August 23, 2019 @ RTP Headquarters | 12 Davis Drive | Research Triangle Park, NC
Best Life
Executive
Summit
Carve out time for yourself at our unique full-day executive experience in Raleigh/Durham/RTP. If you’re ready for a new way of thinking about the future, interested in flourishing in business and in life, and you’d like to make valuable connections, come join us.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY. SPACE IS LIMITED!
The Best Life Executive Summit: Flourishing in Life
Friday, August, 23, 2019 11:30am – 6:30pm
The annual Best Life Executive Summit is our marquee event which has attracted many business professionals over the last few years and we’re thrilled to announce that it has a new look and feel, a new location and a new focus. This year is going to be bigger and better.
Event Purpose
The Best Life Executive Summit started because our founder, Brett Blair, saw a need. In his work with companies and individual clients, Brett recognized that people are hungry for sources of inspiration, hope, personal growth, professional growth, and transformation. Quite simply, people want to live their best lives, and help other people do the same thing. Whether in leading a large company, a division, a team, a family, or one’s own life, most people yearn for something better. We call that better life one that is “flourishing.” Flourishing in all aspects of work and life is the key theme of the 2019 Best Life Executive Summit.
TICKET INFORMATION: Seating is Limited for this Summit. Purchase Your Tickets Now by Clicking Here
$149: VIP ADMISSION (11:30am-6:30pm) Includes Luncheon Admission Perks + Preferred Seating + One Hour of Executive Coaching with Brett Blair + copies of Brett’s books, “From Autopilot to Authentic” and “Living at the Summit”
$499: TEAM BUILDING BUNDLE: (11:30am-6:30pm) Includes General Admission Perks + Plated Lunch and Keynote Event for up to 5 colleagues
$129: LUNCHEON ADMISSION: (11:30am-6:30pm) Includes General Admission Perks + Plated Lunch and Keynote Event
$99: GENERAL ADMISSION: (1:15pm-6:30pm) Includes Swag Bag + Admission to Speaker Sessions + Panel Discussion Event + Celebration Event with Open Bar and Hors d’Oeuvres
a fabulous lineup
Our Speakers

Jes Averhart
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
FLOURISHING IN COMMUNITY
Triangle Leadership
Executive Director
Jesica Averhart is the Executive Director of Leadership Triangle, a non-profit organization established in 1992 to provide leadership training while promoting regionalism across the separate communities of the Triangle. Jen is also the co-founder of Black Wallstreet Homecoming.
Prior to working with Leadership Triangle, Jes was the Director of Corporate Partnerships for the American Underground – a Google for Entrepreneur Campus for Entrepreneurs – serving over 250 early stage technology companies.
In 2005, Jesica also founded a boutique event production company specializing in providing professional event management services working with organizations such as the Cincinnati Bengals & Cleveland Browns (NFL), Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA), BB&T, Novozymes, Time Warner Cable, NCACDSS, Cisco Systems, Del Monte, The Procter & Gamble Company and Pepsi Cola North America,
Jesica serves on the Board of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse NC, Youth Villages, Durham YMCA and the Friends of the Nasher.

Brett Blair
Event Host
Best Life Global
Founder and Executive Coach
Brett Blair is the founder and president of Best Life Global, LLC. Headquartered in the Research Triangle Park, NC, Best Life Global is an executive coaching and consulting company. Brett is also founding partner with Sanford Rose Associates, an executive search firm based in Brighton, MI., and is a Principle with the Brentwood Advisory Group based in Chicago, IL. Brett and his team help business leaders improve performance at work while achieving well-being in their personal lives. Originally from Blue Springs, MO., Brett attended the University of Missouri where he earned his BS-Industrial Engineering degree. He also holds an MBA-Finance from Tennessee State University and studied at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. Brett is currently working on his doctoral dissertation toward a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, with an emphasis on applied positive psychology. Prior to founding Best Life Global, Brett was employed with 3M Corporation and Alcoa in a variety of executive leadership positions.
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Beth Standlee
FLOURISH IN SALES
TrainerTainment
President
Beth Standlee is the author of, People Buy From People, How to Connect Personally in an Impersonal World, released May, 2019. She is the CEO/Founder of TrainerTainment, a coaching and training company focused on growing others in the areas of sales, service, and leadership. Beth has spoken to audiences in nearly every state in the United States, all across Canada, in Dubai, Paris, & Sweden. Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious and you can be sure the content of her message will provide you with real world solutions, and the motivation to implement now. If you want to grow your life and your business, buckle up and spend some time with Beth!
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Carol McLaurin
YOUR BEST YEAR YET
SBTDC
Director, Strategic Initiatives + Partnerships
Carol is into bright ideas, silver linings and second chances. For nearly 20 years, she’s designed and implemented programs and partnerships across government agencies, universities and the private sector. With expertise in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship, small business development, the arts and business disaster recovery, Carol is at her best when she’s helping people and projects succeed. As a natural connector and encourager, she is super passionate about facilitating people and resources to get things done. Her strengths are using big-picture thinking to see possibilities others may not see and translating great ideas into simple actionable strategies.

