ABOUT DR. CAM DUNSON, PHD

Keynote Speaker. Corporate Culture Expert. Organizational Psychologist.

Founder of Dunson Insights LLC. Developer of the Sense of Belonging in the Workplace Scale. TEDxLakeShoreDrive 2026.

A woman with curly blonde hair, glasses, and a friendly smile sitting at a wooden table, wearing a navy blazer and a light blue shirt, in a modern interior with wooden wall paneling and a green plant in the background.

WHO SHE IS

Dr. Cam Dunson is a keynote speaker and organizational psychologist who makes the research on workplace culture actually useful.

She shows leaders what’s quietly driving their best people out the door, and she does it with data, humor, and zero corporate jargon. Audiences call her talks practical, surprising, and the session they wish they’d heard five years ago.

She founded Dunson Insights LLC to work with healthcare systems, financial services firms, and other organizations where culture shows up directly in retention numbers, innovation pipelines, and the bottom line.

Cam’s keynotes are not DEI by another name, and they are not motivation disguised as strategy. She treats belonging and psychological safety as what the research says they are: measurable drivers of retention, innovation, and profit. Leaders leave her sessions with diagnostic frameworks, a shared vocabulary for the culture problems they’ve been tiptoeing around, and a clear picture of what to do next.

TRUSTED BY ORGANIZATIONS AND CONFERENCES WORLDWIDE


RESEARCH

The Sense of Belonging in the Workplace Scale (SBWS)

Cam’s doctoral research in Industrial-Organizational Psychology produced the SBWS — a scale that measures five components of workplace belonging that organizations have historically struggled to define, let alone improve. The framework anchors every keynote, workshop, and consulting engagement she delivers.

01

Accepted & Liked

02

Known & Understood

03

Purpose & Status

04

Respect & Voice

05

Safety & Trust


EXPERIENCE

Leading teams
under real conditions

Before the doctorate, Cam spent 21 years leading cross-cultural teams on three continents, in environments where weak culture didn’t just lower engagement but caused real operational failure. She is fluent in Portuguese and has worked with organizations in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.

She holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and a SHRM-SCP credential, and is the founder and principal of Dunson Insights LLC.

2026

TEDxLakeShoreDrive — Chicago

Delivered “You Don’t Find Belonging, You Create It,” a challenge to the way we think about where we do and don’t belong.

PhD

Doctoral Research — I-O Psychology

Developed and validated the Sense of Belonging in the Workplace Scale (SBWS). Earned SHRM-SCP certification.

21 Years

Cross-Cultural Leadership — Three Continents

Led multinational teams across Latin America, Europe, and the United States.

TEDX TALK

You Don’t Find Belonging, You Create It

In January 2026, Cam took the TEDx stage in Chicago to deliver a challenge to the way we think about where we do and don’t belong.

The talk extended her SBWS research into a challenge to how leaders and organizations think about the impact of belonging at work — and a direct argument that the three conditions employees need to stay, speak up, and contribute are ones leaders can build on purpose.

A woman stands on a stage giving a TED talk presentation in a conference room filled with an audience.

Keynotes built on
research, not rhetoric

The Belonging Advantage: The Hidden Driver of Retention, Innovation & Profit

Your best people aren’t leaving because of compensation. They’re leaving because they don’t feel known, safe, or valued, and nobody in leadership is measuring any of the three. This keynote changes that.

Learn More →

Cultural Intelligence: You Cannot Lead What You Do Not Understand

Every leader thinks they understand their culture. Most are only reading one of three cultures that matter: their organization's. This keynote reveals the two they're missing and why those blind spots are shaping every decision their team makes.

Learn More →

CURRENTLY BOOKING

Ready to bring
Cam to your event?

Cam is currently booking 2026 and 2027 keynotes and workshops for organizations operating under real complexity, including healthcare, financial services, and other regulated industries.