Get ready for a day of bold ideas, honest conversations, and the kind of connections that stay with you long after the event ends.
At the 2026 Women in Leadership Conference, expect inspiring speakers, practical takeaways you can apply immediately, and a community of women who lead with grit, heart, and purpose.
Registration & Networking
Welcome & 15th Anniversary Recognition
Opening Keynote: Dr. Sara Mednick
The Science of the Downstate
As a leading expert at UC Irvine, Dr. Mednick is unlocking the science behind better sleep, sharper cognition, and healthier brains — at every age and stage of life. Her groundbreaking work in a 24/7 sleep lab explores how naps, sound and light therapy and brain stimulation can influence our performance and well-being.
Her research has been featured in major media outlets and top scientific journals like Nature Neuroscience and PNAS — and now, she’s coming here to share how rest habits can create big transformation in our lives.
Break
The Big Shift: Small Change | Big Impact
Women in leadership are often driven by purpose, but the demanding nature of the work often leads to burnout and stress. This session is designed to equip you with the essential tools and self-awareness needed to move from a reactive, stressed state to a proactive, intentional “Best Self.”
Why This Session Matters for Women in Leadership:
● Sustaining the Mission: Self-Leadership is the Highest form of service we offer to others. For women in leadership, this means securing the energy and focus needed for long-term impact and team health.
● Leading with Intent: You will learn to apply the Leader Mirror concept to shift your approach from accidental and reactive to intentional and proactive, ensuring your leadership is consistent and deeply aligned with your personal strengths.
● Mastering Energy, Not Just Time: We will introduce the 70:30 Principle—a powerful framework for recognizing that 70% of your time should be spent on natural strengths and energizing activities, while strategically managing the 30% that is draining.
● Practical Tools for Resilience: The session provides concrete methods for managing your most vital resource: your energy.
We will explore:
○ Understanding that your calendar is an energy management tool, not just a time tracker.
○ Developing a plan for Intentional Routines (daily, weekly, monthly) that serve as buffers against stress.
Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how they show up as leaders and a personal action commitment to immediately improve their energy levels, enabling them to lead with greater clarity and sustainability.
The Foundation of Trust: Linda McKown
Trust is the one thing that changes everything. Without it, even the best strategies fail. In this session, Linda utilizes the Stephen Covey Speed of Trust framework to demonstrate how trust serves as the essential foundation for impactful leadership. She will guide attendees through the behaviors that build trust and offer a roadmap for the challenging, yet essential, work of repairing it when it has been broken.
Lunch and Networking
Mindful dining experience with rhythm-based music.
The Rhythm of Detection: Dr. Karen Nern
Dr. Karen Nern, MD, MBA, FAAD – Bio
Panel: Resonating in the Noise: Tools and Tactics for the Strategic Reset
The Narrative: In a world of constant pings and infinite data, how does a leader stay in sync with what matters? This panel discussion features local executives who have mastered the art of the Strategic Reset. Whether they are leveraging AI to automate the mundane, using wearables to monitor their “Downstate,” or implementing “Power Pauses” for their entire team, these leaders share the diverse toolkit they use to protect their calm. This conversation moves beyond the “hustle” to explore the practical rituals—digital and human—that allow a leader to stop reacting to the noise and start resonating with intention. Discover how to build a leadership rhythm that sustains you, your team, and your mission.
PANELISTS:
Judy Eckholt – Bio
Financial Advisor, Edward Jones
Stephanie Heiden – Bio
Senior Executive, Lopez Dorada
Sharron Jackson-Glover – Bio
President & CEO Community Literacy Center, Inc.
Chief Communications Officer & Chief of Staff for OG&E
MODERATOR:
Bob Greve – Bio
Interim Dean, Meinders School of Business
Break
Sound bath performance by Anna Farha Miller from MarkAnna Wellness
Closing Keynote: Lauree Dash
Mindfulness: Leading and Living with Greater Awareness and Intention
Lauree Dash, E-RYT, MMTCP, MSC, MMT – Bio
Mindfulness is both a formal and informal practice of embodied attention to the present moment – within us and around us- approached with curiosity, compassion and without judgment. This “science of the mind,” sounds simple, but is often challenging to practice. With consistency though, it becomes a powerful leadership skill that supports emotional regulation, strengthens emotional intelligence and increases our capacity to steady ourselves in moments of stress, overwhelm or uncertainty.
In this session, participants will gain a clear, science-based understanding of mindfulness, from a warm, and accessible perspective. We will explore the difference between habit energy and skillful response, examine the brain’s default mode network and our inherent negativity bias, and review the evidence-based benefits of mindfulness for well-being, clarity and greater intentionality.
This session is both informational and experiential. Participants will leave with three practical tools they can immediately integrate into daily life and leadership, including:
Together, these practices are a turn inwards – creating space for inner wisdom and insights to arise, strengthening self-trust and intentionality in both work and in life.
Meet & Greet, photo opportunity and reception
Celebration of 15 years
