KEYNOTE SPEAKER TESTIMONIALS
FOR HEATHER R YOUNGER BY INDUSTRY
ASSOCIATION
Heather's recent keynote on active listening at our all-staff event was high energy, relevant and engaging. The time flew by and we all came away with good tools to be better listeners. Staff really enjoyed it!
Beth Aldana, Chief Administrative Officer
GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association)
Heather did a phenomenal job at the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies' 2024 Executive Management Conference. She was high-energy, knowledgeable, and relatable. Most of all, she listened to our members' wants and delivered a memorable and interactive keynote address. Don't wait! Book her now.
Antoinette Barber, CEO
American Metropolitan Water Districts
Heather absolutely energized our group with her heartfelt messages of self-care, listening to understand, and leading through empowerment. As one of our attendees commented, "It's the perfect topic, coming out of the pandemic, to remind us all how to care for our teams." Heather is a true professional and easy to work with. I highly recommend that you book her to speak with your group.
Doug Scholz, Senior VP & Chief Operating Officer
California Grocers Association
Heather Younger is an amazing speaker and a dream to work with! I had a speaker withdraw due to an emergency two days before our conference began. Heather stepped in and filled the spot and truly worked to make the transition seamless. Our attendees were very positive in their evaluations, it was a win win for RFMA! Thank you Heather!
Debi Kensell, Executive Director & CEO
Restaurant Facility Manangement Association
Heather and her staff were professional from my first point of contact. Heather arrived at my session prepared, energized, and very confident in her presentation. She related well to the audience and even received participation from the participants during the session which is a skill. I would hire Heather again with no hesitation.
Renee Holland, Manager of Professional Development
National Association of REALTORS®
We retained Heather to do her Active Listening workshop for our most recent All Staff meeting. She did a fantastic job of getting to know our organization and our approach a bit before putting some finishing touches on her presentation. The workshop fit seamlessly into our All Staff content. It was engaging, full of heart, and realistically actionable. Her presentation style is warm yet professional. She was a joy to work with.
Le Dugan, Manager of Talent Acquistion & DEI
GFOA
Heather's opening keynote on the art of caring leadership resonated strongly with the participants at Agile2024 conference. Heather inspired the group with her insights, her energy, and passion, and set the right tone for the 5 days ahead. If you are looking for a keynote speaker for your next conference, or a leadership off-site, I strongly recommend Heather Younger!
Dana Pylayeva , Enterprise Agile Coach
Heather is an amazing Keynote Speaker! Her energy, enthusiasm and passion for the subject she is talking about really manages to captivate the audience. I had the opportunity to be her host in a virtual conference and it was impressive how, despite being broadcast by video, she managed to connect with the people in the room. Heather is definitely a speaker who should be considered in every Conference Line-Up. It has been an extraordinary experience listening to her.
Luis Acosta , HR Executive
Eriac Capital Humano
Want to hear a dynamic, inspiring, leader talk to you about the 'simple' things to do with yourself and employees to create a positive change in your workplace environment? Reach out to Heather or read her book, ""The Art of Caring Leadership"
Rebecca Randolph
ASHA
AEROSPACE
Heather was a hit with the team and was absolutely the right way to cap off the week for us. A sincere thank you to you, Heather, and the entire team! You all made a big difference for our team.
Director of HR, Space Foundation
AUTOMOTIVE
I can't thank Heather enough for her presentation. She is truly changing lives, and I hope she continues to positively impact others. Heather has a gift, and I'm so glad I was on the receiving end of her sharing it.
Stellantis - Mopar
BIOTECH, MANUFACTURING, PHARMACEUTICALS
She was a hit! I really appreciate the positive energy and enthusiasm Heather brought to the session, as well as her authenticity. It was wonderful to work with her. I hope we can work together again in the future.
Kimberly Markiewicz, VP of DEI
DuPont
BUILDING SERVICES
Heather was our keynote opener at our annual leadership summit. Not only did she inspire us all with a practical playbook for active listening and caring leadership, she got our event started in a big way by surprising a member of our team with a caring leadership award. What an amazing moment she created for that leader and the entire Marsden leadership team! A great way to kick off our leadership summit... she set the stage for what became a fantastic week of leadership and culture development!
