Philadelphia keynote speaker for healthcare, university, 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 health systems, universities, national associations, and employers across the Philadelphia region.
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The most valuable thing you can give a lot of your staff is not enthusiasm. It is a schedule that does not change.
Philadelphia runs on eds and meds to an unusual degree. Twelve of the city’s fifteen largest employers are educational or healthcare institutions. Healthcare and social assistance alone accounts for roughly thirty two percent of employment in the city, up from about twenty six percent in 2009. Nonprofits employ close to one hundred seventy five thousand people, around thirty percent of the private workforce, with health care and education making up the large majority of that. Penn Medicine is the region’s largest employer with better than forty six thousand people, the University of Pennsylvania adds eighteen thousand, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia fifteen thousand, alongside Jefferson, Temple and Drexel.
Now look at who staffs those institutions. Research on the city’s hospital workforce found that more than a quarter of hospital workers had a high school education or less, and that the workforce was around seventy percent women. Philadelphia also carries a poverty rate well above the big city average, alongside a documented shortage of rental housing that working families can afford.
What that adds up to is straightforward and rarely said in a leadership meeting. A large share of the people who keep these world-class institutions running are working without a financial cushion.
Which changes what neutral policies actually do. A schedule posted Thursday for Monday. A shift moved with a day’s notice. A payroll error that gets corrected next cycle. An unpaid suspension while an investigation takes three weeks. For an employee with savings, each of those is an irritation. For an employee without, each one is a genuine crisis that can end in a car not getting fixed, a childcare arrangement collapsing, or a resignation that gets recorded as a culture problem.
So the highest value thing a Philadelphia supervisor can offer is predictability. Post the schedule further out than the policy requires. Do not move it casually. Get the paycheck right the first time. None of that is inspiring and all of it is worth more to a significant share of this workforce than any wellness benefit on the list.
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 scheduling and retention calls he speaks about.
Support Staff Focus
Material written with environmental services, dietary, transport, and technician roles in the room rather than about them.
Practical, Not Sentimental
The recommendations are operational habits a supervisor controls, not appeals to empathy.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Philadelphia concentrates academic medicine and higher education more heavily than almost any large American city.
- Penn Medicine, the region’s largest employer with more than forty six thousand people, and the University of Pennsylvania with around eighteen thousand
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with roughly fifteen thousand employees, plus Jefferson Health, Temple University Health, and Einstein, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Universities including Temple, Drexel, Thomas Jefferson, Villanova, and Saint Joseph’s, for faculty, staff, and student leadership programming
- National associations holding annual meetings in Philadelphia, the format Chris works in most often
- Life sciences and cell and gene therapy organizations across University City and the regional research corridor
- Corporate employers including Comcast, Aramark, Vanguard, and the region’s Fortune 500 headquarters
- Long-term care providers, the School District of Philadelphia, and city and regional government agencies
Philadelphia employers where predictability matters most.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, but the same scheduling reality runs through the region’s frontline workforce.
Hospital Support Services
Environmental services, dietary, transport, and security teams, the roles with the highest turnover and the least schedule stability.
Higher Education Operations
Facilities, dining, and campus services staff employed by institutions that are also their neighbors.
Hospitality, Retail, and Food Service
Employers where variable scheduling is standard practice and its cost is largely invisible to management.
Long-Term Care and Home Care
Direct care providers whose staff often work across more than one employer to make a full week.
Philadelphia and regional venues.
- The Pennsylvania Convention Center and Center City hotel ballrooms for national association annual meetings
- Penn Medicine, CHOP, Jefferson, and Temple campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- University campuses across West Philadelphia and Center City for faculty and staff programming
- Corporate headquarters and offices across Center City and the region for all-hands and leadership summits
- Sessions repeated across shifts so evening, overnight, and weekend staff are included
- King of Prussia, Cherry Hill, Wilmington, and the surrounding counties
Philadelphia events Chris speaks at.
Hospital and Health System Events
Leadership days, nurse recognition events, and all-staff meetings across the region’s academic medical centers.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development focused on scheduling, predictability, and the roles with the highest turnover.
Association Conferences
National association annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often.
Nurse Leadership
Charge nurse and manager development for the layer that builds the schedule.
University and Student Leadership
Campus leadership programming, student organization events, and staff development.
Long-Term and Senior Care
Skilled nursing, assisted living, home care, and continuing care conferences and in-service days.
Keynote topics for your Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia
Has Chris spoken for academic medical centers and health systems?
Does Chris travel to Philadelphia?
Our scheduling is driven by census and we cannot always plan ahead. Is this realistic?
Is this a session about poverty?
Can the session run for multiple shifts?
What does a Philadelphia keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Philadelphia audience?
Bring Chris to your Philadelphia 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 · Pennsylvania speaking · All locations