Get to know this year’s fantastic lineup of speakers!
Keynote Speakers
Kendra Adachi Founder, The Lazy Genius Collective
+ Read Bio
Kendra Adachi is a New York Times bestselling author, nationally ranked podcaster, wife, and mother (no awards for those last two). Her lifelong attempts at perfection have thankfully been tempered by age and therapy, and now she empowers people to get their stuff done without turning into a tired robot. Favorite things include birds, books, Oxford shoes, and James McAvoy. Kendra lives with her husband of 20+ years and three kids in their forever hometown, Greensboro, NC.
Wei-Li Chong Founder, Culture Playbook Partners
+ Read Bio
Wei-Li Chong is the Founder and Managing Partner of Culture Playbook Partners (CPP) where he helps organizations make their culture a tangible lever that drives business performance. Prior to CPP, Wei-Li was the SVP of Human Resources at ANN Inc., held multiple leadership positions at KinderCare Education, and served as the US President of MindGym where he helped the company weather the pandemic and rebuilt its operational infrastructure for scalable growth. Wei-Li has spent almost 30 years successfully leading human capital and culture transformations — driving business performance in billion-dollar-plus organizations.
Main Stage Speakers
Kathy Ligon Founder & CEO, HINGE Advisors
+ Read Bio
Kathy is the Founder and CEO of HINGE Early Education Advisors. Trained as a public accountant, Kathy has a unique 35+ year background in educational operations. Early on, she directed growth management for a growing educational organization helping the company multiply from five to 125 sites operating in several states in the Southeast. In 2003, Kathy formed the early education advisory firm now known as HINGE Advisors where she and her team have successfully aided the sale of more than 300 school transactions.
Phil Vaccaro Managing Director, EY-Parthenon
+ Read Bio
A leader in EY-Parthenon’s Education consulting practice, Phil works across the global education sector with a focus on public K-12 education and early childhood. Phil has led numerous strategy and business planning projects for school districts, non-profits, service providers and private equity firms. He has also conducted market studies and strategic planning projects for some of the largest early childcare providers in the U.S. Phil has 15 years of experience as a teacher, district administrator and consultant to the K–12 education sector.
Fran McIntyre Founder, Pendulum Solutions
+ Read Bio
Fran McIntyre founded Childrens’ Creative Learning Centers in 1992 motivated by her passion to provide working parents and employees with the best benefits possible to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In this role, she worked side-by-side with HR teams to develop long-term strategies to provide optimal benefits to their employees. Today, Fran remains dedicated to developing both corporate childcare programs and working alongside HR professionals, helping them create the most valuable benefits for their employees through her consulting firm, Pendulum Dependent Care Solutions.
Nick Williams Founder, Childcare Business Growth
+ Read Bio
Nick Williams has worked in child care for more than 15 years alongside his partner Jenna Williams. Together, they've founded and owned their own childcare facilities as well as Childcare Business Growth (CBG) and trained thousands of childcare professionals. At CBG, Nick leads the marketing strategy and development of the company. His direct experience marketing and working in his childcare business has allowed him to use and share his own strategies to help thousands of childcare business owners worldwide.
Tom Wood Leadership Coach, HINGE Advisors
+ Read Bio
As Success Services Leader for HINGE, Tom facilitates the execution and operations of all the company’s Success Services. These include Financial Coaching, Mastermind Groups, and his own Leadership Sprints. Tom’s job is to ensure that each service is delivered effectively and efficiently to clients and that HINGE is serving our clients to the best of our ability. Tom is also a Certified Leadership Coach with the International Coaching Federation, and has a consistent track record of success in leadership development, financial management, training, human resources leadership and strategic planning.
Breakout Speakers
Rachel Supalla Founder & CEO, Discovery KidZone
+ Read Bio
Rachel Supalla is the Founder & CEO of Discovery KidZone, a multi-site childcare business in Montana. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood, a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, is Montessori Certified and a certified National Business coach. With more than 25 years of childcare knowledge and experience, Rachel has been nationally recognized as a teacher and director trainer and is a certified professional development specialist that specializes in brain based creative teaching practices and leadership development.
Tymothy Smith President, Early Care and Education
+ Read Bio
Tym Smith began working in the Early Education field in 1986. After spending several years in the classroom, he advanced to fill various positions including Education Specialist, Director and Regional Director. Over the past 20 years, Tym has spent thousands of hours training teachers and leaders across the country at local and national conferences. In 2007, Tym started "Tym the Trainer", a training company dedicated to quality and diversity for Early Education programs. Tym is the owner of six early education programs in Texas and is a two term past president of the Texas Licensed Child Care Association. Tym is a member of the Texas Trainers Registry and currently serves on the board of directors for the Association for Early Learning Leaders. Tym is also a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor, A Jon Gordon Certified Instructor, and a Certified Life is Good Playmaker!