Chris Hillman, Chief Operating Officer
Marsden Services
CONSULTING
Heather Younger is a highly enthusiastic and engaging speaker. Whether you are sitting at the front, or in the back of the room - Heather's ability to engage with every corner of the audience is remarkable. Her presence is electrifying and her content is rich in value! I highly recommend attending one of her keynote sessions, if given the opportunity.
Nebai Tecleab, Account Manager
Gartner
Heather Younger was a keynote speaker at our Gartner IAM event. Her delivery was full of energy, engaging and provided a lot of value to the audience. Heather is also an amazing person, of course a good listener 🙂 and amazing to work with!
Henrique Bernardes B Texeira, SVP Strategy
Gartner
Heather is phenomenal speaker, author, business leader, and trailblazer. Heather presented at The Great Leadership Reset. Her topic was on "The Art of Caring Leadership in Action". I love how Heather addressed the pain points faced by many employees such as lack of support from leadership, the importance of vision, lack of emotional intelligence, and how this and other factors lead to high turnover, low employee satisfaction, and poor engagement. Her firm is providing tools, insights, and strategies to help leadership address their own deficiencies and better lead organizations and people. I highly recommend Heather's Podcast "Leadership with Heart", and her for any services improving leadership and employee experience. She has changed my life forever.
LaShawnda Roberts
Founder & Principal Consultant, Rodgers Global Leadership Consortium
EDUCATION
Heather R. Younger opened as the keynote speaker of the 84th Annual Colorado Association of School Boards Convention last week (December 5, 2024) and was an immediate hit with over 1000 school board members, superintendents, and educational leaders. The inspirational message of caring leadership--starting with making sure to care for yourself! Heather brought energy, laughter, and reflection and set the tone for the entire conference. Thanks Heather!
Jubal Yennie, Executive Director
CO Association of School Boards
I had the honor and privilege of attending Heather's How to Build a Culture of Belonging program and would highly recommend both Heather as a presenter and the How to Build a Culture of Belonging program. Heather's personal experiences and professional experiences combined with her subject matter expertise on diversity, equity, and inclusion make for an engaging, informative, and phenomenal learning experience.
Troy Washington, VP of Human Resources
University of Dayton
FINANCE
Engaging, thoughtful, energetic and purposeful are just a few words to describe Heather's keynote during Janney Montgomery Scott's recent "Leading with Inclusion" Impact Conference. She delivered a powerful message around the "Art of Caring Leadership." Whether you were attending as an individual contributor or people leader, Heather challenged all of us to think differently about how to unleash and harness our potential to be and give the best of who we are in our roles with the firm. I'd highly recommend Heather for your next conference, speaker series, symposium, leadership workshops etc. She will not disappoint! You'll definitely walk away with nuggets and gems to use immediately!
Erika Whyte, VP, Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Heather is an incredible speaker! I witnessed an amazing speech earlier this week focused on resiliency. It is challenging to virtually engage an audience and she was phenomenal. Heather's speech was heartfelt, informative, inspirational, and exactly what our organization needed. I would highly recommend Heather as a speaker.
Joe Kwon, Association Director, Global Quality and Risk Management, Information Protection
KPMG US
Heather was incredible to work with, and legitimately felt like an extension of our team while she was here.
In my role, I have high expectations for how someone will engage with our employees. I know it is hard to get content to land with large and diverse groups, so we spend a lot of time before bringing someone in to see how open they are to delivering their content and interacting with our employees in a way that lands authentically with them. Heather was incredible to work with, and legitimately felt like an extension of our team while she was here. We have encouraged our employees, and especially the leaders in our leadership development programs, to consider workshops as interactive and conversational. We say that we think out loud together and see how we can grow from that. That is a hard thing for someone who doesn't know our group, our norms or our expectations to come in and experience. To be versed enough in their own content to help others learn new things, but also confident and present enough to follow the lead of the participants is a rare thing. Heather did it so well, and we would definitely advise that others take advantage of her skills as a keynote speaker and her abilities to back it up and help it land with the people who want to dig in with her even more. It felt very genuine that she wanted to be there with us and to make sure that she helped us in meaningful ways.
Eric Morse, Director of People Development, Veterans United
GOVERNMENT
Heather presented to our group of risk pool executives. She delivered with energy, passion and humor, leaving us with clear and actionable strategies for enhancing our leadership skills. An enjoyable, thought-provoking and satisfying session.
