Speakers: General Sessions
Download the Final Program and start planning your conference experience.
Celebrity Meet & Greets
Tickets $25, proceeds support advocacy efforts for mental health and addictions treatment services.
Howard Dean and Malcolm Gladwell are just two of the illustrious personalities headlining the National Council Conference. And now you have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get personal face time with them. Following their general sessions, Howard Dean and Malcolm Gladwell have graciously agreed to host private Meet & Greet events. So stop by to chat and have your picture taken with them. Buy your tickets now (if you’ve already registered, simply log in to your registration and add tickets).
Howard Dean Meet & Greet
Monday, March 15, 10:30 – 11:30 am, Las Ventanas Lounge, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Malcolm Gladwell Meet & Greet
Tuesday, March 16, 9:30 – 10:30 am, Las Ventanas Lounge, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Find new directions and inspired solutions from our evolving lineup of world-class speakers at the 40th National Council Conference.
Howard Dean
Examines the Future of Healthcare in America
Before he was Governor of Vermont, presidential candidate, or chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean was a family doctor. But don’t expect him to weigh in on healthcare reform in a soothing bedside manner. As Dean himself said in an interview with the New York Times, “Most people who need to be president of the United States need to be not in everybody’s face as much as I am.” But Dean will very much be in your face, as he tells us what the future of healthcare looks like for America. Dean also offers unique perspectives on citizen involvement to bring about real change and real progress — drawing from his experience in the use of grassroots advocacy and online technologies during his campaign for President.
“At every turn when there has been an imbalance of power, the truth questioned, or our beliefs and values distorted, the change required to restore our nation has always come from the bottom up from our people.”
Dr. Howard Dean
Malcolm Gladwell
Says Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell says he wrote his widely acclaimed bestseller The Tipping Point because “One of the things I’d like to do is to show people how to start “positive” epidemics of their own. The virtue of an epidemic, after all, is that just a little input is enough to get it started, and it can spread very, very quickly. That makes it something of obvious and enormous interest to everyone… or for that matter to anyone who’s trying to create a change with limited resources.” Also the author of Outliers, Blink, and What the Dog Saw, and a staff writer for The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell helps us think about the world a little differently. One of Time magazine’s 100 Most Infl uential People, he interprets new ideas in the social sciences and makes them understandable, practical, and applicable to business. He overturns many of our conventional notions about what makes a person successful. He makes sense of the complexities of life. And he is a captivating storyteller, funny and ironic. Add his books to your “Must Read” list and bring them to the conference to be signed.
“When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances— and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Geoffrey Canada
Weaves a Community Safety Net
As a child growing up in New York’s South Bronx, Geoffrey Canada believed that Superman would come and clean up his neighborhood and was shattered when his mom dissolved the myth. But today, the miracles he has wrought in Harlem bear testimony to Canada’s own status as superhero, as the community problem solver we all want to be. The safety net he has created in Harlem is woven so tightly that children in the neighborhood just can't slip through. And Canada stated, in an interview with National Council Magazine, “We not only support physical rebuilding of communities, but we also work with the adults in our program to help them reclaim their communities as their own, to drive change. We believe that for children to do well, their families have to do well. And for families, to do well, their community must do well. Join us to learn how Canada succeeded in community rebuilding and why the President has allocated $10 million to replicate Canada’s model in the form of Promise Neighborhoods across the nation.
“If we know it works, there’s no reason this program should stop at the end of those blocks in Harlem. It’s time to change the odds for neighborhoods all across America. … the first part of my plan to combat urban poverty will be to replicate Harlem Children’s Zone in 20 cities.”
President Barack Obama
Pamela S. Hyde, JD
Presents a View from the Top
Hyde brings 30 years of experience in behavioral health financing and service delivery to the table as SAMHSA’s new Administrator. She comes to the job at a unique time in our nation’s history with healthcare reform on our doorstep and the Administration’s focus on mental health and substance abuse. Hear her plans for the organization responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
Kathryn Power
Examines New Perspectives in Collaboration
Kathryn Power, Director of SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services, shares perspectives on how the criminal justice system has become the intersection of mental health and addiction disorders.
Lee Cockerell
Recreates the Magic of Disney Leadership
YOU can create magic, and it’s not just when you’re at Disney. Lee Cockerell can show you how — through ten common-sense leadership strategies. He is known for delivering ideas about leadership in a common-sense way that can really help you improve your effectiveness at work, at home, and in your community. His tips resonate because he has always led by example. The stories that helped him shape Disney’s incredible success during his years as Executive Vice President of Operations will serve as an eye-opener for every healthcare organization, regardless of size or mission.
“There is a big difference between Very Good and Excellent, and the reason the computer can't figure it out is that it takes the Human Factor to make an experience Excellent. As Walt said, it requires people to make the dream a reality.”
Lee Cockerell
