Neela is a Bay Area native with a deep passion for all things Human Resources. With a strong foundation in the world of startups she has gotten to watch Hims & Hers go from an idea to a public company .Throughout their career, Neela has honed expertise in talent acquisition, employee relations, and organizational development. Their work is driven by a commitment to creating inclusive, empowering, and sustainable workplace cultures.

As someone who thrives on the intersection of people and business, Neela remains excited by the ever-evolving nature of both HR and the startup ecosystem, always seeking new ways to contribute to organizational success and growth.

Matt Poepsel is the author of Expand the Circle: Enlightened Leadership for Our New World of Work and host of the Lead the People podcast. He serves as VP, Enterprise Solutions at The Predictive Index. He holds a PhD in Psychology, an MBA, and a Harvard Business School Certificate of Management Excellence. Matt has more than 20 years of leadership experience as a software executive and consultant. He’s also a US Marine, an Ironman triathlon finisher, and a student of Buddhist philosophy.

Abhay Gangadharan is a People Operations executive and leader in the Future of Work space. In his current role as Director of Workforce Architecture and Strategic Workforce Planning at Google, he advises senior leaders on how technological advancements, particularly in AI, are reshaping jobs, roles and organizational structures. He has a proven track record of driving large-scale HR transformation and is passionate about using AI to shape the future of work and unlock human potential. With over 25 years of experience in the US, India, and Japan, his unique background combines deep expertise in people operations with significant experience in product management and online advertising. Abhay holds an Executive MBA from Santa Clara University and is a graduate of the Wharton CHRO program.

Bernard has nearly 30 years of HR experience and brings deep expertise in developing leaders, building capabilities and driving organization transformation. At LS&Co., he is responsible for our global people strategy, including talent acquisition; employee engagement; talent management and development; diversity & inclusion; total rewards; and HR technology and operations.

Prior to joining LS&Co., Bernard was VP, Lead HR Business Partner, at Nike Inc., where he oversaw all HR business partners throughout the company. He was also the primary HRBP for Nike’s Consumer & Marketplace team, the geographies, Jordan Brand and Converse. In addition, he helped manage and support the company’s DE&I initiatives and team. Prior to that, he was the VP of HR for Global Operations & Technology and Corporate Functions. Before joining Nike, Bernard held leadership HR roles at companies including Amgen, Publicis Groupe and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Bernard has Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland College Park and a B.A. degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Tina Gilbert (she / her)  is the Vice President of the Employer Offering practice responsible for delivery of client services and development of leading practices that help companies enhance their talent strategies and build more inclusive workplaces.  Tina brings 10 years of DEI Leadership (4 years global), 15 years of Strategic Consulting, and 25 years of corporate experiences across different industries to this role. Throughout her career, she has led efforts to transform organizations' operating models, business processes, and employee culture to create measurable impact. As an I&D Leader, she has partnered with Business and HR leaders in designing strategies and metrics that align with talent strategies and desired business outcomes.

Prior to joining MLT, Tina was the Inclusion and Diversity Leader for two organizations, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Accolade (Healthcare Navigation and Data). As the first I&D leader at both organizations, she guided each organizations’ evolution from diversity compliance management to recognizing its value as a business imperative. Her work at Teva was recognized in 2017 by Diversity, Inc. Magazine as one of their Noteworthy Companies. More recently she was named as one of Hive Learning’s Most Influential D&I Leaders and by FindSpark as one of the 30 Must-Follow Diversity & Inclusion Thought Leaders Transforming the Workplace.

Before working as a full-time Diversity Practitioner, Tina was a Partner/Managing Director with Accenture’s Strategy Practice leading large transformation projects, business strategic planning programs, and operations/organizational design.  At Accenture, she sponsored a variety of DEI programming, recruiting and training initiatives. She holds a BS from Spelman College, an Industrial Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  She is based in the Philadelphia, PA area.

Brie Harvey is a talent management leader and digital strategist who writes and speaks about trends within Human Capital Management and the future of work.

Having served in a variety of leadership roles for HR Technology companies over the last decade, she brings expert level knowledge of Total Rewards, L&D, talent acquisition, and how to cultivate workplace cultures that transform employee engagement and the Employee Value Proposition.

Passionate about the intersection between behavioral science, managerial effectiveness and technology, Brie has partnered with some of the world’s largest, most complex organizations to build high performance cultures centered around authentic appreciation, trust and inclusion.

In her role as an Employee Engagement Evangelist, Brie works with the research arm of Achievers, the Workforce Institute, to share data-based insights about how to enhance employee engagement and recognition strategies for a pandemic-era workplace.

