Peter Adebi is the EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer at Nemours Children's Health System.

Jeannine Tait joined McGraw Hill as Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer in March 2022. She is responsible for all aspects of global Human Resources and Corporate Communications, developing and delivering HR strategies in support of McGraw Hill’s business transformation and growth goals.

Jeannine has over 30 years of experience across multiple industries and geographies. She has over 10 years of experience with private equity-owned companies and is recognized as an HR executive who has successfully led transformational initiatives and delivered on complex business strategies in dynamic and fast-paced environments.

As Vice President, Global Total Rewards and HR Operations for Solenis from 2014 to 2022, Jeannine was responsible for the successful development and delivery of global strategies and programs in the areas of Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, HR Systems, and HR Operations. From the company’s start, she was instrumental in the establishment of the culture of people, performance, and results. Jeannine built a high performing team from the ground up at Solenis, served as the HR leader for the Chief Financial Officer and Global Business Technology executive, and successfully led multiple M&A diligence and integration projects. Jeannine also worked with the compensation committee of the board and served as an advisory board member for the Women’s International Network. Prior to Solenis, Jeannine held HR leadership roles at Perspecta and Shire Pharmaceuticals with a focus on total rewards, performance management, recognition, and talent management.

Jeannine graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management from Cabrini College, and an M.B.A. from West Chester University.

Kate Feather is an Employee Experience leader and passionate believer in the powerful connection between a company’s culture, people, and performance. As head of Employee Experience and Talent Development at Lincoln Financial Group, Kate is responsible for leading an enterprise-wide approach to creating a work environment where all employees are motivated to give their best every day, believe Lincoln is a great place to grow their careers, feel they belong, and are heard and recognized for their contributions.

Kate believes in being intentional about designing and delivering meaningful employee and customer experiences and in the application of human- centered design principles to get there. She is a global, research professional having held leadership positions in market and organizational research and consulting firms in both the U.K. and the U.S. Over her career, Kate has led Sales, Marketing, Consulting and Client Success teams. She has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 companies to achieve their Culture, Employee Engagement, Strategic Communication, Leadership Effectiveness, Change Management, and Experience Strategy and Design goals. Since joining Lincoln Financial in 2019, Kate has established Feedback Fridays - a regular event used to capture the voice of the employee to drive timely decision-making and topical communications. This proved particularly valuable as the company navigated the challenges of the pandemic, racial injustice, and the future hybrid work experience. She has also worked to democratize employee feedback putting insights in the hands of managers deep in the organization who are able to act on the information in relevant and timely ways.

To support shifts in the way we work at Lincoln, Kate stood up an enterprise-wide recognition platform to drive new behaviors and mindsets required for Lincoln’s future success. To ensure the organization is building the skills and competencies of the future, Kate recently led an initiative to roll out an enterprise-wide learning experience platform that encourages learning in the flow of work and upskilling at the speed of business. 

Kate lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband, Dom and three children, Nat, Toby and Josie. They share their home with their rescue pets, Charlie (the dog) and Millie (the cat). In her free time, Kate enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, and baking.

Elaine Becraft is the head of HR for diagnostics at Siemens. Previously, she was SVP and head of global people and culture at Siemens Healthineers. 

Geneva Campbell Brown is known for being a strategic, collaborative, service-oriented leader
with a track record for delivering results through principled and profitable ways to manage laws
and risks in an effort to innovate within the healthcare industry. Geneva is currently lead attorney for The Cigna Group (Fortune 20 company, NYSE: CI) and its Board of Directors and executive management for governance matters. She is responsible for legal oversight of Cigna’s shareholder engagement and securities trading practices as well as legal subject matter expert for enterprise organizational structure and subsidiary management. Additionally, Geneva is lead legal advisor and corporate secretary for the Cigna Foundation, which manages a multimillion dollar charitable giving portfolio. She also recently established Cigna Legal & Corporate Affairs’ DEI Council that fosters inclusion and belonging for over 1,000 employees.

Previously, Geneva supported corporate transactions for Cigna, including multinational, multibillion dollar mergers and acquisitions and venture capital investments such as the establishment of the Brave of Heart Fund for survivors of COVID-19 first responders and the acquisition of telemedicine provider MDLive. Prior to joining Cigna, Geneva was an associate at Dechert LLP and federal law clerk for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. She earned her Juris Doctorate, Master in Bioethics and Bachelor degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2022, Geneva was granted an Eisenhower Fellowship. On fellowship in Jordan and South Africa, she will explore how fitness and wellness programs contribute to children’s overall health and well-being and address the link between racial injustice and poverty. Geneva is a regular columnist for The Legal Intelligencer, the oldest daily law journal published in the U.S., and the journal named Geneva to its 2020 Pennsylvania Trailblazers list. She currently serves on the board of the Education Law Center and has served as community service lead for the Philadelphia Bar Association Business Law Section for five years. Geneva is a certified fitness instructor and founded Reclamation Fitness, an initiative that uses a trauma-informed approach to instruction to offer free classes and resources. Geneva resides in Philadelphia with her lawyer and stand-up husband, Manny, rescue dog, Slim Shady, and they were recently welcomed their first child, Noelle Elise, to their family in May 2023.

Amy Wrzesniewski, Ph.D., is the William and Jacalyn Egan Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

David Rhoden serves as Vice President of Culture and Inclusion at Chubb. In this role, David is responsible for
executing an overarching strategy to accelerate diversity, equity, and inclusion progress for North America. He works as a collaborative partner to the North America HR leadership team and oversees the North America Business Roundtables (Chubb Employee Networks). He stewards strategic partnerships with external organizations and participates in industry initiatives to strengthen Chubb’s client relationships and brand recognition. David believes that equity and inclusion are foundational elements of building a diverse workforce where each person can thrive and authentically contribute to the organization’s performance. Together, these elements permeate the talent lifecycle playing a key role in Chubb’s culture, serving to unlock innovation, enrich the employee experience, and drive long-term performance.

David holds a master’s degree in organizational development and leadership from Saint Joseph’s University, a certificate in diversity and inclusion from Cornell University. He is a Korn Ferry certified Leadership Architect and holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science from Penn State University. When not working, David enjoys spending quality time with his family and volunteering with local community
organizations.

Krista Gathercole is the Vice President, Talent Acquisition at Burlington Stores, Inc.

Jennifer serves as Vice President of Talent Acquisition, Development and Diversity at NRG, where she is responsible for sourcing and hiring outstanding and diverse talent as well as supporting the growth and development of NRG’s current workforce.     Jennifer previously served as Senior Director of the positiveNRG program. In this role, she oversaw the curation of community partnerships as well as the organization’s employee-giving program and disaster relief efforts. Jennifer has more than 12 years of charitable giving experience in non-profit association management and corporate giving. During her time at NRG, she has overseen over $40mm in charitable donations and project-managed 35 distributed solar installations.    

Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Rutgers University, certificates in Corporate Citizenship Leadership and Management from Boston College, and is a Certified Diversity Professional.

As executive vice-president of human resources since July 2019, Lisa Santin leads the entire Graham Packaging HR team to develop human capital strategy that delivers on the company’s goals and objectives. With a long history in human resources, Santin previously served as chief human resources officer at Asplundh Tree Expert LLC, global human resources leader at The Chemours Company, and held several leadership roles at Day & Zimmerman, including director of human resources in various departments and vice president of human resources, corporate. Santin earned her master’s degree in organizational development and leadership from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medical, and a bachelor’s of arts degree in organizational development from Rosemont College.

An accomplished human resources business leader, Santin has extensive experience leading large strategic projects of global scope and responsibility, including those centered around optimizing HR service delivery, broad-scale organizational transformation, and talent development. In her current role at Graham, Santin developed the strategy and roll out of the company’s global engagement survey, and serves as the executive sponsor of the corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative. She also oversaw the program to identify and roll out voluntary benefits for employees, as well as a new global talent review and succession planning process. Currently Santin is overseeing the global implementation of SuccessFactors as a standard HR system company-wide, which is transforming HR processes from onboarding, to Talent and Succession Planning, to Performance Management. Her vision and bold leadership are making HR a critical factor in Graham Packaging’s progress towards its strategic aspirations.

Santin combines her unwavering high standards with a leadership philosophy grounded in empathy, dependability and mutual respect to inspire her staff to collaborate and bring their ideas to the table. Her proven ability to consistently develop professional relationships with key executives has led to successful partnerships and cross-functional work to craft efficient solutions that align HR goals with the overall vision of the organization. Outside of work, Santin is passionate about supporting veterans outreach and animal rescue organizations.

Ariella Cohen is an Assistant Managing Editor at the The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Since joining McKinsey in 2000, Bill has focused his work on driving large-scale organizational and cultural change for diverse clients across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. An expert on the role of culture, values, and leadership in improving business outcomes, he helps top executives enhance organization-wide management effectiveness.

In his advisory work, Bill has helped CEOs, government ministers, and other top executives assess organizational health and lead initiatives to improve it. He also brings strong experience in strategic human resources, helping organizations understand how to create world-class talent systems and winning workforce dynamics.

Dana Kirwin joined Medela in 2019 and leads the strategy and solutions for Employer and Government Relations, with the goal of expanding how Medela’s deep insight and expertise around the breastfeeding journey contributes to improving the experience for breastfeeding parents. Prior to Medela, Dana worked at both Optum and Medtronic and brings more than 16 years of experience in the employer benefits and population health space.

As a working mom herself, Dana understands the challenges faced by both employers and new parents during the return-to-work transition. She is passionate about driving policy changes that provide more support and protections for growing families, and helping employers better understand how they can attract, retain, and engage the valuable segment of working moms and parents in their employee population. 

Dana graduated from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two children.

Dr. Reynaldo Anderson currently serves as the Graduate Director and Associate Professor of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reynaldo is currently the Executive Director and co-founder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM), an international network of artists, intellectuals, creatives, and activists. He is the co-editor of the following anthologies and journals, Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness and The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art+Design (Lexington Books, 2015, 2019), Cosmic Underground: A Grimoire of Black Speculative Discontent (Cedar Grove Publishing, 2018), Black Lives, Black Politics, Black Futures, a special issue of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies (2018), and When is Wakanda: Afrofuturism and Dark Speculative Futurity (The Journal of Futures Studies, 2019). He is also the author of numerous articles on Africana Studies and Communication studies and helped conceive the joint BSAM and NY LIVE Arts Curating the End of the World online exhibitions (2020-2021). He has presented papers in areas of communications, Africana studies, Afrofuturism, and critical theory in the US and abroad.

Trevor Bogan is an experienced Regional Director for Top Employers Institute.

During the work week, you can find Trevor working with his world-class sales team reaching out to new and existing clients to learn more about their challenges with their internal HR practices, attending events/speaking engagements to share how the Top Employers Institute certification seals have improved companies’ employment and cultures, and working with his fantastic Marketing team building the Top Employers Institute brand in North America. Trevor’s experience in the staffing industry allows him to support HR and Talent Acquisition departments with building sustainable internal practices that will help retain and attract great talent.

Trevor has received numerous accolades for his sales and business development skills earning him several awards including Elite performer, Top Sales Executive, and Top Regional Sales leader for profit growth.

When Trevor isn’t working, he’s spending time with his family and friends, longboarding, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors.

Debi Yadegari is the Founder and CEO of Villyge. Once a Wall Street lawyer, Debi created Villyge to address the problems she faced as a working parent in corporate America. Today, Villyge is a comprehensive platform that drives empathy in the workplace by providing managers with the understanding and “just in time” guidance they need to better support their employees, increase DE&I and guard against attrition. Villyge is a total population solution, with specialized support for working parents, caregivers, and the leaders who support them. Through her work with Villyge, Debi is committed to improving the corporate landscape for caregivers and helping to shape the future of work. Debi is a frequent contributor to Fox Business, Cheddar TV, ABC News, Fox News, Forbes, Working Mother, World at Work, Strategic CHRO 360, Business Insider, Leader’s Edge, Employee Benefits News and Crunchbase. She received her BA in economics and political science from Barnard College of Columbia University and her JD from George Washington Law School. Previously, Debi served as in-house counsel to the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers and was a corporate associate at Fried Frank. In 2005, however, she traded her brief case for a diaper bag and has been supporting caregivers ever since. Most importantly, she is a working mother of five – ages 5, 11, 13, 15 and 16.

Willie (he/him) is a keynote speaker, consultant, and facilitator who helps organizations advance vital conversations that unlock connections across differences. His belief in the transformative power of media to change narratives led him to found Abernathy, a magazine for black men backed by companies like Mailchimp, Atlassian, and WeWork. In its four-year run, Abernathy published 400+ articles and produced a series of curated events for diverse professionals across the nation.

Willie served as Founding Technical Lead of Seth Godin’s altMBA program for high-performing individuals who want to level up and lead, and CTO of The Domino Project, an award-winning publishing company founded by business luminary Seth Godin and powered by Amazon.com. He's been featured in documentaries (I’m Fine, Thanks), on HGTV (House Hunters International), and in print (Icarus Deception). Willie is an avid houseplant aficionado and loves to spread the gospel of self-watering planters whenever possible.

Krystal Hindle is a passionate people-first leader focused on delivering best-in-class experiences for the
customers she supports and the teams she leads. As Achievers Director of Customer Success, Krystal
relies on 15+ years in tier 1 industries to lead a team of customer success professionals dedicated to
changing the way the world works through a focus on workplace science, smart technology and trusted
advice. As an AWI Advisor, Krystal consults with and supports customers in fostering a culture of belonging by
building employee experiences where employees feel Welcomed, Known, Included, Supported and
Connected.

