Connection to Profit: Building Personal Customer Relationships in an Impersonal World
With Subject Matter Experts
Bryan Rutberg, Keynote Speaker, Customer Engagement Consultant, Bryan Rutberg
Matt Sitter, CEO, AFN and Partner, Sixth Wing
Do You Know Your Customers Well Enough?
Social connection is more rare AND more sought-after in a business environment where so much now happens on screens. We cannot move too far away from the warmth and connection of human engagement or we’ll miss important moments. Streamlined ordering systems, self-service apps, AI-driven chatbots and Voice Response Systems, one-click purchasing – all bring benefit but none create community or give you the customer insights you need to remain successful.
Join AFN/Sixth Wing for an enlightening and fast-paced hour with customer activation expert Bryan Rutberg. Bryan will lead us in a discussion based on the keynote material he shares on building customer love and loyalty, and for the first time sharing stories and lessons from the book he is co-authoring on the power of purposeful gatherings, due out in 2026.
Bryan Rutberg
Bryan Rutberg is a customer activation expert who helps companies, nonprofits, and associations use communications, programs, and culture to build deeper, longer-lasting, and more productive relationships with their clients, customers, members, and supporters. The former Director of Microsoft’s Executive Briefing Center and speechwriter/communications lead for the company’s customer support organization, Bryan regularly delivers keynote presentations and workshops at conferences and works directly with organizations as a consultant, trainer, and coach.
Notable projects include developing messaging frameworks and communications plans for companies, departments, products, and services; event planning and content creation for change management initiatives; and writing executive speeches. A current project involves co-authoring a book on creating or using events to build relationships and accelerate connections, with an anticipated publication date in the summer of 2026.
Keynote Speaker, Customer Engagement Consultant, Bryan Rutberg
Matt Sitter
Matt is CEO of Advantage Foundry Network (AFN), a global network of CEOs and Senior Executives committed to leveraging collective intelligence to find opportunity in change. His work spans industries and sectors—from private equity and healthcare to tech and defense—supporting leaders through inflection points, rapid growth, and transformational shifts.
Matt is also a partner at Sixth Wing, where he helps leaders and organizations create clarity, drive connection, and lead with intention. He brings a powerful mix of executive coaching, operational insight, and communication strategy to the firm's work in burnout resilience, networked leadership, and human-centered performance.
He has held senior positions at The McChrystal Group and CrossLead and served in executive roles across the healthcare diagnostics and health tech industries. Whether advising a founder, coaching a CEO, or facilitating strategic alignment within a leadership team, Matt's approach is grounded in the belief that:
Leadership is the privilege of working through others. An executive coach builds on a leader's capabilities to mobilize an engaged and opportunity-driven organization better.
He is deeply committed to the idea that networks—not org charts—move the needle and that the right conversations can unlock breakthrough performance.
Matt holds an AB in Public Policy from Brown University and an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two sons.
CEO, AFN and Partner, Sixth Wing