Keynote and Featured Speakers

Join us on Wednesday and Thursday for our General Sessions.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Innovative Ideas on Leading Change, Improving Sales Effectiveness and Preparing for the Future of Work

General Session
11:00 a.m – 11:50 a.m.
Kon Tiki Ballroom

Ryan Estis has more than 20 years of experience as a top-performing sales professional and business leader. As the former chief strategy officer for the McCann Worldgroup advertising agency NAS, he brings a fresh perspective to business events. Ryan will emphasize how to use actionable content designed to elevate business performance as well as emerging trends influencing leadership effectiveness, sales performance and customer experience. Ryan inspires others to thrive in today’s ultra-competitive, hyper-connected business environment.

Presenter

Ryan Estis

Business Performance Expert

Ryan Estis has more than 20 years of experience as a top-performing sales professional and leader. As the former chief strategy officer for the McCann Worldgroup advertising agency NAS, he brings a fresh perspective to business events. As a keynote speaker, Ryan is known for his innovative ideas on leading change, improving sales effectiveness and preparing for the future of work. He was recently recognized as one of “the best keynote speakers ever heard” by Meetings & Conventions magazine alongside Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, Colin Powell and Mike Ditka.

Ryan delivers keynote speeches, courses and online learning with an emphasis on actionable content designed to elevate business performance. His curriculum emphasizes emerging trends influencing leadership effectiveness, sales performance, and customer experience. Ryan helps participants prepare to thrive in today’s ultra-competitive, hyper-connected business environment.

Ryan supports the world’s leading brands, including Liberty Mutual, Darden Restaurants,
Goodyear, the Dallas Cowboys, Medtronic, ECCO USA and Blue Cross Blue Shield. He is a faculty member for the Institute of Management Studies, a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board and a certified Human Capital Strategist.

Ryan and his team publish original research featuring client case studies to expand the live event experience. He is also the author of a popular blog on business performance. His writing has been featured in SmartBrief, Business News Network, CRN, Crain’s Business, Workforce Management Magazine, HR Professional Magazine, HR Times, Yahoo Business, SHRM publications and Staffing Management magazine.

Ryan is an Ohio University graduate who resides in downtown Minneapolis. When he’s not traveling to speaking engagements around the world, Ryan enjoys down time with family and friends, practicing yoga and cheering on his beloved Minnesota Timberwolves.

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

The Psychology of Churn – Let’s Plug the Leaky Bucket and Develop Loyal Customers!

General Session
9:30 a.m. 10:45 a.m.
Kon Tiki Ballroom

While angler numbers remain strong post-COVID, the number of people losing interest in fishing is also growing at an alarming rate. This troublesome trend not only creates a drag on fishing participation but also is likely felt in weakening retail sales.

Join Stephanie Vatalaro, Senior Vice President of Strategy & Operations, and J. D. Strong, Sr. Director of Industry Engagement, from the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation to dive into their important new research on why some anglers waffle and what you can do to keep them hooked; there’s never been a stronger case for developing loyal customers and keeping anglers on the water.

Presenters

Stephanie Vatalaro

Senior Vice President, Strategy & Operations
Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation

J.D. Strong

Sr. Director of Industry Engagement, Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation

Stephanie Vatalaro
Senior Vice President, Strategy & Operations
Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation

Stephanie Vatalaro is the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Operations at the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), where she ensures the ongoing alignment of organizational goals and objectives with key priorities and guides and empowers senior staff to develop the consumer outreach strategy for RBFF’s Take Me FishingTM and Vamos A PescarTM brand campaigns along with the stakeholder strategy to increase recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) efforts with state, federal and industry partners.

A marketing and communications professional with more than 25 years’ experience in corporate, agency, non-profit and TV newsroom settings, Vatalaro has devoted the last 17 years of her career to getting more people out on the water fishing and boating and conserving our nation’s aquatic natural resources.

Vatalaro currently serves on the American Sportfishing Association’s (ASA) Communications Committee and the Marine Marketers of America Board of Directors. She was recognized in Boating Industry’s 2020 Women Making Waves and volunteers with Casting for Recovery.

Vatalaro received her B.S. degree in Communications from Florida State University and completed a Certificate in Management at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. She grew up in the Florida Keys and is the daughter of a flats fishing guide. She now spends summers fishing and boating with her family on the Potomac River in Virginia.

J.D. Strong
Sr. Director of Industry Engagement
Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) hired J.D. Strong as its new Sr. Director of Industry Engagement in April 2024.

With over 20 years of executive leadership experience, Strong will spearhead a new RBFF Board-driven charge to support the fishing and boating industries in reducing churn – a growing concern for participation overall. Prior to RBFF, Strong served as the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) where he made significant improvements to the agency’s licensing system, developed strategic partnerships with country music star Blake Shelton and NBA star Paul George, and formed important partnerships with Oklahoma fishing license retailers, Bass Pro Shops/ Cabela’s, Academy Sports and Outdoors, OKC Latina, and more. Strong is the former Executive Director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) and has held a number of leadership positions at both the state and national level with organizations including the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) and the Sport Fishing & Boating Partnership Council (SFBPC). He holds a bachelor’s degree in fisheries & wildlife ecology from Oklahoma State University.

