Women, Diversity & Change: Corporate Governance & Leadership [Virtual Summit]

Eric is a Technology executive with expertise in general management, customer programs delivery, sales and business development. He is experienced in creating strategies within multi-national companies and implementing with specific core competencies and operational excellence. Eric specializes in organizational and people development, increasing profitability, cost containment and managing growth in complex environments and emerging markets. Eric currently serves as Genesys’ Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion officer and formerly led Genesys’ Global Professional Services organization delivering over $1BUS in worldwide software solutions.

Prior to his current role, Eric served in multiple leadership roles at Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, including the Program Executive of the largest global customer for Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Business Group and the Vice President of Ericsson’s transformation office driving the company’s transition to Agile software delivery methods.

Eric co-founded, led and sat on the board of three different non-profit organizations across various Dallas-Fort Worth communities. These non-profits focused on the mentoring of African-American males ages 12-18 residing in underserved cities. The organizations also support various community-based activities including Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross, the Collin County Boys & Girls Club and scholarship fund-raising for local high-school graduating seniors. Eric also supported the founding of the Collin County branch of the NAACP and remains an active member.

While at Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, Eric led and co-founded both companies’ African-American employee resource groups (ERG).  The ERGs brought a central leadership focus on the challenges unique to African-Americans in the corporate environment, highlighting challenges with the recruitment and promoting of African-American talent. Through the ERG groups, partnerships were forged with the business leaders, talent management and talent acquisition groups to establish new recruitment pipelines and more focus on the talent development of the African-American employee base. The partnerships helped forge relationships with Historically Black Colleges & Universities for recruitment and a version of the “Rooney Rule” as part of the selection process for appointing executive roles at Ericsson.

He holds a bachelor’s in Business and a master’s degree in Business Administration. He has been married to his wife Sherasa for 24 years. He and Sherasa have two children: their daughter Zharia, a graduate of Spelman College and their son Miles who is a Junior at Howard University. Eric enjoys music, physical training, spending time with his family and close friends and giving back to the community through volunteer activities.

London is happiest when his work focuses on making people, experiences and results better. He has led and supported many diverse groups of people and industries, from fully funded starts ups to Fortune 50 companies. He currently leads Aetna’s Joint Venture Center of Excellence (JV COE) & Business Operations for all 5 of Aetna’s Joint Venture Markets. He’s responsible for overseeing the $1B revenue-generating model of health plan service support that is provided to each Joint Venture partner with primary focuses on Member Experience, Operations & Technology, Medicare, MRA/MSA negotiations and Field Sales Support across all commercial segments.

London joined Aetna from SmileHealth where he was VP, Growth & Distribution Effectiveness. Prior to SmileHealth, he held leadership positions both domestically and internationally in product innovation, data analytics, strategic planning, sales, marketing and change management at EmblemHealth, AIG and Aetna. 

London holds a B.S. from Central Connecticut State University and M.S. in Strategic Organization Leadership from Quinnipiac University. He has also completed Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program where he focused on value-based health care strategy. He is a 2021 Denver Business Journal 40 under 40 award recipient, a Houston, Texas native and currently resides in Denver, Colorado.   

Lori Stacy is Chief Executive Officer of Trader Interactive, a Goldman Sachs and Eurazeo portfolio company. She joined Trader early in her career and quickly rose through the ranks from Sales Manager to National Sales Trainer, General Manager, President, and finally CEO. Lori successfully transitioned a print based business to a fully digital company and is passionate about driving digital growth through new innovative offerings. During Lori’s tenure as Trader Interactive’s CEO, she has prioritized diversity and inclusion in hiring, as evidenced by the diverse leadership team at Trader Interactive. Additionally, she supported the creation of a dedicated committee focused on equality, which recently hosted a company-wide roundtable on “Women in Tech.”  Lori is a powerful business person, a loving wife and mother of 4, and resides by the beach in Virginia Beach, VA.

Kathleen McGee is a partner in Lowenstein Sandler’s Tech Group and White Collar Criminal Defense practice.  With nearly two decades of experience as a prosecutor and leading regulator, including as Bureau Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Bureau of Internet and Technology, Kathleen brings unique public sector experience in counseling emerging and mature companies on a broad spectrum of regulatory issues concerning technology, data security, and privacy.

