Cheyenne keynote speaker for state agency events and association conferences.
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 Wyoming state agencies, associations, hospitals, long-term care providers, schools, and employers across the high plains.
Response within one business day.
Your best people are not leaving because they are unhappy. They are leaving because they ran out of room.
That is a different problem from the one most retention advice is written for, and treating it like ordinary dissatisfaction is why so many Cheyenne employers keep losing the same kind of person.
Wyoming is the least populous state in the country. State government employs somewhere around six thousand people across the Cheyenne area, inside a regional nonfarm payroll of roughly forty eight thousand. Put plainly, the entire apparatus of a state is being run out of a metro of about a hundred thousand people. That produces organizations that are genuinely small. A division might be a handful of people. A specialty might be one person. There is often no second person who does that job and no bench behind them.
Which is fine until somebody is ready for the next step. The org chart above a good mid-career employee in Cheyenne frequently has two rungs on it, and both are occupied by people who are not going anywhere. Career range outside government, the base, healthcare, and energy is limited, and that ceiling is a documented driver of departures here. Fort Collins and the northern Front Range are a short drive down I-25 with a deeper market and more rungs, so the exit is easy to take.
The useful response is not a counteroffer, because the thing they wanted was not money. It is to accept that upward movement is scarce and get serious about the other kind of growth. Wider scope inside the same title. Real mastery instead of another year of the same competence. Being trusted with something visible. Teaching the people coming up. Those are things a supervisor can hand someone without a vacancy above them, and in a small state they are the difference between a ten year employee and a four year one.
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.
Growth Without a Promotion
Material built around developing people when the next title is not available, which is the structural reality in a small state.
Regional Neighbor
Based in Nebraska with keynote work across the plains states, including health care associations in Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, and Colorado.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Cheyenne holds Wyoming’s state government, its largest health system, and a major federal installation, which puts a wide mix of leadership audiences in one small city.
- State of Wyoming agencies and departments, employing roughly six thousand people across the Cheyenne area, for in-service and leadership development days
- Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, a 222-bed Level III trauma center founded in 1867 and long the state’s largest health care system, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- F.E. Warren Air Force Base, one of the country’s three nuclear missile installations and home to the 90th Missile Wing, with a large military and civilian workforce and extensive family support operations
- Laramie County School District 1, one of the area’s largest employers, for district in-service and staff development days
- Wyoming statewide associations in hospital, long-term care, municipal, and education sectors, which convene members and hold meetings in the capital
- Union Pacific Railroad and the freight and logistics employers at the I-25 and I-80 crossroads
- Laramie County government, chambers of commerce, and regional data center and energy employers
Cheyenne employers with the same ceiling.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, but a shallow org chart is the shared condition across this city.
State Agencies
Small divisions where one person often holds a whole function, and where the next title up may not exist for years.
Military and Defense
Base civilian and contractor roles alongside a military population that rotates, creating two different retention problems in one workforce.
Rail, Freight, and Logistics
Union Pacific and the operators using the interstate crossroads, with skilled roles that are portable to bigger markets.
Education and Local Government
School districts, county and city departments, all hiring from the same limited pool and competing with Colorado an hour south.
Cheyenne and southeast Wyoming venues.
- Cheyenne hotel and conference space for statewide association annual meetings and agency gatherings
- The Wyoming State Capitol and surrounding state office buildings for in-service and leadership sessions
- Cheyenne Regional Medical Center campuses for staff and nurse leadership days
- Laramie County Community College and district education facilities
- Laramie, Torrington, Wheatland, and the southeast Wyoming communities
- Casper and Jackson for Wyoming organizations that rotate their annual meeting location
Cheyenne events Chris speaks at.
Association Conferences
Statewide association annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for organizations where promotions are scarce and growth has to come another way.
Hospital and Health System Events
Leadership days, nurse recognition events, and all-staff meetings.
Rural and Critical Access Healthcare
Leadership days for the clinics and community hospitals serving Wyoming’s counties.
School and Education Events
District in-service days, staff kickoffs, and student and athletic banquets.
HR and SHRM Chapter Events
Human resources conferences and chapter meetings on retention in a shallow labor market.
Keynote topics for your Cheyenne 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 Cheyenne
Has Chris spoken in Wyoming before?
Does Chris travel to Cheyenne?
We lose people to Colorado. Can a keynote change that?
Our org chart is genuinely small. How do we grow people with nowhere to promote them?
Our audience is a few dozen people. Is that worth booking a keynote?
What does a Cheyenne keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Wyoming audience?
Bring Chris to your Cheyenne 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 · Wyoming speaking · All locations
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