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The program

This is more than a conference. It is an intentional, high-altitude retreat designed to expand your vision and deepen your capacity to lead. Through a thoughtful blend of deep reflection, skill building, and immersive learning, you will return to your organization truly transformed.

session

overviews

Keynotes

Laura Miele, President, EA Entertainment & Central Development

Leading is never easy — and it’s especially demanding at Electronic Arts right now, as the company undergoes a historic $55B take-private transaction.

Laura balances performance with humanity through a specific, well-honed set of internal tools that create grounding and steadiness when uncertainty rules the day. In our opening keynote, she’ll share her practices and how she uses them — offering a roadmap for building your own internal regulation.

Nick Heddy, President and Chief Commerce Officer, Pax8

Pax8 is a $3B cloud-based business marketplace built to challenge convention — not to follow trends, but to help an industry move faster and think bigger. Nick has been there since day one, growing the company from 12 employees to over 2,000, and from $0 to $3B, without losing that founding spirit.

In this session, he shares how staying true to his values and inner compass has kept both his own and the company’s true north intact.

(Followed by a short fireside chat with Nick, Laura, and Hal.)

Isa Gucciardi PhD, Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream
Joanna Adler PsyD, Co-Founder Leadership Landing & Faculty Foundation of the Sacred Stream

Burnout isn’t just exhaustion. At its core, it’s a loss of power—a depletion of the capacity to show up fully as leaders. Often, the source of this loss comes from living and leading out of alignment with our core values. Here, we’ll explore the role values play in sustainable leadership—and how subtle misalignment can tacitly drain clarity, confidence, and effectiveness.

Through reflection and guided meditation, you’ll reconnect with the values that matter most to you, so you can lead with clarity, integrity, and renewed vitality.

Transformative Trailheads

Our Outdoor Guides

You’ll chose between an array of professionally guided outdoor experiences in the Telluride Mountains — Mountain hikes, e-bike tours, a Jeep excursion, and more. Far from recreational add-ons, these experiences serve as living leadership case studies that you’ll then unpack with your outdoor guides in Tuesday morning’s opening panel, drawing direct connections to your own leadership challenges back home.

Tuesday Opening Panel

Our Outdoor Guides

Leading people through uncertainty and vulnerability is tricky. During this panel, you’ll hear from the same professional outdoor guides that led Monday’s “Transformative Trailheads”. How did they quickly build trust and rapport while leading you over rocks and streams? The metaphors and takeaways will be flying as you think about your own leadership style in relationship to theirs.

Learning labs 1 & 2

Ryan Walsh, Chief Strategy Officer and Channel Chief, Pax8

The story may be a leader’s most powerful tool. At the heart of Pax8’s culture — and its story — is Ryan Walsh, a founding member of the executive team whose gift for storytelling galvanizes and focuses the organization.

In this hands-on session, Ryan breaks down the building blocks of great organizational storytelling and helps you workshop your own ideas into stories that stick.

Susan Relland, President and Board Chair, American Public Life

The name “Project Moonshot” says it all: high risk, high reward, a once-in-a-lifetime shot. When Susan and her team set out to overhaul APL’s entire client lifecycle — without disrupting current operations — only that name fit. This is the story of one company’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) in motion, built on one trusting relationship at a time.

Learning labs 3 & 4

Lauren Casentini, Founder/CEO, Resource Innovations

Passion comes easily to most of us — everyone cares about something. But turning passion into something impactful is hard. Once in a while we meet someone that has cracked this code – like Lauren Casentini.  Lauren and the teams she’s built have spent decades transforming the energy landscape, driving the shift toward greener, more efficient resourcing.

In this session, she unpacks the role determination plays in turning passion and purpose into results.

Hailey Arnold and Scott Keating, Co-Owners, The Coffee Cowboy

Did Telluride need another coffee joint? Well, heck yea it did! Especially if you ask Hailey Arnold and Scott Keating. Facing skepticism from some surprising places, they leaned on their own conviction.

In this session, 2 of the coolest entrepreneurs you’ll ever have the chance to hear from share their story of grit, drive and a model of success that can support you on your journey.

Learning labs 5 & 6

Brian Ciciora, Founder and Chairperson, TRUEWERK

Founders can reach an inflection point: prepare a successor or hold the role. One path can open the next stage of growth — for the company and for the founder. The other can lead to stagnation and limitation.

Brian, now on the other side of a successful transition, shares how self-reflection, a deliberate process, and strong Board relationships shaped both his and TRUEWERK’s next chapter.

Michael Burchell, CEO, Great Place to Work Middle East

For more than 40 years, Great Place to Work Institute has researched what makes the world’s best workplaces — drawing on the voice of over 20 million employees across 180 countries each year. At the center of that research: trust as the foundation of culture. Michael shares what that means in practice, with a framework for leading your own organization’s culture journey

Closing Keynote

Hal Adler, CEO, Leadership Landing 

Watch a conductor lead a choir or orchestra, and you’ll notice something beyond the beat — a subtle, constant exchange of vision, purpose, collaboration, trust, transparency, and execution between conductor and ensemble. In this closing, immersive session, Hal and the Telluride Choral Society turn that exchange into a live metaphor for leading teams. All of the subtleties, challenges, complexities, and joy of leadership and followership will come to life in this not-to-be-missed learning environment.

