DeDe Halfhill
by Brandi Hockaday | Jul 19, 2022 | Speakers
Renowned Leadership Expert and Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
Described by Dr. Brené Brown as one of her “leadership heroes and a total badass,” U.S. Air Force retired Colonel, DeDe Halfhill is a proven leader who draws from 25 years of command experience and as a senior advisor to the military’s highest-ranking officials to provide a real-world perspective on the power of embracing humanness and vulnerability in leadership.
Twice deployed to Iraq, DeDe’s sought-after leadership insights are grounded in personal experiences commanding and advising organizations through challenging environments — often when lives were at risk and there were no easy answers. As a senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, DeDe was a trusted influence in developing human-focused solutions to the military’s most-pressing issues.
DeDe’s story and insights have been featured in widely acclaimed outlets, including in Brené Brown’s New York Times bestseller Dare to Lead and on 60 Minutes.

Matthew Pollard is responsible for five multi-million-dollar business success stories, all before the age of 30. His humble beginnings, the adversities he faced, and his epic rise to success show that anyone, with the right motivation and the right strategies, can achieve anything they set their mind to.
Ahmed is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned business consultant who understands what it takes to build an enterprise from scratch. He likewise learned to interact with many different types of people, skills he would later refine as a volunteer business coach and workshop presenter for SCORE. He is also a mentor for the Newchip accelerator. These best practices have been captured in his recent book entitled Demystifying Project Management: Project Management in Plain English for Startups.