Leadership Summit 2023

Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International 

Francis Jay Caputo is the Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International. Jay is a CCA 4D Certified Master Coach, a Certified Radical Honesty Trainer and the creator of the Transformative Coaching Certification Program (TCCP™), internationally accredited by the Certified Coaches Alliance (CCA).  

As an educator, trainer, coach, speaker and writer for almost 3 decades, Jay has worked with thousands of students and clients throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia designing and delivering professional development programs and curriculums. His clientele encompasses a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and NGO’s including Xerox, BCG, Prudential, Lockheed Martin, Reyes Holdings, American Express, USDA, Enhesa, Kimberly Clark, CDK Global, Teledyne FLIR, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, USAID and the International Rescue Committee as well as many chambers of commerce, small businesses and licensed professionals from multiple disciplines.  

Jay has an extensive background in human and group development including two bachelors degrees and a Masters of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is a former Certified District Court Mediator in the Washington D.C. region and has spent several years training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  

Jay follows an interdisciplinary approach in working with people by utilizing key distinctions, methodologies and frameworks from the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, communication and neuroscience. His work holistically integrates the emotional, intellectual, physical, creative and spiritual aspects of development regardless of the personal, professional or social context. His relationships with his clients are grounded in honesty and integrity with a clear purpose and plan to create specific goals by accessing and demonstrating skills and competencies consistent with ethically sustained leadership.  

Jay has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and non-profit organizations and is currently the Co-President on the Board of Advisors for Education Rocks, an international non-profit committed to ending global poverty through youth leadership education. In November, 2019 Jay delivered a TEDx Talk entitled Partnership and the Value of Interpersonal Conflict in which he introduced a personal and professional relationship building model that is the topic of his upcoming book.  

Jay resides in Lake Worth, Florida with his wife and daughter and their pets. 

President, Learning Optimized

Ralph Campbell is a passionate leader, teacher and coach. He has decades of experience in ontological leadership and performance-based consulting, as well as dignity awareness training and youth mentoring. He believes anyone can develop effective leader skills in all areas of their lives that matter most to them. He has dedicated extensive research and training to the areas of performance enhancement and high- impact team building.  

Prior to creating Learning Optimized and his dream career, Ralph built a successful 25- year business career that included serving as CEO of one of South Florida’s largest insurance agencies and co-founding two leadership training and development companies, Summit Education and Universal Dynamics.  

Ralph’s genuine dedication to helping others is rooted in his lifelong commitment to giving back to his community. He has supported and served on the boards of numerous charities, including Camelot Community Care, United Way of Broward County, Nova Southeastern University, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Leadership Broward Foundation, Women in Distress, the National Conference for Community and Justice and ChildNet. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful African Americans” in South Florida. He also was honored by the Sun Sentinel as a Community Hero and by the Broward County Public School System.  

A graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Leadership Program, “Building a High-Performance Business,” Leadership Broward XXII and Leadership Florida XXVII, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morehouse College. He begins his journey toward a master’s degree and Ph.D in the Fall of 2022.  

Ralph’s exceptional ability to help others grow is rooted in his upbringing in Key West, Florida, where he learned from and was supported by his three older sisters, all of whom have excelled academically and professionally. All three hold either a Ph.D. or Juris Doctorate and are professors at prestigious universities.  

He is the proud father of twin sons and lives in Coral Springs, Florida. 

Owner, M. L. Coss and Associates, LLC

Lourdes (María de Lourdes) Coss, MPA, NIGP-CPP, CPPO - is a transformational leader and the author of “Procurement Methods: Effective Techniques.” Following a successful public procurement career, she founded M. L. Coss and Associates, LLC, and continues to add value to the profession. Today she is a Consultant, Speaker, Executive Coach, and Trainer. Lourdes is also a certified Personality Consultant, Licensed Brain Trainer, and Neuro-Encoding Specialist. She is an active member of NIGP, the chair of the NIGP Talent Council Leadership Committee, a NIGP instructor, and a senior consultant. 

As a former Chief Procurement Officer, Lourdes invested most of her 27-year career successfully leading procurement transformations at some of the largest agencies in the U.S., including the City of Houston, Cook County, City of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Public Building Commission. In addition to developing high-performing teams, Lourdes has left a legacy of innovation, automation, legislative action, and administrative & financial policies in each of these agencies. Most of the policies implemented have survived the test of time and remain in place today. 

