Thought Leaders

Tim Alba, FACHE, is a Partner with Caldwell Butler and Associates (CBA), an innovative firm specializing in the deployment of leadership strategies that improve hospital performance. Mr. Alba conducts research on enablers of Top Performing Organization and serves as a senior-leader coach for client hospital executives seeking to establish a transformational management culture.

Formerly as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships with Aramark Healthcare, Mr. Alba developed and managed third-party relationships with GPOs, consulting firms, shared services organizations and leading industry professional associations. Previously Mr. Alba held leadership roles at Premier and SunHealth Alliance where his experience included operational and clinical performance improvement, cost accounting, patient throughput, benchmarking and CMS pay for performance. Publications include: Journal for Clinical Engineering, Managed Care Quarterly, Topics in Health Care Financing, Journal of Cardiovascular Management, and Quality Management in Healthcare.

Mr. Alba is an advisory board member for organizations seeking to solve for health improvement. Current board appointments include Glenn Llopis Group (author of The Innovation Mentality), and Nosocom Solutions.

Mr. Alba holds degrees in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. He is a certified facilitator for Juran Business Process Quality Management.

Mr. Alba lives in Charlotte NC, enjoys outdoor sports with his family and regularly volunteers with various community service organizations supporting high school youth.

Dr. Joseph Alvarnas is the Vice President of Government Affairs, Senior Medical Director for Employer Strategy, and an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. He is accountable for leading advocacy efforts at the Federal, State, and local levels related to the needs of cancer patients and the challenges of bringing new, innovative treatments to patients who need them. He report to the President of Strategy and Business Ventures and assists in developing, marketing, and operationalizing the clinical infrastructure and activities related to employer and payer services. Prior to entering this role, he worked as the Director of Value-Based Analytics for the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and served as the Director of Medical Quality for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Alpha Clinic at the City of Hope. Dr. Alvarnas has led two multicenter, national clinical trials related to hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with HIV/AIDS and blood cancers. He co-chaired the inaugural National Comprehensive Cancer Networks Practice Guidelines Committee for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and has been a speaker at multiple NCCN events where he has discussed valued-based care of patients with cancer and issues of patient access to innovative cancer care therapeutics. He currently serves as the American Society of Hematology’s Chair for the Committee on Practice and sits on the Executive Committee for the American Society of Hematology. He is Editor-in-Chief of the publication Evidence-Based Oncology. He earned his undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University where he was recognized as the Valedictorian for his graduating class, his medical degree from the University of California San Francisco, and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at Stanford University Medical Center prior to joining the City of Hope.

Gyasi C. Chisley, PMP, FACHE, is President, CTCA® Hospitals and Clinics at Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc., which includes the Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) Comprehensive Cancer Care Network of hospitals and Outpatient Care Centers.

Chisley brings more than 20 years of hospital/fiscal operations experience to CTCA including:

• Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President, Strategy and Payment Policy/Innovation for UnitedHealthcare, where he created new payment strategies to improve health care delivery, strengthened physician/payer relations and oversaw collaboration with and acquisition of companies to improve quality
  
• CEO for Methodist Healthcare and Senior Vice President for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis. In these roles he established vision for growth, fiscal, continuum of care and culture approach for two acute sites, long-term care facilities, aligned physicians’ practices and clinics.
  
• President and Site Administrator for Mercy Health Anderson Hospital after serving as Chief Operating Officer within the Mercy Health network (formerly Catholic Health Partners) in Cincinnati. Under Chisley’s leadership, Mercy Health Anderson Hospital was twice named to the Truven Top 100 Hospitals.
  
• Throughout his career, Chisley received numerous accolades for his achievements within the health care industry, which include, but are not limited to, the Becker’s Top 25 Healthcare Executives, Modern Healthcare Up and Comers, Tenet Circle of Excellence Award, NAHSE Young Healthcare Executive of the Year, AHA Young Executive of the Year, Xavier University Preceptor of the Year, Cincinnati Business Courier’s 40 under 40, and Leadership Academy Alumni Award.

Chisley obtained a Master of Health Services/Business Administration from the University of Michigan and dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Psychology and Biology from Morehouse College.

Dr. Jack Cox is a seasoned senior healthcare executive with over 25 years’ experience in regional and national senior leadership positions including both large integrated healthcare delivery systems as well as national corporate experience. His areas of expertise and experience include: executive coaching, advising, strategic development of performance improvement / quality systems, innovation, clinical program strategic development and implementation, physician leadership development / alignment, large program operations, education, research and national and international publishing and speaking. He has achieved national recognition as an expert in quality and safety. Dr. Cox has regional and national committee and board experience.

Dr. Cox was most recently the Senior VP & Chief Quality Officer for Providence St Joseph Health (PSJH) and the System CMO for Swedish Health Services. PSJH is one of the nation's top Catholic health systems, with 51 hospitals and 119 thousand caregivers serving over 10 million patients in seven states. PSJH is a $23 billion non-for-profit comprehensive healthcare organization.

Dr. Cox is a board certified Family Physician, a fellow of the American Board of Family Practice, a fellow of the American College of Physician Executives and holds a master’s degree in Medical Management from Tulane University. He has been named one of Becker’s Top 100 CMO’s to know in 2014, 2016 and Becker’s Top Expert Leading the Field of Patient Safety in 2017, 2018. He has spoken internationally and published widely including 4 books.

Kety Duron is City of Hope's chief human resources and diversity officer, providing executive strategy and oversight for the organization's human resource initiatives. This includes overseeing City of Hope's compensation, benefits, employee/labor relations, organizational design and development, diversity and inclusion, succession planning and leadership development, talent acquisition and selection, statraining, workforce planning and performance management programs.

Prior to City of Hope, Duron was vice president of human resources at Stanford Health Care where she transformed the department into a customer-focused, proactive thought-partner. Before Stanford Health Care, she served in a variety of human resources leadership roles at UCLA Health for more than 25 years.

Kety has a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Athens, Greece, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University.

Teri Fontenot, FACHE, is CEO Emeritus of Woman’s Hospital. She was the President and CEO for 23 years until her retirement in March 2019. Teri began her career at Woman’s in 1992 as chief financial officer and became CEO in 1996. Under her leadership, Woman’s became the largest birthing hospital (8200 births annually) and neonatal intensive care unit (84 beds) in Louisiana, and is the only independent, nonprofit women’s hospital in the country. Teri led tremendous growth and development at Woman’s, including a $340 million replacement campus that opened in August 2012 with increased capacity for service expansion. Recent notable achievements include a strategic partnership with Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center to open the nation’s only specialized breast and gynecologic cancer facility in one location. The Birth Center of Baton Rouge, a midwife model of care facility, opened on Woman’s campus in late 2018 to provide a continuum to the hospital’s core obstetrical service.

Woman’s is a Magnet and Baby Friendly designated health system, and consistently performs favorably to national benchmarks on clinical outcomes, patient safety, financial performance, patient experience, culture, and workforce engagement. In 2018, Woman’s ranked in the 99th percentile for physician engagement, 94% for employee engagement, and the 95th percentile for patient experience. It is the only recipient of Modern Healthcare Best Places to Work award every year the award has been given, ranking 6th in 2018. Woman’s has a dominant market share in all women’s health service lines ranging from 75% to 95% in its primary and secondary service areas. As a tertiary health system, Woman’s provides high risk maternal and infant services statewide as well as access to breast cancer care.

Teri’s leadership service to the healthcare field includes numerous state and national healthcare boards. She currently serves on the American College of Healthcare Executives Board of Governors. She has had numerous appointments the past twenty years with the American Hospital Association, including chair of the board of trustees in 2012. Teri is the only Louisianian to serve in that role in the AHA’s 120 year existence, and was the fifth female chair. Other healthcare service includes a six-year term on the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health for the National Institutes of Health, chair of the board of the Louisiana Hospital Association, and the LHA Professional and General Liability Insurance Funds board, which she chaired for over a decade.

She is currently an independent director on the boards of Amerisafe (AMSF) and LHC Group (LHCG)--both are NASDAQ companies; the Baton Rouge Water Company; and the advisory boards for IBERIABANK, CCs Coffee Shops, and Horizon Wealth Management. Other notable past governance service includes 12 years on the board of directors of the Sixth District Federal Reserve Bank and as the Audit Committee chair, and the New Orleans Federal Reserve Bank branch board.

Teri was included in Modern Healthcare magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2011 and 2012, and named to Modern Healthcare magazine's inaugural list of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare in 2005. She was honored as Businessperson of the Year in 2013 by the Baton Rouge Business Report, received the inaugural Becker’s Hospital Review Healthcare Leadership award in 2013 and again in 2016, and was a 2011 inductee of the Louisiana State University E. J. Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction.

Teri is a CPA (inactive), holds an MBA, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is married with two children, four grandchildren, and a pug.

Dr. Shaden Marzouk, MD MBA, has over two-and-a-half decades of experience inhealthcare, with expertise in services, provider, device, technology and pharmaceuticalspaces. She is currently President of CareMore and Aspire at Anthem. Previously, shewas Managing Director, Health and Global Health Innovation, leading AXA’s healthinsurance and health services business in Asia; she also helped AXA strategically growits health services business around the globe.

Prior to AXA, Dr. Marzouk spent almost seven years at Cardinal Health in a series ofsuccessive roles, helping grow its offering of products and services through newcommercial launches and key acquisitions and partnerships. She lived and worked inChina. Ultimately, she became Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Segment, leading aglobal team in clinical operations, medical affairs and clinical education.

Dr. Marzouk began her professional career as a neurosurgeon and served in Iraq as aMajor in the US Army. She transitioned out of surgical practice after receiving her MBAat The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Post-MBA, she was an associate inthe healthcare group in the investment bank of Goldman Sachs in New York. Dr.Marzouk also advises growing health technology companies and serves on Boards.

Rich Miller-Murphy has worked in profit and non-profit healthcare his entire professional career, currently as Executive Director for Blood, Laboratory and Medical Services at New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) focusing on digital communications and hospital demand generation/marketing nationwide. Previously he served as their Chief - Strategy & Marketing, Office of the President, managed the Office of Contracts/Pricing Administration, and served as Vice President and Executive Director for NY Blood Services, serving hospitals in Manhattan. He has held senior management roles at Laerdal Medical Corporation, Hitachi Medical Corporation of America and Corometrics Medical Systems (previously part of American Home Products). He started his career with the Hospital Products Division of Abbott Laboratories in New Yok City.

Rich earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from Fairfield University and his MBA in Business Policy and Strategy from the University of New Haven. In addition to prior service as Chair of University of New Haven’s Pompea College of Business Advisory Board, now Chair Emeritus, he is on the Board of Directors for NY American Marketing Association’s Executive Circle, former Vice President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Laurence O’Toole Conference, and a member of the Healthcare PR and Marketing Society of Greater NY.

At NY Blood Center for 20 years, Rich has received the President’s Award along with numerous other industry awards for communications excellence and public relations. He has actively promoted Corporate Wellness and has served on multiple Steering Committees for NYBCe’s public websites, and enterprise intranet PULSE. He is currently helping set up a formal Office of Philanthropy at New York Blood Center Enterprises to raise funds nationally for their clinical research programs and volunteer blood donor/community recruitment programs.

Rich is married, the father of 13 year old twins and enjoys water-skiing, oil painting and travel. He also operates The Gallery at Riverbrook (www.riverbrook.com) and is a member of the Washington Art Association, Kent Art Association, and the Independent Artists of America.

Nanda serves as the medical epidemiologist for Keck Medicine of USC, leading the preparation for and response to emerging infectious diseases. She leads all efforts to reduce health care-associated infections and to optimize infection prevention practices at Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Cancer Hospital and all outpatient locations. In addition, she heads up antimicrobial stewardship efforts to ensure the judicious use of antibiotics to treat patients with bacterial infections. She also serves as an associate professor and the infectious disease service chief in the Department of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Nanda has led protocol and guideline development as it relates to patient and health care worker safety. She is an active member of USC’s policy committee for COVID-19, which has created policies for faculty and students, and she has served as an advisor for reopening plans for schools across the university. In addition, Nanda has worked with several non-health care industries on pandemic planning. She has also represented Keck Medicine in multiple media outlets at the local, national and international level to provide accurate information and ensure the community feels safe.

Nanda’s major areas of research are infection prevention strategies to reduce health care- associated infections and emerging infectious diseases. She serves on several national committees, such as the antimicrobial stewardship committee of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and has made significant contributions to the field of health care epidemiology. She completed medical school at the University of Pune, India, then completed her training and served on the faculty at Yale University before moving to USC. Due to her achievements in health care epidemiology, she has been nominated to serve as a fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

Michelle Nguyen is the business unit CFO within the Shared Service Areas of CVS Health. In this role, she is responsible for driving and managing the overall financial health and roadmap for the Enterprise Modernization initiative. Specifically, she and her team are responsible for delivering long-term value as part of our enterprise’s new focus on transforming the way we operate – helping to achieve multi-billion bottom-line savings as an outcome.

Prior to this role, she was Head of Retail Pharmacy Analytics where she was responsible for driving the advanced analytic agenda and roadmap for CVS Health retail pharmacy portfolio, advising internal clients on their full-range of analytic needs from business intelligence solutions to predictive modeling leveraging data science techniques, including artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.

