With over a decade of coaching experience, Syd believes that the greatest key to connecting with audiences is being authentic. She enjoys witnessing people be courageous, step out of their comfort zone, and seek the feedback that will help them perform at a higher level. Syd is a certified coach and an Ivy League graduate with a degree in theater and communications. She has provided executive coaching to CEOs and high-level managers at Fortune 100 companies, in sectors ranging from social media to more traditional industries such as healthcare, pharma, and power and gas. She has coached speakers in preparation for talks at major conferences, as well as TEDx. She is also a keynote speaker, most recently at the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) and at the Frankfurt Book Fair for Story Drive Asia in China. A documentary filmmaker, Syd's first film premiered at the Berlinale, where she also moderates the yearly pitch forum called Books at Berlinale. Hailing from Brooklyn, Syd has made Berlin her home for over 20 years. She is a runner who has completed the Berlin Marathon, a newbie meditator, and the mother of two boys and two cats.
Juli Bacon is the President of JB Consulting Systems, LLC and Bacon Maintenance Services, LLC, as well as a partner at JJ BizWorks and part owner in Routec Industries, LLC. She is also a long time member of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties in Washington State. Driven by a competitive nature and a desire to affect change, Bacon works to achieve results and has a passion for helping small businesses succeed. Bacon happily juggles a busy work and personal life, acting as the 2017 NAHB PWB Chair, and recently competing in her first olympic triathlon. Juli is dedicated to helping women obtain leadership positions in their companies and at the national, state, and local levels of the home building industry.
Some say she was raised by wolves, others claim truckers. No matter what her upbringing, this superwoman has flourished in a male dominated industry for 24 years. Beginning in Las Vegas in 1993 with KB Home, Ronda Conger has staked her claim as the Vice President of Idaho's largest home builder, CBH Homes, where she has overseen all areas of the company for the past fourteen years. As a businesswoman, professional speaker, and author, Ronda is on a mission to start a movement with her three books: Better Human, Better Thinking, and Be a Leader of Leaders. She thanks the heavens each day for this incredible journey and is so very grateful for the opportunity to serve and love all those that she comes in contact with.
Victoria Downing is a leading authority in the remodeling industry. For nearly 30 years, Victoria has worked with owners of remodeling companies across the United States and Canada, to help them build strong, consistently profitable businesses. She is known for her high-energy educational seminars as well as her in-depth knowledge of the best practices that transform company performance. Victoria has created the industry's largest community of motivated remodelers through Remodelers Advantage University and the Roundtables Peer Group Program. Currently, the members of this community produce over $750 million in revenue annually.
Tricia Esser is the Chief Executive Officer of KTGY Architecture + Planning, an international award-winning full-service architecture and planning firm. KTGY currently has more than 400 professional team members working in seven offices in the U.S. and China. As CEO, she is responsible for setting the vision and direction of KTGY. Tricia joined the firm as Controller in 1991. In 1995 she was invited to become a Partner; just three years later she was promoted to CFO. In this role she implemented innovative changes, which led to simplified and more efficient negotiating terms that opened the doors to previously restricted areas of opportunity. Tricia assumed the role of CEO in 2006. Despite the downturn, under her leadership the firm took on no debt and never reported a loss. Her strategic insight and supportive leadership contribute to the firm's ongoing growth and stability which has helped attract and retain the industry's best architects and planners.
Kristina Ferrigan is the Director of Marketing for Normandy Remodeling, a leading design/build remodeler based outside of Chicago. She's spent the last 17 years in the luxury home improvement segment, managing marketing, sales teams, events, and showrooms. Since 2010, Kristina has spearheaded Normandy's marketing efforts, assisting homeowners in their home renovation journey. She has been integral in implementing a content-driven marketing strategy, while initiating a Personal Branding focus that has been adopted by the 19-member Normandy Sales Team. Kristina earned her degree in Business (Marketing), and is a Professional Remodeler 40 under 40 winner for 2017.
For nearly twenty-five years, Sally Jue has coached individuals and organizations to strategically and creatively leverage their assets to optimize their effectiveness while aligning their personal and business values and goals. She is nationally known for creating engaging and thought provoking learning experiences that provide practical tools from natural and social science based research that foster deep reflection, meaningful dialogue, and sustainable behavior change. A key focus of her work is to develop the cross-cultural agility of individuals and teams so that they can more effectively navigate the cultural nuances of a global workplace.
Emily Lindus is a founding member of Lindus Construction, an industry leader in Wisconsin with successful branches across the Midwest. The success of her business principals resulted in being hired as a consultant for a national franchisor to lead several companies to success. Emily Lindus is now the CEO of 25/8 Consulting, Leadership Training and Coaching. In a business climate where a diminishing number of people seek employment within the home improvement sector, Emily has developed strategies for hiring and retaining employees in any organization.
Jane Meagher, MIRM, CSP, CAASH, is president of Success Strategies, the nation's leading full-service Design Studio creation, strategy, and training company. Jane works with leading builders and suppliers in 40+ states and throughout Canada (including almost half of the nation's top 25 builders), bringing her passion for consumer purchase psychology and retail strategies to the home building industry to increase option sales, improve operations and the customer experience, and sell more homes. Success Strategies has created well over 100 unique designs.
President of Kerry & Co., author of Model Home Model Store: THINK RETAIL, and possessing 30 years of new-home industry experience, Kerry Mulcrone shares her energy and knowledge with builders and sales teams from coast to coast. Kerry is a powerful catalyst for developing company synergy and sales systems that help to create a "We love to work here" environment! Kerry has attained the NAHB designations of MIRM, CSP, and CMP and is an active member of Professional Women in Building and the NSMC National Sales and Marketing Council.
Meredith Oliver, CPS, is a sales and marketing strategist and is the Creative Director of Meredith Communications, a digital marketing agency specializing in home builder marketing. Meredith is the author of three books, FANtastic Marketing, FANtastic Selling, and Click Power. She is a fifteen-time presenter at the NAHB International Builders' Show and holds the prestigious CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation from the National Speakers Association. Most importantly, Meredith is a wife, mom, and high-heel shoe fanatic. You can follow her high-heel shoe collection on Instagram @MeredithsShoes22.
Skylar joined Zillow in the summer of 2012 and investigates the cross-sectional relationships between home values and community features including school quality and walkability. She also creates many of Zillow's real estate indices and metrics, including the Buyer-Seller Index and the Buy-Rent Breakeven Horizon. She currently holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington, specializing in econometrics and environmental economics. Her academic work focused on using housing data to explore environmental issues. Prior to her work at Zillow, Skylar was honored for teaching excellence by the University of Washington.
Karen Schroeder is the vice president and co-founder of Mayberry Homes in East Lansing, Michigan. She was instrumental in chartering and is the Chair of the Lansing Professional Women in Building chapter. She is currently on the NAHB PWB Executive Board as well as the NAHB 55+ Executive Board. She was the first woman (along with her husband) to be inducted into the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame, they were named the #1 Builder in North America in Customer Service by NRS, National Volunteer of the Year by St. Jude, Building Partner of the Year by Homes For Our Troops, given The Ballantine Award for Extraordinary Service, and most recently Karen was named the Advisory Board Member of the Year by NAHB.