Speakers
Lillian Coury is a combination of a successful business professional from NYC with an equestrienne who is happiest on a horse! Lillian reinvents workstyles for high performance leaders across the U.S. With 20 years in sales and marketing, Lillian ran her own company for 13 years, sold it, and followed her passion for challenging business professionals to greater productivity and effectiveness. She founded Pegasus Pathways in 2001, is a certified executive coach, workshop facilitator, trainer, speaker, author and philanthropist. Based in Gilbert, AZ, she and her Arabian gelding Cassanova win competitions - a dream come true for this Brooklyn girl!
Stephanie S. Craft, CPSM, and Keri W. Hammond, CPSM, are founding partners of
MARKETLINK, a marketing consulting firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.
Stephanie and Keri have been fortunate to speak at various SMPS chapters and regional conferences across the country,
as well as other industry associations. They are also both involved actively in SMPS on local and regional levels.
With Bachelors' Degrees in Marketing and 20+ 
years experience working in the A/E/C Industry, they are uniquely qualified to speak on the needs and challenges of marketing
our industry.
With offices in California, Utah, Florida, Idaho and North Carolina, MARKETLINK works with clients in a variety of marketing capacities including: branding, business development, candidate searches, client relations, graphic design, marketing collateral development, marketing department organization and management, market research, proposals and presentations, public relations, strategic planning, training and website development.
A leader in developing relationships and strategic planning, Rob Cullison's mission is to drive the marketing and client development efforts of Austin Commercial's Houston office. Rob holds a bachelor's of science in Construction Science from Texas A&M University. Rob performed duties relative to on-site project management and estimating prior to becoming involved in all facets of Austin's marketing & business development efforts.
Rob is a Past President of SMPS-DFW, having led that chapter from 2005 to 2007. He is involved with the National organization as a member of the Business Development Institute, and recently served on the chapter board of SMPS-Houston as its Senior Board Advisor.
Brent Darnell is a leading authority on emotional intelligence and a pioneer in its use in the construction industry.
Over the past 10 years Brent has helped to improve the social competence and leadership skills of thousands of people
in over 70 companies in more than 15 countries around the world. His international bestselling book, The People-Profit
Connection, has been read by over thirty thousand people around the world.
Ken Herr currently holds the position of Vice President, Corporate Development with Shook Construction, a Dayton, OH based Construction Management and General Contractor. A member of the company's management team, he received a B.A. in Education from Miami University and a Master's Degree in Executive Management from Ashland University. Ken's professional career has included a wide range of experience in sales, sales management, marketing, promotion, planning, recruitment, assessment and research. He has been responsible for creating and managing successful local, state, regional and national marketing and promotion programs. Ken also led advocacy initiatives with local, state and national legislative delegations and government agencies.
His successful career has spanned over 38 years in positions from sales representative to national vice president to business consultant including lecturing and teaching the benefits of creating focus, practicing consistency and establishing accountability.
Christine Hollinden, CPSM is the principal of Hollinden Professional Services Marketing. She has been helping service firms build brands and drive business development for 25 years. She is widely recognized for her expertise in marketing and as a result is a frequent speaker. Her speaking engagements include: Association of Accounting Marketing, Society of Marketing Professional Services, and the list goes on. She served as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the University of St. Thomas. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Houston at Victoria, and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University.
Frank Lippert, FSMPS, CPSM, is the corporate water marketing and business development director for David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA). Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, DEA is a multidiscipline consulting firm with 20 offices across the western United States. Frank has been with DEA for more than ten years, specializing in public sector and federal client marketing and business development. He works with a variety of client managers; coaching and training staff to understand client needs and solve problems. He regularly works with client managers to strategically build relationships. He has recently completed an exhaustive update and roll-out of an internal business development training program for all DEA staff. He brings almost 20 years of proposal development experience coupled with more than ten years of client relationship management to his team. Frank has served as the SMPS Oregon chapter president; an SMPS Foundation trustee and president; on the SMPS National Board as the Chapter Delegate and currently serves as the National President. He has been recognized as an SMPS Fellow (FSMPS) and is a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM)
For the last twenty years, Susan Murphy has specialized in helping AEC and Design firms hone their presentation, interview and communication skills. She is a frequent speaker at SMPS National and Chapter events and also speaks at AIA and ACEC events on a regular basis.
Founder of Murphy Motivation, Susan has a thorough understanding of presentation, sales, and networking techniques that produce results. She began her career working with Fortune 500 companies, where her success was based on the effectiveness of her unique communication style, and her ability to pass her knowledge on to others.
Although Susan is a serious business person who focuses on concrete business skills, her programs are known for being high spirited and alive.
When she isn't with a client, Susan divides her time among the hills of NE, PA, the Palisade Cliffs of Edgewater, NJ and a combination of both in Bozouls, France. Hiking with her dogs is her relaxation. They reject all coaching that does not involve food.
