Featured Speakers
Get inspired. Get informed. Get a front-row seat.
Sage Summit 2012 is your key to learning smarter and better ways of working. This year’s conference speakers have unparalelled insight and all the know-how you need to unlock your workplace potential.
Ron Baker
Twitter handle: @ronaldbaker
Ronald J. Baker started his CPA career in 1984 with KPMG’s Private Business Advisory Services in San Francisco. Today, he is the founder of VeraSage Institute, the leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals around the world.
Baker has been an instructor with the California CPA Education Foundation since 1995 and has authored 15 courses for it. He is the author of six books and has been appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant’s Group of One Hundred, a think tank of leaders to address the future of the profession.
In 1984, Baker graduated from San Francisco State University, with a bachelor of science in accounting and a minor in economics. He is also a graduate of Disney University and Cato University and is a faculty member of the Professional Pricing Society. He presently resides in Petaluma, California.
Session
P-0786 How to Retain Clients: Differentiating Your Practice With Total Quality Service
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 2 p.m.–3:15 p.m.
Steve Geske and Howard Hansen
Twitter handles: @sgeske and @Howardhr and @healingleaders
Howard Hansen is a former broadcasting and software executive who now consults with business organizations and their leaders. He occasionally speaks to groups and at conferences on the subjects of organizational performance and leadership. He lives on a lake in Minnesota.
Steve Geske is a licensed marriage and family therapist who travels the path of "Corporate Shaman." He lives in the woods of Minnesota with his two dogs.
Sessions
- P-0796A Effective Leadership in These Days of Stressful Times When Anxiety Is High, and Rational Thinking and Creativity Are Impaired, Is More Important Than Ever (repeats)
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 2:45 p.m.–4 p.m.
- P-0796B Effective Leadership in These Days of Stressful Times When Anxiety Is High, and Rational Thinking and Creativity Are Impaired, Is More Important Than Ever (repeats)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 9:45 a.m.–11 a.m.
Rob Johnson
Twitter handle: @robjohnson38
Robert Johnson is the national sales manager for Channels at Avalara. In this role, he manages the national field sales organization and key ERP software developer relationships. He and his team are responsible for managing Avalara’s rapidly growing channel sales strategy. Previously, he served as head of Channel Programs and Readiness for Sage North America.
A winner of numerous national awards, programs under Johnson’s direction help thousands of small businesses improve their business performance. Additionally, in 2004, Johnson developed the Sage Sales Academy, an award-winning comprehensive sales improvement training program.
An expert in sales management, channel design, and execution, he understands the essential components necessary to build and manage sales channels. In 2010, Johnson authored and released the highly acclaimed book Kick Your Own Ass: The Will, Skill, and Drill of Selling More Than You Ever Thought Possible. When not working, Johnson spends time with his family in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
Session
P-0768 Five Keys to Radical Business Growth: The Will, Skill, and Drill of Sustained Superior Performance
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 8:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m.
Gene Marks
Twitter handle: @genemarks
Gene Marks is a columnist, author, and small business owner. Marks’ weekly columns and blogs for The New York Times, Forbes, and The Huffington Post, are read by thousands of small and medium sized business owners around the country.
Marks has written five books on business management, specifically geared towards small and medium-sized companies. Nationally, Marks frequently appears on FOX Business, FOX News and CNBC discussing matters affecting the business community. He is also a member of the National Speaker’s Association.
Through his keynotes, workshops, seminars and executive retreats, Marks helps business owners, executives, and managers understand the political, economic, and technological trends that will affect their companies so they can make profitable decisions.
Marks owns and operates the Marks Group PC, a highly successful ten-person firm that provides technology and consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses. The Marks Group PC, launched in 1994, has grown to help more than 600 companies and thousands of individuals throughout the country.
Sessions
- P-0172 In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Political, Economic, Technology, and Customer Relationship Management Trends That Will Affect Your Business in 2012 and Beyond
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 2:45 p.m.–4 p.m.
- P-0184 Quicker Better Tech: Key Technology Trends Affecting the Way Business Will Be Doing Business in 2012, 2013, and Beyond
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 9:45 a.m.–11 a.m.
Sarah Michel
Twitter handle: @sarahmichel
Breaking the Ice
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Sarah Michel is a networking expert who helps people increase their netWORTH™. She works with individuals, associations, and organizations to strengthen their connections and communicate their value to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
She is the author of Perfecting Connecting©, A Guide to Mastering Networking in the Workplace and the national audio program, “Learning to Speak the Language of Others.” Her articles and inspirational stories have appeared in numerous books, newspapers, and national journals. Michel is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), awarded by the National Speakers Association for her ability to consistently deliver her message with high energy, humor, and inspiration, which motivates audiences to take action. She is a graduate of Central Michigan University and resides in Colorado.
Session Materials
Sessions
- P-0740 How to Make Your Net Work!
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 4:15 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
- Sage City: Moving You Forward (Networking Facilitator)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 3:30 p.m.–6 p.m.
Barry Moltz
Twitter handle: @barrymoltz
Barry Moltz gets business owners growing again by unlocking their long forgotten potential. With decades of entrepreneurial experience in his own business ventures as well as consulting countless other entrepreneurs, Moltz has discovered the formula to get stuck business owners out of their funk and marching forward. Moltz has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years.
He founded an angel investor group, an angel fund, and is a former advisory member of the board of the Angel Capital Education Foundation.
Barry is a nationally recognized expert on entrepreneurship who has given hundreds of presentations to audiences ranging in size from 20 to 20,000. As a member of the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, he has also taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has appeared on many TV and radio programs such as The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, MSNBC’s Your Business and NPR’s The Tavis Smiley Show. He hosts his own radio show, Business Insanity Talk Radio, and writes regularly for the American Express Open Forum, Forbes.com, and Crain’s Chicago Enterprise City.
Sessions
- P-0784 Sales: Breaking the Double Helix Trap
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 4:15 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
- P-0785 Stop the Brain Damage: How to Increase Your Personal Productivity
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