Thursday, October 17, 2023

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Political Predictions and the Upcoming Presidential Elections

General Session
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

David Wasserman will analyze the current political environment in a lively and entertaining presentation that will touch on important issues our members should be aware of during the upcoming elections. His data-driven forecasting looks at both national and local trends, the relationship between consumer brand loyalty and voting, and what the future holds for American elections.

Presenter

David Wasserman

Senior Editor & Election Analyst, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter; NBC Contributor

David Wasserman is the Senior Editor & Election Analyst for the nonpartisan newsletter, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, and a contributor to NBC News. Founded in 1984, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter provides analyses of U.S. presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial races. The New York Times called The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter “a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative.”

Wasserman analyzes the current political environment in lively and entertaining presentations that he can tailor to his audiences’ specific interests or locales. His data-driven forecasting looks at both national and local trends (if requested, he can even do a district-by-district outlook), the relationship between consumer brand loyalty and voting, and what the future holds for American elections. He is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau.

Highly Praised Expertise. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has written: “Wasserman’s knowledge of the nooks and crannies of political geography can make him seem like a local,” and the Los Angeles Times called Wasserman “whip smart” and a “scrupulously nonpartisan” analyst whose “numbers nerd-dom was foretold at a young age.” Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, recently called David “pretty much the only person you need to follow on Election Night.”

In 2016, Wasserman drew wide praise for his accurate pre-election analysis, including his uncanny September piece entitled, “How Trump Could Win the White House While Losing the Popular Vote.” Leading Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson concluded, “Nobody of my generation knows American politics as well as Dave Wasserman.”

Political Intelligence. Wasserman has served as an analyst for the NBC News Election Night Decision Desk since 2008 and has also appeared on Fox News, CNN, and NPR. His commentary has been cited in numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, POLITICO, and the Washington Post. In 2018, his groundbreaking interactive collaboration with FiveThirtyEight, the “Atlas of Redistricting,” took top prize for News Data App of the Year.

An enthusiast for data and maps, Wasserman serves as a contributing writer to the Almanac of American Politics. A frequent speaker and guest lecturer, he has shared insights into the latest political trends with audiences at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the Dole Institute of Politics, and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics – where he was named a resident Pritzker Fellow in 2019.

Prior to joining the The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter in 2007, Wasserman served for three years as House editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a widely respected political analysis newsletter and website founded by renowned University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato. A native of New Jersey, Wasserman is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he was awarded the 2006 Emmerich-Wright Outstanding Thesis prize.

FEATURED PANEL:

Government Affairs Update

General Session
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

This interactive discussion between experts will shed light on how things might transpire depending on who is in the White House and which party controls the House and Senate. The panelists will tap into their decades of experience working with the federal government to give ASA members a road map for success in 2025 and beyond.

MODERATOR

Mike Leonard

Vice President of Government Affairs
American Sportfishing Association
Presenters

George Cooper

Partner, Forbes Tate Partners

Jeff Angers

President, Center for Sportfishing Policy

Mike Leonard
Vice President of Government Affairs
American Sportfishing Association

Mike Leonard is the Vice President of Government Affairs at the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), based in Alexandria, VA. ASA is the sportfishing industry’s trade association, providing the industry with a unified voice when emerging laws and policies could significantly affect sportfishing business or sportfishing itself. Leonard oversees the association’s public policy activities on a variety of natural resource and trade issues at the national, regional
and state levels. He serves on several advisory bodies to promote fisheries conservation and recreational fishing access, including the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, the American Fisheries Advisory Committee, the National Fish Habitat Partnership Board, the Center for Sportfishing Policy Government Relations Committee, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Policy Council and the Virginia Menhaden Management Advisory Committee.

George Cooper
Partner, Forbes Tate Partners

Mr. Cooper is a Partner at FTP and leads the firm’s natural resources and outdoor recreation government affairs practice, representing nonprofits, corporations, and trade associations on policy related to natural resource conservation, public lands, marine fisheries, agricultural land, tax, trade, and appropriations issues.
Mr. Cooper leverages his extensive network in DC to connect clients with the right people on Capitol Hill and in pertinent federal agencies and guide them in delivering messages and creating conversations that produce meaningful results.

Jeff Angers
President, Center for Sportfishing Policy

Jeff Angers is president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy, a non-profit organization that unites the recreational fishing and boating industry in Washington, DC.  CSP works to maximize opportunity for saltwater recreational anglers by organizing, focusing and engaging recreational fishing stakeholders to speak with one voice to shape federal marine fisheries management policy. Over the last 35 years, Angers has managed congressional campaigns; lobbied legislative bodies; written conservation policy, and crafted fisheries law. He’s been advocate, fundraiser and spokesman. He was recently honored with the Bass Pro Shop’s “Fisherman’s Best Friend” Award, recognizing his leadership advocating for policies that support conservation of marine resources and the interests of saltwater anglers nationwide.  Prior to his role as founding president of CSP, Angers served 15 years as CEO of Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Louisiana.  He led successful battles to outlaw gill nets in coastal waters and to protect redfish with game fish status in state waters. An LSU alum, he’s been an LSU football season ticket holder for 40 years. Angers served leadership roles with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and American Sportfishing Association. He is the father three active kids, two daughters at LSU and a son in high school.