Phoenix keynote speaker for safety, 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, health systems, construction and field employers, and organizations across the Valley.
Response within one business day.
The ordinance gives your people the right to stop working. Only a supervisor can make them feel able to use it.
A Phoenix city councilwoman described extreme heat as this city’s natural disaster, and the record supports the phrase. In 2023 Phoenix went thirty one consecutive days above one hundred ten degrees. Maricopa County recorded six hundred forty five heat-associated deaths that year, a fifty two percent increase over the year before and the most ever recorded in a single year, with roughly three hundred forty in Phoenix itself. Three out of every four of those deaths happened outdoors. Phoenix now operates an Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, which almost no American city needs.
In 2024 the city council voted unanimously to require heat safety plans from contractors and subcontractors with outdoor workers, covering construction, engineering, and airport services. Cool drinking water. Shade. Training on recognizing heat stress. And crucially, the ability to take regular and necessary breaks.
The ability. That is where the ordinance ends and leadership begins, because a policy can guarantee that someone is permitted to stop and it cannot make anyone actually stop.
People do not skip breaks in Phoenix because they are unaware of the heat. Everyone here knows about the heat. They skip breaks because stopping means being the one who slowed the crew, the one who could not handle it, the new guy who needed a minute. That calculation is social, not informational, and no amount of training changes it.
Worse, the danger does not announce itself. A study of construction workers conducted on days averaging a high of eighty eight degrees found that forty three percent of those monitored had core body temperatures above the threshold OSHA associates with heightened heat stress risk. Eighty eight degrees, not one hundred fifteen. The day that feels manageable is precisely the day nobody thinks to stop.
Which leaves one behavior that actually works, and it costs nothing. The foreman takes the first break, visibly, before anybody asks. Not telling the crew they may stop, but stopping first, so that stopping becomes what this crew does rather than what a weak person does. Culture on a jobsite is set by what the person in charge does under pressure, and in this city that is not a figure of speech.
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.
Safety Stand-Down Format
Works as a season kickoff or safety stand-down before heat season, and repeats across shifts and crews.
Field and Frontline Rooms
Material written for people who work outside and on their feet, not for a conference room.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Phoenix anchors one of the fastest-growing metros in the country, with a mix of healthcare, construction, aviation, and public sector employers.
- Banner Health, headquartered in Phoenix and among Arizona’s largest employers, along with the Valley’s other health systems, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Construction, engineering, and trades employers across the Valley, for safety stand-downs, heat season kickoffs, and supervisor development
- Sky Harbor International Airport and its airline, ground handling, and services employers, whose ramp and outdoor crews work through heat season
- Arizona statewide associations in hospital, long-term care, contractor, municipal, and education sectors, which convene members in Phoenix
- City of Phoenix and Maricopa County departments, including public works, utilities, and field services
- National associations holding annual meetings in Phoenix and the surrounding resort properties, the format Chris works in most often
- Phoenix Union and Valley school districts, Arizona State University, and metro logistics and utility employers
Phoenix employers working through heat season.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, but the crews most exposed here are outside it.
Construction and Trades
Crews on sites through the summer, where the foreman’s own behavior determines whether anyone takes the break the policy allows.
Aviation and Ground Services
Ramp, catering, and airfield teams working on surfaces that hold heat long after the air cools.
Utilities, Delivery, and Field Services
Line workers, drivers, and technicians whose route or call list does not pause when the temperature climbs.
Warehousing and Logistics
Indoor operations that are not always climate controlled, where heat risk is real and less visible.
Phoenix and Valley venues.
- The Phoenix Convention Center and downtown hotel ballrooms for national and statewide association annual meetings
- Jobsites, yards, and operations facilities for safety stand-downs and shift-repeated crew sessions
- Banner and Valley health system campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Sky Harbor area facilities for airline and ground services teams
- Arizona State University and Valley colleges for campus and staff programming
- Tempe, Peoria, Surprise, and the West Valley, with Tucson and Flagstaff for Arizona organizations that rotate their meeting location
Phoenix events Chris speaks at.
Safety Stand-Downs and Crew Meetings
Heat season kickoffs, safety stand-downs, and all-hands sessions for field and jobsite teams.
Association Conferences
National and 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.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for crews where what the leader does matters more than what the policy says.
Long-Term and Senior Care
Skilled nursing, assisted living, and continuing care conferences and in-service days.
HR and SHRM Chapter Events
Human resources conferences and chapter meetings on safety culture and frontline retention.
Keynote topics for your Phoenix 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 Phoenix
Has Chris spoken in Arizona before?
Does Chris travel to Phoenix?
Can this work as a safety stand-down rather than a keynote?
We already have a heat safety plan. What does a session add?
Will this land with a crew rather than an office audience?
What does a Phoenix 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 Phoenix 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
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