Andrew Halsall, President & CEO Government Entities Mutual
Heather is an extraordinary presenter! She recently led an interactive virtual event to explore inclusion in the workplace for an audience comprising workforce professionals and regional employers. While engaging a webinar audience can be a challenge, Heather kept everyone fully present and responsive. She speaks from the heart, cares deeply about courageous leadership, and strives to share her knowledge in the most meaningful ways.
Andrea Walls, Strategic Communications Manager
County of Bucks
HEALTHCARE
Heather is a dynamic speaker who not only connects with her audience but spends intentional time to tailor her content to the audience. The keynote she presented was practical and resonated with all attendees. I cannot recommend Heather highly enough.
Jay Hibbard, Chief Growth and Communications Officer
Covenant Living Communities and Services
A-MAZ-ING! The conference was over the top great! Heather was spot on with her energy and message. I’m still high on endorphins!
VP of Education & Research
LeadingAge PA
Heather spoke to more than 200 leaders as part of Mosaic's annual leadership event on the topic of "The Art of Active Listening". She was inspiring, engaging and had a clear message to share. Participants were engaged in learning about The Cycle of Active listening and when sharing their takeaways from the two day event people acknowledged the need to improve listening skills and apply these practical techniques. Heather is a relatable presenter and it is obvious that she has great strategies to share! It was pleasure to have Heather join us and I look forward to working with her again!
Linda Timmons, President & CEO
Mosaic
Heather was extremely engaging, personable, and knowledgeable in her subject manner. I highly recommend her.
Michael A. Grace, EdD, MBA, FACHE, President
West Virginia University Hospitals
Presbyterian Medical Services was excited to hold a conference for your organization’s leaders this week. It was our first in person meeting of this magnitude for almost four years. We felt we needed something special to pull together our 100+ leadership team. Heather was the perfect person to inspire and energize our team. Heather’s inspirational words will help our organization's leaders move forward in this new world of business we all now navigating. Over the past number of years, we have had many guest speakers address this group. We can say Heather was one of the best if not the best. Thank you, Heather!!
Steve Hansen, CEO
Presbyterian Medical Services
Today we had the honor of having Heather R Younger present The Art of Caring Leadership. During this session she shared with us detailed key concepts around Caring Leadership. Heather not only provided us with clear executable strategies for all levels of leadership, she engaged our team with meaningful conversations. She captures the audience with her presence, energy and knowledge. Heather is purposeful with her content and delivery bringing value to any forum. You will not be disappointed.
Carmen Fells, VP, Revenue Cycle Operations
Northwell Health
Heather has partnered with SCA Health on several pillar events as a trusted, professional partner and resource. Prior to our events, she went above and beyond and met with our leadership team creating a custom presentation and workshops that complimented her mainstage keynotes.
Her message of caring leadership resonated and was overwhelmingly well received by our teammates. She was also flexible and pivoted to a new format with ease. Our CEO enjoyed Heather so much that he joined her on her podcast.
Kristy Floyd Crowell, Director, Conference and Event Strategy
SCA Health
INSURANCE
Heather is a first class speaker who is not only energetic and engaging but backs it all with research and a path to being a truly caring leader. We hired Heather to speak at our annual event and we were not disappointed.
Sabrina Nowling, Director of Communications
Flood & Peterson
Heather spent more time preparing for the engagement then would have been expected.
For example, she spent significant time researching our organization and then she essentially interviewed myself and others to ensure that she understood our expectations as well as understanding the current state of play at the organization. Additionally, she provided a very useful and comprehensive report after the engagement outlining key takeaways from the question and answer sessions.
In one day she facilitated four sessions (she was fully engaged and fully energized for each session) where she started off with a different set of remarks (each tailored at the specific organizational subset that was invited to the specific session), encouraged each group to fully engage, and facilitated an active question and answer session. Simply put, Heather R Younger is a superior speaker.
Angela Schaefer, Corporate Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Safety National
NON-PROFIT
Heather spoke at my annual conference with a diverse audience ranging from seasoned nonprofit executives to young professionals to volunteers - a big task to speak on caring leadership with such a wide variety of experiences. Heather pulled it off with energy, enthusiasm and engagement, meeting each participant where they are on their leadership journey. What a feat! With practical tips, humor and empathy, our group left ready to meet those in their own leadership spheres with grace and humility....and success!
