Spokane keynote speaker for healthcare, aerospace, 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 Washington associations, health systems, defense and manufacturing employers, and organizations across the Inland Northwest.
Response within one business day.
There is nobody above you to send it to. Your people are the last stop for four states.
Spokane occupies a position almost no other American city does, and it changes what leadership has to provide.
This is the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis and the economic capital of the Inland Northwest. Fairchild Air Force Base is the county’s largest employer with over seven thousand people. Providence Inland Northwest Washington is next, followed by the State of Washington, Spokane Public Schools, Amazon, and MultiCare Health System Inland Northwest, with the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, CHAS Health, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington University, Avista, Itron, and Triumph Composite Systems filling out the list. The region holds the largest concentration of medical services in four states, drawing patients from eastern Washington, north Idaho, western Montana, and the Canadian border.
Most professionals work with an escape hatch above them. A complicated case goes to the bigger center down the road. A problem beyond your scope gets referred to the regional office. The comfort of that arrangement is invisible until it is missing.
Here it is missing. When someone is flown in from a rural county at two in the morning, this is where they land, and there is no larger place to send them. The nurse, the physician, the technician, the dispatcher, and the crew are the end of the line for a geography larger than several states combined. Nobody is coming to take it off their hands.
That does two things to a workforce. It builds real pride, because people know exactly how much depends on them. It also removes the psychological release valve that lets someone in a bigger market say this one is above my level. Here, above your level still lands on you.
So leaders in last-stop organizations have to build internally what other places import. Backup has to come from colleagues rather than from a referral. Debriefs after hard outcomes matter more, because there is no distance to hide behind. And someone senior needs to say out loud that carrying the region is heavy, since a workforce that never hears that eventually concludes nobody noticed.
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, several of which serve exactly this kind of regional referral center.
Operator, Not Consultant
President and COO of national healthcare staffing organizations, still making the hiring and retention calls he speaks about.
Regional Referral Centers
Material for organizations that are the last stop for a large area and cannot escalate anywhere.
Clinical, Base, and Campus Rooms
Works for a health system leadership day, a civilian workforce session, or a statewide association meeting.
Groups Chris speaks for.
Spokane anchors health care, defense, education, and manufacturing for an enormous four-state region.
- Providence Inland Northwest Washington, including Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, for nurse leadership, all-staff, and recognition events
- MultiCare Health System Inland Northwest, including Deaconess and Valley, along with CHAS Health and the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center
- Fairchild Air Force Base and its civilian workforce, the county’s largest employer
- Spokane Public Schools and Central Valley School District, for convocation and staff development days
- Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and Community Colleges of Spokane, for campus and staff programming
- Itron, Triumph Composite Systems, Avista, and Kaiser Aluminum, across technology, aerospace, and manufacturing
- Washington statewide associations meeting in Spokane, the format Chris works in most often, and rural providers across the Inland Northwest
Spokane employers with nowhere to escalate.
Healthcare is where Chris operates, and regional referral centers carry this more visibly than anyone.
Regional Hospitals
Teams receiving transfers from hundreds of miles away with no larger center beyond them.
Rural and Critical Access Providers
Small facilities whose staff make consequential calls with limited support nearby.
Emergency Services and Transport
Crews covering vast distances where response times are measured in a different scale.
Public Sector and Utilities
Agencies serving a service area far larger than their headcount suggests.
Spokane and Inland Northwest venues.
- The Spokane Convention Center and downtown hotel ballrooms for statewide association meetings
- Providence, MultiCare, and VA campuses for nurse leadership and all-staff days
- Base and contractor facilities for civilian workforce sessions
- Gonzaga, Eastern Washington University, and community college campuses for staff programming
- Manufacturing and technology facilities for crew and supervisor sessions
- Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Cheney, Coeur d’Alene, and communities across the Inland Northwest
Spokane events Chris speaks at.
Hospital and Health System Events
Leadership days, nurse recognition events, and all-staff meetings.
Rural and Regional Healthcare
Sessions for referral centers and the critical access facilities that depend on them.
Association Conferences
Statewide association annual meetings and general sessions, the format Chris works in most often.
Nurse Leadership
Charge nurse and manager development for teams carrying regional acuity.
Retention and Frontline Leadership
Supervisor development for workforces that cannot hand the hard thing to anyone else.
Corporate and Plant Meetings
Company meetings, kickoffs, and supervisor development across the region’s employers.
Keynote topics for your Spokane 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 Spokane
Has Chris spoken to regional and rural health care audiences?
Does Chris travel to Spokane?
Our staff carry very hard cases with no one to transfer to. What helps?
Will this feel relevant outside of health care?
Can the session reach rural sites and multiple shifts?
What does a Spokane keynote cost?
Can Chris speak virtually to a Washington audience?
Bring Chris to your Spokane 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 · Washington speaking · All locations