Chiling Tong has extensive domestic and international experience in economic and business 

development, with a focus on researching and enhancing the growth of minority-owned small

businesses. Tong’s career spans the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. She is the President and CEO of the National Asian & Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce &

Entrepreneurship (National ACE). National ACE responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and its

impact on AAPI small businesses by launching a business recovery & resiliency initiative with

70 affiliate AAPI Chambers and partners throughout the country. With her team, she

established a technical assistant program designed to assist AAPI millennial entrepreneurs

survive the COVID-19 pandemic and operate safely.

Tong is the Founding President of the International Leadership Foundation (ILF), a nonprofit

organization promoting civic awareness and public services for AAPI college students and the

community with over twenty chapters. Previously, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce and was also the Chief of Staff and Associate Director for Minority Business Development Agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

She was appointed as a member of the National Advisory Council on Minority Business

Enterprises at U.S. Department of Commerce under President Obama. She was also a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for President

Bush and President Trump. Currently, Tong is a Director of the Congressional Awards for young leaders and a member of Maryland Governor Hogan’s Commission on AAPIs and Anti-Asian Hate Task Force. She also serves on the Census Bureau National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations.

Tong was an Ash Center Research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, Tong

worked to promote California’s economic development, trade and employment services. She was the Director of California’s Office of Trade and Investment in Taipei, Taiwan, and served as

Assistant Secretary for International Trade in the California Trade and Commerce Agency.

Tong has also worked for the California State Senate Minority Leaders Office as the Chief Asian

American Affairs Advisor. Tong was awarded a Coro Public Affairs Fellowship and the

Chairperson of the Los Angeles County Community Action Board. Tong was also a television

anchor and reporter for China TV, a Los Angeles-based international television station. In 2017, Chiling Tong was named Advocate of the Year by the Minority Business Development Agency, U.S. Department of Commerce due to her significant contribution to minority business

development.

Elaine Haynes is President and CEO of KaloCyte, Inc., a pre-clinical biotech startup developing an artificial red blood cell substitute that can be freeze-dried and stored for use when blood is not available. She is a seasoned business leader with over 30 years of healthcare experience and extensive expertise with development and commercialization of complex pharmaceuticals including radiopharmaceuticals, medical devices, sterile products, and controlled substances. Her expertise includes championing new product and commercial development programs, product launches, lifecycle management, general management, oversight of and collaboration with manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, capital equipment and plant expansion projects, P&L and budget management, and FDA interactions including new approvals, product recalls, safety monitoring and post-marketing reporting, M&A and divestitures.

Elaine was with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for over 28 years through early 2017. As Vice President of Alliance Management and Divestitures, she led the divestitures of Mallinckrodt’s contrast media and nuclear imaging businesses, delivering nearly $1 billion in total transaction value. Prior roles included Vice President & General Manager where she led teams in North and South America as well as global commercial functions for Imaging, Marketing Director, Training Manager, and Nuclear Pharmacist.

She completed her executive MBA at Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School and her BS in Pharmacy from St. Louis College of Pharmacy, where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. She recently joined the Board of Directors for ARTMS, a radioisotope technology company based in Canada, as the company’s first independent director.

Jen draws on over 30 years of experience crafting legal solutions to employment challenges. Her clients include large and small businesses and individual representation of executives. She advises technology, financial services, publishing, retail, professional services, and health care companies seeking regulatory, litigation, and compliance advice. She divides her employment practice between wage and hour compliance and trial practice, with a focus on class actions, trade secrets and employment mobility disputes, and the defense of discrimination, retaliation and other disputes arising from the employment relationship. She also co-leads the firm’s ESG Practice Group which focuses her experience advising corporate boards on social and governance issues. While Jen is a zealous advocate in the courtroom, she relishes counseling clients as they navigate the manner in which the employment relationship impacts their business and personal lives. 

