Dave Landa is the chief executive officer of Kintone Corporation, which provides a teamwork platform with a visual application builder that empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to effectively manage their data and workflows for better collaboration. Since 2004, Dave has been on the forefront of the cloud revolution, driving strategic business development on the executive teams of leading SaaS application providers.
His career includes stints at Fortune 500 companies (Ball Corporation) and startups (Blue Rice, SPG Solutions, Electric Run), and he was instrumental in bringing a mid-stage company (Active Network) through to a successful IPO. Dave is a published author, frequent speaker, and recognized thought leader in leadership, corporate culture, and organizational transformation.
Soo Choi
City of Chicago
Soo Choi
City of Chicago
Soo Choi is the Commissioner of Human Resources for the City of Chicago.
Luciana Duarte
HP
Luciana Duarte
HP
Luciana is the vice president and Global Head of Employee Experience at HP. In this role, she oversees HP’s culture, employee communications, engagement, social impact, change management, and employer brand.
With 25+ years of experience, Luciana specializes in helping corporate leaders achieve business results by driving culture and engaging employees with the company, their colleagues, and their work through effective programs and communications.
Luciana has led both internal and external communications teams. Prior to joining HP in 2015, Luciana spent four years at Apple. Before that, she was at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Luciana began her career at Sapient. She consulted for MIT, Merck, and Manulife, among other clients.
Luciana has twice received the prestigious International Association of Business Communicators’ Gold Quill Award. She has a BA in English and Anthropology from Amherst College and an MBA from Boston University, both with high honors. She is married, loves to travel, and is happy to call the Napa Valley her home.
Lydia Dishman
Fast Company
Lydia Dishman
Fast Company
Lydia Dishman is a business journalist who writes about the intersection of tech, leadership, commerce, and innovation. She is a regular contributor to Fast Company and has written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others. She is coauthor of the book Survive to Thrive. Over the course of her career, she’s interviewed a variety of well-known executives including Diane Von Furstenberg, Gregg Steinhafel, former CEO of Target, Mickey Drexler, former CEO of J.Crew, Christopher Bailey of Burberry, Mary Barra of General Motors, Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit, Tony Hsieh of Zappos, and other luminaries such as Adrian Grenier, Romany Malco, and Tom Brokaw.
Marion Brooks
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Marion Brooks
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Marion Brooks is Vice President & US Country Head, Diversity & Inclusion at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
Marion Brooks has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, of which 19 have been with Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Over the years, Marion has taken on roles of increasing responsibility and diversified his experience to include Sales, Training & Development, Sales Leadership, Marketing, and Patient & Specialty Services.
He is currently the Vice-President and US Country Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Novartis, where he leads the development and implementation of the diversity and inclusion strategy for all Novartis companies in the US. Most recently, he held the position of Sales Director West for Xolair, where he led his sales team that covers the West half of the U.S. to #1 for two consecutive years.
Over the years, Marion has demonstrated outstanding performance winning numerous awards including Director of the Year, ABL of the Year, Training Excellence, World Wide Franchise Award, and numerous Business Excellence Awards.
Homegrown in Texas, Marion has remained committed to people and their development. He stays true to this passion through his volunteer work in the community and numerous mentoring relationships. As chairman of the African Ancestry ERG, he developed the Owning Your Career Workshop and the AACE Mentoring program both designed to develop and retain key talent. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sunshine’s Open Door Foundation, an organization focused on supporting foster children.
In addition to his work at Novartis, Marion is an internationally certified executive coach, and best-selling author of What You Don’t Know IS Hurting You: 4 Keys to a Phenomenal Career.
Marion has a 21 year old daughter, and three nieces who he has raised as his own.
Dana Yonchak
Commonwealth of MA
Dana Yonchak
Commonwealth of MA
Dana Yonchak is head of talent management and organizational development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serving more than 40,000 employees of the state government’s executive departments.
She’s driving efforts to transform the candidate and employee experience, to attract, engage, develop and retain top talent for the Commonwealth. Her team leads talent acquisition, employee experience and culture, employer brand, employee retention, training, learning and development, and workforce analytics and planning initiatives.
Her mission is to empower employees of the Commonwealth to deliver exceptional services and resources for the citizens of Massachusetts.