Our Featured Speakers
Nick Scala
Conn Maciel Carey
Nick Scala
Conn Maciel Carey
Nicholas W. Scala is a chair of the firm's national MSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group. His practice focuses on issues involving mining safety and health law. Mr. Scala represents coal and metal/non-metal mining operators, with operations on both the surface and underground, in addition to cement manufacturers and independent contractors. His clients' operations extract a wide range of industrial minerals including coal, aggregates, construction sand and gravel, dimensional stone, gypsum, iron ore, limestone, and silica and frac sands.
Mr. Scala represents and advises clients in all phases of involvement with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), particularly companies challenging enforcement by the agency. Mr. Scala also represents clients in litigation against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as developing corporate safety and health policies for clients in the construction and mining industries. As a Certified Mine Safety professional through the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s International Academy of Mine Safety & Health, his experience includes:
Advising and representing clients in relation to inspections, accident and fatality investigations and enforcement actions involving MSHA, OSHA, and state and local regulators;
Defending operators and contractors during the full range of litigation against MSHA, including informal and formal contest of citations or orders, negotiations of settlements to minimize the impact of future enforcement actions at the mine and on wrongful death and personal injury civil cases, and trials before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission;
Representing employers and managing investigations resulting from complaints under Sections 105(c) and 110 of the Mine Act;
Advising clients with regards to MSHA/OSHA jurisdiction concerns, through review of the MSHA/ OSHA Interagency Agreement, and contest of jurisdiction disputes;
Developing and auditing safety programs and policies, including on-site facility inspections; and
Providing nationwide, workplace safety training and compliance counseling for employers, state-grant programs and trade associations.
Prior to joining Conn Maciel Carey, Mr. Scala was an attorney in a national MSHA practice group in the DC area. He also worked in-house for a national retailer on intellectual property portfolio management and corporate compliance. Before attending law school, Mr. Scala worked in the mining and heavy-highway construction industry.
Mr. Scala frequently speaks on MSHA and related legal issues such as Supervisory Rights & Responsibilities, Contractor Safety and MSHA Enforcement Initiatives & Guidance at mine safety and health events around the country. He is a published author on a variety of safety and health topics. He has been named a "Rising Star" by Washington, DC Super Lawyers in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Coach Donnie Campbell
Leadership on the Job
Coach Donnie Campbell
Leadership on the Job
If the word “believe” resonates with you, it means that you are probably a diehard fan of the hit series Ted Lasso, which portrays a football coach from Kansas who is hired to be the head coach of the English Premier Soccer Leagues AFC Richmond. But did you know that there was a real inspiration behind this award-winning show?
Coach Donnie Campbell is a math teach and a high school basketball coach from Kansas who was plucked out of obscurity when Jason Sudeikis, the American actor and star of the 5-time Emmy Award winning show, revealed to Stephen Colbert on the late show that Campbell was in part the impetus for the lead character he plays with such wit and wisdom. It was back in the late 1990’s when Jason played basketball at Shawnee Mission West and Donnie was his coach. Little did Campbell know that all of
the pearls of wisdom he was dropping on Jason and the team would appear years later and make an indelible impression on millions around the world.
Today, Campbell has been busy making appearances on local and national television including ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s The Today Show. In addition to teaching, he is now speaking to organizations and companies about leadership and specifically, how important it is to instill strong values in the people you work with. He credits his leadership skills to his always positive attitude and to his mentors that prepared him for success both in the classroom and as a coach.
Campbell graduated from Lyons high school in 1980 and attended Kansas State University on a football scholarship and played basketball his freshman year. For the past 36 years, he has coached and taught math, but more importantly he has been building the confidence and character of the young men and women who have played for him.
Greg Coker
Building Cathedrals
Greg Coker
Building Cathedrals
My mission and focus is the development of the individual, team and organization. My vision is that as a result of reading my books, attending my workshops, experiencing one of my keynote speeches and/or a recipient of my coaching/consulting, you will leave a better person. When this happens, your organization will naturally be a better place to work.
I’m driven by a laser-like focus on the power of purpose while reaching the highest levels of engagement. My first book, Building Cathedrals: The Power of Purpose, provides readers a blueprint for personal, team and organizational effectiveness. In its fifth printing, the principles of leadership, redemption, purpose, engagement and touching others in a deep and meaningful way continues to inspire readers while the keynote speech is moving thousands in the pursuit of excellence.
My second book, Soft Skills Field Manual (4th printing), accompanies the workshop, Soft Skills Boot Camp, and is based on the essential skills needed for succeeding in the workplace. The book and the workshop are unique in that I expand the concept of soft skills to be much more than basic work skills. In short, soft skills are ALL the dynamics (purpose, engagement, communication, appreciating differences, teamwork, emotional intelligence, culture, customer satisfaction, forgiveness and reconciliation, grit, problem-solving, etc.) outside the technical aspects of one’s job.