Amy Ledbetter Parham, CEO Habitat for Humanity TX
RETAIL
Heather is a brilliant speaker and engaging partner as you strive to develop your leadership skills for yourself or your organization! Thanks Heather for sharing your talents with others.
Michelle Hall, SVP & Chief Human Resources Officer
Meijer
We had the pleasure of hosting Heather at our Spring National Meeting. She is one of those speakers who comes through on stage or on screen with her warmth and approachable personality. Heather is authentic, funny, and honest and her style allows her powerful message to come through for all to understand. For teams or companies who are focused on culture and leadership, I cannot recommend Heather Younger enough.
Sarah Gustat, Chief Growth Officer
Talking Rain Beverage
Heather Younger is an exceptional public speaker whose genuine, inspirational, and instantly connective style leaves a lasting impact on her audience. Recently, she delivered a keynote that incorporated parts of her book, The Art of Caring Leadership to over 500 attendees at the Northern California Safeway leadership Summit in Lake Tahoe, which received rave reviews! What set Heather apart was the time she spent ahead of the event to meet with our leadership team to learn of our objectives allowing her the ability to seamlessly incorporate and connect our event theme, company values, and overall meeting vision into her presentation, which enhanced its relevance. Beyond her impressive background, Heather's personal journey serves as a source of inspiration to all in the audience. Her warmth, approachability, and ability to make you feel like a dear friend only add to the experience. With her incredible presence and energy, Heather Younger is an invaluable asset to any event or conference.
Michelle Khider, Director
Andronico's Markets
TECH
Heather has a rare combination of a loving and open heart paired with the expertise and vision to help us be better. Having her speak at out event lifted our attendees and sent them away ready for action.
Amy Frampton, CMO
Bamboo HR
In a world filled with distractions and a ton of noise, Heather R Younger delivers the message we all need to hear today. Her simple way of breaking down the steps on how each of us owns the ability to create a culture of listening is powerful. Whether trying to connect to sales prospects, clients or employees, Heather lessons, stories and methods are immediately applicable and one's that need prioritization in every organization. If you haven't heard her speak yet, get her in the doors of your company so everyone can listen and grow from her brilliance.
Lou Diamond, Founder & CEO
Affinity Solutions
This year, we had the pleasure of hosting Heather as our keynote speaker for our annual users conference, Weekdays with Bernie. We had such a wonderful experience collaborating with Heather and received endless positive feedback from our attendees. Heather provided an engaging experience that kept everyone involved and allowed them to apply what she was sharing in real time. We look forward to working together again in the future! Thank you for everything!
Lauren Davidson, Marketing Specialist
Bernard Health
Heather was one of our keynote speakers at our annual sales kickoff. She focused on creating a loyal and engaged workforce. Prior to the session, Heather took the time to meet with my team and I to learn about our specific challenges. She also took the time to meet with several of our first line leaders to hear from them first hand to customize her keynote. Her message was on point!! She did an amazing job engaging our audience and responding to all their questions. I highly recommend Heather!
Stacy Boatright, GTM Leader Excellence & Onboarding
VMware
Equinix invited Heather to Barcelona to speak at our annual leadership event. Her address was intriguing and engaging and was well-received by the audience. Heather was very easy to work with and was a delight on-site at the event. Heather is insightful and has an impressive stage presence. I highly recommend Heather Younger!
Charles Reinhart McGarvey, Content Strategist and Events Manager
Equinix
Heather R. Younger ranks as one of the very best speakers and thought leaders ever encountered on DEI initiatives. At Xerox’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging ‘All of Us Together’ event, she delivered a dynamic and engaging presentation on the topic of intersectionality as the keynote speaker. Heather shared the importance of whole self-leadership and how to use intersectionality to make connection points that help strengthen our culture.
Yetta Toliver, Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
Xerox
We Will Listen to You
Heather can customize the perfect keynote for your unique group. To maximize the message, all keynote inquiry calls include an opportunity for you to share:
- Where you are now versus where you want to be in the short term and long term
- Your organization’s most pressing leadership problems and issues related to employee engagement
- Your most sought-after goals as a leader and individual
- What you expect every participant to walk away with intrinsically and tangibly