Scott Tillema
Scott Tillema
Crisis Negotiator, Trainer and Keynote Speaker
Keynote speaker Scott Tillema shares his expertise in making connections throughout organizations from his more than 20 years of experience as a law enforcement professional and an FBI trained hostage negotiator through his interactive and exciting keynote entitled, “Creating a Culture of Connection”. Organizational leaders truly benefit from the structure and techniques Scott offers to help navigate challenging people and circumstances, and a range of conflicts that stand in the way of fulfilling their core missions – both within and outside their organization. Scott highlights the principles of bonding, conflict resolution, and influence that are pillars in crisis negotiations and utilized during the most intense of situations.
Scott inspires and empowers leaders to take new approaches to find common ground, and ultimate success in even the most challenging scenarios. These leaders become heroes by creating real connections that inspire loyalty, increased productivity, and overall satisfaction throughout organizations.
Expert on
- Negotiation
- Communication
- Inspirational
- Conflict Resolution
Experience in
- Education
- Government
- Consulting
Featured Video
Scott is an internationally recognized crisis negotiator, trainer and keynote speaker. He is known and respected for his experience negotiating in highly charged situations, with high stakes and when the situation requires sensitivity to the human element. Clients, audiences and students alike, find Scott’s teachings, insightful, inspiring and pragmatic.
Scott has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience in the United States and retired from a Chicago area police department in 2023 at the rank of Lieutenant. In 2007, he was trained by the FBI in hostage and crisis negotiation and has been involved in the field since that time. Scott worked as a negotiator with one of the largest regional SWAT teams in the U.S. for many years before moving into the role of a negotiations, speaker and trainer.
Educationally, Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in psychology. He has studied negotiation at the Harvard University Program on Negotiation, at IMD Business School, and he continues to receive training from the world’s top hostage negotiators.
Scott is a prolific trainer within the negotiation field and travels the world speaking to audiences in both law enforcement and the private sector. He has taught negotiations at Harvard University, for the FBI, and has keynoted for companies such as Microsoft, Bosch, and YPO. In 2016, he was invited to give a TEDx talk titled “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators”, which has received over 1 million views.
Scott currently resides in the Chicago area and is a co-founder and Partner with the Negotiations Collective.
Scott Tillema was our featured speaker at Break The Mold Conference, 2023. The passion, energy and experience Scott brought to the stage was infectious. With ease, he was able to translate his work in hostage negotiation to concepts our audience could immediately put into practice to find success in their businesses. He was interactive and captured the attention of everyone in the room. Audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive and I’ve already re-booked Scott for our next corporate event!
C.L., PRESIDENT, HEARTS FOR HOPE
Impactful with thought provoking content that is relatable and I am excited to take the content back to my team!
K.R., CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, MOVE FOR HUNGER
When we invited Scott Tillema to speak at our event, we were confident he would deliver a great session. Even with elevated expectations, Scott exceeded anything we could have expected. He was masterful, both in his content and delivery. He had the audience laughing right off the bat, while making local references, so clearly he had done his homework and was delivering a customized presentation for our conference, which everyone could appreciate. We are proud to highly recommend Scott Tillema as the keynote speaker to any CIT conference across America. For any event that touches on communication, conflict, negotiation or influence, and you want your keynote to be memorable, Scott is your speaker!
C.H., VICE PRESIDENT, TEXAS CIT
“Meaningful and Engaging. Scott had our audience’s attention within the first minute. The positive impact of his keynote was seen through the remainder of the conference as people referenced his key points during the breaks and evening events.”
K.C., DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, LIGHTNING PROTECTION INSTITUTE
We booked Scott to do a talk to my global network of recruitment entrepreneurs. I expected great stories which I got. What I hadn’t quite anticipated was Scott’s ability to translate his wealth of expertise, experience and insight into negotiation strategies into really practical, applicable and valuable models and approaches we can all use in business and in life. Articulate, passionate, funny – thank you Scott. Everybody should listen to you.
G.S., CO-FOUNDER, THE RECRUITMENT NETWORK
Absolutely amazing. So much of his talk spoke directly to me and my daily workload. Thank you!
D.W., HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR, NORFOLK IRON AND METAL
“Are you hoping to find a pro for your company who has a gift in teaching about influence and making a difference? If so, look no further than Scott Tillema.” Scott has the tools and techniques to get your company there with his powerful presentation “ The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators”. As an FBI trained hostage negotiator, Scott will leave you and your team inspired, as he shares the tools on how to learn and apply tactical, yet practical techniques. Thank you, Scott for making a difference for Swift!”
T.T., MANAGING DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES, SWIFT REAL ESTATE
Dynamic, relevant, engaging and practical. Truly a valuable session with an outstanding speaker.
C.K., CO-DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS, SHRM OF GREATER TUCSON
I was able to book Scott Tillema to speak at a public safety event in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Scott captured the attention of a room filled with law enforcement, fire department, and energy dispatch personnel. Having worked in sales for decades, I know Scott’s life-saving processes that work under the gun also work in boardrooms, car lots and classrooms. Scott brings real world processes and techniques that produce results.
C.S., THE ASPEN PROJECT, DIRECTOR
Scott Tillema is one of the absolute best speakers I have worked with in my many years of event planning for my organization! From the very first contact he was helpful and kind, always going above and beyond our expectations and just such a professional at what he does. He was wonderful to communicate with throughout the planning process, and always responsive to our needs and requests. Beyond all the event planning details, Scott Tillema’s virtual talk was engaging and interesting, delivering content that was helpful and immediately actionable for our staff. He has a way translating evidence-based concepts in communication and human connection into easily understandable and relatable tidbits of information. Scott Tillema was a pleasure to work with, and I cannot recommend him and his content highly enough!
A.P.., EMPLOYEE EVENT PLANNER, WORKERS COMPENSATION BOARD
