Detroit 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 Michigan associations, health systems, manufacturers, and employers across the Detroit region.
Response within one business day.
In the Motor City, the reason your applicant did not show up is usually that they could not get there.
More than nineteen percent of occupied housing units in Detroit have no vehicle available. Nearly two thirds of working Detroiters commute to jobs in the suburbs. Without a car, that trip can take hours, and this is one of the most expensive places in the country to own a car in the first place. In one recent survey, sixty one percent of job seekers said better public transit would help them find work, and forty five percent of people who already had jobs named transportation as a major challenge.
Sit with what that means for a hiring manager in Livonia or Auburn Hills or Sterling Heights. The candidate who confirmed and then did not appear for the second interview. The new hire who lasted three weeks. The employee who is reliable four days out of five and late on the fifth. Every one of those patterns gets read as a character problem, entered into a file as attitude or commitment, and used to justify a conclusion that nobody wants to work anymore.
Very often it is geography. The bus route changed, the transfer did not connect, the ride fell through. The person wanted the job badly enough to try, and trying was harder than anyone in the interview room understood.
A University of Michigan researcher studying this put the deeper risk plainly, saying the structural nature of people being out of the workforce worries him more than unemployment does, because they have decided it is not even worth trying. That is the cost of misreading the pattern often enough. People stop applying.
Employers here who take it seriously get results. Henry Ford Health hires through the city’s workforce program with wraparound support that includes transportation, childcare, and even scrubs, because they worked out that the barrier was rarely willingness. That is not charity, it is a hiring strategy, and it starts with a leader who asks what actually happened instead of assuming they already know.
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.
Reads Patterns Correctly
Staffing work is built on telling the difference between someone who will not and someone who cannot, which is the Detroit question.
Frontline and Plant Rooms
Material written for people who work on their feet, and for the supervisors who hire them.
Groups Chris speaks for.
The Detroit region employs more than 2.3 million people across eleven counties, spanning automotive, healthcare, financial services, and a large public sector.
- Henry Ford Health, among the city’s largest employers and expanding in New Center, along with Corewell Health, the Detroit Medical Center, and Ascension, for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Rocket Companies, the city’s largest employer, and the downtown financial and technology community, for all-hands gatherings and leadership summits
- Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors, along with the region’s tier one suppliers and plants, for shift meetings, safety events, and supervisor development
- City of Detroit and Wayne County departments, and the region’s workforce development organizations
- Michigan statewide associations in hospital, long-term care, manufacturing, municipal, and education sectors, which hold annual meetings in the Detroit region
- Wayne State University and the region’s colleges and school districts
- Logistics, distribution, and hospitality employers across the metro
Detroit employers with the same blind spot.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, but every employer hiring across county lines here faces the same misreading.
Manufacturing and Suppliers
Plants in the suburbs recruiting from a city workforce that often cannot reach them without a car.
Healthcare Support Roles
Aides, techs, dietary, and environmental services positions, the roles hardest to fill and most sensitive to a commute.
Logistics and Distribution
Warehouse and fulfillment operations on shift schedules that rarely align with transit timetables.
Hospitality and Retail
Employers whose evening and weekend shifts end when service is thinnest.
Detroit and southeast Michigan venues.
- Huntington Place and downtown hotel ballrooms for statewide and national association annual meetings
- Henry Ford Health, Corewell, DMC, and Ascension campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Plants, supplier facilities, and distribution centers for shift-repeated crew and supervisor sessions
- Corporate offices across downtown Detroit for all-hands and leadership summits
- Wayne State University and regional colleges for campus and staff programming
- Dearborn, Livonia, Warren, Sterling Heights, Troy, and Auburn Hills across the metro
Detroit events Chris speaks at.
Association Conferences
Statewide and national 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.
Manufacturing and Plant Meetings
All-hands gatherings, shift meetings, safety kickoffs, and employee appreciation events.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development focused on reading attendance and turnover patterns accurately.
HR and SHRM Chapter Events
Human resources conferences and chapter meetings on hiring barriers and frontline retention.
Long-Term and Senior Care
Skilled nursing, assisted living, and continuing care conferences and in-service days.
Keynote topics for your Detroit 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 Detroit
Has Chris spoken in Michigan before?
Does Chris travel to Detroit?
We hear nobody wants to work anymore. Does the session address that?
We cannot solve transit. Is this actionable for us?
Will this land with a plant floor audience?
What does a Detroit keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Michigan audience?
Bring Chris to your Detroit 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 · Michigan speaking · All locations
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