Program Description

Join fellow talent development professionals for a 90-minute Leadership Special Interest Group (SIG) focused on the real challenges and priorities shaping leadership development today. This interactive session is designed for practitioners who design, deliver, or support leadership programs—and those looking to sharpen their approach with practical, market-tested insights.

Our featured leadership speaker for March is Ali Thornton, Director of Talent Development with Community America Credit Union.

Agenda

6:00 - 6:30: Participant round table. After brief into to to ATDKC, scope of the Leadership Special Interest Group, and introduction of our guest leadership development leader, everyone will be engaged in conversation and polling on their top priority for leadership development and challenges.

6:30 - 7:00: Guest leadership speaker, Ali Thornton, will spotlight a priority leadership topic she is focused on, learnings and challenges. The goal is to gain insight into multiple industries and takeaway tips. The leadership topic is not prescribed, so our featured leadership speaker can choose what they want to highlight. This should include a presentation and time for Q&A.

7:00 - 7:30 pm: Crowdsourcing, networking and connection. This is optional if guests want to stay on to chat further, share, and collect insight from others.

Participants will gain the following:

• Insight into current leadership development trends across industries.
• Practical ideas and best practices for designing or facilitating leadership programs.
• Peer-driven solutions to common leadership training challenges.
• New perspectives from a community of leadership development practitioners

Featured Speaker Bio

Ali Thornton is currently the Director of Talent Development at CommunityAmerica, where she has worked since June 2021. In this role, she is responsible for designing and implementing innovative learning and development, well-being, and engagement strategies. Ali is passionate about fostering a high-performance culture and driving employee growth and engagement through people-centered initiatives.

Ali is a seasoned professional in the areas of organizational and talent development with over twenty years of experience in a variety of industries. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Sociology from Northwest Missouri State University and a Master's in Organizational Development Psychology from Avila University. One of her favorite ways to spend the weekend is discovering new brunch locations with family and friends.

Facilitator Bio

Amy Swaminathan, CPTD® loves helping others reach their full potential. She’s a champion for driving your own career through ongoing development, learning from others, and using the benefits an ATD membership provides. She is a Sr. Talent Development Consultant at Saint Luke’s/BJC Health, supporting leadership development and new employee orientation.

Aligned ATD Capability Model Areas

This session aligns with the following ATD Talent Development Capability Model domains:

• Personal Capability – Lifelong Learning, Communication, Collaboration and Leadership
• Professional Capability – Career and Leadership Development
• Organizational Capability – Organization Development and Culture, Consulting and Business Partnering, and Future Readiness

This session has been approved for recertification credits by the Association for Talent Development.