2021 ACE Summit Keynote Bios

Executive Leadership Keynote: Impact of COVID-19 on Your Team

Rob Perez

Entrepreneur and Investor in People

Rob Perez, has over 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry and is the co-owner of two restaurant brands, Saul Good Restaurant & Pub and DV8 Kitchen, in Lexington, KY. As an Entrepreneur and Investor in People, he has seen first-hand how to build restaurant brands and how prevalent addiction is in the industry he loves. Before founding the two restaurant brands in Lexington, Rob served as Director of New Openings and General Manager at Hard Rock Café, Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney Company, and Regional Vice President at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill.

In 2017, Rob and his wife, Diane, founded DV8 Kitchen as a social enterprise focused on giving second chance employment opportunities to people in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. DV8 Kitchen focuses on providing top-quality food, service, and atmosphere for every guest. By providing “a better-than-expected” dining experience, the hope is to build a new standard for the second chance employee to live by and to change the way the guests perceive people in addiction recovery.

Professional Development Keynote: Taking Care of Yourself

Quint Tatro

 Managing Director, Joule Financial, Commentator, CNBC, Host, DIY Money, and Professor of Finance, University of Kentucky

Quint Tatro is the Founder and Managing Director of Joule Financial. As a third-generation financier from New York, he left his family business in 2001 and developed a fiduciary firm, Joule Financial, that seeks to offer unbiased guidance with the same financial aptitude as a major Wall Street institution. He is an active contributor for CNBC and often appears on Trading Nation and Fast Money. Quint is also the co-host of the DIY Money podcast and an adjunct faculty member for the University of Kentucky teaching investment analysis and portfolio management.

Through his successful podcast and work as a contributor for CNBC, Quint shares his financial knowledge and perspective with numerous Americans. Other outlets he contributes to include, Bloomberg, Reuters, Nightly Business Report, and Yahoo Finance. Quint serves as board president of the Kentucky Haiti Partnership and the University of Kentucky Board Trustees as a Community Advisory member.

Inspirational Keynote: Fighting Through Adversity

Kyle Maynard

Motivational Speaker, Best-Selling Author, Entrepreneur, and Award-Winning Extreme Athlete

Kyle Maynard is a motivational speaker, best-selling author, entrepreneur, award-winning extreme athlete, and the first man to crawl to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Despite being born with a rare condition known as congenital amputation, that has left him with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near his knees, he learned early on, and with the support of his family, to live life independently and without prosthetics. 

In 2012, Kyle became the first quadruple amputee to climb – actually bearcrawl – the 19,340 feet to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro without the aid of prosthetics. His 10-day ascent was widely covered by the press, followed on social media, and raised money and awareness for wounded veterans as well as Tanzanian schoolchildren. Upon his return, Kyle won his second ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) award for Best Male Athlete with a Disability.

Kyle has not let his success be defined by anything or anyone but himself. He has lived his life striving to do more, learn more, push harder, go further – and to inspire others to do the  same by sharing his story and living by example.

Kyle proudly serves as a board member of K2 Adventure Foundation, and as an ambassador of No Barriers USA, Wounded Warrior Project, the USO, the Travis Manion Foundation, the U.S. Special Forces’ The Honor Foundation (THF), and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF).  At age 19, Kyle authored his account of his life experiences in The New York Times bestselling book, No Excuses (2005), which is still in print and in demand today.