An Operator in the Room for the People Who Make the Case.
Chris Sund speaks at SHRM chapter meetings, state SHRM conferences and HR summits. He is a President & COO who has built Fortune Best Workplaces culture during 10x growth, and he gives HR professionals the operator’s version of the argument they make to their executives every week: culture and retention drive results.
What Do SHRM Chapters Need From a Speaker?
A chapter meeting has about an hour, a room of HR generalists, recruiters and people leaders, and members who have heard every generic engagement talk. What they want is something they can take into Monday’s leadership meeting.
Chris speaks from the operator’s chair. He runs companies that hire and keep people for a living, so his sessions give HR audiences executive language, real examples and practical tools for culture, retention and hiring.
- Why good people leave even when the pay is right
- Retention as a leadership skill managers can learn
- Handling candidate objections with the five LAARC steps
- Employer brand that wins when you cannot win on pay alone
- Language HR leaders can take to the executive team
Proof: HR and Workforce Stages
In September 2026 Chris gave two DisruptHR talks: Stop Building Fences at DisruptHR Omaha 6.0 and Your Best Hire Already Works for You at DisruptHR Kansas City 6.0. He has spoken twice at the Greater Omaha Chamber’s POWER Conference, its HR and workforce gathering: a 2025 breakout on handling hiring objections and The Spark Advantage in 2026.
He delivered two sessions at the NAHCR 2025 Annual Conference and keynoted NAHCR 2026, and he chairs NAHCR’s Membership Committee. He writes on retention and culture for Inc. and Forbes.
He was engaged, responsive, and invested throughout the planning process and created a presentation that resonated with our audience and challenged us all to look at employee retention from a different lens. Chris brought both expertise and authenticity while making the most of DisruptHR’s fast-paced five-minute format.
Chris is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to hiring challenges. I am excited to use the suggestions Chris provided in my next interview.
His topics are well researched, and he weaves in practical tips and real-life examples that make every session realistic and relatable.
Two Five-Minute Talks, One Culture Keynote
Chris’s two DisruptHR talks tie directly into his culture keynote. Each one makes a single argument in five minutes; the culture keynote gives a chapter the full hour on what to build instead. Chapters that saw either talk often book the culture keynote as the follow-up.
Stop Building Fences
DisruptHR Omaha 6.0, September 2026. Most retention strategy is fence building: bigger bonuses, golden handcuffs, taller walls. People stay for growth, so build launch pads instead. Also published in Inc. as Stop Building Fences.
Your Best Hire Already Works for You
DisruptHR Kansas City 6.0, September 2026. Most of the capability companies go shopping for is already on the payroll, unused. Promote the trajectory, not the snapshot.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
The full culture keynote both talks open into, built on SPARK: support, purpose, appreciation, relationships, and knowledge and growth. Chris made the same case in Forbes in Build Culture First.
Programs for SHRM Chapters
Every session is customized to your chapter, your members and the year they are having.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
The culture keynote. Five SPARK drivers that turn disengagement into commitment, ready to run without a budget line.
People Quit People, Not Companies
The retention keynote that treats turnover as a leadership skill managers can learn.
Employee Retention
Why people stay, why they leave when the pay is right, and what managers can change this quarter.
Handling Hiring Objections
How recruiters and hiring managers turn a candidate’s hesitation into a real conversation with LAARC.
Winning the Talent Battle
Employer branding for HR teams competing for the same scarce candidates.
Formats
Each program runs as a chapter keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop for a state conference or HR summit.
General Session
The full program for the whole room, with stories and one framework people can use the next day.
Workshop
The keynote content plus working time: managers apply the framework to their own teams and leave with a written plan.
Workshop
A leadership day built around your agenda, combining the keynote, applied sessions and planning time.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: AI for HR & Recruiting Teams · HR Conference Speaker · Healthcare HR Speaker · How to Reduce Employee Turnover · Employee Turnover Cost Calculator
What SHRM Chapter Planners Ask
Can the session count toward SHRM or HRCI recertification credit?
Many SHRM chapters offer recertification credit for their programs, and sessions can be submitted by the chapter for credit. Chris’s sessions have been approved for continuing education credit at past conferences. The chapter handles the credit application and approval runs through its own process; Chris provides the session description, learning objectives, a timed outline and his bio it needs.
Is Chris affiliated with SHRM?
No. Chris is an independent speaker who speaks at HR events, including chapter meetings and state conferences. Nothing on this page implies endorsement by SHRM.
What works best for a one-hour chapter meeting?
A 45 to 60 minute version of the culture keynote or People Quit People, with time for questions. Chapters that heard about his DisruptHR talks often ask for the culture keynote, since both talks open into it.
What can he do for a state SHRM conference?
A general-session keynote plus a breakout, or a half-day workshop. A common pairing is the culture keynote in general session and a working session on hiring objections or retention for the HR practitioners in the room.
Has he spoken to HR audiences before?
Yes. DisruptHR Omaha 6.0 and DisruptHR Kansas City 6.0 in September 2026, the Greater Omaha Chamber’s POWER Conference in 2025 and 2026, and the NAHCR Annual Conference in 2025 and 2026.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.
Chapters regularly pair a session with copies for attendees or door prizes, and Chris can sign books after the meeting.
He Runs the Business HR Is Advising
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He built Uniti Med from startup into one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award along the way.
He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, which is a hiring and retention business every single week. Before that he spent ten years in restaurants and beverage, ending as head of sales and marketing for a brewery. He knows what it takes to keep a frontline team showing up.
He writes for Inc. and Forbes, is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, and is a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where HR Audiences Have Heard Chris
HR, workforce and recruiting stages where Chris has spoken on culture, retention and hiring.
DisruptHR Omaha 6.0Stop Building Fences · Sep 2026DisruptHR Kansas City 6.0Your Best Hire Already Works for YouPOWER Conference 2026Omaha, NE · Oct 2026POWER Conference 2025Omaha, NE · BreakoutNAHCR 2025 Annual ConferencePalm Springs, CA · Two sessionsNAHCR 2026 Annual ConferenceMilwaukee, WIAlso: HR Conference Speaker · Healthcare HR Speaker · Culture Keynote Speaker · Breakout Session Speaker · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your SHRM Chapter
Tell Chris about your chapter meeting or state conference and what your members are dealing with this year. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots