Juneau keynote speaker for association conferences and state agency 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 Alaska associations, state agencies, hospitals, behavioral health organizations, tribal health entities, and employers across Southeast Alaska.
Response within one business day.
Two busy seasons, four months apart, and no quiet stretch in between.
Most workplaces have a peak and then a recovery. Juneau has two peaks that have nothing to do with each other.
The legislature arrives in January, which is also the darkest and wettest part of the year, and the city’s population, workload, and hotel occupancy all rise together at the exact moment daylight is shortest. That runs into spring. Then the ships start coming, and the whole visitor economy spins up through the summer. By the time the docks quiet down in the fall, the session is a few months out again. For a lot of Juneau organizations, particularly the ones in government, healthcare, hospitality, and the services that support both, there is no season where the pressure genuinely drops.
That matters for retention in a way that is easy to miss. When people burn out on a normal seasonal job, they hold on because they can see the slow month coming. In Juneau there often is not one, so the thing carrying your staff through is not the promise of a break. It is whether the work still means something to them and whether anyone above them has noticed what they are carrying. Those are leadership behaviors, and they are what the session is built on.
There is a second piece specific to Juneau healthcare. Bartlett Regional Hospital is the only hospital and the only emergency department in the city, serving a region of roughly fifteen thousand square miles where most communities cannot be reached by road. There is no comparable facility down the street to transfer to or to consult with. Staff make calls without the backup that clinicians in most cities take for granted. Keeping experienced people in that environment is less about amenities and more about whether they feel supported carrying real weight.
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.
Remote Market Experience
Regular work with hospitals and providers in markets where the nearest replacement hire is a flight away rather than a commute.
Built for Small Rooms
Sessions scale down cleanly. A forty person in-service day gets the same preparation as a general session.
Groups Chris speaks for.
As the seat of state government, Juneau hosts statewide meetings well out of proportion to its size. These are the kinds of organizations that book a workforce and leadership keynote for an annual conference, a member education day, or an in-service.
- Bartlett Regional Hospital, owned by the City and Borough of Juneau, the only hospital in the city and the largest in Southeast Alaska, which also took on the adjacent Wildflower Court long-term care facility in 2023
- SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the tribal health organization serving communities throughout the Southeast, along with JAMHI, REACH, and Juneau Youth Services on the behavioral health and social services side
- State of Alaska agencies and departments, which supply well over forty percent of the jobs in the city, for in-service and leadership development days
- City and Borough of Juneau, a unified municipality running everything from the hospital to the police department across thousands of square miles
- University of Alaska Southeast, one of the three main campuses of the University of Alaska, and the Juneau School District
- Statewide Alaska associations that hold annual meetings in the capital during and around the legislative session
- Travel Juneau and the visitor industry employers staffing the summer season
Juneau employers on the same calendar.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, but the double season belongs to nearly everyone working in the capital.
State and Local Government
Agencies and municipal departments whose workload is set by the legislative calendar, where leadership development happens through in-service days rather than outside conferences.
Tourism and Hospitality
The summer visitor economy, staffed heavily seasonal, where frontline turnover is the defining operating cost.
Tribal and Native Organizations
Tribal health, corporate, and community entities serving Southeast Alaska communities, many of them roadless.
Education and Nonprofits
The university, the school district, and the social service organizations covering a region far larger than the city.
Juneau and Southeast Alaska venues.
- Downtown Juneau hotel and conference space, busiest during and around the legislative session
- Centennial Hall and the downtown civic venues used for statewide association meetings
- The Capitol and state office buildings for agency in-service and leadership sessions
- Bartlett Regional Hospital and healthcare campuses for staff and leadership days
- University of Alaska Southeast for student, faculty, and staff programming
- Sitka, Ketchikan, and other Southeast communities for regional gatherings, and Anchorage for Alaska organizations that rotate their annual meeting
Juneau events Chris speaks at.
Association Conferences
Statewide 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.
Rural and Critical Access Healthcare
Leadership days for the clinics and community facilities serving roadless Southeast communities.
Long-Term and Senior Care
Skilled nursing and assisted living in-service days and education sessions.
HR and SHRM Chapter Events
Human resources conferences and chapter meetings on hiring and retention in a hard to reach market.
Corporate and Annual Meetings
All-hands gatherings, employee appreciation events, and season kickoff meetings.
Keynote topics for your Juneau 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 Juneau
Has Chris spoken in Alaska before?
Does Chris travel to Juneau?
When is the best time of year to schedule?
Our people never get a real off-season. Does the session account for that?
We are the only provider in our region. Does that change the material?
What does a Juneau keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to an Alaska audience?
Bring Chris to your Juneau 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 · Alaska speaking · All locations