Featuring nick pretasky as this year's keynote

Nick has been leading and coaching organizations for 20 years.   Nick originally found his leadership roots when he was trained in outdoor leadership at Southern Cross University in New South Wales, Australia.  He then worked as an outdoor leader and wilderness guide from Maine to Alaska.  This is where he originally founded his motto: As leaders, we can’t summit the mountain without our team.  He consistently draws on the mindsets, skills, and experiences he learned in the backcountry as leverage to better show up in the front country. Nick recently founded Humanistic Leadership, LLC.  He is determined and excited to support leaders with the core human skills they need in order to excel in today’s dynamic world of work.  He often supports topics of self-awareness, components of trust, deep listening, critical conversations, and gratitude. He works with leaders to build strong and effective strategies that have positive and long-lasting effects on people and organizations.

Nick graduated with a Master’s degree in Education from Marian University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  He continues his journey as a lifelong learner by taking master classes in positive psychology.  He finds the direct connections between psychology and leadership to be fascinating. He has worked as a vice president of a non-profit, a classroom teacher, a school leader, and a director of continuous improvement.  He has a wealth of experience coaching leaders and leader teams, organizational culture, and organizational design. Supporting and inspiring leaders and organizations to do things they never thought were possible is his jam. He loves to talk about innovative and humanistic ways to ensure equity of voice, shared commitment, and organizational conditions that set everyone up for success.

We all need opportunities to recharge.  When not supporting and coaching leaders and organizations, you can find Nick enjoying the outdoors or coaching basketball.  Nick feels extremely fortunate whenever he gets to spend his time with his wonderful wife, Krissy; two amazing daughters, Anika and Naomi; and their yellow lab, Nala.