2019 Speakers

Kerry Buxton was born and raised in Teton Valley, Idaho, just 75 miles East of Idaho Falls, on a family farm/ranch that was originally homesteaded in 1889. He went to school in Driggs, and then graduated from Ricks College and Brigham Young University in Provo. He married Kathy Cook from Rexburg, and they have 2 daughters and 2 sons, 3 of whom are married, and have 6 beautiful grandchildren.

Kerry has been a farmer/rancher for many years, banker, title company manager, and a small business consultant. He currently has his own education business with his wife that they operate out of their home in Idaho Falls. He has received the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America and other awards from other organizations.

Kerry has served in many volunteer and leadership positions in communities and for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He especially enjoyed coaching his sons in wrestling and many others for 20 years. He has served on many different boards including the Teton County Planning & Zoning, Teton Valley Hospital, Rotary, Kiwanis, BNI, and the Idaho Falls BNG (Business Networking Group). Kerry has also run a marathon, a half marathon and 3 Spartan races as well in the last 5 years.

Thomas Eiden is a nuclear engineer with a passion for education and outreach. He has worked at several national laboratories, designing reactor cores, reactor components, and the experiments to test them. Thomas recently founded Atomic Alchemy, a privately-funded startup which aims to produce nuclear medicine for disease detection and treatment.

Charity Haderlie works with both personal and professional networks to help build and improve human connection. She introduced the idea that connection is the common language among all humans.

Whether it’s creating experiences within her own family, the community or among teams, she can be found sharing her core message that connection is what makes any group of humans so much more than the sum of its parts. When we connect, we thrive!

Charity created and sold out her first event in April of this year. Her 4 hour event was highly impactful and brought together attendees from various backgrounds as she led them through an interactive journey of connection--of connecting with self and loved ones as well as connecting with our community and humanity.

It was her own personal development journey of overcoming disconnection, which manifested as depression and social anxiety, that ultimately unveiled her unique strengths as a professional connector who facilitates in events, trainings and coaching.

Charity is the mother of 4 amazing children, with her oldest in college. She and her sweetheart have been married for 20 years.

Billie Johnson is an electrical engineer from Pocatello, Idaho with a career spanning test, design, marketing and layout. A lifelong community volunteer, Billie is currently assisting various Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 Human Rights clubs, three Lego robotics teams at the Pocatello Community Charter School, and the educational outreach activities at her company. Billie and her wife Jena love raising their blended family of three kids, three dogs, four cats and two turtles in beautiful southeast Idaho, and when she finds the time, Billie maintains a blog about her adventures in a cow suit at CowSuitSaturday.com.

A native of Los Angeles, Todd graduated from college, and went on to earn a M.S. in Plant Genetics from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the Medical College of Virginia. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado Mental Retardation Research Center. He is the father of 3 children and has been teaching Biology and Genetics at Brigham Young University - Idaho in Rexburg since 1998. He has a passion for teaching, and wants his students to become lifelong learners. His classroom is an active learning environment, where students explore real world problems in an attempt to find new solutions.

One of the real-world problems he is addressing is that of antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics. In 2013, he became involved in a global antibiotic discovery program as a research tool to retain STEM students in college. He has mentored over 2,500 students as they have identified antibiotics in the soil. He spent one year as the Chair of the Steering Committee for that organization, and traveled to the Middle East where he trained Iraqi professors on the discovery of antibiotics from soil. Those Iraqis are now teaching this to their own college students. More recently, Todd became involved in teaching high school students about antibiotic discovery and has been piloting a new program in eastern Idaho to encourage high school students to pursue STEM careers.

When he's not in the lab, he enjoys being an actor in community theater, hiking, biking, rock climbing, and cross country skiing, in addition to renovating his 90-year-old fixer-upper house.

Bruce C. Kusch became the 13th President of LDS Business College in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 17, 2017. Prior to his appointment as president, Kusch served as Chief Academic Officer beginning in March 2016. In his brief tenure he has implemented significant change in the college’s learning and teaching framework, resulting in increased student satisfaction and performance across a variety of academic disciplines. In addition, Bruce has fostered the development of deep employer engagement relationships, providing graduates with improved employment opportunities.

