Finding skilled talent is only half the battle for modern organizations. And keeping that talent and fostering a resilient workforce is where long-term growth and stability are truly built.

We are excited to welcome Will Davis, Manager of Strategy at Wipfli, as one of our featured speakers! As the Executive Show Sponsor for COMP2026 and as one of the nation’s top advisory, tax, and accounting firms, Wipfli continues its strong commitment to championing Colorado manufacturers and helping organizations strengthen operations, workforce engagement, and sustainable growth.

Love Them or Lose Them: How Leadership Behavior and Culture Shape Retention and Workforce Resilience

While leaders cannot directly control broad labor market dynamics, they hold immense influence over the daily workplace environment their teams experience. In his presentation, Will Davis explores how leadership behaviors, organizational culture, and intentional systems interact to drive employee retention, performance, and overall business growth. When leaders actively support and care for their workforce, employees are far better positioned to care for the business.

Attendees will gain practical insights into:

• Distinguishing key workforce drivers: How to separate recruiting challenges from retention, leadership, and workforce-resilience issues.

• Managing critical-role exposure: Assessing key talent risks and strategically deciding when to buy, build, or borrow capability.

• Translating culture into action: Converting abstract cultural commitments into concrete leadership behaviors, positive employee experiences, and aligned internal systems.

• Clarifying leadership roles: Defining the distinct yet connected responsibilities between executive leadership and frontline managers.

• Building capability through trust: Leveraging trust, recognition, regular feedback, coaching, and practical development to strengthen employee engagement and internal skills.

• Immediate, high-impact actions: Evaluating current leadership practices to identify actionable improvements that don’t depend on a large HR department.

About Will Davis

Will Davis is a Manager of Strategy at Wipfli, dedicated to helping mission-driven organizations navigate complex operational challenges and execute strategy effectively. Bringing over 25 years of experience across technical program management, workforce strategy, data analytics, and nonprofit governance, Will specializes in helping clients clarify priorities and turn broad input into practical action plans.

Will’s approach combines facilitation, analytics, survey and interview design, performance thinking, and implementation support. By guiding leaders through readiness-for-change assessments and stakeholder engagement, he empowers leadership teams to build realistic strategies that drive measurable, sustainable performance.

Connect with Will Davis and the Wipfli team at COMP2026 to discover actionable strategies for fostering leadership behaviors and cultural frameworks that build workforce resilience, elevate retention, and strengthen long-term organizational success.

Learn more about COMP2026 or connect with us on LinkedIn. We look forward to seeing you at COMP2026: Colorado Manufacturers Rising!