Top Kickoff Speakers

Sharing the winning strategies used by world-champion athletes like Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Kobe Bryant, Alan Stein, Jr. helps companies improve organizational performance, create effective leadership, increase team cohesion and collaboration—and develop winning mindsets, rituals, and routines.

<p>An award-winning Latina entrepreneur who went from living in an orphanage to creating a wildly successful salsa company she sold to Campbell’s Soup for 231M, Magie Cook inspires audiences around the world to face their biggest obstacles and reach their greatest potential.</p><p>Magie Cook grew up in Mexico, living in an orphanage with 68 other children. As a child, she taught herself how to play basketball and ultimately immigrated to the US on a basketball scholarship at the University of Charleston.

<p>Paul Epstein has spent nearly 15 years as a professional sports executive for multiple NFL and NBA teams, a global sports agency, and the NFL league office, where he has broken every premium revenue metric in Super Bowl history, opened a billion-dollar stadium, and founded the San Francisco 49ers Talent Academy, where he became known as the “Why Coach.”</p><p>As an award-winning speaker he was named one of <em>SUCCESS magazines</em> top thought leaders that get results, Paul’s impact continues off stage providing leadership development and culture transforma

<p>An icon of the sports industry, Stephen A. Smith shares powerful and humorous lessons on overcoming adversity, building and leading strong teams, and ethics on the field and off.</p><p>Known and respected for his candid commentary, thought-provoking analysis, and memorable catchphrases, Stephen A. Smith is an authority in sports journalism.

<p>From “ball girl to CMO,” Melissa Proctor shares stories from her trailblazing career journey, providing powerful strategies to help audiences navigate high-stakes decisions and achieve success. </p><p>Though Melissa Proctor never played basketball herself, it was her passion—in fact, her childhood dream was to be the first female coach in the NBA.

<p>The only human to ever free-climb Yosemite’s 3,000-foot rock monolith El Capitan solo—which the <em>New York Times</em> called “one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, ever”—Alex Honnold inspires audiences to achieve success in high-stakes situations. </p><p>More people will walk on the moon than will do what Alex Honnold has done—free-climb Yosemite’s El Capitan. No rope, climbing alone.

<p>With humor, intelligence, and humility, iconic athlete Alex Rodriguez inspires audiences with stories of his journey from young phenom, to poster child for baseball, to public failure—followed by his comeback and self-made business career—and shares the leadership and team-building lessons he&#39;s learned along the way. </p><p>Alex Rodriguez is a businessman and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A-Rod Corp, a broad-based investment firm that bets on world-class startups and partners with leading global companies across the real estate, health and wellness

<p>Considered the NFL’s greatest undrafted player of all time, Kurt Warner and his incredible life story inspired the major motion picture <em>American Underdog</em>.</p><p>Kurt Warner, though undrafted, had an extraordinary NFL career. He led the St. Louis Rams to victory and was named Super Bowl MVP, among many other honors. And he’s paid his success forward, tenfold—founding both a nonprofit charity and a living community for young adults with disabilities, inspired by his son, Zachary.

<p>Drawing from his remarkable career as one of the most successful NBA coaches and players of all time, Steve Kerr provides lessons in leadership, overcoming adversity, and the importance of giving back.</p><p>Few professional coaches have had a career—or a life—as inspiring as Steve Kerr’s. Currently head coach of the Golden State Warriors and USA Basketball Men’s National Team, he is a nine-time NBA champion, having won five titles as a player and four as a head coach.

<p>“Business turnaround king” and TV personality Marcus Lemonis inspires audiences to wake up the self-starter, the go-getter and the entrepreneur that is in all of us.</p><p>Though best known as the star of <em>The Profit</em> and other business and lifestyle reality shows, Marcus Lemonis was a self-made business success long before he became a star for CNBC and HGTV. </p><p>Marcus honed his entrepreneurial spirit while working at his family&#39;s automotive dealership as a young man.