Andrew Addington is an experienced HR and talent development leader with over a decade of experience. He has become known for aligning learning and organizational initiatives with business strategy and driving measurable impact.

He currently serves as Senior Manager of Learning & Leadership at Circana, where he leads and supports high-impact programs including sales enablement, leadership development, AI fluency, and Career & Growth initiatives that align people strategy with business performance.

Andrew’s career as an HR professional spans diverse sectors, including data, tech, and insurance. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade in public education, where he served as a school administrator. His approach is deeply rooted in a product mindset: applying iterative design, customer-centered validation, and continuous improvement throughout the lifecycle of talent initiatives. Known for his collaborative leadership style and data-driven approach, Andrew excels at building scalable solutions that empower individuals and strengthen organizations.

SESSION: From Program to Product - Reinventing Talent Development with a Customer-First Mindset

Dr. Jordan Atkinson is a Professor of the Practice at the University of Kansas, where he serves as Program Director for the Organizational Communication graduate programs and Professional Studies undergraduate programs. As a communication scholar investigating instructional and organizational communication contexts, Dr. Atkinson's research has been published in the many journals. Dr. Atkinson has also published book chapters in Casing Conflict Communication, Communication and Learning, Casing the Family, Communicating Advice, and Casing Sport Communication. Dr. Atkinson regularly presents his research at the National Communication Association (NCA) and the Eastern Communication Association (ECA). Dr. Atkinson is currently the President of the Eastern Communication Association and planned the 2025 ECA Conference in Buffalo.

At KU, Dr. Atkinson primarily teaches in the Organizational Communication graduate program. He also serves on the Faculty Evaluation Committee, the University Senate Academic Policies and Procedures Committee, the University Core Curriculum Committee, the School of Professional Studies Academic Council, and the Scholarship Committee. 

SESSION: From First Impressions to Full Integration - Navigating the Human Side of Organizational Onboarding

Jesse Favre is a global leadership trainer and public speaker on a mission to help leaders build collaborative, innovative, and energized teams. Since founding her company in 2022, she has delivered over 700 workshops and seminars across various sectors, translating behavioral science insights into high-impact, practical strategies.

She holds a dual MSW/MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, is certified in Lean management, and previously led hospital-based quality and performance improvement initiatives focused on systematizing and streamlining operations.

Jesse supports small business growth as a volunteer with SCORE and previously served as a mentor for the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, where she advised emerging business owners as well as undergraduate and graduate students. As a founder herself, she’s passionate about helping fellow entrepreneurs design smarter systems that scale sustainably, without sacrificing well-being along the way.

In 2024, Jesse was invited to join the international Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) Speakers Bureau and speaks regularly on topics related to workplace productivity, leadership development, and mental well-being.

SESSION: From Scrappy to Strategic - Systematizing Your Small Business for Sustainable Growth

Stephanie Garcia is a dedicated and detail-oriented leader with more than 20 years of experience in leadership, talent development, instructional design, and performance improvement. As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), she brings a strategic and thoughtful approach to everything she does. Whether she is guiding teams through change or designing learning experiences that stick, she focuses on impact and clarity.

Stephanie is passionate about helping others grow into the next great version of themselves. She brings energy, practicality, and heart to her work, whether she is coaching a new leader, facilitating a workshop, or building a program from the ground up. She believes in the power of learning, leading with intention, and creating environments where people feel seen, valued, and motivated to take action.

SESSION: Let’s Talk About It - Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable Conversations

Jeff Harry combines positive psychology and play to heal workplaces, help teams build psychological safety and assist individuals in addressing their biggest challenges by embracing a play-oriented approach to work. Jeff was selected by BambooHR & Engagedly as one of the Top 100 HR Influencers and has been featured in the NY Times, Mashable, Huffpost, Wired, NPR, NatGeo, & Forbes.

Jeff has worked with Google, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day. Over the past 15 years of facilitation and speaking, Jeff’s main goal has been to help work suck less by assisting leaders in building a playground workplace atmosphere that motivates their staff to do their most vibrant work.

SESSION: A New Hope for L&D: Using Play to Build Your Rebel Alliance

Nathan Magnuson is the founder & CEO of Leadership-in-a-Box®, a training partner providing "ridiculously practical" off-the-shelf programs for high performing organizations. Prior to starting Leadership-in-a-Box®, Nathan spent over a decade as a talent leader in Fortune 500 organizations. Nathan's goal is that someday every person will have a great boss.

SESSION: Leading at the Pace of Rapid Change (Without Leaving Anyone Behind!)

Dr. Farhan Sadique is a scholar-practitioner specializing in talent development, micro-learning, and organizational change. He serves as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University and Chief of Research at Rothwell & Associates. With a Ph.D. in Workforce Education and Development from Penn State University, Dr. Sadique integrates research, consulting, and practical experience to design human-centered learning strategies that drive measurable impact.

Sadique has trained over 500 professionals globally and has published multiple research articles and books. He has delivered sessions for ATD, AHRD, ISPI, and the Organization Development Network, and was named an Emerging OD Practitioner in 2023. He is a certified HR and career development professional and passionate about empowering individuals and organizations through continuous learning.

SESSION: Designing Talent Development Structures Without Borders: Insights from ATD's 2025 Framework

At 23, Terri Turner stood on stage in front of a ballroom full of tie-clad executives at the American Marketing Association national conference. She was the youngest person in the room. She was terrified as she was about to deliver her first major training. And then… she got a standing ovation.

More than launching her training career, that moment proved something she's taught ever since:

• Communication isn't a soft skill. It's a must-have power skill.
• Clear communication is more than culture. It is the core system that drives everything else.
• Minor tweaks can catapult major impact.
• One conversation at a time, skilled communicators can turn everyday interactions into catalysts for growth.

Today, Terri empowers L&D professionals, HR decision makers, and mission-driven leaders to transform their own raw talents into strategic communication mastery, equipping them with skills to navigate difficult conversations, manage team friction, and deliver feedback that drives results.

Each program is built on one core philosophy: change happens when learning meets doing.

SESSION: Embedding AI Literacy As An Organization-Wide Must-Have Core Communication Skill