NSB Logo Kendal Netmaker Kendal Netmaker

Kendal Netmaker

Speaker Featured

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Indigenous Entrepreneur and Author, Driven to Succeed

Kendal Netmaker speaks professionally to thousands of people worldwide on resilience, leadership, and the power of telling your story. He is a leading entrepreneur, the founder of Neechie Gear®, the author of Driven To Succeed, and has received over 25 business awards. Kendal is DRIVEN to share his story and help motivate and build resilient leaders and organizations.

Keynote Speeches

Keep Moving Forward™: From Poverty to Podium

INSPIRATION & RESILIENCE

In this powerful and inspiring keynote, Kendal shares his remarkable journey from growing up in poverty on Sweetgrass First Nation to becoming an award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author, and international keynote speaker.

Through unforgettable storytelling, Kendal demonstrates how moments of adversity can become defining moments of strength, courage, and possibility.

Audiences leave inspired to look beyond their circumstances, take action, and continue moving forward—no matter what challenges stand in their way.

Ideal for: Opening and closing keynotes, leadership conferences, employee events, associations, community gatherings, and organizations looking for a powerful message of resilience and hope.

Attendees will learn:

  • Turn Adversity Into Strength
  • Believe Beyond Your Circumstances
  • Build the Courage to Keep Moving Forward®
  • Take Action Through Uncertainty
  • Create Possibility From Challenge
Keep Moving Forward™: Leading Through Change & Uncertainty

CHANGE & TRANSFORMATION

Change is inevitable. How leaders respond to it can determine whether their people become overwhelmed by uncertainty or inspired to move forward.

In this timely keynote, Kendal combines Indigenous storytelling, leadership lessons, and lived experience to help audiences develop the resilience and adaptability required to navigate disruption, uncertainty, and transformation.

Leaders will discover how to create clarity when the path ahead is uncertain, maintain momentum through difficult transitions, and help their people move forward with greater confidence.

Ideal for: Organizations experiencing change, restructuring, transformation, growth, disruption, or uncertainty.

Attendees will learn:

  • Create Clarity in Uncertainty
  • Build the Resilience to Keep Moving Forward®
  • Adapt Without Losing Your Values
  • Lead People Through the Human Side of Change
  • Turn Change Into Forward Momentum
Keep Moving Forward™: Stronger Together

TEAMWORK & CULTURE

In times of rapid change and ongoing uncertainty, many organizations struggle to stay grounded, connected, and moving forward together. In this inspiring keynote, Kendal Netmaker draws on Indigenous values, lived experience, and real-world leadership lessons to offer a powerful framework for navigating transformation—individually and collectively.

This keynote explores how Indigenous ways of knowing emphasize relationships, responsibility, community, and forward movement—especially during moments of disruption. Through storytelling and practical insights, Kendal invites audiences to rethink allyship not as a label, but as an ongoing practice rooted in listening, accountability, and shared growth.

Strong organizations are built on strong relationships.

Drawing from Indigenous values and teachings around community, respect, responsibility, and connection, Kendal demonstrates how leaders and teams can build greater trust, strengthen workplace culture, and move forward together.

Through compelling stories and practical lessons, audiences are challenged to consider how their individual actions influence the people around them—and how stronger collaboration can create healthier, more connected, and higher-performing teams.

Ideal for: Team-building events, corporate conferences, employee engagement initiatives, leadership retreats, culture initiatives, and organizations focused on strengthening trust and collaboration.

Attendees will learn:

  • Build Trust Through Strong Relationships
  • Strengthen Culture Through Connection
  • Lead With Respect and Responsibility
  • Collaborate With Purpose
  • Move Forward Together
Keep Moving Forward™: The Resilient Leader

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership is tested most when the pressure is on.

In this leadership-focused keynote, Kendal explores what it takes to remain courageous, focused, and accountable during difficult moments.

Drawing from his experiences overcoming adversity, building businesses, leading teams, and navigating uncertainty, Kendal shares practical principles that help leaders strengthen their mindset, make better decisions under pressure, and become the type of leader others can depend on.

The message is simple: before we can successfully lead others forward, we must first learn how to lead ourselves.

Ideal for: Leadership conferences, executive teams, managers, emerging leaders, leadership development programs, and organizations building resilient leadership capability.

Attendees will learn:

  • Lead Yourself Before Leading Others
  • Stay Courageous Under Pressure
  • Build a Resilient Leadership Mindset
  • Make Better Decisions in Difficult Moments
  • Become a Leader Others Can Depend On
Keep Moving Forward™: Human Leadership In The Age of AI

FUTURE OF WORK

Technology is rapidly changing how organizations operate—but people will continue to need great leaders.

As artificial intelligence transforms the workplace, Kendal explores the human leadership qualities that technology cannot replace: trust, courage, communication, relationships, storytelling, adaptability, and connection.

This keynote isn’t about becoming an AI expert. It is about becoming a better human leader during a period of unprecedented technological change.

Kendal challenges audiences to embrace innovation while remembering that the future of successful organizations will still depend on their ability to inspire, connect with, and lead people.

Ideal for: Future-of-work conferences, leadership events, organizations implementing AI or digital transformation, executive teams, associations, and workplaces preparing their people for the future.

