Kathy B. Dempsey, is an award winning author, keynote speaker and recognized change expert.

Kathy ignites organizations to SHED for Success by empowering them with practical tools to Adapt Quicker and Get Results!

As a former hospital executive, she strategically led Memorial Health Care System’s organizational development efforts to become one of top 100 hospitals in America.

Her most popular book, Shed or You’re Dead®: 31 Unconventional Strategies for Growth and Change is the recipient of a Writer’s Digest International Book Award.

Kathy Dempsey Knows Change

Her ‘signature story’ is her transformation as an ER/trauma nurse who became the first health care worker in America to be diagnosed positive for AIDS as a result of workplace exposure. She received national attention as a result of this life-altering hospital-based event that ‘made her a poster child’ for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The diagnosis, a death sentence in the mid-80s, was confirmed with multiple positive tests. Months later, all tests returned negative. A miracle or medical error? No one is able to explain. The 3 months that Kathy lived with that traumatic diagnosis was a life-altering experience.

Kathy has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to SHED in places around the world including Europe, Canada, Africa, Mexico and across the United States.

Her presentations reach far beyond that experience, to build a touchstone with each member of the audience. Her dramatic account provides focus, inspiration and practical tools for people to lead and master change in their personal and professional lives.

Kathy’s Accomplishments

• Author of Shed or You’re Dead: 31 Unconventional Strategies for Growth and Change
• Awarded with Writer’s Digest International Book Award for Shed or You’re Dead
• Author of Shed or You’re Dead Survival Guides – over 500k copies sold (Healthcare Professionals, Employee and Manager versions)
• Contributing author for two of the NY Times Best Selling Chicken Soup for the Soul books
• Founder of The Shedding Revolution® – over 1 million people utilize the Revolutionary Shedding Philosophy to create CHANGE READY organizations
• Voted Showcase Speaker of the Year for the Georgia Speakers Association (GSA)
• Voted Top 10 Finalists North America’s Next Greatest Speaker
• Named Trainer of the Year, Bob Pike’s Creative Training Techniques International
• Led Memorial Health Care System’s strategic organizational development efforts to become one of the Top 100 Hospitals in America
• Awarded Master of Influence Award for her work with the National Speakers Association (NSA), Georgia Chapter
• Honored with Leadership Award, National Speaker Association, Philadelphia Chapter
• Past President, National Speaker Association, Philadelphia Chapter
• Active member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), and has served on the board of the Georgia Speakers Association (GSA)
• Founder of The Keep Shedding Educational Foundation 501(c)(3) which has sent over 300 African AIDS orphans to school
• Achieved the highest earned speaker’s designation in the world, the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). (Held by less than 10 percent of speakers worldwide)
• Author of 8 books, including SHED HAPPENS: 7 Ways to Overcome Life’s Challenges at Work and Life. (2020)
• Completing her first screenplay, to take her SHED® message from the stage to the screen. (Working with award winning Hollywood Producer, Stephen Simon, of Somewhere in Time, All the Right Moves, What Dreams May Come)