Morning Keynote Speaker –Steve Duncanson
Topic: “Seven (7) Laws of Personal Growth”
Stephen P. Duncanson (″Steve″) has been actively involved in the process of positively impacting the hearts and minds of people, both young and old for more than 20 years. From an early age, he recognized his unique ability to communicate a message and create a picture that would cause people to challenge their present state of being. He believes that ″if you can help people see themselves beyond where they presently are, to where they ultimately want to be, you can be successful in helping them shape their very destiny″.
Steve’s background and accompanying strong personal values taught him early in his journey that everything and everyone in life has a purpose. His pursuit of that purpose led him to become a member of the New York City Police Department, after majoring in Police Science at Manhattan’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Steve retired as a highly decorated member of the N.Y.P.D. in the rank of Sergeant in the late 90’s and was recruited to work as the Chief of Staff for Outbound Operations, for a major not-for-profit organization. This position afforded him the opportunity to travel and speak to audiences throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, Australia and Singapore.
Steve is now the president of his own company, True Destiny Communications; where his primary focus is leadership training, personal development and what he calls, “motivational teaching”. In addition, he is the co-author of the book; “Unleash the Leader within You”, a member of the Les Brown Speaker’s Bureau, a founding member of The John Maxwell Speaker, Trainer & Coaching Team, as well as a highly sought-after corporate trainer with one of the largest professional development seminar companies in the world.
Steve’s philosophy of being is predicated on the simple principle that ″the only way to impact society corporately, is by impacting people, individually.″
Register on-line at:
Conference Cost:
Before 11:45 pm on 4/15/14
PMI Member$200.00
Non-Member $260.00
After 11:46 pm on 4/15/14
PMI Member $260.00
Non-Member $320.00
*no walk-ins will be permitted this year
Lunch Keynote Speaker –Naomi Silver
Topic: “Diamond’s” Are a Community’s Best Friend
Naomi Silver, the Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Rochester Community Baseball, has baseball in her blood. She is the only daughter of Morrie Silver, the man who saved baseball in Rochester in 1957. She began as an intern with the Red Wings in the early ‘90’s, learning the business from the ground up before taking on a variety of roles including management of the team store and the concessions operation. She was paramount in spearheading the move from Silver Stadium to Frontier Field, as well as the decision to align with the Minnesota Twins. She has been recognized with numerous local and national awards for her work with the ball club, including the Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year Award. Like her parents, Naomi has always found time to give back to the community, serving on many not-for-profit boards in the Rochester area. Naomi has been the driving force behind the growth and success of the Red Wings as we know them today.
Afternoon Keynote Speaker – Steve Wilson
Leadership - Game DayLeaders do not have the luxury of practice days to prepare us to lead. Every day is our “Game Day.”
STEVEN WILSON has 25+ years’ experience in project and program management for leading global technology and enterprise services companies. He has consulted to senior leaders and leadership teams in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups and nonprofits. Currently, Steve serves as a Program Manager/Sr. Project Manager at BoschSecurity Systems with portfolio oversight of projects to be delivered over multiple years.
Steve is Co-founder and President of Journey Training Institute, LLC. Specializing in project
Management and leadership training. Steve is the Principal Consultant and Lead Instructor on
leadership and project management.
PMP® certified in 2003, Steve has successfully delivered PMP® and CAPM® Certification Exam
Prep training for over 1,000 PMs in North and South America and Europe.
Steve is often invited to speak at PMI chapters and organizations on leadership, teamdynamics, and practical application in project management.
Steve authored a book titled: “Leadership Spirit” A Collection of Leadership Applications ForPracticing Leaders, Project and Program Managers.
Steve holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Education and worked as a professional educator for 14 years.
Suzy Ahrens
Topic: Agile - A practical method using Kanban
Suzy Ahrens has been serving the PMI Rochester chapter since 2009. Suzy first joined as the Director of Communications and then from 2010-2013 served as the VP of Communications, Marketing and Social Media. Suzy has recently stepped back into the Director of Communications role. Suzy is responsible for email communications and supporting the Chapter’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Suzy began her career as a programmer and systems analyst where she focused on benchmarking, requirements development, scripting, black- and white-box testing and various other validation test efforts. In 2012 Suzy became the first person in the PMI Rochester community to earn her PMI-ACP certification, recognizing her as a Practitioner in Agile Project Management.
Melisza Campos
Topic: What's Your Style and Their Style? How to communicate effectively to individuals based on their behavior style.
Melisza Campos is the Vice President of Operations and Instruction for the Dale Carnegie Rochester office. She is a multi-course certified Dale Carnegie Master Trainer. Only 2% of worldwide Dale Carnegie trainers reach this level of distinction. In 2009, she was ranked in the Top 10 trainers in the US and top 15 in the world. She has also been honored to present multiple times at the Dale Carnegie global convention in the past and share best practices the Rochester office has initiated. Clients have described her as an engaging, charismatic and energetic trainer, coach and speaker. 7 years working with groups in all settings -corporate, small businesses, not-for-profit and government. Melisza is an international award winner in quality instruction and consulting.
Heather Hanson O’Neil
Teams on Fire-Transforming your group into a more productive, profitable and motivated team
Heather Hansen O'Neill is an award winning speaker, author, and connection expert presenting to organizations and corporations on team development, productivity, leadership and transition. Heather is a certified DiSC facilitator, certified corporate coach, host of The Inspired Team Leader radio show and Community Forum TV show, creator of Adventure to Connection and Stop the Violence, Embrace the Children. Heather offers keynote speeches, workshops, executive coaching, webinars, CDs, DVDs and her books Find Your Fire at Forty: Creating a Joyful Life During the Age of Discontent and Teams on Fire!Transforming Your Group into a More Productive, Profitable, and Motivated Team. More information on Heather and her programs can be found at
COL (Ret) John J. Perrone Jr.
Topic: Facing Challenges conducting US long term detention operations in a Communist Country
John Perrone is the Director of the Homeland Security Management Institute and Monroe Community College. The institute’s primary role is training and education for first responders and others who play a role in homeland security. Colonel Perrone served as the Commanding Officer and Camp Commandant of Internal and External Security Forces at the al Qaeda Terrorist Detention Facility, Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during 2002. COL Perrone received his military commission from Officer Candidate School (OCS). He holds a Master’s Degree in public administration from the State University of New York at Brockport. He is a graduate of the 124th Session of the FBI National Academy and later served as president of the FBI National Academy Associates of New York State and Eastern Canada.
Beth Sears
Topic: Workplace Communication
Workplace Communication, Inc. is a culmination of over 30 years in the work world in which Beth has been helping individuals and organizations to improve their organizational and interpersonal performance through improved communication, understanding and focus. Beth is a mix of diverse workplace experience and continuing education. After retiring from General Motors she earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the University at Buffalo, and this, coupled with her 18 years as an adjunct instructor for Cornell Industrial Labor Relations School has helped her to integrate knowledge with real world experience. Her focus is to help leadership develop a culture where people feel valued and heard which emanated from research interviewing Fortune’s Great Places to Work Executives from around the United States. The goal is to help leadership understand how to engage their people and hang on to their star performers.