Prior to CVS Health, Michelle has held several positions with increasing responsibilities within the financial services, retail and healthcare industries. Most recently Michelle was Director of Profit Initiatives and Analytics at Henry Schein Inc., a New York based healthcare company.

Michelle earned a bachelor’s degree in science from Penn State University, an International Business minor with Schiller International University of Paris, and an executive MBA from Michigan State University. She is also an Advisory Board Member of the Consortium Graduate Study in Management.

Dr. Tony Ortiz has 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug development and has worked on over 300 clinical trials in psychiatry, neurology, and rheumatology indications. Dr. Ortiz’s experience began at UCI Medical Center where he worked on brain imaging techniques and clinical trials on Developmental Stuttering, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder. Dr. Ortiz worked on Pre-Clinical studies at Allergan utilizing experimental molecules on various animal species. Dr. Ortiz has consulted with various global pharmaceutical companies, such as AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly, on their clinical research programs and regulatory filings.

Dr. Ortiz is Founder, Principal Investigator and Scientific Director at NRC Research Institute where he oversees the day-to-day clinical research operation, including a Phase I in-patient unit. NRC Research Institute has been involved in the FDA approval of various investigational products that are now available in the marketplace. Most of the psychiatric indications under study are: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Dr. Ortiz received his B.A. in Psychology with an emphasis in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles with specific training in Neuropsychology, Forensic Psychology and Clinical Neuroscience.

Terrie Thomas is a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist dedicated to maximizing patient outcomes and healthcare experiences. She believes that providing individualized, exceptional medical service is not only an obligation but also a privilege for every healthcare provider.

During her career, Terrie has worked tirelessly to ensure the highest quality of care in her community both through direct patient care and her service in various leadership roles locally and statewide. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, tasked with protecting the safety of Louisianans through the licensing and regulation of physicians and allied health professionals. Terrie has chaired various patient care committees including the Credentials Committee, responsible for ensuring the welfare of patients by establishing and upholding eligibility criteria for clinical privileges of the medical staff. She served as Chief of the Medical Staff for Woman’s Hospital, a national leader in women’s and infants’ healthcare, and guided the medical staff through the hospital’s transition to its current Briarwood campus.

Terrie has shared her expertise in clinical quality as a board member for Health Systems Improvement, which aligns Woman’s Hospital administration and medical staff members to meet quality metrics for patient care. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Louisiana Healthcare Connections, aimed at improving outcomes for more than 450,000 insured members. In 2020, she was elected to the Board of Directors for Woman’s Hospital, one of only four hospitals in Louisiana to achieve Magnet certification, and was chosen as the Secretary of the Executive Committee.

Terrie’s commitment to maximizing the patient experience is also exemplified by her advocacy for numerous initiatives in clinical practice transformation. During her tenure as Chairperson of the Woman’s Medical Review Committee, Terrie led the hospital’s efforts to discontinue elective labor induction before 39 weeks, thereby decreasing cesarean section rates and newborn admissions to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). In her community, she was one of the first robotically trained physicians for minimally invasive surgery, which has decreased hospitalization stays, recovery time, and intraoperative blood loss for her patients.

Terrie has always enjoyed teaching and mentoring medical students and residents because she wants to engender a passion for clinical excellence in upcoming generations. Terrie is an Assistant Clinical Professor for both the LSU and Tulane OB/GYN Departments. She has expanded her educational role to include nurse practitioners and, most recently, physician assistant students.

Terrie is a community volunteer for various organizations. Her efforts include helping raise almost two hundred thousand dollars for the March of Dimes as Chairperson of the Signature Chefs’ Auction in support of reducing premature births in Louisiana. Terrie has also raised over five thousand dollars for the Big Buddy organization, which provides mentoring and free tutoring to at-risk youth.

Terrie achieved her undergraduate degree in microbiology at Louisiana State University where she was honored as a Top 25 Graduating Senior. She earned her medical degree and completed her residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. When she is not caring for patients, Terrie escapes the Louisiana heat by traveling to cold destinations with her two children and thoroughly enjoys cooking for family members and friends.

As chief executive officer of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), Dana Woods partners with the organization’s boards of directors to provide leadership and strategic vision for AACN and AACN Certification Corporation. Woods has focused her career on translating innovative business approaches to advance the missions of nonprofit organizations. She leads a team of more than 190 staff who are dedicated to furthering AACN’s vital contribution to creating a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families.

Before becoming CEO in 2014, Woods served as a member of AACN’s senior leadership group for over a decade, leading the teams accountable for strategic planning, marketing, communications, membership, certification, information technology and organizational effectiveness. She led strategy development and implementation for several signature initiatives, including the “AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments” and the AACN Clinical Scene Investigator Academy. She also served as executive director and producer of NTI Super Sessions (plenary sessions) for AACN’s annual National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition.

In addition to leading the extensive market research efforts for the association, Woods served as co-investigator and co-author of three collaborative national studies examining nurses’ perceptions of the health of their work environment. She served as co-investigator for two national studies on how health professionals’ communication skills influence patient safety. Woods also co-authored a landmark AACN white paper on certification.

Woods holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Tufts University and a master’s degree in business administration from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

Edward S. Kim, M.D., M.B.A., is physician-in-chief at City of Hope, Orange County. Dr. Kim joins City of Hope in fulfilling its promise of enhanced local access to cancer breakthroughs by leading its esteemed team of clinicians in Orange County.

A U.S. News & World Report "Top Doctor" and clinician world-renowned for his immense oncology experience, Dr. Kim is poised to drive innovation in cancer care and delivery, developing paradigms for translating research into clinical practice and introducing new therapies for the Orange County clinical network and planned Irvine campus.

Backed by a distinguished history of pioneering cancer research, Dr. Kim is among the country's foremost experts in molecular prognostication — which advances cancer detection and personalized therapies — for lung, head and neck cancers. He's served as a principal/co-principal investigator on numerous studies and protocols and authored/co-authored more than 200 published articles, book chapters and reviews in top-tier journals, such as The Lancet, The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Cancer, Nature Medicine, and Cancer Prevention Research.

Before joining City of Hope, Dr. Kim was chair of Solid Tumor Oncology and Investigational Therapeutics, the Donald S. Kim Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research and medical director of the Clinical Trials Office at Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and professor of medicine at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He's held many leadership roles, such as tenured associate professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Kim recently completed his Master of Business Administration at University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Dr. Kim's goals for City of Hope are to promote strategic and team-oriented translational research and patient advocacy for greater accessibility and equitability in cancer care.

Degrees

M.B.A., University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler School of Business, Chapel Hill, NC

M.D. and Honors Program in Medical Education, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

B.S., Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Fellowship

Medical Oncology Fellowship, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Clinical fellowship, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

In September 2020, Stacy Bratcher was named Vice President and General Counsel of Cottage Health, the largest healthcare provider in California’s Central Coast region. In addition to serving as Cottage’s chief legal officer, she also leads Internal Audit and Compliance for the entire organization.

With a medical staff of more than 700 physicians, Cottage Health offers many subspecialties found only at university medical centers, including the Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Heart & Vascular Center, and an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital. Cottage Health also operates fourteen Urgent Care Centers throughout the region, as well as 24-hour access to providers via its new telehealth platform, Cottage Virtual Care.

Prior to joining Cottage Health, Ms. Bratcher spent fifteen years at the University of Southern California in various leadership positions, most recently as the Secretary of Keck Medicine and Vice President and Managing General Counsel of the USC overseeing all legal matters impacting the university and Keck Medicine of USC. Ms. Bratcher led the development of a separate governance structure for Keck Medicine and creation of a new corporate subsidiary of USC. Ms. Bratcher also supervised the Office of Risk Management and managed the university’s risk financing and insurance portfolio and oversaw proactive risk mitigation.

Ms. Bratcher began her legal career as an associate for the healthcare law firm Hooper, Lundy & Bookman in Los Angeles, where she practiced in the firm’s regulatory and litigation departments handling fraud and abuse defense, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement cases, and managed care litigation for a variety of healthcare providers throughout the country.

Dr. Jared Cox seeks to discover the upper limits of human achievement. He is a speaker, podcaster, blogger, and thought leader on the ways in which we hold ourselves back from achieving our best, and the ways in which we learn to blow past those barriers and discover our best selves.

Jared is especially concerned with starting dialogues to uncover unconscious biases, attitudes, and prejudices that keep us from connecting openly with our fellow human beings. In a highly polarized era, Jared seeks to establish bridges to neighbors near and far, across age groups, cultural groups, and nationalities.

Jared faced the same fears we all struggle with growing up – in his case in Oklahoma -- and worked hard to find the courage to overcome them. He went to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and then after earning a chemistry degree at Harding, he attended Oklahoma University Medical Center for a doctorate degree in dentistry. He has been a dentist for 20 years, witnessing the best and worst of humanity on a daily basis. He currently maintains professional associations with the American Dental Association, Arkansas State Dental Association, and the Academy of General Dentistry, from which he earned recognition as a Fellow beginning in 2007.

Tom Jackiewicz is President of UChicago Medicine. Joining the system in 2020, Tom leads the clinical enterprise, including the integration of the patient care mission of the medical center with the education and research missions of the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division.
Tom’s career has focused on executing ambitious and broad transformation in academic environments and engaging physician leaders to drive organizational change. A strategic visionary, he has ushered in eras of substantial growth and improvement at academic health systems across the country.

During tenure as CEO of Keck Medicine of USC, he grew University of Southern California’s medical enterprise from two for-profit hospitals to Keck Medicine of USC, a $2.2 billion regional academic health system with internationally renowned physicians, care quality in the top quartile in the country, and exceptional scientific research capabilities. In 2019 and 2020, Keck Hospital achieved a top 20 ranking on the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll, and in 2018, the nursing program at Keck Hospital achieved Magnet® recognition, the highest national honor for nursing excellence.

Prior to joining USC, Tom served as CEO of University of California, San Diego Health System and Associate Vice Chancellor of University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. He led the academic health system during a period of major growth and expansion, including development of a foundation model that integrated UC San Diego pediatric faculty with the largest pediatric private practice sub-specialty group in San Diego.

He has served in several other senior roles for academic health systems, including Chief Operating Officer for Columbia University Medical Center, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration for the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and Senior Associate Chair for Finance and Administration for the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Tom is the former president of the Global Health Data@Work, which uses data, medical evidence, and professional insights from the world’s best health care systems to promote more timely, equitable, and effective patient care globally. He is a former board member of the California Hospital Association and University Health System Consortium (now Vizient), and a former member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Advisory Panel for Health Care and former national chair of the AAMC Group on Business Affairs. Tom is currently a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Economic Club of Chicago, and is a Daniel Burnham Fellow with Leadership Greater Chicago.

He earned his master’s degree from Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia.

Se-Se Yennes brings more than 25 years of experience in product development, marketing, sales and general management experience in roles across Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences and Medical Products industries. As a senior healthcare executive with broad, global experience in business development, sales and marketing, including product launches, new product planning, in-line marketing, consultative services and licensing. As a leader of employees and driver of business strategy, Se-Se has led cross-functional teams in transformational organizational change, led the launch of new business lines, and established new business units in start-ups and rapid development solutions and support for strategic, Enterprise-level national accounts.

As a Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and New Product Planning at Azurity Pharmaceuticals, where Se-Se leads a cross functional team to build the organic and inorganic pipeline for P/E backed specialty pharmaceutical business in a startup company. Responsible for the development of a structured, product portfolio and new product planning model, Se-Se spearheaded the acquisition of seven new products and guided the business and financial modeling, due diligence, board approval and marketing strategy resulting in the quadrupling or the organic product pipeline in less than 12 months.

Prior to her role at Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Se-Se served as the General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Accounts for Cardinal Health, with responsibility for solution development and delivery for key, strategic health systems, as well as leadership of the strategic account executive team.

She launched Johnson & Johnson’s first HIV product and was one of three Cardinal Health leaders selected to develop the integration strategy for two key acute care businesses. Se-Se’s expertise includes an in-depth knowledge of specialty pharmaceuticals and hospital markets, including global healthcare trends, supply chain, medical devices, cultures, payer systems and business practices.

Se-Se is an active supporter of diversity inclusion and gender partnerships and has been recognized by Columbus Woman Magazine. She serves on the board of Equitas Health and was recognized as the Strayer University Alumni of the Year 2013. Se-Se received an MBA from Strayer University and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a published author and fluent in Spanish.

Melissa became an attorney to gain tools to impact disparities and health inequities and then obtained her MPH to learn methodologies designed to act on large scale health issues. After earning her MPH from Columbia University, she was the administrator for the world’s first and largest cord blood stem cell program. Her journey continued with her founding and building a successful non-profit in hemophilia and ultimately led her to Bayer, first in Advocacy Relations and currently in a newly developed global role, Patient Engagement R&D, with a lens toward rare disease and cell and gene therapy. Focusing on partnerships, public health and the person-centered approach, Melissa builds strategic relationships and initiatives to improve health. She is also the national co-lead for Bayer’s Business-Related Group, ENABLE, for employees impacted by disabilities.

Melissa lives in New York City with her husband, four children and puppy.

