Robert Perkins

Robert Perkins is SVP, Chief Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Mondelez International, a $30 billion global snacking leader. In this position, Robert is accountable to the CHRO, CEO and Board of Directors, leading the organization’s new diversity and inclusion strategy, and helping the company fully achieve their goals.

Robert has over 30 years of global expertise, across a range of industries, in building leadership and organizational capability, and developing award winning diversity and inclusion programs. He has collaborated with CEOs, board of directors, and executives to deliver integrated talent management solutions focused on strategic business alignment and driving organizational results. During Robert’s extensive career, he has coached C-Suite executives and managers focusing on assessment, feedback and support in helping leaders manage through career, leadership and life issues. Robert has designed executive leadership forums that focus on the most critical business issues and challenges facing industries today including new business designs, the impact of emerging new technologies, and new ways to organize and engage talented people.

During Robert’s 35-year career, he has held leadership positions with Foot Locker Inc., Burger King, Sony, Bertlesmann, Time Warner, Philip Morris International, Kraft Foods, Avon Products and Procter & Gamble.

Neddy Perez

Neddy Perez is the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion COE at McCormick & Company.

Derek Gordon

Derek Gordon is the chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer at Colgate-Palmolive. He has held this position since June 2015. Prior to their current role, Derek was the VP/GM of U.S. Homecare at Colgate-Palmolive from October 2012 to June 2015. In this role, they were responsible for business strategy, building demand and delivering P&L for the Colgate Home Care businesses. Before Colgate-Palmolive, Derek was president for North America at Armored AutoGroup Ifrom November 2010 to January 2012. At AAG, they led strategy, plans, execution and P&L responsibility for the U.S. and Canada. Derek also led the effort to establish AAG as a standalone organization and transition off Clorox support, driving coordination between functions including IT for SAP go-live, sales with customer agreements and supply for establishment of an entirely new logistics network. Additionally, Derek drove the development of an aggressive innovation plan, adding new items in year one and tripling the value of the pipeline for 2012.

Derek’s other experience includes being the VP General Manager at Brita and Automotive (Armor All/STP) at Clorox Co. from May 1994 to November 2010 and a Brand Manager at P&G from June 1989 to May 1994. Derek Gordon has a MBA in Marketing from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and a BS in general management from the University of Wyoming.

Chevy Cleaves

Chevy Cleaves is the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Singleton Beato

Singleton Beato is the Global Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer at McCann Worldgroup, where she is responsible for designing and leading strategic initiatives that increase organizational capacity, innovation and growth.  With over 25 years of experience as an accomplished executive, Singleton is recognized for her success driving large scale people and organizational change initiatives across a wide range of industries, having held talent leadership roles at J. Walter Thompson, Crunch Fitness International, and Bloomberg L.P.

Previously, Singleton was EVP, Diversity Strategy and Talent Development at the 4A’s where she provided leadership and advice to senior advertising and media agency executives working to create and activate a strategic approach to D&I.  Singleton was the visionary and architect of high-profile initiatives including The Face Of Talent symposium and the Ad industry’s only Talent Leadership Conference, Talent@2030.  She also led the transformation of the renowned Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) and the 4A’s Foundation.  And, after assuming P&L responsibility for Talent Development and Diversity related revenue streams, Singleton consistently delivered revenue and margin growth for the organization.

Singleton received a MS from Fairleigh Dickinson University and serves on several non-profit boards for the Brand Erwin Center for Brand Communications, AdWeek’s D&I Council, the AAF’s Mosaic Council and Own The Room as well as the Advisory Board of the Brand + Integrated Communications program. She has received numerous awards and accolades from the AAF, the 4A’s, the ADCOLOR Coalition, the National Diversity Council, and the World Diversity Leadership Summit.  Additionally, Singleton was named one of 2019’s Most Influential Women In Corporate America by Savoy Magazine and most recently one of AdWeek’s 2020 Women Trailblazers.

