IACP Annual Conference 2025

General Schedule

Registration will begin at 12:00 noon on April 29 and we will be wrapped up by 12:00 noon on May 1. 

Opening Keynote Presenter

Adam Markel, bestselling author, keynote speaker and resilience researcher, guides individuals and organizations to tap the power of resilience to master the challenges of constant change.

With 18 years as a trial attorney building a multi-million dollar enterprise and 10 years as the CEO of a leading personal development and business training company, Adam has much to share about resilience, culture and change. Yet, some of his most enduring lessons came from his years as an ocean first responder - a life and death environment where Adam learned the importance of cultivating high performance capacity and impeccable teamwork.

In his latest bestselling book, Change Proof, Adam shows how those principles of resilience are equally relevant today for any business that wants to move beyond managing change to actively embracing it and using times of uncertainty, crisis, and chaos to create opportunities and stimulate individual and team growth.

As one of Huffington Post’s top speakers to see and the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Pivot, Adam’s messages have inspired tens of thousands worldwide. His keynotes, corporate workshops, and business mentoring integrate practical business strategies, personal development insights and a unique delivery style to create a high-energy and impactful learning environment.

Adam is currently the CEO of the More Love Media Group, a TEDx speaker and influencer, and host of The Change Proof Podcast, facilitating insightful discussions with business leaders and social innovators and sharing strategies to fully embrace an uncertain world and build Change Proof organizations.

Adam is continuously inspired by his wife of more than 30 years and their 4 amazing children.

Closing Keynote Presenter

Dr. Celina Peerman is an organizational psychologist with over 27 years of experience from the front line to senior-level positions, in a wide range of industries and organizations. She is passionate about engaging our human resources in new ways to achieve even better organizational results. Celina is a strategist with a sense of humor and a love for building capacity in organizations. Her first job was as a DSP, and it created a life-long desire to advocate for mental health and support community-based providers which she does through her work today.

She has presented at numerous conferences for local, state, and national audiences. Celina’s work in Southeast Asia, Canada and Central America gave additional operations experience, further developing her desire to listen, learn and lead conversations while walking alongside diverse types of companies, exploring challenges, and pursuing opportunities to drive performance.

Celina holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, a master’s degree in business, with undergraduate degrees in psychology and international studies. She is a TEDx presenter, podcaster, and writer. She usually sees over 250 groups a year or about 6000 people, including large and small groups with one-on-ones. Her content is aimed at helping teams maximize the potential for an even more positive impact on those around them. Celina lives in Waverly, Iowa and is committed to Iowa first – our people, our providers, and our communities.

Breakout Sessions
Below, you will find some of the breakout sessions you can expect to see in 2025.  A more in-depth look at titles and descriptions can be found linked here. 

• Iowa's ASO
• Better Teams Through Communication & Accountability
• Cannabinoids: Where are We Now
• Change That Counts: Saving Lives and Reducing Costs by Addressing the Fatal Five
• Conflict to Connection: A Restorative Approach to Resolution
• Driving Sustainable Change: Effective Strategies for Leading Organizational Transformation
• DSP Recruiting & Retention Strategies: How to Attract & Keep the Staff You Want
• Employee Benefits Roundtable
• Empowering Neurodiverse Employees: Practical Strategies with Assistive Technology and Universal Design
• Ensuring Quality and Compliance
• Expanding Access & Expertise: Introducing Iowa’s ADRC Technical Assistance and Call Center
• From Data to Drive: How Motivation Moves DSPs from Good to Great
• Get Decision Alignment, or Get Derailed
• LEAP Forward: Building Leaders at Every Level
• Learn from the Mistakes of Others: Employers’ Top 10 Missteps in the Accommodations Process
• Metrics for Enhanced Services
• Mitigating Cyber Risks: Strengthening Healthcare Cybersecurity
• Operational Hazards & Liability and Insurance Coverage
• Organizational Culture
• Practical Solutions for Managing Medication Complexity in IDD Care
• Project ECHO
• Protecting Your Organization: Navigating Cyber Security Challenges
• Proven Practices for Confronting DSP Recruitment & Retention
• Seizure First Aid Ready
• The 8 Cs of Inclusive Leadership
• The Power of the Pause
• Unraveling Diagnoses: Perseverations, Obsessions, Dissociation, Hyperfocus, and Delusions
• Use of Antipsychotics in the Individuals with IDD: Back to the Future
• Using a Values Based Culture to Improve Employee Engagement & Accountability
• Using Augmented Intelligence to Address Workforce Challenges
• Workforce 101: Solutions to Stabilize Your Workforce