General Sessions

Keynote Speakers

MARION MCFADDEN	RICHARD KNABB, PH.D.	JOSEPH NIMMICH	ROBERT G. SALESSES
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs, Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development	Director National Hurricane Center	Deputy Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency	Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense Integration and DSCA Bio

Featured Speakers

Taylor Baldwin Kiland

  Join other IAEM attendees on Wednesday for author and motivational speaker Taylor Baldwin Kiland. Taylor will talk about the human side of being resilient and the growing body of research on the phenomenon of post-traumatic growth (PTG) – the opposite of PTSD. She draws on extensive research from the experiences and long-term health of the American POWs held in the infamous Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. They were and still are the longest-held group of POWs in our nation’s history, yet have the lowest average rate of PTSD of any group of combat veterans. The key to their success was their strong organizational culture that was hyperfocused on their mission to return home with their reputations intact and their individual and collective optimism, a learned trait. In her book Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High-Performance Teams, she states, "If you put mission ahead of personal interests, the chances are that your culture will remain relevant no matter what the future holds." Taylor specializes in military non-fiction. In addition to Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton, she has written, co-authored, ghost-written or edited 12 other books, including Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later; the children's book The U.S. Navy & Military Careers; and A Walk in the Yard: A Self-Guided Walking Tour of the U.S. Naval Academy. A former naval officer and the third generation in her family to serve in the Navy, Taylor spent 20 years in the private sector as a marketing communications professional before starting her writing career. She holds a master's degree in marketing communications from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two-year-old daughter.

 

Jan McInnis

  Author and comedienne Jan McInnis, will entertain you as she shows you how to use humor to handle change in her general session on Monday, Nov. 16, during lunch. In her presentation, Jan will show attendees how to instantly diffuse tension, kick off tough conversations and facilitate communications through using humor. Attendees will walk away laughing and learning as they discover the steps they can take to conquer, and even embrace, change. Inspired by fifteen years as a marketing director in the 9 to 5 world, Jan has cornered the association and corporate convention market. Over the past 19+ years on the full-time speaking circuit, she has spoken at hundreds of conferences, employee retreats and banquets held by such groups as Anthem Blue-Cross, the American Heart Association, the Federal Reserve Banks, and the Mayo Clinic. Jan was featured in the Wall Street Journal as one of the top convention comedians whose material is clean, and in the Washington Post for her clean comedy writing. Jan has also sold comedy material to just about everyone...from the Tonight Show monologue, to greeting cards, hundreds of radio stations, and even guests on the “Jerry Springer Show” (yes, some of it is staged). She is the author of two books, Finding the Funny Fast: How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers and Crowds and Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs." Learning doesn’t have to be boring! Jan has a knack for humorous analysis, which enables her to keep her audiences laughing, not just with a comedy show, but also in her presentation “Finding the Funny in Change,” which she will give during her general session at the IAEM 63rd Annual Conference. Born in D.C., Jan was in charge of the “Joke of the Day” for her junior high school lunch table. Not surprisingly, she majored in communications at Virginia Tech, where she was a disk jockey for the local radio station.