Speakers – Forum at SEU

2022 Speaker Forum

October 6 & 7 | Southeastern University

2022 Forum Speakers

Cathie Wood

Kayleigh McEnany

Brian Wesbury

Chris Heaslip

Scott Williams

Event Details

Enjoy two memorable days with presentations by guest speakers Cathie Wood and Kayleigh McEnany, plus keynote sessions with industry leaders.

Keynote Speakers

Thursday, October 6 | 3:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Lake Bonny Room

Brian Wesbury

Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors

About Brian

Brian Wesbury is Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors L.P.

Brian was a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1999-2007 and has been a regular attendee of the Economist Roundtable Luncheon at the Chicago Fed since 2007. In 2012, he was named a Fellow of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, TX, where he worked closely with its 4%-Growth Project. His writing appears in various magazines, newspapers and blogs and he appears regularly on Fox, Bloomberg, CNBC and BNN Canada TV.

In 1995 and 1996, he served as Chief Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. The Wall Street Journal ranked Brian the nation’s #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001, and USA Today ranked him as one of the nation’s top 10 forecasters in 2004.

Brian began his career in 1982 at Harris Bank in Chicago. Former positions include Vice President and Economist for the Chicago Corporation and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson.

Brian received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of Montana. McGraw-Hill published his first book, The New Era of Wealth, in October 1999. His second book, It’s Not As Bad As You Think, was published in November 2009 by John Wiley & Sons.

In 2011, Brian received the University of Montana’s Distinguished Alumni Award. This award honors outstanding alumni who have “brought honor to the University, the state or the nation.” There have been 267 recipients of this award out of a potential pool of 91,000 graduates.

Chris Heaslip

Entrepreneur

About Chris

Chris is a dedicated entrepreneur with more than 15 startups under his belt, the latest being the highly successful Pushpay, which grew rapidly from $1 million in revenue to $100 million in revenue in just four years.

Chris, along with his co-founder Eliot Crowther, developed the idea for Pushpay at the end of 2010. They came to the realization that business isn’t about what you can get, it’s about what you can give and how you can make a difference in other people’s lives.

Based on that realization, Chris has joined the Board of a startup called Leadr. He believes that great organizations develop leaders. That leaders have a powerful impact on people and how those leaders make a difference in other people’s lives. As Executive Chairman, he is bringing to fruition the beliefs he holds. He is helping form the strategic direction of the new and unique leadership development software company.

“In short, Leadr is a new kind of people management software which enables one to one leadership development at scale within an organization. We do this by coming alongside existing management activities, like the one to one meeting, and making them more effective, personalized, and trackable. This leads to real people development all managed in one simple and easy to use place.”

Dinner with Cathie Wood

Founder and CEO at ARK Investment Management

Thursday, October 6 | 6:00 PM | Lake Bonny Room

Cathie Wood registered ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2014. Focused solely on disruptive innovation, ARK aims to identify large-scale investment opportunities in the public markets resulting from technological innovations centered around genome sequencing, robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, and blockchain technology.

Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed over $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure at Tupelo Capital, she worked for 18 years with Jennison Associates as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Director. She started her career in Los Angeles, California at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist. Cathie received her Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Southern California in 1981.

In 2018, editors at Bloomberg acknowledged Cathie by selecting her to its second annual Bloomberg 50 list of people across business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology, and science who have defined global business. Additionally, Fortune named Cathie to its exclusive roundtable of experts in the annual Fortune Investors Guide: The Best Investing Advice for 2019 From Fortune’s Experts. In 2016, Cathie received the “Women in Finance – Outstanding Contribution Award” from Market Media, and she was a featured speaker at the World Economic Forum (China) in 2016 & 2017, and the World Strategic Forum (Miami) in 2017.

Keynote Speaker & Lunch

Friday, October 7 | 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM | Lake Bonny Room

Scott Williams

About Scott

Scott Williams is a best-selling author, speaker, strategist, international consultant, and Chief Solutions Officer of his strategy firm, Nxt Level Solutions. Scott and his team work with some of the largest and most influential leaders, churches, nonprofits, universities, and Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Before founding Nxt Level Solutions, Scott served as one of the key leaders and Campus Pastors at Life.Church.

Scott has been featured in various national publications and “Best Of” lists in leadership, employee engagement, branding, marketing, social media, and diversity. Throughout his career, Scott has served in various leadership roles as a lobbyist, political consultant, college professor, chief diversity officer, vice-president, and at the age of 25, he was one of the youngest Prison Wardens in the U.S. Scott along with Hall of Fame Coach Barry Switzer have been pioneers in the new NIL “Name, Image and Likeness” space for college sports through founding 1Oklahoma Collective.

Scott’s extensive experience with church growth, leadership development, technology, marketing, organizational health, and being a serial entrepreneur makes him a true asset to organizations across a breadth of industries.

Kayleigh McEnany

Former White House Press Secretary, Trump Administration

Friday, October 7 | 2:00 PM | Lake Bonny Room

Kayleigh McEnany is the former White House Press Secretary, serving in the final year of President Donald Trump’s administration. Prior to working in the White House, Kayleigh worked as the National Press Secretary for the Trump Campaign and formerly the National Spokesperson for the Republican National Committee. Before joining the RNC, Kayleigh worked as a political commentator at CNN and across cable news.

Kayleigh graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor and Georgetown University School of Foreign Services with a degree in international politics. She also studied politics and international relations at Oxford University, St. Edmunds Hall. Kayleigh is a recipient of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s Public Service Award. She is the author of the new book For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House and Beyond.

Reserve Your Spot Today

This is an invitation-only event. Space is limited and reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Need special accommodations? Contact us at forum@seu.edu.