Speakers

Josh Allan Dykstra is an optimistic futurist who helps leaders stop reacting to chaos and start making sense of what’s next. He’s known for cutting through A.I. panic and future-of-work noise to focus organizations on what actually matters: the systems shaping tomorrow, not the trend of the week. He equips leaders with practical, future-focused frameworks that reduce complexity, rebuild optimism, and design work environments where transformation energizes people instead of burning them out.  

Over the past 15 years, Josh has worked with organizations employing more than 1 million people — including Microsoft, CHANEL, Amazon, Sony, and Genentech — helping them rethink change, technology, and culture. His thinking has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. He’s the author of Igniting the Invisible Tribe, host of the Hello Tomorrow Podcast, and is currently writing his next book.

Speech: Hello Tomorrow: Making Sense Of What’s Next 

Most of us are exhausted trying to fix systems that are destined to break. This session uses demographic patterns and riveting stories to show you exactly where we are in the cycle, so your group can stop optimizing what needs to be let go, and start designing what comes next.  

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The President and CEO of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner spends her time connecting many of the nation’s hardest-working college students to life-changing scholarships and family-sustaining employment. She tells her children that it’s “the best job on the planet.” It’s also a busy job. On most days, you’ll find Dr. Tincher-Ladner serving as the champion of both community colleges and community college students, using data collected from her innovative research to tell their stories and to advocate for the support of remarkable students and quality institutions of higher learning. A self-described “steminist,” her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Mississippi State University and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Southern Mississippi. 

Dr. Tincher-Ladner believes the Society’s hallmark of service extends to the Headquarters staff as well as PTK members, therefore she is honored to currently serve on the national boards of the Center for Community College Student Engagement and the Rural Community College Alliance. Her past service includes the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors, America’s College Promise, and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. A passionate advocate for community colleges and their students, Dr. Tincher-Ladner uses data-driven storytelling to highlight their achievements and the vital role these institutions play in shaping the nation’s future. 

Speech: Your Voice, Our Direction: Shaping PTK’s Future Together 

PTK’s future belongs to the students it serves, and we mean that literally. In this interactive session, students will have the opportunity to engage with the ideas driving PTK’s emerging strategic direction, share their own experiences and aspirations, and push back on what we think we know. Through a structured peer-to-peer dialogue, participants will help confirm, challenge, and deepen the thinking behind PTK’s future plan — one built around student success, economic mobility, and what it means to belong in higher education today. Your voice isn’t feedback. It’s strategy.  

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Glenn Rohlfing is an Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History, Humanities, and Political Science Departments at Pikes Peak State College. His research focuses on the medieval papacy, Pope Innocent III, and Icelandic Sagas. 

A passionate advocate for curriculum innovation, Glenn has spent over two decades reshaping history education at the community college level. As History State Discipline Chair, he led a statewide initiative to renumber Colorado’s history courses around regions and themes to better serve BIPOC and gender communities. He pioneered Colorado’s first History of Science and Technology course and served as Executive Director of a Reacting to the Past Grant, coordinating six faculty teams to develop game-based simulation curricula. 

His teaching excellence has earned him the PPSC Faculty of the Year award, the NISOD Excellence and Master Teaching Awards, and six consecutive years as a PTK Faculty Scholar. He also co-organizes the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum. 

Stefan Huddleston is an Assistant Professor of History and a historian who focuses on pop culture history (film, TV, and tabletop games), the history of marginalized groups throughout time, and modern sub–Saharan Africa. Stefan produced and directed a short documentary on the Alexander Film Company, which at one time was the largest employer in Colorado Springs, and the largest maker of commercial film clips in the world during the mid-20th century. He earned an MA in history at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. 

Speech: City As Text™ Overview

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One of only a handful of African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in entomology, Dr. Sammy Ramsey is an inspirational science leader and communicator who has defied the odds to achieve his dreams. When people said he didn’t have what it took to make his mark in entomology, he proved them wrong by making a breakthrough discovery in the field of bee research — one that could potentially reverse a devastating pandemic in bee populations. And when people told him he didn’t “look” like a scientist, he remained true to himself and redefined what a scientist could look like.  

Described as “your friendly neighborhood entomologist,” Dr. Ramsey is the endowed professor of entomology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he teaches about effective communication and how understanding of the deep interconnectedness of all organisms can solve real-world problems. He is also the founder of The Ramsey Research Foundation, which conducts cutting-edge, novel research on issues affecting pollinator health globally — including parasite spread, disease management, and habitat preservation. He has utilized his exceptional skillset working in academia, industry, and government — including alongside the U.S. Supreme Court, House of Representatives, and the United States Department of Agriculture.  

Speech: Bugs, Bees, Business, and the Sustainable Future.  

Coffee, avocados, almonds — just a few of the things that are dependent on honeybees for survival. So many of the comforts we enjoy each day depend on nature being as it should, yet so much of how businesses operate is to the detriment of the unsung heroes of the global economy, such as bugs and insects. As an inspirational changemaker in the worlds of science and entomology, Dr. Sammy Ramsey walks the talk when it comes to creating a more sustainable planet where everything and everyone that inhabits the earth can thrive. As he explores the intersections of entomology, sustainability, and business, Dr. Ramsey underscores why it’s for the benefit of businesses to operate in ways that promote the health of the environment and shares the first steps organizations can take so that they can go green while operating in the black. Dr. Ramsey’s insights are designed to give audiences food for thought when it comes to their approach to sustainable business, while demonstrating how when nature profits, business profits as well. 

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