Candid Conversations on Leadership

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Candice and Chris welcome Dr. Gioconda (Gio) Guerra Pérez, Interim Vice Chancellor for Access, Civil Rights, and Community at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Born and raised in Panama, Dr. Guerra brings a deeply personal perspective to leadership, shaped by her multicultural upbringing, early exposure to political unrest, and a family rooted in...

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chris and Candice sit down with Jen Anderson, Assistant Director of IT at the School of Information Sciences, and Lauren Gray, Data Analyst and Decision Support and Strategy Lead at Gies College of Business. Both guests are 2025 alumni from the University of Illinois IT Leadership Workshop, a three-month leadership development program for IT and IT-adjacent...

In this episode of Candid Conversations , Chris and Candice welcome Venetria K. Patton, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dean Patton reflects on the leadership journey that brought her from faculty roles in English and African American studies to major administrative positions at Purdue University and the University of Illinois. She opens up about the early exp...

In this episode, Chris and Candice go one-on-one for a candid conversation sparked by Chris’s recent Substack post, “Leading Through Our Fractures.” They open by grounding the moment in Black History Month , with Candice noting its significance and encouraging listeners to keep learning because Black history is American history. From there, the episode settles into a reflective, personal discussio...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership , Chris and Candice welcome guest James Quisenberry, who leads IT for Student Affairs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and co-founded the campus IT Leadership Workshop. Together they unpack servant leadership—rooted in Robert Greenleaf’s 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader”—as a philosophy where a leader’s primary goal is to serve t...

Season 2 of Candid Conversations opens with a twist—hosts Candice and Chris step out of their usual roles and into the hot seat, interviewed by their longtime producer and behind-the-scenes champion, Bob Dignan. Bob, Associate Director for Instructional Media Resources at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, brings thoughtful questions submitted by listeners (and a few of his own) to get t...

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chris and Candice welcome Dr. Kevin Jackson, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. With an extensive background in accounting and academic leadership, including his tenure as Associate Dean at Gies College of Business, Dr. Jackson shares an authentic and deeply personal exploration of his journey into educa...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership , Chris and Candice welcome Sparkle Sanders, a certified leadership consultant, speaker, and coach with Maxwell Leadership. With over 20 years of experience in business and marketing, Sparkle now leads AddSpark Consulting and partners with organizations ranging from Parkland College to the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois and the University of I...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership, Candice and Chris welcome Josh Henry, the newly appointed Assistant Director of Research Collaborative Services in the Office of the CIO at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. With a rich career that began in 1999 and spanned over two decades within the College of ACES, Josh shares an inspiring journey marked by personal growth, meani...

In this episode of Candid Conversations , Chris and Candice sit down with Tekita Bankhead, a global DEI strategist, writer, speaker, and educational consultant who currently serves as the Director of Access and Community at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Tekita brings a multidimensional background in nursing, student affairs, mental health advocacy, and educ...

In this insightful episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership, hosts Candice and Chris welcome Jamelle Sharpe, Dean, Professor, and Guy Raymond Jones Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law. Dean Sharpe shares a captivating account of his winding path to academic leadership, from his early days as an undergraduate student of literature, through the high-stakes world of inve...

In this heartfelt and wide-ranging episode of Candid Conversations , we welcome Dr. Robert Baird. Robert is the Senior Associate Director of Educational Partnerships at the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) and an adjunct lecturer in the College of Media at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With a background that bridges English, cinema, and cognition, Robert’s ca...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership, we sit down with Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. With a distinguished career spanning decades, Cheryl has become a powerful advocate and leader in the fields of rehabilitation and disability services. A triple alumna of the University of Illinois, Cheryl also spent 26 years a...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership, we sit down with Jean Driscoll, an eight-time winner of the Boston Marathon in the women’s wheelchair division and the Assistant Dean for Advancement at the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jean shares her remarkable journey from overcoming the challenges of spina bifida to becoming one of the...

In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Danita Brown Young, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, shares the story of her leadership journey from a childhood of community service to becoming a nationally recognized student affairs leader. With more than 25 years of experience in higher education, Dr. Brown Young offers a deeply personal an...

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chris and Candice welcome Dean Brooke Elliott of the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Brooke, who has served in a variety of influential academic leadership roles, shares her deeply personal and professional journey—one marked by bold decisions, strategic vision, and a growing emphasis on empathy. As the first female...

Chris and Candice dive into the complex topic of accountability and how they motivate themselves and their teams to be accountable. Working in an environment that doesn’t have a significant amount of extrinsic motivation, they work to build team cultures where people are intrinsically motivated to achieve success. Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign a...

Chris and Candice discuss the benefits of attending professional conferences with a focus on the most recent EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. We dive into Brené Brown's keynote chat, the top issues facing higher ed, how to get the most out of a conference experience, and the importance of engaging with your professional community. EDUCAUSE (https://www.educause.edu/) is a nonprofit association and the...

Chris and Candice dive into the concept of feedback and how it’s a critical ingredient in healthy teams and organizations. Feedback is a gift to give and to receive when it is specific, timely, and delivered and received through a lens of growth and improvement. We talk about this feedback framework and model it in action. Available on other podcast platforms at https://candidconversations.link/ep...

Candice and Chris take Candid Conversations on Leadership on the road with a live event at the University of Illinois IT Pro Forum on November 12, 2024. They answer a variety of questions from the UofI IT Community focused on leadership, resilience, stakeholder management, professional growth, mentorship, and coaching. Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champa...

Chris and Candice discuss the art of interviewing. We share our own experiences interviewing for jobs as well as what we look for when hiring. The conversation also includes a number of tips you can use during the interview process. Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collectively have more than 50 years of experience working in higher education....

In this inspiring and practical episode, hosts Chris and Candice explore the powerful idea that anyone, regardless of their title or formal position, can be a leader. Drawing on the famous line from Ratatouille —"Everyone can cook"—they pivot to the belief that "Everyone can lead." Leadership, as they define it, isn’t about authority or hierarchy, but about influencing others toward a common goal....

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, hosts Chris and Candice engage in a heartfelt discussion on the true meaning and impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in both professional and personal settings. Sparked by recent news about DEI team layoffs at a major tech company, the conversation unfolds as a necessary reminder that DEI is more than a corporate buzzword—it is a practice,...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership , co-hosts Candice and Chris delve into a deeply resonant and often overlooked topic in leadership: self-care. With humor, vulnerability, and practical insights, they unpack how taking care of oneself is not a luxury but a leadership necessity. Candice introduces her unique self-care framework, DERPAT—a mnemonic for Diet, Exercise, Relaxation,...

In this episode of Candid Conversations on Leadership , co-hosts Chris and Candice dive into the ever-relevant topic of prioritization, offering an honest and insightful look at how leaders can—and should—learn to let go of the right things. Drawing from personal experiences and organizational challenges, they unpack the delicate art of managing commitments, saying no with intention, and aligning...