Mainstage Speakers
We hope your calendars are marked March 12-15, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch. This will surely be the event to get inspired by the industry’s best and brightest, gain valuable resources, and concrete strategies to help you in your professional role within Positive Behavior Support.
With an unrivaled agenda, heavy-hitting speakers, and networking opportunities, we are pleased to announce our mainstage keynote speakers!
Bringing Our Community Closer
Joe Sanfelippo
Author & 2019 National Superintendent of the Year
Day 1 – March 13, 2025
We’re starting the conference with the mainstage speaker for day one, “Bringing Our Community Closer,” featuring Joe Sanfelippo. Dr. Sanfelippo will reveal insights into promoting positive behavior in school districts to empower your team to create a safe and supportive school environment. So, ensure you get a front-row seat and register today!
We like to think of the APBS community as a network of multidisciplinary peers coming together to advance knowledge, share resources, and advance positive behavior support. We’ve been working hard to develop new ways to unite our diverse community. During this main stage, Sanfelippo will share their successes, explain the importance of Tier 1 interventions, encourage equity in the use of behavior-specific praise, and promote well-being through relationship building. Come to this keynote to find out exactly what’s in store!
Engaging Families
Lola Dada-Olley
Attorney, disability inclusion advocate, mom, wife, and podcast host
Day 2 – March 14, 2025
On day two, we’re keeping the momentum by bringing out a heavy hitter, Lola Dada-Olley. Lola touches on societal stigma, culture, the intersection of race and disability, and corporate disability inclusion efforts. She will share that getting a diagnosis for autism—or for any special need—is like being “drafted into the special forces unit of motherhood.” And for her, that has happened twice.
Dada-Olley’s multi-generational experience with autism gives her a unique perspective and a passion for ” living out loud.” Through this experience, Lola will help conference attendees improve their understanding of the support families and the IDD community need and provide a framework for professionals to support better families with children with disabilities.