Anthony is passionate about helping individuals change their lives and fulfill their true career potential. He is CEO and co-founder of Tech Elevator, a demand-driven, in-person and online educational platform helping individuals and companies reskill to meet the massive and growing need for software developers. Tech Elevator was acquired by Stride in November 2020.Anthony previously served as President of the Software Guild, an Ohio-based coding bootcamp. The Guild was acquired by Learning House (Wiley) in April 2015.Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Anthony worked for JumpStart a nationally recognized economic development organization focused on startups. At JumpStart, in partnership with MIT, Anthony founded the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, which matched serially successful entrepreneurs and executives with budding technology entrepreneurs in mentoring relationships.Anthony's experience also spans traditional and digital media, working in sports sponsorship, broadcast television, and at marketing agencies primarily in the area of sales and business development. Anthony has traveled to over 40 countries; and lived, worked and studied in Australia, Japan, the UK and the USA.

Heather Hoffman is the Chief Operating Officer at Recruit Rooster, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DirectEmployers Association. With enthusiasm, honesty, and 15+ years of experience in talent acquisition, Heather leads the Recruit Rooster team of creatives, recruiters, data analysts, and marketers aimed at helping employers establish a prominent web presence to appeal to targeted and specialized job seekers. Through innovative technology, engaging video and real-life photos, recruitment marketing, and creative solutions help DirectEmployers 1000 Members further establish and expand their recruitment marketing efforts.

Prior to her role at Recruit Rooster, Heather was the VP of Digital Strategy at DirectEmployers Association. Hoffman’s previous talent acquisition experience includes in-depth experiences revolved around entrepreneurship, management, and outsourced hiring. With varying work experience, her career path has equipped her to understand the challenges employers face and provide better solutions to assist with online recruitment and talent acquisition obstacles.

Heather is passionate about helping employers create a recruitment marketing strategy that illustrates their brand and helps attract the right candidates for the job. She is dedicated to continuing to provide superior customer services, product quality, and creative innovation in which DirectEmployers is recognized. Heather holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer and Family Sciences from Purdue University. 

Outside of the office, Heather can be found spending time with her family, which includes her husband, son, and daughter.

Carla is a former HR executive with 20+ years of Fortune 250 experience optimizing organizational effectiveness. She has a passion for improving how work gets done by integrating analytics into business processes. Her work has led to elevating HR capability by creating a more impactful experience across the employee lifecycle. Her success in building HR capability includes leveraging analytics to inform decisions on policies, practices and processes that impact our employees. She's spent the last several years collaboratively working with people analytics teams across many industries and geographies to design strategic plans and enablement approaches that have a positive impact on the businesses they serve. She currently leads the People Analytics Consulting and Workforce Planning practices at Visier where she and her team continue the mission to help customers unleash the power of people analytics.

Juliana Feliciano Reyes is an investigative reporter, who who focuses on work and workers, at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Before joining the investigative team in 2021, she spent three years covering labor for The Inquirer while also writing stories about nightlife, art, and Asian Americans. Her journalism has been published in WIRED’s Backchannel, The Washington Post’s The Lily, and Technical.ly, a network of local tech news sites where she worked as a reporter and editor for five years. Her reporting has won awards from the Keystone Media Awards, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and the Labor and Employment Relations Association. Her essays and poetry have been featured in bedfellows magazine, BlackStar Film Festival’s SEEN, and FORTUNE, a zine for and by queer Asian publics. She’s been on the board of the Philadelphia chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association since 2012. She’s the daughter of Filipinx immigrants, a samul nori drummer, and a prolific letter writer.

Katie Oertil Mooney is a Managing Director at Seramount. She is an accomplished DEI leader and thought partner with expertise in driving strategy and growth of diversity and inclusion change management, planning and programs. Prior to joining Seramount, she was responsible for overseeing the client delivery, staffing, operations and growth as Vice President of Jennifer Brown Consulting. She was accountable for the firm’s successful consulting project delivery to clients from the Fortune 1000, government agencies, startups, to nonprofits.

Prior to that, she managed the DEI enterprise learning and development strategy at Capital One specializing in differential investment programming to support historically underrepresented talent and communities of color. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the GSBA; the largest LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce in North America and is supporting the organization in 2020, by advancing diversity, equity and inclusion for the Board of Directors, for the benefit of GSBA staff, members, partners and the LGBTQ+ and allied community of Washington State. Katie has a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management with a concentration on Diversity and Inclusion Management from Georgetown University. She is based in Seattle, WA.