Bruce began his academic career at Brigham Young University-Idaho in August 2002 as a member of the Business Management faculty. In July 2008 he accepted a position in Academic Administration, serving as the Associate Academic Vice President for Curriculum. In that role he managed the implementation of a new General Education curriculum, and pioneered efforts to create a new and innovative degree structure aimed at increasing student success and paths to graduation. Bruce served in that role until June 2012 when he and wife were called to preside over the Mexico Cuernavaca Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon his return in June 2015, Kusch was appointed an associate dean for online programs at BYU-Idaho, serving there until his appointment at LDS Business College.

Prior to joining the BYU-Idaho faculty Bruce was a sales and marketing executive and management consultant for several firms in Silicon Valley, CA, including IBM, Hitachi America, and Logitech. He has also served on several boards; for a school district in Northern California, as a trustee of Madison Memorial Hospital, the United Way and a software company in Rexburg, Idaho.

Kusch holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and a PhD in Instructional Design from Idaho State University.

A graduate of Aberdeen High School and Idaho State University, Neal has been a familiar local voice in East Idaho for many years, and since August 2006 has hosted the Neal Larson Show. Neal is a Bingham County farm kid, and always dreamed of having a successful radio career. In addition to Neal’s duties as the host of his self-titled radio show, he’s also the program and news director for KID Newsradio 106.3 & 92.1 FM. Neal also owns and operates a statewide agriculture radio network, is the public address announcer for Idaho State University’s football and men's basketball programs, and is an Associated Press award-winning syndicated columnist. Neal lives in Idaho Falls with his wonderful wife and is the father of five children and one grandchild.

Wendy is a fourth-generation cattle rancher near Blackfoot. She advocates for regenerative grazing and for blurring the lines between urban and rural viewpoints. She writes a ranch blog and can be found at The Pastoral Muse. She and her husband Mark have three children.

One of the most remarkable things about Lige is also one of the most powerful gifts he has to offer his family, his clients, and the world: the ability to put people at ease and connect with them in an authentic, empathetic, and empowering way.

This gift for deep connection combined with his fun-loving nature initially drew Lige's future wife to him as a friend in high school. It aided him in his church and humanitarian work in Perú. It was a driving force in his decision to pursue training and a career as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist.

Passionate about helping others learn to help themselves, Lige utilizes all of his experiences--including those laced with pain--and the knowledge gained from those experiences to connect with and encourage others. His own efforts toward overcoming pornography addiction and the toxic effects of shame inform his hypnotherapy practice.

Entrepreneurial, curious, and teachable, Lige enjoys experimenting with more impactful, efficient ways to do things, from how laundry is handled in the Rose household to how best to reach clients.

Lige is the father of four inquisitive, determined, young children. He and his wife, Kayelee, are the co-founders of Aspen Ridge Holistics, a Blackfoot-based business offering a range of therapies, services, and products for holistic wellness.

Sheri Sanders is a dynamic entrepreneur, professional businesswoman and dedicated wife and mother. Her official career started in Lewiston Idaho where she opened her own boutique to create custom handcrafted elegance. She is the founder of Mimzie Duke Children Clothiers, LLC and works this not-for-profit business to provide school uniforms for an orphanage in Uganda. Sheri graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Science Apparel Entrepreneur. Currently, Sheri is employed as an area manager for DownEast Outfitters Inc.

Sheri is passionate about the quality and workmanship of apparel, modesty and professionalism. Her life-long goal includes the promotion of fashion habits that elevate well-being, self worth, confidence and societal relationships. Her presentation discusses the lowering dress standards of society as symptoms of casual decline that may negatively affect business, relationships and the community at large. How you dress does matter.

I was born in Bronx, New York and was raised by my amazing Haitian parents. I grew up in Miami, Florida where I learned to love life, dancing, and hard work. I learned about the importance of serving others from my mom. I now live in Idaho Falls, Idaho and I’m happily married to Rebecca and am the proud father of eight wonderful children. I’m happy to also add that I’m now a GRANDPA! Our blended family makes life exciting!

The lessons that I’ve received while living in Idaho for the last 25 years have really helped me to better assist others in reaching their goals and dreams. My biggest understanding is that even though we’re all uniquely different, we all essentially want the same thing...TO BE HAPPY! My passion for “dying young, as late in life as possible” has given me a zest for life and a love for all people to help them experience some form of happiness. Living every day in the pursuit of this goal makes life rich and worth living!