CultureCon

CultureCon CultureCon believes that every individual, regardless of role, has the power to make work more meaningful for themselves and their organization. Join us!
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CultureCon® believes that every individual, regardless of role, has the power to make work more meaningful for themselves and their organization. CultureCon® creates experiences and curate meaningful connections that empower individuals to become cultural change agents. You can join our our community of Culture Geeks and support the movement toward more uplifting, fulfilling, and healthier workplaces.

06/01/2026

💡 Culture Is Built in the Hard Moments

Real culture is not built when things are easy.

It is revealed in the hard moments: reorganizations, missed targets, system transitions, mergers, budget cuts, and market pressure. Joey Williams (Healthpeak Properties, Inc.) shares why people are always watching how leaders respond and why authentic culture shows up in the messy moments.

If you want a stronger workplace culture, start by asking: Do we communicate openly? Do we own mistakes? Do we treat people with dignity?

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤We’re excited to welcome back Maggie Redling, Ed.D and Coleman Williams, Co-foun...
05/29/2026

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤

We’re excited to welcome back Maggie Redling, Ed.D and Coleman Williams, Co-founders of Wrestling With Talent, as co-presenters at CultureCon 2026!

Their session is titled: “You Don’t Need Permission to Shape Culture”

Most people care deeply about workplace culture. Far fewer feel empowered to shape it.

Too often, culture is treated as something owned by executives, HR teams, or formal initiatives. But culture is not controlled by org charts. It is shaped every day through behaviors, what gets reinforced, tolerated, clarified, and amplified.
And when people wait for permission to influence those behaviors, culture stalls.

In this interactive session, Maggie and Coleman will help attendees rethink culture as a shared leadership responsibility, regardless of title or role. Through guided reflection and practical exercises, participants will identify where they already have influence and design one meaningful culture shift they can initiate within the next 30 days.

Because culture is not owned. It is modeled!

In this session, you’ll explore how to:
✅ Recognize how everyday behaviors shape culture more powerfully than formal initiatives.
✅ Apply the Reinforce, Tolerate, Clarify, Amplify framework to influence culture from any role.
✅ Initiate one practical culture shift within the next 30 days.

About the Speakers
Maggie Redling and Coleman Williams are the cofounders of Wrestling With Talent, where they help organizations build people centered strategies that support leadership growth, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness. Together, they bring decades of experience spanning HR, talent management, learning, leadership development, communications, and organizational strategy. Their work focuses on helping companies align people practices with business goals while building cultures where individuals and teams can thrive.

🌟 CultureCon 2026
📅 August 4 - 6
📍 Madison, Wisconsin & Virtual





05/27/2026

💡 Authenticity Is Your Greatest Advantage

We sat down with Brian Confer of Capturely who shares is changing everything. But people still crave real human connection. Authenticity matters more than ever in a world of Zoom calls, digital profiles, and AI-powered tools.

Your photo, your presence, your personality all need to align.

Because when you lead with authenticity, people trust you faster, connect deeper, and remember you longer.

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤We’re excited to welcome Arianne Dowdell, Vice President, Chief Culture & Engage...
05/27/2026

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤

We’re excited to welcome Arianne Dowdell, Vice President, Chief Culture & Engagement Officer, and Anya Reed, Director, Office of Culture & Engagement at Houston Methodist, as co presenters at CultureCon 2026!

Their session is titled: “Buy In That Sticks: Building System Wide Culture Through Leadership Commitment and Employee Engagement”

Culture is not built through grand gestures. It is built through daily interactions and it sticks when leaders visibly champion it.

Drawing on their work at Houston Methodist, Arianne and Anya will share how executive commitment, employee engagement, and disciplined follow through helped turn culture into a system wide priority rather than a side project.

From employee resource groups to governance structures, sponsorship models, and leadership activation strategies, this session explores what it actually takes to build momentum that lasts.

In this session, you’ll explore how to:
✅ Secure and sustain executive buy in within complex organizations.
✅ Embed culture work across teams and functions so momentum continues over time.
✅ Activate visible leadership sponsorship that drives engagement, trust, and performance.

About the Speakers
Arianne Dowdell serves as Vice President, Chief Culture & Engagement Officer at Houston Methodist, where she leads system wide engagement strategy and culture initiatives supporting safety, quality, service, and innovation. Her background spans healthcare, higher education, communications, law, and media, and she has been recognized by organizations including Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Healthcare.

Anya Reed serves as Director, Office of Culture & Engagement at Houston Methodist, where she leads large scale initiatives supporting employees, patients, and communities. With experience spanning operations, communications, marketing, and stakeholder engagement, Anya brings a strategic and practical perspective to building culture at scale.

🌟 CultureCon 2026
📅 August 4 - 6
📍 Madison, Wisconsin & Virtual

05/26/2026

Your email signature can do more than share your title. It can set a cultural tone.

Sam Simmons shares the simple line she includes in her signature: “Your workday may not look like my workday. Don’t feel obligated to respond outside of your work hours.”

