Pete Blank

Born and raised in St. Petersburg Florida, Pete Blank and his family visited Walt Disney World Resort every year since the park opened in 1971. One day, while walking down Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom, he told his parents, "One day, I'm going to work here."

In 1989, while attending the University of Florida, he spent a summer as a Disney Cast Member making memories for guests while working in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. That three month adventure confirmed what he believed...that this was the right company for him.

After a stint as a television sportscaster, he returned to Disney in 1994. Over the next 15 years, he managed various areas of Disney's theme parks and resorts, where he learned what it takes to run a world-class organization.

Blank was blessed to spend a majority of his time working at the Disney University. While there, he led the Traditions program, which is known worldwide as one of the premiere employee orientation programs. He also facilitated college level courses to thousands of Disney College Interns, and was a Segment Learning Manager for Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, and the Disney Cruise Line.

Today, he is the Training and Organizational Development Manager for the Personnel Board of Jefferson County in Birmingham, AL. In this role, he manages a department responsible for providing leadership and management training to over 7,000 local government employees across 23 agencies. His training team has won multiple awards, including Training Magazine's Training Top 125, HR.Com's Leadership 500, and ELearning's Top 100.

In addition, he works with organizations and associations all across the U.S., helping them achieve their goals in the areas of leadership, employee engagement and customer service.