Jen, who has an AV Preeminent ranking from Martindale-Hubbell, is a faculty member and advisor to The Honor Foundation, a non-profit organization that assists Navy Seals and other armed services special operators transition from military service to the private sector. She is a Co-Chair of San Diego’s Workplace Equity & Civility Initiative, an initiative launched as a proactive and productive community response to the #MeToo movement that is facilitated by The Lawyers Club of San Diego.  She is also Co-Chair of the San Diego 50/50 Women on Boards Leadership Committee. She was named as one of San Diego’s Top Influential Women for 2020 by the San Diego Daily Transcript and frequently writes about employment topics.  The National Law Review recently named Jen its “National Law Review Go-To Thought Leader” for 2020 for her article, “Vaccinate or Terminate – Mandatory Vaccination as Workplace Policy” which had over 250,000 pageviews since its publication in July 2020. You can follow her Corporate Divorce Series and other thought pieces on LinkedIn.

Elizabeth Diffley is a partner with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where she serves as co-lead of the capital markets team and a leader of the firm’s ESG group. 

Beth advises companies and their boards on corporate and securities matters, including public company governance and reporting compliance, ESG issues, and capital-raising transactions. She has advised clients on major transactions and critical governance and disclosure matters. 

Beth is committed to gender justice, inclusive economic development and community engagement and supports these efforts through leadership in local nonprofit organizations.

Nicole is the Chair of Sullivan’s Corporate Governance & Board Advisory Practice Group and a partner in the Investment Management Group.

Her practice focuses on the representation of boards and board committees, including independent directors, mutual funds, private funds, impact/ESG funds, closed-end funds, investment advisers, broker-dealers and companies of all sizes. Nicole regularly advises boards, independent directors, board committees and executive leadership on all aspects of governance, compliance and board effectiveness, as well as the operation of investment companies and related transactions, crisis and conflict management, regulatory oversight and compliance, government and internal investigations, and shareholder engagement issues. She is known as a trusted adviser to clients.

In recognition of her work on behalf of boards and funds, Nicole was named a “Rising Star” at the Mutual Fund Industry Awards by Fund Action/Fund Intelligence, and was also named a “Next Generation Lawyer” by The Legal 500 US. In 2019, she was included on DCA Live’s inaugural list of the top Emerging Women Leaders in Private Practice. Nicole serves as Chair of the Firm’s Women’s Initiative and serves on the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and Lateral Hiring Committee. She is a 2017 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. She has an LL.M from University College London focusing on international law with focus on international human rights and investment and worked on investment and human rights as a legal fellow at Amnesty UK (London) and Amnesty USA (DC).

Nicole Kelsey joined Amyris, the innovative bioscience company, as General Counsel and Secretary, in August 2017. In her second public company General Counsel role, Ms. Kelsey is a seasoned, multi-lingual executive with international expertise in strategy, M&A, complex commercial transactions and financings, U.S. securities laws, and multi-jurisdictional corporate governance standards. She brings her expertise to bear for both Fortune 500 and disruptive technology companies.

A Wall Street-trained lawyer with over 25 years of experience in global growth-oriented companies, Ms. Kelsey impacts strategic change by building operations and growing product sales in new geographies; steering her companies through complex commercial and securities litigation and investigations; managing regulatory landscapes for new product lines across distinct geographies; developing an international IP strategy for diverse R&D capacities; establishing best corporate governance practices for the Board and executive management; and establishing global compliance programs. Awarded the 2019 Female Executive of the Year Award from Databird Business Journal in March 2020, Ms. Kelsey’s leadership style is distinguished by her ability to build, develop, and inspire best-in-class teams to excellence. Half French-Algerian and a champion of diversity, she spearheaded the first diversity and inclusion initiative at Amyris in early 2019. Ms. Kelsey actively mentors both women and men; and as a member of the board of Amyris’s women’s group, fostered the launch of her company’s first mentoring program for women, by women, in the summer of 2020. Ms. Kelsey speaks on DEI, mentoring, and other leadership topics throughout the legal and technology communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Prior to joining Amyris, Ms. Kelsey was General Counsel and Secretary to Criteo, a leader in the ad/marketing technology industry with headquarters in Paris and offices in 30 cities across the globe, for over three years. Before her GC role at Criteo, Ms. Kelsey was the senior securities lawyer for Medtronic, the head M&A lawyer for CIT Group Inc., the general counsel of a private art financing fund, and the US securities and M&A lawyer for international conglomerate Vivendi. Ms. Kelsey first practiced with the firms of White & Case and Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, in New York and Paris.