Kelly McMahon is an accomplished executive with a proven track record of driving impactful organizational transformations and aligning talent strategies with business goals. As the Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness at Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), Kelly leads enterprise-wide initiatives focused on optimizing the organization for efficient and effective strategy execution and growing talent and capabilities critical to enabling success. Her strategic oversight spans global and cross-functional teams, all in service to Equinix’s mission of building the future of digital infrastructure to enable innovation for the digital world.

With over 15 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Symantec, Intuit, and Liberty Mutual, Kelly has partnered with senior executives to implement transformative strategies in Sales, Product Management, Marketing, and Customer Success. She has also led high-profile change management and business realignment initiatives, delivering measurable results in dynamic, high-stakes environments.

Kelly is recognized for her ability to foster collaboration across teams, navigate complex organizational dynamics, and deliver innovative solutions. Her expertise in organizational effectiveness, executive coaching, and change management makes her a trusted advisor to executives and leadership teams. 

Kelly holds undergraduate degrees in both Sociology and Psychology and an MBA in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from The University of California, Davis. Outside of her professional commitments, Kelly is passionate about mentoring emerging leaders and enabling entrepreneurship.

Nick Lockareff is a Food & Beverage Growth Expert with over 4 years of experience working with corporations and startups in the industry. Nick's experience working with restaurants, wineries, and corporate food service has given him insight into all sides of the food industry. Over the last year, Nick has led WeBox's expansion to San Francisco.

Michael Walters is the CHRO for Samsung Semiconductor, a multi-billion dollar provider of leading edge memory solutions and chip manufacturer that powers critical industries such as smartphones, electric vehicles, and hyperscale datacenters.  He leads all talent related functions for this business and oversees their community relations initiatives from their headquarters in Silicon Valley.  Michael has served in HR leadership roles in a wide variety of industries to include United Health Group, Microsoft, Roper Technologies and Nielsen Entertainment during the course of his career. Michael has taught HR Management at the University of Washington for twelve years and is a frequent speaker at SHRM events across the country. He holds an MBA with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles.

Shaily has over 20 years of HR experience and brings deep expertise in HR Business Partnering, Talent Management, and driving large-scale organizational transformations.
At HCLTech, she is responsible for leading the Organizational Effectiveness charter at the enterprise level. Prior to her current role, she served as Director and Lead HR Business Partner for HCLTech’s Digital & Analytics Practice. Before that, she held various leadership positions within HCLTech’s Career, Talent & Performance Management Centres of Excellence.
Shaily has led the design and rollout of multiple large-scale, award-winning initiatives in the areas of Talent Management, Career Management, HR Strategy, and Mentoring.
She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and Organizational Development and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Juliet Saxe is a partner at RHR International. Leveraging her professional background rooted in both business and psychology, she delivers transformative insights to C-suite leaders across the pharmaceutical, technology, environmental, and entertainment industries, empowering them to amplify their own capabilities and, in turn, the capabilities of their organizations.

Equipped with more than 20 years of experience driving impact at the C-suite level, Juliet spearheads executive integration, assessment and selection, and senior team effectiveness work, partnering with senior leaders and teams to fundamentally shift their trajectories toward better personal and business outcomes. By applying psychological frameworks to business contexts, Juliet is able to pinpoint both the strengths and opportunities for growth in leaders, solving complex challenges for her clients to open up pathways for their development and accelerated impact. Whether she’s coaching executives through career transitions or vetting candidates for leadership positions, Juliet consistently delivers holistic, well-balanced perspectives that stem from her ability to view complex business challenges through a psychological lens.

Alongside her commitment to delivering quality and value, Juliet is motivated by her ability to observe, analyze, and act upon the human dynamics that shape every individual. She values the ability to forge relationships with colleagues and clients as well as working collaboratively with others toward a common goal in the pursuit of truly impacting the lives of others. Prior to joining RHR, Juliet worked in research and training at a residential healthcare organization in Los Angeles and at the University of California San Francisco. She then transitioned to the startup world, holding management positions in strategic accounts, professional services, and product development at Nielsen Mobile (formerly Telephia), a San Francisco–based market research startup company in the wireless industry. She helped build a client services department that generated more than $20 million in
revenue in its first two years. From there, Juliet created her own boutique executive-coaching firm, partnering with clients that included companies like Bain & Company, Lucasfilm, Genentech, and Dropbox. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA as well as a master’s degree and a PhD in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. Outside of the office, Juliet enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and two dogs, often
taking hikes in the scenic landscapes that California’s Bay Area has to offer. She also enjoys baking, cooking, and traveling whenever possible.

