PLANNING GUIDE Brochure sponsored by Welcome to MCAA 2013 MCAA 2013 is just around the corner. And this year we have a unique opportunity to step outside of our day-to-day lives, expand our minds, and explore the potential of unconventional thinking. If you are like me, your day at the office is filled with “must do” items. Your schedule probably doesn’t allow much time for thinking about the big picture. And yet, we know that to remain competitive and continue to succeed in a rapidly changing world, we need to step back and get a broader perspective. There is nothing more important in the long run for leaders and key executives. That’s why our theme for MCAA 2013 is Unconventional Thinking: The Essential Ingredient of Success. We have asked our incredible lineup of speakers to share with us examples of how embracing unconventional thinking has helped them succeed. We’ll do some serious thinking about the future along with the extraordinary networking and social opportunities you’ve come to expect from an MCAA Convention. So make your plans for San Antonio now. Debbie and I look forward to welcoming you there! Mac Lynch MCAA 2012 President Brochure sponsored by The Incomparable Martina McBride Her voice is as big and beautiful as a Texas prairie! Martina McBride is renowned for bringing her special brand of country ballads and crossover pop singles to audiences across the country and around the world for over 20 years. She has sold over 14 million albums and has won the Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year Award four times, the Academy of Country Music’s Top Female Vocalist award three times and a Grammy Award. She has appeared on VH1’s Divas, Today Show, 20/20, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. McBride was born Martina Mariea Schiff in Sharon, KS. She started performing when she was very young, first with a local band that her father fronted and then with bands in Wichita. In 1987, Martina met her husband John, who she married a year later. The couple moved to Nashville, TN, where she landed a job as Garth Brooks’ opening act. She signed with RCA Records in 1991. When McBride’s contract with RCA expired in 2010, she started looking for a new recording home and found it in Republic Nashville, part of Big Machine Records. The company encouraged her to be bold and take risks, use her considerable songwriting skills and…frankly…be unconventional… in producing her eleventh album, appropriately titled, Eleven. McBride was thrilled by the chance to experience what she calls first- time opportunities the second time around and she made the most of them. Six of the eleven tracks on Eleven are songs that McBride co-wrote, something she’s especially proud of since she has not always felt secure about her songwriting. With the success of Eleven, McBride is taking her newfound spirit to new heights. She wants to continue recording and touring because, “I love it so much.” Join us for an evening of Margaritas, Memories and Martina McBride —dinner and a concert that will crown this unconventional week. 2 Journalist, CBS Evening News Anchor Scott Pelley Scott Pelley, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes, began his journalism career at the age of 15 as a copy boy for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. He was the first in Lubbock to learn of President Richard Nixon’s resignation, the fall of Saigon (and the end of the Vietnam War), and other historical events of those turbulent years. Using some unconventional thinking, Pelley found his way into jobs and stories that helped him reach the pinnacle of broadcast news. Some highlights include: • As CBS News Chief White House Correspondent, he covered President Bill Clinton during his impeachment process. It was Pelley who broke the story that Monica Lewinsky had become a cooperating witness in the investigation. • In 1999, after joining 60 Minutes, Pelley landed the first interview with President-Elect George Bush. Two years later, he landed the only interview with President Bush on the anniversary of 9/11. • In 2003, he and a 60 Minutes team decided not to embed with the troops during the invasion of Iraq, but rather to cover the action independently from the initial strike to the fall of Baghdad. • In 2007, he worked with Darfur rebels to organize a reconnaissance mission into the region. He and his 60 Minutes crew found a village that had been destroyed by government forces in their genocide campaign. The report was honored with an Emmy® Award. • In 2008, he interviewed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the first interview with a “Fed” chairman in several decades, breaking a long- standing Federal Reserve tradition. The broadcast won an Emmy® Award. In 2011, Pelley became the anchor of the CBS Evening News. Doing the news his way has drawn almost a million more viewers to the program. Goes to show…unconventional thinking works well in the news business. Join us for the Opening Session of MCAA 2013 as Scott Pelley reveals more insights about his unconventional approach to “getting the story.” 3 Astronaut Mark Kelly CAPT USN (ret.) Flying space shuttle missions is not exactly a conventional career path. For Captain Mark Kelly, the son of police officers from New Jersey, becoming a NASA astronaut was not only the realization of a lifelong dream, but the result of a fierce determination to win against all odds. His never-say-die attitude stood him well throughout his military training, flying combat missions during the Gulf War and commanding NASA shuttle flights. However, his internal strength and fortitude were tested to the limits when life handed him an unexpected challenge. • He has a B.S. in marine engineering and nautical science from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. • As a Naval Aviator, Kelly was deployed to Japan and then to the Persian Gulf on the aircraft carrier USS Midway, flying 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. • He and his identical twin brother Scott were both selected to be NASA shuttle pilots in 1996. • Kelly has spent more than 50 days in space. On January 8, 2011, Captain Kelly’s life took an unconventional, horrible turn when he learned that his wife, Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords, had been shot in an attempted assassination in Tucson, AZ. During the immediate aftermath of that horrific event, Kelly used his practical, ask-questions approach to understand what happened and what would happen to his injured wife. He also faced decisions about how he would provide the care his wife would need on the road to recovery…decisions that required unconventional thinking...Kelly met the challenge with patience and determination. His wife’s recovery progressed so well that Kelly was able to return to commanding space shuttle missions until June 2011, when he commanded the last flight of Endeavor. He retired three weeks later. Learn more about Captain Mark Kelly and how he met the unconventional tests that life handed him at the Annual Awards of Excellence Breakfast. 4 Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Navy Seal, Humanitarian Eric Greitens When Eric Greitens delivered the commencement address to the 2012 class of Tufts University, he told the graduates that there were times during his journey through life that he came to believe that “people with strength needed to use that strength to protect others.” No other statement could adequately describe his unconventional life. Highlights of Greitens’ life journey include: • As an undergraduate at Duke University, Greitens volunteered to help refugees of the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda recover their lives. • He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, graduating with a Ph.D. in politics in 2000. • He is a senior fellow at the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri and has taught at the University of Missouri and Washington University in St. Louis. • In January 2001, Greitens enrolled in the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School and then entered the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program, considered to be the toughest military training in the world. • As a Navy Seal, he deployed four times to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia. • After leaving military service, Greitens and two friends used their military pay to establish The Mission Continues, a fellowship organization that places post 9/11 wounded and disabled veterans incommunity-based nonprofit organizations organizationsto assist to assistthem inthem in developing their professional and educational goals. Join us for the Closing Session to learn more about Eric Greitens’ unconventional life and the personal motivations that inspire him. 5 Women’s Health Advocate Dr. Nancy Snyderman From the time she was a young child, Nancy Snyderman wanted to become a doctor. It was in her blood—her grandfather and her father were both doctors—and she knew that medicine was her life’s destiny. What she didn’t know then, however, is that she would come to love explaining the complexities of health issues and medical developments to millions of people on television as much as the practice of medicine. Game changing events in Dr. Snyderman’s life include: • Dr. Snyderman received her medical training at the University of Nebraska in Omaha and initially planned to specialize in pediatrics. • During her medical residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she switched to otolaryngology. • Dr. Snyderman began appearing on a Pittsburgh television station to explain health issues and developments to local viewers. • For 17 years, she was medical correspondent for ABC News, appearing on 20/20, Primetime and Good Morning America.