Event Details

As an entrepreneur, author and radio talk show host as well as a community leader and outdoor enthusiast, Ned Parks pulls from a wealth of experiences to deliver an upbeat and highly interactive program.

While still attending college at the age of 21, Ned became a police officer.  By the time he reached 26, he had accepted an offer to attend Warrant Officers Candidate School and the U.S. Army Helicopter Pilot School.  One year later, Ned was flying helicopters along South Korea’s conflicted DMZ.  By age 28, Ned’s experiences teaching teamwork, leadership, and interpersonal communication skills in high-pressure environments came into play after he successfully completed the US Army’s adult education program and was assigned as a classroom and flight line instructor.

Upon returning to Ohio at the age of 33, Ned founded Parks Aviation Services, Inc.  His entrepreneurial spirit realized there was more to building a company than just seeking profit; he also fostered an environment that nurtured his associate’s strengths, walked the talk of respect, and believed that leadership is mental not positional, the payoff was big.  Just three years later, Ned sold his highly successful business and joined a manufacturing company as a division general manager.  Within one year, he had turned the struggling, lackluster division into a highly profitable group, restoring employee morale and reducing the turnover rate.

Now, Ned takes his passion for helping others find their areas of strength and improvement by providing humor-filled leadership and motivational keynote speeches, workshops, and seminars on dealing with the challenges of everyday life.  Ned takes it one step further – he gives participants tangible ideas they can use as soon as they leave the event.

“People learn best through experiences they can relate to in their everyday lives.” he says. “I get the audience involved to the maximum extent possible while staying sensitive to their level of participation.”

Ned’s mission holds true across every speech he gives – to inspire you and your organization to invest in yourself with grace, invest in others with humility, and improve with dignity.