Survive vs. Thrive

Performing professionally as a musician for over 20 years on saxophones, guitar and vocals with the band Copper Box, Michelle shares her music and her inspirational journey. The world we live in is constantly faced with change and sometimes uncertainty. Michelle believes that one of the most valuable things we can do is communicate with each other about the challenges we face to better equip ourselves and others so that we can live more joyfully.

Dr. Ashok Rai is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Prevea Health – a physician-led, multispecialty health care provider working in partnership with Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) hospitals across Wisconsin. Prevea Health was founded in Green Bay, Wis. in 1996, and today employs more than 2,000 people, including more than 500 providers and advanced practice providers. It offers high-quality patient care in more than 30 communities across Wisconsin, as well as a health insurance plan (Prevea360) with one of the largest coordinated networks across the state.

Dr. Rai’s passion to redesign health care in the U.S. embraces the movement from fee-for-service methods of payment to value-based care, which rewards health care organizations for their work in preventive health care and encouraging patients to live healthy lifestyles and not for the amount of procedures they perform. This has significantly influenced Prevea Health’s strategy to improve the total wellness of all communities it serves. Dr. Rai has also taken proactive steps to enhance diversity and inclusion efforts within the Prevea Health system, and equitable access to health care for all in our communities.

In addition, and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin in March 2020, Dr. Rai has helped Prevea Health lead the way and set standards for high-quality, accessible, and innovative COVID-19 education, prevention, testing, treatment and vaccination efforts across Wisconsin – all of which have garnered attention from local, state and national health care leaders and journalists. Dr. Rai was born and raised in Michigan. He attended undergraduate school and enrolled in the “Target M.D.” program at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. He completed his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and then a residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics through Michigan State University at the Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies. Following residency, he specialized in hospital medicine and held various leadership positions at Prevea Health before becoming the President and CEO of Prevea Health in 2009. He also continues to practice medicine and cares for patients at Woodside Lutheran Nursing Home in Green Bay.

Dr. Rai is actively involved in his community and committed to making a difference on local, state and national levels. He is a Regent for the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, appointed by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in April 2021. Dr. Rai also joined the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Board of Directors in 2012 and served as Chairman of AMGA in 2018. For PGA of America’s 2020 Ryder Cup, he served as Medical Committee Chair and Team Physician. Other roles held by Dr. Rai include Chairman of the Board of Weidner Center Presents in Green Bay; Chairman of the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon; member of the Board of Directors for the Automobile Gallery in Green Bay and Progress Lakeshore; member of the Board of Downtown Green Bay, Inc.; and a member of the Chancellor's Council of Trustees at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay.

Dr. Rai lives in Green Bay with his wife, Brooke. He is a proud father of three boys and three girls, and their dog, Josie.

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Stress is a major factor in organizational change. Stress can affect everything from decision-making to employee retention. As change and stress are more prominent than ever, it’s vital that leaders understand the impacts on their own health and of their team members. In order to be resilient through change, you must first take care of yourself. Investing in your own well-being creates resilience and allows you to better manage your personal and professional life. In this session, Dr. Rai will share his personal and professional experiences to help us understand the effects of stress and wellness to enhance our leadership skills.

Tina Schuelke is the Founder and CEO of Change Management Communications Center LLC, based in Oshkosh, WI. She is the wife of a World Champion Senior Softball Player, the mother of three adult children, and grandmother to a 3-year-old tumbling toddler girl. Tina’s also been a bartender, a pre-press film stripper, a manufacturing systems manager, a print technology inventor, an IT systems architect, a podcaster, and a mentor for refugees needing to learn English and how to start and advance their careers in the United States. Tina is known for her leadership development work in C-Suites, Board Rooms, Construction Sites, Professional Offices, Manufacturing Shop Floors, and Industry Conferences. But if you ask her, she believes her best work is accomplished in kitchens and at home in her garden. Tina loves to create structure, processes, communication practices, and behavior changes so others can accomplish what they want and need--especially the changes that no one else thought was possible. Connect with Tina for no-nonsense approaches to change and communications that work.

"What’s Changed About Leading Change?"

Today’s leaders need to identify, prioritize, and lead critical changes. 20th century approaches to leading change have outlived their usefulness, including a lot of what is published and practiced about organizational change management. The challenge is your employees need elevated tools to conquer change at an ever-expanding pace.

During the presentation, Tina will address these ideas:

• work through why (and what) we need to change about ourselves as leaders
• explore modern process models and tools that eliminate the barriers to change
• we’ll put a modern twist on classic tool that brings clarity for strategic change

David Bryant is the founder and “Lead Spark” at DHB Change Advisors, LLC and Change Advisor at Change Management Communications Center, LLC. Living in Sheboygan Falls, he is a husband to an amazing wife and father to two beautiful daughters.

If you can’t find him in the kitchen, he’ll probably be on the pitch teaching kids in 4k-8^th grade the “beautiful game” of soccer. In 2021 David helped start Sheboygan Falls FC, which has quickly grown to over 175 participating kids on 15 teams. During the day he can be found participating on the Personnel Committee of Love INC and working with the staff at The Boys & Girls Club of Sheboygan County.

