“It’s what you read when you don’t have to that will determine who you are when you can’t help it.” (Oscar Wilde)
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” (Margaret Fuller)
It’s often said that all great leaders are readers. John C. Maxwell talks about leadership being about influence, nothing more and nothing less. If this is the case, then in order to be more influential it makes sense that you would want to gain knowledge and a greater understanding of the world that you know and that you don’t know.
Alicia Jessop is a much sought after expert in the sports business industry. She is the founder of RulingSports.com and a sports law professor at Pepperdine University. Her expertise lies at the intersections of sports, business and the law. With a law degree from Chapman University School of Law, cum laude, with an emphasis on entertainment law and a bachelor’s of science from the Colorado School of Mines in economics, Alicia’s educational background provided her with the tools necessary to analyze some of the most pressing and complex issues facing the sports world today. This background has allowed Alicia to become a sports contributor to Forbes.com and The Huffington Post, after launching the widely read sports law website, RulingSports.com. Through covering sports on a national level, Alicia received opportunities to visit and speak with students at universities across the country. Through these opportunities, Alicia realized that her passion was teaching others about sports, business and the law. In August 2013, Alicia became a professor at the University of Miami, teaching Legal Aspects of Sport and Sport Governance. She moved on to Pepperdine University at the start of the 2017-18 school year. Alicia is an attorney licensed to practice law in California and Colorado.
Lolly Daskal is the go-to executive leadership coach for Fortune 500 companies. She has been named by Inc. Magazine as a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert. The Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of “The Most Inspiring Woman in the World”. She regularly writes for the Harvard Business Review, Inc, Fast Company, Huffington Post, and Psycholgoy Today. Her newest book is called The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness. It has appeared on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller charts. Lolly is the founder of Lead from Within, a successful leadership firm that offers custom made programs in leadership and organizational development. Lolly also has more than 1 million followers on twitter.
Glenn “Shemy” Schembechler serves as the President of GES Advisory Company. Shemy has spent the majority of his life and professional career in the football industry, growing up as the son of legendary coach Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler. He has evaluated talent for such high-level programs as the University of Michigan, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chicago Bears, the Washington Redskins, and the Seattle Seahawks. In addition to his father, Shemy has studied under accomplished coaches Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Marty Schottenheimer, and Joe Gibbs. They have all had an indelible impact on his career, and his ability to scout and recommend prospects. Shemy has been a part of many championship and playoff teams, and has been able to evaluate or recommend players that have gone on to Pro Bowl careers (Charles Woodson, Ian Gold and Tom Brady, respectively), as well as inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, and Derrick Thomas, respectively).
Bruce Lund has trained thousands of professionals all over the country as a business professor, career author, speaker, and sales trainer for more than a decade. Bruce has one basic belief that trained people consistently outperform untrained people. Because of this belief, Bruce founded the widely popular 90-Day Sales Manager™ coaching program that specializes in sales onboarding and entrepreneur training. It is essentially the P90x of sales training. He was formerly a vice-president for Micheal Burt Enterprises.
Ruston Pierce is the Head of School at highly regarded Mount Pisgah Christian School just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He was hired at Mount Pisgah in January of 2017. Ruston has created an innovative leadership development program for his staff. The RISE (Reach, Inspire, Serve, Equip) program accepts only a limited number of staff per year. Staff members have to complete an application process with the goal of finding the right staff members each year to go through the program. The program helps staff members develop their leadership skills so that they can be better in their current positions but also be more prepared for future advancement opportunities. Before coming to Mount Pisgah, Ruston spent time as the Head of School at Concord Christian School in Knoxville, TN. Concord Christian was recognized as the fastest growing private school in the city, moving from 11th to a 2nd overall ranking among private schools in Knoxville over a 3-year span as ranked by the Knoxville Business Journal. During his tenure, the school completed a strategic marketing plan, successfully renewed dual accreditation, initiated a recent capital campaign, expanded marketing and social media plans while doubling enrollment to approximately 1,200 students across all divisions. Ruston also served as the Director of Dual Enrollment at Bryan College, Director of Development and Assistant Principal at Grace Baptist Academy, Dean of Student Affairs at Silverdale Baptist Academy and as a member of the Young Life staff.