Attendees will learn:

  • Lead With Humanity in the Age of AI
  • Build Trust Through Technological Change
  • Strengthen the Human Skills AI Cannot Replace
  • Adapt and Lead Through Innovation
  • Keep People at the Centre of the Future of Work

Platform Plus Presentations

Unique formats and ways to connect with audiences.
HALF DAY WORKSHOP | The Leader Within
Workshop is a focused, interactive leadership experience designed to turn inspiration into practical action.

Through powerful storytelling, guided reflection, Indigenous teachings, and meaningful discussion, Kendal Netmaker helps participants explore what it takes to lead themselves and others through challenge, change, and uncertainty.

Participants will examine the beliefs, habits, and choices that influence how they respond under pressure, while developing greater clarity around their personal leadership style. The workshop encourages participants to take ownership of what they can control, strengthen their resilience, and identify the next steps needed to create positive momentum.

Grounded in Kendal’s real-world leadership and entrepreneurial experience, the session equips participants with practical tools they can immediately apply in their workplaces, communities, and personal lives.

Attendees will learn:
-Greater self-awareness and clarity around personal leadership style
-Practical strategies for building resilience during change and uncertainty
-How to strengthen accountability, ownership, and personal responsibility
-How to move from setbacks and challenges into constructive action
-Clear, actionable next steps to Keep Moving Forward®

Ideal for: Teams, leaders, and high-performing professionals seeking practical tools to strengthen accountability, resilience, and day-to-day leadership effectiveness.

Audience reviews:

  • It was an absolute pleasure to work with Kendal and welcome him as a keynote speaker… Kendal is an amazing speaker, delivering powerful messages in a very authentic, passionate and compelling way. His own personal story of perseverance, resiliency, success and the power of kindness is nothing short of inspiring! I’d highly recommend Kendal for your next leadership event. - Senior Manager, TD Bank Group
  • His keynote was not only touching and motivating, but also funny and light hearted. He had the crowd experience a vast mix of emotions and kept them engaged at all times. After the keynote was over, you could hear the mumble in the crowd talking and reflecting on all the ways Kendal’s keynote touched their hearts and moved them. We had members of the audience ask for his contact info so that they could book him at their next event! Kendal is such a humble and well-rounded human being, it is always such a pleasure to interact with him. Thank you again, Kendal! We hope to be able to work with you again soon! - Client Relations Specialist, TEC Canada
  • What a pleasure to have Kendal bring the keynote address at our Tourism Workplace Leadership Conference. He is a riveting story teller with a powerful message that motivates and uplifts. His wisdom exceeds his years and he leaves you feeling inspired to be a better version of yourself. - CEO, Tourism Saskatchewan
  • Kendal is an incredibly inspirational speaker. We had asked him to speak at our townhall of over 100 professional staff. The staff loved him and the positive messages he communicated. Fun, heartwarming yet challenging messages on how everyone can overcome any challenges they face, be successful and make a positive impact on the world around them. I would highly recommend him for any speaking engagement. - Tax Specialist, Ernst & Young LLP
  • Kendal is a brilliant speaker. He is dynamic, powerful and entertaining. He shares his business experiences and expertise through real life stories that are inspirational and motivational. Your audience will walk away with a new enthusiasm and with a to-do list of actions they can take immediately to achieve even greater success. With Kendal on your agenda, he is sure to be the highlight of your event! - Marketing and Executive Manager, Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund
  • Kendal gave a keynote at our annual town hall – an event with more than 200 public affairs staff from the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. The audience was visibly moved by Kendal’s story – he was genuine, authentic and positive. He brought personal insight into overcoming adversity and offered constructive advice that applies to nearly every context – even the military one! Kendal is a talented speaker and it was an absolute privilege to host him. - Director of Outreach and Speechwriting, Department of National Defence
  • Kendal Netmaker is not only a dynamic speaker, he engaged with our staff. Kendal’s talk revealed how anyone can overcome adversity in life by discovering your own core values as a leader. We received nothing but numerous of positive comments regarding Kendal’s ability to connect with the audience for duration of his presentation. The overall survey of our team was a superior level of satisfaction. We would recommend Kendal Netmaker to any group. - COO, First Nations Financial Management Board
  • It was wonderful to have Kendal at Laurentian University this year. Inspirational and a wonderful example of what one can achieve! We’re looking forward to having him back in the future! - Associate Vice-President of Academic & Indigenous Programs, Laurentian University

Speaker Biography

Kendal Netmaker is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and gifted keynote speaker who is on a mission to empower and motivate people worldwide by sharing his story that regardless of where you come from and what challenges you face, you have the power to enact change.

From Sweetgrass First Nation, Kendal and his siblings were raised by their single mother. Life wasn’t easy for them, growing up on the reserve surrounded by poverty and few chances for opportunities, but one moment would change their life forever.

Kendal has a natural gift; he’s a master storyteller who weaves his real-life experiences into motivating lessons that everyone can use in their own lives. His heartfelt stories are impactful, and he speaks professionally to thousands of people each year on resilience, leadership, and the power of telling your story.

He is a leading entrepreneur whose passion to succeed is contagious. To date, Kendal has founded and invested in 5 businesses. One of them is Neechie Gear® – a lifestyle apparel brand that gives back a percentage of their profits to go toward funding underprivileged youth to empower them to take part in sports. He is the author of Driven To Succeed and won over 25 business awards, including being named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40® and runner-up at the YBI Global Entrepreneur of the Year.

Kendal lives with his wife and two children in Saskatoon, SK, where he continues to run his company. He delivers virtual and in-person keynotes, as well as executive leadership coaching to organizations.