In his career David has worked across several industries, including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, consulting, and professional services. His early roles were focused in HR, which ultimately led him to helping organizations and individuals navigate change. Whether it’s creating context for implementing new technology and systems, shifting resources for better operational efficiencies, or completely transforming how people think and act, David makes sure that everyone understands the only way to true success is if the people involved understand the change, support the direction, and bring out their best to achieve greatness.

Accountable to the Board of Directors for leadership, guidance and direction, business development, and strategic communications for SFI. Previously responsible for the $1.7 Trillion federal student loan portfolio and engagement with 6,000 colleges and 600,000 students as Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid, Department of Education. In this role, Brown had statutory authority for all the nation’s Title IV (Pell Grants, Work-study, Student Loans) funding for 600,000 students and a total lending portfolio of $1.7 trillion, and 6,000 partner institutions around the country. The lending portfolio of Federal Student Aid is equivalent to that of the nation’s 5 largest consumer lending banks. During his time at FSA, Brown oversaw the total digitization of financial services for students, parents, and borrowers. With over 2O digital improvements, FSA now provides the Free Application for Federal Student Aid on all digital platforms including mobile applications and artificial intelligence for routine student inquiries. In addition, faced with a pandemic, Brown oversaw the transformation of over 25 million borrowers from active to forbearance status which temporarily eliminated payments for most students, parents, and borrowers across the country.

Led organization responsible for the education and training of 200,000 airmen and the funding mechanism within the USAF. Retired Major General (USAF), with 32+ years’ experience leading organizations responsible for educating, developing, and training their workforce. Graduate of National Defense University (Master of National Security Strategy), Air Command & Staff College (Master of Strategic Studies), Troy State University (Master of Public Administration), Tuskegee University (Accounting).

Amir Ghannad is a frequent and highly sought-after international keynote speaker at leadership summits in the US and abroad, and the founder of The Ghannad Group, which offers speaking, workshop facilitation, executive coaching and consulting services, focused on guiding leaders in creating extraordinary cultures that deliver breakthrough results and unprecedented fulfillment.

For over 31 years prior to founding The Ghannad Group, Amir led multi-functional, multi-national teams in manufacturing and Supply Chain roles in a variety of business situations in the US, Asia, and Europe with such companies as Procter and Gamble, Sunny Delight Beverages, and Campbell Soup Company.

Through his family-owned private consulting practice, founded in 2015, Amir is committed to sharing what he's learned about the leadership potential hidden within each one of us, and providing the tools and cultivating the mindset to unleash that innate potential and thereby achieve unprecedented levels of success and fulfillment at work and in life.

Amir's greatest passion is to energize and compel clients, in different industries all over the world, to discover the Transformative Leader within themselves and embrace and fulfill their accountability for creating extraordinary workplace cultures. Through his roles as an author, blogger, podcast host, consultant, and coach, Amir provides ongoing support to teams in their transformative journeys, long after his initial engagements with them, through such initiatives as his exclusive members-only forum at www.onthecourtleadership.com.

Amir’s book, The Transformative Leader, has been shipped to 30+ countries, and is available in English and Spanish at www.theghannadgroup.com, where you can find over 400 of his blog posts and podcast episodes.

Amir and his wife of over 40 years, Connie, and their children and business partners, Naveed and Naseem, reside in Portugal and serve clients in multiple regions of the world through virtual and in-person engagements.

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In this session, Mr. Ghannad will share insights from his book and break down the aspects of leadership behaviors needed in times of change. His sessions are fun and engaging in a way that makes you walk away with a new sense commitment and purpose as a leader. You will also be introduced to the characteristics of a High Commitment Culture where everyone on the team is fired up about making extraordinary things happen, and ways to get your team there, no matter where you are on the organizational chart.

Roy Pirrung has been involved with all aspects of running, at the local, state, national and international level, as an athlete, coach, journalist, mentor, official, course measurer, race director and administrator.

He is a member of USATF National Masters Track and Field Hall of Fame, has broken 100 national records and earned 99 national titles, along with 10 World Age Best Performances and 3 Guinness WRs. Roy's expertise is in running ultra marathons, distances further than the 26.2 mile marathon distance, but he has also competed in the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, where he broke the course record for his age group during the marathon leg (3:18) in his first appearance.

His efforts as a runner were recognized by USA Track and Field’s Mountain, Ultra and Trail Council as the Ultra Runner of the Year in 1997 and subsequently as the Masters Ultra Runner of the Year four times, including at age 60.

He is a decorated Army veteran and helps organize reunions every 2 years, is a member of The American Legion, Team Red White & Blue (TRWB), Band of Runners, myTeamTriumph, Operation Guardian Angel and has mentored combat veterans at Camp Eagle, Rocksprings, TX, Camp Eagle North in Mackinaw, MI and Camp Colby, CA. He also supports the USO, DAV, Wounded Warriors and VFW. He has delivered 6 speeches at Fort Knox, KY, and while there asked to speak at Running Soles Running Store, in Elizabethtown. He has delivered more than a dozen for the Comprehensive Health and Wellness program for the National Guard and Air Guard, at the Wisconsin Military Academy, Fort McCoy, WI.

