KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Monday, Opening Session
Ken Carter
Average is Just Not Good Enough, PERIOD!
When famed high school basketball coach Ken Carter literally locked his undefeated, state play-off bound team out of the gym and forced them to hit the books and stop counting on athletic potential as the only ticket out of a tough, inner city life, he sent a powerful message.
The film, Coach Carter, based on the lockout and starring Samuel L. Jackson as the Coach, is just one more testimony to the strength of his convictions. At the podium, Mr. Carter scores with hard-hitting advice about accountability, integrity, teamwork, and leadership to succeed both on and off the basketball court.
A successful businessman when he accepted the position of head basketball coach at Richmond High School, Richmond, CA, in 1997, Ken Carter had a monumental task at hand. The students were failing academically at an alarming rate, and the athletic programs were in a pathetic state. Within two years, he had virtually single-handedly turned around the school, physically cleaning up (trash, graffiti, drug dealers), and also mentally cleaning house as well.
A contract, which each player and his parents signed, spelled out crucial rules of conduct: treat others with respect; shun drugs and alcohol; sit in the front of class and participate; wear suit and tie on game day; and maintain a minimum of a 2.3 GPA. And when not all of the players lived up to these obligations, the play-off bound, undefeated Richmond Oilers (13-0)—including Mr. Carter’s own son, Damien—were locked out of the gym and pulled from any basketball-related activities to learn how to “…rise as a team.” Academically solid players tutored weaker ones, and the whole team improved their GPAs. Most importantly, these inner city students ultimately returned not just to the court, but to a new standard of winning, one that transcended the hoop dreams of high school, to college educations, and futures they might never have imagined for themselves.
In addition to coaching SlamBall’s champion team, The Rumble, Ken Carter is owner/operator of Prime Time Publishing, Prime Time Sports, and is an author. He is also founder and chairman of the Coach Ken Carter Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops, promotes, and provides education, training and mentoring programs for minority youths. In 2002, he was selected to carry the Olympic torch for the San Francisco Bay Area/Richmond California.
Tuesday, Opening Session
Jessica Melore
Jessica Melore, a 26-year-old graduate of Princeton University, was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Top 10 College Women of 2002. At age 16, she was the co-captain of her tennis team when she suffered a massive heart attack. Within hours, the last rites were performed for her, as she was not expected to live through the night. For nine months she lived on a battery-operated mechanical assist device as she awaited a heart transplant. Additional complications included the amputation of her left leg above the knee and the fear that she could have suffered permanent brain damage due to lack of oxygen to her brain. She received her heart transplant and began her freshman year at Princeton just three months later. However, her challenges were far from over. In the year that followed, she faced life-threatening Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and additional hurdles. Her amazing story of courage and determination has been what Extra! called an “inspirational tale of survival that gives us all hope.”
Ms. Melore has spoken for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, for crowds spanning 10 to 10,000 people. Television appearances include Good Morning America, Dateline NBC, ABC Nightly News, Extra!, Hardcopy, and Telemundo. Jessica Melore has also appeared in several publications, including Woman’s Day, USTA Magazine, Glamour, New York Post and most recently, Cosmopolitan Magazine. Honors include Princeton University’s Allen Macey Dulles Award for the graduating senior who best represents Princeton’s motto, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations”. She was also named the YWCA’s “Woman of Inspiration” of 2002, which “recognizes a woman who has overcome adversity in her life to make a profound impact on others,” and received the “Spirit of Somerset” Award in 2001 for outstanding youth leadership. Somerville Education Association developed the “Jessica Melore Award” as a community service award.
Currently a Senior Development and Programs Officer for the New Jersey Organ & Tissue Sharing Network, Jessica Melore has managed a $1.7 million federally funded grant project, the largest and most groundbreaking investigation on organ donation promotion within the workplace to date.
Wednesday, Opening Session
Bruce S. Wilikinson, CSP
Bruce S. Wilkinson, CSP is a leadership/customer service consultant, professional keynote speaker, workplace trainer, author, and implementation specialist who reinforces personalized messages with humor, passion, enthusiasm, and authenticity. His mission is to help organization’s translate their culture into a workplace climate that inspires excellence. He has degrees in both Safety Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health. He was a two-term elected member of the Board of Directors of the National Speakers Association and is one of fewer than 700 people worldwide to earn the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation.
Mr. Wilkinson recently retired after twenty-two years of service as a post certified reserve police officer with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (New Orleans), where he worked in patrol, emergency rescue, and as a member of the police academy staff. As President and Chief Leadership Officer of Workplace Consultants, Inc. and Wilkinson Seminars and Presentations, Bruce Wilkinson has presented in all 50 states, delivering enthusiastic keynotes and training programs for over twenty-three years to clients such as Office Depot, Burger King, SUBWAY, KFC, Xerox, Frito-Lay, Kellogg’s, T.G.I. Friday’s, the Department of Defense, NASA, Louisiana State University, Miller Brewing, Anheuser-Busch, Jack Daniel’s, and various contractors and hospitals.
