2023 Conference Headliners

Meet your 2023 PLUS Conference Headliners

Monday, December 4
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Nate Bargatze

The Nicest Man in Stand-Up | 2021 Grammy nominated comedian | Creator and Host of the weekly podcast “Nateland”

Nate was featured as one of Esquire’s “Best New Comedians” by Jim Gaffigan, one of Marc Maron’s “Comedians to Watch” in Rolling Stone, one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” for 2015, and as #1 on Vulture’s ‘50 Comedians You Should Know’ in 2015. He also appeared on the cover of Variety’s annual comedy issue in 2022.  

Hailed as “The Nicest Man in Stand-Up,” by The Atlantic Magazine and a “Rising Star,” by CBS Morning, 2021 Grammy nominated comedian and podcaster Nate Bargatze is selling out shows around the world.  

 

An Old Hickory, Tennessee native, Bargatze followed in the showbiz footsteps of his father, a former clown turned world class magician, who’s influence is seen on his’s 2015 debut Comedy Central special, Full Time Magic and his debut album, Yelled at By a Clown, which reached #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts and remained on Billboard’s Top Ten Comedy Charts for weeks. 

 

Bargatze’s half-hour Netflix Special The Standups, premiered in 2017 and his first solo one-hour Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, premiered globally with rave reviews in 2019. In 2021, he released his critically acclaimed second Netflix special, The Greatest Average American, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. On January 31st, Nate released his latest and third 1-hour special, Nate Bargatze: Hello World, on Amazon Prime which now holds the record as Amazon’s most-streamed original comedy special in its first 28 days of viewership. 

 

In 2020, the comedian launched his weekly podcast, Nateland. The podcast tackles the meaningless issues that we face day to day to give listeners a much-needed mental break from fighting the good fight. New episodes release Wednesdays, with video available on Nate’s YouTube channel and audio available everywhere you get podcasts. 

 

Bargatze’s comedy is both clean and relatable, evident in his 12 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He also appeared on Conan four times and has appeared on Seth Meyers and James Corden respective late night shows. He was a recurring guest on @midnight and had his own Comedy Central Presents in 2011. Off-screen, Bargatze was part of Jimmy Fallon’s Clean-Cut Comedy Tour, and has performed live shows for the troops in Iraq and Kuwait five times.  In addition to touring the country as a headliner, Nate toured arenas with Chris Rock on his 2017 Total Blackout Tour. He has performed at SXSW, Oddball Comedy Festival, Sasquatch, Clusterfest, and the JFL Montreal Comedy Festival, where he’s received critical acclaim multiple years in a row. 

Bargatze is currently on his The Be Funny Tour with all new material. For more information go-to: https://natebargatze.com/ 

Monday, December 4
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Patrick & the LVB

Las Vegas Headliner | Emmy Award-Winner

Patrick & the LVB has quickly become one of Las Vegas’ top bandsThey currently hold a weekly residency as Headliners at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino located at the heart of the Las Vegas strip, performing a young and energetic mix of modern pop tunes, classic hits and originals.

While maintaining their residency in Vegas, Patrick and his band travel across the world performing original and cover shows and for corporate clients such as: Google, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Amazon, FedEx, IBM, Lexus, Harley Davidson, Budweiser and many more. 

  

Patrick has helped fill Arenas across the US while playing alongside Bon Jovi, One Republic, the Chainsmokers, Megan Trainor, Matchbox 20, Marshmallow, Vanilla Ice, Zedd, Daughtry, TOTO, YES, Eric Hutchinson, and many more in venues including: the Greek Theatre in LA, California, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, Excel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, and more.  

  

Patrick performs for the American Soldiers both domestic and abroad.  He has performed in Kuwait, Norway, the Marshall Islands, Paris, London and many locations in between.  

  

Patrick’s new song, “Sunshine,” is the first single off his sophomore release, Under the Neon Light.  With radio play of the single already heating up on England’s top pop station, Absolute Radio 105.8FM London, and domestic radio play from multiple West Coast/Las Vegas stations, Patrick’s new album is quickly becoming his biggest album to date. 

Tuesday, December 5
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
PLUS Foundation Luncheon

Amy Cuddy

Social Psychologist | NYT-bestselling author | Award-winning Harvard Lecturer

Amy earned her PhD from Princeton University in 2005, was a professor at Harvard Business School from 2008-2017, at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management from 2006-2008, and Rutgers University from
2005-2006. She continues to teach at Harvard Business School in their executive education programs.

*This Keynote speaker is brought to you by the PLUS Foundation Women’s Leader Network.

Amy’s first book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges (Little, Brown, & Co., 2015), is a New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Globe & Mail bestseller and has been published in 35 languages and has sold more than half a million copies. As described in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, “Cuddy brings an abundance of humility and charm to the page. Her presence itself– her openhearted desire to help the insecure and the uneasy in this age of anxiety–shines through. Presence feels at once concrete and inspiring, simple but ambitious–above all, truly powerful.” Amazon selected Presence as the ‘Best Book of December 2015’.

Dr. Cuddy’s TED Talk, ‘Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are,’ the second-most-viewed TED talk of all time, has more than 65 million views. Named by The Guardian as ‘One of 20 Online Talks that Could Change Your Life’, her talk has reached and influenced how building confidence under stressful situations is taught and practiced worldwide. A pop-culture phenomenon, Amy and her talk have been referenced in the TV shows Ted Lasso, Grey’s Anatomy (four times), Sex Education, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Bold Type, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and others.

Focusing on the power of prejudice and stereotyping, nonverbal behavior, the delicate balance of trustworthiness and strength, and the ways in which people can affect their own thoughts, feelings, performance, and psychological and physical well-being, she studies, writes, and speaks about how we can become more present, influential, compassionate, and satisfied in our professional and personal lives. She is currently writing her second book, Bullies, Bystanders, and Bravehearts (Mariner, 2023), which delves into the psychological causes and consequences of bullying among adults, a pervasive and often devastating problem, and the steps that we all must take to move toward social bravery in our daily lives and broader culture.

Amy has been named by the BBC as one of their 100 Women of 2017, a Game Changer by Time, one of 50 Women Who Are Changing the World by Business Insider, one of the World’s Top 50 Management Thinkers by Thinkers50, one of the Top 50 Leadership Innovators Changing How We Lead by Inc., one of
the top 5 HR Thinkers by HR Magazine, one of Twitter’s 100 Science Stars by Science, one of 10 Ten Bostonians Who are Upending the Way We Live, Lead, and Learn by Boston Magazine, a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, an Early Career Award recipient by the Society for the
Psychological Study of Social Issues, winner of a Harvard Excellence in Teaching Award, and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Amy’s highly cited research on stereotyping and prejudice, nonverbal behavior, and presence and performance under stress has been published in top academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Science, and Psychological Science, and featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Guardian, Wired, Fast Company, Inc., Globe and Mail, NPR, BBC, and many more. She has been a guest on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CBS Sunday Morning, BBC World News, Morning Joe, 60 Minutes with Charlie Rose, CNN with Anderson Cooper, among others. Cuddy has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, CNN, and other outlets.

Amy is a devoted Deadhead, live-music enthusiast, and an avid skier and roller skater. In fact, she worked throughout her years as an undergraduate as a roller-skating waitress. She has one son, Jonah, a guitar player, songwriter and student at Berklee College of Music, and a husband, Paul, an adventuring, sailing, boat-building, Australian lover of life.