Avidly interested in the arts, and an entrepreneur in her own right, Ms. Kelsey founded and operated an art gallery out of her NYC home from 2001 – 2005. A strong believer in an executive leader’s obligation to give back to the community, she served on the boards of several non-profit arts organizations from 2004 – 2014. In April 2019, she continued her commitment to pro bono work by joining the board of directors of A Window Between Worlds, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that provides art therapy training and resources to community outreach programs assisting women and children survivors of violence, and serves as the Chair of its Nomination and Governance Committee. And in August 2020, she joined the Board of Trustees, and was appointed the Secretary, of Wrestle Like A Girl, whose mission is to empower girls and women through the sport of wrestling to become leaders in life.

A Fulbright scholar, Ms. Kelsey has a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a B.A. from The Ohio State University, and is admitted to practice law in both New York and Minnesota. Ms. Kelsey speaks four languages and is currently studying Japanese, and is rearing her daughter as a bi-lingual international citizen. A native of California and a passionate surfer, Ms. Kelsey enjoys the rich intersection of the arts community and outdoor activities that living in San Francisco offers her family.

Ana Dutra is an experienced CEO, Business Advisor and Corporate Board Director of publicly traded, family-owned and private corporations. She is a Latina leader with 30+ years of experience in P&L management, deals structuring, technology, business growth and C-Level business advisory in over 25 countries. Ana is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. She has deep experience in digital technology, ERP systems and has a CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight by Carnegie Mellon University and the National Association of Corporate Directors.

As a CEO, Ana Dutra has led several global and cross-border acquisitions, joint-ventures, partnership agreements and M&A integrations. In her own tenure as CEO, proxy Officer and P&L leader with companies such as IBM, CSC, Marsh & McLennan and Accenture, Ana created several $500+ MM global business through the combination of organic growth, global acquisitions and joint-ventures, innovative go-to-market approaches and incorporation of technology and digitalization of services and products.

Ana serves as Director on the Boards of the CME Group (CME: NASDAQ), a fin-tech global futures exchange; Eletrobras (NYSE: EBR), the 7th largest energy and 4th largest global renewable energy company; Harvest, Health & Recreation, (CSE: HARV), a vertically integrated cannabis company with one of the largest and deepest footprints in North America; First Internet Bank (NYSE: INBK); Lifespace Communities, a chain of independent/ assisted living, hospitals and memory care communities; Elkay Manufacturing and Greeley & Hansen, a global water and waste engineering company and M.Holland, a leading international distributor of thermoplastic resin.

Ana holds an MBA from Kellogg, a Masters in Economics from Pontificia Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, a Juris Doctor from Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, all summa cum laude. She is a visiting lecturer at the Kellogg and Fundacao Don Cabral Executive MBA programs where she teaches Mexican and Latin American Executives in Spanish and Portuguese. Ana is also a frequent speaker in the Global Competitiveness Forum, World Economic Forum and other Global Conferences. She is frequently featured in the Harvard Business Review online, Forbes, WSJ, CEO Magazine and was the guest editor of the Best of the Boardroom issue of Hispanic Executive magazine. Ana was awarded the Chicago United Business Leader of Color, Nueva Estrella Latina and Women in History and Business Awards. She is the best selling author of Lessons in LeadershiT: detoxing the Workplace, published in 2016.

Olga V. Mack is a blockchain and distributed ledger technology strategist, security professional, experienced board director, nationally-recognized author, public speaker, and impactful women’s advocate. She is currently Vice President of Strategy at Quantstamp, the first decentralized security auditing blockchain platform. Olga was instrumental in passing AB 2658 and SB 838, which define blockchain and form a working blockchain group in California. She co-authored Fundamentals of Smart Contracts Security (Momentum Press, March 2019) and she is writing a book about blockchain and distributed ledger technology business models. Olga leads the Smart Contracts Security Alliance to help enterprises innovate in blockchain securely. She spoke at TEDxSanFrancisco about the impact potential of blockchain and smart contracts and at SXSW about blockchain business models. 

Olga is an impactful leader who can mobilize change both within an organization and throughout society at large. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement, which advocates for women to serve on the corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She has successfully persuaded over a dozen Fortune 500 companies to recruit their first woman director. She actively advocated, testified, and mobilized for the passage of California SB 826, which requires California public companies to recruit women directors. Finally, she authored All [A]Board: Your Journey to Becoming a Corporate Director, to demystify board service. 