Drawing from a broad range of lived and learned experiences, DeAnna Minus-Vincent has tackled the toughest issues plaguing our country today—equity, poverty, housing, health, and education, just to name a few. DeAnna has created programs that move individuals along their pathway, but believes that the most sustainable change happens when we work across sectors to re-engineer fractured systems; in so doing we can exponentially impact the lives of many…in so doing we can create change. DeAnna is noted for not just programmatic and policy prowess, but for scaling organizations—she has transformed entities and dramatically increased revenue, service regions, as well as product mix. DeAnna considers the work she does with organizations a metaphor to the work that she hopes to do in life; she wants to leave an imprint and ensure every place she exits is better than when she entered. DeAnna Minus-Vincent currently serves as the Corporate Senior Vice President, Chief Social Integration and Health Equity Strategist for RWJBarnabas Health. In this role, DeAnna works across the system, with internal and external stakeholders to co-design strategies that improve health outcomes, promote health equity and eliminate health disparities. Specifically, her portfolio includes leading the system’s anti-racism efforts which seek to develop a strategy to ensure that patients, employees, and communities in which RWJBH serves are equitable, anti-racist, and free from discriminatory practices that promote poor health, social, and economic outcomes. Additionally, DeAnna co-designed and is charged with leading, Health Beyond the Hospital, an end-to-end universal initiative designed to fully integrate social factors into the clinical setting by overcoming barriers for both providers and patients. Funded by the Walmart and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations, this effort offers culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment and connection to services for patients. Finally, she oversees the system’s housing and community development initiatives, key social determinants of health that promoted positive outcomes for children and families. Before coming to RWJBarnabas Health, DeAnna served for more than seven years as the Chief Engagement Officer at Benefits Data Trust (BDT), a national social change organization, where she facilitated cross-sector partnerships, diversified the organization’s revenue streams and oversaw the organization’s strategic positioning. Additionally, she has served as the Assistant Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. DeAnna serves on the Board of the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. DeAnna received a Master of Public Administration from Rutgers University, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Morgan State University. DeAnna is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration with a concentration in Health Leadership and Innovation. Born and raised in Trenton, DeAnna is a native New Jerseyan and lives in Lumberton with her husband, Daryl and daughter, Darynn.

Kayla Redig was a competitive athlete and elementary school teacher before she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 24 years-old. After experiencing the isolation and uniqueness of being a young adult cancer patient, she grew determined to change the experience for fellow patients and survivors. During her treatment, Kayla came up with creative ways to make her treatments bearable, and even fun at times. From these experiences, her passion for helping others do the same quickly developed. She captured the young adult cancer experience on film in a documentary called VINCIBLE. When not with her family, she enjoys public speaking, being outside and homesteading.

I am a gynecologic oncology surgeon and Vice Chair of Faculty Development in the Department of Surgery at City of Hope National Medical Center where I also serve as part of the Enterprise Leadership Team. I am also a Professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. My research focuses on finding a cure for ovarian cancer and understanding the importance of racial and ethnic differences in clinical outcomes. I have served as a clinician, instructor and researcher at several of America's leading medical institutions over the past 30 years.

I am part of the City of Hope team working to increase diversity and equity as it pertains to employees in our center as well as to patients and the delivery of health care to undeserved groups and ethnic minorities. My goal is to identify gaps in care delivery to vulnerable populations in our community and improve the outcomes of their personalized treatments.

Most of all, I am a surgeon that wants to cure women's cancer by removing it when possible. Sometimes, I have to add chemotherapy drugs to attain the goal for a cure and work with my radiation oncology colleagues when radiation is the best answer. Doing surgery allows me to learn more about the cancer because I encounter it face to face. When I have to prescribe chemotherapy for my patients, I have a photograph in my mind of what I saw at surgery and somehow I feel that I have insights about "the personality" of that specific patient's cancer that others do not have...

I was recently selected to participate in the prestigious Carol Emmott Fellowship program and my work has been featured in numerous magazines, journals and two books, including Precision Medicine Oncology from Rutgers University Press. I am a frequent speaker for conferences related to health and wellness, diversity in healthcare, and cancer research, and I have mentored many postdoctoral fellows over the years. My commitment is to serve as a role model to diverse students and encourage more of them to pursue a career in healthcare.

Ninfa M. Saunders dedicated her career to defying the status quo. From her early days as a bedside nurse through her 25+ years as a C-suite healthcare executive, she maintained a laser focus on strategy, operations and people while optimizing patient care and enhancing the bottom line. Along the way, Ninfa did just that:

she created innovative strategies that accelerated growth, strengthened operations and saved lives.

As CEO of Navicent Health, Ninfa expanded the hospital’s reach in Georgia through acquisitions, partnerships, new service lines and a strategic alliance with 30+ hospitals region-wide. In 2019, she orchestrated a merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health to position Navicent for future growth. Previously, as President of Virtua Health, she powered annual net revenue to $1B while steering the organization to become the largest system in South Jersey and rank as #1 in the state for operating margin for seven consecutive years. Ninfa has served on the boards of national healthcare entities, and with her retirement from Navicent in 2020, she will now focus on board work for start-up and mature companies. Ninfa is passionate about leveraging her broad expertise to help corporate boards define “smart growth” strategies that are profitable and add shareholder value.

Kawana Williams, M.A., LPC, RMT was born in Carbondale, Illinois and raised in Dallas, TX; her family relocated permanently to Chicago, Illinois in 1992. Williams spent her childhood on the South Side of Chicago and moved the Bellwood, Illinois as a teenager. She is an alumnus of Proviso West High School (2001); Fisk University (Bachelor of Music-Vocal Performance, 2007), and St. Xavier University (Master of Art-Community Counseling). Williams was diagnosed with Stage I-C Ovarian Cancer while completing her studies at Fisk, postponing her 2006 graduation; she went on to receive her degree the following year. Williams was inducted into Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated in December of 2006, and into Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society in 2018. Williams is a former volunteer lecturer with the Chicago branches of Gilda’s Club and the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, respectively. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor, doctoral student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (Chicago/Grayslake), Reiki Master Practitioner, and owner/operator of My Healing Center. Williams’ future goals include doing clinical work with Adolescent and Young Adult cancer survivors and teaching the art of reiki to under-privileged and impoverished individuals worldwide.

Meg Aldrich is a communications strategist and trusted advisor of organizational leaders. C-level, risk management, legal, community and government relations professionals turn to her to anticipate how an audience will receive information, to predict potential pitfalls and most importantly, how to take ideas and push the boundaries of the ordinary to find new and compelling ways to tell a person or organization’s story.

She heads up corporate communications for Keck Medicine of USC, a 7,000+ employee academic medical enterprise, comprised of three hospitals and more than 60 outpatient clinics across five counties in Southern California. Her career includes several positions at major Los Angeles public relations agencies prior to a decade-long consultancy business specializing in higher education and business-to-business clients.

Meg is an advocate for the arts, having served on the boards of several Pasadena, California and Los Angeles-area arts organizations, a mother of three young adults, and an avid cyclist. In her spare time, you can find her out for a pre-dawn bike ride, walking Max, her pit-bull-mix rescue dog, or with her hands in the dirt gardening or composting in the backyard of her California cottage.

Ramón Lavandero is senior strategic adviser and organizational historian for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

An individual membership association with 130,000 members, AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization. He began his current role after 23 years on the executive team leading at various times external affairs, strategic alliances, publishing, health policy, member recognition and communications. He participated in framing AACN’s groundbreaking national standards to develop and sustain healthy work environments.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Lavandero has consulted at hospitals and nursing schools in Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Through the American International Health Alliance, he participated in leadership development initiatives for national nursing and health services officials from countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Lavandero received from Columbia University a bachelor’s degree — he was the first man to graduate from the School of Nursing — and a master’s degree in adult education, and from Yale University a master’s degree in nursing. He was the first nurse to participate in the Hispanic Leadership Fellows program sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education, Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the American Council on Education. A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, he served two terms on the board of directors.

A past president of the Yale University School of Nursing Alumnae/i Association who served two terms on the Dean’s External Advisory Board, Lavandero holds membership in AACN, American Nurses Association and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. In 2017 he received the Yale School of Nursing Distinguished Alumnae/i Award and in 2013 was honored as one of “90 Nurses for 90 Years” during the school’s 90th anniversary.

The Nursing Education Alumni Association at Teachers College, Columbia University honored him with the 2011 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Practice and induction into the Nursing Education Hall of Fame. From Indiana University School of Nursing he received the 2005 Victoria Champion Boundary Spanning Award and in 1994 the Columbia University-Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award.

James C. Bastian, Jr. is a partner resident in the Irvine and Riverside offices. Mr. Bastian heads the Firm’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Practice Areas and serves as the Firm’s Director of Marketing. Mr. Bastian joined the Firm in 1995 after serving as a judicial law clerk for one year to the Honorable Kathleen Thompson, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California. Mr. Bastian received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1991 and his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in 1994.

Mr. Bastian also has extensive experience representing trustees, estate representatives and defendants in avoidance actions which arise in bankruptcy proceedings. Mr. Bastian has represented parties in hundreds of these matters, the overwhelming number of which settled before trial. Mr. Bastian also devotes a large part of his practice to out of court workouts and restructurings, helping dozens of companies and individuals avoid bankruptcy. Mr. Bastian has developed a niche practice of representing construction companies and their principals who are involved in public construction projects and are in financial distress.

Mr. Bastian has built a reputation as a consensus builder and analytical mediator who can break down each party’s position on a given issue and provide an honest assessment of each party’s strengths and weaknesses to drive them to a successful resolution and avoid costly litigation.

Mr. Bastian is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Orange County Bar Association Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section.

Mr. Bastian has long been committed to community service dating back to when he received the Chancellor’s Service Award while an undergraduate at UCLA. Currently, he is the Golf Committee Chair and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mission Hospital Foundation, chairman of the Board of Directors of Lion's Heart, a national youth volunteer organization, a member of his local Rotary Club where he served as President in 2007 – 2008, is past President of the Bell Tower Foundation, and has served as a youth sports coach for over twenty five years. Mr. Bastian is also active in helping to raise money for numerous charitable organizations, including the American Heart Association, Education for the Children, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, The Public Law Center and other organizations.

Dalana Brand is a seasoned human capital executive with significant global leadership experience in various industries, Dalana has established a career profile that includes both corporate finance and human resources. This dual background allows her to uniquely add value to any organization as she can leverage the link between people and the business. Dalana Brand has worked at some of the world’s foremost Fortune 500 companies where she led global teams to design and develop innovative people programs that equitably engage employees, create a fair and inclusive culture, and help advance the business strategy of the company. Dalana is currently VP People Experience and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Twitter, Inc.

Dalana’s most important work is serving as a fierce equality advocate. She is a frequent industry contributor and speaker on the topics of equality, gender pay equity, diversity and inclusion, and other human resources topics.

Firmly believing in “lifting others while climbing,” Dalana is always involved within her community and supports several non-profit organizations. She is currently a board member for Enterprise for Youth and also served as an Ambassador in the inaugural cohort of the United States of Women where she worked within the community to convene and amplify voices in the movement for full gender equality.

Gustavo is the VP of People Analytics at Schneider Electric and he is a very active champion of the analytics community in the industry. He is responsible for all employee analytics related activities to support talent and the implication on business performance. Some of his current responsibilities are to manage a 25+ global analytics team, set the strategy for analytics infrastructure, provides advance analytics support across the entire employee life cycle in collaboration with other areas.

Prior to that, Gustavo worked for Walmart, Inc in several different analytics functions. From 2012 to 2017, he worked in the People Analytics team leading analytics, test & learn, research and strategy. Before Gustavo joined HR, from 2005 to 2012, he worked in different Marketing Analytics and Strategy teams supporting customer insights, advanced analytics and providing strategic analytics support.

Gustavo was born in Panama City; Panamá, where he obtained his degree in Mechanical-Industrial Engineer. He has a combined 12+ years of Research and Analytics experience across different industries.

Hobbies:

During his free time, he enjoys listening to podcasts and working out (yoga, cycling, etc).

Fred M. Diaz is an Independent Director of SiteOne Landscape Supply Inc. From April 2018 to March 2020, Mr. Diaz served as President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.  He previously served in executive roles at Nissan, most recently as Division Vice President and General Manager, North America, Trucks and Commercial Vehicles, of Nissan North America, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Diaz served as Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Operations, of Nissan USA.  Before joining Nissan in 2013, Mr. Diaz spent 24 years at Chrysler Corporation, where he held a number of executive roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler’s Ram Truck brand and President and Chief Executive Officer, Chrysler de Mexico and Latin America.  Fred has two sons and has been married to his bride of 30 years whom he met in church at the age of 14 while growing up in San Antonio, TX. They currently reside in the greater Nashville metropolitan area.

Walter is a Director of Strategic Engagements for Arbela Technologies, a Microsoft Inner Circle Partner, where he leads enterprise level digital transformation initiatives. In this role, Walter works with senior executives to align strategic business objectives with the design, execution and adoption of technology-based initiatives.

Additionally, Walter is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of BoomerBaby Insurance Services, an insurance brokerage focused on Medicare solutions for employers and their employees that are 65 and older.

Prior to these two current initiatives, Walter was the founder of Fawcett Technology Advisors, a technology consulting firm that provided a range of services including fractional CIO services, application design, network engineering and business application implementation. Fawcett Technology Advisors was acquired by Arbela Technologies in 2019.

