MAIN STAGE & BREAKTHROUGH SESSIONS
Senior Growth Marketer for Latin America and WhatsApp at HighLevel
Emmanuel Ugude is the Senior Growth Marketer for AI Products at HighLevel, where he leads go-to-market strategy for the company’s growing suite of AI-powered solutions.
Before joining HighLevel in 2023, Emmanuel built, scaled and successfully sold his own company using HighLevel as the foundation of his business. That firsthand experience gives him a unique perspective on the challenges customers face and the opportunities the platform creates.
A core part of Emmanuel’s role is creating educational resources that help HighLevel customers succeed with AI. From product launches and enablement programs to webinars, tutorials, documentation and strategic content, he focuses on making AI practical, approachable and actionable for agencies and businesses of all sizes.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 1:
“5 Things Winning Businesses Do Differently”
What do the world’s fastest-growing businesses have in common? HighLevel has the data to answer that. We analyzed patterns across millions of businesses to find what actually separates businesses that scale from those that grind, and exactly how AI makes the whole system run 24/7.
Discover the 5 step framework that winning businesses use to attract more leads, close more sales and grow with AI-powered systems. You’ll leave with a practical roadmap to identify the biggest gaps in your business and know exactly where to apply AI and automation for the fastest impact.
Leadership Expert, Speaker, Author, and Founder of LGC Consulting and Co-Founder of 10|TEN Project
Tyler Reagin is a leadership expert, a sought-after speaker, author, and founder of LGC Consulting and co-founder of 10|TEN Project. He specializes in transformative leadership and personal growth, offering consulting services and speaking engagements that inspire change. Renowned for his dynamic presentations and practical insights, Reagin’s book, The Life-Giving Leader, and his work at LGC Consulting reflect his commitment to empowering leaders and fostering thriving teams.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 1:
“Life-Giving Leadership-Learning to Lead From Your True Self”
What separates good leaders from great leaders? The flow of leadership. This session will address the practical ways to ensure you’re leading outwards to the people you’ve been entrusted to lead!
Breakthrough Session Block 1:
“Building Life-Giving Teams”
How do we apply the principles of being a Life-Giving Leader to our team development? This session will do a deep dive into building teams that avoid counterfeit wins to be high-performing.
Founder, OwenCo Solutions · Vistage Chair
Chris Owen helped lead one of the fastest university growth runs in the country — from 2,400 students to more than 12,000 — rising from dean of students to chief operating officer along the way. He aligned the senior leadership team through that entire run and carried the institution through COVID without losing growth momentum.
Today, as founder of OwenCo Solutions and a Vistage Chair, he advises CEOs, founders, and their teams on the discipline behind that growth — developing talent and aligning people, culture, and systems so an organization stops working harder in different directions and starts breaking through together.
On stage, Chris speaks from the field, not the sidelines.His signature keynote, The 5 Disciplines of Breakthrough Leaders, is built on what he’s learned scaling organizations and advising more than 50 CEOs and founders of successful companies. You’ll get a proven system for leading with clear vision, expectations, and outcomes — and for growing yourself and the people you lead. You’ll leave with a plan, not just inspiration.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 1:
“5 Traits of a Breakthrough Leader: What Breakthrough CEOs are Really Looking For in Their Rising Leaders”
Every CEO says they want to develop the next generation of leaders. Few can name exactly what they’re looking for — and fewer still know if the people they’re grooming actually have it.
Drawing on years of working inside boardrooms and Vistage peer groups with CEOs across industries, Chris Owen breaks down the five mindsets and behaviors that separate leaders who get handed bigger responsibility from leaders who plateau. This isn’t a list of soft skills or leadership platitudes — it’s a field-tested framework for what breakthrough performance actually looks like at the next level, and how rising leaders can start building it now.
Vice President of Business & Economic Development at Suncoast Credit Union
Lady Alisha Martin serves as the Vice President of Business & Economic Development at Suncoast Credit Union, where she leads strategic initiatives that expand access to capital, strengthen business and community partnerships, and create economic opportunity across Florida. With more than two decades in financial services, she is recognized for building collaborative partnerships that help businesses, entrepreneurs, and communities thrive.
Her leadership philosophy was shaped by extraordinary resilience. After a life-altering automobile accident left her wheelchair-bound for years, she rebuilt her life around a simple but powerful mantra: “If I can get myself out of a wheelchair, I can do this. If you can get yourself out of bed, you can do this.” Today, that mindset fuels her work as a leader, speaker, author, and mentor.