Livia Konkel

Livia Konkel is the VP, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Community at Charles River Labs.

Shalin Kothari

Shalin Kothari is the VP of people & DEI strategy at Schneider Electric, a French multinational company that specializes in digital automation and energy management, with operations in more than 100 countries. Based in the Chicago area, Shalin has worked for the company for more than 25 years, holding leadership positions in HR, talent acquisition, global rewards, and supply-chain management. He earned a BBA in finance from Loyola University Chicago and a masters in computer information systems from Northwestern University.

Ellen McGirt

Ellen McGirt is a senior editor at Fortune, where she established the race and leadership beat. In addition to long-form magazine features, she writes RaceAhead, a daily column on race and inclusion in corporate life and beyond. The column has received a New York Press Club Award for commentary, a National Headliner Award, and the Steven Heller Prize for Commentary from the AIGA. She is the co-chair of FORTUNE’s CEO Initiative and FORTUNE’S Most Powerful Women Summit. She is also the co-host of Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast. In her past lives, she’s written for Money, Time, and Fast Company, where she wrote or contributed to more than twenty cover stories and created the digital series The 30 Second MBA. Her reporting has taken her inside the C-Suites of Facebook, Nike, Twitter, Intel, Xerox and Cisco; on the campaign trail with Barack Obama and across Africa with Bono to study breakthrough philanthropy. McGirt was the editor for Your First Leadership Job, a book published by Wiley in 2016. She attended Brown University.

John Simons

John Simons is an executive editor at TIME, where he oversees U.S. business, technology and national news coverage. Prior to joining TIME, John held managerial positions at the Wall Street Journal, including deputy health and science editor, international energy editor, and deputy bureau chief for the management & careers team. Before his time at the Journal, he was business editor at Newsweek/IBT Media and technology and media editor at The Associated Press.

Earlier in his career, John was a staff writer at Fortune magazine for nearly a decade, where he covered biotech, pharmaceuticals, and technology-related industries.He wrote about a range of other topics at Fortune, including U.S. immigration reform; the insurance industry’s early embrace of climate change; and he won a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Assoc. of Black Journalists in 2007 for a first-person story about taking the first publicly available DNA test that allowed Black Americans to discover genetic links to their African ancestors.

In 2000, he was a Markle Fellow at the New America Foundation, where he focused on technology policy and economic opportunity in the digital age. John got his start as a professional journalist as an economic policy reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and as a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife and daughter.

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton joined The Denver Post in 2022 as a business reporter, focusing her coverage on Colorado’s marijuana, real estate and airline industries. For two years, she chased after lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Bloomberg Government’s agriculture and trade policy reporter. Megan has covered the Venezuelan refugee crisis in Peru, parliamentary affairs in England, White House press briefings in Washington, D.C., and midterm elections in Arizona. During her stint at Arizona PBS, she worked two beats: borderlands and social justice.

Megan received her master’s in mass communication from Arizona State University and bachelor’s in journalism and liberal arts from the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University. She is a Beltz Award for Editorial Excellence winner and a past White House Correspondents’ Association scholar. She’s a member of the Overseas Press Club and a 2022 Cannabis Media Fellow at UVM.

Lydia Dishman

Lydia Dishman is Fast Company’s senior editor for growth and engagement. She has also written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others.

Khalil Smith

Khalil Smith is the VP of Inclusion, Diversity, and Engagement at Akamai Technologies, a content-delivery network, cybersecurity, and cloud service company, providing web and internet security services.

Before joining Akamai, Khalil worked with NeuroLeadership Institute, a cognitive science consultancy, during which time he oversaw Consulting, Practices, and Research. Prior to that, Khalil spent over 14 years in senior leader roles with Apple Inc., including leading a global Retail Training team of over 40 learning professionals, focused on expanding and strengthening the Apple culture across hundreds of retail stores in dozens of countries and languages. Khalil and his team were responsible for critical training elements for Apple, such as employee onboarding, technical skills, and product launches. 