Jen Cheraso
FLOURISH IN CULTURE
Array Technologies
Chief Human Resources Officer
Jennifer is a dynamic, customer-focused HR professional with a successful track record and proven ability to lead, develop and coach global business partners at all levels in the organization and has helped corporations, executives, and business leaders improve their organizational effectiveness by focusing on Strategic Planning, M&A, Leadership Development, Succession Planning, Restructuring, Talent Acquisition and Organizational Development. She has an innate ability to connect leadership skills with bottom line performance. She has been described as putting “Human” back into Human Resources. Her passion is to enable leaders to build collaborative and engaged cultures by focusing on effective Change Management, Team Effectiveness and Talent Retention.
Jennifer is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through iPEC and member of ICF.

Josh Damon
FLOURISH IN LEADERSHIP
Damon Packing
CEO
Josh Damon is CEO and co-owner of Damon Packing. Based in Reno, Nevada, Damon Packing is a 55 year young, third generation family-owned copacking and manufacturing business. Experiencing dramatic growth and diversification, Damon’s size and unique culture allows the flexibility and agility that larger-market providers are unable to provide. Damon Packing offers custom formulation and has a large variety of products which are constantly being adapted to meet new trends and market demands.

Julian Kaufmann
FLOURISH IN PERSONAL POWER
Consolidated Asset Mgmnt Srvcs
Vice President
Julian Kaufmann is an energy expert, entrepreneur, and author. Julian helps people get more out of life by applying science and universal spiritual truths to get more done by using less energy. After his own spiritual awakening led him to discover the 4-flowgates for increasing your personal power, Julian wrote Let Go, Let It Flow – The PATH to Peace and Personal Power. This groundbreaking work teaches us how to apply Julian’s Theory of Conductivity in our life and more fully express and share our true gifts with the world. Energy is the ability to do work and our life’s work is a measure of how efficiently and effectively we manage our energy.
Julian is here to help turn you on, more brightly, and help you share your light with the world. Join the next energy revolution by becoming a Prime Mover, Julian’s community of people wanting to do more with less.
Julian is married with 5-children. He is also a bass player in a rock band.

Nilay Shah, MD
FLOURISH IN CULTURE
Neurotechnologist
Born and raised in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY, Dr. Shah currently lives in New York City, where he resides close to a park with his wife and dog. In his free time, Dr. Shah enjoys bicycling, skiing, swimming, and SCUBA diving. He travels extensively and has visited over 70 countries on every continent.
Dr. Shah earned his Bachelor’s in Science at Cornell University. After another nine years of education (Medical School, Residency, Fellowship), he entered private practice in Neurology. In addition to his practice as a Neurologist, Dr. Shah is also the Chief Medical Officer of Preminder, Medical Director of the Brain Institute of NY and NJ, and Medical Director of Medical Diagnostic Services. He serves on several boards and advisory panels, and enjoys working in the areas of philanthropy, technology, and neurology.

