Denver keynote speaker for healthcare, associations, and employers competing on more than pay.
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 Denver health systems, Colorado associations, aerospace and federal workforces, campuses, and employers across the Front Range.
Response within one business day.
The company you are losing people to does not have an office in this state.
Denver sits near the top of every remote work ranking in the country, and it did before the pandemic made it a national story. Colorado had the highest share of remote workers of any state, and roughly a quarter of Denver’s workforce still works from home, up from something closer to nine percent a decade ago. Boulder runs higher still.
Most coverage treats that as a commercial real estate problem. For anyone leading people here it is something else entirely. It means a Denver employer hiring a professional is not really competing with the firm across the street. It is competing with San Francisco, Seattle, and New York, for a person who does not have to move to take their money. The mountains, the school district, the house, the friends, all of it stays exactly where it is. The only thing that changes is the logo on the laptop.
That is a genuinely difficult position, and a lot of Denver leaders respond to it by trying to win on the one axis where they are structurally disadvantaged. They stretch the band. They match an offer. They lose anyway, six months later, to somebody who stretched further.
The more useful move is to compete where a remote coastal employer cannot follow. There are things that only an organization physically present in someone’s life can offer, and they happen to be the things people say matter most when they explain why they stayed somewhere. Being known by the person who leads you rather than being a name in a directory. Getting developed by someone who can actually see your work. Being handed something hard by a person who will be standing there when it goes wrong. Belonging to something in the town where you live, alongside people you might run into on a Saturday.
None of that shows up in a compensation study, and all of it is free. It is also unusually hard to fake, which is why the organizations that win here are not generally the ones with the best benefits deck. They are the ones with managers who are good at people, working somewhere that lets them be.
There is a second edge to this in Denver specifically. Healthcare, aerospace manufacturing, hospitality, and the trades cannot go remote at all. Those workers watch a large share of the city work from a kitchen table while they drive in, and it changes what fairness feels like on a unit or a floor. Leaders who never name that out loud are managing around a resentment they have decided not to notice.
Chris makes this argument as someone competing for the same people. He 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.
Colorado Health Care Association
The Power of Small Moments, delivered to Colorado long-term care and assisted living leaders.
Operator, Not Consultant
President and COO of national healthcare staffing organizations, competing for talent in exactly this market.
Frontline and Hybrid Rooms
Material for organizations where part of the workforce can work from anywhere and part of it cannot.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Denver anchors healthcare, aerospace, federal employment, and a heavy association and convention calendar for the whole Mountain West.
- Health systems and academic medicine across the metro, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Colorado and regional associations meeting in Denver, for annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often
- Long-term care and senior living organizations across the Front Range, an audience Chris speaks to regularly
- Aerospace, defense, and engineering employers, for leadership development and all-hands meetings
- Federal and agency workforces concentrated in the metro, alongside their contractors
- Universities, districts, and hospitality organizations, for in-service days and staff development
Denver employers competing against employers who are not here.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and the split below runs through most Front Range organizations.
Healthcare and Senior Living
Teams that cannot work remotely, watching much of the city do exactly that, with nobody naming it.
Technology and Professional Services
Roles where the strongest candidate is being courted by a coastal employer who never asks them to move.
Aerospace and Engineering
Highly credentialed technical teams who are expensive to lose and slow to replace.
Hospitality and Tourism
Frontline operations where presence is the entire job and flexibility has to be built differently.
Denver venues.
- The Colorado Convention Center and downtown hotel ballrooms for association annual meetings and general sessions
- Resort and conference properties near the airport corridor, common for statewide and regional meetings
- Health system and academic medical campuses across the metro for leadership days and nurse recognition
- Corporate campuses and auditoriums for all-hands meetings and leadership programming
- University and district facilities for staff development and convocation
- Front Range venues in Aurora, Colorado Springs, and the northern suburbs for regional audiences
Denver events Chris speaks at.
Association Conferences
State 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.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for organizations that cannot win a bidding war and have to win another way.
Engagement and Belonging
Sessions on the advantages a physically present employer has, and why most never use them.
Corporate and Annual Meetings
All-hands gatherings, kickoffs, and employee appreciation events for Front Range employers.
Nurse Leadership
Charge nurse and manager development for units carrying regional acuity.
Keynote topics for your Denver 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 Denver
Has Chris spoken to Colorado audiences?
Does Chris travel to Denver?
Our workforce cannot work remotely at all. Is this relevant?
Are you telling us not to worry about pay?
We are hybrid and it is a mess. Does the session address that?
What does a Denver keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Denver audience?
Keynote speaking across the Front Range.
Each city page covers the local employers, the venues Chris speaks in, and the specific workforce pressure leaders there are working on.
Bring Chris to your Denver 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 · Colorado speaking · All locations
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