Lara Johnson is a strategic and solution-oriented Benefits & Employee Experience Leader with deep expertise in designing, managing, and communicating global benefits programs that enhance employee wellbeing and organizational performance.

Kim Quillen is a business editor at the Chicago Tribune. Earlier in her career, Kim held editing positions at The Arizona Republic and at The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, where she was involved in that newspaper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Kim is past president of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, a national business journalism organization.

Mikaela Cohen is a Chicago-based reporter for HR Brew covering workplace strategy and trends. She previously covered workplace and business topics for CNBC.com, CNBC Make It, and AARP.org. She earned her master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia.

Rahul Rajvanshi is a strategic Total Rewards executive and transformation leader. He brings over two decades of experience driving enterprise-wide benefits strategy, operational excellence, and scalable solutions for Fortune 500 organizations.

He is known for aligning total rewards programs with business goals to enhance employee experience, improve retention, and deliver measurable outcomes. His expertise includes managing large health administration portfolios, leading complex M&A integrations, and designing benefits strategies that support organizational growth and compliance.

Rahul has a strong track record of improving client satisfaction through governance models and process optimization, while fostering high-performing, cross-functional teams. With a collaborative leadership style and a focus on continuous improvement, he enables organizations to navigate change and elevate both employee and client experience through smarter, more effective rewards strategies.

Jon Simon is the Vice President and Head of Sales at CareBenefits by Care.com, where he helps organizations reimagine how they support the health and wellness of their employees. With more than two decades of experience in employee benefits, Jon brings a rare depth of expertise and a genuine passion for connecting people with the care they need. When he's not championing better benefits, he's at home in Northern Virginia with his wife and three children.

Pat Garland’s HR career spans 40 years, in roles that ranged from individual contributor to VP for a very large global division of a $16 billion corporation. Her expertise includes compensation and benefits design, organization development, labor relations and executive coaching. She is the author of “33 Ways Not to Screw Up HR” and is an adjunct instructor at the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University of Chicago.

Amy is global head of benefits for Arup, the global, employee-owned engineering and design firm headquartered in London. The company operates in 35 countries with about 18,000 employees and is known for high-profile projects including stadiums and  international airports. Previously, she has worked as a benefits expert at Accenture, Willis Towers Watson, and Mercer. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in math and statistics from Loyola University Chicago.

Athar Siddiqee is Vice President of Global Total Rewards at Micron Technology. He has extensive experience in this field, having served in rewards leadership positions at Cisco, Synopsys, SanDisk, and Xilinx, among others. A life-long Bay Area resident, he has taught professional courses at WorldatWork, UC Santa Cruz Extension and San Jose State University for many years. He earned an MBA from Santa Clara University and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics/Economics from UCLA.