Mission Brings People In. Leadership Keeps Them.
Chris Sund is a community health center speaker for FQHCs, state primary care associations and NACHC chapter meetings. He gives health center leaders a practical way to motivate and keep their workforce, and he delivered The Spark Advantage to community health center leaders at the Virginia Community Healthcare Association Conference in September 2026.
How Do Community Health Centers Keep Their People?
Health centers compete for the same clinicians, nurses and front-desk staff as hospital systems that can often pay more. What a health center has is mission, and mission brings people in the door. Whether they stay depends on how they are led day to day.
Chris runs healthcare staffing organizations and sees every week why people take a job and why they leave one. His sessions give health center leaders a framework for diagnosing where engagement is breaking down on a specific team and what to do about it.
- SPARK: the five drivers a leader controls (support, purpose, appreciation, relationships, knowledge and growth)
- Making mission visible in the daily work, not only on the wall
- Recognition that does not depend on budget
- Keeping front-desk, clinical and support staff connected to one culture
- Leadership habits for managers promoted from within
Proof: Virginia Community Healthcare Association
Chris delivered The Spark Advantage: Motivating Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow’s Success to community health center leaders from across the Commonwealth at the Virginia Community Healthcare Association Conference in Williamsburg.
His keynote for the Rural Health Association of Utah conference in St. George, Winning the Talent Battle: How to Build a Magnetic Brand, covers employer branding and talent strategy for rural healthcare leaders.
At the Virginia Community Healthcare Conference, Chris offered insight on how each person in an organization can help create a “stay” culture. His presentation style was informative, engaging and inspiring!
His topics are well researched, and he weaves in practical tips and real-life examples that make every session realistic and relatable.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice to every presentation, elevating the value he brings to every engagement.
I always have takeaways to put into action after Chris’ sessions. He cares deeply about uplifting the entire profession.
Programs for Health Center Audiences
Every session is customized to your members, your setting and your year.
The Spark Advantage
Motivating today’s workforce with SPARK, the five drivers that decide whether people stay.
The Power of Small Moments
The patient experience keynote: how ordinary interactions at the front desk and in the exam room shape trust.
The Leadership Exchange
An interactive working session where leaders practice real decisions together. Built for workshops and leadership days.
Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop.
Keynote
A general-session keynote for the full room, with stories and one framework attendees can use on the next shift.
Half Day
The keynote content plus working time: leaders apply the framework to their own teams and leave with a written plan.
Full Day
A leadership day built around your agenda, combining the keynote, applied sessions and planning time for a leadership group.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: Rural Healthcare Speaker · Healthcare Leadership Speaker · Nurse Retention Strategies · The SPARK Framework
What Health Center Planners Ask
Has Chris spoken to community health center audiences?
Yes. He delivered The Spark Advantage to community health center leaders at the Virginia Community Healthcare Association Conference in Williamsburg in September 2026, and his Winning the Talent Battle keynote is on the Rural Health Association of Utah conference program.
Does the content work for health centers that cannot compete on pay?
That is the point of it. SPARK breaks retention into five things a leader controls: support, purpose, appreciation, relationships, and knowledge and growth. None of them requires a bigger salary budget.
Is it a fit for a state primary care association conference?
Yes. State association conferences mix executives, clinical leaders and frontline staff, and the session is built for a room like that. It also works for NACHC chapter meetings and health center leadership retreats.
What formats are available?
A keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop. Many associations pair a general-session keynote with a working session for health center managers.
Can attendees receive the book?
Yes. Copies of You Are Capable of More can be bundled for attendees, with bulk pricing through bulk orders.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.
Associations regularly pair the keynote with copies for attendees. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Lives the Workforce Problem
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare and Nebula. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, building Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award along the way.
Staffing is a retention business. Every week he sees why clinicians and caregivers take a job, and why they leave one. That is the material he brings to the stage, not theory borrowed from somewhere else.
He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, an Inc. contributor and a Forbes Business Council member.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Health Center and Rural Audiences Have Heard Chris
Community health, rural health and state association stages where Chris has spoken on workforce and retention.
Virginia Community Healthcare AssociationWilliamsburg, VA · Sep 2026Rural Health Association of UtahSt. George, UTTORCH/TARHC Fall ConferenceRound Rock, TXCrawford Memorial HospitalDenison, IANCCHC National ConferenceLas Vegas, NVPOWER Conference 2026Omaha, NEAlso: Rural Healthcare Speaker · Healthcare Leadership Speaker · Nurse Retention Strategies · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Health Center Event
Tell Chris about your association, your health centers and what your workforce is carrying this year. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots