TAA is proud to welcome Texas football legend and Dancing with the Stars champion Emmitt Smith as the General Opening Session keynote speaker.

Smith brings a wealth of experience and unique perspective to audiences on subjects such as leadership, teamwork, discipline and winning.

Michael Hoffman, CSP has been igniting Fortune 500 organizations with his workshops and keynotes for over a decade. His firm, Igniting Performances, is a Dallas-based training and consulting firm specializing in the areas of leadership, sales, and customer loyalty. Using his performance comedy and interactive delivery, he has conducted extensive personal and professional development seminars for thousands of people across the U.S. and abroad.

Toni Blake is an international speaker, author, comedienne and president of TotallyToni.com. Toni has 28 years of multifamily housing experience and as an author, has been published in over 36 trade magazines across the country. She was selected by the National Apartment Association as one of the industry's "Marketing Gurus" and is recognized for her research and innovative concepts in customer service, sales, and marketing. Toni was honored at the very first Multifamily PRO "People's Choice Awards" winning awards for Educational Excellence, Imagination and Innovation.

Rich George has over 20 years of business experience and his background includes the management of over two billion dollars of real-estate assets, and over 50 million dollars of capital re-investment strategies. He has demonstrated successful acquisitions, dispositions, merger facilitation, and repositions. Key to his portfolio is the management of highly distressed properties, including those in court receivership and turning these into assets rather than liabilities. Rich is a Licensed Real Estate Broker and served on the Board of Directors for the Property Management Association of Michigan, and as the President of The Detroit Metropolitan Apartment Association. He was recognized as one of the first graduates of the Leadership Lyceum for the National Apartment Association. Rich has received the honor of the CAPS designation and the ARM designation, and is an in demand speaker at many industry events.

Tracey Hopkins, owner of Jumpstart Marketing, started her career in multifamily housing as a leasing consultant, manager and multi-site supervisor. Discovering her calling in marketing, Tracey joined Walden Residential Properties, Inc., advancing to Vice President of Marketing and later joined Archon Residential as Vice President over National Marketing. She presents nationally for companies, associations and conventions including the Annual Multifamily Pro Brainstorming Sessions, National Apartment Association, Multi-Housing World, Texas Apartment Association and the NAHB Pillars of the Industry Awards Conference. She is a past Chair of the Pillars of the Industry Awards, the industry's leading award program. In addition to marketing, leasing and customer service presentations, she consults nationally for companies in need of improving property performance.