Stop Managing.
Start Leading.

October 29-30, 2026

National Harbor, MD & Virtual

The Mid-Level Managers’ Symposium is two days of real skills, honest conversations, and access to the people who’ve already made the leap — built for professionals who are ready for what’s next.

The MLMS Difference

Most leadership conferences give you inspiration and a tote bag. MLMS gives you something to actually use.

For two days, over 1,000 mid-level and senior professionals come together for sessions built around the real challenges of leading from the middle: navigating up, managing across, developing your team, and positioning yourself for what’s next.

The difference is who’s in the room. The ELC’s members are some of the most accomplished executives in business today, and they show up at MLMS not to speak at you, but to work with you. The guidance is direct, the advice is specific, and the conversations don’t happen anywhere else.

Featured Speakers

This is where the full group comes together — for conversations that challenge how you think, sharpen how you lead, and send you back to your team with something real. Every Inspire Stage speaker comes with hard-won perspective and no interest in giving you anything generic. You won’t just leave inspired. You’ll leave feeling reenergized.

Roy Wood Jr.

Author, Comedian, & Cultural Commentator Life Lessons Disguised as a Fireside Chat

Amira Barger

Author, The Price of Nice

Carla Harris

Senior Client Advisor, Morgan Stanley, The ELC Member Lessons from 40 Years: Leadership Then, Now, and Next

Rodney Williams

Co-Founder of SoLo Funds

Virtual Facilitators

Virtual facilitators help turn the experience into something practical, personal, and actionable by guiding conversations, encouraging thoughtful reflection, and creating space for meaningful group engagement. They help participants process what they’re learning, challenge how they think, and apply new insights to the way they lead. With real-world perspective, strong presence, and the ability to keep conversations focused and relevant, virtual facilitators ensure participants don’t just listen passively — they leave with clearer takeaways, renewed energy, and ideas they can bring back to their teams.

Adrion Porter

Founder, Mid-Career Mastery®

Andre Samuels

Principal, Ingram Consulting Group

Austin Walker

Executive Coach, Austin Walker Coaching

Brenda Harrington

President and Founder, Adaptive Leadership Strategies, LLC

LeAngela Ingram

Principal, Ingram Consulting Group

Shelle Cleveland

CEO & Executive Coach. Ashley Cleveland Group

Susan Crawford

Founder, Meraki Inspired

Real-World Guidance

Content drawn from direct experiences of ELC members and top executives, reflecting thousands of career discussions on advancement and equity.

Validate Your Plan

Interact with dozens of seasoned experts providing tailored recommendations to overcome workplace challenges and build executive strength.

Expand Your Network

Form lasting relationships within a vibrant community of more than 1,500 accomplished peers, unlocking mentorship, partnerships, and ongoing support.

The Case for Being Here

Why YOU Should Be Here

You’ve built real expertise. You deliver results. Now you’re ready to lead differently, with more influence, more visibility, and a clearer path to what’s next. MLMS is where that shift happens.

Every session is designed to give you something concrete: a framework to use, a conversation to have, a blind spot to address. You’ll leave with more than notes. You’ll leave with a clearer picture of what’s possible and what to do about it.

How to influence decisions when you don't have the authority to make them
What senior leaders actually look for when they're deciding who's ready
How to manage up effectively without losing yourself in the process
The financial and business fluency that gets you taken seriously at the table

Why YOU Should Send Your Team

Mid-level managers are where your organizational strategy either holds or breaks down. They translate leadership decisions into team behavior, manage performance, retain talent, and absorb pressure from every direction.

MLMS is a direct investment in that layer of your organization. Attendees come back with sharper skills and a shared framework for leadership that doesn’t disappear when the conference ends. And when you send a team, those conversations continue back at the office.

Stronger retention: people stay where they feel invested in
Better readiness: attendees return with clearer executive instincts and stronger business acumen
Shared language: teams who attend together lead together more effectively
Network access: The ELC's community is one of the most powerful professional networks in corporate America. Your managers tap into that permanently.

WHAT YOU'LL WORK ON

Every session at MLMS is built around The ELC Edge — five competencies that separate good managers from executives who last.

Financial & Business Acumen

How to read a room that’s talking P&L, make the financial case for your ideas, and start thinking like the executive you’re becoming.

