Opening the conference will be keynote speaker Tad Worku, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, ACC, a family nurse practitioner, educator, musician, and executive mission coach whose work blends healthcare, leadership development, and music. Known for his inspiring, hope-centered messages, Worku energizes audiences with presentations that merge storytelling, purpose-driven insight, and live music performed alongside a Grammy Award–winning ensemble.

Born to Ethiopian immigrant parents in the U.S., Tad’s relationship with music began early—a creative heritage that would shape both his voice and his vocation. After earning a business degree, he pursued a promising pop-soul career. In 2012, Tad was poised to launch an international pop music career but then he walked away to follow a deeper calling. That journey led him into emergency nursing at a Level 1 trauma center, where he experienced profound human connection that would later shape both his music and his mission. In 2020, he returned to music with a renewed voice and a debut album—Love Is All—inspired by the resilient human spirit and the quiet hope that endured, even in the hardest moments.

Today, Tad serves as Executive Mission Coach at Inland Empire Health Plan—the largest not-for-profit Medicare and Medicaid health plan in the United States. Beyond that professional role, he combines his background in healthcare, coaching, and the arts to inspire transformation in others. As a speaker, he has delivered keynotes at the AARP Health Equity and Nursing Summit in October 2023, the Emergency Nursing 2023 conference, and the 2024 American Academy of Nursing Health Policy Conference. Whether through his work as an executive coach, his dynamic keynote speaking, or his powerful music, Tad’s life and work reflect a single aim: to ignite hope and help others rise into the fullness of who they are.