I’m delivering this powerful workshop and keynote speech to business/industry, associations, education, government agencies and prison systems (Reentry). In fact, every inmate in Kentucky Corrections has access to my Soft Skills Boot Camp and receives “Good Time Served” off their prison sentence. Additionally, my Soft Skills has been featured on the Ohio Correction System’s Hope TV program.
Ricky Rollins
Stories Turned Into Lessons
Ricky Rollins
Stories Turned Into Lessons
Having experienced a severe head trauma that almost cost him his life during an accident at work on December 30th, 1995, Ricky has learned an important lesson that he now is willing to share: Every action we take, every choice we make could have consequences that we might not want to have to live with.
That day Ricky didn’t evaluate a hazard and just wanted to get the job done and get to the next one putting his and his colleague’s life and wellbeing in jeopardy. The job didn’t go as planned – a large piece of slag fell and struck Ricky in the head fracturing his skull, causing him to nearly lose his life – and his family- a father, a husband, a brother, and a son.
Thankfully Ricky lived, and until this day, he remembers December 30th, 1995 as the luckiest day of his life. Sure he was lucky to survive, but most importantly, he was lucky to have the man running the man lift that day, Dale Baldwin, who trusted him as an experienced supervisor for his safety, was not struck with the piece of slag that day. If something had happened to Dale that day, Ricky couldn’t blame anyone but himself, and how could he continue living knowing that the things he almost cost his family, he almost cost another man’s family those same things.
That day caused Ricky to realize that we all hold more than our own wellbeing in our hands. That day could have caused a tragedy in two families, all because of Ricky not taking time to evaluate the job and recognize the hazards and if you think about it, it sure wasn’t worth it. He realized that life's occurrences don't just touch us, they affect everyone who cares about us, and we need to take precautions and prevent accidents from happening to our best abilities.
Jack Becker, “F/A-18 Super Hornet Fighter Pilot
Supersonic Safety
Jack Becker, “F/A-18 Super Hornet Fighter Pilot
Supersonic Safety
Jack Becker is a highly decorated, combat proven U.S. Navy fighter pilot and the leading speaker on process improvement. After his distinguished career as a combat proven F/A-18 Super Hornet Fighter Pilot, he now shares the Top Gun process of continual improvement with any organization striving to get better every day.
He has merged the aviation skills of Crew Resource Management (C.R.M.) and the Top Gun process to provide a simple and repeatable process that will redefine excellence for you and your team.
You and your team will be inspired to improve every day, just like fighter pilots do. And more importantly, you will have the strategy and tactics on how to get better every day!
Matt Bunner
Falling Forces
Matt Bunner
Falling Forces
Matt Bunner is the Safety Manager for Mulzer Crushed Stone and has worked in the mining industry for more than twenty-three years. Matt graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1994 with BS in the field of occupational safety and health. Brian Peters is a EH&S Director for Mulzer Crushed Stone. He is a graduate of Purdue University in Environmental Engineering. These two train thousands of miners each year. The have a passion for education and engaging people in the process of mining safety.
Preventing Musculo-skeletal Injuries in the Mining Industry. Attendees will be educated using hands-on and engaging educational training. Miners are working longer and aging in our workforce. Backs, hips, knees, and ankles are easy targets for injuries in and around the mines. Class participation is not optional as these two bring safety training to life to help reduce injures.
Wylie Davidson
Leaving a Safety Legacy
Wylie Davidson
Leaving a Safety Legacy
Wylie Davidson is a motivational speaker and safety culture specialist from Buffalo, NY. His ability to energize audiences while getting them to rethink their own personal safety values has been an effective resource with hundreds of companies at facilities all over the US, Canada and Mexico. His unique ability to add fun and humor to a safety message have made him a desired speaker with companies looking to reset their own safety culture or to give a charge to an existing one.
With over 10 years in the safety world, coupled with 20 years in management, working his way up from the start, he has seen both sides of what an effective safety culture looks like, and his insight resounds with his audience. Attendees find him both engaging and heartfelt often referring to him as “one of us”.
Wylie has been the Keynote or Featured presenter at numerous national and regional accounts that include John Deere, Exxon-Mobil, Kelloggs’s Georgia-Pacific, Anheuser-Busch and Toyota as well as numerous National and Regional conferences throughout the United States and Canada. He has visited and toured hundreds of manufacturing plants and job sites that include virtually every aspect of industry, construction, municipality, and utility.
Having spent the last 5 years traveling the country both speaking and creating effective safety cultures on how and why it is important to be safe, both on and off the job has made a tremendous impact on wylie. Seeing firsthand the impact that a presentation can do for someone has been his driving force in continuing this journey.
“Everyone has a story, and everyone’s on a journey” are just two of the reasons why he has continued to be so impactful. By making safety personal it allows for the attendee to fully understand the why it’s important to leave a positive safety legacy.
