Here are just some of the powerful discoveries we’ve revealed about change management as a catalyst and driver in these fluid, uncertain times.

Look forward to even more timely and relevant topics at Lead Change™ 2024:

Paul Gibbons

Paul has been a keynote speaker, author, management consultant, leadership coach, and professor of business leadership over a thirty-year change career.  In the 2020s, he has given keynotes on change to audiences on five continents. Today, he focuses on AI – the ethics, leadership, upskilling, mindset, and cultural challenges of AI adoption.

His Science of Organizational Change, written in 2013, was the first book to question whether “old school” change models were well-suited for 21^st-century businesses, and the first book to highlight the opportunity that behavioral science offered the change profession.

Change Myths, authored with Tricia Kennedy, used critical thinking and the philosophy of science, to examine 10 widely-held change ideas: including DABDA, ADKAR, MBTI, and learning styles.

The 2024 best-seller The Future of Change Management (edited with Tricia Kennedy) – introduced the importance of AI, mental health awareness, neurodiversity, neuroscience, and people analytics to change management.

He has been a partner at IBM, and worked at Deloitte, PwC, and been a professor at the University of Denver. Clients include Microsoft, Google, HSBC bank, Shell, BP, and Comcast.

He lives in Denver with his two sons and plays poker at the highest level in his free moments.

Paul Gibbons Keynotes | Paul Gibbons Website | Paul Gibbons on LinkedIn | Paul Gibbons Speaker Clips

Maria Darby

Conner Partners CEO Maria Darby, brings 35+ years of experience in the consulting industry to Conner Partners where she leads the firm today in continuing to support clients in realizing their strategic change goals. Maria has partnered with thought leader Daryl Conner to continue to evolve Conner’s change execution work – supporting clients with their major change efforts through Conner’s consulting and advisory services and has expanded Conner’s change capability development programs and certification offerings. Maria was an executive vice president and partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she led the firm’s change management capability and client change and transformation engagements across a diverse det of industries in the public and private sectors. Previously she served as Vice President at two federal consultancies where she built the change practice. Maria has served as senior strategist, advisor, and program leader across diverse change efforts involving organizational mergers and integration, innovation focus, digital transformation, and culture change. She served on the Founding Board of the Association of Change Management Professionals, as the Association’s 2nd Global Board President and subsequently as CEO. Maria co-led a collaboration between Booz Allen and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business to develop and institutionalize graduate-level change management education, resulting in the Change Management Advanced Practitioner certificate program. She served on The Conference Board’s Change & Transformation Council where she contributed to change management thought leadership and industry-wide collaboration on change management best practices and evolution, particularly around digital transformation. Maria led the International Coaching Federation and ACMP’s Joint Task Force advocating for the synergies between the coaching profession and change management profession and is a certified executive coach herself.

Isolde Kanikani

Isolde Kanikani is the Transformation & OCM Delivery Lead at Plat4mation, a leading service provider of ServiceNow solutions and the inherent large scale transformations that come with this Platform of Platforms. With over 15 years of experience in change management, organizational development, and digital strategy, she helps clients realize their transformation goals and build change capability across their organizations. She holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Human Resources Management, as well as a number of change & technology certifications including Prosci, APMG Change Management, ServiceNow, and Microsoft.

Besides her day job, Isolde has the honour to be the current Vice president and global member of the board at the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP), where she contributes to the advancement of the change management profession and the ACMP community. Additionally, she is the founder of FUTURE:CM, a network that fosters change management innovation and learning. Isolde regularly speaks on topics of Transformation, Change, governance and Value management. As a researcher and innovator she has written a number of publications, whitepapers and book chapters that further inform her work as a change leader and consultant. Isolde specialises in topics including: Diagnosing organisations, ChangOp’s, ESG, Value management and Building Organisational Change Maturity.

Isolde Kanikani on LinkedIn

Jason Little

Jason founded the core ideas of Lean Change in 2009 and continues to revolutionize change management with agile, lean and lean start-up ideas.

Jason is a two-time Amazon new release best selling author, and evolved Lean Change through visiting over 12 countries, countless organizations, and training tens of thousands of change agents for over a decade.

In his spare time he’s a solo recording artist and producer and CTO for a start-up called Spero Careers Canada, which is dedicated to helping employment specialists help their neurodiverse clients find and keep jobs.

