The 2026 Creative Training Techniques® Conference features sessions led by the industry’s leading training professionals. Our elite roster of presenters all have decades of experience in training, development, and performance coaching across a variety of industries, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and consulting.
John Pike is the founder and CEO of Perissos Partners and a leadership and executive development advisor who helps organizations turn learning into leadership that holds up under pressure. He challenges how leaders think about development while keeping it grounded in real-world application.
John Pike is a leadership and executive development advisor, keynote speaker, and founder and CEO of Perissos Partners, where he works with organizations to close the gap between learning and real leadership impact.
John partners with senior leaders and learning teams to rethink how leadership development actually shows up in decisions, behavior, and results. His work sits at the intersection of adult learning, executive development, and assessment, challenging organizations to move beyond well-designed programs to development that holds up under pressure.
A TEDx speaker coach, John also helps leaders turn insight into ideas worth sharing, sharpening both what they say and how they lead. He is known for asking the questions learning leaders feel but rarely say out loud, and for translating complexity into action that fits the reality of the roles people are in.
John lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where he and his wife are raising seven children. He coaches youth sports year-round, including hockey, and serves on the board of the Eden Prairie Hockey Association. These roles give him a daily laboratory for leadership, accountability, and culture, long before any keynote stage.
Sadie accidentally became an advocate for engaging, learner-centered training in 2009, when she began her career as a university instructor in sports medicine. Upon seeing how challenging and anti-fun it was for students to grasp lecture-based content, she quickly moved away from traditional didactic methods and toward active sessions grounded in adult learning theory. Curious about new techniques to deliver interactive learning experiences that stick, she went on to obtain her Master’s and Doctorate in education. Her passions lie in curriculum design, interactive training methods, educational technology, evaluation, and medical education. Sadie is driven by the belief that meaningful learning should be collaborative, creative, and inclusive.
Natalie brings over 20 years of experience in facilitation and training to The Bob Pike Group. She excels in delivering content both in person and virtually in a way that encourages participant-centered learning and fun! A natural encourager, Natalie is a dynamic communicator with strong listening and coaching skills. She holds a Masters degree from Indiana Wesleyan University in Servant Leadership and a BA from Purdue University in Communication. Natalie has worked with clients such as Samtec, Norton Healthcare and Indiana University Southeast.