Lourdes graduated magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico and received her MPA from Florida State University. She’s a former NIGP Board member, the recipient of the 2016 Spirit of NIGP Award and the 2018 NIGP Integrity Award. She’s a certified member of the Maxwell Leadership Team and serves on its President’s Advisory Council. Thinkers360 recognized Lourdes as one of the top 100 Women Thought    Leaders to Follow and among the 50 Top Procurement Influencers and Thought Leaders. 

Podcast: “Transforming Procurement with Lourdes Coss” https://transformingprocurementwithlourdescoss.buzzsprout.com 

Blog: “Procurement Transformation” https://procurement-transformation.com    

Website: www.lourdescoss.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lourdescoss/  

Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International 

Francis Jay Caputo is the Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International. Jay is a CCA 4D Certified Master Coach, a Certified Radical Honesty Trainer and the creator of the Transformative Coaching Certification Program (TCCP™), internationally accredited by the Certified Coaches Alliance (CCA).  

As an educator, trainer, coach, speaker and writer for almost 3 decades, Jay has worked with thousands of students and clients throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia designing and delivering professional development programs and curriculums. His clientele encompasses a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and NGO’s including Xerox, BCG, Prudential, Lockheed Martin, Reyes Holdings, American Express, USDA, Enhesa, Kimberly Clark, CDK Global, Teledyne FLIR, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, USAID and the International Rescue Committee as well as many chambers of commerce, small businesses and licensed professionals from multiple disciplines.  

Jay has an extensive background in human and group development including two bachelors degrees and a Masters of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is a former Certified District Court Mediator in the Washington D.C. region and has spent several years training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  

Jay follows an interdisciplinary approach in working with people by utilizing key distinctions, methodologies and frameworks from the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, communication and neuroscience. His work holistically integrates the emotional, intellectual, physical, creative and spiritual aspects of development regardless of the personal, professional or social context. His relationships with his clients are grounded in honesty and integrity with a clear purpose and plan to create specific goals by accessing and demonstrating skills and competencies consistent with ethically sustained leadership.  

Jay has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and non-profit organizations and is currently the Co-President on the Board of Advisors for Education Rocks, an international non-profit committed to ending global poverty through youth leadership education. In November, 2019 Jay delivered a TEDx Talk entitled Partnership and the Value of Interpersonal Conflict in which he introduced a personal and professional relationship building model that is the topic of his upcoming book.  

Jay resides in Lake Worth, Florida with his wife and daughter and their pets. 

President, Learning Optimized

Ralph Campbell is a passionate leader, teacher and coach. He has decades of experience in ontological leadership and performance-based consulting, as well as dignity awareness training and youth mentoring. He believes anyone can develop effective leader skills in all areas of their lives that matter most to them. He has dedicated extensive research and training to the areas of performance enhancement and high- impact team building.  

Prior to creating Learning Optimized and his dream career, Ralph built a successful 25- year business career that included serving as CEO of one of South Florida’s largest insurance agencies and co-founding two leadership training and development companies, Summit Education and Universal Dynamics.  

Ralph’s genuine dedication to helping others is rooted in his lifelong commitment to giving back to his community. He has supported and served on the boards of numerous charities, including Camelot Community Care, United Way of Broward County, Nova Southeastern University, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Leadership Broward Foundation, Women in Distress, the National Conference for Community and Justice and ChildNet. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful African Americans” in South Florida. He also was honored by the Sun Sentinel as a Community Hero and by the Broward County Public School System.  

A graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Leadership Program, “Building a High-Performance Business,” Leadership Broward XXII and Leadership Florida XXVII, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morehouse College. He begins his journey toward a master’s degree and Ph.D in the Fall of 2022.  

Ralph’s exceptional ability to help others grow is rooted in his upbringing in Key West, Florida, where he learned from and was supported by his three older sisters, all of whom have excelled academically and professionally. All three hold either a Ph.D. or Juris Doctorate and are professors at prestigious universities.  

He is the proud father of twin sons and lives in Coral Springs, Florida. 

President, Mariner Management & Marketing | Columbia, MD 

Peggy Hoffman is president of Mariner Management, an association management company which is home to one state association and provides an array of support and training to associations and most importantly member volunteers.  Peggy draws on her team’s seminal research on association volunteerism, member communities, chapters and association innovation in her training and counsel to dozens of global, national and local membership associations over the past 30 years.  She is a sought after speaker on volunteer and member engagement and has written extensively on association management. She holds the association profession’s certification and the distinguished credential of Fellow of ASAE, the Center for Association leadership. 
 
