Opening General Session
Monday, March 31
8:00 – 9:45 a.m.
1.5 Continuing Education Credits

The culture and characteristics of the aging services environment is unlike any other. A workplace for some and a home for others, it is a fluid and complex mixing bowl of multiple generations, ethnicities, lifestyles and values. Each organization has a distinct structure with an inherent identity that offers its staff and residents both challenges and opportunities for living and working together.

Our host Mark Williams is a researcher, author, educator and composer who has made diversity his life passion. The founder and CEO of The Diversity Channel, he is the author of The 10 Lenses — Your Guide to Living and Working in a Multicultural World and has provided coaching and education to the CIA and Fortune 500 companies like Avon, Microsoft, Sara Lee and Office Depot.
Mark Williams will explore the myriad of filters through which individuals process their life and work experiences—and show how you, as aging services leaders, can use these lenses to create a workplace where diversity and people flourish. Join us and be a part of a live studio audience for a thought provoking new television show where we will discuss these issues and more!

Workforce Solutions Day
Wednesday, April 2
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

Creating People-Centric Cultures*
featuring Ann Rhoades

Making people the priority is a philosophy that has proved remarkably lucrative for businesses willing to invest in their employees—think Southwest Airlines or Embassy Suites Hotel. Picture First International Bank or start-up superstar JetBlue Airways. Not-for-profit aging services providers oversee a work culture that seems at odds with these profit-driven companies; yet, this people-first strategy offers our field fresh insight for building successful sustainable cultures based on the unique values of an organization. Ann Rhoades, former Executive Vice President of JetBlue Airways, has served as a driving force in many of these high-profile companies. She believes that extraordinary results can be achieved if we focus on quality people and create a culture that empowers them. Hear this straight-talking visionary help us explore ways to not only recruit and retain the best people, but make it possible for them to be their best and thrive in their working environments.

*You must attend the entire Wednesday program to receive the full 5.5 credit hours—partial credit is not available.