This is a hybrid experience at Fairfield University
1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824
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A CLO's Perspective: Aligning Learning Strategy with Business Priorities to Deliver Results!
Move beyond delivering programs: build a learning strategy that advances business priorities and strengthens leadership capability.
As talent development, HR, and organizational development professionals, you know that an effective learning strategy must do more than offer strong content. It must respond to changing business needs, engage leaders, and help people work differently.
Join us on November 4 at 6:30pm in partnership with Fairfield University for an interactive session exploring how M&T Bank has approached these challenges. Through real-world examples and facilitated discussion, Rob Phillips, Chief Learning Officer at M&T Bank, and Rich Kuepper, Founder & President of L.E.A.D. USA, will team up to share lessons on aligning learning and leadership development with organizational priorities. They will explore topics including assessing the learning function, establishing shared leadership competencies, engaging executives, and transforming business challenges into meaningful development opportunities.
Program Description:
Together, we will explore how to align learning and leadership development with organizational strategy through four key areas:
The Alignment: Assess the current state of your learning function and identify the strategic shifts needed to support your organization’s vision, mission, and priorities. The Foundation: Establish shared leadership competencies and examine why leadership development is most effective when it begins at the top of the organization. The Partnership: Engage senior executives as active contributors to learning, connect development experiences to business priorities, and adapt curricula as those priorities evolve. The Opportunity: Transform organizational challenges into learning experiences that strengthen customer centricity, foster agile ways of working, and build leadership capability.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
◆ Assess the current state of their learning function and identify opportunities to strengthen alignment with organizational goals. ◆ Explain how shared leadership competencies and senior-level engagement can support a more cohesive approach to leadership development. ◆ Identify practical ways to connect learning initiatives to evolving business priorities. ◆Recognize opportunities to transform business challenges into targeted development experiences that support new ways of working.
Whether you are shaping a learning strategy, developing leaders, or strengthening the connection between learning and business outcomes, this session will provide practical insights and actionable approaches you can apply within your organization.
Program Speakers
Rob Phillips is Chief Learning Officer at M&T Bank, where he leads the enterprise learning and development strategy, strengthening leadership, management, and professional capabilities to support both individual growth and organizational performance. Under his leadership, M&T Bank earned ATD BEST Awards from 2022 through 2024 for aligning learning with business strategy and delivering measurable results. Rob will share firsthand insights from M&T Bank’s learning and leadership development journey, including assessing organizational needs, establishing shared leadership competencies, engaging executives in development programs, and adapting learning strategies to evolving business priorities.
For more than 28 years, Rich Kuepper, Founder & President of L.E.A.D. USA, has designed and led leadership and team-building experiences for corporate teams around the world as a keynote speaker, executive coach, and hands-on facilitator. His deep expertise, contagious energy, and interactive style are built to deliver results quickly. Rich will share perspectives from his work with M&T Bank’s senior leadership development programs and experiential learning initiatives, highlighting how development experiences can bring customer centricity, collaboration, and new ways of working to life.