Peggy not only enjoys working with association volunteers but is an active volunteer for her professional association – including serving as a chapter past president – so she’ll draw from experience on both levels. Read her full bio at MarinerManagement.com and connect with Peggy on Twitter @peggyhoffman or LinkedIn.  

Blog: Waypoint https://marinermanagement.com/resources/blog/   

Website: www.MarinerManagement.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmhoffman/  

Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International 

Francis Jay Caputo is the Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International. Jay is a CCA 4D Certified Master Coach, a Certified Radical Honesty Trainer and the creator of the Transformative Coaching Certification Program (TCCP™), internationally accredited by the Certified Coaches Alliance (CCA).  

As an educator, trainer, coach, speaker and writer for almost 3 decades, Jay has worked with thousands of students and clients throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia designing and delivering professional development programs and curriculums. His clientele encompasses a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and NGO’s including Xerox, BCG, Prudential, Lockheed Martin, Reyes Holdings, American Express, USDA, Enhesa, Kimberly Clark, CDK Global, Teledyne FLIR, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, USAID and the International Rescue Committee as well as many chambers of commerce, small businesses and licensed professionals from multiple disciplines.  

Jay has an extensive background in human and group development including two bachelors degrees and a Masters of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is a former Certified District Court Mediator in the Washington D.C. region and has spent several years training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  

Jay follows an interdisciplinary approach in working with people by utilizing key distinctions, methodologies and frameworks from the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, communication and neuroscience. His work holistically integrates the emotional, intellectual, physical, creative and spiritual aspects of development regardless of the personal, professional or social context. His relationships with his clients are grounded in honesty and integrity with a clear purpose and plan to create specific goals by accessing and demonstrating skills and competencies consistent with ethically sustained leadership.  

Jay has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and non-profit organizations and is currently the Co-President on the Board of Advisors for Education Rocks, an international non-profit committed to ending global poverty through youth leadership education. In November, 2019 Jay delivered a TEDx Talk entitled Partnership and the Value of Interpersonal Conflict in which he introduced a personal and professional relationship building model that is the topic of his upcoming book.  

Jay resides in Lake Worth, Florida with his wife and daughter and their pets. 

President, Learning Optimized

Ralph Campbell is a passionate leader, teacher and coach. He has decades of experience in ontological leadership and performance-based consulting, as well as dignity awareness training and youth mentoring. He believes anyone can develop effective leader skills in all areas of their lives that matter most to them. He has dedicated extensive research and training to the areas of performance enhancement and high- impact team building.  

Prior to creating Learning Optimized and his dream career, Ralph built a successful 25- year business career that included serving as CEO of one of South Florida’s largest insurance agencies and co-founding two leadership training and development companies, Summit Education and Universal Dynamics.  

Ralph’s genuine dedication to helping others is rooted in his lifelong commitment to giving back to his community. He has supported and served on the boards of numerous charities, including Camelot Community Care, United Way of Broward County, Nova Southeastern University, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Leadership Broward Foundation, Women in Distress, the National Conference for Community and Justice and ChildNet. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful African Americans” in South Florida. He also was honored by the Sun Sentinel as a Community Hero and by the Broward County Public School System.  

A graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Leadership Program, “Building a High-Performance Business,” Leadership Broward XXII and Leadership Florida XXVII, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morehouse College. He begins his journey toward a master’s degree and Ph.D in the Fall of 2022.  

Ralph’s exceptional ability to help others grow is rooted in his upbringing in Key West, Florida, where he learned from and was supported by his three older sisters, all of whom have excelled academically and professionally. All three hold either a Ph.D. or Juris Doctorate and are professors at prestigious universities.  

He is the proud father of twin sons and lives in Coral Springs, Florida. 

Owner, M. L. Coss and Associates, LLC

Lourdes (María de Lourdes) Coss, MPA, NIGP-CPP, CPPO - is a transformational leader and the author of “Procurement Methods: Effective Techniques.” Following a successful public procurement career, she founded M. L. Coss and Associates, LLC, and continues to add value to the profession. Today she is a Consultant, Speaker, Executive Coach, and Trainer. Lourdes is also a certified Personality Consultant, Licensed Brain Trainer, and Neuro-Encoding Specialist. She is an active member of NIGP, the chair of the NIGP Talent Council Leadership Committee, a NIGP instructor, and a senior consultant. 

