In-Person Cost: $3,000

Accelerate your executive development by learning from executives in the Manager Tools® community. This 2-day event is packed with networking events and engaging sessions where you’ll hear from top leaders in diverse industries including banking, software, aerospace, consulting, markets, finance, HR, etc. as they share their thoughts on leadership, managing and more. Build your skills and grow your network by getting access to the right topics and the right people.

Attendance Includes:

  • Membership to an instant messaging group for connecting with other attendees, speakers, and the MT team.
  • Meals throughout, including a meet-and-greet the day prior to the event and a dinner after the first day's sessions.
  • Videos of our speaker sessions for one year after the event.
  • Free Virtual Effective Manager Registration to be awarded at the time of the event (can be used or gifted to someone else).
Those wishing to purchase just the videos but not attend the event can do so when those recordings are made available as part of our Executive Outlook Video product.

Meet The Speakers

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Denise Iglesias - Executive VP of Engineering, Dealerware

Denise Iglesias is a strategic engineering leader with a proven track record of delivering high growth hardware and software architectures and products. Iglesias has worked in tech for over 25 years, starting at National Instruments. She later led product development at Icontrol Networks, helping the company to its eventual acquisition by Comcast, where Iglesias spent another 4 years in development and software engineering leadership roles. Now at Dealerware, Iglesias is focused on building and leading a diverse team to solve new challenges in the automotive industry. Iglesias is also passionate about diversity and inclusion. She has founded multiple employee resource groups, is a mentor with Code2College, and helps others develop their own leadership skills with Ceresa.

Kate Braun - Managing Partner, Manager Tools

Kate is a BSME graduate of Tulane University who used Manager Tools principles in her previous role as a missile defence engineer. As well as managing the firm, Kate is co-host of our flagship podcast, Manager Tools. Kate also serves as one of our presenting associates, training on the guidance we provide. And she helped co-author the book, The Effective Manager, Second Edition.

John Hoffman - Chairman, Onward Ops Foundation

John Hoffman has over 40 years of global high technology management experience primarily in the semiconductor and information technology markets. In 2020, Hoffman joined fellow West Pointers William Buck and Gen (Ret) Mike Eastman in building ETS-Sponsorship/Onward Ops. Onward Ops is focused on successfully transitioning service members out of the military into civilian life. Currently, John serves on the ETS Board of Directors and serves as the Chairman of the Onward Ops Foundation.

Prior to ETS-Sponsorship Hoffman was the Chairman and CEO of Pivotal Systems a technology leader in critical gas flow technology for the global semiconductor industry. Pivotal Systems was an Inc 500 Fastest Growing Company in both 2015 and 2018 as it established partnerships with Samsung, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and Lam Research. Pivotal Systems launched on the ASX in July of 2018 with Hoffman as Chairman and CEO until his retirement in 2022.

Prior to Pivotal Systems, John was the Chief Executive Officer of RagingWire Enterprise Solutions, an Enterprise Cloud Data Center corporation. John reorganized the company and enabled record growth in revenue and profitability during his tenure. RagingWire was also an Inc 500 fastest growing company in 2008. RagingWire was ultimately sold to NTT Docomo for $0.5bil.

Mark Horstman - Co-Founder, Manager Tools

Mark is the author of The Effective Manager, which has sold over 50,000 copies, The Effective Hiring Manager, and co-authored The Effective Manager, Second Edition. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Following his service, he worked in Sales and Marketing at Procter and Gamble prior to starting Manager Tools. Mark is retired from day-to-day operations after having written and hosted the Manager Tools Podcast for 17 years. That said, Mark remains as board member and writer and co-host of the Executive Tools podcast.

A. Brooke Bennett - Chief of Staff, Rep. French Hill in the U.S. House of Representatives

A. Brooke Bennett currently serves as the Chief of Staff to Rep. French Hill in the U.S. House of Representatives, a role she has held since his election in 2014. She started in the House in 2005, serving first as an investigative counsel on the House Oversight Committee and then as Legislative Director to two Members of Congress including Rep. Hill’s predecessor. Prior to coming to Congress, she worked for nearly seven years in corporate finance for Arthur Andersen based in London.
As a Chief of Staff, she has stressed the importance of a professionally managed office, and in 2021, the office won the Congressional Management Foundation’s prestigious “Democracy Award” for best workplace environment. She prioritizes staff development and institution building and runs the GOP’s Female Chiefs of Staff mentoring program, which she co-founded, and the monthly GOP Chief of Staff Breakfast Club.

