Chad E. Foster

Sales/Finance Leader at Red Hat/IBM & Inspirational Change Agent

Chad E. Foster

Sales/Finance Leader at Red Hat/IBM & Inspirational Change Agent

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Biography

Chad E. Foster is a motivational keynote speaker, sales/finance leader, and inspirational change agent who works at Red Hat/IBM. He was the first blind executive to graduate from Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development and has been featured with NBC, CBS, Forbes, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA Today, and Chief Executive Mag.

“People are often surprised at what I was able to achieve in spite of being blind but to the contrary, I feel I am successful because I am blind, not in spite of it,” says Chad.

After losing his eyesight while attending college in his early twenties, Chad started at Accenture, and has built a career in the technology industry where he has directed financial strategies and decisions resulting in more than $45 billion in contracts.

Determination, ambition, and resilience are the key drivers to his incredible journey. The Atlanta Opera has commissioned an opera inspired by his life story and his first book, Blind Ambition: How to Go from Victim to Visionary, is available for pre-orders on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Google Play, and other fine retailers.

Today, Chad speaks to corporate audiences and professional athletes to help them develop resilience in the face of uncertainty and show people how to overcome their own blind spots.

He lives with his wife and his 2 children in Atlanta, GA and is a daredevil of his own, enjoying snow skiing every winter.

Speaker Videos

Speaking Reel

Intro Video

What Is Holding You Back

Speech Topics

BLIND AMBITION™: How to Go From Victim to Visionary

In this signature keynote, Chad will entertain, inspire, and move your audience, while teaching them how to shift their mindset from being a victim to a visionary. Going blind at 19-years-old and facing a life with seemingly limited opportunities, Chad had to reinvent himself before even having a shot at success. Turning obstacles into opportunities, he became a Harvard educated business rainmaker, created countless jobs, and now he teaches teams how to cultivate resilient mindsets, adapt and thrive in change, and set ambitious goals with the right mindset to achieve them.

This program gives your people the tools and inspiration to overcome difficult circumstances to create a promising positive future. More than just a motivational talk, this session connects inspiration to implementation.

NO MORE COMFORT ZONES: Growth Through Adversity

Life without obstacles removes opportunity for growth. For any of us to grow, we need to step outside our comfort zones. In this powerful keynote, Chad teaches how the obstacles that lie in front of us can propel us towards our goals.

Every organization finds itself face-to-face with problems that seem insurmountable. Beyond Chad’s personal path of overcoming overwhelming odds, his business track record for moving through challenges and improving results gives a unique perspective on how comfort zones hold us back.

Chad will talk about how he’s not successful in spite of being blind. He is successful because he’s blind. He embraced his problem and turned it into a solution. In this session Chad will teach your teams how to realize exponential growth through adversity.

DIVERSITY: The Engine for Innovation

Chad was born part of the privileged white majority, but after going blind in college, he was treated differently as a disabled minority. After living over 20 years in both groups, his unique vantage points of both worlds allow him to equip your teams to think differently about diversity and inclusion (DnI) in the workplace.

Chad goes beyond just valuing each person. He will show how DnI drives business innovation. We know that diversity of thought creates change, and when harnessed correctly, change drives innovation. How can we create a culture that invites diversity of thought to have a welcomed seat at the table so each individual feels valued to contribute? This session shows how you can unlock the value of DnI in your workplace to power the innovation your business needs to thrive.

VICTIM TO VISIONARY™: Resilience Program Workshop

In this workshop Chad will lead you through the steps you can take to improve resilience. He teaches the practical tools you can apply to any situation in order to move your mindset from victim to visionary.

During this session you will map out your resilience journey. After setting out your own personal vision of greatness, you will see your life more clearly than you ever have before. It can set you free to discover the amazing advantages that your disadvantages offer. You can then seek your own gifts that are disguised in terrible wrapping paper, and see how the unique perspectives you’ve gained from those disadvantages contribute to your vision of greatness.

Nothing in life is permanent. Everybody and everything changes. The only certainty is change. The key is figuring out how you will adapt.

Testimonials

“I laughed, I cried. Thank you so much for sharing and challenging all of us to allow our happiness to drive our success in life and to look at the challenges we get in life as an opportunity to create our own story..”

- Channel Account Manager, Sales

“Chad's keynote had an extraordinary impact on everyone. He engaged and energized the crowd with a laughter-filled presentation that delivered a high-impact message — earning a standing ovation from the hundreds of business leaders in attendance. His thought-provoking stories challenged each of us to think differently about dealing with adversity, navigating change, and nurturing resilient mindsets — all key ingredients for leaders currently guiding their organizations through the Digital transformation.”

- Professor of Business Administration

“Chad has been through more than most people, yet he is changing the world through his ability to see the world better than most of us that have sight. He truly has grasped the power of mindset and brings it to life in the most engaging way. His message has changed me, and I would recommend every aspiring individual to take the time to listen to and ponder Chad's message.”

- VP, Engineering

“Thank you so much for your amazing speech yesterday. I can't tell you how impactful it was to me. Anytime I think I'm having a tough time, I will watch one of your videos. can't thank you enough for your inspiration.”

- Sales Specialist, Sales

“Chad, thanks for sharing your inspirational story with all of us. It was the highlight of my week and know it will inspire folks to aim high and overachieve!”

- VP, Sales

“So inspirational and I love the positive thinking with the ability to control our reactions to find the treasures in life!”

- Director, Sales