The Leadership Edge: Sharpening Your Skills for Success

Author, Speaker and Coach

Presenting: Maintaining Your Edge in Business Requires Team Building

Lee MJ Elias is an award-winning author, award-winning podcast host, professional speaker and championship coach who has worked at the international, professional, collegiate and youth levels. He is the founder and CEO of Hockey Wraparound and Game Seven Group. In addition, Elias’s professional experience includes helping organizations such as the NHL, NBC, Red Bull, Hearst Media, A&E, Madison Square Garden and several sports and professional organizations.

Elias is an acclaimed keynote speaker in both virtual and in-person events and is the co-host of Our Kids Play Hockey, awarded the Top Hockey Podcast by the Sports Podcast Awards for 2023 and 2024.

Elias is the award-winning author of “Think Like a Fan: Invest in Your Fans So They Invest in You,” “Win: What Every Team Needs to Know to Create a Championship Culture” and “When Hockey Stops,” a book which teaches young athletes how to overcome adversity.
He is also the co-author of “The Business Recovery Checklist: How to Thrive in the Aftermath of COVID-19” and “Stay in Medicine: How Physicians Can Move Past Burnout and Regain Control.” Elias is passionate about his mission to turn individuals into teams through his coaching, speaking and consulting work.

Chief Soul Officer

Presenting: Leadership from the Inside Out

Angie Lion became fascinated by human behavior after observing people’s behaviors in the operating room when she worked as a certified surgical technologist (CST). She was fascinated by how the leadership in this environment (surgeons) affected the entire team and ultimately affected patient outcomes both positively and negatively.

As she worked through her career as an educator of CSTs at Boise State University and the College of Western Idaho, she began studying human behaviors and received her master’s in human resource development. She is certified in DISC, Driving Forces and Emotional Intelligence by TTI Success Insights.

She loves to help others find their purpose and ignite their passion to help them reveal their potential. Her WHY is to “leave others better than she found them.” She believes everyone has a gem inside of them that needs to be discovered, shined and polished just as others have provided for her over the years. It is her interest to give back by helping others to create a life they love and work in a job that fuels their human spirit.

Executive Leadership Coach

Presenting: You Have What it Takes: Gaining the Edge in Leadership Empowerment

Kelly Gibbons is an executive leadership coach with over 25 years of coaching experience in the business and sports realms. She began her coaching career in women’s collegiate volleyball and softball, where she discovered her passion for team leadership and empowerment — a theme she carries into her work in business and nonprofit executive leadership. Gibbons has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho and a master’s degree from the University of Kansas.

Lead Instructor and Business Development Strategist, Boise State Professional and Continuing Education

Presenting: GRIT: Finding Success in Life Through Consistency

Eliseo Che’ Lanuza (or just call him Che’) is a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, leadership coach and TTI-certified in Emotional Intelligence, Driving Forces and DISC. He has worked in higher education for seven years and holds a master’s degree in leadership facilitation and user experience.

Che’ lives in Harris Ranch with his partner and their nine children. In his free time, you can find him running on the Boise River Greenbelt, drinking espresso at local coffee shops, practicing yoga and carefully building his record collection.

Owner, TeamBuilders Consulting

Presenting: The Joy of Moaching — Helping Others Score the Goal

Megan Hudson received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication at Boise State University. For the past 25 years, she has been helping leaders, teams and employees improve their ability to create a productive, successful (and happy!) workplace.

She has authored and facilitated numerous workforce development workshops and has presented at several conferences on leading change, resiliency and the power of teamwork.  She has also designed several leadership and workforce development programs for various roles within an organization.

Her passion is to help others recognize and effectively utilize their talents within the workplace. It brings her great joy to help leaders and teams overcome their challenges and become unified and enthusiastic toward fulfilling their purpose.

Hudson is the owner of TeamBuilders Consulting. She is also a certified facilitator for PsychoGeometrics, a behavioral assessment program, and is currently preparing for her ACC coaching credential through the International Coaching Federation. She has also completed training with Prosci, Korn Ferry (Lominger competencies), InviteChange and The Ken Blanchard Companies. She has maintained her PHR certification from the HR Certification Institute since 2009.

Director, University of Idaho’s Black/African American Cultural Center

Presenting: Beyond the Surface: Aligning Values and Overcoming Bias in Leadership

Mario Pile is passionate about education and providing safe spaces for Black students on campus. He joined the Air Force in December 2002, eventually bringing him to Idaho in the summer of 2005. He has served a total of 20 years in the military; six years active duty and 14 years in the Idaho Air National Guard.

Pile earned a degree in criminal justice from Colorado Technical University and a master’s in educational leadership. He has a 14-year-old son, Malachi, who is his world.

Director, Boise State Professional and Continuing Education

Event MC

Jeremy Graves is the director of Professional and Continuing Education at Boise State University’s Division of Extended Studies. As a faculty member of the Community Impact Program and a teacher in the LEAD program, his influential leadership and collaborations have helped many organizations and teams thrive despite their differences.

Renowned for his engaging workshops, keynote speeches and classes on generational diversity, team building and business leadership, Graves’s central passion lies in optimizing multi-generational teams.

He is also the author of two books, “Empower, Promote, Launch Repeat: Creating a Culture of Generational Leadership Using 4 Core Strategies” and “The Leader Paradox.” Residing in Boise, Idaho, Graves is also a loving husband and father of two.