Dr Beebe became the eighth president of Westmont College in 2007 and has held leadership positions in higher education for nearly 30 years.

He completed a Doctor of Philosophy and a master’s degree in philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University and also earned an MBA in strategic management from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management at Claremont. He received his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and earned his undergraduate degree from George Fox University in Oregon.

An active scholar, he has written or edited 10 books and more than 40 articles, including The Shaping of an Effective Leader: Eight Formative Principles of Leadership and Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion, which he co-authored with Richard Foster.

Early in his tenure, Beebe launched a strategic planning process at Westmont that has produced significant results in many areas: establishing a strong financial base for the college; completing the campus master plan; building essential new facilities and renovating existing structures; creating exciting new academic programs both on and off campus; and raising substantial funds to accomplish several ambitious goals.

Seeking to address the challenges facing private higher education in the 21st century, the college has pursued a range of innovative initiatives that have extended Westmont’s reach and influence. These include centers addressing critical issues: the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture; the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation; and the five centers associated with the Global Leadership Center (the Mosher Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership, the Hughes Center for Neuroscience and Leadership, the Goble Center for Diversity and Global Learning, the Eaton Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Montecito Institute for Executive Education).

During his tenure, the growing emphasis on innovation has led to the expansion of Westmont’s global offerings, the establishment of Westmont Downtown, and the introduction of a new major in mechanical engineering and an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) degree. Three significant capital campaigns have provided the financial resources to add major new buildings totaling more than 81,000 square feet as well as new athletic facilities. These campaigns have also helped the college acquire the building at 26 and 29 W. Anapamu that houses Westmont Downtown and the new nursing program and have funded the renovation of about 45,000 square feet on campus.

David Brooks, New York Times columnist and author of the best-selling book “The Road to Character,” is one of America’s most prominent political and social commentators. His most recent book, "The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life," quickly became a New York Times Bestseller.

Brooks writes a bi-weekly op-ed column for the New York Times and regularly appears on PBS News Hour and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He has also written “The Social Animal,” “On Paradise Drive,” and “Bobos in Paradise.”

This is the fourth year Brooks has been a keynote speaker at the conference.

Charity Dean MD, MPH&TM is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Public Health Company which brings together the best expertise in public health disease control with private sector tech innovation to build autonomous disease control decision capabilities in scalable software. Prior to this she was the Assistant Director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and part of the executive leadership team directing California’s strategy and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Dean served as Co-Chair of the California Testing Task Force which successfully executed a strategy to rapidly scale up COVID-19 testing and exceeded the Governor’s goal of 60,000 diagnostic tests per day, reaching over 100,000 tests per day in under 12 weeks. In her role with CDPH, Dr. Dean provided strategic direction and oversight for the Center for Health Care Quality and led public health and healthcare policy development and implementation to benefit all Californians.

In 2019 Dr. Dean served as Acting State Public Health Officer and led the State response to the vaping-associated outbreak (EVALI), bioterrorism incidents, and communicable disease outbreaks.

Dr. Dean is the subject of best selling author, Michael Lewis‘s newest book, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story. The story follows three central characters — a biochemist, a public health worker and a federal government employee who worked in the White House — as they confront the pandemic and find that the response from the United States government was woefully inadequate. Dr. Dean put her career on the line as she tried to avert catastrophe.

Prior to joining CDPH, Dr. Dean served as Health Officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department where she directed communicable disease outbreak response, public health disaster response, and served as an attending physician overseeing tuberculosis clinic, HIV medicine, homeless medicine, and primary care. She has held statewide leadership roles including the Central Coast Medical Association, California Medical Association, and California Conference of Local Health Officers.

Dr. Dean received the Physician of the Year award from the Central Coast Medical Association in 2018 and Women of the Year recognition from Senator Jackson and Assemblywoman Limon in 2018. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Gerald E Bruce Community Service Award from the Ford Family Foundation and the 2018 Physician of the Year for Santa Barbara County by the Central Coast Medical Association.

Dr. Dean earned a B.S. in Microbiology from Oregon State University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Tulane University School of Medicine, where she simultaneously earned a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She completed residency in Internal Medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

Marcus “Goodie” Goodloe is senior fellow for ethics and justice at Dallas Baptist University’s Institute for Global Engagement. He is a scholar, mentor, speaker and author of the book “King Maker: Applying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Leadership Lessons in Working with Athletes and Entertainers" as well as "Habits: Six Steps to the Art of Influence."

