Featured Speakers

Every year, the New York Credit Union Association brings in a diverse group of speakers who tell powerful stories and share insightful knowledge. At EXCEL 25, the Association’s Annual Meeting & Convention, the speakers are sure to leave attendees feeling inspired, excited and motivated!

 

Friday, June 13, 2025

Phil Gwoke, Generational Keynote Speaker & Managing Director
Generation X

Around BridgeWorks HQ, Phil is known as the motivator and the historian. As an internationally recognized speaker, Phil has shared his wisdom and inspired audiences in 43 different states and four continents to over 250,000 people. Before becoming a speaker, he pursued his passion to help people be their best selves as a high school teacher, college admissions professional, marketing coordinator, corporate trainer, and even small business owner. He has maintained strong ties to his local community as a mentor and consultant to young entrepreneurs, and he brings his diverse background and skill-set to the BridgeWorks team.

 

Phil is one of BridgeWorks’ resident Gen Xers and brings his unique humor, experiences, research, and generational expertise to every keynote, workshop, and training session he delivers. He is a firm believer that with the proper motivation, training, and support system, members of any generation are capable of remarkable accomplishments. With his down-to-earth, relatable style and dedication to presenting research in a digestible, entertaining way, Phil has become a fast favorite with audiences around the country.

 

Long before becoming a BridgeWorks Gen Expert, Phil owned and ran a coffee shop in Minneapolis. He’s the proud father of a recent Gen Z college graduate. 

 

Phil is a firm believer that with the proper motivation, training, and support system, members of any generation are capable of remarkable accomplishments.

 

Phil Hansen, Multimedia Artist, Speaker, Author and Innovator

Referred to by his fans as “the Artist for the People”, Phil Hansen is an internationally recognized multimedia artist, speaker, author and innovator -- at the forefront of bringing art to a wider audience. Crashing irreverently through conventional boundaries, Phil works at the intersection of traditional art, electronic media, offbeat materials, and interactive experiences. He is most widely known for his meta- art, videos that document the creation process (sometimes even through destruction), showing millions, that art is action, not just result. Hansen's work also extends deeply into traditional media with features on the Discovery Channel, Good Morning America, the Rachael Ray Show, Last Call with Carson Daly, Glamour and many more. His work is sought-after by many influential clients including the Grammy Awards, Disney, Skype, Mazda and the Rockefeller Foundation.

 

For the tens of millions who have seen Phil’s art on TV and online, it’s hard to imagine that his artistic journey nearly came to an end when a tremor developed in his drawing hand. In exploring new ways to create art, Phil discovered that by embracing his shake, limitations could become the passageway to creativity.

 

His inspirational story was first shared on the TED stage to a standing ovation, and then shared around the world including on PBS, BBC and CCTV. Now, Phil’s ability to draw parallels to the business setting has won him followers among industry and business leaders, leading to invitations to speak at the TED2013 conference, Adobe MAX Creativity Conference, World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, and the Million Dollar Round Table. “Phil’s message of self-reinvention and the power of transforming adversity into opportunity is one that translates well across audiences—regardless of the industry. His message inspires, motivates and re-energizes the creative spirit in us all.” - Ford Motor Company

 

“We need to first be limited in order to become limitless.” - Phil Hansen

 

At the request of some of his speaking clients, Phil has designed a unique art experience beyond the talk. Companies who are seeking an unforgettable interactive experience for their audience are absolutely stunned by its originality, value and effect. "A number of years ago at our sales meeting we had a very expensive performance painter present. I can say that the impact of Phil’s talk with the fingerprint art project provided much more impact and value. Being able to connect all employees to a single work of art is absolutely incredible." - Bethany Quam, General Mills President, Convenience & Foodservice Division.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Jay Baer, Host
The Spirit Guides

Jay Baer is a business growth and customer experience expert, advisor, researcher, author, and analyst.

He has spent 30 years helping more than 700 of the world’s most iconic brands, including Nike, Oracle, Salesforce, Bentley, and The United Nations, gain and keep more customers.

 

A 7th-generation entrepreneur, Jay has written seven best-selling books on marketing and customer experience and founded five multimillion-dollar companies.

 

Jay is an inductee into the professional speaking hall of fame, and travels globally teaching business growth principles to in-person audiences.

This year, Jay was voted the #1 Global Guru for marketing, and the #2 Global Guru for customer experience.

 

Also, the creator of multiple award-winning podcasts, Jay currently hosts The Spirit Guides show, about the entrepreneurial journey of the world’s top content creators.

 

A lover of plaid suits and a hater of red tape, Jay is also the world’s #2 tequila influencer, publishing 25 videos per month on Instagram, TikTok, and beyond.

 

 

René Carayol, Executive Coach, Leadership Speaker, Author

René speaks, coaches and mentors with the authority and confidence of the leader who has seen and experienced it all before. René draws much from his own unique experiences as former Managing Director at IPC Magazines, serving on a variety of boards such as Pepsi and IPC Media, and even leading the largest management buyout in European history.

 

René has acquired a reputation for providing first-hand advice and support for a series of successful CEOs in the Fortune 500, FTSE 100 and all around the world.

 

Many may claim to have worked at the ‘sharp end’ with CEOs, but in actual fact very few have. He has worked closely with Jim Yong Kim (President, The World Bank), Antony Jenkins (CEO, Barclays Bank), Mario Greco (CEO, Generali) and Maria Ramos (CEO, Absa Bank). Hardly any can match his sustained track record of success.

From sitting in the boardrooms to coaching world leaders, René’s extensive experience in business has provided him with case studies and stories from the frontline. There are exciting adventures, emotional anecdotes, and enough C-suite drama to excite any audience. René delivers learning wrapped up as unforgettable stories told by a master storyteller. You will want to hear them again and again.

 

René specializes in delivering performances that show precisely how contemporary leaders can electrify a crowd through a passionate and authentic connection. He demonstrates just how captivating an emotionally intelligent approach can be. He is never about theory - it is all about actions and behaviors that we can adopt that will make us more powerful when we come together. Everyone remembers how his sessions made them feel.

 

René is an accomplished visiting professor at Cass Business School. His critically acclaimed latest book, ‘Spike – What are you great at?’, enables all of us to unleash our inherent strengths and realize our true potential. As René says, “If you accept your limitations, you go beyond them”