As a former Chief Procurement Officer, Lourdes invested most of her 27-year career successfully leading procurement transformations at some of the largest agencies in the U.S., including the City of Houston, Cook County, City of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Public Building Commission. In addition to developing high-performing teams, Lourdes has left a legacy of innovation, automation, legislative action, and administrative & financial policies in each of these agencies. Most of the policies implemented have survived the test of time and remain in place today. 

Lourdes graduated magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico and received her MPA from Florida State University. She’s a former NIGP Board member, the recipient of the 2016 Spirit of NIGP Award and the 2018 NIGP Integrity Award. She’s a certified member of the Maxwell Leadership Team and serves on its President’s Advisory Council. Thinkers360 recognized Lourdes as one of the top 100 Women Thought    Leaders to Follow and among the 50 Top Procurement Influencers and Thought Leaders. 

Podcast: “Transforming Procurement with Lourdes Coss” https://transformingprocurementwithlourdescoss.buzzsprout.com 

Blog: “Procurement Transformation” https://procurement-transformation.com    

Website: www.lourdescoss.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lourdescoss/  

Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International 

Francis Jay Caputo is the Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International. Jay is a CCA 4D Certified Master Coach, a Certified Radical Honesty Trainer and the creator of the Transformative Coaching Certification Program (TCCP™), internationally accredited by the Certified Coaches Alliance (CCA).  

As an educator, trainer, coach, speaker and writer for almost 3 decades, Jay has worked with thousands of students and clients throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia designing and delivering professional development programs and curriculums. His clientele encompasses a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and NGO’s including Xerox, BCG, Prudential, Lockheed Martin, Reyes Holdings, American Express, USDA, Enhesa, Kimberly Clark, CDK Global, Teledyne FLIR, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, USAID and the International Rescue Committee as well as many chambers of commerce, small businesses and licensed professionals from multiple disciplines.  

Jay has an extensive background in human and group development including two bachelors degrees and a Masters of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is a former Certified District Court Mediator in the Washington D.C. region and has spent several years training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  

Jay follows an interdisciplinary approach in working with people by utilizing key distinctions, methodologies and frameworks from the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, communication and neuroscience. His work holistically integrates the emotional, intellectual, physical, creative and spiritual aspects of development regardless of the personal, professional or social context. His relationships with his clients are grounded in honesty and integrity with a clear purpose and plan to create specific goals by accessing and demonstrating skills and competencies consistent with ethically sustained leadership.  

Jay has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and non-profit organizations and is currently the Co-President on the Board of Advisors for Education Rocks, an international non-profit committed to ending global poverty through youth leadership education. In November, 2019 Jay delivered a TEDx Talk entitled Partnership and the Value of Interpersonal Conflict in which he introduced a personal and professional relationship building model that is the topic of his upcoming book.  

Jay resides in Lake Worth, Florida with his wife and daughter and their pets. 

President, Learning Optimized

Ralph Campbell is a passionate leader, teacher and coach. He has decades of experience in ontological leadership and performance-based consulting, as well as dignity awareness training and youth mentoring. He believes anyone can develop effective leader skills in all areas of their lives that matter most to them. He has dedicated extensive research and training to the areas of performance enhancement and high- impact team building.  

Prior to creating Learning Optimized and his dream career, Ralph built a successful 25- year business career that included serving as CEO of one of South Florida’s largest insurance agencies and co-founding two leadership training and development companies, Summit Education and Universal Dynamics.  

Ralph’s genuine dedication to helping others is rooted in his lifelong commitment to giving back to his community. He has supported and served on the boards of numerous charities, including Camelot Community Care, United Way of Broward County, Nova Southeastern University, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Leadership Broward Foundation, Women in Distress, the National Conference for Community and Justice and ChildNet. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful African Americans” in South Florida. He also was honored by the Sun Sentinel as a Community Hero and by the Broward County Public School System.  

A graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Leadership Program, “Building a High-Performance Business,” Leadership Broward XXII and Leadership Florida XXVII, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morehouse College. He begins his journey toward a master’s degree and Ph.D in the Fall of 2022.  

Ralph’s exceptional ability to help others grow is rooted in his upbringing in Key West, Florida, where he learned from and was supported by his three older sisters, all of whom have excelled academically and professionally. All three hold either a Ph.D. or Juris Doctorate and are professors at prestigious universities.  

