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.
David Horsager is The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of The Trust Edge and the leading global expert in building high-trust leaders and organizations. David has advised leaders and delivered lifechanging presentations on six continents, with audiences ranging everywhere from FedEx, Toyota, MIT and global governments to the New York Yankees and the Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. David Horsager, D. Litt, CSP, CPAE is the CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute, Trust Expert in Residence at High Point University and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Trust Edge, The Daily Edge, and Trusted Leader. He is also the creator of the Enterprise Trust Index™, and director of one of the nation’s foremost trust studies, The Trust Outlook.®
Horsager has advised leaders and delivered life-changing presentations on six continents, with audiences ranging from Delta, FedEx, and Toyota to the New York Yankees, MIT and the Department of Homeland Security.
His work has been featured in prominent media such as Fast Company, Forbes, and MSNBC. Through speaking, training, consulting, and coaching, David and his team at Trust Edge Leadership Institute make it their mission to develop trusted leaders and organizations. With his trademark 8 Pillar Framework, David breaks trust down into tangible steps that can be leveraged right away to build a high-trust culture—because high-trust leaders and organizations bring out the best in their people and get measurable results.
Founder of PrepAdemy, Sandy has helped small businesses and subject matter experts harness the power of virtual classrooms for 15 years. Areas of sought-after expertise include webinar production, virtual training, and virtual keynote presentations. Sandy consults on all aspect of virtual classrooms from design to delivery to evaluation. She is an expert level coach for Adobe Connect, GoToWebinar, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Sandy is especially active bringing live, online training and blended learning to the insurance industry. She also designed and delivers Producing for Webinars for The Bob Pike Group.
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.
Benjamin Gertz is a training consultant with The Bob Pike Group, bringing over 15 years of experience in leadership development, trainer development, and instructional design. He specializes in participant-centered learning that equips leaders and facilitators with practical, actionable tools that create lasting impact.
Ben is a published contributor to Contact Center Pipeline and has been a featured guest on several industry podcasts, where he shares insights on leadership, learning design, and the future of work culture. He brings energy, empathy, and a coaching mindset to every session, whether in person or virtual.