Make the Financial Case for your Ideas

Start Thinking like the Executive you're Becoming

Financial Strategy Alignment for Mid-Level Leaders

Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

Emotional Intelligence & Empathy

How to regulate under pressure, manage up without losing credibility, read what’s really happening in a team, and recognize the unconscious patterns that quietly undermine your leadership.

manage up without losing credibility

read what's really happening in a team

recognize the unconscious patterns that quietly undermine your leadership

Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

Change Leadership

How to lead people through uncertainty when you don’t have all the answers and still be the person your team looks to for direction.

manage up without losing credibility

read what's really happening in a team

recognize the unconscious patterns that quietly undermine your leadership

Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

Communication & Influence

How to get your ideas heard, navigate high-stakes conversations, build sponsorship, and communicate with the kind of clarity and presence that gets you noticed for the right reasons.

Navigate high-stakes conversations

Build sponsorship

Communicate with the kind of clarity and presence that gets you noticed for the right reasons

Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

Cultural Competence

How to lead across difference, build psychologically safe teams, interrupt bias in everyday decisions, and make inclusion something your team actually feels.

Navigate high-stakes conversations

Build sponsorship

Communicate with the kind of clarity and presence that gets you noticed for the right reasons

Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

MAIN STAGE SESSIONS

In-Person

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29

Registration Opens		7:30 AM
The Common Ground ^{Prince George’s E}		9:30-10:45 AM
Break		10:45-11:00 AM
Breakout Sessions 1 ^{Chesapeakes 4-12 & Riverview}		11:00-12:00 PM
Lunch ^{Prince George’s E}		12:00-2:00 PM
Expo Open ^{Prince George’s E}		12:00-4:00 PM
Breakout Sessions 2 ^{Chesapeakes 4-12 & Riverview}		2:00-3:00 PM
Break		3:00-3:30 PM
Breakout Sessions 3 ^{Chesapeakes 4-12 & Riverview}		3:30-4:30 PM
Break		4:30-5:00 PM
Life Lessons Disguised as a Fireside Chat with Roy Wood Jr. ^{Prince George’s D}		5:00-6:30 PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30

Registration Opens		7:30 AM
Breakfast ^{Prince George’s E}		7:30-9:00 AM
The Price of Nice with Amira Barger ^{Prince George’s D}		9:00-10:10 AM
Break		10:10-10:30 AM
Breakout Session 4 ^{Chesapeakes 4-12 & Riverview}		10:30-11:30 AM
Expo Open ^{Prince George’s E}		12:00-4:00 PM
Lunch ^{Prince George’s E}		11:30-1:00 PM
Betting on Yourself: Building Influence, Opportunity, and Wealth in Uncertain Times Featuring Rodney ^{Prince George’s D}		1:00-2:00 PM
Break		2:00-2:30 PM
Lessons from 40 Years: Leadership Then, Now, and Next with Carla Harris ^{Prince George’s D}		2:30-3:30 PM
Program Close		3:30-3:50 PM

Virtual

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29

The Power of Presence: Leading from the Inside Out		9:30-10:30AM
Break		10:30-11:00 AM
Breakout Sessions 1		11:00-12:00 PM
Break for Lunch		12:00-2:00 PM
Breakout Sessions 2		2:00-3:00 PM
Break		3:00-3:30 PM
Breakout Sessions 3		3:30-4:30 PM
Break		4:30-5:00 PM
Life Lessons Disguised as a Fireside Chat with Roy Wood Jr.		5:00-6:30 PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30

Breakfast		7:30-9:00 AM
The Price of Nice with Amira Barger		9:00-10:10 AM
Break		10:10-10:30 AM
Breakout Session 4		10:30-11:30 AM
Lunch		11:30-1:00 PM
Betting on Yourself: Building Influence, Opportunity, and Wealth in Uncertain Times Featuring Rodney Williams		1:00-2:00 PM
Break		2:00-2:30 PM
Lessons from 40 Years: Leadership Then, Now, and Next with Carla Harris		2:30-3:30 PM
Program Close		3:30-3:50 PM

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Explore break out session options.

