swimland full time in 2004 as manager of their Essendon location.
Whilst manager at Essendon, Mark also worked as a Mentor Manager, working with managers in other Swimland locations.
In 2011 Mark moved into the Operations Manager role, working across the brand in Australia, Canada and Vietnam.
In 2018 Mark became the CEO of Swimland, where he gets to work with an amazing group of humans every day!
Mark is married to the incredible Seona and has four beautiful daughters, Lindsay, Ashley, Evelyn and Molly, who make him feel old and keep him young all at the same time...
https://www.paulsadlerswimland.com/
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CEO, Paul Sadler Swimland
Paul Sadler Swimland
Latonya Wilkins
Founder & CEO, Change Coaches; Professional Speaker
Change Coaches
Founder of Change Coaches and author of Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You, LaTonya Wilkins specializes in coaching executives on leading “below the surface” to build psychologically safe relationships with their teams across differences. She is a sought-after coach and keynote speaker who has inspired audiences all over the world. Global leaders typically call LaTonya when they are facing the following challenges: navigating conflict in diverse teams, developing leaders to handle the increasingly complex workplace, struggling to gain alignment within their teams, and building accountable cultures of belonging. LaTonya and her team offer highly customized coaching, culture academies, customized workshops, and more.
LaTonya has coached leaders at many well-known companies including Google, Target, The New York Times, and several nonprofits. She built her career working in HR, talent management, and learning & development at Fortune 500 companies before teaching and taking on progressive leadership roles at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. LaTonya was rated an “excellent” teacher by her business students. She is on the board (having previously served as the President) of the True Star Youth Foundation, which is a digital marketing social entrepreneurship company that recently received a Google Impact Award. LaTonya was also a member of the Advisory Board at Women of Color in the Workplace. LaTonya's book Leading Below the Surface was named a top-10 book for executive leaders by seniorexecutive.com.
LaTonya has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, NPR, Well+Good, and Inc Magazine.
https://changecoaches.io/
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Founder & CEO, Change Coaches; Professional Speaker
Change Coaches
Cassandra Britton
Business & Mindset Coach, The Business Savage
The Business Savage
Cassandra is a serial entrepreneur, starting her first of multiple businesses at the age of 19, and scaling to 7-figures. From marketing in professional sport, to a brick and mortar training academy in the beauty industry, she has transformed from a simple artist to a savvy entrepreneur, using her business background and savage attitude for life to inspire other entrepreneurs to shatter glass ceilings and take their business to the dream level. She provides the marketing strategies and mindset for business owners to turn their passion into profits and experience true fulfillment in being their OWN definition of success. The “Tom Boy in heels” they call her, but in the world of business, she’s THE SAVAGE, and here to leave a legacy far beyond her years.
https://www.thebusinesssavage.com/
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Business & Mindset Coach, The Business Savage
The Business Savage
Jason Arnold
CEO, True Blue Swim School
True Blue Swim School
True Blue Swim School Founder/CEO Jason Arnold grew up in Australia and has been a leader in the learn to swim industry for over the 30 years. Jason has a strong passion for leadership and culture and has presented at the Australian and the United States Swim Schools Association conferences.
Jason and his family moved to Canada in 2010. Over the past 12 years, Jason and his wife Danah have established six True Blue locations across Alberta with three additional locations planned to open in the coming year. True Blue currently employ 180 staff and teaches over 9,000 swimmers on a weekly basis.
https://www.trueblueswim.ca/
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CEO, True Blue Swim School
True Blue Swim School
Saskia Kirby
Customer Experience Director, Kirby Swim
Kirby Swim
Saskia Kirby started out her professional career as a physiotherapist in 2000. After working in both public and private practice, she and her husband Bill (an Olympic Gold Medalist in Swimming) started a Swim School out of a Private Boys School in Perth WA called Kirby Swim.
Many years later Kirby Swim has grown to 6 locations, employs over 250 staff and has a mix of owned and leased facilities. It was recently sold to one of Australia’s leading Publicly (ASX) listed companies.
In 2021 Saskia also Graduated from RMIT with a Masters of Marketing (honours). As Marketing Director, Saskia’s specialty areas include Digital Marketing, SEO and Customer Experience.
Saskia also sits on the ISSA board, helping develop the association internationally, meeting lots of swim school owners and directors from across the globe.
