UND Leadership Development and UND Mortar Board hosted the 2026 UND Leadership Conference last Sunday, Feb. 22 in the Memorial Union Ballroom.
From 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., students who attended the free event were presented several lessons in leadership from professionals based in Grand Forks.
After a brief window where students could check in and help themselves to breakfast, the conference began properly with an opening keynote by Emily Holth, owner and founder of Sustainable Solution Services, LLC. The subject of Holth’s keynote was “Leadership Growth Through Difficult Conversations,” offering sage advice to the audience about how to go about keeping hard talks with subordinates healthy and productive.
“Difficult conversations are unavoidable,” said Holth. “Handling them well really does strengthen relationships…[and] effective communication, of course, is a lifelong skill.”
After Holth’s keynote, students had their pick of two separate breakout sessions led by Dr. Emily Gibbens-Buteau, a professor with the communication department, and Kyle Braun, an academic & career exploration coordinator with UND Career Services. Gibbens-Buteau’s session focused on social media, leadership and how storytelling bridges the two, with a talk titled “Telling Your Story as a Leader.”
“Leaders in society are constantly explaining complex ideas for people who don’t understand them, framing uncertainty and making sure people feel heard and confirmed in their beliefs,” she said. “So, you can think about that from a personal standpoint, from a company or your future career; if you’re not going to be the one to craft your story and let people know about it, somebody else is going to do it for you.”
Braun’s session focused entirely on time management strategies leaders can employ to be as effective as possible, touching on ways leaders can overcome everything from distraction to overcommitment.
“We’re responsible for our time,” Braun said. “We may not control all our situations or all of our resources, but we can be respectful and responsible for our own time, especially if we want to be leaders.”
After a catered lunch, students were presented with yet another set of breakout sessions, this time led by Matthew Ternus, the director of marketing for the Alerus Center, and Carrie Herrig, a strengths coach currently operating her own coaching & consulting firm. Much in the same vein as the previous breakout speakers, each speaker focused on imparting leadership advice that they are uniquely qualified to provide. Ternus focused on effective leadership in a community, while Herrig showed students why and how they should develop a personal leadership brand.
The conference capped off with closing keynote speaker DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation. Zink spent her time on stage speaking about her experiences in networking and gave students advice on how to go about doing it purposefully and effectively.
“Here is an important truth,” she said to the students in attendance. “Your network isn’t something you build after graduation. You have to start building that network today. Every group project…every student organization…what you may think of as a simple conversation…those moments matter more than you can think.”
Before the conference concluded, Mike Wozniak, the director of leadership development and chief architect of the UND Leadership Conference, expressed his thanks to everybody who had a hand in coordinating the event, as well as every student who participated.
“I appreciate you coming here and learning something new,” he said.
Quinn Berg is a Dakota Student Section Editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