In-Person

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 1
^{Thursday, October 29th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM}

Speakers Name

Role for MLMS

Speaker’s Title, Speaker’s Company

Sponsorship 101: Communicating for Career Growth

Do you want a sponsor, but aren’t sure how to get one? Sponsorship isn’t accidental—it’s earned through trust, clarity, and consistent communication. This session explores how to communicate your value, aspirations, and impact in ways that invite advocacy from senior leaders. Learn how to position yourself for sponsorship without self-promotion fatigue.

Sponsorship 101: Communicating for Career Growth

Leading Through Communication: You CAN Influence Without Authority

Mid-level managers are often expected to drive results without formal power. This session explores how to communicate with clarity, confidence, and intention to influence outcomes across teams and functions. Learn techniques to shape narratives, build alignment, and move stakeholders to action — even when you’re not the decision-maker.

Operational Savvy: Leading with Efficiency and Impact

Operations are where strategy meets reality. This session focuses on understanding processes, constraints, and levers that drive performance. Learn how operational awareness enables leaders to improve outcomes, manage complexity, and lead more effectively across functions.

Decision-Making in Volatile Environments

Change demands faster, smarter decisions. This session explores how leaders make effective choices amid uncertainty and limited information. Learn frameworks to balance risk, speed, and impact while maintaining alignment with organizational goals.

Building a Network that Works for You

Networking is more than collecting contacts—it is a strategic leadership skill that requires purposeful relationship building. Learn how to cultivate authentic connections, activate your network with intention, and build relationships that support growth, visibility, and opportunity over time.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 2
^{Thursday, October 29th; 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM}

Speakers Name

Role for MLMS

Speaker’s Title, Speaker’s Company

Become a Change Catalyst

The most effective leaders are able to both manage change and drive it. This session challenges participants to step into their role as change catalysts. Learn how to model adaptability, influence others, and create momentum in the face of disruption.

Become a Change Catalyst

AI Integration and Organizational Culture Change (moderated by Dr. LeAngela Ingram)

Culture determines whether AI adoption succeeds or stalls. This session helps leaders understand how norms, values, and leadership behaviors influence trust, adoption, and responsible use. Leaders learn how to shape a culture that supports learning, transparency, and shared accountability.

The Leader You Are vs. The Leader They Experience

This session focuses on the gap between executive self-perception and team experience. You will examine how leadership styles, behavioral patterns, and unspoken assumptions impact how teams engage, perform, and follow. Leave with tools to close that gap and lead teams with greater awareness, alignment, and impact.

Resilience as a Leadership Skill

This fireside chat explores how leaders build resilience in themselves and others during periods of sustained change. Learn strategies to manage energy, avoid burnout, and lead with steadiness under pressure.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 3
^{Thursday, October 29th; 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM}

Speakers Name

Role for MLMS

Speaker’s Title, Speaker’s Company

Change Never Comes with a Roadmap: Leading through Uncertainty

This session helps leaders navigate ambiguity with confidence and calm. Learn how to provide direction, make decisions, and support teams — even when the path forward is unclear.

Change Never Comes with a Roadmap: Leading through Uncertainty

This session helps leaders navigate ambiguity with confidence and calm. Learn how to provide direction, make decisions, and support teams — even when the path forward is unclear.

Inclusion as a Business Imperative

Diversity and inclusion drive measurable business outcomes. This session connects inclusive leadership behaviors to performance, innovation, and financial results. Learn how to articulate the business case for inclusion and lead in ways that strengthen both culture and bottom-line impact

Navigating Organizational Change

Leaders are often the bridge between strategy and frontline execution during change. This session explores how individuals experience change and how leaders can reduce uncertainty, resistance, and disruption. Learn practical strategies to maintain momentum, accountability, and morale.

Navigating High-Stakes Conversations

Whether presenting to senior leaders or negotiating across teams, high-stakes conversations require precision and emotional intelligence. This session equips you with tools to prepare, frame, and deliver messages with confidence—so your voice is heard and your message lands.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 4
^{Friday, October 30th; 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM}

Chitra Newbatt

Breakout Speaker

Investor, Entrepreneur, Best-Selling Author

The Code Breaker Mindset

Break free from conventional thinking and discover how to challenge limiting assumptions, navigate obstacles, and create new growth opportunities. Inspired by her book The CodeBreaker Mindset™, Chitra Newbatt facilitates this interactive workshop where you will learn practical frameworks to help you think boldly, make courageous decisions, and redefine what’s possible for your leadership career.