He’s been a race director since 1982 and has directed over 60 races, including co-chair of the Road America Run-Walk for the American Cancer Society for 22 years. It raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and since taking over the event, more than $3 million has been raised.

Roy has been writing about running and related subjects since the late 80s, including 6 years as a weekly newspaper columnist for The Sheboygan Press and others and contributes to several publications. His story of inspiration has been published in the best seller Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners. His autobiography, “heROYic” is currently being edited.

As a sponsored athlete, (Kohler Co., Wigwam Mills, Natural Ovens and others) he has been able to travel extensively and has run over 50 times, in 26 different countries, on 5 continents.

He is a prolific speaker and a 10 year member of Toastmasters where he served in various roles, including president of his local chapter. He retired 14 years ago, was recruited to work as a VIP tour guide for his former employer and has worked for the Kohler Company for 50 years.

In April of 2015, he completed his 1,000th race (and created a fundraiser for the Live Strong Program and Sheboygan Cancer Care Fund) by crossing the finish line of the 119th Boston Marathon, then returned to the start and ran it a second time, running with race director Dave McGillivray, as he had in 2010, to celebrate. He has completed 164 marathons and 223 ultra-marathons, including 68 of 100 or more miles and has run over 100,000 lifetime miles. He coached a Special Olympics athlete for 7 years and for his efforts received the Rookie of the Year Award from Special Olympics Wisconsin. He currently serves as an Athlete Health Leader for SOWI and teaches speaking skills for the Global Messenger program and healthy living.

Locally, he was a founder of the original Shoreline Striders Running Club and served as its president for 15 years as well as serving as its newsletter editor. Recently, he helped revive the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) club and completed the lengthy application process to become a RRCA Runner Friendly Community designation and received the 5-year designation for Sheboygan County.

He has shared his experiences with school groups and community groups and is always available to assist with races needing skills organizing and promoting. He recently helped organize a corporate run for Kohler Co. that attracted nearly 500 runners and the Holiday Lights Run for the Sheboygan County Food Bank that now sees over 1,000 participants.

Roy was a member of Kohler Sports Core, where he previously worked as a Fitness Trainer and is a member of the Sheboygan County YMCA and assists with organizing road races, programs on nutrition, exercise and health, whenever needed.

He has donated over 12 gallons of whole blood to the American Red Cross, is a supporter of Meals on Wheels, Nourish Farms and the Sheboygan County Food Bank, Book Worm Gardens and others.

He was among the nominees for the 2015 Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce Community Volunteer of the Year and was a runner up. I RUN: The roy pIrRUNg Story, released on TV8, Sheboygan's cable access station. Roy has also received the Sheboygan Elks Club Distinguished Citizen Award.

In December of 2001 he was inducted into the National Masters USA Track and Field Hall of Fame and in December of 2016, Roy was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Association Hall of Fame, the 14th person bestowed this honor. In January of 2018 he was recognized by the Wisconsin Legislature, at the state capitol, accepting the Hometown Hero Award recipient.

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Living an unhealthy lifestyle into his thirties, he made a decision to change. He shares his inspirational story about transforming his life through running, wellness, and motivation. An ultra-marathon runner who has been inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame, has crossed more than 1,000 finish lines, and set multiple running records.

Join our group of local panelists for an insightful conversation on how recruiting has evolved over the past two years and what the future looks like. Understand their experiences and techniques they implemented. Explore best practices from a variety of industries. The forward-thinking panel will discuss the ways they are evolving their practices to position their companies as a destination workplaces.

Panelists:

• Jackie Parkhurst, Director of Talent Acquisition at Mativ
• Ryan Uhl, Director of Talent Acquisition at Plexus Corp
• Tyler Lingenhag, Human Resources Manager at Miller Electric Mfg. 

You can take this as a three-credit course toward a Lakeland master of business administration (MBA) degree, master of science in leadership and organizational development (MS-LOD) degree, or toward Lakeland's graduate certificate in leadership.

Student's pursing their bachelor's degree can also take this course as an elective and get a jumpstart towards their graduate degree.

Current Students:

• Please talk to your academic advisor to enroll in this class.
  
• BA 785 / BUS 480: Special Topics: Organizational Resilience: The Key to Navigating Tumultuous Times
  

Prospective Students:

• Email us at getstarted@lakeland.edu and an admissions advisor will contact you within 24-business hours.

This course can be taken as a seminar through Develop U, which is run by Launch: Lakeland University Student-Run Businesses. Develop U offers customized workshops and training programs for professional growth.

The program cost is $500 and an unlimited number of team members within an organization can access the class live.

Please note, the class is not recorded and can only be accessed live.

Interested in learning more? Fill out the form below.