Aileen Palmer is Head of Customer Operations at Benepass, where she leads customer success, implementation, and support teams to help employers design and deliver modern, flexible benefits programs. With over 15 years of experience spanning health tech, global health, and wellness—including leadership roles at BetterUp, Modern Age, and Collective Health—she brings a unique blend of operational excellence and strategic insight. Aileen is passionate about scaling people-first benefits solutions that meet the needs of today’s diverse and global workforces while aligning with evolving business goals.

Subadhra Sriram is an award-winning media executive and thought leader in the workforce solutions ecosystem. She was most recently Publisher & Editor at Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) the staffing industry's leading research and advisory firm. A member of SIA's executive team since 2014, Subadhra is the founder of The Staffing 100, The Staffing Stream and other leading industry channels. She was responsible for the company’s global media and digital strategy, supervising all editorial functions. Her role allowed her to oversee SIA’s content channels while creating and managing brands that strengthened SIA’s cutting edge-research.

An award-winning communications professional, Subadhra has spent the last 17 years covering the world of work.  Her editorial and writing skills coupled with her management ability has led to a quick progression from a business journalist to her current role, managing and supervising a team of people, publications and budgets worldwide. She has ridden the paper to digital transition and has produced multiple successful web properties.

Prior to SIA, Subadhra has had over 15 years of journalism experience at premier Fortune 500 publishing houses including Time Warner publications i.e. Money magazine, Business 2.0 and Fortune Small Business.  She began her career in India working for a national newsmagazine. She holds a Masters from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and a BA in English Literature and Economics from St Xavier’s College, Calcutta University.

Samara Swenson is the US Senior Marketing Manager at Prezzee, where she designs omnichannel campaigns that make personalized rewards meaningful and memorable. With deep expertise in campaign analytics, creative messaging, and strategic partnerships, Samara helps HR and Marketing teams deliver recognition programs that foster stronger connections and lasting employee loyalty.

Serafina Miller, GBA, is a Senior Vice President in Aon’s Northern California Health Solutions Practice.

With 26 years of industry experience, she has spent the last 13 years of her career with an increasing focus on multinational technology firms and healthcare clients.

She partners with employers to ensure their employee benefits programs integrate with total rewards strategies and business objectives, as well as aligning with organizations’ broader health equity, diversity and inclusion strategies, including accelerating inclusive benefits for the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. 

She is a frequent industry speaker and has also presented at the Women In Work summit in Seattle, was a guest speaker with Folx and Accolade, the Comptryx conference, From Day One web cast, and a Collective Health podcast.

Serafina graduated from College of Marin with a degree in Liberal Arts. She holds a Life Agent license in the states of California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, and has the Group Benefits Associate designation from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. She is also in the process of completing her Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) designation.

Chad Nico Hiu [@chadnico] is a Hawaii-born student of the world, aspiring anti-racist, and Senior Vice President for Strategy, Equity, and Impact with the YMCA of Greater San Francisco (YGSF). In this role, he serves as a catalyst, ensuring continuous strategic alignment and impact – grounded in community needs and input – across all areas of the Y’s work, from operations and people services to advancement. He leads a team facilitating YGSF’s strategic planning process, driving global diversity, equity, and inclusion (GDEI) efforts, and fostering sustainable organizational change focused on collaboration, evaluation, and impact.

Chad facilitated the co-creation of YGSF’s 2030 Vision – “where you can be, belong, and become” – with over 1,000 staff, members, youth, and volunteers providing input. This process also yielded YGSF’s mission: “to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities for all generations,” as well as strengthened organizational values and impact pillars that will guide YGSF’s work for the next decade and beyond. Chad also provides support to the World YMCA in the areas of AI strategy, learning, innovation, and impact (LII).

Previously, Chad served with the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) Global, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (GDEI) team in Chicago for ten years, most recently as Senior Director of Diversity & Inclusion, where he helped build local, statewide, national, and global capacity to engage diverse, vulnerable, underserved, and marginalized communities; co-led Y-USA’s GDEI strategy and network; and supported the integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, practices, and programs toward community bridge-building and social cohesion for all in the 10,000 communities the Y serves across the U.S.

