Speakers
Opening the Gateway for Visionary Voices
The Gateway Gathering & Pitch Fest brings together a powerful mix of emerging and established leaders who are ready to expand their influence and take bold steps toward bigger stages.
Our lineup of powerhouse speakers have built platforms, curated pipelines to publishing, speaking, or media opportunities.
Monique Ruff-Bell
Chief Program & Strategy Officer, TED
As an experienced executive leader with a demonstrated history of working in the media, events and publishing industry, Monique Ruff-Bell has over 20 years’ experience within brand leadership, marketing, and strategic growth.
As Chief Program & Strategy Officer for TED, she oversees TED’s flagship global events and conferences, TEDx programs and initiatives, global partnership sales and key marketing verticals for the organization. She plays a vital role in shaping and executing TED’s strategic plan, contributing to the advancement of its mission, operational excellence, and overall organizational growth.
Joshua Campbell
Executive Creative Director, BI Worldwide
Joshua is a theater-trained Creative Director and Entertainment Producer for large-scale events all over the world.
From his 20+ years acting and directing in professional theater, Josh has been using his skill and knowledge of storytelling in live events for over 15 years. Josh works with organizing committees and leaders of Fortune 500 companies to ensure information and inspiration are being delivered in unique and exciting ways. Focusing on attendee experience, event flow, design, speaker coaching, and all performative aspects, Josh creates highly memorable and impactful events.
As an Equity union theater actor and director, Josh worked across the country. As a Creative Director Josh has worked with all sorts of businesses, event committees, and Super Bowls.
His work has been recognized with numerous awards (Muse, C&IT, etc) and continued contracts.
Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson
CEO & Founder, The Gateway Project
Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is the founder of the Gateway Project and the CEO of the Heartwood Leadership Institute. She's a communications executive, content strategist, and executive coach.
Whether guiding C-suite leaders through messaging challenges, designing conferences for 2,000 executives, or coaching visionaries to build thought-leadership platforms, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson brings a unique blend of strategic rigor, emotional intelligence, and heart-forward storytelling.
Called a "speaker whisperer," Jacquelyn has provided strategic counsel and executive messaging support to board members and senior leaders at Fortune 100 companies and global brands including Accenture, Amazon, Albertsons, Bissell, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, General Mills, Marsh McLennan, Microsoft, Target, Visa, Walmart, and more. In addition, she’s led strategy and execution for high-profile national events, internal communications rollouts, brand positioning campaigns, and executive speechwriting engagements.
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Amy Gallo
Author, Global Speaker, Contributing Editor, Harvard Business Review
Amy Gallo is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about gender, interpersonal dynamics, difficult conversations, feedback, and effective communication. She is the best-selling author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review.
From 2019 to 2025, Amy co-hosted HBR’s popular Women at Work podcast, which examines the struggles and successes of women in the workplace. She is frequently sought out by media outlets for her perspective on workplace dynamics, conflict, and difficult conversations. Her advice has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Marketplace, Bloomberg Business, and NPR, as well as on WNYC, the BBC, and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
Joy Tutela
CEO & Founder, The Gateway Project
A member of AAR, Joy Tutela has been with the David Black Literary Agency since 1998. Joy represents various genres of books, including projects in the following categories: narrative nonfiction, science, health, memoir, history, politics, self-help, investment, business, women’s and LGBTQ+ issues, parenting, humor, craft, cooking, lifestyle and entertainment, commercial and literary fiction, and middle grade and young adult.
She represents the New York Times bestselling authors Maggie Smith, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Jenny Sanford, cartoonist Bob Eckstein, and Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin’s Catification. She also represents the New York Times bestselling Atkins series, as well as David Kidder and Noah Oppenheim’s bestselling Intellectual Devotional series. Joy’s other bestselling authors include Stephen Puleo, Lisa J. Edwards, Kim Sun Sunée, and Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne.
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Tori Marra
COO, Speaker Agent, Outspoken Speaker's Agency
Tori Marra is the co-founder and COO of the speaking agency Outspoken Agency, where she has spent more than a decade working behind the scenes to connect organizations with voices that challenge convention, spark critical thinking, and move audiences to action. Her work spans global brands like Salesforce, Gap Inc., and Benevity, and she has represented a wide range of impactful speakers including Ruha Benjamin, Blake Mycoskie, Clint Smith, Luvvie Ajayi, Bert and John Jacobs, and Minda Harts over the last 15 years in the industry.
She also contributes to the advancement of the speaking industry through volunteer work with the Global Speakers Industry Association (formerly the International Association of Speakers Bureaus).
She will serve as President of the Junior League of Pittsburgh for the 2026–2027 term, continuing its century-long legacy of women committed to mentoring the next generation of civic leaders and driving lasting impact in the Pittsburgh community.
Deborah Kohan
Senior Partner & Managing Director, FINN Partners
Deborah Kohan is a seasoned PR strategist with over three decades of experience navigating clients through the ever-evolving media landscape. As a Senior Partner and Managing Director of FINN Partner’s MEDIA CONNECT division, she oversees all the division’s operations, continuing to drive success for their clients.
