BLC shaped Bill Chamberlin’s career at Verrex, and it all started with a Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award granted by the NSCA Education Foundation.
In 2015, Verrex’s Bill Chamberlin walked into his very first NSCA Business & Leadership Conference (BLC). As the recipient of a Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award scholarship, he was able to attend the event at no cost. While he was excited about the opportunity, he didn’t realize it would become a turning point in his career, inspiring a pivotal shift in how he thinks about leadership, talent, and his own future.
An initiative of the NSCA Education Foundation, the Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award removes the financial barriers that often keep industry leaders from taking advantage of the BLC experience.
“At the time, Verrex was expanding into the Asia-Pacific region, and I had raised my hand to lead the charge,” Chamberlin explains. “This meant setting up business entities and offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, and Australia. It was around that time that our head of marketing and business development suggested that I apply for the Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award.”
After that first year, he has made it a priority to attend BLC as often as he can. “There’s not a single BLC I’ve gone to where I haven’t walked away more invigorated, more excited, and with nuggets of insight and strategy I’ve implemented or brought to others within the organization.”
Here are just a few of the ways BLC has shaped Chamberlin’s career and leadership principles—and it all started with a Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award granted by the NSCA Education Foundation.
A Chance to Step Outside the Four Walls
Lessons learned at BLC have helped Chamberlin build strong leadership skills. But they also gave him fresh perspectives he couldn’t easily access from inside the four walls of his organization: candid conversations with peers, new and practical concepts to try, and a space to step out of day-to-day operations and think strategically about business.
“BLC is such a big networking opportunity. You can be honest about challenges you’re having, talk to others, and trade ideas without worrying about losing anything proprietary,” he points out.
Leadership Lessons that Last
BLC has given Chamberlin anchors and ideas that have shaped his journey. When he first attended the event in 2015, he served in a senior sales leadership role; today, he serves as president.
He remembers BLC keynote speakers Jeremy Anderson, Mary Kelly, and Dr. Ivan Joseph especially well.
Jeremy Anderson’s message about focusing on what leaders can control—who they hire, the clients they work with, the go-to-market strategies they deploy, and the business rules they put in place—reinforced Chamberlin’s own commitment to setting clear expectations, building trust, and holding people accountable.
From Dr. Ivan Joseph, Chamberlin took to heart the importance of confronting tough decisions instead of letting fear or uncertainty delay action. This session challenged him to examine whether his own instincts have contributed to indecision or hesitation and encouraged him to model the kind of confidence and transparency that help people grow.
Mary Kelly’s keynote underscored for Chamberlin that leadership isn’t only about people and strategy but also about understanding financial health. Her focus on understanding key metrics, watching cash flow, and saying “no” when necessary helped sharpen his approach to balancing growth initiatives with disciplined financial oversight.
The principles and practices he’s taken away from BLC year after year have served him well over the years as he has led major company initiatives: helping open the company’s first regional office in Boston, leading global expansion efforts, absorbing marketing and business development during the pandemic, and building out a pre-sales engineering team.
Ideas to Power Talent Development
Chamberlin also credits BLC for turning his passion for people into a formal talent development program.
Drawing on ideas and examples he has encountered at the conference, he shaped an approach that blends structured onboarding, mentorship, and ongoing development conversations. That program, which earned recognition at BLC 2025, now serves as a framework for how Verrex brings people into the business, connects them across departments, and supports their long-term growth.
New hires follow an onboarding track that introduces them to every department leader so they understand how the organization fits together. That’s followed by role-specific track focused on day-to-day responsibilities and expectations.
Each employee is also paired with a mentor who can answer questions they might hesitate to bring to a manager. Ongoing development is reinforced through annual appraisals and midyear check-ins, where leaders are encouraged to talk not only about current performance but also about future aspirations and how the company can help employees keep moving forward.
“Our jobs are not just about taking care of the external clients who pay the bills,” says Chamberlin. “They’re also about taking care of our internal clients. As you support them, they can help you become more efficient.”
Building a Community
Equally important to Chamberlin are the relationships that began at BLC and have continued to grow over the years. “I’ve even become friends with competitors through BLC,” says Chamberlin.
He also points to important connections with NSCA staff, speakers, and coaches, whose guidance influence Verrex’s approach to growth and culture. “We were introduced to Corporate Sales Coaches at BLC and worked with their program. Then they joined Revenueify, and we brought Revenueify to our most recent annual offsite sales meeting. The partners you meet at BLC have good value to offer.”
The Ripple Effect of BLC
For Chamberlin, the impact of the Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award is clear: A one-time scholarship to attend an industry conference gave him a resource he relies on year after year to shape how he leads, develops his teams, and thinks about his responsibility to the next generation of integrators.
“None of us are perfect. None of us know everything. We always can learn and do better,” he says … and that’s exactly what BLC is about.
