Courtney Scharf
Trend Hunter

Trend Hunter is the world's #1 LARGEST, most popular, most powerful trend platform and an innovation accelerator.  With AI, crowdsourcing, crowd filtering and human researchers, Trend Hunter helps 1,100 brands, billionaires, CEOs & NASA find better ideas, faster.

As Chief Client Officer, Courtney Scharf develops, maintains and optimizes Trend Hunter's advisory service, overseeing the client relations team. She’s spoken on the topic of innovation at events like Foresight and Trends and Future Festival and has created and customized more than 200 custom trend reports for her clients. She specializes in the topics of travel, tourism, retail, entertainment and Generation Z.

Courtney is an avid perfume collector and a huge proponent of second-hand shopping; she’s aiming to eventually have a wardrobe that is made up of 75%+ second-hand items. She’s at 51% so far! Courtney also lived in Korea for a little under a year in 2012 and can read Hangul (though she admits she’s gotten a bit rusty over the years!) 

Neil Sullivan
The Table Group

The Table Group dedicated to making companies more successful and work more fulfilling. Founded by Leadership Coach, Patrick Lencioni on the belief that organizational health is the single greatest competitive advantage in any business, The Table Group has been helping organizations become healthier for over 20 years.

As Principal Consultant for The Table Group, Neil leverages his 25+ years of corporate and non-profit experience to help CEO’s and Executive Teams perform at their highest levels. Neil held various executive management roles within technology companies, including EDS, Genpact, and Ellie Mae. Neil is also the Founder and CEO of The Leadership Connection, an international leadership organization dedicated to developing non-profit and church leadership capabilities within the U.S., as well as Haiti, Mexico, Kenya, Cambodia, and other developing countries.

Neil attended the University of California, Berkeley, and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters. He also maintains an office in Honolulu, HI and is an international, competitive open-water swimmer.

Mark Ellis
Polynesian Voyaging Society

Founded in 1973, the Polynesian Voyaging Societyʻs (PVS) mission is to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments.

Through voyaging, PVS hopes to inspire humanity to care for the earth by highlighting the vital importance of oceans, indigenous knowledge, communities, education and sustainability.

A crewmember of PVS since 2007, Mark first sailed on a waʻa kaulua nearly 20 years ago. He has given of his time to PVS in a variety of capacities on and off Hōkūle’a over the years - helping in dry dock, organizing Hōkūle’a’s day sails, as a crew member, apprentice navigator and now captain. He also spearheads many PVS education initiatives and programs because of his background as Senior Curriculum Designer at Kamehameha Schools.

Says Mark, "To me, Hōkūleʻa means potential. When you sail on Hōkūleʻa, you have the opportunity to learn and grow the capacity to become or develop something in the future that makes a difference in your own life and that of your family, community, and our island earth. And I would love to see my grandchildren voyaging on Hōkūleʻa."

Pōhaku Stone
Hawaiian Boarding Company

Tom "Pōhaku" Stone, a legendary native Hawaiian surfer and waterman, has been on a lifelong journey in search of his cultural heritage. Using his love of he'e nalu (surfing) and his culture as a focal point, Pōhaku received his master’s degree in Pacific Island Studies, specializing in ancient Hawaiian sports from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He is credited with single-handedly revitalizing the sport of he'e hōlua (Hawaiian sledding), a centuries-old extreme sport, and for the past several years he has been sharing his knowledge and his aloha as a teacher and craftsman, instructing students in the arts of sled building and ancient surfboard carving.

Through this balance of riding, teaching, and craftsmanship, Pōhaku has found peace within himself and a sense of pride in his culture that can never be broken. It is this peace and pride that is put into every papa hōlua and papa he'e nalu he crafts, making these works of art truly "He mea Kanaka Maoli - Native Made."

Pōhaku has worked closely with the OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa to bring the history and culture of the Keauhou area to life through his craftsmanship.

Blake Leeper

Patrick "Blake" Leeper is an eight-time Track and Field international medalist, world record holder and three-time American record holder. 

Leeper did not start racing until 2010. It was at his first ever race that he caught the attention of the Director of High Performance for U.S. Paralympics Track and Field, who convinced his parents to let their son move into the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, where he started his habit of winning. That’s when Leeper left the University of Tennessee to embark on an amazing journey.  He began to run, and run fast, all over the world. Leeper’s medal collection now includes one gold, six silver and one bronze. Over his career, he hopes to win more medals than any Paralympic athlete in track and field history, and perhaps more importantly, to become the first American track and field athlete to qualify for the able-bodied Olympic Games. Now a seasoned veteran of the speaking stage, Blake Leeper regularly shares his inspiring story to audiences across the country and a vibrant example that indeed, Anything Is Possible.