TRANSFORMATIVE

experiences

Via Ferrata: Leading on the Edge

Clipped to steel cables along sheer cliffs, the Via Ferrata forces leaders to confront fear, trust the system, and commit fully to each step forward. This is not just a climb — it’s a masterclass in risk management, calculated decision-making, and trust under pressure. Leaders learn to embrace discomfort, focus in high-stakes moments, and push through fear with clarity — exactly what modern leadership demands.

Mountain Hike:
Endurance, Vision, and Team Pace

Ascending a mountain trail is leadership in motion. Some move quickly, others need encouragement, and the group only succeeds if it reaches the summit together. Hiking becomes a living metaphor for strategic pacing, resilience, and the balance between individual drive and collective progress. At elevation, leaders practice zooming out to see the bigger picture while still managing the small steps underfoot.

E-Bike Tour:
Innovation, Momentum, and Adaptability

On an e-bike, the pedal assist changes the game: you still pedal, but the innovation accelerates what you can accomplish. Leaders experience firsthand how technology doesn’t replace effort — it amplifies it. The ride illustrates lessons in leveraging innovation, adapting to new tools, and understanding when to conserve energy vs. when to accelerate. Leaders return with clarity on how to adopt disruption without losing authenticity.

JEEP TOUR

Get out in the rugged beauty and rich history of the San Juan Mountains. Take a thrilling ride through rugged landscapes while learning about the rich history, geology and wildlife of the area.

Historical Tour:
Context, Perspective, and Legacy

Walking through history reveals that every generation faced disruption, reinvention, and moments of choice. A historical tour becomes more than sightseeing; it’s a mirror for modern leadership, showing how past leaders navigated uncertainty, built communities, and left legacies that still shape today. Participants reflect on their own leadership timeline: What stories will be told of their decisions? What kind of legacy are they building now?

travel & lodging

Getting to Telluride

Your leadership journey begins the moment you set your sights on the San Juan Mountains. While Telluride may feel like a world away, it’s remarkably accessible.

by air

The nearest airport is Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), just 65 miles from Telluride with nonstop service from major U.S. hubs. Shuttles, private transfers, and rental cars are available for the scenic 75-minute drive into town.

by car

For those driving in, the journey is part of the experience — winding mountain roads open into breathtaking views as you approach the valley.

By Private Charter

Leaders seeking direct access can also fly into Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), just 10 minutes from downtown and the conference venues.

Accomodations

This conference is more than a schedule of sessions — it’s an immersive experience. Staying in Telluride keeps you at the center of it all: fireside dialogues after dark, sunrise hikes, and impromptu conversations with fellow leaders who may just become future collaborators.



We’ve curated a selection of accommodations designed to match the caliber of the Summit experience.

Our Hotel Partner

We’re excited to share that our home for the summit will be the stunning Madeline Hotel. Widely regarded as the most beautiful property in Telluride—and recently named the only Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Resort in town—the Madeline offers a setting that matches the sophistication of our speakers, the depth of our content, and the caliber of our guests.

To Book your room at our negotiated rate, please click here, call the Madeline directly (877-797-9806), or email reservations at [email protected].

If you’re calling or emailing, please mention that you’re in Telluride for the Leadership Summit.

Our negotiated rate applies to not just the conference dates, but also the 3 days before and after. So, make a trip of it if you like!

schedule &

pricing

schedule:

4:00-8:00  Registration booth

6:00-7:30  Welcome reception

7:30-8:45 Breakfast

9:00-9:45 Opening Keynote: Laura Miele – My Leadership Journey at EA

9:45-10:30 Keynote: Nick Heddy – Leading Through Hypergrowth with Heart and Soul

10:30-10:45 Refreshment Break- Offered by Coffee Cowboy

10:45-11:15 Fireside chat with Laura and Nick with breakout facilitated discussion

11:15-12:05 Keynote: Isa Gucciardi- Burnout; A Crisis of Inner Alignment

12:15-1:00 Lunch at the Madeline

1:30-5:30 Transformative Trailheads

7:00-8:30 Dinner Reception

7:45-8:45 Breakfast

9:00-9:45 Panel discussion: Our Outdoor Guides- Leading on the Edge

10:00-11:10 Learning Labs 1 and 2: Ryan Walsh- The Power of Storytelling or Susan Relland- Leading Change through Trust

11:10-11:30 Refreshment Break- Offered by Coffee Cowboy

11:30-12:40 Learning Labs 3 and 4: Lauren Casentini- Purpose+ Determination or Hailey Arnold and Scott Keating- Just Say Yes

12:45-1:45 Lunch

1:45-2:55 Learning Labs 5 and 6: Brian Ciciora- The Crossroads: CEO Succession: Self Awareness as the Building Block or Michael Burchell- Creating a Great Place to Work- The Why and the How

2:55-3:15 Break

3:15 Meet at the Gondola for dinner and closing Keynote in Telluride

4:00-6:00 Leading Performance, 6:00 bar reception, 6:30- 8:00 dinner and event close

pricing:

Spring/Summer Tier Pricing through August 15th 2026: $3600

Focused access for leaders seeking balance.

A comprehensive package offering the core transformational elements of the Summit, with flexibility for those seeking structured learning and powerful connections without the full premium add-ons.

Includes:

  • Access to all keynote sessions, immersive labs, and fireside dialogues
  • Your choice of transformative experiences
  • Access to conference networking events & curated peer sessions
  • Digital library of session recordings and resource

Spring/Summer Tier Pricing through August 15th 2026: $1500

Includes both conference dinners and networking events.

Summit keynotes and learning labs are not included with this add-on pricing.