Walter is a graduate of the Walter A. Haas Business School at University of California at Berkeley. He has lived in Orange County, California for over 30 years. He has three daughters and his wife, Joy Fawcett, is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in soccer. Walter has served on a number of non-profit boards including Saddleback United Soccer Club (which he and his wife founded), South Slammers Soccer Club, Association for Corporate Growth and the Friends of San Clemente. Additionally, Walter is an advisor for the Fauna Foundation and The Pure Game.

James FitzPatrick is a Managing Director whose team of world-class professional’s work with SMB owners and Enterprise executives to drive their company’s growth. Jim manages, coaches and mentors’ managers in customer solutions, marketing, sales, along with operations and engineering professionals that provide complex, state-of-the-art technology and process driven, supply-chain solutions to SMB’s and to very large Enterprise companies throughout a wide range of industries. My core expertise as Managing Director is two-fold; Identifying clients’ interests and needs, building, presenting and negotiating multimillion-dollar agreements that position revenue generation solutions that execute on effective implementation strategies while cultivating long-lasting relationships and focusing a large part of me time on training, developing and mentoring the future leaders of the organization.

I hold an MBA from Townsend School of Business and BS in Communications from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.

Jim is the proud Father of five awesome Children and lives on the south shore of Long Island, NY.

Megan is a first generation, Chinese American woman born and raised in Arizona. She graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Marketing, and joined General Mills soon thereafter where she has built a nearly 20 year career in Sales, business planning, strategy and trade planning, and trade marketing. Her journey has taken her and her family across the United States through half a dozen relocations, spanning a wide breadth of customers and brands, and increasing levels of responsibility, and leadership. She is currently a Customer Vice President for Target, and her favorite General Mills product is Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. After nearly 20 years, she still has to explain to her parents that she does not go door to door to each grocery store to sell Cheerios.

She calls Minneapolis home, along with her husband, John, their 2 daughters, Amelia and Alice, and their dog Koda. She’s on a mission to be a strong female role model for her children, and leverage what she uniquely solves for both at home and at work. She is constantly reminded and humbled at how challenging parenting is, and how its many lessons can be used and applied in the workplace

Megan is a truth seeker and truth teller, moves with a generous spirit, and is most satisfied when serving the team she leads, and the mission of the organization she belongs to. She strives to create a culture of inclusivity by bringing her authentic self to create space for others to do the same. At times, she forgets to make space for herself in her leadership story, and is trying to be more intentional about how she expends energy and time to maximize her impact. She loves to love life, enjoys a good story, and connecting in a meaningful way with others.

As president of Banfield Pet Hospital, Brian Garish oversees the largest veterinary practice in the United States, including more than 1,000 hospitals and 18,000 associates.

Under his leadership, Banfield has pioneered associate-centered programs that include expanding available mental health resources, piloting a program that helps relieve veterinarians’ student debt burdens, and creating a culture of inclusion that empowers associates to influence company strategy and growth. He has achieved a practice-wide all-time low turnover rate for veterinarians and the support staff – quite a feat in today’s highly competitive race for veterinary talent.

Garish started working as a 16-year-old sweeping floors, stocking shelves, cashiering and unloading trucks, then advanced through management roles at Walgreens and senior leadership roles at CVS Health before joining Banfield in 2015 as chief operating officer.

That blend of experience with healthcare for both people and pets is why today one of his big goals is to advance human health through pet health. He eagerly shares his bold ideas and thought leadership in the following areas of expertise:

• The intersection of pet health, human health and societal wellbeing
• Strategic and operational excellence
• Leadership and human capital
• Change management

As a leader who connects more with Gen X, but is close enough in age with many Millennials, he is uniquely positioned as the president of Banfield who oversees an organization with a workforce that is nearly two-thirds Millennial and Gen Z. This also gives Garish a unique perspective on how to help leaders prepare their organizations for the demographic shifts underway. Believing these demographic shifts will change everything about how business runs – including how work gets done, which business models will succeed, what products and services people will want, and more – Garish feels an urgency and passion for helping leaders create cultures of inclusion that will fuel growth.

Kristin is the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Chico's FAS, Inc., an omni-channel retailer of brands including Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma. These brands are all specialty retailers of private label women’s apparel, accessories, and related products. They have 1,400 stores in the United States and Canada, and franchise in Mexico.

Kristin joined Chico’s FAS in December 2012 as Vice President, Human Resources. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2016. In 2019, she was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Kristin leads Human Resources, Talent Analytics, Inclusion & Diversity, Charitable Giving, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Campus Services and Facilities. Leading these various teams under HR aligns the areas of the associate experience and culture together from recruitment to retirement, and the moments in between. This also includes the physical campus and its services, and storytelling venues (internal and external), which wrap the associate journey and experience together. Kristin is committed to cultivating a culture where associates can be celebrated for their individuality and unique perspectives as they enjoy a career in which they can work, learn, and grow.

Prior to joining Chico’s FAS, Kristin served as Head of Human Resources for Pacific Sunwear, a specialty retailer based in Anaheim, California. She also held several positions of increasing scope and responsibility for T-Mobile Wireless in Bellevue, Washington, where she worked through several mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry. Kristin holds a Master’s in Human Resources Management from Troy State University, a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Florida State University, and is SPHR certified.

Kristin currently serves on both the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Advisory Committee and the Human Resources Council for RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association).

Kristin enjoys volunteering at the Gulf Coast Animal Shelter and participating in Women’s Build for Habitat for Humanity.

Dr. Dianne F. Harrison is President Emerita of California State University, Northridge, where she served as president from June 2012 to January 2021. Prior to her appointment, she served as president of California State University, Monterey Bay since 2006 and for nearly 30 years worked at Florida State University, where she began as a faculty member and served in various administrative leadership roles, including vice president for academic quality and external programs. President Harrison is known for her commitment to students, academic excellence, strategic leadership, and for building strong partnerships with public and private organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s of social work and a bachelor’s in American Studies, both from the University of Alabama. Her academic and research areas of expertise include HIV prevention among women and minority populations and higher education issues related to university leadership.

Dr. Harrison currently serves on the board of the American Council on Education (ACE) and Second Nature, and was vice chair of the board of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU). She served two full 4-year terms as former California Governor Jerry’s Brown appointee on the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, having been initially appointed in 2011 and serving in 2014 as chair of the Commission. As an active civic leader, she served until recently on the boards of directors for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Valley Economic Alliance and Valley Presbyterian Hospital. She also was a member of the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs and served on the Advisory Council of BizFed and, for 2019–20, and as chair of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Board. In May 2020, she was invited to serve on the City of Los Angeles Workgroup on Higher Education, a subgroup of the Education Workgroup, charged with providing policy recommendations for the re-opening and recovery of Los Angeles, post COVID-19. Active with the NCAA, she serves on the NCAA Division I Committee on Academics and the NCAA Board of Governors' Committee to Promote Cultural Diversity and Equity.

Eric Llopis recently left Aramark after +6 years as SVP, Chief Strategy Officer and National Retail Brands. He oversaw all strategic and operational transformations and managed a portfolio of +$1B in retail franchisee relationships. Previously, Mr. Llopis was SVP, Chief Strategy Officer at Pepsi Beverages Company from 2008 to November 2011, and remained on retainer with the company until October 2012. He previously served as Director of Competitive Strategy at MillerCoors. Before joining Miller in 2005, Mr. Llopis co-founded Auctive, a management consulting firm where he specializing in portfolio growth strategies, distribution, channel development and international expansion. He also spent eight years with Dove Consulting, where he advised PepsiCo, Nestle, Kraft and others. Eric earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Mr. Llopis has on-the-ground workexperience in more than 40 countries. He is a native Spanish speaker and has extensive corporate board experience.

Stephanie Lloyd is Founder and President of Toggle® and Head of New Ventures for Farmers Insurance®. She and her team are disrupting the insurance space from within and creating unique products for digitally-powered, modern consumers.

Toggle debuted in late 2018 with a fresh take on renters insurance – portable, customizable, and with optional add-ons like Pet Parent™ and Side Hustle® coverage. And they’re just getting started.

Prior to founding Toggle, Stephanie served as Farmers® Personal Lines Chief Underwriting Officer, where she developed practical solutions to help improve profitability, quality and efficiency. Before her time in Underwriting, she spent ten years in Personal Lines Product Management and in Agency Distribution.

Digital Insurance honored Stephanie with the 2019 Women in Insurance Leadership award which recognizes excellence across technology and business. She was also a finalist for the 2019 Future is Female award by AdWeek.

I am originally from Havana, Cuba. My family and I fled to the United States in 1980 when I was eight-years-old. After moving to the United States, I was raised in Reno, Nevada. As a youngster, I was heavily involved in multiple sports and played football at the college level.

Throughout my career, I reached high level executive positions at a very young age. I have led organizations in diverse areas in the United States including Hawaii and Guam. For the last nine years, I have been working for Dick’s Sporting Goods as the Regional Vice President for the West Region.

I have been married to my wife, Melodia, for 25 years and have two boys. My son, Jake, is currently enrolled at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. My younger son, Nathan, is a junior in high school and is committed to play baseball at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Eric has spent the last 25 years riding through the waves of change in our global corporate environment exclusively in the HR space. From starting as a consultant for HR Technology infrastructure to implementing full-scale performance management programs and plenty in between – Eric is a person who belongs working with people. Whether we call that Human Resources, People Practices or The Employee Experience, Eric thrives on helping drive and enable change through well thought out programs. Eric has a simple philosophy that he brings to every engagement: “Meet people where they are and keep the experience effortless and sticky.” Everything that needs to get accomplished through process and technology should feel like an experience that each person buys into and they feel it resonate and mean something special to them.

Nik Modi is a Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, where he has responsibility for coverage of Beverage, Household Personal Care and Tobacco industries. The companies under Nik's coverage total over $1 trillion in combined market value.

Nik has consistently been ranked as one of the top analysts across the consumer space by Institutional Investor's All Star Analyst Survey. He has also been top rated across various analyst polls, including the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Forbes.

Tiffany Scalzitti Monroe became the Chief People Officer for H&R Block on March 5, 2018, reporting directly to President & CEO Jeff Jones. In this role, she leads H&R Block’s people strategies, including organizational and performance management, talent development, and ensuring the workforce has both the people and organizational capabilities to enable and ultimately deliver company strategy. She works closely with the president and CEO and other senior leaders across the company on programs and initiatives to attract, develop and retain a world-class full-time and seasonal workforce of nearly 90,000.

Monroe has almost two decades of human resources experience. Most recently, at U.S. Foods, headquartered near Chicago in Rosemont, Ill., she served as the chief human resources officer from 2015-17. While there, she focused strongly on talent and culture development, including instituting a formal talent assessment process, formal development programs, and redesigning the company’s incentive programs to better attract and retain great talent.

Prior to her position at U.S. Foods, Monroe was employed at Target Corporation from 2001-15. She served as senior vice president for human resources at Target Canada from 2011-15. Among her achievements, she developed a comprehensive total compensation offering, implemented an innovative program focused on enhanced talent development, and maintained high employee engagement and retention levels by ensuring a positive team culture and working environment. Other key positions held at Target included Vice President of Human Resources from 2010-11 and Director of Human Resources from 2006-10.

Monroe holds a bachelor of arts degree from Indiana University and a juris doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law.

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication speakers, theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas – and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear in the media, and to deliver unforgettable TED talks. He has worked widely with political and educational leaders. And he has himself spoken, led conferences, and moderated panels at venues around the world. During the last election cycle, he provided expert commentary on the presidential debates for CNN.

Nick’s methods, which are well-known for challenging conventional thinking, have been published worldwide. His acclaimed book on public speaking, Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking, was published by Harvard in 2003 and reprinted in paperback in 2005 as Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action. His book on authentic communications, Trust Me, was published by Jossey-Bass in January 2009. His book on communications and brain science, Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, was published by Harvard in May 2014. His latest book is Can You Hear Me?, on the perils of virtual communication, published by Harvard in 2018.

Nick served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter from 1998 – 2003. He has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications, and appears frequently on radio and TV. Nick is a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

After earning his PhD. in literature and rhetoric, Nick spent a number of years teaching Shakespeare and Public Speaking at the University of Virginia, Lehigh University, and Princeton University. He first started writing speeches for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and went on to found his own communications consulting organization, Public Words, in 1997.

Nick attributes his success to his honest and direct approach that challenges even the most confident orators to rethink how they communicate.

Senior Vice President, People & Organization Stephanie Neuvirth is responsible for the leadership, vision and strategic planning for all People and Organization (P&O), including Associate Relations, Human Resource Systems, Recruiting, Compensation, Benefits, and Talent and Learning. Prior to joining Banfield, Stephanie held HR leadership roles with City of Hope, Mars Food, Mars Petcare, the Walt Disney Company and Advantage Sales and Marketing. She is a graduate of the University of Denver and holds a master's in business administration from U.S. International University. Stephanie and her husband have two daughters and a Beagle named Lucy.

