Anne Chow, the author of “Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion,” is a transformative business leader whose trailblazing corporate career spans over three decades in the technology and business sectors. As the first woman of color CEO in AT&T’s 140+ year history, she led AT&T Business, a $35 billion global operating unit comprised of 35,000 people.

Anne is currently lead director on the board of directors of FranklinCovey, a company dedicated to organizational transformation through leadership, execution, and culture and serves on the boards of directors of 3M, a company focused on applying science in collaborative ways to improve the daily lives of people around the world, and CSX, a leading supplier of rail-based freight transportation in North America. She is also a senior fellow and adjunct frofessor of executive education at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Anne has been widely recognized for her role model inclusive leadership, driving success at the intersection of people, culture, and technology.  She has been named twice to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business, Forbes inaugural CEO Next List of Leaders set to revolutionize American business, and Light Reading’s Most Inspiring Woman in Communications. Her recent accolades include being recognized by the Johnson School at Cornell University with the L. Joseph Thomas Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement, being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Business by the Dallas Business Journal and becoming the first Asian American to be inducted into the Dallas Business Hall of Fame since its inception in 1999.

As a lifelong learner committed to inspiration and sustainable impact, Anne has launched into the next stage of her career, which she refers to as “rewirement”.  She is passionate about engaging with current and future leaders, teams, and audiences through her work as The Rewired CEO, where her unique insights power connection and culture with a future forward lens and emphasis on sustainable, agile growth.

Andres Traslavina is a global talent leader and the current Head of Executive Recruiting at Whole Foods Market, where he helps shape the future of leadership by aligning top executive talent with the company’s higher purpose—to nourish people and the planet. With over two decades of experience across food and tech, Andres brings deep expertise in executive search.

Previously, Andres served as Vice President of People Operations at Super Coffee, where he modernized the company’s HR infrastructure. He also held senior leadership roles at Blackboard, Microsoft Retail, and Talent Plus, consulting with globally recognized brands including Zappos, Cisco, Scotiabank, Loews Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton.

Known for building strong cross-functional partnerships and high-impact recruiting ecosystems, Andres is also passionate about leveraging AI to reimagine the hiring process—emphasizing candidate experience, bias reduction, and strategic workforce insights. A believer in finding joy at work, he advocates for people-first leadership and creating cultures where curiosity, authenticity, and innovation thrive.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, and currently based in Austin, Texas, Andres brings a global perspective to talent strategy, having recruited across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Education/Psychology from the University of Nebraska, and he continues to invest in personal growth through studies in positive psychology and AI.

Archana is the VP Talent (Center of Excellence) at Huge.

Joe is the Global Head of Learning and Development at Wise.

Liana is the Talent Management Director at Dell.

William is the Vice President, Global Human Resources Operations at Circana.

Peggy is the Chief People Officer at Whataburger.

Brittany Podolak joined athenahealth’s leadership team as the Chief People Officer in October 2022. She leads our culture; talent retention and acquisition; and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Before joining athenahealth, Brittany spent more than 20 years at Dell Technologies, Inc., where she most recently served as senior vice president of HR for global products and operations.

During her tenure at Dell, Brittany held numerous senior HR roles, including senior vice president of HR for global services, digital, and marketing; vice president of HR for global supply chain and operations; and vice president of talent acquisition for North America and Latin America. She believes in combining future-focused talent practices with data-driven decision making to advance business strategy while enabling team members to live and perform their best. Brittany has a BBA from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from San Diego State.

Joe is a learning and development executive with a passion for building educational ecosystems that empower individuals and organizations to thrive.

Joe has worked at Google for over 11 years, where he has extensive experience in learning product management, innovation, and tech ecosystem community building. During his tenure at Google, he has notably built training teams from the ground up for YouTube, Google Shopping, Google Fiber, and Google Play. Prior to Google, he led technology education teams at Nordstrom corporate and membership training programs at Costco HQ. At age 21, Joe founded a training company which designed and delivered multi-generational onsite workshops at Boeing, IBM, and DHL.

Joe holds an M.S. in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in Organizational Communication from Washington State University. He resides in Austin, where he leads Google's LGBTQ+ employee group. He also serves as a board member for the Carson College of Business.

Dr. Stephanie Murphy is an experienced people analytics leader with 15 years in internal and external organizational consulting. She has been internationally recognized for her work in employee listening, research, assessments, and analytics, and she has been featured in several publications, podcasts, and conferences. Her experience expands the public and private sector, working with organizations such as UnitedHealth Group, University of Texas at Austin, Dell Technologies, and the U.S. Department of Treasury. Her outstanding achievements have earned her recognition as one of the Top 10 Data and Analytics Professionals, a Top 100 Under 50 Executive & Emerging Leader, and inclusion in the Top 50 Women Leaders in Austin. Stephanie also shares her knowledge as an educator, teaching management courses to graduate students at McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. She holds her B.S. in psychology from the University of New Orleans and her Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology from Louisiana Tech University.

Claudia is the Chief People Officer at Gainwell Technologies.

