Dr. Liza Dadone

Dr. Liza Dadone is a zoo veterinarian at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo where she works with one of the largest herds of reticulated (particular patterned) giraffe in North America and an incredibly innovative team. Training giraffe to voluntarily participate in their own medical care has opened doors to developing novel treatments and life-saving therapies. Even though giraffe can be found at many zoos, wild giraffe find an uncertain future, as they are already locally extinct in seven countries in Africa. In recent years, the zoo community has rallied to raise awareness and join the front lines of giraffe conservation to help ensure a future for giraffe.

Pia Silva

Pia Silva is the boss of her own business, the branding agency Worstofall Design, known for their irreverent offering to “Badass Your Brand Without The BS.” Author of a book by that same name with the subtitle: The Impatient Entrepreneur’s Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit. Fiercely individualistic, she has always opted to do things her way over the “right” way — including unapologetically speaking her mind in spaces that favor the status quo and playing it safe. As a self-proclaimed small business know-it-all, who has been there and done that, today Pia schools experts, who know-it-all about what they do, on everything they DON’T. She is a Forbes contributor on small business and hosts an unfiltered podcast called Show Your Business Who’s Boss. She likes to talk on stage or screen and has blown minds at spots like the Million Dollar Women Summit, Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Small Businesses and been featured on MSNBC’s Your Business.

Dr. Marc Rayman

Dr. Marc Rayman is a top rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His undergraduate degree is from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has been captivated by space since he was four years old and knew by the age of nine that he wanted to get a Ph.D. in physics and work for NASA, although it was a few more years before he did. One of his favorite moments at NASA was working on the Deep Space 1 mission. He has been responsible for exciting missions too distant, mysterious, alien destinations, sometimes using technology seemingly taken right out of science fiction. His words ring true: “Build on your strengths and don’t wait for someone else to give you a lucky break. Make your own luck.”

Karen Curry Parker

Karen Curry Parker is a best-selling author of multiple books. For almost 30 years, she has been speaking, coaching, training and podcasting about high performance living, touching close to 100,000 lives around the world. Her core mission is to help people live the life they were designed to live by discovering who they are, what they are here to do, and how to activate their potential and authentic life path. Karen’s work has been featured on CBS, ABC, Fox News, Bloomberg Businessweek, and various radio shows and telesummits.

Dr. Lou Fletcher

Dr. Louis L. Fletcher is the Director of Culture and Services for El Paso County Colorado School District 49. He is responsible for developing and implementing district-wide education, outreach, and training to promote a culture of inclusion, equity, and respect. Prior to coming to District 49, he was the Campus Director of Webster University’s Denver Metro Campus where he led programs that resulted in students successfully achieving graduate degrees. He was also previously the Regional Director for the Western Region of Troy University where he was responsible for leading the academic programs offered at 10 campuses in the western United States and Northeast Asia. Dr. Fletcher served as a Space and Nuclear operations officer in the United States Air Force for 20 years in locations such as Korea, Greece, France, Germany, and various places in the US; his final assignment was as the founding dean of the Advanced Space Operations School in Colorado Springs.