Jeff Pilof is the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain for the retail division of CVS Health. In this capacity, he has responsibility for supply chain and product flow strategy, inventory management, distribution operations, and transportation in support of more than 9,800 stores, e-commerce, and long-term care pharmacy delivery. Prior to CVS Health, he spent more than 20 years in various supply chain leadership roles with Macy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, PPG Industries, and Nabisco. He is a proud alumnus of Penn State University with a B.S. and M.S. in Business Logistics.

Shawntee is Head of Inclusion and Diversity at Square. In this role, Shawntee oversees a team focused on designing I&D resources and implementing solutions, and systems of ownership and accountability that build an environment where employees feel supported and represented.

An accomplished executive, change agent, and educator, Shawntee’s progressive organizational development and leadership experience spans corporate banking and retail, higher and primary education, financial services, and retail. Prior to Square, she was a Founding School Operations Leader for KIPP Public Charter Schools in San Francisco. Whereby, she opened KIPP’s first elementary in San Francisco and enrolled students from TK - 1st in its first year of operating in August 2018. She was previously Director of Diversity and Inclusion Programs and Community Relations at Sears Holdings Corporation. In her role, Shawntee developed and executed the strategic development, planning, and management of the diversity and community engagement plans for Sears and Kmart globally. Through this, she worked to educate, engage, and co-create momentum to deliver against company-wide brand and reputation management strategy. Prior to Sears, she was Vice President for JPMorgan Chase Corporate Talent Acquisition, where she led corporate staffing efforts for mid- to entry-level talent positions for finance, operations, and technology divisions.

Passionate about training and development, she joined the University of San Francisco as an adjunct professor in 2013 where she lectured part-time in the School of Management – Business Launch Program. Previously, she was an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs.

Shawntee’s non-profit board service includes serving with the Code Nation Bay Area Leadership Council, Advisory Board Member for Oakland Public Education Fund, and previously with the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement and Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC) national boards respectively. Shawntee has been recognized as a 2020 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times, 2015 Top 100 Under 50 in Diversity MBA Magazine, and 2012 Most Powerful Women in Retail & Finance in Women of Color.

A Texas native, she earned a MA in Organization and Leadership from the University of San Francisco and BA in Communications from University of Texas at Arlington, and is currently pursuing her doctorate.

Shawntee has a track record of demonstrated results in driving large-scale cultural change in building organizational effectiveness. She is an expert facilitator and considered a visionary in human capital management.

Gisel is a global executive with breadth and depth of experience having served in C-suite level roles in Operations and Human Resources for Fortune 1 company, Walmart Inc. During her 26-year career, she led teams through large scale growth in three fast evolving business segments - Walmart US, Walmart International and Sam's Club.

She recently completed her career as the EVP, Chief Operations Officer at Sam's Club, where she had full P&L responsibility for $65bil in annual revenue, ~600 facilities and 100,000 employees. She led store operations, real estate planning, digital innovation transformation and employee & customer satisfaction strategies.

She’s now the President & CEO of GMR Group Consulting, partnering with investors and executive teams to provide guidance in growth strategies, digital transformation and beyond. She’s on the Board of Trustees at Santa Clara University, on the Board of Advisors for the Santa Clara University’s Retail Management Institute and was recently named a member of the Board of Directors at Vital Farms, a Certified B, ethically sourced, high-quality food company based in Austin, TX. She’s the proud mother of two college age daughters and splits her time between Northwest Arkansas and Florida with Mike, her husband of 26 years.

Dr. Patricia Delgado is an experienced Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologist with 20 years of experience in organizational and business development, management and leadership, employee-employer interdependency, and human behavioral psychology.

With knowledge and experience in the science of human behavior in the workplace, Dr. Delgado's work scope focuses on bridging theory and research with people management and behavior practice. Dr. Delgado assures a comprehensive and rigorous process that begins with the assessment and interpretation of research and data, the creation and implementation of design with the integration and synthesis of research to practice, and solutions to human and organizational problems for effective high potential outcomes.

As an analyst and advisor to other professional consultants, organizational leaders, and project managers, Dr. Delgado provides expert support and knowledge from an I/O Psychology perspective through research and overall strategy design, development, and project implementation.

Dr. Delgado is a featured contributing author in the newly released book 'Hispanic Star Rising: A New Face of Power. As the founder and CEO of the Bridgify Group, Dr. Delgado understands the value of an inclusive workforce. Leaders and employees create a cohesive work environment that represents and celebrates each person's differences. Through her concept of interdependency, inclusion, and integration, Dr. Delgado is a partner and long-term advisor to her clients. Authenticity, professionalism, and relationships are key organizational values that stem from helping leaders and individuals exceed their own expectations.

Carole is an Executive Certified Coach, and a board member. She has been coaching for many years and specializes in coaching board level executives on topics related to governance, challenging decision making, strategic issues, growth & development. She is also a sparring partner to C-Level executives. She has an extended knowledge of the Middle East culture and markets.

She had a successful international business career as a C-level Executive & Board member, building profitable businesses from vision to operational implementation. This included living and working in different countries in Europe and the Middle East. Carole excelled in hiring & leading multicultural teams on the path of success. She inspired other women to trust themselves and step up to their full potential.

Carole specializes in helping leaders to:

• Reflect and embrace the new managerial paradigm for stronger engagement & sustainable performance: Emotional Leadership.
• Understand & visualize the emotional topology of their teams to unleash potentials & increase engagement with an innovative strategy of transformation.
• Develop Women Leadership to allow women gain awareness about their potential & impact, to anchor their self-confidence & influence.

Carole is a qualified active Mentor, mentoring executives from various industries in Energy and Oil & Gas; Women in Sports for the SWinG mentoring program (Support Women IN achieving their Goals).

Carole co-created a coaching program, Women Act, to coach a select cohort of women entrepreneurs every year to support them in their positions as leaders & entrepreneurs.

Carole is a Board Member of the Association of International Certified Coaches HEC – Paris. She runs the Partnerships Commission and the Lobbying & External Promotion of Certified Coaches Commission.

Laura is a Senior Manager in Corporate Security at CVS Health. She leads a team overseeing CCTV for CVS’s Retail stores and Distribution Centers. Laura joined CVS in 2011 as a Retail Business Analyst in the IT department. In 2016, Laura was promoted to a Senior Manager in Pharmacy Inventory where she led a team managing an cost-saving Enterprise Drug Transfer model. In 2018, Laura transferred to the Asset Protection where she led a team dedicated to supporting Applications for the entire department. In late 2021, Corporate Security inherited CCTV for the Retail business where Laura and her team moved from Asset Protection department. Prior to CVS Health, Laura held IT positions at Dell/Perot Systems with the Blue Cross of RI account and at Citizens Bank.

Armando Azarloza brings 30 years of experience in marketing, communications and advertising. He co-founded The Axis Agency in 2005 and serves as CEO of the award-winning U.S. multicultural marketing agency.

An expert in integrated marketing, his campaigns are defined by innovation, creativity and diversity. Whether launching a new product, managing a company’s reputation or brand building his efforts produce experiences that are consistent with culture, language, and lifestyle.

Armando has been instrumental in shaping marketing strategies for many leading brands including U.S. Army, Covered California, ALDI, U.S. Treasury, PBS So Cal, Azteca America, Televisa, Nintendo, Absolut Vodka, Waste Management, Catholic Healthcare West and the Los Angeles Police Department. His teams have been recipients of more than 60 national marketing awards.

Before launching Axis, Armando was Executive Vice President of Weber Shandwick, a leading global communications firm. Prior he served as Press Secretary to U.S. Representative Buck McKeon (CA), the past chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and House Education and Workforce Committee. He started his career in Presidential Advance for First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Armando has served on several community boards including as President of Padres Contra el Cancer and a Board Member of the LAPD Youth, Education and Welfare Fund, Latino Leadership Policy Forum and Hispanicize, the nation’s prominent Hispanic digital conference. Armando who is fluent in Spanish studied political science at UCLA and lives in Los Angeles.

Jeff Blue is a multi-platinum A&R executive, producer, songwriter, music publisher, attorney, journalist, and manager whose acts have collectively sold over one-hundred million albums. He

has been A&R at Warner Bros., RCA, Interscope, Atlantic, Virgin, Jive Records, and Zomba Music. He is the author of the book, One Step Closer, From Xero To #1; Becoming Linkin Park.

He received a BMI Song writer Award in 2008, a Hollywood Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and a Music Influencer of the Year Award 2017. As a songwriter, he has been signed to Universal

Music, Warner Chappell, Zomba, and BMG Music Publishing. His articles have been published in Billboard and HITS, and he has lectured internationally. In addition to Linkin Park, he’s worked with

Macy Gray, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Daniel Powter, the Last Goodnight, Hoobastank, Better Than Ezra, DJ Ashba, and co-music supervised Aaliyah’s Queen of the Damned soundtrack. In 2020 he produced a

music docuseries and finished his first screenplay.

He lives in Los Angeles where he received his undergraduate degree at UCLA, and law degree from Loyola Law School.

Eduardo is President and Chief Executive Officer of Aon Risk Solutions of PR, Inc., a subsidiary of Aon plc, the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources consulting and outsourcing. In his current responsibilities he oversees Aon’s risk management, brokerage, and human resources consulting operations in the country, as well as the Caribbean and Venezuela operations, including a staff of over 100 professionals. Previously, he was President of Popular Risk Services a bank owned brokerage firm established on 2008. His areas of expertise are in Property, Casualty, Health & Benefits and specialty risks. Eduardo’s have over 25 years of experience in the Insurance Industry. He joined Aon in January 2020, his leadership skills and strong sales background led to a substantial growth in his prior jobs.

Christy Del Regno is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leader for Thermo Fisher Scientific. Prior, she was the Global Leader of Talent Acquisition for Pall Life Science Corporation, one of Danaher’s Operating Companies leading a team in Americas, APAC and EMEA. Prior to this role, she was the Enterprise Head of University / Diversity Recruiting at CVS Health, the nation's premier health innovation company helping people on their path to better health. She has more than 20 years of senior leadership experience as an HR generalist and specialist spanning Fortune 20 companies, including General Mills, Pepsi, and Johnson & Johnson, and has held multiple senior leader positions in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition at CVS Health for the last 10 years.

Del Regno is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Peter C. Thorp Corporate Leadership Award & the 2019 recipient of the Corporate Pacesetter Award from Consortium for superior leadership in diversity recruiting, the winner of 4 CVS Breakthrough Awards and in 2018 was featured in Ivy Research annual D&I report for her leadership of CVS’s first Externship Program. Through her leadership, CVS Health was recognized in the Vault Best Internships in 2017 & 2018 and improved 23 spots on the Diversity Inc. Top 50 list from 2017 to 2019. She is a regular speaker at University & Diversity events and was a speaker at the ERE National 2019 conference, speaking about best in class campus recruitment strategies that can be applied across any company or industry.

Throughout her career, Del Regno has led the people agenda for acquisitions, mergers, and reorganization initiatives. She was the National Co-Chair for CVS Health’s Women Inspiring Success and Excellence (WISE) colleague resource group of 7,500+ members. Additionally, she served as a member at large of The Consortium (a nonprofit alliance of top-tier business schools and corporate partners dedicated to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in business education and corporate leadership), Amos House (a non-profit dedicated to helping people help out of homelessness and poverty, and Babson MBA College, where she advised on results driven HR policies and strategies.

Del Regno earned her MA in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota, her SPHR certificate and HR leadership certificate from the Corporate Executive Board.

Commitment to Diversity: Del Regno was passionate about diversity recruiting before it became a key performance metric for companies. She improved Latino hiring by 11% at General Mills, and most recently improved female VP hires at CVS by 18% and racial/ethnic diversity of college hires by 17%.

Marty Glaske has been with Gafcon for 16 years and currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Client Development. Marty holds a Bachelor of Science in Business, and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Organizational Management, as well as multiple executive certificates. Throughout his professional career, Marty has worked for consulting firms, general contractors, and construction managers focusing on labor compliance, apprenticeship compliance, project labor agreements, labor law, and local hire and outreach initiatives. Marty also heads the Culture Committee as a champion of the Gafcon Tribal Culture.

Marty leverages more than 25 years of experience in the A/E/C industry with both public and private clients to define strategic, forward-thinking goals for the firm. Additionally, he is a member of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH), The Community College Facilities Coalition (CCFC), and the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA). Marty was also honored as the 2017 Public Works Advocate of the year by the San Diego/Imperial County Chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Marty’s hobbies include fly fishing and golfing with his wife.

A transformational leader who drives critical Human Resources initiatives that result in a more engaged workforce and increased sales and profit. I have extensive experience turning around underperforming businesses as well as being a chief contributor within start-up organizations. Others describe me as a collaborative business partner and leader who excels at developing strategies and a vision to create a more cohesive work environment.

Most recent experience prior to 99 Cents Only Stores was I served as the SVP - Human Resources for National Stores, Inc., a privately-owned retailer with over 400 stores nationwide. In this role, I directed an 18-person HR organization as well as managing the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. I also served as a collaborative business partner and advisor to the CEO/Owner and to the rest of the executive management team.

The following is a representative sample of former accomplishments and highlights within my career:

I orchestrated all HR activities, including training, talent acquisition, compensation, and organizational development, for the largest division of the TJX Companies which entailed supporting a global workforce of 130,000 people located in 3000 stores globally.

I have had the privilege of working as the SVP of Talent Acquisition and Diversity and Inclusion for the world’s largest retailer – Wal Mart. There is was able to help the organization create a global growth strategy that allowed the brand to adapt to global cultures.

My start-up experience entailed partnering with the CEO of McDonalds to build an Internet company for franchisee owners. eMac Digital LLC, was built as a world class technology company that created and designed enterprise operations management technologies. The company employed 1800 people in the United States, India, and Brazil.

I started my retail career as a Buyer for the May CO. Department stores and then moved into the operations side of the business where I was a store manager, district manager and regional market manager, before moving into the Human Resources Function as the V.P. Of Talent Management.

David Meerman Scott spotted the real-time marketing revolution in its infancy and wrote five books about it including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, now in a 7th edition, with more than 400,000 copies sold in English and available in 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese.

Now David says the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications. Tech-weary and bot-wary people are hungry for true human connection. Organizations have learned to win by developing what David calls a “Fanocracy” - (the subject of his Wall Street Journal bestseller) - tapping into the mindset that relationships with customers are more important than the products they sell to them.

He is a massive live music fan, having been to 804 live shows since he was 15 years old, is passionate about the Apollo lunar program, and he loves to surf.

Lou Mercado is a successful C-Suite executive with global business experience with a focus on growth and turnaround. His focus is in Supply Chain, Global Sourcing, Operations, Inventory Management and Digital. He has led companies within different industry verticals such as Healthcare, Retail and Technology.

Lou Mercado was the Head of and Vice President of Inventory Management for the retail group for both Front Store and Pharmacy. As a corporate officer at CVS Health, he has accountability for Inventory Management, Planning & Analytics, Supply Chain and the International Team.

In addition, Lou Mercado was a corporate officer and Global Vice President at Henry Schein Inc., a healthcare company distributing medical, dental and animal health products. His responsibilities included Inventory Management, Supply Chain and the Logistics group. In addition, he was an integral part of the integration team for new mergers and acquisitions. He was one of the senior members of the global strategy planning committee that set forth the company’s strategic vision.

In addition, he was a corporate officer at Sears Holdings were he held numerous roles in Supply Chain, Planning and Store Operations were he chaired the offshore strategy group. He spent over 16 years at United Parcel Service where he held different positions in Operations, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, Logistics, Domestic Sales and International teams.

He was a senior member of the Restoration Hardware Retail group where he was responsible for the planning and allocation teams.

Lou led the URG Group as their COO responsible for the organization’s growth and strategy.

He has been very actively involved in several charities as a board member at: The Phoenix House, City Year, The Adelante Foundation and Boston Children’s Hospital; Milagros Para Ninos Foundation. In addition, Lou Mercado is also on the Advisory Board of Center for Hispanic Leadership.

In addition, he has passionately chaired numerous Inclusion and Diversity committees during his tenure as an executive.

Ivy Nguyen leads the Enterprise Resilience Capabilities team at General Mills. In this role, she is responsible for promoting preparedness across the enterprise by leveraging Threat Intelligence, Business Continuity Planning, Crisis Management, and Security Awareness.

Ms. Nguyen began her career as a web developer for the Minnesota Department of health, focusing on ADA compliance and web accessibility. In 2003, she joined American Express to work on interactive solutions for consumer websites. She later managed projects to spinoff Ameriprise Financial from American Express. She joined General Mills in 2008, where was part of and led teams that focused on shared platforms for consumer-facing applications prior to her roles within the Security team.

Ms. Nguyen holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota and is an alumna of the Senior Executive Leadership Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She earned and maintains a PMI designation as an Agile Certified Professional. Along with native English, she is fluent in Vietnamese.

Ron Porter is in Korn Ferry's Human Resources Center of Expertise. Ron recruits Chief Human Resource Officers, Senior Human Resource Executives and Chief Diversity Officers. Ron is based in New York where he also helps clients design talent strategies to drive business results through Korn Ferry's Leadership and Talent Consulting organization.

Ron Porter joined Korn Ferry from another global search firm where for nine years, as a Vice Chairman, he served global clients across multiple industries and markets.

A well-respected executive and former CHRO, Ron’s corporate career is distinguished by his track record in partnering with senior leaders to drive business results by enhancing, aligning and leveraging their human capital.

During his 17-year career with PepsiCo, Inc., Ron introduced and implemented key initiatives resulting in a more cohesive, diverse and effective workforce. He had progressive responsibilities in all aspects of the human resources function at this global icon; including HR Generalist, Chief Diversity Officer, VP of Talent Acquisition and, culminating, as the Vice President of Human Resources for Corporate and Shared Services. Ron’s final corporate position was as the CHRO of the Polaroid Corporation where he helped restructure the organization leading to the successful sale of the company.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Porter holds an MBA from the University of Colorado. He served his country as an Infantry Captain of the 9th Infantry Division and later was an Admissions Officer focused on minority recruitment at West Point.

He is active in several organizations promoting leadership and community development, including the Executive Leadership Council and Enterprise Community Board.

Ron is a competitive Ironman triathlete having completed eleven Ironman races in Europe, South America and the United States. He has been ranked as high as 21st in his age group in the US.

Frank is passionate about enabling social justice through education and experiential learning. As an avid reader, he finds that through reading we can expand the understanding of our personal consciousness, reality, society, and ultimately each other. He contributes to the empowerment and strengthening of the communities he lives in through volunteering; most recently with Prepare & Prosper, Habitat for Humanity, Second Harvest Heartland, and Feed My Starving Children. This commitment has recently led him to cofound a 5013c organization called Looking Glass Books whose mission is to eradicate racism and eliminate unconscious bias by exposing children to people of diverse backgrounds communicated through positive imagery in literature and interpersonal connections.

He is additionally a member of the Cyber Security Summit Advisory Board in Minneapolis and a board member at Nova Classical Academy where his children attend school.

Frank has a background in Information Technology and Information Security, most recently culminating in his experience leading the Cyber Security Engineering and Operations function at General Mills. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Sociology from Macalester College and a master’s degree in Software Engineering from the University of Saint Thomas.

He lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota with his wife and two boys.

As Executive Director of the San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center (PIC), Shalini leads a team of experts dedicated to developing integrated solutions to San Diego’s most pressing challenges.

Shalini has over 15 years of experience working across the public, private, and non-profit sectors on developing, designing, and financing resilient infrastructure for vulnerable communities around the world. Most recently, she served as Founder and CEO of re:focus partners, a San Diego based design firm, and co-founder of The Atlas, an online community for local governments to find and source innovative solutions. Prior to founding re:focus, Shalini served as Special Representative in the Office of Administrator Lisa Jackson at the US EPA, where she led the US-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability. Previously, she was Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of International & Tribal Affairs at EPA and Deputy Associate Director for Energy & Climate at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She joined the Obama Administration from the environmental think-tank Resources for the Future.

Shalini received her PhD in Engineering & Public Policy and B.Arch in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and was also a visiting associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Myra Caldwell is an Executive Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer at Cadence Bank. In her role, she champions diversity, equity and inclusion development and leads a program that will be used for positive momentum, education and change.

She joined Cadence Bank in 2011 and served as Director, Treasury Management Product Management & Strategy, Treasury Management Operations and Deposit Operations. Prior to joining Cadence Bank, she was a Director, Treasury Management Strategy at Amegy Bank.

Based in Houston, Myra has over 35 years of bank experience and is a Certified Diversity Executive, which is a credential from IDC, Society for Diversity. She is also a Certified Treasury Professional and a received her Bank Operations Certification from The American Institute of Banking and her Six Sigma Green Belt training from Villanova University.

Myra serves her community through several volunteer opportunities such as the Houston Food Bank and United Way. She is a board member of the Houston Area Urban League.

Nely Galán is a self-made media entrepreneur. She was the first Latina President of Entertainment for a U.S. television network- Telemundo, and an Emmy Award winning producer of over 700 television shows in English and Spanish, including the hit reality series, “The SWAN” for 20th Century Fox, which she produced through her multi-media company Galan Entertainment. Her company also launched over 10 television channels abroad for companies like HBO, ESPN, FOX, MGM and Sony.

Galan took a mid -career sabbatical, completing a masters and doctorate Clinical Psychology, where she focused on the “Psychology of Money”, in multicultural communities. She then authored The New York Times bestselling book SELF MADE, Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way ( 2016) Random House, which was published in English, Spanish and Mandarin, about the revolution in women’s entrepreneurship led by multicultural women in the U.S. and emerging women around the world.

Since then, Galán has founded The Adelante Movement non-profit, to empower and train Latina and other multicultural women both economically as well as entrepreneurially. Her digital platform, BecomingSelfMade.com reaches women monthly and hosts content in financial literacy and Self-Made stories of women of color as well as virtual content and webinars. The platform offers over 300 hours of content to small business owners of color for free.

During this pandemic, Galán has been producing webinars educating small business owners of color. In doing so, she has trained many on how to properly fill out forms for Federal and State Loans and grants, helped compile their financial paperwork, and connected them with banks and Fin-tech partners. She has trained over 1 million small business owners of color in entrepreneurship in person and online, working with SBA, all the chambers of commerce (Black, Latino , Asian,) and all the non-profits and social justice groups, creating original content and hosting webinars teaching women and families how to save their businesses and get the PPP and EIDL loans.

Galán is a sought after speaker - just during these last 5 years, she has spoken in over 500 cities advocating for small business owners of color. She has become an expert in virtual content as a way to scale teaching financial literacy and empowerment in diverse communities. In China, her book tour resulted in the selling of 2.1 million books. She has also spoken at The United Nations, The United States of Women, major corporations (Coca-Cola, American Express, J.P Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Walmart, Dell) and at tech companies (Google, Facebook, eBay, Uber). Furthermore, Galán’s speeches have inspired thousands of students across the United States as she has spoken at many universities including Harvard, USC, UCLA, University of Arizona, University of Miami, University of Arkansas, Babson, Bryant, Simmons and Santa Monica Community College.

Galan is an Emeritus board member of the Smithsonian Institute. She currently serves on the board of directors of The Hispanic Scholarship Fund ( since 2008). She is also on the advisory board of The Aspen Institute, and on the corporate side has been an advisory board member of Coca-Cola’s Hispanic Council since 2008. Her next book, to be published in 2021, Don’t Buy Shoes Buy Buildings!, will inform those who currently work for others, how to invest in order to “ make money while we sleep” and become Self Made.

As McDonald’s Vice President, Global Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Reginald J. Miller oversees the company’s global DEI strategy with a focus on transformational change around the world.

Reggie began his career at McDonald’s in November 2020. He joined McDonald’s from VF Corporation, where he served as Vice President, Global Inclusion and Diversity, building the company’s first I&D strategy and turning it into an award-winning program.

Reggie has worked in a variety of disciplines including supply chain, merchandising, international project management and multiple specialties within human resources. Prior to joining VF, he was the Director, Diversity Strategy and Support, responsible for the D&I strategy, reporting, and consultation for all Walmart stores in the U.S. and was a Talent Acquisition and D&I leader at Tyson Foods. He also was an instructor and faculty administrator for the University of Phoenix for several years.

A US Army Veteran, he served as a Supply Sergeant with deployments to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education - HR Development and a Master of Science in Education - Workforce Development from the University of Arkansas. He also received an MBA from Webster University.

The National Diversity Council named Reggie to the Top 50 Chief Diversity Officer list in 2020, and to the Top 100 Chief Diversity Officer list in 2021.

Jorge is a global business executive, board advisor, and Partner at Deloitte with 40 years of diverse experience. He is known as a skilled leader in cultivating and maximizing international business strategies, building new practices and revenue streams, and advising organizations on global tax issues and policies. His expertise includes identifying and executing initiatives in response to global trends, business and services growth, revenue accountability, talent acquisition and development, and serving one of the largest private equity investments firms on more than 25 acquisitions, dispositions, restructurings, and IPOs.

Jorge’s industry experience spans consumer business, energy and resources, financial services, manufacturing, and technology for large-cap multinational companies. He brings deep corporate governance experience through his work with public and private companies and in his board leadership positions at Deloitte.

Until his retirement from Deloitte in June 2019, Jorge served as Managing Partner, the equivalent of a business unit CEO, for the Business Tax Services U.S.-India practice. The Business Tax Services U.S.-India practice, which Jorge envisioned, championed, and helped build, leverages an offshore delivery model and has grown to include three U.S. regional leaders and a fully integrated staff of more than 1,600. Jorge led and provided oversight on policy development, hiring, training, and retention strategies/deployment, as well as U.S. firm integration and utilization initiatives. As a senior leader in the firm, he led Deloitte teams from tax, audit, consulting, and risk to deliver solutions to the most pressing business issues of organizations.

Melissa Marshall is the Vice President, People & Organization (P&O) at Banfield Pet Hospital, the largest general veterinary practice in the U.S. With 20,000 associates working across 1000+ hospitals nationwide, Melissa is responsible for leading the enterprise people strategy. She has end-to-end oversight of the human resources function and drives organizational efforts to reimagine the holistic associate experience, creating a practice where associates can start, stay and grow in their careers. She is a highly collaborative and inclusive leader who brings 18+ years of human resources and operations leadership experience from various segments and divisions of Mars Inc. Melissa began her career in P&O on the consumer packaged goods side of the business with Wrigley, working in both Canada and the U.S. From there she has taken on roles of greater responsibility, and has also served in leadership positions within Mars Pet Nutrition and Mars Corporate prior to joining Banfield, a division of Mars Veterinary Health. She is a proud Torontonian, and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Ryerson University.

Dr Ezaz Ahmed brings a robust body of knowledge in Human Resources, and Business disciplines as an academic and researcher. Dr Ahmed is the Dean of Division of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology at Columbia College in South Carolina, USA. Besides his PhD in Human Resources, Dr Ahmed has an MBA in International Business, and earned his academic credentials from the University of Oxford and the Harvard Business School Online. Dr Ahmed is a Senior Certified Professional (SCP) by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), USA.

Dr Ahmed has successfully led high-level teams in critiquing curriculum, developing academic strategies, and coordinating international accreditation processes in Australia and USA. He has been chosen to chair and member of numerous prestigious academic advisory panels, discipline streams in higher education and professional institutions. Dr Ahmed is the recipient of the Central Queensland University's Students' Voice Awards for On Campus and Distance Educator of the year for three years. He has been involved in international, national, and industry-based research projects and grants. Dr Ahmed is an active researcher and his research is published and presented in international journals and conferences. He has been a member of the inaugural Research Advisory Panel of the Australian HR Institute (AHRI), and chair of the Organisational Behavior stream in the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM).

Dr. Tyjaun A. Lee serves as the campus president of Penn Valley Maple Woods campuses at Metropolitan Community College. She is responsible for all campus operations including the Heath Sciences Institute, which encompasses over thirteen health sciences programs. She is also responsible for all academic and student services on the Penn Valley Campus. Prior to arriving at MCC Penn Valley, she served as Vice President for Student Services at Prince George’s Community College. In that role, she was responsible for managing administrative units, programs and student services including recruitment, enrollment, student development, retention, marketing, athletics, and the coordination of the operational oversight of auxiliary services for students.

Prior to her role at Prince George’s Community College, Lee served as Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Services at Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, VA, where she provided strategic college-wide guidance and execution for all activities related to enrollment and student services. In addition, Lee served as director of the counseling department at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio at the Metropolitan Campus where she designed programs for students at risk academically. She was also national director for the Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA), where she managed a performance-based NASA contract, monitored and established 15 SEMAA sites across the country, and conducted workshops for at-risk students for NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She also served as director of the Student Support Services Program at David N. Myers University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Currently, she serves on the Broadway Westport Council, which oversees the community development projects around the campus. She is a recent inductee in the Black Achievers of Kansas City. In addition, she serves on the board for Literacy KC. She is also the current President of the American Association of Women in Community Colleges, an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges. She also served as past President for the National Council on Student Development and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges – Pathways Commission. Prior to her arrival in Kansas City, Missouri, she was active in several community programs that are geared toward underrepresented young men and women, including serving on the board for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (Prince George’s County branch), the Homeless Youth Work Group, and the state and local Action Advisory Group for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Lee has been nationally recognized with awards and appointments for her exceptional leadership capabilities and her work with underrepresented and underprivileged students. Lee considers this work near and dear to her heart as she is the product of a single parent home and a first generation college student. In 1994, the city of New Orleans honored Lee for her outstanding recruitment efforts at Ohio University’s Athens’ campus. In 2003, Lee was awarded the Nsoroma Award from the National Technical Association for her commitment to higher education. Lee serves on the Academic, Student, and Community Development commission. She is also an active member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. Lee, a Cleveland native, completed her undergraduate and graduate programs at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where she received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership, with an emphasis in higher education administration. Lee was appointed by Ohio University School of Education to be the Holmes Scholar for their institution. Her dissertation consisted of a phenomenological study of African-American women deans on predominately-white college campuses.

Dr. Daniel Connolly is a professor of management at Drake University’s College of the College of Business and Public Administration in Des Moines, Iowa and a recognized global thought leader in the area of hospitality information technology. His teaching, research, and consulting interests focus on the strategic application of information technology and electronic commerce for business advantage. He frequently presents his work at academic and industry conferences around the world and has authored or co-authored numerous publications.

His book Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry (now in its second edition) is the industry’s first book on technology strategy. Dr. Connolly previously served as dean of the College. Prior to joining Drake, Dr. Connolly served as dean of the School of Business Administration at Portland State University and as senior associate dean at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Denver. He has served on the faculties of several major universities including the University of Denver, Michigan State University, and Virginia Tech, where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in information technology, strategic management, finance, and hospitality administration.

Before joining academia, Dr. Connolly spent nearly 8 years working at Marriott International’s corporate headquarters as an information systems analyst. In addition, he has consulted with numerous organizations in the hospitality, health care and technology sectors, and has more than 10 years of experience in hotel and restaurant operations.

Josh Connors is the Senior Director, Asset Analytics and Insights for the Retail division of CVS Health. In this capacity, he is responsible for Asset Protection analytics and applications as well as pharmacy shrink. Prior to this role, he served in multiple analytical roles in CVS Health’s Supply Chain and has led both replenishment and reverse logistics in the pharmacy space for CVS Health.

Before joining CVS, Josh spent 10 years in various analytical positions in the Retail and CPG industries, primarily with Retail Solutions Inc.

He is an alumnus of Bryant University with a B.S in Finance and recently completed his MBA in Bryant University’s Supply Chain Management program.

Tomas Gomez-Arias is the Dean of the College of Business Administration at California State University, Stanislaus. Before joining Stanislaus State, Tomas was Chief Diversity Officer at Saint Mary’s College of California, where he was also a Professor of Marketing and Global Business, Chair of the Department of Marketing, Director of the M.Sc. in Business Analytics, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at the School of Economics and Business Administration, and Director of the Center for the Regional Economy. Previous appointments include Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of A Coruña, Spain, where he was also Director of its MBA, and Entrepreneurship and Management Programs. He also served as Chief Trade Officer at the Consulate General of Spain in Hong Kong. He is a founder of Ivvid Consulting and the California-Spain Chamber of Commerce.

Tomas is currently Chair of the AACSB Diversity and Inclusion Network Affinity Group, and sits on the boards of the Central Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Turlock Chamber of Commerce. He has been on the editorial board of the European Journal of Innovation Management and the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Series,and his research has been published in the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Management Decision, Journal of International Business and Economy, Journal of Business and Economics, Arts and the Market, International Journal of Arts Management, Journal of Consumer Marketing, and Case Research Journal.

Tomas holds a Ph.D. and a Licenciatura in Business Science from the University of Leon, Spain, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Richard A. Greenwald is a professor of history and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Prior to that, he held academic and senior leadership positions at Brooklyn College, CUNY, St. Joseph’s College in New York and Drew University in New Jersey. His books include Labor Rising: The Past and Future of Working People in America, The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York, Sweatshop USA: The American Sweatshop in Historical and Global Perspective, and Exploring America’s Past: Essays in Social and Cultural History.

His current projects include a book-length history of the garment unions, entitled Woven Together for Justice and a history of higher education, entitled Class Dismissed, both under contract with The New Press. He had served as a member of the editorial boards for the journals Working USA, Labor History, the magazine In These Times as well as a series editor for Working in the Americas Book Series at the University of Florida Press.

He is currently on the board of the Journal of Planning History. He has written for a wide variety of publications: In These Times, The Progressive, Businessweek, Bookforum, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, The Boston Globe, The Los Angles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Insidehighereducation, among other places. An early blogger, Richard blogged for The Atlantic Magazine’s Cities Blog and In These Times and is currently a columnist for both Daily Beast and The Baffler.

Nancy Hubbard is Dean of the University of Lynchburg’s College of Business and a Professor of Management. Previously she taught at Goucher College (Md.) and at the Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) in the UK. She has also served as an International Professor at SKOLKOVO, the Moscow School of Management (USSR) and at IAE, University of Aix-Marseilles (France).

Nancy is one of Europe’s best-known experts on acquisitions, change management, and strategy publishing over thirty five articles in both mainstream and academic journals including the Financial Times, Acquisitions Monthly, Financial News, Accountancy Age, Human Resources Magazine, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Professional HRM, Strategy, The European Retail Digest, and The Director. She wrote one of Europe’s best selling acquisition books, Acquisition: Strategy and Implementation which was called “an excellent book” by Ambassador Magazine and “an indispensable handbook…and an essential read for anyone who is involved in, or contemplating, a merger or acquisition” by People Management magazine. Her latest book, Conquering Global Markets: Secrets from the World’s Most Successful Multinationals, sponsored by KPMG Consulting, was published in both English and Japanese. For this, she interviewed leaders from 50 of the world’s largest companies from 16 countries on their strategies for international expansion.

Nancy has consulted throughout the world on strategy, change management and mergers/acquisitions with Booz, Allen & Hamilton and KPMG as well as independently working in 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica. She has worked with Ford Motor Company, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered Bank, Reed Elsevier, Rosatom (USSR), Old Mutual, DeBeers, and Westland Helicopters amongst others.

Nancy holds a BSc in Business Administration from Georgetown University and an MSc in Management in Human Resources and a Doctorate in Management both from the University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufacturing (UK).

Bill Hulseman designs rituals, supports educators, and facilitates dialogue. Now an independent consultant, he previously served as Director of Academic Affairs and Director of Middle School at Annie Wright Schools (Tacoma, WA) and as Director of Professional Development and Director of Social Action at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (Bethesda, MD), and as Director of Campus Ministry and as a Teacher of the comparative study of religion at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (Newton, MA).

Bill holds a BA in Religious Studies from Fairfield University, an MTS in the Comparative Study of Religion from Harvard Divinity School, and an EdM in Private School Leadership through the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. He serves on the boards of Tacoma Arts Live and West Sound Academy (Poulsbo, WA).

Bill and his husband, Jonathon, live in Seattle. His interests include architecture, travel, pop culture, social justice, advocacy for underrepresented groups. Bill and his husband, Jonathan, live in Seattle, where he maintains an Instagram account for their 11 year old rat terrier, Stella.

Throughout her career, Jan Kerchner has specialized in both health care and higher education. As founder and CEO of The College Blueprint, LLC, Jan is a specialist in higher education and she and her team have assisted thousands of students and parents navigate the complexities, and the excitement, of higher education.

Since founding The College Blueprint 20 years ago, Jan has personally toured hundreds of college and university campuses across the country to gather insights and understanding of the unique attributes of each one. She frequently presents her insights on higher education at national conferences, for philanthropic organizations, school districts, and corporations. She consults with school districts with large low socioeconomic populations and founded several College Preparatory Academies in southern California for school districts including Long Beach Unified and Capistrano Unified School Districts.

Prior to founding The College Blueprint, LLC, Jan held several senior positions in hospital management. Her most recent position was as a member of the senior management team challenged with the project of designing and creating “The Hospital of the Future”, a hospital which, at the time, was recognized for its innovative physical structure, organizational design, and service excellence culture.

Jan holds an MBA from Cornell University and upon finishing her degree, she remained at Cornell to work with the Vice President of Public Affairs, assisting with the coordination of alumni relations, development, and Cornell’s eight regional offices. She received a B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University, and currently serves on the Penn State Philanthropy Council for the College of Health and Human Development.

Jan is a Professional Member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) with a Learning Disabilities (LD) designation, a Certified Educational Planner, and periodically teaches a course -- Counseling Students with Learning Differences – for the University of California, San Diego Extension. As a Board Member for Lion’s Heart, a national teen volunteer and leadership organization, she continues her passion of working with teenagers.

Jan and her husband, both originally from the east coast, raised three children in southern California. All three have graduated from college and are launched in their professional careers. She is grandparent to 4 adorable grandchildren and a dog parent to a very large and playful golden doodle named Walker!

Sandeep Krishnamurthy is the first Dean of the AACSB-accredited School of Business at University of Washington, Bothell. This role involves managing the School of Business as its chief academic, and, administrative officer, with primary responsibility for faculty, students, curriculum, budgets, and external engagement. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in marketing with a minor in Economics in 1996. He received a PGDBM(equivalent to MBA) from XLRI and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT, Bombay.

Scott Lacy is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Chair of the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Faculty Chair of Community-Based Research Initiatives at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He teaches Anthropology, Environmental Studies, and Black Studies courses. Prof. Lacy is also the founder and Executive Director of African Sky, Inc., a non-profit organization that collaborates with hard-working farm families in rural Mali, West Africa. His research interests include cross-cultural knowledge production, food systems, and intellectual property rights associated with seed, and more recently, the anthropology of happiness. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara where he started his teaching career in the Department of Black Studies as the University of California President's Faculty Fellow. Prior to arriving at his current post at Fairfield University, Lacy taught in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University during his tenure as Marjorie Shostak Endowed Lecturer. Since his first years as a teacher, Professor Lacy has received numerous teaching awards and grants from the University of California, and Emory and Fairfield Universities. His unique teaching style is featured in a DVD/streaming course produced by The Great Courses.

Professor Lacy has worked in Mali since 1994 when he first served in the Peace Corps. Since then, he has partnered with family farmers, teachers, community leaders, plant scientists, engineers, and a host of other knowledge specialists in Mali and throughout the world. A two-time Fulbright Scholar (Mali 2001-2002 & Cameroon 2016-2017), Lacy has presented his work as a consultant and/or keynote speaker for Engineers Without Borders, The Peace Corps, The Material Research Society, ICRISAT Mali, the Institute d’Economie Rural (Bamako, Mali), the Guangxi Maize Research Institute (Nanning, China), the D80 Conference, MIT and, Columbia. Currently, Lacy is working on a book manuscript that chronicles over two decades of friendship and collaboration in southern Mali. His non-profit and academic work has been featured in two major documentaries: Sustaining Life by Sprint Features (nominated for a 2009 academy award), and Nyogonfe: Together (scheduled to be released in 2020).

Lacy is co-editor and author of two popular textbooks, Applying Anthropology, and Applying Cultural Anthropology, both published by McGraw-Hill. He has published a number of book chapters and articles that document cross cultural knowledge production in agriculture, community development, engineering, and even nanotechnology. He was awarded a Certificate of Congressional Recognition and Achievement from the US House of Representatives in 2011, the same year he was the inaugural awardee for Otterbein University’s Global Intercultural Achievement Award. In addition to his work as an anthropologist, Lacy is also known for his batik artwork, including one piece that toured the country from 2006-2009 as part of a traveling Smithsonian Folklife Festival exhibit celebrating the US National Parks Service.

Patrick McHonett is the Head of School at St. John’s Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Patrick oversees the mission and vision for the entire community, which is comprised of 430-students, 90 faculty and staff, as well as a dedicated and invested group of parents, community supporters, and alumni far and wide. In a student-centered environment, St. John’s promises to balance tradition and innovation in the support and engagement of all students, from preschool through eighth grade.

Prior it joining St. John’s, Patrick served as the Associate Head of School at Phoenix Country Day School—the premier PK-12 independent school in Phoenix, Arizona. During his career in education, Patrick has taught, coached, counseled, and led a variety of curricular and co-curricular initiatives, as well as served on the boards of schools and regional and national committees. He was recognized by the National Association of Independent Schools, and was one of fifty rising stars awarded the Fellowship for Aspiring Heads in the 2013 cohort group. He has presented at multiple regional and national conferences for Independent School education and college admissions. He is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and holds a master’s in Educational Leadership from Arizona State University. Patrick is most at home simply being a dad to his two kids, Charlotte and Jack, and loving husband to his wife, Jessica.

Erin leads the NYC based Education team at Google. Prior to joining Education in October, Erin oversaw the AT&T business at Google for 3 years. Prior to joining Google, she spent 4+ years at Twitter working in a global capacity leading the company’s largest strategic accounts. She is also a display native as she spent six years with Undertone, one of the original ad network pioneers, in their sales organization.

Erin lives in the Bronx with her Husband, Karl, and two dogs, Mia and Charlie. She’s currently quarantining at their home in the Pocono Mountains in PA.

Andy Sulick is an Orange County native. His father is a retired Marine officer and his mother was a Catholic school elementary teacher in South Orange County. Andy holds a master’s degree in Catholic educational administration from Loyola Marymount University, a bachelor’s degree in education/history from the University of Redlands, and is a member of Santa Margarita Catholic High School’s Charter Class of 1991.

Andy began his teaching career at his alma mater in 1996 where he not only taught history, but coached football and golf. In 2001, he left Santa Margarita for the corporate world and gained valuable business experience over the next two years while working at FedEx. In 2003, Andy began his post as founding director of admissions at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano.  His successes at JSerra ultimately propelled him into the role of assistant headmaster in 2012.

In the summer of 2014, Andy was appointed president of Santa Margarita Catholic High School returning to the “Eagles’ Nest.” His proven record of success in enrollment marketing, development, business, administration, and deep ties to the alumni community serve him well in his role as president. Andy is proud of establishing a new program at the school, Eagles Edge, which provides students with “real-world” growth and networking opportunities. As president, Andy maintains ties to his original passion of teaching by guest speaking in the community at area high schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Sridhar Sundaram is a Professor of Finance and the Tiedemann-Cotton Dean for the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance, Muma College of Business, at the University of South Florida. His educational background includes a Master’s degree in Accounting, and a MBA and a Doctorate degree in Finance.

He has received the Faculty Recognition Awards in teaching, research and service. He is an active researcher with publications in some of the top finance journals. His business experience involves several years of working with his family’s retail business, consulting with businesses and serving on for profit and non-profit boards. He has also held leadership positions in professional organizations, non-profit organizations and higher education institutions.

Currently, he serves on the Executive Board of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, Board of the St. Pete EDC, Board of the Saint Anthony’s Hospital and was 2019 Chair of the Grow Smarter Initiative in St. Petersburg.

Adlai Wertman is the David C. Bohnett Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business. He is the founding director of the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab at Marshall —a University-widecenter focused on educating and supporting USC students, faculty, staff, and community members on using business models to address global social, environmental and health challenges. Among numerous programs, the Lab offers a one-year Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship – the first such degree offered by a business school in the United States. Professor Wertman is also the Academic Director of the USC Warren Bennis Scholars leadership program.

Prior to joining the faculty at Marshall, Adlai spent seven years as president and CEO of Chrysalis — the only non-profit in Los Angeles devoted solely to helping homeless change their lives through employment. Prior to Chrysalis, Adlai spent 18 years as an investment banker in New York and Los Angeles.

Adlai is an advisory board member of REDF and the Sydney Harmon Academy of Polymathic Studies, as well as a Trustee of the Jewish Community Foundation. He is a Senior Fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, the Price Center on Social Innovation and the Casden Institute. Prior to joining USC, he was a Senior Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs and a Wexner Heritage Fellow. He has also served as a Commissioner of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Fund.

Adlai is a frequent speaker on the topics of social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and CSR. He earned his BA in Economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his MBA in Finance, Public Policy Management and Strategic Planning from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wendy York became the 15th dean and first female to lead business education at Clemson University in July 2018, following successful leadership roles in business and academia.

Dean York oversees the academic and administrative functions of the College of Business and its more than 5,000 students, 175 faculty and 90 staff.

With her strong credentials, Dean York is charged with producing the next generation of innovative and ethical Clemson-educated business leaders. The development of those business leaders is being conducted in the college’s newly completed, state-of-art, 176,000-square-foot building.

Most recently, Dean York served as an associate dean in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Prior to that, she held executive-level positions in small and large non-profit and for-profit organizations, including employment with Bechtel Power Corporation and Bank of America.

Throughout her career, Dean York ran high-performance teams and successfully created cultures of accountability, transparency and collaboration. She started and/or led four early-stage technology and internet companies and accumulated more than 20 years of direct profit and loss responsibility. She spent more than five years as a venture capitalist, managing a private portfolio with a market capitalization of $100 million.

Dean York earned an undergraduate degree with High Honors and Distinction at Stanford University. She also earned an MBA with an emphasis on strategy and operations from Harvard Business School.

By far, her most demanding and rewarding role has been as the mother of four daughters, three of whom are sophomores in college. Yes, triplets!!!

Pete Baron is a Senior Dean’s list student in the Honors Program at Fairfield University. Throughout his undergraduate coursework he has maintained a 4.0 GPA, has been selected as a nominee for the Northeast Regional Honors Council’s Student of the Year award in 2020, and has served on the Honors Student Leadership Board at Fairfield University as Philanthropy Chair (during his first year) and as Executive Member (during his sophomore year). He has also worked as an editor of Fairfield University’s Honors Newsletter, served on the Student Library Advisory Board, acted as a peer mentor for two first-year Honors students, and has represented Fairfield’s Honors program on numerous panels and events for prospective and current students.

Additionally, he is the founder of Fairfield’s Honors Social Justice Book Club and through this role he has organized and hosted a two-part series of events through Fairfield’s Quick Center for the Arts titled, "Are the Racist Ideas of Today the Same as the Racist Ideas of the Past," and has also organized and participated in a student panel during Fairfield University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation titled, “Growing Up in the Age of Colorblindness.”

Pete has decided to personalize his education by making his own major through the Individually Designed Major program at Fairfield. His Individually Designed Major is named Socioeconomic Inequities: Inevitable or Avoidable. His major is centered on the following guiding question: are socioeconomic inequities an inevitable product of human evolution or an avoidable product of the development of human culture and civilization, and is it possible, and in society's best interest, to seek to eliminate inequities? The major is interdisciplinary in nature borrowing from the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, politics, philosophy, and rhetoric. The major aims to examine the causal relationship between a culture that fosters greed and the existence of socioeconomic inequities.

Ioanna is a senior, majoring in Statistics and minoring in Sociology at the University of Florida,

where she is part of the UF statistics club and the Greek American dance and cultural club.

Recently, she made the first move in her career by completing an internship with HanesBrands

inc. where she worked with the Global Supply Chain team to examine consumer preferences.

She learned how to deliver actionable recommendations, sustainable tools, and refreshable

dashboards to monitor performance.

Ioanna grew up in Greece and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas just in time to start 1st grade.

Later in high school she moved to Fort Myers, Florida where was part of an accelerated

program which allowed her to graduate high school with her Associates of Arts degree.

Earlty in her life, Ioanna was diagnosed with a vision impairment and worked with disability

specialists to become more informed on the effects and to create accommodations for any

obstacles.

Throughout her life Ioanna has focused on academics but enjoyed participating in sports like

gymnastics, dance, and MMA.

My name is Scott Cole and I am a Junior at CU Boulder studying Operations Management and Marketing in the Leeds School of Business. I was born and raised in Orange County, California but have moved to Boulder, Colorado where I am enjoying my college years in the mountains. In my free time, I’m an active tennis player and enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and snowboarding.

Outside of school I have become passionate about working and serving the community as an Emergency Medical Service provider and Technical Rescuer. This past summer, I spent my time on an ambulance as an EMT-IV with American Medical Response. I was thrilled to progress my operational and medical skills, driving with lights and sirens through the streets of Denver to administer patient care to those in need. Similarly, I am an active, on-call volunteer with Boulder Emergency Squad, a volunteer search and rescue organization in Boulder County. As an interagency organization, BES assists the Boulder Fire Department and Boulder Sheriff’s Department with rescue techniques including: Swiftwater rescue, wide-area search, extrication, rope rescue, and dive operations. I continue to love the “always changing” and versatile environment both of these industries bring me each day.

Dr. Dan Durbin is presently the Head of School for Beaufort Academy in Beaufort, SC. As a 30-year veteran of education, he is a national award-winning educator, administrator, and consultant. He has earned numerous distinctions and awards, including Indiana State Teacher of the Year, National Teacher of the Year runner-up, a recipient of the National Forensic Educator Award and the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. Dr. Durbin is an inductee of the Forensic Coaching Hall of Fame and has been recognized for his efforts in education with Indiana’s prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash.

Dan’s administrative skills have been utilized to lead organizations through the process of collaborative visioning, planning and project execution. He is a strong advocate of collaboration, shared decision-making and community ownership. His expertise in organizational development, programming, collaborative management and public relations has made him a professional resource for school districts and small businesses across the United States.

Dr. Durbin’s resume includes classroom teacher, athletic coach, forensics director, theater director, choir director, youth director, department chair, executive principal, director, supervisor, consultant, and business owner. He is recognized as an inspirational and informative conference speaker and has made major presentations across the United States and South America.

Dan is married to the former Angela Marie Will. They have three adult children: Hannah (27), Luke (25), and Will (22).

Malvika brings a wealth of education experience with a particular expertise in assessment design, learning sciences research, and outcomes measurement. At Owl, Malvika leads all portfolio services and partners closely with Owl’s 50+ portfolio companies on their impact and outcomes objectives. She also serves as an thought partner to many of Owl’s limited partners globally and leads the creation of Owl’s annual Education Outcomes Report and Owl Insights. Prior to joining Owl, Malvika was at Emerson Collective, where she led impact and efficacy efforts for a portfolio of EdTech companies, and before that she spent four years as an early employee at Newsela building out their research and assessment teams.

In prior roles, Malvika has worked on assessment design across India, US, & Gulf countries, volunteered as a teacher for low SES communities and was on the founding team for Mindspark, an English language learning program for children in India.

Malvika has been an invited speaker conferences like ASU GSV, SXSWedu, ISTE and SIIA Education Impact Symposium and currently serves as an advisor on EdTech Evidence Exchange’s Industry Council, Google’s Education Advisory Council and IES’s Council for Scaling Innovations. She holds a M.Ed degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jeremy Birk currently serves as Executive Vice President for Education at Stratford Schools, a network of over 25 schools across the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles with a progressive STEAM-based curriculum as a part of Spring Education Group.

Prior to his current role, Jeremy served as the Director of Curriculum and Innovation and High School Assistant Principal at the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York City in addition to working as a teacher, administrator and consultant in public and private schools and varied programs in the United States, Spain, Switzerland, Kenya, Rwanda and Colombia.

His firm belief is that every student should love learning, and that it is the responsibility of schools to relentlessly seek to engage students in their learning. Schools must embrace a new paradigm that encompasses planning and design for emerging technologies, prioritizes personalization and real-world experimentation, and promotes passion for learning throughout life so that student can adjust in an ever-changing future, and, most importantly live with purpose.

With an Ed.M degree in Educational Leadership from Columbia University, an MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and History undergraduate, Jeremy brings rich experience in curriculum design, innovative teaching practices, and international school operations.