There is a “broken rung” in the banking industry. In this session, learn how to implement effective sponsorship programs and other actionable solutions.
PANEL: Negotiating for Yourself

Moderator: Tess Fyalka, Director, Employee Development & Engagement, O’Shea Builders
Negotiation is a valuable skill that we use every day. We negotiate with ourselves, with our families, with our employers, and we also have personal non-negotiables that carry us through life. In this session, learn from businesswomen who have used negotiation as a tool to succeed in both self-improvement and business.
Panelists:
- Desiree Logsdon, SVP Corporate Citizenship at Bunn-O-Matic Corp
- Debbie Thompsont, M.A., SPHR, Strategic Executive HR Consultant, Always On Consulting
- Jan Schramm, SVP Treasury Management, Hickory Point Bank
- Misty Buscher, Mayor of Springfield, Former Banker
Power Isn’t a ‘Dirty’ Word, Reclaim Yours through Grace
Tess Fyalka
Power may not be a “dirty” word, but it’s certainly a loaded one. Often it is associated with negative and predatory behaviors. We’ve all seen and experienced leaders who were “in power,” driven by ego, competition, and a win-at-all-costs mindset. Consequently, many women, including leaders and highly accomplished professionals, hold back and play small, hesitant to step fully into their power, lest they be perceived like “that” person. In this session, you’ll learn key strategies to use grace in fueling your power and stepping more fully into your potential as a leader, a colleague, a partner, and a human being.
Oh Hey, Girl, Hey!!!!
Sonya Jones
A perfect kickoff for a fun evening, Sonya Jones will both entertain you and help put things into perspective. The multitude of tasks before you as a mom, daughter, friend, neighbor, wife, boss, employee, sister and the list goes on and on…you might just need a break. This session will remind you of why you “do what you do” and how to survive while “doing what you do.”
Thursday, September 14th
Creating Value: Your Secret Ingredient to Success
Jenifer Snook
High-performing organizations and individuals create value, both internally and externally, by operating with integrity, adapting to the needs of others and modeling what is expected. With so many competing priorities, executing leadership and value creation strategy is crucial to achieving results. During this session, we will explore high-payoff activities that drive results, as well as the role technology plays in supporting execution. Key Takeaways: Understand internal and external value creation, Address obstacles to growth, Implement strategies to Cultivate™ growth.
Personal Branding: Your Truth. Your Worth. Your Future.
Tosca DiMatteo
Building a memorable personal brand starts with you seeing the beauty of your own truth with more clarity and then shining your light in a way that energizes you and your audience. Our personal brand is so much more than our work experience, and when we omit our full experience of life, we are leaving important parts of our journey on the table. Discover a new way to see your magic and unique capabilities and learn about the Brand Key framework. Whether you are just starting your career or in the C-suite you will walk away inspired and thinking differently about how you can tell your story across mediums.
Leading for Tomorrow, Today!
Jenifer Snook
No matter what the economic or pandemic environment, true leadership for tomorrow must happen today. Regardless of your position, leadership is about operating with integrity, adapting to the needs of others, and modeling what is expected. In this interactive session, we will craft a vision for ourselves as leaders, understand how core values guide us, explore leadership principles, and review results of strategic execution in community banking.
Be Empowered with Self-Advocacy
Cheryl Clark
Self-Advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself and what is important to you. Women sometimes have trouble with this, so the goal of this session is to give women some tools to put in your belt to help you be a better self-advocate. Upon completing the training, women will be more comfortable applying the tools and techniques they learned to advocate for themselves and for other women and become empowered.
What Key Risks Are Impacting Community Banks Today
Megan Kahlenberg
This presentation will cover key financial indicators for community banks and how they have changed from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic. During this presentation, St. Louis Fed AVP Megan Kahlenberg will also discuss what current financial ratios are telling us about future risks impacting banks and how regulators are viewing those risks. Lastly, this presentation will cover additional emerging banking trends like fintech partnerships, crypto activities, and banking marijuana related businesses.
Experience Matters: How Is Your Organization Crafting It?
Jenifer Snook
Competitors can copy your products and services. They can match your interest rates, marketing, and locations. But they cannot match your people when they are executing on a well-focused and disciplined strategy. In our increasingly complex industry, your greatest return on investment comes from the customer experience you create. During this session, you will assess what you are doing to drive consumers in the door and what your people are doing (or can be doing) to keep them. Ask yourself, Are we delivering a transaction or creating an experience?
Compensation Best Practices
Sandra Teague
It is an unprecedented time for US Employers, where all are facing labor shortages and challenges with attracting and retaining talent; In this interactive presentation, we will discuss best practices for competitive pay programs that attract and retain employees. At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to begin to design competitive pay programs that attract and retain employees. The inequities in pay between men and women will also be address and allow the audience to better understand. Flexibility for work at home demands now put on employers by their employees will also be addressed.
Leading Strategic Change: How to L.I.V.E. and Thrive as a Transformative Leader
Dr. Sheri Prentiss
Focused on the acronym in the title of her speech, which she often refers to as her prescription for life:
L ove myself and others
I nspire those around me
V oice my dreams and ambitions
E njoy life!
Through the course of Dr. Sheri’s talk, you’ll see just why she swears by these four prescriptions for a happy and fulfilling professional and personal life and leave her keynote ready to put them into play in your own life immediately.