Our Founder & President - TODD A. VAN NEST, Ph.D.

Dr. VanNest founded NEXT SUMMIT in 1999, building our services on a foundation of experience working as a coporate officer and external consultant to top management in growth-oriented companies. Prior to launching NEXT SUMMIT, Dr. VanNest led strategic planning, human resources, and organization effectiveness functions as part of the executive teams at industry leading companies including Holiday Inn Worldwide, Norwest (now Wells Fargo) Mortgage, and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. His success helping shape and realize growth strategies, leadership development, and transformational change spans companies global and local, large and small. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

Dr. VanNest's career traces a path from test/assessment validation and admninistration to strategy development, OD, and succession management to executive coaching with c-level executives. He has coached CEOs in the businesses where he's been an officer, and other top team members, from CFOs to CAOs, CIOs, and Division Presidents while representing NEXT SUMMIT and other consulting firms over the past ten years. He has helped many client companies recast their expectations of coaching to yield value. As a result, NEXT SUMMIT does not engage in open-ended coaching contracts--only defined engagements with accountability for achieving specific goals and timeframes. In addition, he created our "Athletic Model of Coaching" wherein the debate about investing in the closure of key personality or competency gaps versus focusing on strength-building is put aside in favor of a more complete view of the participant's capabilities and the superior results achieved by practicing under tough (but safe) conditions to build wins (along with the trust and respect of others).

Dr. VanNest has presented to many professional associations, emceed corporate leadership events, and led planning and execution workshops for client leadership teams. In 2007, he received a U.S. Copyright for the research-based change management metrics he designed--the only copyrighted index of leading indicators of change management success. In 2008, the content for "The LAST Word on Change" and "The Leading Indicator of Change Management Success" received U.S. Trademark protection. We expect that his manuscript, "The LAST Word on Change: Why the Best Available Advice on Change Management is Costing Your Company Dearly" will be published later this year.

Dr. VanNest lives in the suburban Chicago area with his wife and four daughters.

Well...that's how we feel about it. We have a passion for helping change leaders break the cycle of disappointment with transformation and change in their companies, helping them be more than just a force for change--to become the source that moves their organization to that place where change meets execution!

Grounded in our research findings, coaching, and consulting, this passion is demonstrated in our commitment to help these leaders:

Excerpts from Re-Ignite Change Webinar

Everytime you engage a NEXT SUMMIT speaker for your meeting or event, what we bring to the table will be a BLAST!

Be Relevant;

Lift and Inspire;

Assimilate Company Culture
   and Unique Challenges;

Sustain Interest; and

Translate into ACTION !!!

The LAST Word on Change and Next Summit Enterprises, LLC are passionate about helping change leaders and their sponsors maximize stakeholder satisfaction...and to assess that critical outcome objectively. As a result, we practice the disciplines we teach about measuring satisfaction and other outcomes we commit to create in partnership with our clients. Further, we stand behind our commitment by offering a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. If our clients are not happy with our delivery, they may ask for a complete refund of speaking fees for the event in question. Note: this money-back offer does not apply to event cancellation fees or reimbursement for agreed travel expenses.

Our client's security is also a concern we share. At The LAST Word on Change and Next Summit Enterprises, LLC, we do not distribute or sell the information of website visitors, offer subscribers, or our clients.