Khalil holds an MBA with dual concentrations in Leadership and Strategy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Khalil resides in Chapel Hill with his wife and high-school sweetheart, Sandra, and two incredible sons, Kevyn, a recent graduate of Duke University, and Connor, his 6th grader.

Teresa Hopke

With more than 20 years of experience guiding organizations toward workplace inclusion, Teresa Hopke brings a wealth of knowledge and wisdom on the importance of establishing cultures of belonging where everyone can thrive. Her unique, trusted, and proven insights on employee wellbeing, women’s leadership development, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) make her an incredibly valuable resource as Talking Talent’s CEO and as a partner to her coaching clients. ​

​Teresa’s career has been focused on building up others in order to achieve the best results, both for the individual and the teams they work with. Her innovative ideas and determination to see real change are the reasons for her success over the last two decades.  She is a nationally recognized thought leader on the topic of inclusive leadership, and she has been featured in many top tier business publications and media outlets such as CNBC, the CBS Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, NPR, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, HR Magazine, Money Magazine, and others. ​

​

As a mother of four, Teresa understands the needs of working parents and caregivers. She also continually advocates for people who are underserved, undervalued, and underestimated in the workplace.

Shaun Sperling

Louis Chesney

Louis is a Product Manager at RethinkCare, overseeing the day-to-day operations and expansion of RethinkCare’s diversity & inclusion course content and training approach. Louis began working at Rethink in 2020 and specializes in supporting and advocating for the equitable treatment of neurodiverse individuals and other marginalized groups in sectors such as race, gender, gender identity, and orientation. Louis also represents RehinkCare on three Disability:IN committees. Before joining RethinkCare, Louis started a hiring program for individuals with neurodiverse conditions such as autism at a global technology company. He continually aims to make a positive impact on those who are underserved. As an individual who experienced selective mutism first-hand, Louis inspires and actively contributes to the current work. He is the co-author of “ECHO: A Vocal Language Program for Easing Anxiety in Conversation,” a Plural Publishing book designed to help older children and teens needing social communication support. Louis obtained a bachelor of science degree in finance from Saint John’s University.

Shannon Hopkins

Shannon Hopkins is a Regional Vice President at BetterUp Care, where she helps some of the world’s largest companies transform their organizations by transforming the resilience and wellbeing of their people. The BetterUp mission resonates deeply for Shannon– after battling a life-threatening illness in 2020, she had a new sense of clarity, purpose and passion in her life and wanted to help others find theirs at BetterUp Care. Shannon brings over 15 years of experience in sales and leadership, and been a part of both enterprise SaaS organizations such as Salesforce as well as startup environments like League and BetterUp. In the last six years of her career, Shannon spent her time in the benefits sector, leading a benefit integrations team and becoming a licensed benefits advisor. She’s consulted for multiple Fortune 500 and public sector organizations like Delotte, Accenture, Salesforce and Dyson to amend their benefits strategies. Her educational background is in Biotechnology and she holds a BSc. from Brock University.

Ariela Safira

Ariela Safira is the Founder and CEO of Real, a mental health care company building a new therapy model rooted in health equity. Starting her career at IDEO, she studied, researched and developed new concepts to approach mental health care and mental wellbeing. Building on her research, Ariela joined Cityblock, founding their first behavioral health clinic in Brooklyn, NY. Ariela earned a BS in Mathematics and Computational Science from Stanford University, where the impetus for her work in mental health care began. Later, she joined Columbia’s Clinical Psychology program to train as a therapist and left the program in 2019 to launch Real. She’s biked across multiple countries to fundraise for suicide prevention. Ariela is the recipient of the 2019 American Psychiatric Association’s Innovation Award, recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30, and Inc’s Top 100 Female Founders.

