Keeping Good People in a Sector That Cannot Match Private Pay
Institutions are losing staff to employers who can simply pay more. Chris Sund speaks to faculty and staff audiences about the levers that still work — development, recognition, and how a department is actually led — drawn from an industry that has fought the same battle for a decade.
What Faculty and Staff Take Away
Higher ed has structural constraints a business does not — shared governance, tenure tracks, state budgets, and salary bands nobody in the room can move. Chris does not pretend otherwise. He focuses on what a dean, a director, or a department chair actually controls, which turns out to be most of what makes people stay.
- Retention levers that work when compensation is genuinely fixed
- Why staff leave a supervisor rather than an institution
- Development that costs time instead of budget
- Original research: 92% believe they are capable of more than they are doing now
- Material that works for faculty, professional staff, and administration together
Popular Programs for Higher Education
Every session is customized to your institution, audience, and calendar.
People Quit People, Not Companies
Retention as a teachable skill for chairs, directors, and deans.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
The five research-backed drivers of a department people stay in.
You Are Capable of More
The signature keynote — strong fit for a convocation or all-staff day.
The Power of Small Moments
How daily interactions decide whether good people renew.
Campus Audiences Chris Serves
Related pages: School Administrator Speaker · Education Conference Speaker · Employee Retention Speaker
What Institutions Ask
Does he understand higher ed constraints?
He asks about them before building the session — governance, bargaining units, budget cycles. What he will not do is give a talk that ignores them and tells a room of chairs to just pay people more.
Faculty and staff in the same room?
Yes, and it works. The material is about how people are led rather than what their contract says, which is common ground across both groups.
Can he tailor to our climate survey?
Yes. Share your engagement or climate data ahead of time and Chris builds around the gaps it shows rather than guessing at them.
Keynote or working session?
Both. A convocation keynote reaches everyone; a chairs-and-directors working session is where the practices actually get adopted.
Where Chris Speaks to Institutions and Associations
Conferences, associations, and organizations where Chris has taken the stage.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynotes — ten principles for closing the gap between what people are doing and what they are actually capable of.
Institutions often pair a convocation keynote with copies for department leadership. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Competes for the Same People
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare, and Nebula. Healthcare staffing spends every day on the problem higher ed is now facing: credentialed professionals with options, tired of being asked for more, and a pay ceiling that will not move fast enough.
He took Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing firms in the country, earning a Fortune Best Workplaces award and world-class employee NPS during 10x growth.
He is a Maxwell Leadership Certified speaker and coach, a bestselling author, an Inc. contributor, and a Forbes Business Council member.
As Seen & Heard
Television, national business press, and the podcasts where Chris talks workforce, retention, and leadership.
Bring Chris to Your Institution
Tell Chris about your faculty and staff and what the year is asking of them. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots