2 Days To Change Your Life

Your Annual Gathering For Growth

February 5-6, 2026 | Wisp Resort, MD

Days

Hours

Minutes

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About the Teach Passion Summit

The Teach Passion Summit is our annual company retreat for our team.

The conference is 2 days of team-building, learning, networking, and growing. It’s one of the foundations of our culture and ways we live our core values.

Based on demand, we have now opened our conference to individuals and teams across Western Pennsylvania that are looking for growth and development.

An overview from last year’s conference

About the Teach Passion Summit

The Teach Passion Summit is our annual company retreat for our team.

The conference is 2 days of team-building, learning, networking, and growing. It’s one of the foundations of our culture and ways we live our core values.

Based on demand, we have now opened our conference to individuals and teams across Western Pennsylvania that are looking for growth and development.

An overview from last year’s conference

2025 Keynote Speaker

clint hurdle

Clint Hurdle is famous in Pittsburgh as the manager that led the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates to break the longest losing streak in professional sports at 20 years and lead them to the playoffs with a unforgettable wild card game.

Although Clint changed the clubs losing attitude and ways its more about what he did for the men he led and what he did for the community. Clints is an inspirational leader that gold molded over the years from a Rookie Phenom whose career flopped by enjoying the life of the part to hitting rock bottom to prepare him to have an even bigger impact as a father, husband and leader.

The 412 will be left with his imprint forever. Clint will be sharing the wisdom God has given from his life’s journey inspire you to become the person God has called you to be.

Clints story is rooted in the cover of the March 20, 1978, annual baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated featured a picture of Kansas City Royals rookie Clint Hurdle looking ready for action, with the caption “This Year’s Phenom” in bold yellow letters right next to his smiling face. Then there was Clint’s playing career — politely described as “utterly modest”—that fell far short of the hype. Appearing in 515 games over 10 seasons for the Royals, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals, Hurdle batted.259 with 32 home runs and 193 RBIs. In only three of those seasons did he make more than 200 plate appearances in major-league games.

Then there was Clint’s life off the diamond where he enjoyed the nightlife and the fast lane.
After hitting rock bottom broke and divorced Clint turned his life around and started impacting the lives others through his work helping other athletes and leading men.
Today an accomplished leader, he is working to build up others.

If you have never heard Clint share his story, be ready for an unfiltered recounting of the mistakes he made and how those lessons have shaped who is today and have him share the wisdom of not how to avoid those mistakes, learn from your own and become the person God has called you to be having an impact on others.

2025 Speakers

Chris Oparanozie

Urban Impact

Eric Guy

CVO, Center for Victory

Dwight Montgomery

Generosity and Stewardship Mentor

David McGlennon

President, Impact Leadership Consulting

Marissa Host

CFO, Andocia

Jason Furer

Director of Customer Experience, WesBanco

Tim Tannert

EOS Implementer

Rev Dan Smail

Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church

Will Host

CEO, Andocia

Dave Hartman

Chapter President, Truth At Work Pittsburgh

2025 Speakers

Chris Oparanozie

Urban Impact

Eric Guy

CVO, Center for Victory

Dwight Montgomery

Generosity and Stewardship Mentor

David McGlennon

President, Impact Leadership Consulting

Marissa Host

CFO, Andocia

Jason Furer

Director of Customer Experience, WesBanco

Tim Tannert

EOS Implementer

Rev Dan Smail

Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church

Will Host

CEO, Andocia

Dave HArtman

Chapter President, Truth At Work Pittsburgh

Your 2 Days of Growth Include:

11 Nationally Recognized, but locally Connected, leaders
Networking with growth minded Leaders
Accountability to follow through on goals and lessons learned
the famous Thursday night dinner at Dutch's
6 Month Check In on your Goals and Progress
Workshops for each breakout session
Breakfast and Lunch Provided
Optional Prayer Breakfast

OUR PRICING

Conference Only

Full Experience

Includes Hotel & Lodging for 2 Nights

Individual

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$550 /Person

Regular Price

$850 /Person

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$950 /Person

Regular Price

$1,250 /Person

Group

Bring your team!

For a group of 3 or more.

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$450 /Person

Regular Price

$750 /Person

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$850 /Person

Regular Price

$1,150 /Person

Past Professor

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

All past professors get complimentary 1 night stays on Thursday night.

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$0*

Regular Price

$500 /Person

*We provide the full experience including meals lodging and speakers at no cost for previous professors that commit by to attending November 31st as a sign of our gratitude. However if you cancel after January 10th we will charge you the $350 to recoup the unrefundable fees we incur.

OUR PRICING

Individual

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

Conference Only

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$550 /Person

Regular Price

$850 /Person

Full Experience

Includes Hotel & Lodging for 2 Nights

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$950 /Person

Regular Price

$1,250 /Person

Group

Bring your team!

For a group of 3 or more.

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

Conference Only

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$450 /Person

Regular Price

$750 /Person

Full Experience

Includes Hotel & Lodging for 2 Nights

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$850 /Person

Regular Price

$1,150 /Person

Past Professor

Includes: access to all events Thursday and Friday, speakers, lunches, breakfast, and dinner on Thursday night at Dutches.

All past professors get complimentary 1 night stays on Thursday night.

Early Bird Price (ends 12/31)

$0*

Regular Price

$500 /Person

Frequently asked questions

What is the Teach Passion Summit?

The Teach Passion Summit is our annual company retreat for our team. It’s 3 days of teambuilding, learning, networking, and growing. It’s one of the foundations of our culture and ways we live our core values. We offer the experience it to companies across western PA on Thursday and Friday.

When is the Teach Passion Summit?

Teach Passion Summit 2025 will be held Wednesday, January 29th – Friday, January 31st 2025. Wednesday January 29th is for Beratung Team members and Thursday and Friday is open to registration.

How does it work?

We bring speakers from across the financial services professions as well as other disciplines to educate and empower our team and equip them with tools to excel. We focus on leaders with ties to the 412 which we define as Western PA.

What is the Schedule?

Wednesday, January 29th is for our team only, focused on teambuilding.

Thursday, January 30th kicks off the university. Feel free to join us all day or just for dinner, but please let us know so we can plan accordingly. The overview of Thursday is:
8:30 AM join us for breakfast
9:00 AM year in review and vision casting
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM educational session (lunch served at 12:30 PM)
6:30 PM Dinner at Dutch’s
To cap off the day we host everyone for a night of networking and fellowship at one my personal favorite restaurants, Dutch’s. You will not want to miss dinner!

Friday, January 31st Education sessions all day
8:30 AM join us for breakfast
9:00 AM – 2:30 PM Education sessions (lunch at 12:30pm)
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Closing Remarks and University Adjourns

Who attend the sessions?

All Beratung employees, All “professors” and all registered attendees are welcome to attend any sessions Thursday and Friday, we typically finalize the speaker slots by end of December.

What is the "Full Experience"

To make it easier we take care of your lodging with the full experience. We highly recommend this option to make your life easier but also to be where the action is. In the past we only offered this option however through feedback some attendees prefer to stay at properties they own around the lake and some companies that come rent a house for their team to spend time together.

Can I extend my stay?

For Past professors we will pay for your hotel at WISP for Thursday night. For Full Experience registrants we pay for Wednesday and Thursday night. If you would like to come early or stay an extra day at the WISP (a preferred choice for skiers) simply reach out to our event planner and she can help book your room at our event pricing and bill you.

What is the Dutch's Dinner

We have a complimentary dinner at the famous Dutch’s at Silver Tree that includes a select menu from our favorites and drinks for all the “students” and “professors” Thursday night at Dutch’s which is a short drive from WISP. We highly encourage you all to join to network, relax and celebrate with us. We provide complimentary shuttle service from WISP to Dutch’s for your safety and enjoyment. Please do not drink and drive.

Can I bring my family?

You are welcome to and encouraged to make a weekend out of it by attending with your spouse/children. WISP provides ski in and ski out from the resort. You can also book Friday/Saturday night using our group discount, but you will be on the hook for the cost. Family is encouraged to join us at Worship on Thursday. However family is not included in speakers, or lunches. For non Beratung Members looking to bring a spouse to dinner reach out to our event planner and for $100 additional cost they can attend dinner. No children for dinner.

Do I Need to Take The Predictive Index?

To get the most out of the conference please share your Predictive Index with us or you can take a complimentary assessment that takes less than 10 minutes at https://beratungadvisors.com/take-assessment/ This assessment will be used through out Beratung University and often one of the biggest feedback we get from participants.

What Do I Wear?

Dress code is business casual or if you choose, more formal. For example, our CEO Greg typically wears a suit with no tie. Some “professors” have worn suits. Some will wear khakis with a blouse or polo.

2025 Schedule

Wednesday, January 29th:

Beratung team only, focused on team building.

Thursday, January 30th: Kicks off the University.

1:00-1:15 | Talk 1
1:15-1:30 | Talk 2
1:30-1:45 | Talk 3
1:45-2:00 | Talk 4

Friday, January 31st: Education Sessions All-Day

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM | Morning Walk and Morning Run
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Breakfast
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM | Opening Remarks
9:45 AM – 10:45 AM | Contagious Generosity – Dwight Montgomery
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM | Break / Check Out if Needed
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Give’Em The Pickle – Ralph Parks
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Healthy Leadership
12:00 PM – 12:30 AM | Round Table
12:30 PM – 1:15 PM | Lunch TOGETHER
1:15 PM – 1:45 PM | Tax Help for Dummies Breanna Bertoline
1:45 PM – 2:15 PM | Leading with Impact David McGlennon
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM | Closing Remarks
3:30 PM | Conference Adjourns

Hear from our past participants

"The past three years of Beratung University have been instrumental for me and my leadership. The first year I attended, I had no clue what to expect, but came ready to learn and grow my network. That's exactly what happened. The second year I brought 3 of my team members, and third year I brought nine of my team members with me. I just had to keep bringing more and more of my people with me to experience it. Great leadership teaching, local networking, team-building, and great great times - Beratung University has it all."

Will HostCEO | Andocia Marketing Solutions

"I go to a lot of conferences, and am a part of several high-level leadership masterminds. I can say that Beratung University offers a uniquely incredible experience for leaders in Western PA. Each year the conference gets better and better. I highly recommend that you, and your team, attend this event."

Tim SechlerCEO | Sechler Law Firm

"I've not missed a Beratung University yet, and I won't be missing this year's event. Last year, the event had a monumental impact on my life and leadership. I know that this year won't disappoint and I look forward to bringing my team with me to experience it."

Ryan NeupaverCEO | Santori & Peters

About Teach Passion

The History & Vision

Experiences that Shaped the Vision

When Greg joined the profession the firm he worked for, Luttner Financial Group, had a two-day annual training called LFG University. This training was formative in Greg’s growth and development through training, networking, and culture immersion. It was not present when Greg worked at other firms and saw the massive value it delivered.

This experience was combined with seeing how similar training was done through sales trips for successful “sales” people or from the sales culture our profession came out of. Those that were in the sales position were given these benefits which created divisions and did not strengthen the team together.

Another experience that shaped this vision was Greg’s history of conferences. From a young age, Greg joined his dad at conferences and attended them from Student Council in high school to Fraternity Conferences and Township Supervisor conferences in College to Church conferences, leadership conferences, and industry training conferences while working. Seeing firsthand the impact they can have and the results left a lasting impression.

How The Vision Started: Culture Building

As Beratung grew and we needed to develop our team and protect our culture the idea of Beratung University was birthed from the experiences above. The original Beratung University had the vision that this would be the cornerstone of our culture. It would be something that defines who we are and what makes us different.

