Speakers

Courtney Sembler is a strategic consultant specializing in customer education and learning transformation within the SaaS ecosystem. She helps companies position learning as strategic revenue infrastructure rather than operational overhead. Previously, Courtney led the transformation and scale of one of the world's leading customer education programs, HubSpot Academy. For over a decade Courtney focused on transforming the way the world does business by developing HubSpot Academy's educational strategy and program. She now works with companies to develop enterprise-scale customer education partnerships and go-to-market strategies that drive retention, expansion, and product adoption.

Dr. Kris Alexander is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Serious Game Design at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where he is the Director of the Red Bull Gaming Hub. With a PhD in educational technology and curriculum development, Dr. Alexander is dedicated to leveraging AI and video games to enhance learning, health, and daily life, emphasizing purpose-driven innovation and “Techquity” (technological equity) to empower communities. His work bridges disciplines via the Medici Effect, driving collaborations that yield tangible results: higher student engagement, accessible tools for educators, and community initiatives like teaching underserved youth how to build computers.

Michelle Poler is a Latina entrepreneur, brand strategist, author, and professional keynote speaker. She is the creator of the project “100 Days Without Fear”, and founder of “Hello Fears”, a movement that has reached over 70 million people worldwide. Today, her work as an author, digital educator, and social influencer continues to amplify her impact helping audiences turn fears into opportunities, comfort into growth, and ultimately go from being one more to becoming one of a kind. She has been invited to speak at The Global Leadership Summit, Google, P&G, ESPN, TEDx, Netflix, Microsoft, Meta among many others, and her work has been featured in The TODAY Show, Forbes, CBS, CNN, Buzzfeed, Mashable and Huffington Post, just to name a few.

Jeff Cobb is a co-founder and managing director of Tagoras, a firm that helps associations amplify learning as a core component of member value and a driver of non-dues revenue. He is co-host of the long-running Leading Learning Podcast, and author of multiple books, including Leading the Learning Revolution: The Expert's Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Lifelong Education Market. Prior to launching Tagoras, Jeff served in multiple executive roles at companies focused on the continuing education and professional development market, including CEO of Isoph and Sr. Vice President of Business Development for Quisic/University Access. Jeff has previously served on the board of directors of the Family Firm Institute and the governing board of NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement. He currently serves on the leadership advisory board of Professionals for Association Revenue (PAR).

Artesha Moore is a transformative force in the association world—rewriting the playbook for what inclusive, tech-powered leadership looks like in the 21st century. As President and CEO of Association Forum, she leads an organization representing nearly 3,000 members working in associations and a $10.3 billion economic footprint—driving bold change at the intersection of strategy, equity, and innovation. With over 25 years of cross-sector experience in healthcare, engineering, and scientific research, Artesha has built a career breaking barriers and building systems that work—for everyone. She’s known for catalyzing organizational turnarounds, co-creating digital solutions with tech partners, and mentoring the next generation of courageous, creative leaders. A Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and alum of its Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP), Artesha developed a pioneering DEI curriculum for the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management and continues to shape national conversations on the future of work, belonging, and leadership. Through her work, she’s challenging an entire sector to evolve—faster, smarter, and more human. As a keynote speaker, Artesha brings clarity, warmth, and an invitation to build something better, together.

Brendan Noud has been at the helm of LearnUpon since its beginning in 2012. With over 20 years of experience, he remains as energized about LearnUpon’s mission today as he was on day one. His commitment to learning innovation drives him to collaborate with customers and industry leaders to bring his strategic vision to life.

Aisling MacNamara is a passionate leader in learning, enablement, and inclusion with over 10 years in tech. Having built LearnUpon's L&D function from the ground up, she's crafted an award-winning strategy that fosters an inclusive culture while developing and nurturing top talent.

Frances Kleven leads LearnUpon's Customer Success and Implementation teams. With 15+ years in tech and education, Frances has a deep understanding of the customer journey and learning strategies. A respected speaker, she frequently shares insights at industry events to help others excel.

Caroline leads LearnUpon’s product strategy and team with a singular mission: building technology that empowers people to learn and grow. With over 20 years of experience in product leadership, she is a lifelong learner who champions a customer-centric approach. Her philosophy is built on the belief that the best products emerge from open collaboration and deep customer empathy.

Brett Spencer leads LearnUpon’s customer experience organization, guiding how customers engage, grow, and succeed after the sale. With over 13 years in customer success and experience, he brings a practical, partnership-first mindset to helping customers realize real value from their learning programs. Brett is deeply committed to listening to customers, translating their feedback into meaningful improvements, and continuously evolving the experience as their needs change.