The Code Breaker Mindset

Think Like an Executive: Shift from Functional Expertise to Enterprise Impact

C-suite leaders see the whole system. This session helps mid-level managers shift from functional thinking to enterprise-level decision-making. Learn how to connect your work to organizational strategy, anticipate trade-offs, and demonstrate the kind of thinking senior leaders expect.

Adaptive Leadership Amid Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

The foundation of the workshop is based on the Adaptive Leadership model developed by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Harvard Kennedy School. The workshop will equip you with the skills required to navigate and thrive in today’s rapidly changing professional environment. This interactive session will focus on developing the ability to anticipate and respond to challenges with flexibility, creativity, and resilience. You will explore the core principles of adaptive leadership and learn how to diagnose and respond to complex situations.

Virtual

THE POWER OF PRESENCE

L. Michelle Smith

Program Host and Featured Virtual Speaker

Bestselling Author, Leadership Strategist and Certified Executive Coach

The Power of Presence: Leading from the Inside Out

In this session, leadership strategist, executive coach and bestselling author L. Michelle Smith reframes what it means to lead with presence, beginning with self mastery when the stakes are high, tapping into instincts when connecting with others, and finding your voice in fast-paced, complex environments.

Drawing on emotional intelligence, relationship dynamics, and cultural fluency, participants will explore how they show up and leave with renewed intention and something they can put to work immediately.

ELC Member Xavier Williams will join L. Michelle Smith

Xavier Williams

Virtual Speaker

GlueUP is Chief Executive Officer, Network Wireless Solutions, LLCGlueUP is Chief Executive Officer, Network Wireless Solutions, LLC

The Power of Presence: Leading from the Inside Out

Xavier Williams is the CEO of NWS, an infrastructure solution provider for wireless and wireline communications providers. The firm focuses on materials distribution, kitting & logistics, and also, design, engineering and delivery of custom fiber and cable connectivity solutions. With over 30 years of industry experience, prior to this role, Williams served as CEO of American Virtual Cloud Technologies (NASDAQ: AVCT), a global cloud communications provider and various leadership roles for AT&T (NYSE: T), the world’s largest telecommunications company.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 1
^{Thursday, October 29th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM}

Shelle Cleveland

Virtual Breakout Speaker

CEO & Executive Coach, Ashley Cleveland Group

The Curious Leader: The Power of Questions to Unlock Your Team’s Potential

The best leaders do not have all the answers—they ask the questions that change everything. Explore how curiosity can improve communication, spark innovation, and strengthen team engagement.

The Curious Leader: The Power of Questions to Unlock Your Team’s Potential

The best leaders do not have all the answers—they ask the questions that change everything. Explore how curiosity can improve communication, spark innovation, and strengthen team engagement.

Leading Through Disruption: How Experienced Leaders Can Master and Thrive in the Age of AI

AI is reshaping every industry, and experienced leaders are uniquely positioned to lead through this disruption, not be displaced by it. Using The Mastery Map® framework, this session helps you reframe AI anxiety into strategic advantage by shifting mindset, reconnecting to your unique value, and setting milestones for building AI fluency. Leave with a personalized action plan and the confidence to position yourself as indispensable in an automated world.

Executive Presence & Authentic Communication

Communicate with clarity, confidence, and intention by managing nerves, eliminating weak language, and demonstrating adaptable presence across professional contexts. Improve your communication by building connection, generating curiosity, and turning listeners into active participants through deliberate practice and targeted feedback.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 2
^{Thursday, October 29th; 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM}

Brenda Harrington

Virtual Facilitator

President and Founder, Adaptive Leadership Strategies, LLC

Adaptive Leadership Amid Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

The foundation of the workshop is based on the Adaptive Leadership model developed by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Harvard Kennedy School. The workshop will equip you with the skills required to navigate and thrive in todayís rapidly changing professional environment. This interactive session will focus on developing the ability to anticipate and respond to challenges with flexibility, creativity, and resilience. You will explore the core principles of adaptive leadership and learn how to diagnose and respond to complex situations.