Olga has received widespread recognition for her professional achievements. In 2016, she was selected as a White House United State of Women Change Maker. She also received the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Top 10 30-Somethings, Watermark Impact and Advocacy Make Your Mark, Corporate Counsel of the Year, and Women Leaders in Technology Law Awards. She has been featured and quoted in Bloomberg, MPR/KQED, Law.com and numerous trade publications. Olga was previously General Counsel at ClearSlide. She also worked at Zoosk, Visa, Yahoo, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She serves on the California Law Revision Commission (appointed by Governor Jerry Brown).

Yessenia Morales is a seasoned Global Marketing professional currently serving as Vice President, Global Partnerships at Kinesso/IPG with a rich background in global digital media & partnerships, strategy, negotiations, operations, business development, client/project management, thought leadership, and innovation. Currently, she leads and negotiates some of the largest partnerships in the digital ecosystem with partners such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Spotify just to name a few. She holds her MBA in Marketing and has more than 15 years of experience within the Media & Marketing industry, she’s previously held roles at Intralinks, a technology business, to craft methodical, efficient, and effective global marketing campaigns at scale. She’s a 2x High Impact & 3x Standing Ovation award winner based on the nomination of fellow colleagues and most notably, has worked to support the co-develop of products, strategies, and technology to drive business outcomes for the #4 Holding Group in the world, IPG. In 2019, she was appointed to the role of Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network of IPG, an organization focused on the development and empowerment of wo(men) in and out of the organization by crafting methodical programming to support this initiative. She’s also served a Mentor for the She Runs It organization and is an active member of the 212 NYC organization.

CARRIE VALIANT is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the Washington, DC office and co-chairs the firm’s health care fraud group. She is also Chair of the firm’s Diversity and Professional Development Committee.

Ms. Valiant writes and lectures extensively on health law fraud topics and is a co-author of Legal Issues in Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Navigating the Uncertainties, 4th ed., published by the American Health Lawyers Association in June 2012. She has been included on Nightingale’s Healthcare News’2004 and 2009 lists of Outstanding Healthcare Fraud and Compliance Lawyers, selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^© (2006 to 2019) in the field of Health Care Law, named to the Washington DC Super Lawyers list (2007 to 2011, 2013 to 2019) in the area of Health Care, ranked by Chambers USA as one of America’s leading Healthcare lawyers (2007 to 2019), and recommended by The Legal 500 United States(2016) in the Health Insurers and Healthcare: Service Providers categories. In 1997, the National Law Journal selected Ms. Valiant as one of “40 Health Care Lawyers Who Have Made Their Mark” in the area of white-collar crime.

Ms. Valiant founded and is President of the Health Care Industry Access Initiative, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action across the health care industry to improve access to health care coverage and services in the United States.

Dr. Eva Heintz holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology and has extensive experience with management roles in multiple publicly-traded corporations. During her time at the Procter & Gamble Company, Dr. Heintz led a committee within a Women’s network and received the Power of You award. She has spent the last 14+ years at Solvay where she is currently serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Solvay North America Good Government Fund (Political Action Committee) and as the Global Marketing and Sales Excellence Manager with Solvay Corporate. Some of Dr. Heintz’s other honors include being nominated for Georgia Tech’s Women on Distinction and being named one of the finalist for top 10 Women in Healthcare by PR News.

Throughout her career, Dr. Heintz has channeled her life experiences as an immigrant and a single mother into advocacy for others. She has worked to find creative methods to combine her various professional roles with her passion for advancing the causes of women and education. In this pursuit, Dr. Heintz founded Solvay X-factor, an ERG within Solvay, focused on developing and empowering women to succeed within the professional realm. She likewise dedicated her time to serving on the Board of Directors for the non-profit organization, BioProcess System Alliance (BPSA), which works to educate and build a consensus within the scientific community. Sticking to her purpose, Eva serves on the Advisory Board for The Swinney Foundation aimed to provide resources to single parents and their children. Most recently, Eva has joined Thrive With Mentoring (non-profit) to debut their first U.S. cohort for 1:1 women:women mentoring. 