David serves as SVP/Chief People and Culture Officer for TriHealth, a $3B integrated health system located throughout Cincinnati, OH. David is a transformative senior executive recognized for his turnaround success aligning high performance workforce and culture with strategic business outcomes. In addition to his experience overseeing all aspects of HR operations and delivery, he has led large-scale post-merger organization design and culture assimilation at 30k, 50k, 75k and 150k employee size healthcare systems. His HR and business model advisory work covers research, preventative medicine, global technology, extensive healthcare as well as global professional services working with and for organizations such as PwC, Nokia Inc., Hyatt, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Chick-fil-A, Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, and most recently Advocate Health. David holds a B.S. in health promotion and an MBA in organization design and change management from the University of Dallas, along with completing numerous executive education programs from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Fred Turner is the CEO and co-founder of Curative, a company revolutionizing employer-based health insurance with a model that eliminates copays, deductibles, and cost-sharing for in-network care. This unique approach has led to an impressive 98% member engagement rate, significantly higher than industry standards. 

After founding one of the largest COVID-19 testing providers in the U.S. and witnessing the systematic challenges patients faced, Turner was inspired to create a healthcare company that removes barriers to care. An award-winning young scientist from the UK, he began his entrepreneurial journey by founding and leading biotech ventures. Turner's innovation and leadership have earned him recognition in Forbes' "30 Under 30" and as a member of the Fast Company Impact Council. Under his guidance, Curative has earned several awards, including an A- AM Best Financial Rating three years in a row, LinkedIn Top Startups in 2024, BenefitsPRO's 2024 Luminaries Award, and Fast Company's 2025 Most Innovative Companies.

Talent leader with 10+ years of experience in innovative, rapidly scaling companies and a background in education. Builds practical systems that clarify expectations, enable feedback, and support development—helping thousands of leaders grow high performing teams. Known for meeting leaders where they are and designing tools that actually work in the flow of work.

As VP of HR Transformation at Betterworks, Jamie helps clients reimagine the way employee performance is managed with proven systems and processes that work. As co-author of the book, Make Work Better, she draws inspiration from her more than twenty-five years of HR leadership experience, spearheading organizational development, HR transformation, and employee engagement strategies that boost business performance. Her work as a consultant and an in-house HR practitioner spans the entire spectrum of human capital practices and multiple industries. 

Jamie has a deep understanding of talent management strategies and principles and has ideated and implemented global talent practices system redesign, strategic planning, and positioning in public and private for national and international organizations spanning all associated processes. As a McKinsey-certified facilitator, Jamie has also been instrumental in cultural transformations for several large enterprises – supporting fundamental change with her background in executive coaching, change management, and employee experience strategies.

Dave Nixon is the co-founder and CEO of Enablo, a digital employee experience company that helps large, often dispersed organisations connect their teams, simplify daily work, and better support their frontline workforce.

A hands-on, customer-obsessed leader, Dave has led Enablo’s growth across Australia, New Zealand and North America. Since 2017, his team has partnered with people-first leaders and iconic brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Virgin, and McDonalds — empowering 750,000+ team members across 200+ companies and driving an 85% boost in engagement.

With a background in enterprise tech and a strong belief in the power of clear communication and better tools, Dave focuses on helping organizations unite people, streamline workflows, and build cultures where everyone can thrive. He’s on a mission to redefine how frontline and distributed work happens—by making complex change feel simple and human.

Zach Smith is the Chief Activation Officer + Co-Founder of Activate 180. He has been a trusted voice in mindset, career optimization, and leadership coaching for over 10 years. Zach has coached thousands of employees across mid-market and enterprise-level organizations, aligning their careers with true calling and passion to create total life fulfillment.

Before becoming an award-winning coach, Zach spent more than 10 years in senior marketing and client relationship management roles for well-known, international consumer beverage brands. Zach trained with the Erikson International Coaching, graduating from their highest-level course. He is a sought-after keynote speaker who regularly appears before audiences at industry conferences and events.

Zach currently resides in San Diego, California with his partner Rachel. He has a passion for an active lifestyle, photography, art, travel, and sports like rock climbing, snowboarding, and yoga. Zach received a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dr. James Billings is the Vice Provost Academic Affairs at National University. 

Patrick McNiel, PhD, specializes in risk assessment services, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze employment practices and inform employment decisions. Dr. McNiel is an expert in hiring decision analysis. He applies this expertise to examine both the validity of instruments used for talent acquisition and management and the potential of such instruments for creating adverse impact. Dr. McNiel holds a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and he is licensed to practice psychology by the State of Texas. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Emmy award-winning journalist Tom Miller anchors KXAN News Today. Tom joined KXAN in 2018, before being named to his current role in 2020.

During his time in Austin, Tom’s coverage has included the devastating Highland Lake floods where Tom walked side by side with homeowners whose homes were sitting in feet of water. Tom was also a key contributor to KXAN’s award-winning save our student’s series, which focused on improving the mental health of students. Within days of being named morning anchor, Tom field anchored outside Austin City Hall as local leaders announced the coronavirus had made its way to Central Texas.

Prior to KXAN, Tom worked in Sacramento where he covered some of the most destructive wildfires in California history. He later won Emmy and AP awards for his breaking news coverage, along with a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award in the Excellence in Innovation category.

Gavin Paczosa is the Head of North America at Humand, an employee experience platform on a mission to connect every employee to their organization - no matter where or how they work. Previously at Meta, Gavin led the launch of internal communication and HR tools for global brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Atlantic Health Systems, Delta Airlines, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Now at Humand, he is driving U.S. expansion by helping organizations unify tools, streamline HR, and foster culture across dispersed teams. Gavin brings a strategic, people-first perspective on building connected, scalable workplaces in the modern era.

Kelsey Bradshaw is the Newsletter Editor at City Cast Austin.