Adaptive Leadership Amid Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

The foundation of the workshop is based on the Adaptive Leadership model developed by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Harvard Kennedy School. The workshop will equip you with the skills required to navigate and thrive in todayís rapidly changing professional environment. This interactive session will focus on developing the ability to anticipate and respond to challenges with flexibility, creativity, and resilience. You will explore the core principles of adaptive leadership and learn how to diagnose and respond to complex situations.

Leading Through Disruption: How Experienced Leaders Can Master and Thrive in the Age of AI

The 4 Ps of Leadership Sabotage: How Performing, Pleasing, Pretending & Perfecting Hold Leaders Back

A session that helps leaders identify how these unconscious patterns show up in their leadership, understand the emotional intelligence skills that disrupt them, and learn to lead with authenticity, courage, and grounded confidence instead.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 3
^{Thursday, October 29th; 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM}

Shelle Cleveland

Virtual Breakout Speaker

CEO & Executive Coach, Ashley Cleveland Group

The Curious Leader: The Power of Questions to Unlock Your Team’s Potential

The best leaders don’t have all the answers—they ask the questions that change everything. Join this dynamic breakout session to discover how leading with curiosity can improve communications, spark innovation, strengthen team engagement and equip you with practical tools you can use immediately

The Curious Leader: The Power of Questions to Unlock Your Team’s Potential

Adaptive Leadership Amid Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

The foundation of the workshop is based on the Adaptive Leadership model developed by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Harvard Kennedy School. The workshop will equip you with the skills required to navigate and thrive in todayís rapidly changing professional environment. This interactive session will focus on developing the ability to anticipate and respond to challenges with flexibility, creativity, and resilience. You will explore the core principles of adaptive leadership and learn how to diagnose and respond to complex situations.

Executive Presence & Authentic Communication

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 4
^{Friday, October 30th; 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM}

LeAngela Ingram

Virtual Facilitator

Principal, Ingram Consulting Group

Navigating Organizational Change

Leaders are often the bridge between strategy and frontline execution during change. This session explores how individuals experience change and how leaders can reduce uncertainty, resistance, and disruption. You will learn practical strategies to maintain momentum, accountability, and morale.

Navigating Organizational Change

Leaders are often the bridge between strategy and frontline execution during change. This session explores how individuals experience change and how leaders can reduce uncertainty, resistance, and disruption. You will learn practical strategies to maintain momentum, accountability, and morale.

The Leader You Are vs. The Leader They Experience

The 4 Ps of Leadership Sabotage: How Performing, Pleasing, Pretending & Perfecting Hold Leaders Back

Mid-Level Managers’ Symposium 2026 is your premier opportunity to connect with a powerful community of Leaders and gain exclusive access to expert insights. Build and strengthen your professional network by engaging with high-potential mid-level managers, senior executives, and influential The ELC members from Fortune 500 organizations.

Build Your Network

Mid-Level and Senior Professionals

Learn From The Best

Expert Speakers & The ELC Leaders

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Choose Your Path

Breakout Sessions

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Thank you ELC for such an amazing experience and role modeling for 950+ up and coming leaders how to lift as you climb.

Attendee reflection on the 24th Annual Mid-Level Managers’ Symposium

Discover what it’s like to experience the Mid-Level Managers’ Symposium

THE MLMS EXPERIENCE

2 powerful networking opportunities. 5 key focus areas. 15 breakout sessions. 10+ speakers. 1,500 peers. 1 career-changing experience.

Inspire Stage

Where the full group comes together. No filler, no panels for the sake of panels — just honest, direct conversations with people who have something real to say about leading at a high level.

REAL TALK. REAL CONNECTIONS

The networking at MLMS is built around 1,000+ professionals who are navigating the same challenges you are. Leave with relationships that actually go somewhere.

15+ BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Smaller rooms, sharper focus. Each session is led by a member of The ELC or a senior corporate leader and built around one of five competencies that move mid-level leaders forward.

conference venue

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

Please note: MLMS starts with networking brunch at 10:30 AM, Thursday, October 29 and concludes after 3:50 PM, Friday, October 30

Experience MLMS Your Way

Choose the experience that fits your needs:

• In-Person: $2,000 Immerse yourself in the full symposium environment with face-to-face networking and direct engagement.

• Virtual: $1,000 Access the same transformative content and connection opportunities from anywhere in the world through our interactive online platform.