Ralf Weiser
FLOURISH IN CULTURE
Aerzen
Growth Leader
Ralf is a growth leader who helps business leaders transcend their organizations to attract and retain talent while being profitable, sustainable, and fun. Talent management is becoming increasingly more important as our workplaces get more diverse. Millennials and Gen-Zs are soon in the majority of the workplace interacting with Gen-X and Baby Boomers. It is more important than ever to design career paths and putting structure and procedures in place helping your employees to grow. Ralf’s expertise lies in helping business leaders use triple bottom line management tools designed to help working on their business rather than In it.

Sackeena Gordon-Jones, Ph.D.
FLOURISH IN LIFE
Transformation Edge Coach + Consulting
President
As an ICF Master Certified Coach, Executive and Personal Coach for 15 years, a leading member of the International Coaching Federation, as well as past president of the local chapter, and chair of the Southeast Region, Sackeena has been a speaker at multiple coaching conferences and led the launching of ICF Raleigh’s Community Coaching for nonprofit leadership. She wrote ‘The Art and Practice of Transformational Leadership,’ and is the director of the professional coach-training program delivered at NC State University. Having served in senior leadership positions and was head of global learning and development for SAS, Sackeena coaches CEOs, CXOs, executives, and board members worldwide on a variety of topics.
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Sean Stallings
FLOURISH IN LEADERSHIP
Certitrek
Portfolio Manager
Sean is a turnaround specialist, entrepreneur and lover of all things tech. Starting his career during the Dotcom bubble, he understands how easily things can come crashing down, which is why he has built his career on turning around companies whose fate may not be so fortunate. He has bootstrapped over a half-dozen companies and his current focus has been on a certification investment, where he is the acting Portfolio Manager in charge of increasing revenue exponentially, while acquiring new certifications to add to the growth track of his organization.

Steve Spadoni
FLOURISH IN CULTURE
Fujikura Automotive
Chief Technology Officer
Steve Spadoni has served in the field of automotive engineering and research for more than 25 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 and went on to earn his Master of Business Administration in 2005 from the University of Michigan – Dearborn. Steve has held positions in product development, business development, advanced engineering, and research including university alliances and special projects. Throughout his career he has developed technology road maps, commodity business plans, and strategic technology development plans to address corporate imperatives. Steve was previously involved in automotive technology transformation projects with Ford Motor Company, and more recently has taken on the role of Chief Technology Officer with Fujikura Automotive, a global leader in the automotive electrical market. Steve has a passion for personal and leadership development, as well as culture change within organizations.

Suzanne Ballantyne
FLOURISH IN PRACTICE
Simply Practice
Life, Health and Wellness Coach
Suzanne Ballantyne, B.A., Psychology, M.A. (abt) History & Philosophy of Education, is a Certified Health & Wellness Coach, earned a credential from the Int’l Coaching Federation in 2014. Suzanne is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT200) with more than 1000 hours of teaching experience. . Suzanne has practiced yoga & meditation for more than 20 years and created “simply Practice”, a Life, Wellness Coaching & Yoga business in 2006. In October 2019, she will Graduate from AVI with a 500-hour training in a ‘lineage’ yoga tradition. Suzanne has experienced how foundational the model and practice of yoga can be as a multidimensional tool for the transformation of our multidimensional nature. Suzanne also believes in putting life first, because our ‘life-and-work’ balance is better when we are thriving.
Suzanne moved to Cary from Montreal, Canada in 1998. She and her husband raised 3 red heads – all of whom are out engaging with, contributing to and exploring the globe and their interests. She lives in downtown Cary with her husband, where they are renovating a 1959 brick ranch. Wish them perseverance!

Tom Hill
FLOURISH IN LEGACY
Eagle Goal
Coach, Author & Speaker
Dr. Tom Hill is the CEO of Eagle Goal Coach, headquartered in Lake St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to authoring the original version of Living at the Summit (1999), Tom is co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul, (2006) as well as Blessed Beyond Measure (2013).
Dr. Hill is a renowned speaker, workshop leader, coach and teacher. He offers a variety of compelling topics delivered as a keynote speech, workshop or seminar. He has spoken to thousands of people internationally, including the Young Presidents Organization, RE/MAX, Vistage, and various community organizations.
In 1986, after more than two decades in education, Dr. Hill changed careers and embarked on a path which was to take him to a level of success he had only dreamed of. Cashing in his state retirement plan and selling his home, he launched a new business, building it into a three billion enterprise in less than ten years. Dr. Hill realized that his story could serve as an inspiration to others, and he is a living example that it is never too late to follow your heart’s desire. Dr. Hill continues to teach others, sharing his special gifts with individuals and audiences around the world.