Goodloe travels around the country mentoring students and educators, business professionals, athletes and entertainers, and faith communities on a range of issues, including cultural and interpersonal relationships, leadership, team and synergy, character formation and faith.

Erin Meyer, author of “The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business,” is a professor at INSEAD, an international business school with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Based in Paris, she analyzes how national cultural differences impact business and speaks about cross cultural management and global teamwork.

In 2019, Erin was listed by the Thinkers50, for the second time, as one of the fifty most impactful business writers in the world and in 2018 she was selected by HR magazine as one of the top 30 most influential HR thinkers of the year.

Shaylyn Romney Garrett is the coauthor with Robert D. Putnam of The Upswing: How America Came Together A Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again (Simon & Schuster 2020), hailed as “a magnificent and visionary book,” and “a must-read for those who wonder how we can reclaim our nation’s promise.”

Garrett's writing also includes uniquely revealing portraits of religious communities across the United States in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, which won Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award for best political science book of 2010-11. She writes about her personal journey back to community at Project Reconnect. Garrett believes everyday interactions are the place where we do the “heart work” required to transform our culture and reclaim the power of “We.”

Garrett has been featured in numerous outlets, including TIME Magazine, The New York Times, National Public Radio, BBC Radio, and the PBS Newshour. She has also been an expert commentator for various documentary films. A seasoned public speaker, Garrett's audiences include policymakers, philanthropists, civic organizations, students and community groups. She has consulted for groups ranging from Facebook, to the Salvation Army, to current and former elected officials. 

A passionate advocate for positive change, Garrett has also enjoyed a successful career as a social entrepreneur. She is a founding contributor to David Brooks’ Aspen Institute initiative, Weave: The Social Fabric Project, and is a member of Citizen University’s Civic Collaboratory and the Braver Angels Scholars Council.

Robert D. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and founder of the Saguaro Seminar, a program dedicated to fostering civic engagement in America. He is the author or coauthor of ten previous books and is former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The alarming correspondences between the America of today and of 100 years ago are the subject of The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, an ambitious book by Robert D. Putnam, research professor of government, and writer and entrepreneur Shaylyn Romney Garrett ’02 that seeks to describe the century-long oscillation of an entire society.

Professor Putnam has written fifteen books, translated into twenty languages, including the best-selling Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, and more recently, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, a groundbreaking examination of the growing opportunity gap. Putnam’s 2010 book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites us, co-authored with David Campbell of Notre Dame, won the American Political Science Association’s 2011 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs. His earlier book, Making Democracy Work, was praised by the Economist as “a great work of social science, worthy to rank alongside de Tocqueville, Pareto and Weber.” Both Making Democracy Work and Bowling Alone are among the most cited publications in the social sciences worldwide in the last half century.

Putnum has received sixteen honorary degrees from eight countries including Stockholm University (1993), Ohio State University (2000), University of Antwerp (2000), University of Edinburgh (2003), Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (2011), University of Oxford (2018), and University College London (2019). In 2013, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama for "deepening our understanding of community in America." In 2015, he was awarded the University of Bologna, ISA Medal for Science for research activities characterized by excellence and scientific value.

Lynn Aldrich is a visual artist who makes sculpture, wall constructions, and installations. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA, English Literature) and Art Center College of Design (MFA, Fine Arts), she lives and works in Los Angeles.

Aldrich has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as Paula Cooper Gallery, NY, and Art Affairs, Amsterdam. Her museum showings include MOCA, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Santa Monica Museum of Art, U.C.L.A. Hammer Museum of Art, and Kampa Museum, Prague.

With works in many notable collections, her awards include Getty Trust Fund Individual Artist Fellowship, Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship, and LACMA Purchase Award.

In 2014, Aldrich received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts.

Dane Howard is a UX product leader & entrepreneur.

Howard has led globally distributed teams for world class products and services for brands like Microsoft, Samsung, BMW, Major League Baseball, NBCOlympics and Amazon. He co-founded a startup which was acquired by eBay in 2008.

Howard is an accomplished speaker, photographer, and father. He is also the author of ‘The Future of Memories’ and advisor to ‘standbeautiful.me’ an anti-bullying movement promoting the acceptance of self and others.