He is the proud father of twin sons and lives in Coral Springs, Florida. 

President, Mariner Management & Marketing | Columbia, MD 

Peggy Hoffman is president of Mariner Management, an association management company which is home to one state association and provides an array of support and training to associations and most importantly member volunteers.  Peggy draws on her team’s seminal research on association volunteerism, member communities, chapters and association innovation in her training and counsel to dozens of global, national and local membership associations over the past 30 years.  She is a sought after speaker on volunteer and member engagement and has written extensively on association management. She holds the association profession’s certification and the distinguished credential of Fellow of ASAE, the Center for Association leadership. 
 
Peggy not only enjoys working with association volunteers but is an active volunteer for her professional association – including serving as a chapter past president – so she’ll draw from experience on both levels. Read her full bio at MarinerManagement.com and connect with Peggy on Twitter @peggyhoffman or LinkedIn.  

Blog: Waypoint https://marinermanagement.com/resources/blog/   

Website: www.MarinerManagement.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmhoffman/  

Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International 

Francis Jay Caputo is the Co-Founder and Lead Trainer for 4D Associates International. Jay is a CCA 4D Certified Master Coach, a Certified Radical Honesty Trainer and the creator of the Transformative Coaching Certification Program (TCCP™), internationally accredited by the Certified Coaches Alliance (CCA).  

As an educator, trainer, coach, speaker and writer for almost 3 decades, Jay has worked with thousands of students and clients throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia designing and delivering professional development programs and curriculums. His clientele encompasses a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and NGO’s including Xerox, BCG, Prudential, Lockheed Martin, Reyes Holdings, American Express, USDA, Enhesa, Kimberly Clark, CDK Global, Teledyne FLIR, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, USAID and the International Rescue Committee as well as many chambers of commerce, small businesses and licensed professionals from multiple disciplines.  

Jay has an extensive background in human and group development including two bachelors degrees and a Masters of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is a former Certified District Court Mediator in the Washington D.C. region and has spent several years training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  

Jay follows an interdisciplinary approach in working with people by utilizing key distinctions, methodologies and frameworks from the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, communication and neuroscience. His work holistically integrates the emotional, intellectual, physical, creative and spiritual aspects of development regardless of the personal, professional or social context. His relationships with his clients are grounded in honesty and integrity with a clear purpose and plan to create specific goals by accessing and demonstrating skills and competencies consistent with ethically sustained leadership.  

Jay has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and non-profit organizations and is currently the Co-President on the Board of Advisors for Education Rocks, an international non-profit committed to ending global poverty through youth leadership education. In November, 2019 Jay delivered a TEDx Talk entitled Partnership and the Value of Interpersonal Conflict in which he introduced a personal and professional relationship building model that is the topic of his upcoming book.  

Jay resides in Lake Worth, Florida with his wife and daughter and their pets. 

President, Learning Optimized

Ralph Campbell is a passionate leader, teacher and coach. He has decades of experience in ontological leadership and performance-based consulting, as well as dignity awareness training and youth mentoring. He believes anyone can develop effective leader skills in all areas of their lives that matter most to them. He has dedicated extensive research and training to the areas of performance enhancement and high- impact team building.  

Prior to creating Learning Optimized and his dream career, Ralph built a successful 25- year business career that included serving as CEO of one of South Florida’s largest insurance agencies and co-founding two leadership training and development companies, Summit Education and Universal Dynamics.  

Ralph’s genuine dedication to helping others is rooted in his lifelong commitment to giving back to his community. He has supported and served on the boards of numerous charities, including Camelot Community Care, United Way of Broward County, Nova Southeastern University, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Leadership Broward Foundation, Women in Distress, the National Conference for Community and Justice and ChildNet. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful African Americans” in South Florida. He also was honored by the Sun Sentinel as a Community Hero and by the Broward County Public School System.  

A graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Leadership Program, “Building a High-Performance Business,” Leadership Broward XXII and Leadership Florida XXVII, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morehouse College. He begins his journey toward a master’s degree and Ph.D in the Fall of 2022.  

Ralph’s exceptional ability to help others grow is rooted in his upbringing in Key West, Florida, where he learned from and was supported by his three older sisters, all of whom have excelled academically and professionally. All three hold either a Ph.D. or Juris Doctorate and are professors at prestigious universities.  

He is the proud father of twin sons and lives in Coral Springs, Florida.