Speaker Showcase

Tuesday, November 12

FICP's Speaker Showcase has become one of the most anticipated features of the Annual Conference and offers a sneak peek at three world-class speakers in a shared general session (9:45-11:15 a.m.), followed by the opportunity to attend a full breakout session from your top spotlight speaker (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.).

Meet Our Incredible Lineup of Speakers

James Robilotta


James Robilotta

CSP, Author, Trained Improv Comedian and Entrepreneur

Represented by SpeakInc Speakers Bureau

Choosing to Care: How Authentic Curiosity Creates Community and Loyalty in the Workplace

No organization wants its people to be apathetic—toward the work, the people, or the community. Community ignites loyalty and drives retention in both in-person and hybrid workplaces and is built with one simple thing: curiosity. Curiosity is the opposite of apathy. By being more curious, we increase the amount that folks feel seen, heard, and respected and it allows colleagues to show up more as their authentic selves. In this hysterical and motivational keynote we will talk about how to ask better questions, change the way we hear people’s stories and insights, and adapt the mindset of curiosity. Let’s stop the apathy and the assuming and start learning about each other because curiosity creates community.

James Robilotta, CSP, is a leadership author, motivational speaker, emcee, and trained improv comedian. After years of building, training and leading teams, James followed an entrepreneurial dream and built two successful businesses. The first is an organization that incorporates freestyle rap into improv comedy (a success story for another day). And the second is his speaking and coaching business (a success story for today). 

James has been speaking internationally to willing and unwilling audiences since 2009 and has found that quality humor is the secret to hosting powerful conversations that make a genuine impact. His attendees leave feeling recharged, introspective, and ready to get out of their own way. 

With years of research (and a few too many real-life case studies within his work), James has learned everything he can about fighting apathy and building strong company cultures. He uses this insight to help leaders manage and retain talent and give feedback that sticks, and to help organizations create community buy-in using curiosity. 

James’ cornerstone concept is that we as humans can’t learn from people who are perfect, we can only learn from people who are imperfect. And companies like American Express, GE, Accenture and Afterpay have gravitated toward this message and found the insights to be invaluable in shifting the way their people show up for each other. 

James is working to bring humanity and community back into the workplace. He is on a mission to ensure that people are seen, heard, respected... and giggling a little, too. 

Dethra Giles


Dethra Giles

Executive Leadership and HR Strategist, Modern Workplace Influencer and Career Consultant

Represented by Leading Authorities, Inc.

DARE to Communicate More Effectively

As Dethra Giles shares, there’s one often overlooked step that is the key to communicating more effectively and creating better outcomes in our interactions with others. Before she reveals her approach, Giles explores what conversations look like when they end on the best-possible note. A better-ending conversation looks like people doing exactly what you asked, debates ending productively and disagreements ending amicably.

Since her second TEDx Talk, Giles has taught groups all over the world how to improve conversational competence to communicate more effectively. As she introduces audiences to her proprietary DARE model, she shares the formula for effective communications. “Describe, Acknowledge, Review, and Engage” is the formula you didn’t know you needed but will positively change how you communicate forever. The impact is better leadership, higher performing teams, increased dialogue, and more efficient meetings. DARE to improve conversational competence and communicate more effectively.

Regarded as the “CEO-Maker,” “DEI Professor,” and the “Cubicle to Corner Office Empress,” Dethra Giles is a workplace and career optimizer who advises organizations and individuals on how to chart their unique paths to success. She is a four-time TEDx speaker who has been named a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by Engagedly, and was selected by HR Gazette’s “HRchat” podcast as one of the “Top 22 Most Influential Figures in HR.” With clients including Kaiser Permanente, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Army Corp of Engineers, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Salvation Army, Giles shares a unique blend of advanced education and industry experience that has been described as “university-tested and industry-approved,” and can be implemented by organizations of any size, and across industries.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Giles shares the principles she has created to help organizations and individuals identify their goals, visualize their potential and set out to achieve above and beyond what they deem possible. She lovingly holds no punches and gets the audience immersed and inspired as she provides her proven framework for how to turn motivation into impact, and how turn impact into action – whether collectively as an organization, or on an individual level as a leader, entrepreneur, or “employee-preneur.” As she explains, this action is what changes lives and changed lives change companies. Touching on topics such as how to attract top talent, own your identity, and rethink what’s possible for your business or career, Giles takes groups from dreaming to living the dream by teaching the steps necessary to become what they aspire to be.

Since 2007, Giles has served as the CEO at ExecuPrep, an international performance optimization firm that works with groups and individuals all over the world to improve performance, productivity, and profit. In her role, she leads a team of, in her words, “dope professionals” who are on a mission to make businesses better from the top down and bottom up. At the same time, Giles is the host of the “Happily Ever Employed” podcast and appears every week on the nationally syndicated radio program “The Willie Moore Jr. Show,” where she shares her insights on how to navigate professional and personal success. Previously, she has served as adjunct faculty at the Federal Executive Institute, Georgia State University, Mercer University, and as a faculty member for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and the Tory Burch Foundation.

From coaching multibillion dollar organizations to speaking at some of the largest global conferences, Giles strategies for success have had a lasting impact on people and audiences all over the world. The wisdom she shares sparks a change in behavior that ultimately leads to change in all aspects of work and life.

Zack Kass


Zack Kass

Futurist and Former Head of Go To Market at OpenAI

Represented by Goodman Speakers

An Abundant Future With Artificial Intelligence

Zack Kass, futurist, consultant and former executive at OpenAI will condense his vast experience and deep knowledge into a practical guide that demystifies the complexities of AI, offering an insightful perspective on the evolution of this disruptive technology. Delivering pragmatic strategies, Zack will demonstrate how people, organizations, and communities must adapt in order thrive amidst the rapid advancements in AI by highlighting where we are, how we got here, where we’re going, and how to prepare.

Zack Kass is an AI Futurist, keynote speaker, consultant, and the former Head of Go To Market for OpenAI. He has spent over 14 years in the field of AI with companies like Figure Eight, Lilt, and OpenAI. His mission is to ensure businesses and governments are active participants in the AI-powered future by demystifying AI, making it accessible and understandable for everyone, and helping leaders navigate the rapidly evolving environment

While Head of Go To Market at OpenAI, Zack worked at the helm of the team key channeling OpenAI’s innovative research into tangible business solutions. Zack built the teams responsible for OpenAI’s sales, partnerships, and customer success and served as a personal advisor to countless executives deploying the technology across their business. 

Today, he is considered one of the foremost thinkers in Applied AI. His thought leadership and techno-optimist views have been featured in countless publications, such as Fortune, Newsweek, Entrepreneur, AdAge and Business Insider to name a few. Zack has also advised many top companies on AI, including Coca-Cola, Morgan Stanley and Agmen.

Beyond the corporate world, Zack is a staunch techno-optimist, an advocate for AI’s potential to revolutionize the human condition and reduce suffering. He works tirelessly to promote the promise of AI, serving as a counter-narrative to the prevailing media cynicism.

Zack received his BA from The University of California, Berkeley and resides in Santa Barbara, California.