James Patrick is a marketing coordinator and regional photographer for Stantec's Tucson Office. A graduate of the University of Arizona Journalism department, James has also worked professionally as a journalist, photographer, and public speaker. He is the current President of Ad2 Tucson and has been involved with SMPS, ASMP, SAAEMA and Toastmasters. He is the recipient of Inside Tucson Business's Up & Comer Award in 2008, as well a multiple recent ADDY Awards from the American Advertising Federation. James has lectured on topics ranging from photography to marketing strategies to a variety of organizations, schools, and professional associations.
Chris Rickman, CPSM joined Zahl-Ford in 1990 as a junior CAD (computer aided drafting) technician. Since then,
he has worked his way into a leadership role and is now a firm Principal and the largest shareholder in the firm,
other than the two founders. His duties include coordinating all of the marketing and business development activities,
managing the daily business operations, and overseeing the IT needs.
Barbara Shuck, FSMPS, CPSM, has more than 25 years of experience in marketing, business development and sales. Since 1994, she has worked in the AEC industry for general contractor and engineering, construction management and architectural firms, which provides keen insight about marketing and management issues for professional service companies. She is currently Vice President, Marketing Director at Emc2 Group Architects Planners, PC, in Mesa, and is Secretary/Treasurer on the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) National Board. She co-authored the 2009 SMPS Foundation White Paper "Social Networking for Competitive Advantage." She was SMPS Arizona Chapter President (2002-03) and received Arizona's Pinnacle Achievement Award (2004). She was Committee Chair for SMPS Build Business 2008 (Denver) and chaired the Marketing Communications Awards committee in 2005. She has an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management (Glendale, AZ), and a BA in Communication Arts and French from Washburn University (Topeka, KS).
Brad Thurman, P.E., FSMPS, CPSM is a principal and Chief Marketing Officer with Wallace Engineering, a structural and civil
engineering consulting firm. For the past 14 years, he has helped lead Wallace's marketing and business development
efforts across two disciplines and five offices. Brad is a past-president of SMPS Oklahoma, served for three
years as an instructor for the SMPS Presidents' Leadership Symposium, an annual training program for incoming
chapter presidents-elect, and was co-chair of Build Business 2009 in Las Vegas. He currently serves as At-Large
Delegate on the SMPS National Board.
Bob Trout is a Business Development Director for Merrick & Company, Colorado's largest home-grown A-E firm. In this role he is
responsible for the business development and marketing activities for Merrick's Nuclear Services and Technology market
area ($60M/year) which provides engineering and design services to government and private clients in the nuclear,
chemical De-mil, pharmaceutical, and semi-conductor industries. Bob has been at Merrick & Company for 14 years and
was responsible for managing the firm's Central Marketing Services Group from 1998-2005. Prior to coming to Merrick
Bob was with MSE-Technology, Inc, as a business development and marketing manager. He has been very active in SMPS
activities, having served as SMPS Colorado President (2001-2002), SMPS National CPSM Committee (1998-2003), SMPS C
olorado Sponsorship Chair (2002-2004), SMPS Colorado Program Chair (2004-2005) and has served as a member of multiple
committees including the Education, Sponsorship, and Programs committees, currently on the Program Committee and Seasoned
Marketers Forum. Bob was awarded the SMPS Leonardo Award in 2005 and has produced 4 ACEC Engineering Excellence Award
winners, once taking the ACEC Colorado Grand Conceptor Award.
Dennis Richard
is the Director of Client Relations at Golden Triangle Construction
and current president of SMPS Colorado (this is his second stint as president of SMPS).
He is a Regis University graduate with an MBA
in Market Strategy and a recipient of the "Business Developer of the Year" from SMPS in 2009. Prior to
joining the construction industry, Dennis was a sales trainer and (in a former life) played drums
in a rock and roll band traveling all over the Western United States.
Sarah Wortman's diverse career spans multiple industries. For the past 15 years as a marketing and communications
professional in the architecture and design industry, she has overseen and executed both business development and
marketing communications functions, occasionally stepping in as a liaison between clients and professional teams
and a presentation skills trainer to support effective communication. Ms. Wortman's prior career experience include
stints as an award winning journalist and writer and a university professor teaching communication and broadcast
media courses. She is an accomplished public speaker who presents often on issues surrounding marketing in the built environment.
Dena Wyatt, partner and founder of Marketing Evolutions LLP, helps companies develop and refine their marketing and business development efforts that results in an increase in market share and profits. Dena helps individuals create a stronger personal presence and brand message through improved communications with clients that build trust and yields long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships. She has experience with small family owned firms to large national and international companies and has worked in the A/E/C industry since 1994. Dena is a former Dale Carnegie instructor and trainer, past President of SMPS Colorado and a recipient of the Colorado Leonardo Award for lifetime achievement in marketing excellence.
