Meet Keynote Speaker

Since mastering the art of overcoming obstacles and achieving success through teamwork in adventure racing, firefighting, and business, award-winning keynote speaker Robyn Benincasa helps company leaders and teams connect, collaborate, and perform at their best.

“By far the best and most inspiring talk I have ever heard.”

–Edward Hayes, Director, Human Resources

Unlike most athletes, Robyn doesn’t solely rely on stories about her individual accomplishments.

Speaking with humor and humility, her deeply customized story-driven multimedia presentations inspire in business audiences the mindset and we-thinking culture they need to achieve collective success. She honed her team-building philosophy by depending on extreme teamwork as a 20+ year veteran firefighter and as a leader and teammate on adventure racing’s most prolific world champion teams.

A New York Times bestselling author, Robyn also leads The Project Athena Foundation, a nonprofit she founded to help survivors of medical or other traumatic setbacks create their big comeback stories through adventure and endurance sports, for which she was named a CNN Hero. Harvard Business Review has recognized Robyn as a Top 10 Speaker for her culture-shaping keynotes on leadership, teambuilding and peak performance. Her unique take on radical teamwork has profited countless teams at Fortune 500 companies—including Starbucks, Walmart, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson and Intel—leaving their audiences energized with practical tools and inspiration, knowing they have what it takes to persevere and prevail together.

“When you create a culture in which everyone values the team’s performance over their individual pride, that’s where the magic happens.”

– Robyn

“.. yours was one of the best, if not the best, keynote session I've seen in over two decades at my company."

– Vice President-Global Patient Outcomes and Real World Evidence

Why Robyn’s Take on Leadership and Teamwork is Relevant to Business Now

How do business audiences gain anything useful from someone whose job as an adventure racer involved wading through swamps and rappelling off cliffs?

The unexpected race context makes Robyn’s presentation unique, approachable and compelling. Most audiences have heard from business speakers and sports stars. Adventure racing allows your leaders and frontline employees to see teamwork and leadership in new ways with fresh eyes. She helps audiences realize that they’re actually all adventure racers: facing steep challenges, navigating uncharted terrain, forced to find a way forward or make one. When they see a team carry their injured teammate over a mountain, or a barefoot villager go to extreme lengths to help a team in need, they want to BE that kind of leader and teammate. They’re genuinely inspired, believing they can and want to do amazing things by embracing the power of human synergy.

“You are an amazing person. A true inspiration to all. We are all grateful that you were there to show us not only that it could be done, but how we—the mere mortals—could do it as well.”

- Oliver G. Santos, President

Top Takeaways on Leadership, Teamwork and Peak Performance

Leaders often quote Robyn, crediting her with helping them learn something new about teamwork and leadership. Here are a few takeaways they’ve reflected:

  • “It’s always brilliant to see our people truly wrap their arms around our plans"

    “I know we all went away feeling incredibly confident about achieving our ambitions as a team. Thank you to Robyn for her remarkable inspiration, reminding us of the importance of “we thinking” and perfectly bringing to life what it looks like to win when you work together.”

    –Tracy Garrad, CEO

  • “It’s been almost a year since attending a summit Robyn spoke at..."

    and her words still drive my career. ‘Winning is that way!’”

    – Rachel Searles, Staff Consultant

  • “‘Focus on the comeback, not the setback.’

    “Heck yeah! Your impact on the BSC Cardiology team and our follow-on conversations you prompted today was profound.”

    –Sasha Young, Regional Vice President of Sales

  • "“What resonated incredibly well were the elements of teamwork"

    “Each member takes turns being the leaderwhen it makes the most sense from a skill set or capability perspective—and particularly when it counts, i.e., ‘When the fun stops!”

    – Nancy Fijan, Senior Manager