About the Thought Leader Exchange
In our increasingly global and entrepreneurial world, across sectors we are more connected than ever. Around the world societies empowered by technology are leap frogging ahead and becoming areas of investment in contrast to assistance.
Spark Growth has been bringing together thought leaders across sectors since the company’s inception in 2013. Many guests return year after year to the event counting on exceptional content and connections to help them face their upcoming year.
According to Jonathan Fleece, author of The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America, “one of the most transformative and inspirational conferences I’ve been involved with.”
Meet Leaders
Access to extraordinary leaders and innovators - find powerful vision, experience, and ideas.
Share Methods
Leveraging experience and vision - bring clarity, purpose and enhanced skills to the challenges you face.
Change the World
This is intellectual and practical fuel that will inspire, challenge and change you and your world.
To cultivate a network of thought leaders with a global context across community, education, non-profit, civic and private sectors – to share and learn best practices for navigating the challenges of an ever-learning, constantly-changing and always-connected world.
Spark Growth Thought Leader Exchange brings clarity, purpose and enhanced skills to the challenges you face. You who are changing the game and changing the world around you. You want relevant connections and collaborators to do business with. You have access to true thought leaders who will change the way you think and act. Whether at one of our in-person events through one of our other channels of connection and communication, you will not just attend, you will participate in experiential learning and powerful conversations you will find no place else.Stay tuned in 2019 as Spark Growth is excited to announce some new developments including more ways/channels to connect, learn and communicate with those who have invested their time as speakers and the wonderful community from across the world.
About Thought Leader Exchange Founders
Sara Hand
CEO, Spark Growth
Sara Hand has a diverse business development background across public and private sector enterprises, which includes early stage investment experience. Her motto is “Think Big. Keep it Simple. Make it Happen.” Using agile strategies, Sara drives action-focused agendas and is widely recognized for consistently achieving her goals with grace and confident skill.
An entrepreneur, Sara uses her strengths to find and leverage unique value propositions and create synergistic partnerships. This has enabled her to become a valuable leader and asset to her community and has presented opportunities with the State Department, the United Nations Launch of WED, the 2015 Harvard Future-Ready Economies Summit, International Strategic Doing Leadership Conference and the DWEN 2016 Symposium. Recently, Sara has added the roles of global investment, international market expansion and exits with her Cross Border Angels and Scaale business affiliations.
As founder of Spark Growth and organizer behind the 3.0 Leaders Conference, a gathering of thought leaders across sectors, Sara has the opportunity to regularly participate in conversations around “What our communities need as we move into the future.”
Stan Schultes
CTO, Spark Growth
Stan Schultes is co-founder of Spark Growth, a social/civic innovation enterprise and an expert in Strategic Doing, an agile and action-centric protocol for rapid development and implementation of strategies across organizations and sectors. His current development work is focused on Smart Cities initiatives.
Stan has a passion for creating community engagement between entrepreneurs, investors, and educational resources, and helping early stage companies grow. He is co-founder of 3.0 Leaders which annually convenes thought leaders, and DaVinci’s Faire and BarCamp. He works actively with Manatee Chamber’s Downtown RedevelopmentCommittee and served on the Suncoast Technology Forum Board of Directors and Florida High Tech Corridor Core Council.
Stan is certified by InBIA in Business Incubator Management, internationally recognized as a technology expert, and has earned the coveted Microsoft MVP award13 years running. As an entrepreneur and professional technologist, he has led teams from the Fortune 200 to stewardship of several startups.