Desiree has more than 25 years of experience bringing great ideas to life through product management and marketing for companies in the financial services and technology industries.  Currently, she is the Director of Product Management for Webster Bank, with responsibility over the product development, direct marketing and product analytics for the Deposits, Lending, Payments, and Investments product lines within the Consumer and Small Business segments. Previous to Webster, Desiree has held product and marketing leadership roles at Fiserv, Chase, and Foote Cone & Belding. 

Desiree serves as the Chair of the Deposits and Payments Committee of the Consumer Bankers Association and as a member of the BAI Research Executive Council.  She has received the “40 Under 40” and “Champion for Celebrating Diversity” awards, both from the Fairfield County (Connecticut) Business Journal. In her community, Desiree serves on the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Woman’s Hall of Fame as Vice Chair and is a Trustee and Board Development Committee Chair on the Girl Scouts of Connecticut Board.  

Desiree earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her MBA from Columbia Business School.    

Kelley Hecht Stewart is the Executive Vice President, Client Solutions for Pursuant. As a leader in nonprofit fundraising, Kelley is committed to helping solve for the real-world challenges of today’s increasingly competitive environment. 

With nearly 20 years of strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising experience, Kelley’s passionate about constituent experience and donor loyalty.

With an emphasis in healthcare, multi-affiliate health, and human services organizations, Kelley comes alongside organizations regardless of their size or tenure, to help leaders chart a more effective path in achieving their goals. 

Kelley proudly serves organizations including Cleveland Clinic, Baylor Medical Foundation, JDRF, and Children’s Health.

Prior to joining Pursuant, Kelley led a $60M digital program for the American Cancer Society (ACS) and helped the Avon Foundation for Women conceive and implement a strategy that activated philanthropic leaders in 50 countries in celebration of 50 years of impact in their global crusade to fight breast cancer. Kelley graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is based in Pursuant’s NY office.

Rachel brings rich multi-channel experience as a seasoned media strategist working across verticals including wireless, entertainment, healthcare and automotive.

Passion for turning pre-conceptions about the role of media into creative and strategic solutions that solve business challenges.

Brings creative thinking to media to ignite changes in the industry.

Socially, highly involved in community volunteering, and one day aspires to move to Thailand to rescue elephants.

15 years of industry experience, including roles at The Martin Agency, Moxie, 360i and now Hearts & Science.

Michael Andeberhan was formerly an Executive Director at MSCI where he led engagement with institutional consultants on behalf of MSCI’s equity, fixed income and ESG product suite. In addition, he was a member of the firm’s US Retirement Committee, Executive Diversity Council and cofounder of MSCI’s Black Leadership Network. Prior to joining MSCI, Michael was a consultant at both Callan and Versu Investments where he advised institutional investors on strategic planning, asset allocation and investment manager selection.

A first generation Eritrean-American, Michael earned a BA from Washington State University, MS from University of Utah and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. Michael serves as Vice Chair for DEI at the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association and formerly was an adjunct professor at NYU Wagner.

Kelly is CFO at Curriculum Associates, a privately held education technology and publishing company dedicated to making classrooms better places for teachers and students. Kelly serves as a strategic partner to the CEO, helping to drive company growth and scaling the multi-product service model. She has responsibility for Finance & Accounting, Legal, IT and Operations and has a passion for building outstanding teams.

Prior to this role, Kelly served as the SVP and CFO of the Global Records & Information Management $4Bn Division at Iron Mountain, the industry leader in storage and information management services. She led strategic financial planning & business analysis and delivered significant business, organizational and process reengineering results.

Kelly started her career in Engineering at Clairol, a division of Procter & Gamble (P&G). Over an 18-year tenure at P&G, she held various supply chain, manufacturing, real estate and finance & accounting roles. She has strong analytical skills and intellectual curiosity with experience in an innovative and customer-focused culture.

Kelly earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business (Finance and Marketing).

At the beginning of her career, Shalya got her start in sales marketing at Katz Media.  She then went on to work with blue chip brands while at AOL  and as an independent consultant helping startups build their brand presence in the Southeast before joining Pandora in 2009. Currently, Shalya is the Senior Director of Sales Southeast & D&I business partner at SXM Media (Pandora).  Shalya has a zest for digital innovation and setting strategies to drive compelling content through the passion point of music in addition to pushing for equitable work environments and opportunities for all.

