Kate Zimberg, PhD, has spent her career as an HR professional within the technology and telecommunications industries.  She has intentionally varied her career, moving between roles within HR centers of excellence - where she’s been instrumental in creating new programs, tools, and methods – and roles working directly with employees and business leaders – where she’s focused on the pragmatic application of HR practices, coaching and consulting to help drive business success.

Most recently, Kate joined F5 in March 2019 as the VP of Talent and Organizational Capability.  In this capacity, Kate works closely with other members of HR and with business leaders to drive Leadership Development, Performance Management, Talent Management, Recognition, Employee Listening, Culture, the F5 Giving Programs, and Organizational Design.

Prior to F5, Kate worked at T-Mobile as the HR leader for the Product & Technology organization where she led a team which provided coaching, change management, talent management, leader and employee development, recruiting, and HR consulting.  Kate also led the T-Mobile enterprise-wide community of leadership development consultants.  Before T-Mobile, Kate worked held multiple HR leadership roles at Microsoft, including HR business partner, talent mobility, talent management, and leading employee engagement and onboarding programs. Kate began her HR career in the telecommunications industry as an I/O Psychologist, focused on selection assessments and methods at both AT&T and Lucent Technologies. She earned both her masters and doctorate from Purdue University.

Outside of work, Kate has a passion for working with girls as a troop leader with the Girl Scouts of Western Washington.

Lydia Martinez joined Long & Foster with more than 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of human resources strategic management, talent development and employee relations. With a diverse career history of building strategic partnerships, both internal and external to an organization, as well as building relationships with staff at all levels, Martinez brings the human capital leadership necessary to lead Long & Foster’s teams to the next level of excellence.

Prior to joining Long & Foster, Martinez led the George Washington University equal employment opportunity efforts after a successful career as vice president at Thompson Hospitality, the ninth largest minority-owned company in the United States. She also served as executive director of Institutional Equity and Labor Relations at the Community College of Baltimore County.

Martinez has had multiple speaking engagements with national organizations, including speaking about the value of diversity with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and discussing wrongful discrimination with the National Association of College and University Attorneys. She is committed to transforming the human resources function to further strengthen the company’s ability to support and guide its business partners and support consistent and fair labor practices across the organization. Her strategic leadership style and commitment to measurable success, as well as her in-depth experience in many areas of employee relations, further solidifies Long & Foster’s efforts toward becoming an employer of choice.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Martinez earned her undergraduate bachelor’s and double master’s degrees from the Inter-American University and University of Puerto Rico, respectively. She also holds a juris doctor degree from American University’s Washington College of Law and was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 2002.

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.