Distinguished Speaker Series

The Graduate School of Banking is pleased to enhance its curriculum with a series of keynote speakers, included in tuition at no additional charge — addressing timely, relevant banking and leadership topics. 

 Special thanks to our 2024 sponsors for their generous support of the GSB Distinguished Speaker Series.

Monday, July 29, 2024 – Tommy Spaulding: “Heart Led Leadership”

Tommy Spaulding is the founder and president of Tommy Spaulding Companies, a leadership development, speaking, training, and teambuilding organization based in Denver, Colorado. A world-renowned speaker on leadership, Spaulding has spoken to thousands of organizations, associations, educational institutions, and corporations around the globe. Spaulding spend most of his career and rose to become the youngest president and CEO of the world-renowned leadership organization, Up with People.

In 2000, Tommy founded Leader’s Challenge, which grew to become the largest high school civic and leadership program in the state of Colorado. He is the founder and president of the Global Youth Leadership Academy as well as the National Leadership Academy, a leading national non-profit high school leadership development organization.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from East Carolina University (1992); an MBA from Bond University in Australia (1998), where he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar; and an MA in Non-Profit Management from Regis University (2005). In 2012 Spaulding was named by Meetings & Conventions Magazine as one of the 100 Most Favorite Speakers in the nation.

Monday, August 5, 2024 – Scott Burrows:
“Vision. Mindset. Grit. Success Strategies to Help You Stand Up to any Challenges”

Scott Burrows is a top inspirational speaker and bestselling author who is a living testament to the power of perseverance, determination, and adaptability in the face of adversity.

An accomplished athlete, Scott was 19-years-old when his life took a devastating turn. Paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident, doctors told him he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Despite this, Scott became relentless in pursuit of his goal to stand again.

Drawing on a profound desire to overcome, he found a way to defy the odds. Along the way, he proved that no circumstances can ever destroy the power of the human spirit.
Today, Scott uses his personal journey to inspire audiences all over the world to stand up to any challenge. A captivating storyteller, he shares actionable strategies to help audiences embrace change, build resilience, and push past their perceived limitations to achieve remarkable success.