Recognized for her distinctive personal style as much as her strategic leadership, Lady Alisha has built a brand that challenges conventional expectations of executive leadership. Her signature fashion, often featuring bold, handcrafted designs and unexpected artistic elements, reflects the same creativity, confidence, and innovation she brings to the boardroom. She believes authenticity is a leadership advantage and embracing what makes you different creates stronger connections, inspires fresh thinking, and encourages others to lead with confidence. For Lady Alisha, style isn’t about standing out for attention. It’s about standing firm in who you are and giving others permission to do the same.
A sought-after keynote speaker and community advocate, Lady Alisha serves on numerous nonprofit and civic boards, championing workforce development, financial literacy, and economic empowerment. Her mission is simple: inspire others to lead boldly, embrace their uniqueness, and turn adversity into opportunity.
Sessions
Breakthrough Session Block 1:
“Show Me the Money (Even Jerry Maguire Needed a Lender)”
Access to capital isn’t guarded by a secret society, but it sure feels like it. In this session, we’ll give you the decoder ring and a clear path to yes.
Mainstage Session Block 3:
“Well…That Wasn’t In the Business Plan: The Art of the Pivot”
Business plan gone sideways? Perfect. Lady Alisha Martin takes you on a wildly funny and deeply practical ride through her own plot twists and the pivots that saved real businesses. Expect hard earned lessons, laugh out loud honesty, and simple tools to turn ‘well that wasn’t in the business plan’ moments into momentum.
Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Founder of New Light Consultants
Nick Melillo is an entrepreneur, business coach, and Founder of New Light Consultants. He has spent the last 15 years building businesses, leading sales teams, and personally closing millions of dollars in high-ticket sales.
Before age 30, Nick had built three companies to more than $1 million in revenue. Since launching New Light Consultants, he has coached a fourth business across that same threshold while helping business owners improve profitability, increase close rates, reduce overhead, and build stronger companies.
Nick excels at turning complicated business ideas into clear next steps. He combines practical experience with curiosity, humor, and a willingness to ask the questions that help business owners see their challenges differently.
Whether he is coaching one-on-one or teaching a room full of entrepreneurs, Nick’s goal is simple: help business owners see what is possible and find a clearer path to get there.
Sessions
Breakthrough Session Block 1:
“Stop Trying to Sell Everyone: A Better Way to Find the Right Customers and Close More Business”
Most business owners don’t hate sales. They hate what sales has taught them to become. In this session, Nick Melillo will show you how to stop trying to convince everyone, identify the right customers, and lead sales conversations that build trust, solve real problems, and close more business without pressure or manipulation.
Professor of Marketing at Southeastern University, Founder of HotMod Influencer Marketing Agency, Co-Founder of The Influencer Academy
Nicole is an influencer marketing educator and speaker like her most recent partnership hosting with the American Marketing Association in Tampa and hosting live webinars with SCORE Mentors about partnering with hyper-local influencers to grow your business.
As a Professor of Marketing at Southeastern University, she launched the first-ever Influencer Marketing Minor in the country, bringing academic credibility to an industry that has largely been figure-it-out-yourself. She’s not just teaching the future of marketing; she helped build it.
She has led national campaigns for brands like NASCAR, Camping World, and Sun Outdoors, and collaborated with top tourism boards including Visit Central Florida, the Dept. of Tourism for Pigeon Forge, and Visit Lake Havasu. Along the way, she has built out influencer programs, trained internal teams, and coached hundreds of content creators on how to pitch, price, and turn their platforms into real businesses.
Armed with an MBA in Executive Leadership and a background in tech, Nicole blends business acumen with creative strategy to educate the industry and elevate the standard for what influencer marketing can be.
Sessions
Breakthrough Sessions Blocks 1 & 2:
“Break Through the Noise: How Small Businesses Can Grow Through Influencer Marketing”
Discover how small businesses can use influencer marketing to build visibility, reach the right customers, and create authentic connections online. Professor and agency founder Nicole Bradham will share practical strategies for finding the right creators, developing effective partnerships, and turning creator content into business growth—without needing a massive marketing budget.
Speaker, Leadership Trainer, and Coach
Troy C. Smith is a speaker, leadership trainer and coach with more than 24 years of corporate leadership experience. A former top-ranked sales manager and Countrywide Sales Training Manager at GEICO, Troy has mentored nearly 100 emerging leaders and is the creator of the Teach, Model & Coach leadership framework.