Shalya’s career has been marked by recognition as a 40 under 40 trailblazer award recipient at Georgia State University, board appointments serving on The Grant Park Conservancy, Jimmy Carters Board of Councilors and leadership features in Career Contessa and Fairy God Boss to name a few.  Shalya holds a BA from Georgia State University.  Outside of work Shalya enjoys playing with her cat Debo, working out, volunteering and spending time with her husband and 8 month daughter.

With 20+ years of industry experience, Fahmida leads ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) initiatives for IT Renew, Inc specializing in a global circular economy model for data centers. She spearheads cross-functional efforts to assess supply chain carbon footprint, ESG innovations, and best practice integration across the lifecycle of IT hardware for IT Renew, its global hyperscaler partners and their downstream markets. Her passion for a circular and sustainable economy in the IT sector stems from her early career with Siebel Systems, deep experience in integrating ESG criteria in institutions, and her capacity to create frameworks for decarbonizing complex systems.

Prior to returning to high tech in 2021, Fahmida served as a pioneering practitioner in integrating sustainability in higher Education for 15 years. She directed Stanford University’s Office of Sustainability (sustainable.stanford.edu) programs for infrastructure, resource efficiency, assessments, reporting, business digitization, individual engagement, and research integration to foster ‘university as a living lab’. During her service, the university earned a Platinum rating, ranking 1 out of 940 institutions, through the national Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Fahmida is a guest Lecturer at Stanford University and mentor to countless students and researchers. Before Stanford, she was the founding director at UC Berkeley, where she built its first climate action program and a model for the University of California system.

Fahmida earned a B.A. in Economics from Smith College and a Master’s in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her early career apprenticeships include positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

Leilani Latimer is an energetic go-to-market executive and board director with a track record of growing B2B, SaaS, enterprise software companies – public, pre-IPO and start-ups. She is recognized for her expertise taking nascent products, programs, and companies to scale and for her ability to balance today’s tactics with tomorrow’s strategies. Her operational expertise extends across the full commercial continuum from marketing to customer success – all underpinned by her passion for data.

Leilani brings a unique perspective to corporate strategy, risk, and reputation, shaped by her specialization in ESG (Environment, Social, Governance), her cross-sector industry experience and her in-market EU tenure. Leilani is currently an Independent Director at Black Diamond Group (TSE: BDI) and her experience includes participation on Executive, Nominating and Governance committees. She has held Board and CEO Advisory roles with numerous Silicon Valley-based and global start-ups, as well as the Chairmanship of a national non-profit organization.

Leilani is the Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at Fair Trade USA, a global certification organization that drives supply chain transparency and resiliency, while driving sustainable development and poverty alleviation through “conscious capitalism”. She leads the organization’s commercial transformation efforts and all marketing and commercial functions.

Previously Leilani was the Chief Marketing & Commercial Operations Officer at Earlens, a privately held medical technology company. Prior to Earlens, Leilani led Global Marketing, Partnerships & Commercial Operations for Zephyr Health, a cloud-based data and analytics company (SaaS) serving the life sciences industry.

Leilani’s deep technology experience in B2B SaaS and marketplace technology includes 25 years with Sabre Inc. (NASDAQ:SABR), the world’s largest technology and services provider for the travel industry. Her tenure includes roles in various business units, both in North America and Europe. From 2007 to 2013 Leilani led Sabre Holdings’ enterprise Sustainability strategy, reporting directly to the CEO. She launched the Travel Industry’s first Green Hotels program with Travelocity and instituted comprehensive ESG reporting systems and KPIs for the company. She served for 5 years as an Executive Board Member on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, a private-public organization that developed the first Global Certification Standard for Hotels and Lodging.

Leilani holds a BA from UC San Diego, a certificate in Management for International Executives from UC Riverside and a certificate in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School. She resides in San Francisco, is a regular writer and speaker, participates as an active member of the Silicon Valley Italian Community, and holds both US and Italian citizenship.