Zemo Trevathan
FLOURISH IN CULTURE
The Aligned Team
Founding Principal
Every organization claims to understand that “people are our greatest asset,” but few actually act on that value. Similarly, most teams and organizations spend time to define strategies and goals, but very few effectively utilize these plans once they are set. For two and a half decades, Zemo Trevathan has travelled the USA and the globe sparking leaders and teams to effectively care for and develop their people as an integrated component of achieving their missions and core strategies. Working with everyone in an organization from the CEO out through the front lines, Zemo brings a deep tool kit to each organization, and customizes his approach to the resources and needs at hand, sometimes delivering keynotes or all-hands trainings, sometimes focusing on one-on-one coaching or small team dynamics. He is co-author of “Daring to Have Real Conversations in Business,” founding partner of The Aligned Team, and his client list includes Shell, Chevron, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, the FDA, Sony, Duke and the University of North Carolina.
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FLOURISH IN BUSINESS, FLOURISH IN LIFE!
The Details
11:30aRegistration, Connect + Meet Vendors
12:00pLunch + Keynote
Jes Averhart
1:20pSean Stallings +
Sackeena Gordon-Jones
2:15pBreak Out Sessions:
Carol McLaurin +
Beth Standlee +
Julian Kaufmann +
Suzanne Ballantyne
3:10pJosh Damon +
Dr. Tom Hill
3:55pPanel Discussion:
Zemo Trevathan + Steve Spadoni +
Jen Cheraso + Nilay Shah +
Ralf Weiser
5:00pCelebration Begins
6:30pEvent Ends
awesome EVENT for awesome people
About the Event
The annual Best Life Executive Summit is our marquee event, which has attracted many business professionals over the last few years and we’re thrilled to announce that it has a new look and feel, a new location and a new focus. This year is going to be bigger and better.
OUR EVENT
- New Name: From “Best Life Summit” to “Best Life Executive Summit”
- New Theme: Flourish in Business, Flourish in Life
- New Location: From The Frontier to the RTP Headquarters (12 Davis Drive, Research Triangle Park)
- More Attendees: Growing from 100 to 150 attendees
- New Format: From TED talk Style to Keynote/Breakout Style
- New Timeframe: 12p to 5p with a Celebratory After Party
Results from Our 2018 Event
According to our post-event survey, our 2018 event was an overwhelming success. The Best Life Executive Summit is an opportunity to showcase your products, share your brand and increase market share to 150 business professionals in and around the Raleigh/Durham/RTP area who are eager to take their lives and their business to the next level.
We’re proud to share our results from the 2018 Summit. Our attendees had great things to say about our event and here are some highlights:
- 100% thought it made an impact in their lives.
- 97% wanted to stay engaged throughout the year
- 95% left the event satisfied.
- 90% would attend again.
- 85% found the event valuable.
- 85% would recommend the event to a friend and/or colleague
THEF has partnered with Coach Brett Blair to offer ACHE Qualified Credits to ACHE member participants in this program. As an independent chartered chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the Triangle Healthcare Executives Forum of NC (THEF) is authorized to award 5 hours of ACHE Qualified Education credit toward the 36 total hours needed for advancement or recertification in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Participants in this program must self-report their attendance in order to receive ACHE Qualified Education credits.

noon – 6.5
August 23, 2019
summit 2019
©Copyright 2019. Best Life Executive Summmit. All Rights Reserved.
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I loved how the Summit helped me with different ways to stay motivated and organized in my life. It was very helpful that all the speakers spoke on a range of topics. Also, that there is a large group of people similar to me wanting to learn ways to consistent improve themselves.
Britta BensonTeam Lead
One of the many takeaways was to keep everything in perspective. There was a fine red thread that went through all presentations: Find a passion, have the courage to persevere, and start delivering what you stand for. People will embrace you no matter what.
Ralf WeiserCulture Expert