Saint Paul keynote speaker for healthcare, state government, 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 Minnesota associations, health systems, state agencies, and employers across the East Metro.
Response within one business day.
Someone can leave you here without changing a single other thing about their life.
Saint Paul sits inside a labor market with an unusual property, and it removes a protection most employers never realize they were relying on.
This is the second largest city in a metro of more than three million people, and the Twin Cities hold one of the highest concentrations of Fortune 500 headquarters per capita in the country. Saint Paul itself is the state capital, so public administration is one of its largest employment sectors, alongside health care and social assistance, education, and finance and insurance. Ecolab and Securian are headquartered downtown, 3M anchors the East Metro, Regions Hospital and HealthPartners, M Health Fairview, and United Hospital run the clinical side, and Macalester, St. Thomas, Hamline, and St. Catherine sit within a few miles of each other.
Here is the structural point. In most American cities, changing employers eventually costs an employee something personal. A longer commute, a different side of town, sometimes a move. That friction is quiet and it is real, and it keeps a certain number of people in place who might otherwise have gone.
In this metro that friction is close to zero. Someone can leave your organization for a competitor across the river and keep their house, their kids’ school, their daycare, their neighbors, and roughly the same drive. Nothing about their life changes except the badge. Which means none of the inertia that protects tenure elsewhere is doing any work for you here.
What follows is not complicated, but it is demanding. Retention in this market has to be earned entirely on the job itself and on the person managing it. Being a reasonable place to work is not enough when a comparable employer is fifteen minutes away and switching is free. The differentiator has to be something an employee cannot get by driving somewhere else, and in practice that is almost always whether they are growing and whether their manager notices them.
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.
Regional Neighbor
Based in Nebraska with keynote work across the midwest, and a straightforward trip to the Twin Cities.
Public, Clinical, and Corporate Rooms
Works for a state agency leadership day, a hospital all-staff meeting, or a headquarters all-hands.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Saint Paul combines the seat of state government with major health systems, corporate headquarters, and a dense cluster of private colleges.
- The State of Minnesota and its departments and agencies, headquartered in the capitol district, for in-service and leadership development days
- Regions Hospital and HealthPartners, along with M Health Fairview St. John’s and United Hospital, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- Ecolab and Securian Financial, headquartered downtown, and 3M in the East Metro, for corporate all-hands and leadership summits
- Minnesota statewide associations headquartered in or meeting in Saint Paul, the format Chris works in most often
- Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul, along with Saint Paul Public Schools
- Macalester, the University of St. Thomas, Hamline, and St. Catherine University, for campus and staff programming
- Long-term care and senior living providers across the East Metro, and the region’s nonprofit and social services organizations
Saint Paul employers competing inside one labor pool.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and every sector here draws from the same metro workforce.
State and County Government
Agencies where pay is set by classification and the nearby alternative is always visible.
Healthcare
Clinical teams with several major systems recruiting from the same nurses and support staff.
Corporate Headquarters
Companies whose people can move to another headquarters without moving house.
Education and Nonprofits
Mission-driven organizations that cannot win on compensation and have to win on something else.
Saint Paul and East Metro venues.
- The Saint Paul RiverCentre and downtown hotel ballrooms for statewide association annual meetings
- State agency facilities across the capitol district for in-service and leadership days
- Regions, United, and M Health Fairview campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Corporate headquarters and campuses across downtown, Maplewood, and the East Metro
- Macalester, St. Thomas, Hamline, and St. Catherine for campus and staff programming
- Woodbury, Roseville, Eagan, and communities across Ramsey and Washington counties
Saint Paul 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.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for a market where a competitor is fifteen minutes away.
Corporate and Headquarters All-Hands
Company meetings, kickoffs, and leadership summits across the region’s employers.
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 recognition and retention.
Keynote topics for your Saint Paul 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 Saint Paul
Has Chris spoken in Minnesota and the upper midwest?
Does Chris travel to Saint Paul?
We keep losing people to employers across the metro. What actually helps?
We are a state agency and cannot change pay or classifications. What is left?
Can the session reach multiple sites and shifts?
What does a Saint Paul keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Minnesota audience?
Bring Chris to your Saint Paul 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 · Minnesota speaking · All locations
You Are Capable of More.
Leadership, culture, and peak-performance insights from Chris — only when there’s something genuinely worth sending. No fluff, unsubscribe anytime.