With over 20 years of experience as a consultant and learning tech leader, Mark has dedicated his career to serving high-quality associations and non-profit organizations. As a Certified Association Executive (CAE), entrepreneur, and coach, he has become a trusted voice in association best practices, known for delivering consistent, measurable results. Today, as Global Director of Memberships & Associations at LearnUpon, Mark combines his passion for innovation and learning to help organizations scale their impact and empower their communities.

Aidan leads LearnUpon’s Engineering team, delivering the features, enhancements and availability of the LearnUpon application platform. With over 15 years experience in Engineering leadership and over 30 years in technology, Aidan is passionate about leveraging technology and engineering excellence to deliver tangible customer value.

Orla leads the Skills product strategy at LearnUpon, bringing over 15 years of technology experience and a decade-long focus on product leadership. A firm believer that the best solutions are born from true partnership, Orla is passionate about building robust, forward-thinking roadmaps. For her, it’s never just about the features; it’s about delivering high-impact value and ensuring that every user’s journey is supported by a strategy that looks toward the future.

As LearnUpon’s Director of Product, Diarmuid Beegan drives innovation with a focus on user experience. He’s been instrumental in shaping features like LearnUpon Anywhere and Learning Journeys, creating impactful solutions that elevate the platform and deliver real results for our customers.

Seán leads the AI Content Authoring team at LearnUpon, overseeing the development of cutting-edge tools. With over seven years of SaaS leadership, he specializes in blending data with automation to build solutions that put the customer first. Seán is a firm believer that the future of learning lies at the intersection of technology and heart; he focuses on leveraging AI to empower creators, allowing them to build high-quality content with unprecedented speed without losing the empathy that makes learning stick.

Ro is a design strategist and co-founder of Courseau, the AI-native course authoring platform now part of LearnUpon. As Authoring Lead, she works on rethinking how workplace knowledge is structured, transformed, and scaled—using AI to reduce production friction, elevate instructional quality, and make high-quality learning more accessible and durable across organizations and beyond.

After nine years in the trenches leading Customer Education for various SaaS organizations, Jeff joined the LearnUpon Customer Success team last year. He uses his deep background as a program leader to help customers move beyond simple instruction and toward training that truly moves the needle. A strategic advocate at heart, Jeff guides his clients in crafting impactful learning experiences and mastering the art of communicating that value to their internal stakeholders.

As one of LearnUpon's earliest hires with an 11-year tenure, Eoghan leverages a decade of platform expertise in his role as Product Manager for Reporting and Insights. He is dedicated to empowering administrators with the tools they need to uncover the "why" behind their results, ensuring every learning initiative is backed by clear, actionable, and real-time evidence.

Byrdie Bluebyrd is the Leader of Learning and Development at AgentSync, where she designs and leads learning programs that enable teams to become confident, high-performing product experts. With over 16 years of experience in the insurance industry and 7 years in learning and development, Byrdie brings a rare combination of deep industry expertise and modern learning strategy.

Brooke Eary is the Technical Training and Development Coordinator at Brinkley RV, where she designs and delivers impactful training for internal teams and external stakeholders. She specializes in simplifying technical and software-driven concepts into practical, results-focused learning. With over 30 years of experience, including 19 in the medical field, she brings expertise in training, systems adoption, and process improvement.

Cooper Taylor is a Digital Insights Senior Program Manager at 8x8 with 15 years of experience across Financial Services and Telecom. Named the 2025 Workforce Management Analyst of the Year by SWPP, Cooper specializes in translating emerging technology into practical, human-centered workflows. When he's not working, he runs marathons and has run 26.2 miles in 38 states. 

Ryan Johnson is the Director of Adoption Programs at Symetri USA, where he leads the integration of Education and Technical Support within Client Success. He specializes in building scalable, data‑driven adoption strategies that help clients turn technology investments into measurable outcomes. Ryan partners closely with Sales, Marketing, and Product teams while leading training, enablement, and support organizations. His work is focused on driving long‑term adoption and modernizing how people learn, adopt, and succeed with technology.

Sam is the Lead Trainer at DNEG, an 8-time Academy Award-winning global VFX studio. With 14 years of experience in professional training across leading tech and creative organisations like Apple, WPP, and Rackspace, Sam brings a wealth of expertise to his projects. At DNEG, he connects with stakeholders across the business to identify and create critical training, from tailored onboarding learning paths to ongoing professional and skills development, while also empowering subject matter experts to do the same through robust learning technologies. This includes managing the deployment, governance, and user adoption of the studio's LearnUpon platform. A firm believer that technology-enabled learning should be accessible, scalable, and aligned with organisational goals, Sam is motivated by building systems that empower users and translate complex processes into clear, consistent experiences at scale.