Outperformers are not born; they’re made. We ALL have the capacity to “raise our game,” and Scott Welle has spent more than 15 years helping people do this, personally and professionally. Scott’s 9 best-selling books, articles, videos, podcasts and online programs inspire hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. He has a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology, is an adjunct professor at St. Olaf University, and regularly consults with top-performing executives, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as elite athletes, all with one common goal: to OUTPERFORM. Fox 9 in Minneapolis-St Paul has called him a “Motivational Expert.” and he was recently named the 2021 Midwest Motivational Speaker of the Year. For “fun” (and because he’s a little crazy!), Scott has completed 30 marathons, 5 Ironman triathlons, a 100-mile ultra-marathon, and serves others by showing them how to tap into the mindset of challenging their self-limiting beliefs and aspiring to be their best every day.

Steve is a principal consultant of The Family Business Consulting Group specializing in making family-owned a competitive advantage. In doing so, he assists with family communications and decision making, succession planning and implementation, and governance and management in family firms. 

His work often involves family and non-family employee teamwork, implementing advisory boards or boards of directors, family councils, successor development and management practices, such as compensation and strategic planning, tailored to family firms. His clients are primarily in North America and include financial services, manufacturing, philanthropic, distribution, construction, retail, agricultural, textile services and professional services (i.e., family offices and trust companies); all operated or owned by families.

Steve has taught business continuity planning and family business management and governance to retail networks of international manufacturers, clients of law practices, international trade groups, business advisors, and to the members and owners of family businesses, both domestically and internationally. An innovator in providing unique services to private businesses, his articles on consulting methods appear in three volumes of collected works. 

He is the co-author of books on family business succession, family councils, compensation and working in a family business. He’s regularly quoted in the media and is a frequent speaker on family business topics.

Ricardo Bernardes has served as Commercial Director (formerly titled EVP, Commercial) since January 2010. From 2003 to 2009, he served as Chief Financial Officer at California Steel Industries. From 1995 to 2003, he worked at RBS Group (Brazil), a regional multimedia company, most recently as the Executive Director of Business Development. He also served as Chief Financial Officer of the RBS Broadcasting Division, and in other positions of financial and strategic business responsiblities. From 1989 to 1995 he worked at Booz Allen and Hamilton Brazil, an international management and technology consulting firm, where he worked primarlily with steel companies in Latin America, and also in business segments such as aerospace, equipment manufacture and automotive. His previous work experience also includes positions in the Production Planning and Cost Analysis departments of Siderurgica Riograndense ( a steel mill of Gerdau Group) in Brazil. Mr. Bernardes graduated from Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, and from University of California, Los Angeles, with a Master's Degree in Business Administration, Finance.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers represents Washington's Fifth Congressional district and is the Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She was first elected to the House in 2004 and has earned the trust of her constituents and praise on Capitol Hill for her hard work, conservative principles, bipartisan outreach, and leadership. Her mission is to restore trust and confidence in representative government and the rule of law, and lead as a trust-builder, ability-advocate, and unifying force to get results for hardworking men and women in Eastern Washington.