In 2017, she was named a Stennis Fellow, a prestigious, bipartisan two-year fellowship program aimed at institution building and cross-party dialogue, and, in the same vein, has started several bipartisan initiatives for House Chiefs of Staff including a book club and a first-of-its-kind listserv for all House Chiefs of Staff to facilitate bipartisan dialogue and information sharing. In 2023, she was recognized by The Hill newspaper as one of the 25 staffers who “make Capitol Hill run” and was one of two recipients of the Women’s Congressional Staff Foundation Leadership Impact Award for her mentorship initiatives. Brooke regularly addresses groups locally and nationally and was a featured speaker in the Manager Tools “M Conference” series in 2022. She is a Washington, D.C. native and a graduate of Smith College and Tulane Law School, and, in her spare time, can be found singing soprano in Capitol Hill choir.

Steve Holden - Senior Systems Engineer, Naval Information Warfare Center

Steve is a Senior Systems Engineer in the Command & Control and Enterprise Engineering Department at NIWC Pacific. Steve is a San Diego State University (SDSU) graduate with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Computer Science.

His previous roles at NIWC Pacific include Lead Systems Engineer, Project Manager, and Technical Lead. His current focus areas include Information Warfare, Advanced Command & Control, Cybersecurity, Multi-Level Security, Enterprise Systems, and Rapid Prototyping. Before joining NIWC Pacific, Steve was a software engineer and integrator at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

Steve has been an active member of the Manager Tools community since 2005. He is also a certified David Allen Getting Things Done (GTD) instructor with over 45 classes delivered since 2018.

Sarah Sentes - Managing Partner, Manager Tools

Sarah earned her degree in Psychology from the University of Alberta. It is there that she started her career, employing Manager Tools’ principles and methodologies within the administration of a unionized public service environment. Sarah can be heard co-hosting our podcast, Manager Tools. Sarah also serves as one of our presenting associates, training folks on our guidance. And she also helped co-author the book, The Effective Manager, Second Edition.

Matt Dubois - Director of Project Management, Vanderlande’s Baggage Handling and Parcel Solutions

Matt Dubois is the director of project execution for Vanderlande Airport and Parcel Solutions in North America. Vanderlande moves about 4 billion pieces of luggage around the world every year with systems in more than 600 airports, including 12 of the world’s top 20. For parcel automation, approximately 52 million parcels are sorted by Vanderlande systems every day. Matt is responsible for the performance of his team on approximately 25 North American airport terminal projects and parcel distribution system automation projects. This team is responsible for project management, engineering, construction management, planning, and subcontracting. Their goal is to deliver new automation projects to airports and parcel companies in North America.

Complex construction of automation systems requires effective stakeholder management, technical issue resolution, and planning in dynamic operating environments, such as active, busy airports. Very effective risk management is critical to the success of these projects. Matt prepared for this with a math degree from the United States Air Force Academy, several years as a construction litigation lawyer, and a couple of decades managing project teams and contracts in the material handling industry. At Vanderlande, Matt is also responsible for the global project management organizational and leadership development programs and championing continuous improvement programs in North America.



Working Agenda

Wednesday, October 9th

Time Wednesday
7:00 Breakfast & Sign In
8:30 Welcome & Introductions
9:15 Kate Braun & Sarah Sentes, Topic TBD
10:15 Break
10:30 Speaker and Topic TBD
11:30 Break
11:45 Speaker and Topic TBD
12:45 Lunch
2:00 Speaker and Topic TBD
3:00 Break
3:15 Speaker and Topic TBD
4:15 Group Photo
4:30 Close
5:30 Cocktail Hour
6:30 Dinner and Discussion
8:00 Done for the Day

Thursday, October 10th

Time Thursday
7:00 Breakfast
8:30 Welcome Back
9:00 Speaker and Topic TBD
10:00 Break
10:15 Speaker and Topic TBD
11:15 Lunch
12:30 Speaker and Topic TBD
1:30 Break
1:45 Speaker and Topic TBD
2:45 Break
3:00 Mark Horstman, Topic TBD
4:00 Close/End

Watch a Sample:

Matt Beckwith - Customer Experience: Not a Department, a Revolution

The M Conference gives you real guidance from real people who are in the muck just like you. You get the opportunity to ask questions and learn from leaders in other firms. It’s the ultimate safe space to ask questions and get some real, actionable answers.

      Read more...Dan West

This event brought together an engaged, highly skilled audience with talented presenters covering value adding topics. The discourse, the exchange of perspectives, and the sidebars during the event brought the information to an even higher level.

      Read more...Eldon Schaffer