For Every Team Member

Our vision was this would be for every team member. The Marines have a saying that every Marine is a rifleman, meaning that regardless of your role in the Marines you must be trained and be able to fight if called upon. We believe that every Beratung Team member is a financial planner. To understand how we serve clients and why we serve clients every team member regardless of their role she be exposed to training. It is with this in mind that we said Beratung would be open and required of all team members and not just for the “sales” folks like other firms.

More is Caught Than Taught

Making this the cornerstone of our culture was the belief that when you are immersive with others that more is caught than taught. If we have a strong culture those that attend can’t help but catch on to our cultural norms. Also after spending several days immersive with each other those that do not love our culture will self-select out. The number one reason cited for why people change jobs is culture, however, people typically do an interview or two and may ask a person who works or worked there and read an online view. They don’t have a chance to test drive that car. We believe by taking time together each year our team will assimilate to a shared culture of our tribe and those who want to test drive our culture can come and experience if this is the right fit for them.

Attracting Outside Thought Leadership

The original vision was to bring in outside through leadership. If we all think the same way and do not make room for outside thought we will end up like Blockbuster. However, we knew at the beginning we could not afford to bring in high-level leaders. We started small and worked over the years to get the “Professors” the majority from the outside and to foster an environment to attract leaders to come share their ideas. From the start we wanted to bring our “competitors” or as we call them colleagues in the profession, under Centers of Influences (COIs) or as we call them partners, we wanted to bring the best leader we could find. To create this environment we started with a shared dinner between all participants and an invitation for all professors to attend Beratung University at no cost for life.

Leadership Development

Having seen the impact of leadership development principal in the above experiences and through reading in addition to a deep-held belief that every person is a Leader it was part of the original vision that Beratung University would be a source of leadership development for our team and attendees to jump-start their growth.

Close but Far Away

We believe that your environment matters. By changing your setting or your clothes you can often change or enhance your mindset. We call this concept a Totem which comes from the book Alter Ego. To maximize the value of our time together we set out to find a location that was close but far away. We wanted it to be at least a 1-hour drive from Pittsburgh so that it was long enough to create a sense of traveling. Long enough that you had to plan and change your normal routines. Long enough to want to spend the night and get out of your normal environment. However, we also wanted it to be less than 3 hours so that there was not a lot of wasted time and we wanted it to be drivable so we didn’t have to deal with timing flights or flight cancelations. We also wanted a location that had everything on-site to accommodate our event with room to grow in future years. We wanted a place where if someone wanted to they could turn it into a trip by coming in early or straying a few extra days.

After searching many places including Oglebay, Raystown Lake, Geneva on the Lake, Peak and Peak, 7 Springs, and more we found the most cost-effective and best fit was WISP resort. This was a God moment since Deep Creek Lake happened to be Greg’s favorite place on Earth and home to many God moments and spiritual encounters.

The Dinner

In the Bible, most major events happen around breaking bread. The significance of one of Jesus’s instructions to his disciples of a sacrament around a meal cannot be ignored. We were designed to do life together and one of the best ways to share life together is around a meal. From the start, the cornerstone of the day together has been our dinner with all participants gathering together and breaking bread. We started this at Greg and Amanda’s favorite Deep Creek Restaurant, Dutch’s at Silvertree breaking from our goal of not leaving the lodge for meals because we believed having this dinner at someplace special was too important and due to the feedback have continued the tradition of having it there.

Vision Casting

The last goal from the beginning was for this to be the event that annually kicks off our year. We wanted to set our team’s goals, the theme for the year, and our vision for the future. This meant we would need the event to be after we set our goals for the year and work while into our team’s rhythms. This is why we host Beratung University the first week in February with the flexibility of a week prior or a week after based on scheduling conflicts.

Timeline

2020

How It Started

The first year started with our team crammed into a small room at Wisp. Our only external speakers were Doug Smith and Eric Guy. Doug Smith kicked us off with his motivating Keynote speech. Coming fresh of our merger it was mainly Greg presenting and focused on training our team on our systems, producers and culture. Our first dinner at Dutch’s was only 10 people The SWAG gift were Beratung University Coffee mugs. The first year was only two days.

