Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

Business owners and leaders from across Western Colorado will gather Sept. 23 at Colorado Mesa University for the second annual SPARK Summit, featuring presentations on leadership, artificial intelligence, financial strategy and business growth.

The conference brings high-level business training and speakers from around the country directly to Grand Junction, giving Western Colorado companies and organizations access to conference-level training without the expense and time required for out-of-town travel.

Organized by the C-Suite Initiative, the one-day summit will feature nine speakers and 14 keynote and breakout sessions in CMU’s Meyer Ballroom, according to organizers. The program is organized around three areas: artificial intelligence and scalability; growth, leadership and performance; and executive finance.

The summit will open with a keynote presentation by Dr. Rick Perea of ThinkOne on achieving better performance by helping individuals and teams remain focused and composed under pressure.

Craig Weber, author of “Conversational Capacity,” will deliver the lunch keynote. Weber’s presentation will examine how leaders and teams can have productive conversations about difficult subjects, particularly when emotions are high or participants disagree.

Denise “DT” Thomas, known as the Effective Communication Coach, will close the summit with a presentation about turning leadership insights into measurable action. Her session will focus on intentional leadership, accountability, communication and aligning an organization’s daily behavior with its stated values.

Participants will also be able to choose from several smaller master-class sessions throughout the day.

Artificial intelligence will be one of the major subjects at this year’s summit. Travis Hurst of Native GTM will lead sessions on building an AI “employee” and using AI tools to reduce time spent on repetitive administrative work.

Dr. Elisa Janson Jones of Sovereign+ will demonstrate how businesses can use a combination of AI and non-AI tools to turn spoken explanations into written standard-operating procedures. The session is intended to help companies document institutional knowledge that might otherwise be lost when an experienced employee leaves, changes positions or becomes unavailable.

Other sessions will address more traditional challenges facing growing businesses.

Kelly Johnston of JFS LLC will lead an executive finance session examining the differences among revenue, profit margins and available cash. The presentation will also cover the financial effects of pricing, staffing, productivity, fixed costs and business expansion.

Ross McDaniel of Fencepost will present a marketing framework for local businesses centered on visibility, competency, social proof and referrals. The session will include strategies involving Google Business Profiles, brand messaging and the use of Reddit content in AI-driven searches.

Carl Lubbe will lead sessions on employee development and applying curiosity-based tools to business and leadership problems. One of Lubbe’s sessions will use questions submitted by audience members to work through real business challenges in real time.

The summit begins with registration at 8 a.m., followed by the first keynote at 8:30 a.m. Three rounds of master classes will be offered throughout the day, and the final keynote begins at 3:45 p.m. A reception allowing attendees to connect with speakers and other business leaders will follow the scheduled program at 5 p.m.

The C-Suite Initiative grew from a 2023 meeting between business coaches Kristin Donahue and Bob Bever, who discussed the need for additional leadership and business-development resources in Western Colorado.

More than 100 business leaders attended the 2025 SPARK Summit, according to the organization.

Registration for the 2026 summit costs $500 per person and includes a light breakfast, lunch and an hors d’oeuvres reception. Additional information, including the full list of sessions and speakers, is available at thecsi.biz.