Kristen Carlisle

Kristen Carlisle is General Manager of Betterment and Work’s 401(k) business, where she and her team work to bring retirement planning and financial wellness benefits to small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Kristen has over 10 years of experience within the B2B technology industry, and most recently served as the company’s Director of B2B Operations. Prior to joining Betterment, Kristen served as Director of Finance for Meetup, where she helped lead a company-wide enterprise business strategy pivot. Other previous experiences include roles at Yieldbot, AOL and Google. Kristen graduated from Ithaca College and is based out of New York City.

Angela Logan

Angela R. Logan, Ph.D. is an Associate Teaching Professor and the St. Andre Bessette Academic Director of the Master of Nonprofit Administration in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. In her role as Academic Director, she provides leadership to the team that oversees both formats of the Master of Nonprofit Administration degree, and as a member of the College’s Department of Management and Organization, she teaches core courses for both programs as well. Prior to joining the College in 2013, Angela had nearly 20 years of experience in higher education and philanthropy, with a particular focus in the areas of education and diversity. Over the course of her career, she has served as the Program Officer for Education at The Harvest Foundation (Martinsville, VA), the Director of the Bonner Scholars Program at Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH), and the Director of Multicultural Affairs and the Admissions Counselor/Coordinator of Multicultural Admissions at Defiance College (Defiance, OH).

Dr. Logan’s research focuses on the intersection of gender, race, and nonprofit and philanthropic leadership. A trained facilitator of Anti-Racism Study Circles, she also provides training on leadership, conflict resolution, stress and time management, and cultural sensitivity, both nationally and internationally, including to the IBM Research Global Internship Program in Beijing, China, and at the Young African Leadership Initiative Regional Leadership Centers in Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. She has a movie credit to her name, appearing in the documentary The Business of Good: Young Africa Rising. She currently serves as President-elect for the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. In her civic life, she serves as a board member of the Alumni Board of The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, is a board member of The CASIE Center and CDFI-Friendly, and is a Life Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, immediate past president of the South Bend Area (IN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and a sustaining member of the Charity League, an affiliate of the Association of Junior Leagues International. She is also an active member of South Bend City Church, serving as the Senior Advisor to the Lead and Executive Pastors, and as Communion Coordinator. She loves good dinner parties, traveling, and football. Angela is the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Kristen Collett-Schmitt

Kristen Collett-Schmitt is a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. She teaches economics in the undergraduate studies, Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration (EMNA), Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA), Master of Science in Management (MSM) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. Her research focuses on inclusive pedagogy, fostering students’ interest in economics through real-world applications, and education and literacy. Professor Collett-Schmitt has received numerous honors and distinctions for her teaching and leadership, including being named to Michiana’s Class of Forty under 40 and a Top 40 Undergraduate Business Professor by Poets & Quants.

Kristen Collett-Schmitt is dedicated to equity and inclusion and was appointed Mendoza’s first Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion in 2022. In 2022, she also spearheaded the inaugural DE&I Grow the Good in Business Case Competition and piloted a professional development program that addresses the inequitable promotion of women to management positions. Professor Collett-Schmitt also proudly serves as the faculty advisor for MoneyThink, a student organization that seeks to promote financial literacy by placing college mentors in South Bend high schools to teach personal finance lessons, and is devoted to providing necessities for hospitalized premature infants through her family’s non-profit organization, “Wishes for Preemies.”

Prior to her faculty appointment at the University of Notre Dame, Kristen earned her BA in economics and sociology from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky and Master of Economics and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University.

Maria Stutsman y Marquez

Maria Stutsman y Marquez serves as Director of Graduate Admissions and Recruitment at Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining the Mendoza team, she served as Associate Director of Admissions at the Yale School of Management, specifically with the MBA for Executives program where her role supported Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and the launch of the Pozen-Commonwealth Health Equity Leadership program. In the last two decades, Maria has been a leader in higher education enrollment, retention, student success and access across multiple institutions, starting with her roles in collegiate athletics and EdTech. She earned her M.S. in Organization Behavior at the University of Hartford with emphasis on High Performing Team Dynamics, Executive Coaching, and Leadership.  She earned a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Anthropology at Dartmouth College where she also co-captained the varsity volleyball team.

