Buffalo keynote speaker for healthcare, manufacturing, and association events.
Chris Sund is a keynote speaker, Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach, and sitting executive who leads national healthcare staffing organizations. He speaks on workforce motivation, leadership, retention, and human potential for New York associations, health systems, manufacturing and financial employers, and organizations across Western New York.
Response within one business day.
This workforce has already proven what it will do in an emergency. The question is what happens in March.
Buffalo has a labor market that periodically gets tested in a way most of the country never experiences, and the aftermath teaches leaders something they usually miss.
Kaleida Health is the largest health system in Western New York with a workforce near ten thousand across five hospitals. Catholic Health brings together roughly nine thousand associates and well over a thousand physicians. Erie County Medical Center, Roswell Park, and the University at Buffalo anchor the medical campus. M and T Bank is headquartered downtown, and Moog, Rich Products, Delaware North, Tops, and Wegmans employ thousands more across the region.
When the 2022 blizzard hit, staff at those hospitals were told to stay on site and they stayed. People slept on tables and in auditoriums. One emergency room nurse was at work for roughly ninety six hours. Residents who could not stay warm came to hospital doors and were taken in. Supplies ran low and grocers and restaurants sent food. Afterward the health systems built employee response teams and stocked sleeping equipment, because everyone understood it would happen again.
That is an extraordinary thing for a workforce to do, and here is the pattern worth noticing. During a crisis, organizations become excellent at recognition almost automatically. Leaders are present, gratitude is specific and public, the community says thank you, and everyone knows exactly who carried the weight. Then the snow melts. By March the same people are doing demanding work in ordinary conditions and hearing very little about it.
People notice that contrast, and it does something corrosive. If the only time the organization sees you clearly is when the situation is catastrophic, then ordinary competence starts to feel invisible, and an employee can quietly conclude that being reliable is worth less than being heroic.
So the practical work in a place like this is making recognition function on a normal Tuesday, at the same level of specificity it reaches during a storm. It also means referring back to what people did months later, when it is no longer news, because that is when it actually lands as respect rather than as adrenaline.
Chris runs national healthcare staffing organizations and has keynoted state association conferences in eleven states, including LeadingAge Illinois and health care associations in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and Colorado.
Operator, Not Consultant
President and COO of national healthcare staffing organizations, still making the hiring and retention calls he speaks about.
Recognition in Ordinary Time
Material for workforces that perform under pressure and then go unnoticed once conditions return to normal.
Clinical, Plant, and Association Rooms
Works for a health system leadership day, a manufacturing crew session, or a statewide association general session.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Western New York combines two large health systems and a major medical campus with a headquarters bank and a deep manufacturing base.
- Kaleida Health, the region’s largest health system, and Catholic Health, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Erie County Medical Center and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
- The University at Buffalo, one of the region’s largest employers, for campus and staff programming
- M and T Bank, headquartered downtown, and the region’s financial and professional services employers
- Moog, Rich Products, and the region’s manufacturers, for shift-repeated crew and supervisor sessions
- Tops, Wegmans, and Delaware North, along with the region’s retail and hospitality employers
- New York statewide associations meeting in Buffalo, the format Chris works in most often, and long-term care providers across Western New York
Buffalo employers whose people show up regardless.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and the same expectation runs through every essential employer in this region.
Healthcare
Hospitals where staying on site through a storm is an established part of the job.
Manufacturing
Plants that run through weather and treat attendance as a quiet point of pride.
Utilities, Transit, and Public Safety
Crews who are most visible during emergencies and least visible the rest of the year.
Retail, Grocery, and Hospitality
Frontline teams who kept serving a community that needed them during the worst of it.
Buffalo and Western New York venues.
- The Buffalo Niagara Convention Center and downtown hotel ballrooms for statewide association meetings
- Kaleida, Catholic Health, ECMC, and Roswell Park campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Manufacturing facilities for shift-repeated crew and supervisor sessions
- Corporate offices downtown and across the region for all-hands and leadership summits
- The University at Buffalo for campus and staff programming
- Amherst, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, and communities across Western New York
Buffalo events Chris speaks at.
Association Conferences
Statewide and regional association annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often.
Hospital and Health System Events
Leadership days, nurse recognition events, and all-staff meetings.
Recognition and Engagement
Sessions on making appreciation work in ordinary conditions, not only during a crisis.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for teams whose reliability is easy to take for granted.
Long-Term and Senior Care
Skilled nursing, assisted living, and continuing care conferences and in-service days.
Corporate and Plant Meetings
All-hands gatherings, kickoffs, and supervisor development across the region’s employers.
Keynote topics for your Buffalo event.
Every session is customized for the audience, the format, and what you are actually trying to change.
See what conference organizers and HR leaders have said after booking Chris.
Booking a keynote speaker in Buffalo
Has Chris spoken to hospital and long-term care audiences?
Does Chris travel to Buffalo?
Our staff carried us through the storm and morale still slipped afterward. Why?
Will this feel like empty appreciation to a skeptical room?
Can the session run for multiple shifts?
What does a Buffalo keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a New York audience?
Bring Chris to your Buffalo event.
Send your date, location, and audience. You will get availability and a quote back within one business day.
info@chrissund.com · 402-212-5771 · New York speaking · All locations