It is a small message with a big impact, giving people permission to protect their time, honor their boundaries, and work in a way that supports real wellbeing.

Watch the full conversation with Sam Simmons on The CultureCon Podcast.

05/22/2026

At CultureCon’s AI Summit, Daniel Raffield of Karrikins Group asked a powerful question:

“What feels possible with AI today that felt unimaginable just a few years ago?”

Katie Grillaert of Assessed Intelligence pointed out something many of us are feeling right now:

What seemed impossible 6 months ago is already becoming reality.

The pace of AI advancement is exciting. And honestly, a little scary too.

The question is no longer just “What can AI do?”
It’s “How do we want to shape it?”

Because just because AI can be embedded into everything doesn’t necessarily mean it should be.

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤We’re excited to welcome Kisha Smith, MBA, PHR, SVP, Chief People Officer at Tep...
05/22/2026

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤

We’re excited to welcome Kisha Smith, MBA, PHR, SVP, Chief People Officer at Tepper Sports & Entertainment, as a speaker at CultureCon 2026!

Her session is titled: “Where to Begin: A Startup Approach to Culture, Inclusion, and Belonging”

In fast moving organizations, culture does not happen by accident.

It is built through intentional choices.

Whether launching a startup, building a new initiative, or leading change within an established organization, the earliest decisions shape how people experience work for years to come.

In this session, Kisha explores how organizations can apply a startup mindset to culture, inclusion, and belonging by embedding these values into the foundation of work from the very beginning.

In this session, you’ll explore how to:
✅ Apply a startup mindset to culture building and embed belonging from day one.
✅ Make values driven decisions that strengthen connection, motivation, and inclusion.
✅ Scale culture and belonging practices as teams and organizations grow.

About the Speaker:
Kisha Smith serves as SVP, Chief People Officer at Tepper Sports & Entertainment, supporting the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte FC, and Bank of America Stadium. Prior to joining the organization, she spent 15 years with Walmart and Sam’s Club in leadership roles spanning logistics, operations, new store openings, and field teams. Known for her authentic leadership style and commitment to meaningful dialogue, Kisha is passionate about building cultures where people feel empowered, connected, and able to do their best work.

🌟 CultureCon 2026
📅 August 4 - 6
📍 Madison, Wisconsin & Virtual

Leadership

05/21/2026

💡 Stop Giving Out Blank Checks on Your Time

“Let me know how I can help” sounds kind, but it can quietly become a blank check on your time, energy, and capacity.

At CultureCon West in Las Vegas we sat down with Sam Simmons who shared a simple but powerful reframe for HR and people-first leaders: get specific about how you can help, and give yourself permission to pause before committing.

Boundaries are not a lack of care. They are how we make care sustainable.

Watch the full conversation with Sam Simmons on The CultureCon Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-from-culturecon-west-2025-helping-the-helpers/id1826574869?i=1000768535981

05/20/2026

You’re not stuck. It just feels that way.

At CultureCon West in Las Vegas we sat down with Ellie Tumbuan, MPA, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of The Justice Collective who shared: In hard moments, especially in leadership, it’s easy to feel powerless.

But the truth is you have more agency than you think and you always have a choice.

The best leaders don’t ignore the pressure.

They learn to listen, pause, and choose intentionally. That’s where real leadership begins.





🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤We’re excited to welcome back Caleb Campbell, Head of People and Culture at Kine...
05/20/2026

🎤 CultureCon 2026 Speaker Announcement 🎤

We’re excited to welcome back Caleb Campbell, Head of People and Culture at Kinetik, as a speaker at CultureCon 2026!

His session is titled: “SOMETHING BIGGER: Take Your Culture and Impact to the Next Level Through the Power of Giving Back”

What if the way we build culture inside our organizations also created meaningful impact outside our walls?

In this energizing and interactive session, Caleb explores how giving back and corporate volunteering can become powerful drivers of connection, purpose, and engagement. Backed by research, stories, real world examples, and participant idea sharing, attendees will discover how organizations of any size can use social impact to strengthen culture while making a difference in their communities.

Because sometimes the strongest cultures are built when teams focus on something bigger than themselves.

In this session, you’ll explore how to:
✅ Connect giving back initiatives to measurable culture and engagement outcomes.
✅ Integrate social impact practices regardless of organizational size or budget.
✅ Expand your organization’s impact beyond business results alone.
✅ Implement new volunteer and community engagement ideas inspired by peers and best practices.

About the Speaker:
Caleb Campbell has spent more than 25 years helping mission minded leaders and organizations do their most impactful work. He currently serves as Head of People and Culture at Kinetik, a health tech company focused on removing transportation barriers to healthcare, and as acting President of Abba’s Pride, a nonprofit serving children in rural South Africa. Caleb has led philanthropic and volunteer efforts across the U.S. and internationally, and he is a returning CultureCon collaborator passionate about helping organizations leave the world a little better than they found it.

🌟 CultureCon 2026
📅 August 4 to 6
📍 Madison, Wisconsin & Virtual

To learn more about Caleb and his presentation, visit: https://www.cultureconusa.org/caleb-campbell

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