 Lorrie is i4cp's Vice President of Research, and the editor of The SheSuite™ an ongoing series of in-depth interviews with women executives.

A thought leader, speaker, researcher, and author, she has worked in the field of human capital research for over a decade, beginning with the Human Resource Institute. Prior to that, she was an investigate reporter at the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Bay Times. Lorrie has published numerous articles, case studies, editorial features, and whitepapers on wide-ranging topics to include diversity and inclusion, employee experience, talent brand, women in leadership, leadership development, and talent acquisition.

She is a contributing author to the best-selling books ATD Handbook for Training and Talent Development, 3rd Edition (2022); ATD's Foundations of Talent Development: Launching, Leveraging, and Leading Your Organization's TD Effort (2018); The ASTD Leadership Handbook (2010); and Red, White, and True: Stories from Veterans and Families, World War II to Present (2014).

Since joining McKinsey in 2001, Bryan, a partner based in Washington DC, has focused his work on helping organizations find and develop talent. Bryan serves a wide-range of talent-intensive businesses, including leading employers in retail, healthcare, advanced industries, and staffing. In addition, Bryan is committed to help connect people to opportunity. Bryan has served a wide-range of public and social sector clients—including those focused on education and workforce development—and he represents McKinsey on the Rework America Business Network.

Abdi Guleed, founder and CEO of Empida, is a visionary leader with a profound passion for enhancing employee experience through innovative technology solutions. Abdi's commitment to creating thriving workplace environments is evident in his work at Empida, where he leverages the synergy of positive psychology, technology, AI, and gamification to foster meaningful connections within teams and drive organizational success. 

Prior to founding Empida, Abdi amassed diverse experience in the corporate world, working in finance, asset management, and product management. His roles in these domains allowed him to gain profound insights into organizational structures and dynamics, fueling his desire to create more engaged and harmonious workplace environments. 

A former professional runner, Abdi correlates the principles of discipline and excellence from his athletic journey to his business endeavors. He is an avid reader with a deep fascination for technology, particularly AI, exploring its capabilities to transform the way we perceive and experience work. 

Abdi’s multidimensional perspective and relentless pursuit of innovation position him as a distinctive thought leader, inspiring a reimagining of organizational cultures and employee experiences across the industry.

Ximena Conde is a Reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Lizzy McLellan Ravitch is The Philadelphia Inquirer’s business desk workplace reporter where she covers emerging, evolving and interesting jobs, what workers are fighting for, and how employers are addressing those needs.

Recently, Ravitch was an investigative reporter at Billy Penn at WHYY. She was a reporter, business of law editor and senior reporter and business of law senior editor at ALM Media LLC.

She was a general business reporter at The Daily Record and a general assignment reporter at The Frederick News-Post.

Ravitch has a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a M.S. from Arizona State University.

Kristine Maciolek Small is the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion in the NFI Industries’ Human Resources Department. In this role, she provides Human Resources leadership for the company’s diversity strategy,  veterans and disability recruiting efforts, and HR compliance. She also leads efforts to advance a more inclusive and equitable workplace in alignment with the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion values.

Maciolek Small, who joined NFI in 2022, was previously at PPL Corporation for 8 years serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of General Council and then Director of Diversity and Inclusion in the Corporate HR Department.

Maciolek Small earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from York College of Pennsylvania and her juris doctorate degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America. In 2020, she earned the Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Certificate from Cornell University, ILR School.

Maciolek Small serves on the DEI Advisory Council of the Lehigh Valley Inter-Regional Networking Council (“LINC”) and the Board of the Literacy Center, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

James Baker is Senior Account Executive at Movo where he’s responsible for building solutions partnerships around the world a developing key accounts in the US. He began his career in international education, where he lived and worked in 5 countries running study abroad programs and recruiting for exchange programs. He then served as Global Business Partner at SHRM, the Society for Human Resources Management, where he built and maintained a network of international channel partners and developed enterprise solutions for HR departments in some of the world’s largest companies. James joined Movo in August 2023 as a founding account executive to accelerate Movo’s growth domestically and internationally.

James has a BA in International Studies from American University, speaks fluent Russian, and lives in Washington, DC.

Vivek has been researching and writing about team participation and remote team behavior for most of his career.  His focus has been on improving team participation so that everyone can be heard. ReTeam is focused on providing tools and processes to be used in course of everyday to improve interpersonal relationships, wellness, idea sharing and team participation without having to pull people away for offsite or meetings. 

Vivek is a published author having written several articles, and holds multiple patents for technical innovations.