General Session featuring Drew Brees
Tackling a Multigenerational Workplace: A Conversation with Drew Brees
In today’s workplaces, up to five generations work side by side, often with mixed results. The challenges show up in differing approaches to teamwork, communication, work styles, motivations and the personal issues employees bring to work with them. Workplaces that succeed in including, valuing and capitalizing on these differences are the ones thriving today.
The NFL is no different. As one of only a handful of quarterbacks who have ever played into their 40s, Drew Brees has become an expert on leading players from Gen X to Gen Z to success while also navigating the New Orleans Saint’s multigenerational coaching staff and front office.
In this conversation, Drew will discuss his experience in leading across generations and the inclusion strategies he has developed that have brought him continued success in a storied and prolonged NFL career.
Drew Brees
Drew Brees is the 2009 Super Bowl MVP---winning quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. A native of Austin, TX, Brees attended Westlake High School and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball and as a senior in 1996 led his football team to a perfect 16---0 record and the 5A State Championship while garnering 5A Offensive Player of the Year honors. He attended Purdue University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Management from the prestigious Krannert School of Management while lettering in football from 1997---2000. A two---time Heisman finalist, Brees led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance during the 2000 season. In that same year, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation's top collegiate player as well as being named Academic All---American Player of the Year and was a recipient of the National Football Foundation's post---graduate scholarship. In Brees' five years with the San Diego Chargers and eleven years with the New Orleans Saints, he has been elected to 12 Pro Bowls while being named 2004 Comeback Player of the Year, 2006 All---Pro Team, 2006 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, 2008 and 2011 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl XLIV Champion and MVP.
As much pride as Brees takes in his on---field performance, he takes even more pride in his community service endeavors. Drew and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003 and since then have contributed over $33,000,000 to help improve the quality of life for cancer patients and provide care, education and opportunities for children and families in need. Brees has also proudly participated in five USO trips visiting Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Turkey, Djibouti, Dubai, Okinawa, and Guantanamo Bay.
Drew currently lives with his wife Brittany and children Baylen, Bowen, Callen and Rylen in New Orleans, LA.
Emily M. Dickens, J.D.
Emily M. Dickens, J.D., serves as SHRM Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs & Corporate Secretary. She is the executive responsible for coordinating staff to implement the CEO's vision, serving as corporate secretary for the SHRM Board and subsidiary boards, as well as managing external partnerships and providing oversight for the Government Affairs division.
Dickens is an attorney with significant and progressive experience in government, higher education and the non-profit sector. She has served as a member of the leadership team at the University of North Carolina system, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Her prior roles include general counsel, chief relationship officer, senior vice president, vice president for public policy and assistant vice president for federal relations. Dickens has also worked at Duke University and Fayetteville State University in administrative and external affairs roles.
Emily is actively engaged in board service. She formerly served on the Fayetteville/Cumberland (NC) Chamber of Commerce (Secretary of the Board), the Cumberland County Workforce Development Board, the North Carolina Partnership for Defense Innovation Board, and the Educational Advancement Foundation. She is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the Advisory Board of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina Central University, and chairs the International HBCU Task Force for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Central University School of Law.