Meet the Keynote Speakers!

Merilee Smith is a high energy Drama Disruptor coach who is passionate about teaching leaders and teams the life changing mindset tools and skills to be in control of their thoughts, emotions, actions, and leadership energy. As a result, people are more resilient, confident, calmer, and happier—no matter what challenges, changes, or opportunities arise. They are able to ditch stress and drama, tap into their highest potential, and create positive outcomes in all areas of their life!

Merilee is a Certified Professional Coach with 26 years of experience facilitating in the leadership and organizational development space across diverse industries.

Amy Herman, a lawyer and art historian, uses works of art to sharpen observation, analysis, and communication skills. By showing people how to look closely at painting, sculpture, and photography, she helps them hone their visual intelligence to recognize the most pertinent and useful information as well as recognize biases that impede decision making. She developed her Art of Perception seminar in 2000 to improve medical students’ observation and communication skills with their patients when she was the Head of Education at The Frick Collection in New York City. She subsequently adapted the program for a wide range of professionals and leads sessions internationally for the New York City Police Department, the FBI, the French National Police, the Department of Defense, Interpol, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, first responders, retailers, and the military.

In her highly participatory presentation, she demonstrates the necessity for astute visual literacy and how the analysis of works of art affords participants an innovative way to refresh their sense of critical inquiry and skills necessary for sharper performance and effective leadership. The program has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The CBS Evening News, and Smithsonian Magazine, among others. Her TED talk, A Lesson on Looking, went live in December 2018. Ms. Herman holds an A.B., a J.D., and an M.A. in art history.