LeadHERship Summit - 2025

Speakers

Tina VanSteenbergen
Owner, StoryMatters

Tina has been speaking professionally since 2013 with a fairly simple message: women need women. To be successful in the workplace. To feel understood. To feel less alone in the world… women need women. And that’s the message she flies thousands of miles to spread. Her speaking style gives women permission to open up, have honest conversations, and connect. With a combination of authenticity, storytelling, and humor, she’s been able to help hundreds of thousands of women tear down the walls we’ve built between us. Together with her audience, she helps women build relationships with one another, believe in themselves, and take up space at companies, campuses, and organizations.

Her work sets her soul on fire. So does a good nap. An excellent pour of bourbon. A beautiful snow. A peaceful and reflective sunset flight. A well-written West Wing quote. Her husband, her son, her dog, and a Minnesotan accent, of course.

Anna Nielsen

Founder, Conflict Capable Solutions

It's all about confidence!

Many fear conflict because of the unknown and feel unprepared to handle it. Building confidence in approaching conflict catalyzes progress, productivity, and innovation. You'll leave with powerful words, phrases, and skills you can use immediately to boost your conflict confidence in real-life situations.

Learning Outcomes

Understand how to leverage your reframed definition of conflict for deeper collaboration and productivity

Understand yourself and others better through the 6 Hidden Dimensions of Conflict

Master strategies for how to approach and handle conflict

Increase confidence in using new words, phrases, and skills to approach conflict

Anna is a seasoned executive leader and conflict navigation expert who refuses to accept conflict as purely a destructive force. She's on a mission to ignite a paradigm shift, empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to embrace conflict as a source of strength.

Recognizing the absence of a standardized approach to conflict navigation in most organizations, she developed the Conflict Capable Framework.

This framework blends her extensive experience as a mediator, conflict navigation trainer, and facilitated dialogue expert, creating something entirely new.
Anna's work transcends conflict management; it guides organizations in cultivating vibrant cultures, charting ambitious futures, and achieving extraordinary heights.

She loves improv, popcorn, paddleboarding, creative writing, high-fives, and meeting you. She is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lives with her husband, Gabe, and Morris, the bouncy Golden Retriever.

 Panalists

Emily Demers,

Chief Operating Officer, Atlas Insurance Brokers

With over 12 years of experience at Atlas Insurance Brokers, Emily has built her career from the ground up—beginning as a receptionist and advancing through a range of roles to become Chief Operating Officer.  Along the way, she’s gained deep, hands-on knowledge of the company, which allows her to lead with both strategic insight and a genuine care for people.

Emily places a high value on relationships and leads with empathy in every area of her work. She is committed to a people-first culture—one where agents, carriers, clients, and team members feel supported, heard, and empowered. Her leadership focuses on collaboration, trust, and driving both strategic growth and operational excellence.

Outside of work, Emily is an active volunteer for Ronald McDonald House Charities Midwest and enjoys reading, being outdoors, and staying active with her husband and two children.

Abby Jirak, CIC

Sr. Vice President, Twin City Group

 
Abby Jirak is a partner and commercial insurance producer at Twin City Group with 19 years of industry experience. In addition to her professional work, Abby volunteers weekly at a local nursing home with her dog and is actively involved with Helping Paws, a nonprofit that trains service dogs for individuals with physical disabilities and veterans with PTSD.

Outside of insurance, Abby helps run her family’s business, The LuceLine Apple Orchard in Watertown, Minnesota. She is passionate about animals—especially dogs and pigs—loves gardening, staying active, and spending time outdoors. Abby lives in Victoria, Minnesota with her husband Ryan, their two dogs, Tug and Ronnie, and they recently welcomed a 15-year-old exchange student, Daniella, from Madrid for the 2025–2026 school year.

Jill Wagner Kelly

Executive VP, Chief Distribution Officer, Integrity

As Executive Vice President, Chief Distribution Officer, Jill Wagner Kelly leads the Sales and Marketing efforts for the combined Grange enterprise. She leads strategies towards achieving top-line and bottom-line targets which includes maximizing agency partnerships, strategic distribution, brand recognition and corporate communications.

In her decade with Grange partner, Integrity Insurance, Wagner Kelly was responsible for overall operations as well as Personal and Commercial Lines business units. She led the company to five straight years of above-market growth and profit through partnership with independent agents. 

Wagner Kelly is an accomplished executive with more than 30 years of insurance industry experience. Her career spans all aspects of underwriting—personal, commercial, farm lines as well as field underwriting, loss control, niche business development, sales and marketing. She quickly moved into leadership roles where she continued to gain greater and broader expertise in Commercial Lines and building highly successful teams that deliver exceptional customer experiences. She joined Integrity Insurance in 2010 as the Commercial Lines Vice President and was promoted to the President role shortly thereafter.

Wagner Kelly is a 1992, summa cum laude, graduate of Lakeland University in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where she also earned her MBA. She’s active in the industry, serving on the board of AAIS, coaching young talent to bring them into the industry, and several years working with the NAMIC organization. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio and is active with Habitat for Humanity and the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization.

Sam Olinger

Chief Operating Officer, Christensen Group

As Chief Operating Officer at Christensen Group Insurance—one of the nation’s top independent insurance brokerages and proudly 100% employee-owned—Sam Olinger brings over 15 years of leadership experience in building high-performing teams and driving organizational growth. She oversees strategy, operations, and culture, with a strong emphasis on aligning business outcomes with deep employee engagement. A passionate advocate for employee ownership, she leads Christensen Group’s ESOP culture, helping employee-owners embrace the ownership mindset. Her commitment to cultivating workplace environments where individuals feel valued, challenged, and connected is at the heart of her leadership philosophy. Based in Monticello, she enjoys reading, puzzles, sunshine, and spending time with her family—often chauffeuring her kids to their various activities.

Moderator: Jean Sundlof

Director, Kraus-Anderson Insurance

Jean Sundlof joined Kraus-Anderson Insurance in June of 1999.  Jean's first position with Kraus was a combined Senior Account Executive and Marketer role.  She moved into production in 2006 and is currently Director of Captives, Coverage, and Risk Consulting. Prior to joining Kraus-Anderson, Jean worked at Youngdahl Companies for seven years.  She had various responsibilities including sales, account executive work, and marketing.  Jean has also served as an Agency Operations Representative for Great American Insurance Company and as Executive Director of Associated Risk Managers of Oklahoma.  She began her career working with an independent insurance agency in Oklahoma in a sales and marketing capacity.

Jean received her BBA and MBA in Management from the University of Oklahoma.  She obtained her Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation in 1980 and her Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1982.  She serves as a member of the National Faculty for the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, teaching both CIC and CISR.  She is also an active faculty member for Swiss Re in instructing Agent's E&O courses.  Jean completed the requirements to be designated as Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI) in 2007.  She was the first Minnesotan to receive this designation.   She recently also holds the CCI and CPIA designations.

Jean was honored by the Oklahoma Association of Professional Insurance Agents in 1984 as Insurance Women of the year.  She was also privileged to be named Young Agent of the Year in 1998 by the Minnesota Independent Insurance Agents.  She is currently President of Big I Minnesota.

A small block of hotel rooms are available the night of September 30 and October 1 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place (1500 Park Pl Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55416). The room rate is $119 per night. Rooms must be booked by September 9, 2025.

Reserve your room online