Currently, Howard is the Head of UX design and research at Amazon Care.

Reed Sheard is Westmont's Vice President for College Advancement Chief Information Officer. 

Sheard graduated from the University of Sioux Falls, earned a masters of divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in higher education leadership from Seattle University. He joined Westmont in 2008 after serving at Spring Arbor University in Michigan as a Vice President and CIO. Sheard serves as the vice president for college advancement as well as on the executive team of Westmont College.

Sheard has authored articles on innovation and technology, digital transformation, and AI in non-profit fundraising. He serves on numerous boards, most recently the Higher Education practice group of the CIO Executive Council, CIO Innovation Council at Salesforce, along with chairing the AI in Advancement Advisory Council.

In 2015 he was named one of the top 100 CIOs in North America by ITG/Computerworld.

Jon Walker is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of AppFolio. In 2006, Jon, along with Klaus Schauser, founded AppFolio with the mission to revolutionize the way businesses grow and compete by enabling their digital transformation.

Walker drives AppFolio’s technology vision and architecture, leading key future-focused initiatives such as artificial intelligence across the business. He has held various executive positions leading engineering development and quality assurance teams, including CTO of Versora, providers of open source Windows to Linux migration software, and CTO of Miramar Systems (sold to CA Technologies). Walker also served as Senior Technologist for Nortel Networks and Xing Technology Inc. (sold to RealNetworks). He holds and has contributed to multiple patents, and software developed under his direction has been deployed to over 20 million computers worldwide.

Walker was recently selected as one of the Most Influential People on California’s Central Coast. He received a B.S. in Economics and Business from Westmont College and has taught courses in computer science at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Westmont College.

11:00 am - 1:00 pm  Registration

1:00 pm - 1:15 pm Gayle Beebe & Reed Sheard, Welcome and Introduction

1:15 - 3:15 pm  Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett: "Where We Are, How We Got Here, and What Will Bring Us Back: Thoughts on the Findings of Upswing!"

3:15 - 3:30 pm  Break

3:30 - 4:45 pm  Charity Dean, MD and MPH, as featured in Michael Lewis's award-winning book, Premonition: "Discernment and Decision-making Under Duress: the Architecture of Insight"

4:45 - 5:30 pm  Networking and Break

5:30 - 6:45 pm  Dinner

7:00 - 7:45 pm  Dane Howard and Lynn Aldrich: "Designed for Impact: Cultivating the Inner Capacities for an Ultimate Contribution"

7:45 - 8:15 pm  Q&A with Speakers

8:15 - 8:30 pm Gayle Beebe, Concluding Comments

8:30 - 9:30 am  Continental Breakfast 

9:30 am  Reed Sheard, Welcome and Introduction

9:30 - 10:15 am  Gayle Beebe: "The Crucibles that Shape Us"

10:15 - 11:00 am  David Brooks: "Reversals of Fortune: the Unraveling of the Global Order as We've Known It"

11:00 - 11:15 am  Break

11:15 am - 12:00 pm  Q&A with David Brooks

12:00 - 1:30 pm  Lunch

1:30 - 2:15 pm  David Brooks: "America at the Crossroads: Finding Our Way Forward"

2:15 - 3:00 pm  Panel Discussion with Brooks convened by President Beebe

3:00 - 3:30 pm  Break

3:30 - 4:15 pm  Goodie Goodloe: "Where Do We Go From Here?"

4:15 - 4:45 pm  Q&A with Dr. Goodloe

4:45 pm  Comments on the Day by President Beebe

5:00 - 5:45 pm  Networking and Break

5:45 - 6:45 pm  Dinner

7:00 - 7:50 pm  David Brooks: Final Remarks

7:50 - 8:00 pm  Gayle Beebe: Concluding Comments 

7:30 - 8:30 am  Continental Breakfast 

8:30 - 9:15 am  Reed Sheard: "The Role of Authentic Leadership in Building High-Performing Organizations" 

9:15 - 11:00 am  Erin Meyer: "Changing Landscapes: Understanding the Cultures We Inhabit and How They Determine Our Performance and Impact"

11:00 - 11:15 am  Break

11:15 am - 12:00 pm  Guided conversation with Jon Walker: "A Culture of Thriving: How the Way We Work Changes the Way We Live" 

Noon - 1:00 pm  Lunch

1:00 pm Conference Concludes