It was hard to convince our team of the vision for Beratung University with so few speakers and such a small gathering. It’s amazing to see what it has grown into today. God’s blessings were upon our start as only two weeks afterwards the COVID virus would shut down our country and would have canceled the first year before it began.

2020

2021

As It Grew

Due to COVID restrictions we moved to WISP’s largest conference room that we still used today. We had to have enough space for 6 foot social distancing. Our swag gifts include Branded Ski Buffs that could double as dace makes as well as Beratung University Padfolios and the “GSD” tablets.

Despite the COVID restrictions we were able to build on the prior year by having mostly outside speakers with Greg only doing the Vision casting and closing. We started the 1 Takeaway and Buckeye award traditions.

2021

2022

As It Grew

As our team was growing rapidly we added a third day to incorporate team only training and team-building which included Snowshoeing with the legend Clyde (RIP) and the tradition of Mountain State Brewing pizza. This year we created Beratung branded “Rocks Jars” during our lesson on Rocks, we kicked the buckeye stickers up a few notches with blue and gold football helmet to showcase your stickers. This year’s swag gift was a North face tousle cap.

Our outside speakers grew again and the amount of outside financial planning firms represented doubled. Lastly, we added professional production to film the event and provide each professor a high quality copy of their speech along with microcontent to maximize their voice and distributed on their platforms.

2022

2023

As It Grew

We added game night to the team only day. Our swag gifts were branded gloves and scarves, We did snowtubing for our team event.

This year was the largest yet with prior professors coming back, more financial planning firms represented and participants bringing spouses. This year was special as it fulfilled every vision we had for the conference from its inception. The teams hard work of constant improvement from your feedback lead to exponential results over the 4 years and getting to a place we thought would take 7-10 years. This truly was inflection point that lead to our new vision for Beratung University.

2023

The Vision

“We envision Beratung University becoming a nationally renowned conference in our profession and in the 412. Our goal is to have over 300 people attending within the next 5 years. However, our vision for the future of Beratung University doesn’t stop there.”

Leaders Want to Be Here

We want to add so much to participants that leaders are coming to us for the opportunity to join our community. It becomes a sought after opportunity for leaders in the 412 to become a professor at Beratung University.

For the 412

Part of our 412 vision is we want to have an impact so great our community would weep if we closed our doors, and to do this, Beratung University needs to impact the 412. Very few small businesses host a conference due to the sheer amount of time and money it takes but also because they have no experience and do not know where to start. We want to take what we have learned over the years and let it be a blessing to others. In the future, we want to have many small businesses across the 412 participate with their whole team as part of the Teach Passion Summit.

Each company could brand it their name for example Beratung University at the Teach Passion Summit. We would handle all the logistics and work with the lead ear to prepare their team’s customized agenda and formulate training to meet their team’s goals.

Day 1 would be internal team trainings with each team secluded and capped with their team having a team building event and game night.
Day 2 we would all come together for leadership content allowing each firm to maximize the their collective value in speakers with the day culminating in a dinner together.
Day 3 would segregate into professions with speakers geared towards the respective profession (i.e. Financial Planning, Insurance, Law, etc.)

This would allow us to magnify the impact on our community providing small businesses and their teams with the fire to fuel their growth and have a bigger impact on those they serve strengthening the 412. This would also allow us to magnify the impact of the work we put into Beratung University.

It’s more than just the conference, a community together.

We have heard from so many of you, “this is more than just another conference.” You can feel it but can’t fully describe it. We want this to be the days that people mark off on their calendars as soon as the date is announced. We want all the professors come back each year and become part of our community. We want participants to bring their spouses be part of the magic. We want participants to parlay the trip into a family weekend getaway. We want this to be a growing network of leaders in the 412 that creates unapparelled networking opportunities and growth. We want this to be more than a conference we want it to the week that supercharges your life.