2023 Transformational Leadership Conference Schedule

Twitter: @ChadSPriest
Email: chad.priest@redcross.org; cspriest@iu.edu

Chad S. Priest, JD, MSN, RN, FAAN Vice President of the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Red Cross. He oversees humanitarian operations in nine regions covering 12 states. Chad was previously CEO of the Indiana Region of the American Red Cross where he led a team of over 2,000 volunteers and staff dedicated to supporting resilient communities throughout Indiana and portions of Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois.

Chad is also Adjunct Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and co-founder and faculty in the Disaster Medicine Fellowship Program. Previously, Priest served as Assistant Dean for Operations & Community Partnerships at the Indiana University School of Nursing and Chief Executive Officer of the MESH Coalition, an innovative public-private partnership that enables healthcare providers to effectively respond to emergency events and remain viable through recovery. Chad formerly practiced as an attorney at the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels practicing public health and healthcare law in the Indianapolis and Washington, D.C. offices. He served on active duty as an officer in the United States Air Force with the 89th Medical Group, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree in nursing from Indiana University, his Masters of Science degree in Community Health Nursing from Indiana University and his law degree from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Chad is married to Caitlin Finnegan Priest, and they have 3 children Emerson (senior in high school), Nora (freshman in high school) and Eli (7th grade).

Mark Latta is an assistant professor of English and Director of Community Engagement at Marian University. His research and teaching interests focus on the intersections between writing, critical and posthuman theories, community engagement, and the ways literacy is used to resist oppression and enact futures. Latta gained his first experience teaching through an AmeriCorps term of service at Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Latta also directs the Flanner Community Writing Center and has been involved in numerous social practice projects such as CityWrite, a city-wide memoir project in Indianapolis that has collected the personal stories of over 1,100 people since 2012; the Indy East Art Peace project, a arts-based response to community violence through peacebuilding; I Am East 10th Street, a public art memoir installation relating the stories of those who live and work along east 10th Street; and Moving Stories, an examination of the influence of public narratives on public transportation and transit policy.

He has edited and co-created five anthologies and authored numerous scholarly works. Latta was honored to receive the Nuvo Cultural Vision Award (2008), the William H. Plater Civic Engagement Medallion (2012), and the Franciscan Values Award (2017).

Mark is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Urban Education Studies at Indiana University.

Charla Cannon Yearwood (she/ her) is the Founder and Clinical Director of Connected in Community, a therapy practice in Indianapolis. Charla is all about liberation, social justice, and community. She believes we are all connected in, by, and through community, meaning our healing is tied together. Her professional work is rooted in Black liberation and abolition. Charla’s research interests include liberation based clinical mental health care and other topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Outside of work, Charla and her husband have two children, two dogs, and a cat. As a family, they enjoy a good sing-a-long.

Liz has had a long career in the for-profit, non-profit and education sectors, currently running her consulting practice, EA Coit Consulting and most recently serving as the founding Executive Director of the Walker Center for Applied Ethics at Marian University. Her leadership in imagining, designing, and implementing new programs to serve important unmet needs has taken her on impactful journey throughout her 30+ year career.

Prior to joining Marian University in the Fall of 2019, she served for nine years as the Executive Director and Board member of Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding, Inc providing equine therapies to people with disabilities. Prior to Morning Dove, Liz served as the founding executive director of a financial education and research organization at Indiana State University, leading a team to create a patented financial literacy program for elementary-aged students. Before moving to the non-profit and academic sectors in 2005, Liz served for over 20 years as an executive in the financial services sector, including leadership roles at First Interstate Bancorp, Boston Consulting Group, Citigroup and Conseco, Inc.

Liz holds an AB degree with honors in economics and psychology from Occidental College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She earned a certificate in Strategic Leadership for Non-Profits from Harvard, and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from the IU School of Philanthropy. She currently serves as President of the Board of the Greater Swiss Mountain Club of America, as a Director and Chair of the Development committee for the Board of ILADD, Inc., Board member and Treasurer for The Chris Center, and Liz is mentor and advisor to the Board of the newly formed Watch Us Farm serving adults with disabilities in Boone County. Liz and her therapy dog, Tink, are frequent visitors at local schools as part of the Chris Center’s PAWS team and together they also serve as an emergency response team through PetPartners International. Liz is also a Master Gardener serving as a volunteer at the Boulevard Place Food Pantry garden in Indianapolis.

Liz has devoted most of her career and personal life to serving others, either as an organizational change agent and growth-focused leader, or through her volunteerism.

Sajjad Shah is an Indiana resident born and raised. He studied accounting at Butler University and did a Master in Public Accounting at Butler University as well. He then went to work at PwC and BKD where he did international tax strategy. 

Shortly after public accounting, he started his own consulting firm where he helped grow startup companies. He then created an organization called Muslims of the World to change the way the world sees Muslims. It started off as a simple Instagram page sharing stories of Muslims and quickly grew to 700,000 followers. 

He then used his Instagram page and traveled to third world countries to share stories of children in need and raised a total of $20,000,000 for different charities. After turning MOTW into a social media brand, he then turned it into a coffee shop to continue to focus on the work he is so passionate about. Over the past two years, he has opened three coffee shops in Indiana and spends most of his time focusing on the coffee shop mission. He currently lives in Fishers, Indiana with his wife and daughter.