leading through transformation: shaping the next era of wealth management
Monday, March 2 | 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Location: HB Plant Ballroom E&F
Description: Transformational leadership takes center stage at the BISA 2026 Annual Conference with a keynote conversation presented by a leading voice in the financial services industry. In Leading Through Transformation: Shaping the Next Era of Wealth Management, a senior industry leader will join BISA Board of Directors President John Olerio of Lighthouse Credit Union for a dynamic fireside chat exploring the forces reshaping the financial-services landscape. During the informative session, attendees will gain an insider’s view of the broader economy, the evolving role of wealth management, and how shifting client expectations, advancing technology, and emerging market trends are redefining the business of wealth today and into the future.
The Perfect Plan: How Elite Leaders Achieve the "Unfair Advantage"
Tuesday, March 3 | 9 AM - 10:15 AM
Presenter: Dr. Don Barden
Location: HB Plant Ballroom E&F
Description: Most leadership frameworks were built for a different economy, a different generation, and a different pace of change. Today’s financial institution executives are being asked to scale trust, loyalty, and advisor effectiveness in a marketplace full of complexity. But the top 1% of global leaders are doing something different — something repeatable. In this dynamic, data-backed session, Dr. Don Barden shares the behind-the-scenes research behind The Perfect Plan: a Wall Street–backed, doctoral-level study of what the world’s elite financial performers do differently. Attendees will walk away with the exact blueprint they use to build teams clients trust, scale leadership without chaos, and create “legacy-level” outcomes — even in a compressed margin environment. This isn’t theory. This is a repeatable formula backed by over 25 years of behavioral economics and high-performance field studies in the financial industry.
Barden is a globally recognized expert in leadership and decision-making, with over 30 years of transformative corporate leadership in the financial industry. His innovative approaches have reshaped numerous U.S. and international firms, earning him accolades such as one of North America's Top 30 Most Transformational Leaders by John Maxwell and the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Barden's academic credentials are equally impressive. He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and Behavioral Economics, an M.B.A. in Global Technology Management and International Business, and a B.B.A. in Economics and Finance. Additionally, he is certified in Cybersecurity Management from Harvard University.
Barden's work challenges and motivates financial organizations and leadership teams to rethink their beliefs and achieve their goals in communication, culture, sales, and management. His revolutionary "unfair advantage" theories debunk modern leadership myths, transforming frustrated companies by unlocking their creative potential and guiding them to unprecedented performance through cultural change. Known for his engaging and humorous style, Barden combines intellectual rigor with practical, time-tested systems to help organizations reach new heights. His extensive experience in cultural change and record-setting growth makes him a sought-after advisor for corporations aiming to elevate their performance.
Barden's influence extends beyond the financial sector. He serves as a Trustee and past Chairman of the Summit Counseling Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been a key figure in the Metro Atlanta YMCA's COVID response and strategic initiatives. He also lectures at Oxford University and the U.S. Army's Ranger Leadership and Professional Development Program.
The LeadFULL Way: Where Excellence Meets Energy to Expand What's Possible in a World That Demands More
Wednesday, March 4 | 8:30 AM - 10 AM
Presenter: Sara Ross
Location: HB Plant Ballroom E&F
Leadership has always been challenging. But today, complexity is outpacing capacity: 78% of organizations are bracing for major technology-driven disruption, 73% of leaders feel unprepared for the escalating expectations and uncertainty ahead, and nearly half the workforce is running on fumes. These aren't just statistics — they're warning signs of a widening gap between the complexity leaders face and the capacity they have to meet it.
In response, almost all leadership approaches focus on helping people lead better. Better strategies, better communication, better decisions. These capabilities matter, but they're not enough to close the complexity-capacity gap. Drawing on a three-year Workplace Vitality and performance sustainment study with over 10,000 high performing leaders — the foundation of her bestselling book Dear Work, Something Has to Change — Sara Ross reveals why: leading better isn't the same as leading full.
What does leading full look like? Think of someone who is lit up by the work they do. Who can tap into their experience, expertise, and empathy to bring their best, and the best out in others. Who is rested and energized to take on today's challenges and seize tomorrow's opportunities. That is the difference.
In this keynote, Sara will share The LeadFULL Way, a full-spectrum approach to excellence that upgrades a leader's internal operating system to develop the capabilities complexity demands and expand the energetic capacity to access, sustain, and evolve them. You’ll walk away with a leaving roadmap to become bold cultivators of talent, trust, and transformation. To build cultures where both results and relationships thrive and cultivate the vitality to go from functioning to feeling fully alive in both work and life.
Watch Sara preview her session