Through HOPE-driven servant leadership, he helps executives, organizations and growing businesses build stronger teams by leading with greater clarity, connection and purpose.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 2:
“The Leadership Lie Nobody Warned You About”
Most leaders spend years chasing titles, promotions, and success, only to discover that the very things they believed would create fulfillment, often leave them feeling disconnected and unprepared to lead real change.
Through powerful stories of adversity, purpose, and servant leadership, Troy C. Smith challenges the hidden assumptions many leaders have accepted, and reveals how intentional leadership unlocks growth, transforms teams, and creates lasting impact.
Breakthrough Session Block 2:
“Change Your Words. Change Your Culture. Change Your Life.”
Description: The most powerful force in any organization is not strategy, talent, or technology; it’s communication. Every conversation either builds trust or creates tension. It also inspires growth, or fuels disengagement. In this interactive breakout session, Troy C. Smith combines neuroscience, storytelling, and servant leadership principles to reveal how our words shape culture, influence performance, strengthen relationships, and ultimately change lives.
Participants will discover practical tools to communicate more effectively, retain top talent, strengthen team culture, and create environments, regardless of either being in the office or at home, where people feel seen, heard, and valued.
Leadership, Communication & Mental Performance Coach
Dr. Scott Williams, better known as Dr. Scott, is an internationally sought-after leadership strategist, best-selling author, keynote speaker, executive advisor, communication coach, and creator of The Mental Advantage™, a leadership and performance framework built on the ten disciplines that separate the elite from the average.
Known for uncovering the hidden architecture behind elite performance, Dr. Scott advises Fortune 500 companies, CEOs, senior executives, universities, championship athletes, coaches, and professional sports organizations. He helps leaders and organizations develop the clarity, discipline, and execution required to thrive under pressure and perform at the highest level because elite performance isn’t random. It’s built.
A respected leader in both the business and faith communities, Dr. Scott serves on numerous boards of directors, including the Board of Directors of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.
Whether speaking to thousands from the stage, coaching executives one-on-one, or advising leadership teams behind the scenes, Dr. Scott equips leaders and organizations with the disciplines that create lasting success.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 2:
“The Mental Advantage™: What Separates the Elite from the Average”
What separates elite performers from everyone else? Not talent. Discipline. This session reveals the mental architecture behind how the world’s best think, decide, and execute, giving you practical tools to elevate your performance, strengthen your team, and deliver when it matters most.
Breakthrough Session Block 2:
“From Potential to Performance: The Disciplines That Close the Gap”
Potential is common. Elite execution is rare. When pressure rises, you do not rise to your intentions. You default to what you have built. This practical deep dive into The Mental Advantage™ reveals how to build the disciplines that move you and your team from untapped potential to sustained elite performance.
4th Generation Cobbler, Owner of McFarland’s Shoe Repair
Jim McFarland is the master craftsman who owns McFarland’s Shoe Repair in Lakeland, Florida. A fourth generation cobbler, Jim has been mending soles since 1986 when he took over the business from his father.
Recognized as one of the world’s best cobblers, Jim has received nearly 20 awards for craftsmanship in the United States and Europe, including the prestigious Grand Silver Cup from the Shoe Service Institute of America. He is a leader in his industry having served nearly 20 years on SSIA’s board of directors, including three as president.
Jim might be best known by his social media handle, America’s Cobbler. He has built a following of nearly three million people with his engaging, informational videos showing his work and his level of expertise. His unique story has been featured in local and national media, including NBC Nightly News, Fox and Friends and The Wall Street Journal.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 2:
“America’s Cobbler: A Story of Resilience and Craftsmanship”
Expo Host Chris Owen Interviews Jim McFarland, 4th Generation Cobbler, Master Craftsman and Owner of McFarland’s Shoe Repair in Lakeland, Florida.
Founder of MosierData, Speaker, and Consultant
Jim Mosier is the founder of MosierData and a two-time published author, including “AI Without The Hype: Scaling Your Business Without Losing Your Soul.” A career software engineer, business advocate, and marketer, Jim spends his time helping real companies solve real problems with technology, whether AI is part of the answer or not.
A regular speaker and consultant working with companies across Florida, Jim skips the slides and skips the hype. His sessions are hands-on and live, and the audience does the work instead of just watching it happen.
Sessions
Breakthrough Session Block 2:
“ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok: Four Tools, Two Problems, No Script”
Guaranteed to be the most interactive workshop of the expo. Come ready to think, not just sit.
