Renee L. Pietrangelo Leadership Forum

Taming the Management Monster: A Leadership Roadmap

Presented by Pete Moore, President & CEO, Ohio Provider Resource Association

Managers are pivotal in shaping workplace culture and fostering employee retention. They serve as gatekeepers of organizational values, capable of nurturing a positive environment or inadvertently undermining it. In this interactive session, we will explore how effective management is essential for establishing strong workplace cultures that enhance retention, engagement, and service quality.

Drawing on stories from the I/DD field and various industries, we will identify common challenges managers encounter and discuss strategies to “tame the management monster.” Through interactive discussions and real-world examples, participants will gain practical tools to support their workforce and drive meaningful change.

You’ll learn techniques for engaging both motivated and disengaged employees, transforming challenges into opportunities for growth, and fostering a culture rooted in trust and accountability.

Whether you’re a manager, director, or executive, you will leave this session inspired and equipped with actionable strategies to cultivate a thriving work environment where everyone feels valued and empowered.

Raising the Bar on Inclusive Leadership: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Presented by Denice Hinden, Principal, Managance Coaching

Let’s be honest. No matter where you are in your career, you face countless obstacles daily. Your
job is challenging and demands high energy, creativity, and patience. Furthermore, these days, you
are frequently leading your team on a path you all have never traveled. Helping your team navigate
the uncertainty of an untraveled path is an essential leadership skill. Regardless of your leadership
experience, supporting your team when faced with unknown obstacles and constant change is
mission-critical. In this interactive session, participants will self-assess the obstacles they face and learn how to use inclusive leadership tactics to turn these obstacles into organizational opportunities.

It Starts with Hello: Using a Person-Centered Focus to Shift Your Hiring Culture and Improve Recruitment & Retention

Presented by Sasha Sencer, Director of Education, ANCOR & Alli Strong-Martin, Communications Coordinator, ANCOR

Hiring practices are an ideal starting point for transforming workplace culture. From position
descriptions that increase the diversity of your applicant pool to establishing processes that create
a sense of belonging before an offer is even made, the hiring process presents a wide range of
opportunities to shift your organizational culture. To help you navigate these opportunities, workshop leaders will highlight lessons from ANCOR’s recent overhaul of its own hiring practices. Participants will learn how to increase diversity through transparent job ads, limit bias through thoughtful redactive practices, advance the most qualified candidates through appropriate skills-based assessments, equalize the playing field through a robust panel interview process, and ultimately make an offer to the right person for the job through several hands-on experiential activities. Most importantly, each participant will leave with an understanding that creating a more inclusive workplace where people can come to work as their whole authentic selves starts with hello.

Strategic Planning for Sustainable Growth: Leading for the Long Term

Presented by Marian Baldini, President & CEO, KenCrest & Arora Kripa, COO, KenCrest

At Pennsylvania-based KenCrest, the management team had a long-term vision for where the organization was headed and how they wanted the future to look. But like any team with big plans, obstacles threatened to stand in the way of long-term success. On the one hand, fiercely candid conversations helped KenCrest’s leaders realize that their past success was preventing their future dreams from becoming a reality. Meanwhile, although progress continued through the COVID-19 pandemic and an unprecedented workforce shortage, these dual crises threatened to halt the long-term viability of the organization’s strategic goals.

Recognizing that the choices of today would reverberate for years to come, KenCrest’s leadership team focused their attention on some of the fundamentals, including the need to refresh their organizational culture, revamp processes and structures, and in some ways reimagine the entire architecture of their service delivery model. Having emerged from these discussions on stronger footing than before, KenCrest’s leadership now has a clear roadmap for the future, including timelines, tools and actionable insights that they are now eager to share with the broader ANCOR community. Join KenCrest’s leadership for this interactive pre-conference workshop as they walk participants through the outcomes accomplished and lessons learned during their seven-month strategic planning journey.