Kisha L. Parker has served as the EVP of Corporate Sustainability for PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFSI) and PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) (collectively, PennyMac) since April 2020. In her role, she oversees PennyMac’s Corporate Sustainability Program, which focuses on identifying, measuring and monitoring the environmental, social and governance impacts of PennyMac’s business activities to drive the company’s long-term sustainable growth and success. She also oversees PennyMac’s Diversity and Inclusion Program, which focuses on company-wide activities and division-level initiatives designed to foster an inclusive culture and attract, develop and engage a highly diverse talent pool that reflects the communities where PennyMac employees live and serve. Prior thereto, Kisha had been a corporate and securities attorney at PennyMac since 2013.

Kisha has served in a variety of legal and business roles at other organizations, including Dine Global Brands, Inc., Duke Realty Corporation, Alston & Bird LLP and Credit Suisse First Boston. She also has a wealth of experience with private and public company boards, having previously served on the board of directors of Girls on the Run, Inc. and as the secretary for several PFSI and PMT Board Committees.

Kisha earned her JD/MBA from The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and The Wharton School of Business, and her BA, magna cum laude, from Spelman College.

Bridgette McAdoo leads the Global Sustainability practice at Genesys. She is responsible for sustainability as a management approach that holistically optimizes our economic, social, and environmental impact. In her role leading sustainability at Genesys, Bridgette drives our stakeholder engagement, education, and the evolution of the sustainable strategy and programs across Genesys. She also leverages sustainability metrics to track our non-financial performance and deliver integrated reports to our stakeholders

Bridgette has over 20 years of experience in sustainability leadership roles across multiple sectors, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where she most recently led corporate strategy and engagement for WWF’s Freshwater and Food goals, Global Director of Sustainability for KFC, where she headed all sustainability issues for the brand, internally within Yum! Brands and externally with various sustainability stakeholders, and operations roles that were part of NASA’s Space Shuttle and Mars Rover programs.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and an MBA in Strategy from the Drucker School of Management.

Angela leads Advisory Services in Grant Thornton’s ESG & sustainability practice. Her 16 years of experience includes extensive work in sustainability strategy development; ESG due diligence; competitive benchmarking; and the reporting standards of the SASB, GRI and TCFD. Angela is passionate about working with clients to leverage ESG to drive transformative growth, and her efforts help advanced the sustainability agendas of the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the United Nations. 

Natasha Allen is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, based in the firm’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices, where she is a member of the Venture Capital, M&A and Transactions Practices. Natasha is a strategic advisor for her clients, supporting leadership teams in complex decision making.

Prior to joining Foley, Natasha was a founding partner at a corporate and transactional law firm, where she counselled startups and emerging companies on debt and equity financing, venture capital financing, commercial matters and general corporate matters including formations, corporate governance, structuring and share issuances across a variety of industries including AI, fintech, robotics and life sciences. Natasha’s transactional experience includes mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, including domestic and cross-border buy-side and sell-side transactions in AR/VR, software, cybersecurity, telecommunications and healthcare industries.

Natasha draws on a depth of experience developed in a combination of law firms, business consulting firms and startups in both Canada and the U.S. She was previously managing counsel at a technology enabled law firm where in addition to her management role, she acted as external general counsel for clients from inception through exit. Before her time there, Natasha practiced at various laws firms including at a US based multinational law firm. Natasha advised public and private companies in corporate and securities matters, mergers and acquisitions, public and private offerings, company-side venture capital financing, formations, corporate governance and other general corporate matters.

Marla Sofer is the VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep, a B2B2C digital advice platform focused on helping Americans invest to achieve their financial goals. Before diving into Fintech in 2015, Marla led institutional partnerships at BlackRock and J.P. Morgan quantified in billions of dollars. She has been a champion of gender diversity, founded two employee women’s networks, and served as a non-profit leader dedicated to social justice. 

Vineeta Bonthala joined BMO Financial Group in 2011 and serves as an Assistant Corporate Secretary for BMO Financial Corp. and BMO Harris Bank N.A.  She assists with all U.S. corporate secretary and subsidiary governance functions.   Prior to joining the bank, Vineeta was a corporate associate with Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago and Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York.  She also serves on the Board of Apna Ghar, a Chicago non-profit that supports survivors of gender violence.  Vineeta has also assisted the American Cancer Society with various fundraising efforts.

Vineeta graduated from Williams College with a degree in History and Women’s Studies and received her Juris Doctorate from The University of Michigan Law School.   She enjoys chasing after her three boys and puppy, running, reading and gardening.