Cincinnati 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 Ohio associations, health systems, headquarters and manufacturing employers, and organizations across the tri-state region.
Response within one business day.
Some of your people have been here thirty years. That is an asset and a problem at the same time.
Cincinnati’s employers are unusually old and unusually rooted, and that shapes the workforce in ways a fast-growing city never has to think about.
Procter and Gamble was founded here in 1837 and is still headquartered downtown. Kroger has been here since the 1880s and is the region’s largest employer. GE Aerospace, Fifth Third, Western and Southern, Cincinnati Financial, Cintas, and American Financial Group are all headquartered in the metro, giving the region eight Fortune 500 headquarters. Cincinnati Children’s is among the largest employers in the area, alongside TriHealth, Bon Secours Mercy Health, the University of Cincinnati, and St. Elizabeth Healthcare across the river in Northern Kentucky. The airport is itself one of the region’s biggest employers.
Institutions that old accumulate something specific. People build entire careers inside them. A supervisor here can find themselves leading someone whose parent retired from the same company, and it is common to sit in a meeting where several people have more years in the building than the person running it.
That long tenure is real institutional knowledge and it should be treated as valuable, because the person who has seen four reorganizations knows which parts of the last one actually worked. But it carries two costs. The phrase we have always done it this way has genuine authority here, which makes change slower than leaders expect. And newer employees can quietly conclude that the path upward is already occupied, that the people ahead of them are not going anywhere, and that waiting is the only strategy available.
The leadership work is holding both at once. Long service deserves to be honored out loud rather than treated as an obstacle, and at the same time a newer person needs to see a route that does not require someone else to retire first. That usually means widening what counts as advancement, since scope, responsibility, and being trusted with something visible are available far more often than titles are.
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.
Mixed-Tenure Rooms
Material for audiences where thirty-year veterans and second-year employees are sitting at the same table.
Corporate, Clinical, and Plant Rooms
Works for a headquarters all-hands, a hospital leadership day, or a manufacturing crew session.
Groups Chris speaks for.
The tri-state region combines eight Fortune 500 headquarters with major health systems across Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
- Cincinnati Children’s, one of the region’s largest employers, along with TriHealth, Bon Secours Mercy Health, UC Health, and St. Elizabeth Healthcare, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Kroger, headquartered downtown and the region’s largest employer, and Procter and Gamble, headquartered here since 1837
- GE Aerospace and the region’s advanced manufacturing employers, for shift-repeated crew and supervisor sessions
- Fifth Third, Western and Southern, Cincinnati Financial, and American Financial Group, across the region’s banking and insurance sector
- Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport and the logistics employers around it
- The University of Cincinnati and the region’s colleges, for campus and staff programming
- Ohio and Kentucky statewide associations meeting in Cincinnati, the format Chris works in most often, and long-term care providers across the tri-state
Cincinnati employers with long memories.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and the tenure question runs through every established employer here.
Consumer Goods and Retail
Companies where career-long employment is normal and the culture is genuinely inherited.
Advanced Manufacturing
Plants where the most valuable knowledge lives in people who are closest to retiring.
Healthcare
Systems balancing long-serving staff against newer clinicians who need a visible path.
Banking and Insurance
Established firms where advancement can look blocked to anyone in their first few years.
Cincinnati and tri-state venues.
- The Duke Energy Convention Center and downtown hotel ballrooms for statewide and regional association meetings
- Cincinnati Children’s, TriHealth, Bon Secours Mercy, and St. Elizabeth campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Manufacturing and aerospace facilities for shift-repeated crew sessions
- Corporate headquarters across downtown and the northern suburbs for all-hands and leadership summits
- The University of Cincinnati for campus and staff programming
- Northern Kentucky, West Chester, Mason, and communities across the tri-state
Cincinnati 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.
Emerging and New Leaders
Development for newer employees who need a path that does not depend on waiting.
Corporate and Plant Meetings
All-hands gatherings, kickoffs, and supervisor development across headquarters and manufacturing.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for teams spanning decades of service in one room.
HR and SHRM Chapter Events
Human resources conferences and chapter meetings on recognition, development, and retention.
Keynote topics for your Cincinnati 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 Cincinnati
Has Chris spoken in Ohio and the midwest?
Does Chris travel to Cincinnati?
Half our room has thirty years in and half has two. Can one session work for both?
Our veterans resist change. Is this a change management talk?
Can the session run for multiple shifts?
What does a Cincinnati keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to an Ohio audience?
Bring Chris to your Cincinnati 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 · Ohio speaking · All locations