Throughout her career, Deborah has executed high impact campaigns for a diverse range of clients spanning publishing, corporate entities, and non-profits. Her clients have included bestselling authors Lee Child and Kate DiCamillo, New Yorker Editor Robert Mankoff, The Cleveland Clinic, Tauck River Cruises and notable figures including President Jimmy Carter.
In addition she ensures her clients maximize the opportunities she secures for them. Her media training expertise has empowered C-suite executives from organizations such as The Body Shop, DirecTV, and New York University to become polished, media-savvy representatives of their brands.
Author, Speaker, Tech Executive
Sabra Meretab has spent the past decade building fintech products in Silicon Valley. Most recently, she led complex special projects at Stripe, and previously served as Chief of Staff and Technical Advisor to the Head of Payments Engineering, where she drove major architectural overhauls and helped shape strategy across a 1,000-person organization.
When she’s not debugging technical infrastructure, she’s often debugging her own understanding of the world through writing. Her essays on Substack explore ambition, burnout, achievement culture, and the complicated question of what makes a life meaningful. Sabra is currently preparing to publish her first book, a memoir about her years in Silicon Valley, told with humor, vulnerability, and a deep curiosity about how we build lives that feel as meaningful as they look successful.
Melody Riley Johnson
Strategist, Healthcare Leader, Speaker
Melody Riley Johnson is a leadership voice, mentor, and advocate for creating work cultures where vulnerability, candor, and psychological safety make it possible for people to contribute fully. Drawing from years of mentoring senior executives, serving on community boards, and her explorative research examining the health impact of balancing multiple societal roles while navigating workplace environments, she challenges leaders to move beyond performative inclusion and build environments where people no longer need masks for survival.
Her work is shaped by both professional insight and profound personal loss, including the murder of her 19-year-old daughter—an experience that transformed how she lives, leads, and teaches others about the power of vulnerability. Through her writing and leadership, Melody calls on organizations to shatter the masks that silence people and to create safe spaces where teams can be seen, heard, and empowered to do their best work.
Maharukh Dalal
Speaker, Executive Coach, Consultant
Maharukh is a dynamic keynote speaker, executive coach and Leadership Development Expert to Fortune 500s. Armed with a Harvard MBA and experience in finance, hospitality, consulting and coaching, she speaks to organizations about leadership identity, influence and resilience – helping leaders update their identity to thrive through disruption.
She’s a former Fortune 500 executive, with over two decades of experience, including senior roles at Starwood Hotels and Marriott International. Her clients include leaders at global giants such as JPMorgan Chase, EY, and IHG. She is frequently recommended for keynote talks, leadership summits and professional development events.
Obsessed with optimizing human potential, she translates her own experience, education, training and cutting-edge research into actionable strategies that drive results and is regularly invited to share her insights with many of the world’s largest and most respected companies.
Max Partain
Filmmaker, Speaker Reel Expert
Max Partain is an Emmy Award-winnning filmmaker who catches people's lightning in a bottle.
TEDx Speaker, Author, Director of Regulatory Services, City of Minneapolis
For more than 27 years, Enrique has led in high-pressure environments where trust, accountability, and human dignity matter. His leadership journey includes 17 years in global technology and 10 years in municipal government, during which he progressed from working manager to department head. He now serves as Director of Regulatory Services for the City of Minneapolis. Across both private- and public-sector settings, his work has centered on building high-trust teams, leading through complexity, and proving that people-first leadership can strengthen both culture and results.
That experience extends beyond formal executive roles. He's served in elected school board leadership, nonprofit leadership, higher education advisory work, and public speaking, including at TEDxDuluth. His TEDx talk hit 1.5 million views in just three months.
Rachel Estes Leyk
Author, Speaker, Tech Executive
Rachel Estes Leyk is fueled by curiosity, empathy, and an unshakable drive to solve meaningful problems in both business and life. Raised in Minnesota, she brings a strong Midwest work ethic to her work as a strategist and leader, shaped by an MBA and a career helping some of the world’s largest organizations navigate complex business and technology challenges. Rachel has held roles with companies including Slalom, Target, and Jostens, and now works in the enterprise cloud technology space, helping clients turn big ideas into practical, human-centered solutions.
She is the author of Response – ABILITY, a book that offers a toolbox of strategies and practical tools, grounded in both research and real-life experience, to help kids intentionally respond rather than simply react. As a mother raising a child on the autism spectrum, Rachel blends real-world strategy with personal resilience. Her talks blend heartfelt storytelling with practical insight, inviting a powerful mindset shift that’s redefining how parents, caregivers, and educators love, care, support, and uplift. She equips audiences with the ability to intentionally respond rather than simply react, along with actionable frameworks, fresh perspectives, and the reminder that growth and compassion can and should coexist.
Speaker to come
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Bio of an incredible speaker to come!