Mesa keynote speaker for education, healthcare, 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 Arizona associations, school districts, health systems, aerospace employers, and organizations across the East Valley.
Response within one business day.
Teachers do not leave students. They leave buildings.
Mesa’s largest employers share a condition that decides almost everything about whether their people stay, and it has nothing to do with the paycheck.
Mesa Public Schools is the largest school district in Arizona, serving roughly fifty six thousand students with several thousand teachers and a total workforce in the thousands. Banner Health is the other giant here, with thousands of employees across its Mesa facilities and corporate operations. The City of Mesa employs thousands more. Boeing runs a large aerospace operation, alongside Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman, Nammo, Dexcom, and Fujifilm, and Arizona State’s Polytechnic campus and Mesa Community College anchor the education side.
In a district, pay is set by a board and a salary schedule. A principal cannot offer more money. In a hospital, compensation is set by a system office. In a city, it is set by council and classification. Which means the people who most influence whether someone stays have no control at all over the lever everyone assumes matters most.
What they do control turns out to be decisive. Teachers who leave rarely say they left because of children. They say they left because of a building. Whether the principal backed them when a parent complained. Whether they were told about a change before it happened or after. Whether anyone noticed the year they gave up their planning periods to cover for a colleague. Two schools in the same district, same pay scale, same student population, will have completely different retention, and the variable is the person in the front office.
Nurses describe the same thing about charge nurses and unit managers. City crews describe it about supervisors. The pattern holds across every fixed-pay environment, and it is the reason this material lands as well in a school gym as in a hospital auditorium.
That is also the good news for a district or a system that cannot raise wages. The most powerful retention tool available is free, it belongs to the building leader, and it can be taught.
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.
Fixed-Pay Environments
Material for districts, systems, and agencies where compensation is set elsewhere and the supervisor is the variable.
School, Clinical, and Plant Rooms
Works for a district convocation, a hospital leadership day, or an aerospace crew session.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Mesa is the third largest city in Arizona and combines the state’s largest school district with major health care and aerospace employers.
- Mesa Public Schools, the largest district in Arizona, for convocation, in-service, and staff development days
- Banner Health, including its Mesa hospitals and corporate operations, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- The City of Mesa, including public safety and municipal departments, for leadership development days
- Boeing, Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman, and Nammo Defense Systems, across the Falcon Field and Gateway aerospace corridors
- Dexcom, Fujifilm, and the region’s advanced manufacturing employers, for shift-repeated crew sessions
- Arizona State University Polytechnic and Mesa Community College, for campus and staff programming
- Arizona statewide associations meeting in Mesa and across the Valley, the format Chris works in most often
Mesa employers where the supervisor decides.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and its retention problem is the same one districts and cities face.
Public Education
Schools where the principal, not the salary schedule, determines who comes back next year.
Healthcare
Units where the charge nurse and manager decide whether the job is bearable.
Municipal Government and Public Safety
Departments with fixed classifications and enormous variation between crews.
Aerospace and Manufacturing
Plants where shift leads set the tone regardless of what the company handbook says.
Mesa and East Valley venues.
- Mesa Convention Center and area hotel ballrooms for statewide association meetings
- District auditoriums and high school gymnasiums for convocation and staff development days
- Banner campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days, including repeat sessions for nights
- Aerospace and manufacturing facilities for shift-repeated crew sessions
- Arizona State Polytechnic and Mesa Community College for campus and staff programming
- Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe, Apache Junction, and communities across the East Valley
Mesa events Chris speaks at.
School and District Events
Convocation, back to school days, and staff development for districts and campuses.
Hospital and Health System Events
Leadership days, nurse recognition events, and all-staff meetings.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for environments where pay is fixed and leadership is not.
Association Conferences
Statewide association annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often.
Emerging and New Leaders
Development for new principals, charge nurses, and shift leads stepping into their first leadership role.
Plant and Operations Meetings
Crew sessions, safety kickoffs, and supervisor development across aerospace and manufacturing.
Keynote topics for your Mesa 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 Mesa
Does Chris speak to school districts?
Does Chris travel to Mesa?
We cannot change pay. Is there really anything left?
Can he speak to a whole district at once?
Can the session run for multiple shifts?
What does a Mesa keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to an Arizona audience?
Keynote speaking across the Valley.
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 Mesa 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 · Arizona speaking · All locations