About Ben Utecht - Founder
If you want a commanding corporate presence to inspire, teach, and coach how to build world championship organizational culture, look no further than NFL Super Bowl Champion Tight End and Chief Culture Officer Ben Utecht.
Ben is the recipient of the prestigious NFL Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy’s “Uncommon Leader Award“ for his leadership performance both on and off the NFL football field. After retiring, Utecht began building a significant career across multiple talents. His speaking career launched him into the Fortune 500 community as a subject matter expert, focusing on the strategy for building high-performing culture. Utecht’s passion for people and culture then entered into a corporate leadership position as the Chief Culture Officer for True North Private Equity. Utecht is also an owner in the top US Ninja Fitness/Entertainment Franchise, Conquer Ninja Gyms, where he oversees all culture systems that impact every location. To complete his pursuit of practicing a winning culture, Utecht became a partner in Behavioral Essentials, a technology company paving the way for talent acquisition and leadership development through customized behavioral assessment results and benchmarking.
I believe that what you believe directly affects how you behave and perform.
Ben Utecht
Super Bowl XLI Champion, Chief Culture Officer, Tony Dungy Uncommon Award Recipient
"Ben provided a great message to our group of financial representatives. During the planning process, Ben was great to work with. He took the time to get to know his audience and our organization and was able to weave in messages that were relevant to the group. I would definitely work with him again and would recommend him to others."
Thrivent
"Ben did a fantastic job. On our program evaluation from the participants, he scored a 9.1 on a 10 point scale. He scored higher than Dr. Omalu. Our board chair said 'he hit it out of the park'."
Vizient
"His speech today was spot-on for building a winning culture, but what made the difference was his warmth and personal presence that exuded with each and every person he met. We are so grateful and proud of Ben's efforts today. He was an amazing ambassador for the NFL, but more importantly of a husband, father and true champion."
H.B. Fuller
Marketing and Sales
Melissa Buening has worked with Ben Utecht for over 6 years on his culture speaking programs and various businesses. Her marketing and sales career has focused on helping startups. She has worked with over 40 startups in a variety of industries during the past 14 years. In addition to helping startups, she has also started a few of her own businesses. Her mission is to make entrepreneurship more accessible so that more people can start businesses. Melissa, like Ben, is a proud University of Minnesota graduate and resides in the Twin Cities.
Chief Coaching Officer
Julie Henson is an executive performance coach, business development leader and the CEO | Founder of Henson Advisors. Throughout her 20+ year career advising executives, lawyers and athletes she has helped high-performing individuals elevate their game. Known as a culture ignitor, she takes a direct, empathetic and holistic approach to growth and development which makes an immediate impact and ultimately drives revenue. Julie's diverse experience as an athlete representative, business development strategist and Chief Client Officer for an AmLaw 100 law firm, equips her with a unique set of consulting skills to unlock any leader or organization. She specializes in client and business development, strategic planning, leadership development, feedback, succession planning, lateral integration, communications, M&A, and change management.
The Encompass Group
Tony Bridwell brings 25 plus years of experience working with global organizations related to employee experience and culture. In his current role as Chief Talent Officer for The Encompass Group, a leading Human Capital Management company, he leads the Firms organizational consulting practice. Most recently, Bridwell led the award-winning People Group function of the global tax and technology firm Ryan, LLC as their Chief People Officer. Before his role at Ryan, Bridwell was the Chief People Officer for Brinker International and a Senior Partner with the global culture consultancy Culture Partners (Formerly Partners in Leadership, Inc).
Tony is an accomplished author, speaker, and consultant in purpose and culture and brings hands-on experience as a practitioner, maximizing high functioning cultures. Mr. Bridwell was selected as the 2015 HR Executive of the Year by Dallas HR (the local SHRM affiliate) and won the 2015 Strategic Leadership Award from Strategic Excellence HR and most recently recognized as a 2022 top 50 HR Professional by OnCon Icon Awards. Tony has been a facilitator and featured speaker at several universities including University of North Texas, Texas A&M, and Southern Methodist University and has engaged organizations of all sizes in 44 countries worldwide. Leaders seek and thrive on his high energy and captivating style. Aside from presenting and facilitating summits and keynotes for numerous organizations, he has been a featured speaker for multiple conferences and associations, including the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, CHRO Exchange, Dallas HR (SHRM), the HRSouthwest Conference, HCI Employee Engagement Conference, HR Management Institute, and the Women’s Foodservice Forum. Additionally, Tony has consulted and coached executive leaders at some of the worlds most acclaimed organizations, such as Halliburton, Citibank, Baxter Healthcare, Dell, Kimberly Clark, Kellogg’s, AT&T, Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, Chili’s Grill and Bar, Whirlpool, OG&E, the Centers for Disease Control, and many more well-known international organizations. Tony is the author of several articles and five books:
• The Kingmaker, A Leadership Story of Integrity and Purpose (June 2016)
• The Newsmaker, A Leadership Story of Honor and Love (February 2018)
• The Difference Maker, A Leadership Story of Faith and Friendship (June 2018)
• The Changemaker, A Leadership Story of Courage and Character (April 2019)
• Saturday Morning Tea, The Power of Story to Change Everything (January 2020)
Tony has a Bachelor of Science in Business and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a human resources management concentration and is currently navigating his Doctorate in Leadership. He is also dedicated to multiple organizations, including being a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and serves on the board of directors for Southwest Transplant Alliance. Tony is a living organ donor and as such his work with Southwest Transplant holds a special meaning as its purpose is to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Castling Partners, Associated Eye Care
Dr. Zismer’s areas of interest are the design, strategy, operations and financial performance of integrated health systems.
