Registration & Networking Breakfast

Opening Keynote: Navigating Uncertainty: Protecting Decision Quality in High-Stakes Environments
Eliz Green
Moderator: Stephanie Lowney

In a leadership landscape where uncertainty is constant, Navigating Uncertainty equips leaders with practical, research-informed tools to manage sustained load so clarity, judgment, and performance remain strong. This keynote reframes stress — not as a personal weakness, but as a signal — and positions capacity as the critical lever for steady leadership. Eliz translates stress physiology into actionable behaviors, helping participants understand how prolonged pressure impacts cognitive bandwidth, how to recognize early signs of overload, and how to shift from reaction to intentional, steady action. Attendees will leave with practical language and tools to protect decision quality, reduce cognitive drag, maintain clarity when challenges stack, and sustain performance without sacrificing long-term health. When leaders manage capacity, they move forward with steadiness — even when conditions remain unpredictable.

Break

10:30 am -
11:30 am

Breakout #1: 
Nurturing Confidence - Becoming a Bold Leader
What Happens After You Get a Seat at the Table?
Melanie Stuber, Founder and CEO, Cultivate and Thrive LLC
Moderator: Monica Goeke, CAE

Getting a seat at the table is an important milestone. It also marks the beginning of a new chapter in leadership.As women grow into greater visibility and influence, they are invited into spaces where voice, presence, and perspective matter more than ever. This moment calls for leadership rooted in self-awareness, confidence, and purpose—where success is measured through personal achievement and the impact created for others.This session explores how women can lead with intention after the invitation. Participants will reflect on how to stay grounded in their values, lead with presence and authenticity, and advocate for themselves with clarity and confidence. The session reframes influence as something to be shared and leadership as an opportunity to shape culture, expand opportunity, and elevate those coming behind them.Attendees will leave inspired and equipped to use their seat at the table to advance their own leadership while also creating space, momentum, and possibility for others to rise alongside them.

Breakout #2:
ACTIVATE: Turning Motion into Momentum and Momentum into Mastery
Kristi Lyn Davis 
Moderator: Stephanie Lowney

Every great leader has ideas, goals, and movement but true impact begins when motion becomes momentum and momentum becomes mastery. In this high-energy, strategy-packed session, Kristi Lyn Davis, Transformational Speaker and Goal-Execution Strategist, helps association executives and team leaders transform effort into effectiveness through intentional action, mindset alignment, and consistent execution. Leaders today face constant change, competing priorities, and limited bandwidth. ACTIVATE offers a practical yet inspiring roadmap to help professionals sustain focus, drive accountability, and create lasting progress within their organizations. Kristi Lyn combines real-world leadership experience with proven goal-execution systems to show how small, intentional actions, done consistently, lead to measurable breakthroughs. Through her proven framework, participants will learn how to stay aligned with long-term vision while mastering the art of daily discipline. They’ll discover how to overcome inertia, re-engage teams, and create cultures where progress becomes second nature.

Networking Lunch

12:30 pm -
1:15 pm

Breakout #3:
Growing and Cultivating Your Own Career Path
WSAE Professional Experience Sharing
Moderator: Elexus Comyne, National Fluid Power Association

Panelists: 

• Stephanie Lowney, Association Acumen
• Lexie Mallary, Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association
• Allision Forysthe, Stringfellow Management Group
• Ann Marie Hess, CMP, Visit Brookfield

Every career journey looks different, and that’s exactly what this panel explores. Join Stephanie Lowney, Lexie Mallery, Allison Forsythe, and Ann Marie Hess as they share how varied professional experiences, unexpected opportunities, and intentional growth have shaped their paths within the association space. Through honest conversation and real-world insights, panelists will discuss lessons learned, pivotal moments, and practical strategies for navigating change, building skills, and defining success on your own terms. Moderated by Elexus Comyne, this session invites professionals at any stage to reflect on their own journey and gain perspective from peers who have taken diverse routes to where they are today

Breakout #4:
Precision Over Permission — Reclaiming Credibility by Eliminating Over-Explanation
Kashaun Parker, Next Step Forward, LLC
Moderator: Ann Marie Hess, CMP

This session explores how high-performing women leaders can unintentionally dilute their authority by over-contextualizing decisions. Preparation is rarely the issue; compression often is. Participants will examine where explanation shifts into justification, and where justification begins to resemble permission-seeking. Through guided exercises and real-time practice, leaders will refine how to lead with the decision first, provide sufficient (not excessive) rationale, and maintain executive presence after a decision is stated. Attendees leave with a concise decision-statement structure, a credibility diagnostic tool, and language that communicates clarity without overcompensating.

1:15 pm -
2:30 pm 

Breakout #5:
Progress with Purpose: Why Quarterly Check-Ins Are Your Secret to Success
Melanie Stuber, Founder and CEO, Cultivate and Thrive LLC
Moderator: Monica Goeke, CAE

Many of us kick off the year with ambition—but without regular checkpoints, even the boldest goals can lose steam.A Quarterly Check-In isn’t about judgment. It’s about insight. It’s about progress. It’s about powerfully asking:What’s working?What needs to shift?And how will I move forward with clarity and intention? • Measure real progress—not what you hoped would happen • Realign your strategy • Reignite momentum with purpose • Recommit to being accountable—to yourself and your visionYou don’t need a new plan.You need a pause.Then—focused, intentional action.

Breakout #6:
New Growth, Shared Ground: Communicating Across Generations in Associations
Presented by WSAE's Association Leadership Academy (ALA)
Moderator: Emily Hackbarth

Panelists:

• Coming soon!

In the spirit of Earth Day, this Women’s Forum panel highlights how generational differences shape the modern association workforce. Just as ecosystems thrive through diverse layers working together, associations succeed when newer and experienced professionals communicate effectively. Emerging leaders will share insights on collaboration, workplace expectations, and leadership development, offering strategies for engaging and supporting the next generation. Attendees will leave inspired with practical tools to build stronger, more connected teams across generations.

2:30 pm -
3:00 pm

Earth Day Themed Extended Networking Break/Activity

Closing Keynote: Women Leading with Clarity: Strengthening Influence, Decisions, and Impact in Associations
Kashaun Parker, Next Step Forward, LLC
Moderator: Ann Marie Hess, CMP

Women leaders in associations are often entrusted with responsibility before they are given clear authority. The result is not a capability gap, but decision overload, invisible labor, and diluted influence—especially in matrixed environments with boards, volunteers, and lean staff teams.This session addresses how women in leadership roles can lead with greater clarity and confidence by improving decision flow, communication boundaries, and ownership—without taking on unnecessary burden or burning out. Participants will learn how to recognize where leadership responsibility has outpaced authority, how to navigate governance and stakeholder dynamics, and how to translate strategy into action while maintaining credibility and engagement.The session blends leadership insight, organizational systems thinking, and real-world association experience, offering practical tools women can apply immediately at any career stage.