A keen traveller, skier, surfer and foodie - she’s excited to come to Canada and talk swim schools with you and share her 20-plus years of experience.
https://kirbyswim.com.au/
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Customer Experience Director, Kirby Swim
Kirby Swim
Jeff Metzger
Founder & Senior Adviser, Kids First Sports Center
Kids First Sports Center
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jeff was a local gymnast from age 9 through his University years. At age 22, in 1972, Jeff dropped out of mechanical engineering college after accidentally discovering his passion—teaching gymnastics to youngsters. One year later, in 1973, he opened the city’s first gymnastics school operating from a local church multi-purpose room.
Since, Kids First Sports Center has grown into the largest privately held, single location operation of its kind in the USA. The Kids First Village has 183,000 square feet under roof on 15.4 prime acres in suburban Cincinnati. With 300 employees and foot traffic of 20,000 per week, 2023 revenue is on track for ~$12MM.
Jeff is also the Founder of the Metzger Small Business BOOT CAMP, a leadership, marketing and organizational seminar hosted in November and May at Kids First. With its 4-1/2 day, total-immersion format and uniquely powerful curriculum, BOOT CAMP has uplifted the fortunes of countless industry professionals across the USA and beyond.
BOOT CAMP is guaranteed to be the best business education of your lifetime and its slogan says it all…lifetime solutions for your business…business solutions for your lifetime.
https://www.kidsfirstsports.com/
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Founder & Senior Adviser, Kids First Sports Center
Kids First Sports Center
Hailey Patry
The Lifted Lid: Coach, Speaker, Author, Mentor, Counselor, Consultant
The Lifted Lid
Hailey Patry is your True Happiness Coach, Marriage Mentor and The Happy Business Coach. Nicknamed as “World’s Happiest Woman”, and the recipient of countless business impact awards, Hailey is a master coach on happiness, relationships and success. She built a 60-million-dollar home-based-business, along with many other successful companies, all while overcoming great adversity.
Having spoken for over 2-million audience members, with students in 136 countries, she is an international speaker and facilitator. Hailey is also an award-winning author with four International-Best-Selling Books. Check out her 4th book HAPPY LOVE and her 5th contribution called: Life Lessons.
Overcoming more than 30 years of trauma, taught Hailey how to make lemonade out of lemons, and she has dedicated her life to helping YOU create your best life too… both personally and professionally. She teaches you how your self-worth connects to your success, and how to be the leader of your life AND your business. Hailey can’t wait to teach you her practical approach to assertive communication, so your words have the impact you desire. You can move the world with your words!
As a happily married mom of three neuro-diverse boys, Hailey works with entrepreneurs, families, organizations, and couples. When she’s not serving her amazing clients, you’ll see her hiking, biking and kayaking with her family, or snuggling with her husband and kids.
https://www.theliftedlid.com/the-lifted-lid-hailey-patry
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The Lifted Lid: Coach, Speaker, Author, Mentor, Counselor, Consultant
The Lifted Lid
Kerri Russell
Director/Owner, Russell Aquatics
Russell Aquatics
Kerri Russell is a dynamic entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three who has been making waves in the business world for nearly two decades. As the co-owner of Russell Aquatics Swim School, along with her sister Kristi, Kerri has established herself as a respected leader in the industry.
Kerri's entrepreneurial spirit was evident from a young age, as she founded Russell Aquatics when she was just 17 years old. Through years of dedication and hard work, she has honed her skills and cultivated a team of over 70 individuals who share her passion for providing the highest quality swim instruction.
Russell Aquatics has earned a stellar reputation as industry leaders, having taught tens of thousands of children the essential life skill of swimming. Kerri's commitment to excellence and unwavering dedication to her craft have propelled the swim school to great heights.
In addition to her success in business, Kerri is a fierce advocate for women in the business world. Her inspiring journey serves as a beacon of motivation for others, encouraging them to pursue their dreams and create lives they love. Through her own achievements, Kerri aims to empower individuals to overcome obstacles and embrace opportunities.
Kerri’s infectious energy and unwavering passion for her work make her an inspiring figure in the business community. She exemplifies the belief that with hard work, dedication, and a drive to succeed, anything is possible. Whether one aspires to start their own business, improve their fitness, or simply live life to the fullest, Kerri Russell is undoubtedly a woman to watch.
https://russellaquatics.com/
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Director/Owner, Russell Aquatics
Russell Aquatics