Prior to that, he served as Director of International Operations & Youth Exchanges for the YMCA of Greater New York, where he was part of an era of dynamic growth in cultural exchanges, collaborations, and global education/inclusion programming. Chad holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Services Administration & Youth Development and a master’s degree in Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College in Massachusetts, and a Global Studies Certificate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Chad currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Tyler Clementi Foundation, dedicated to ending online and offline bullying, harassment, and humiliation; on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, promoting health, wellness, and social justice for communities most impacted by HIV and substance abuse; on the Board of Directors for the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB), working to undo racism nationally; on Y-USA’s Strategic Planning Advisory Committee; and as a mentor in the YMCA Reach & Rise program.

He has previously served on the Board of Directors for Howard Brown, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ health care networks, and Chicago Fair Trade, supporting workers’ rights and global social responsibility. He has traveled to 40 countries on almost every continent of the world, participated in the globally recognized Semester at Sea study abroad program, volunteered with the CASA YMCA youth shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, and represented Y-USA in global settings and the World YMCA at the United Nations.

He helped launch the Y’s inaugural partnership with the Biden Foundation, advancing LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity across 19 states, and served as a policy volunteer with the Biden/Harris 2020 Campaign. He has lived in Hong Kong for two years, provided voter engagement support to various political campaigns, and served as Youth Director with the YMCA of Honolulu.

Chad can be reached at CNHiu@ymcasf.org and lives in San Francisco, California, with his husband of fourteen years.

Katie Fairbank leads product marketing at CodeSignal, where she helps bring innovative hiring and learning solutions to life. With over a decade of experience in HR tech, including leadership roles at Cornerstone OnDemand, Katie has built positioning, go-to-market strategies, and messaging that truly connect with customers.

Brenna leads CodeSignal’s marketing organization to build awareness and drive demand across all channels. Prior to joining CodeSignal, she led marketing and GTM teams at Cornerstone OnDemand, Wiredrive, and TeleSign.

With nearly 25 years of experience in higher education and workforce development, Dr. Jackie Skryd has spent her career focused on cultivating business and educational partnerships and action strategies that improve talent supply and demand connections for jobs of the future. She serves as Vice President of Corporate Partnerships & Professional and Continuing Education at National University, a private, non-profit institution serving 40,000 adult learners, veterans, and military members, working with Fortune 500 companies like Southwest Airlines, Amazon, and CVS. Prior to her current role, she was appointed Vice President of Workforce Development and Corporate Partnerships at St. Petersburg College (SPC) where she also served as Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Grants. She is known for her cross-sector partnership and alignment abilities and is considered an expert fundraiser and grant writer having generated over $120M in grants, projects, and gifts over her tenure. She has experience building and growing continued education programming and customized learning and led the transformation of work-based learning processes and systems in the community college space, while influencing state policy to modernize practices statewide. She has worked with national leaders and colleagues who are shaping and implementing best practices for higher education and talent development strategies for industry partners, including Jobs for the Future Community College Workforce Consortium and  the Aspen Institute's Unlocking Opportunity Network. Jackie is a recipient of the 2024 Women Who Win award in Education by the Tampa Bay Business & Wealth Magazine honoring outstanding business women leaders in Tampa Bay. She holds a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of South Florida, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, and a study abroad experience at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. She also serves as an adjunct instructor for the Muma College of Business Doctor of Business program at the University of South Florida.

Michal Lev-Ram is a Silicon Valley-based journalist who covers technology and its impact on the economy, politics, and culture. She spent 15 years at Fortune in various roles, and continues to write for the leading business publication, serving as Contributing Editor and advising on programming for Fortune's global events. Michal is also a Contributor at CNBC, making regular appearances out of the network’s San Francisco bureau, and has written for outlets including Esquire, The Free Press, and SF Standard. In 2022, she was the creator, host, and writer of Operation Firewall, an Audible podcast series about an early, groundbreaking cybercrime investigation conducted by the Secret Service. Earlier in her career, Michal worked at Business 2.0 Magazine, where she focused on the startup ecosystem.

Ellie Smith is a Senior Clinical Specialist at Sword Health.

Ben Sesser is the Co-founder and CEO of BrightHire.

Heather Ostrowski is the Director, Global Benefits at Keysight Technologies.

Jennifer is the Global Head of Employee Experience & Listening at Visa.

Allan Brown has over 35 years of business experience in finance, sales, and human resources, and most recently joined Electronic Arts as VP, Total Rewards where he leads compensation, benefits, and workplace experience.  Prior to EA, Allan served in similar roles with Citrix Systems, Yahoo!, Marvell Technology, Google and Microsoft.  He started his HR career with Towers Perrin, consulting with management and boards on executive pay and expanded into total rewards during the dot com boom.  He built his career on high change situations where creativity, analytics, and influence drive results.