We’re crowdsourcing a real problem straight from the room, then turning four AI tools loose on it at the same time: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok, live, head to head, no script. Then we raise the stakes and do it again with images: same prompt, four tools, one screen, watch them go.
No slides. No pitch. No lesson you’ll forget by lunch. You’ll see good prompts and bad ones, short and long, a rough first try and the refined version that actually worked. By the end of this hour, you won’t just have heard about AI. You’ll have watched it get tested in real time, on a real problem, and walked out knowing exactly which tool to reach for next, and something about how to ask it that you didn’t know walking in.
Nationally-Recognized Mortgage Leader, Business Coach, and Top-Producing Loan Originator
Robby Sampson is a nationally recognized mortgage leader, business coach, and top-producing loan originator with more than two decades of experience building businesses, developing people, and creating high-performance cultures. Since entering the mortgage industry in 2002, Robby has consistently ranked among the industry’s top performers and currently ranks in the top 1% of mortgage originators nationwide.
As a Divisional Partner with Neighborhood Loans, Robby has helped build an operation that started in 2011 with just Robby and one teammate into a team of more than 70 teammates producing approximately $700 million annually, ranking his division among the top 25 in the nation. At Neighborhood, Robby believes they are a professional development company that just happens to do home loans for a career—developing people first and allowing success to follow.
Robby is also a coach with GO! Coaching, where he helps mortgage professionals grow their businesses through leadership, sales, marketing, systems, and execution. Robby and his wife, Sherrie, also operate The Rock Sports Lab, a faith-based sports performance facility focused on developing young athletes on and off the field. They live in Winter Haven, Florida, and have three children, Haley, Abby, and Trey. At the center of everything Robby does is a commitment to faith, family, leadership, and helping people become more than they believed they could be.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 3:
“A Crew Captain, Compass, and a Calling”
Breakthrough rarely happens alone. In this energizing keynote, Robby Sampson will challenge business owners and leaders to consider the four essentials needed to move forward with clarity and purpose: the right crew around you, a captain or coach who provides accountability and direction, a compass to guide your decisions, and a calling that keeps you grounded when the journey gets difficult.
Because owning or leading a business does not mean you always have to be at the helm. Sometimes the strongest next step is to put your hands up, receive guidance, and allow a trusted captain to help lead the way.
Come ready to be encouraged, challenged, and equipped to break through the barriers holding you, your team, or your business back—and take the next step toward where you are called to go.
Local Entrepreneur & Multi-Unit Retail Business Owner, Pate ACE Home & Hardware
Jason has spent more than 17 years leading, developing, and building multi-unit retail businesses across the furniture and hardware industries. Under his leadership, his furniture company earned a place among the nation’s top 100 furniture retailers, reaching $53 million in total revenue in 2022.
Today, Jason is building a multi-location retail organization through Pate ACE Home & Hardware. His experience also includes managing several family businesses, including fruit purchasing and distribution through a citrus company recognized as Tropicana’s Grower of the Year for three consecutive years, an over-the-road hauling company that became Florida’s second-largest fruit hauler, as well as commercial and residential real estate management and investments . Throughout his career, Jason has been involved in numerous other entrepreneurial ventures, including companies specializing in sheds and golf carts.
Before entering the business world, Jason served in the United States Marine Corps and spent approximately 10 years in law enforcement. During his career, he served as a SWAT tactical commander and sniper, worked in gang and street-crimes units, and served as an undercover agent with a HIDTA/DEA Task Force. He was also a firearms and tactical-combat instructor and participated in numerous high-risk tactical operations.
Jason is an open book about both his successes and his failures. He is an entrepreneur, husband, father, veteran, and leader with a genuine desire to help others discover and fulfill their God-given callings.
Jason and his wife, Courtney, are the proud parents of four children: Justin, who is currently serving in the United States Marine Corps; Charlie, who is enrolled in the Honors Program at the University of North Florida; and their two younger children, J.P. and Camden.
Jason and Courtney have strong ties throughout their community and are actively involved with numerous charitable organizations. Together, they also manage the Pate Family Foundation and hope to expand its impact in the years ahead by becoming even more deeply involved in their community through service and charitable giving.
Sessions
Main Stage Session Block 3:
“One Story of Resilience and Business Growth in the Face of Challenges”
Expo Host Chris Owen Interviews Jason Pate, Local Entrepreneur & Multi-Unit Retail Business Owner, Pate ACE Home & Hardware in Winter Haven and various cities across Central Florida
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