Jason Little’s Personal Blog | Jason Little on LinkedIn

Melanie Franklin

Acknowledged as a thought leader in transformational change, Melanie is the author of 10 books. She has recently launched the Neuroscience for Change certification course, and is working on Emotional Intelligence for Change, due in 2026! Melanie is constantly challenging herself and her extensive network to ask “how do we build greater professionalism and generate more recognition of the value of change management?”

She builds communities of practice and centres of excellence for clients around the world, in tech, pharmaceuticals, utilities, NGOs, governments, law, accountancy, universities and consultancies. She chairs the Change Capability Community, a global group of change experts, and is the founder of Capability for Change, an online platform for developing practical skills for achieving organisational change. These activities align with her belief that we need to reduce the stress of constant, high volumes of change.

Melanie is a talented communicator and has a reputation for delivering complex information with humour and passion.

Melanie Franklin on LinkedIn

Sandra Stewart

Sandra, MCC, MBA is an executive, team and group coach as well as a coaching and leadership program consultant with her firm SLS Coaching & Consulting established in 1999.  She is an instructor for Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance at AU and Foundations of Coaching at NYU.  In her book Building the Core Competencies of Change: A Guide to Coaching in Organizations she defines coaching and how to deploy coaching in organizations.  She is also a contributor to the academic text Building an Organizational Coaching Culture. She is a member of the ACMP/ICF Task Force exploring synergies between coaching and change management.  She serves on the ICF Independent Review Board adjudicating ethics complaints worldwide. She received her MBA from Columbia University Business School and her BA from Colgate University.

Sandra Stewart on LinkedIn | Sandra Stewart’s Website

Helen Palmer

Helen is a seasoned expert in transforming practitioner knowledge into innovative, high-value products that benefit both organisations and their customers. She is Founder of Quello – quelling chaos and quickening creation of knowledge products.

With more than 30 years of experience across Australia and New Zealand, she has successfully guided numerous businesses through complex change initiatives, always placing a strong emphasis on the human element in technology and business transitions. Her rich personal and professional background, having lived in four different cultures and adapted to numerous changes, has shaped her into a passionate advocate for people-focused change. Helen excels in blending creativity, practicality, and real-world examples to inspire and facilitate meaningful transformation, helping individuals and teams move from chaos to creation. Helen is currently serving as Chief Knowledge Officer for the Change Management Review.

A former Global Board Member of the Change Management Institute, Helen achieved their prestigious Accredited Change Manager – Master status. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, recording her family’s history (including her Māori heritage), and indulging in creative pursuits such as origami and poetry, reflecting her lifelong curiosity for culture.

Follow Helen Palmer on LinkedIn | Quello Website

Edwina Pike

Edwina is the visionary behind Pike Squared and Irrational Change, organizations dedicated to transforming leadership and organizational strategies. Specializing in culture and behaviour change, Edwina’s work focuses on achieving strategic outcomes through innovative, behaviour-based strategies that make complex tasks achievable. At Irrational Change, she leads a unique approach that empowers leaders and teams with practical “brain-hacks” and actionable insights to drive real change.

She is an innovator, engaging speaker, storyteller, and thought leader who loves to mentor and grow others.

Edwina shares daily insights and strategies on LinkedIn: Irrational Change LinkedIn. Edwina Pike on LinkedIn

Dima Syrotkin

Dima is the CEO of Pandatron, a leading AI coaching and transformation company. He holds a Bachelor’s in IT from Turku University of Applied Sciences, a Masters in Management and International Business, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Organization and Management at Aalto University. Dima has founded three start-ups, including Pandatron, and successfully sold one. His experience includes management consulting for corporations like S-Group and Elisa.

Dima Syrotkin on LinkedIn

One of the top questions we’ve been hearing is:

“Why is signing up for Lead Change 2024 so important to change management professionals, like me, today?”

Even in normal times, our profession is fragmented and formalizing at different rates across the globe.

There is confusion about how to take part in professional development for those who have just joined the profession vs. for those who are in the mid-range of their career as a change management practitioner and leader.

As we continue to find our way through unprecedented, unforeseen that has no end-date – but lots of variants – and into a world that has changed forever, following a clear and meaningful path takes on new importance and urgency.

Aside from formal certification training, there really isn’t a tangible mode to learn more about what is going on and what works unless one attends a conference or an in-person seminar.

Lead Change 2024 is an inexpensive means for change management professionals, like you, to learn, grow, and understand the business world around you…

…from the perspective of the well-known experts and senior change management practitioners you will meet when you join us on November 6th, 13th, and 20th.