Rulon Gardner

U.S. Olympic wrestling champion
and former Univ. of Nebraska wrestler

"Seven Steps to Success"

Rulon will share his personal experiences to illustrate how persistence leads to success. His presentation will focus on several real-world and useful tactics such as:

• Going Back to the Basics
• Turning Negatives into Positives
• Aim High When You’re Feeling Low
• Train Hard and
• Don’t Rest of your Laurels

Rulon, a former University of Nebraska wrestler, earned a gold medal in wrestling in the 2000 Sydney, Australia Olympics. His performance was dubbed “Miracle on the Mat” as he rose from relative obscurity to defeat Russia’s three-time Olympic gold medalist Alexander Karelin, who had been undefeated since 1985. He also earned a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

For his Olympic efforts Gardner was named the 2000 Sportsman of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee and was also the recipient of the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award. He is also the 2001 ESPY Award recipient of the U.S. Male Olympic Athlete of the Year and a Jesse Owens Award recipient for sportsmanship.

Since his Olympic wrestling career came to an end, Gardner has displayed the same sense of determination and fighting spirit in his endeavors.

He wrote the 2005 motivational autobiography “Never Stop Pushing: My Life from a Wyoming Farm to the Olympic Medals Stand”, served as an inspiration on the NBC television show “The Biggest Loser” and was honored with the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, which is given to the nation's top amateur athlete for athletic excellence, leadership, sportsmanship, and character.

Danette Scudder

Executive Vice President and CSO, TVPPA
Vice President, Distributors Insurance

"Is it the Jetsons or Gen Z? Creating an ‘Out of this World’ Workplace for the Future"

There are five generations in the workplace today – each with differing value systems and priorities. That means there is potential for miscommunication, conflict and confusion. At the same time, the diversity of thought, capabilities and expertise that a cross-generational team can bring to the table can take creativity, innovation and problem solving to a new level. In this session we will explore what drives – and divides – the different generations with a goal of creating a better understanding of how we can bridge the generation gap to create resilient organizations in the rapidly-changing utility industry.

Danette Scudder is executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, which serves 153 consumer-owned electric utilities that purchase wholesale electric power from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and distribute it in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.

• A list of Conference session topics is coming soon!