Prior to co-founding Castling Partners, Dr. Zismer served as the Wegmiller Professor and Chair for the Masters in Healthcare Administration and Executive Studies Programs, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. Upon retiring from service to the School of Public Health, he was awarded Professor Emeritus status. He also holds an adjunct faculty position with the School of Medicine, University of Minnesota.
Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, Dr. Zismer focused a 20 year career in health care on provider-side mergers, acquisitions and related integrated strategies. He served as the head of two national healthcare consulting firms (one he co-founded and sold) and headed operations of a large, multi-state, integrated health system.
Dr. Zismer serves as a frequent lecturer to the American College of Healthcare Executives, American College of Physician Executives, and is a board member and advisor to a private, healthcare real estate development company. He has authored and co-authored in excess of 100 professional publications and was named by Minnesota Physician as one of the most influential healthcare leaders in Minnesota.
PhD (1982) University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Campus Major: Health Psychology (Concentration in Cardiovascular Health Behavior) Pre-doctoral Kellogg Fellow Minor: Health Services Management
BA (1975) Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota Majors: Psychology and Criminal Justice; Cum Laude
Professional Experience:
Wegmiller Professor and Director, MHA and Executive Studies Programs 2013-2016.
Associate Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management, and Director of the Master in Healthcare Administration Program, University of Minnesota 2006 to 2012
Executive Vice President Essentia Health and President, Essentia Health Services 2004-2006
Executive Vice President Essentia Health and Chief Administrative Officer, SMDC 2001-2004
Managing Director, Dorsey Health Strategies, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1999-2001
Senior Executive, Allina Cardiovascular Services 1997-1999
Principal and National Practice Leader for health systems consulting, Towers Perrin, Minneapolis, Minnesota (acquired Partners Consulting Group) 1986-1997
Co-founder, Director and CEO of Partners Consulting Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1982-1985
Assistant Executive Director, Health Services Research Center, Park Nicollet Medical Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Honors:
Rho Chi National Honor Society Identified by Minnesota Physician as one of Minnesota’s 100 “Most Influential Health Care Leaders”; August 1993, 1982-1989
Vision Companies
Kent is the Managing Principal of Vision Companies L.L.C. and has served in this role, consulting with teams for over 30 years, focusing on leadership and culture development.
Kent spends much of his time speaking nationally on the subjects of leadership, organizational culture, and personal success. Kent is also a frequent guest lecturer and adjunct at Harvard Business School.
Kent is the author of the book EVERYDAY Leadership, 52, and “Backwards” and his next book is to be released in July 2024, titled “Family”. These topics focus on the leader within every one of us.
Experience
Kent has over 30-years’ experience providing strategic visioning, operational effectiveness and technology alignment consulting services to global companies.
Kent’s clients range from entrepreneurial companies to multi-national organizations. His experience includes:
• Leading organizational integration efforts of companies that had been acquired or merged with a parent company. These integration engagements included human resources, finance, information technology, and operations.
• Speaking nationally on the subjects of leadership, organizational culture, and personal success. This includes serving as a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard University and Southern Seminary.
• Planning and facilitating strategic planning retreats for clients in:
- Energy Utilities
- Finance / Banking
- Construction / Real Estate
- Health care
- Not-for-profits
• Assisted companies with the implementation of key performance measurements and development of an institutional culture of continuous improvement.
• Serve as an advisory member on several boards to ensure long-term focus on strategic execution.
• Assist with the development of succession plans in organizations ranging from family owned to government entities to large multi- national companies.
• Facilitate leadership and cultural development sessions to optimize executive performance and team effectiveness.
In addition to his tenure at Vision, Kent has been a Partner at Grant Thornton leading the National Advisory Services Practice that focused on strategic planning and execution, organizational correction, merger and acquisition integration, and technology alignment.
Education
• Bachelor of Science, Management & Information Systems, Purdue University
• Masters of Business Administration, Harvard University
• PhD Leadership, Harvard University
CEO, Founder - Servant, Intevity
Leading Mergers and Acquisitions in alignment with of Intevity’s growth strategy. Helping secure key new client relationships and supporting Intevity’s executive team in their execution of the organization’s vision and goals.
© Copyright 2024 Surrender the Game LLC. All rights reserved.
