Pa M. K. Sinyan
Country manager @ Gallup (DE)

“Worldwide, only 13% of employees are engaged at work”

Pa M. K. Sinyan is Gallup’s Country manager for Germany since 2015. Gallup counsels companies and provides statistics to help businesses overcome their challenges. Pa uses his knowledge of employee engagement, organizational culture and the power of leadership to inspire and train business leaders worldwide. His insights into worker engagement, his charisma and his inspirational personality made his presence memorable at the Ignite Conference in 2015.

Matt Whiat
Co-founding partner @ Barry-Wehmiller Leadership University in St. Louis (USA)

““ I hope that one day someone that I will never meet, in an organization I have never heard of, in a place and time I will not occupy, will be touched positively by our efforts today.”

Matt is a co-founder of the Barry-Wehmiller Leadership University in St. Louis (USA)
Matt draws on 20 years of leadership experience. Matt’s previous roles include service in the United Nations, working with NATO partners, boot camp squadron commander and service on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He now works for Barry-Wehmiller, a global manufacturing company with more than 9,000 employees and 90 businesses. What resonated with IGNITE about the Barry-Wehmiller story was their drastic switch from a financially-driven company to a human-centric enterprise. They have shown us what it really means to create a working environment in which everyone matters. During the 2008 financial crisis, some of Barry-Wehmiller’s major clients withdrew their orders, which made the company financially unstable. Instead of firing employees because of poor market conditions, Barry-Wehmiller put their values to the test, and decided instead to retain staff. 

Carl Elsener
CEO @ Victorinox (CH)

“Did not fire any employee after the attacks on September 11th 2001, despite a 30 percent decline in revenues.”

CEO of the Swiss manufacturing company and family business Victorinox, maker of the iconic Swiss army knives. While adhering to the company's traditional values and, at the same time being innovative, he has succeeded in bringing Victorinox into the 21st century, by establishing an employee-oriented management system. For instance, he has implemented long-term employment, training and development opportunities and has strongly emphasized, among other policies, the integration of young and older workers. His profound commitment to the family of Victorinox employees means that the company has adopted a policy of never firing staff for economic reasons.

Stephen Shedletzky
Head Engagement Officer @ Start With Why (USA)

“My Why is to engage people in meaningful ways so that we live in a more fulfilled world.”

"Stephen is the Head Engagement Officer on Simon Sinek’s team at Start With Why. He supports leaders in creating environments in which people are inspired to go to work, where they feel safe and where they belong. Simon Sinek’s TED Talk at Puget Sound (the third most viewed TED Talk ever) helped define the essence of IGNITE, and guided us to ask ourselves WHY? What is the purpose of our organization? Whom do we serve? The work of the Start With Why team has been crucial in helping to shape our understanding of purpose-driven business and leadership"

Andreas Renner
CEO GEXSI, B-Lab partner (DE)

“Good Governance & Innovation as a force for good”

Dr. Andreas Renner, CEO of GEXSI, B Lab partner of the movement of Certi ed Bene t Corporations and founder of Impact Union, a crowdfunding initiative of Sosense, Zurich/ Berlin.
B Lab’s vision is stakeholder oriented economy where companies compete to be best for the world rather than just best in the world, this new hybrid movement including more than 1000 companies, which are certi ed and ranked by the value they bring to the community, their employees and the environment. Ben & Jerry’s and Pantagonia are some of its best known representatives.
Discover how business can be a tool for social change and the framework behind the B-Corp movement.

Francesco Zoppi ; Daniel Sigrist
HR Development Specialists @ Swisscom (CH)

“Give all employees a sense of purpose and personal responsibility over the long term”

Francesco Zoppi and Daniel Sigrist work in the HR department and focuses on Leadership Development at Swisscom. With more than 21,000 employees, Swisscom is Switzerland’s leading telecom provider. An important aim of Swisscom’s strategy is to become one of Switzerland's most attractive employers by 2020. In order to enhance and develop its corporate culture and increase employee engagement, Swisscom has started to implement multiple unconventional and innovative measures, including Holacracy, in the past few years. The topic of the workshop will be Holacracy and Leadership, with a particular emphasis on Swisscom's leadership map created specially for the company.