Kara Palmer

Kara Palmer joined the University of Notre Dame in Human Resources in 2008 where she served in many capacities. She was selected into the University’s elite Leadership Rotation Program in 2016 and moved to the Mendoza College of Business in 2017 where she currently holds the position of Sr. Director of Administration. In this position, Palmer serves as the dean’s chief of staff and is responsible for Mendoza’s overall staffing and organizational strategies, executing the dean’s key initiatives with leaders across the College, talent and development planning, recruiting and engagement strategies. In addition, she leads a staff of employees who support faculty and staff across the College. Prior to coming to the University, Palmer worked in Human Resources across many industries to include manufacturing, call center and food and beverage.

Jessica Nam Kim

Jessica Kim is the co-founder/CEO of ianacare on a mission to encourage, empower, and equip family caregivers with the practical tools and communities, so no one does it alone. The platform leverages the powerful combination of technology + personalized navigation to organize and mobilize all the layers of support. Her dedication stems from being the primary caregiver for her mom who fought a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Jessica is a 3x startup founder, speaker, and caregiving advocate, was honored as Crain’s Top 40 under 40, Forbes Next 1000, and Woman in Digital Health Award 2020, served as the inaugural EIR & Presidential Council advisor at Brown University, & Venture Partner at Praxis Labs. She graduated from Brown University and received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Boston with her three young children, husband, and 83-year-old father.

Rebecca Warren

Rebecca Warren is a Director of Customer Success at Eightfold AI and has been in and around the TA space for 15+ years at a variety of organizations and industries in both full-time and consulting roles. She has been at Eightfold for just over a year in customer success and the president of the Arizona Recruiters Networking Community (part of the Recruiters Network) and is passionate about helping people succeed.

Keirsten Greggs

Keirsten Greggs is the Founder and CEO of TRAP Recruiter, LLC, a Recruiting Consulting and Career Coaching firm. With over 20 years of experience in Talent Acquisition, she’s passionate about helping organizations implement creative recruiting strategies to attract, select, and retain historically excluded, top talent. She does this through full lifecycle recruiting, recruiting process optimization, facilitating workshops, hosting training sessions and webinars, helping job seekers find their voice in the hiring process, and more.She has been featured as an expert in ERE, InHerSight, Diversity Jobs, hireEZ, Talview, TechTarget, BBC World Service Radio, BNC, Forbes, MadameNoire, Fast Company, Fairygodboss, and SiriusXM Urban View.

Tahra Taylor

Tahra Taylor is an Associate Director of Graduate Business Career Development for the University of Notre Dame, where she meets with the Mendoza College of Business MBA students one-on-one and in groups to explore, pursue, and obtain their individualized career goals. She also liaises with student clubs in support of student learning opportunities. She has a passion for helping students create strategies for success in the job search process and providing leadership coaching to students and working professionals.

Prior to joining the University of Notre Dame, Tahra was the Human Resources Director for the National Diversity Council. She built her vast human resources experience with The Dallas Morning News and Fortune 500 companies, including AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Texaco, Inc., and Entergy Services, Inc. At these organizations, Tahra directed performance effectiveness for her client groups through talent development, succession planning, employee engagement, talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, and performance management. She also worked at Mercer, LLC in the area of compensation and served in the Peace Corps as a Business Advisor in Guatemala. She was on the Board of Directors for Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) in Dallas for six years in various leadership positions, including President and Executive Director.

As a native of New Orleans, Tahra earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Tulane University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Xavier University of Louisiana. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the Human Resources Certification Institute, a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) through the Society for Human Resource Management, a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute, and an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation.