Anita I. Jivani is the Head of Innovation at Avanade Northeast and Director of the NYC Innovation Center, where she is focused on advising organizations on the Future of Work, Innovation, and Organizational Strategy and Design. She has spent time dissecting how shifts in our ecosystem are impacting how we live and reframing the way we work. She has counseled organizations on how these megatrends impact their strategy and how investing intentionally can prepare leaders for the future. Her interest in innovation and cross-sector collaboration stems from her work as a Fulbright Scholar, in which she examined the role of business in improving sociopolitical relations between the United States and Mexico.

Laura Bartus is the Chief Learning Officer for the Human Health Project and the head of learning and development for CenterWell Pharmacy, a division of Humana. At the Human Health Project, Laura helps the organization set near-term and future strategy, scale up its patient education programs, and increase its reach to new groups of patients and caregivers. At Humana, Laura’s teams create, deliver, and track learning and development programs for the pharmacy organization’s 12,000 associates. This includes dispensing sites, call centers, professional tracks, and Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs. Laura’s organization effectiveness team tracks operational results and develops learning metrics strategy to improve their business impact. Laura leads development sessions for leaders and associates across the enterprise, and also externally at many industry events. Laura is passionate about coaching, providing employees with equitable advancement opportunities, building up a robust talent pipeline, and helping her team to be a valued partner to the business.

Laura started out as a high school English teacher, teaching and learning a ton from some amazing teens. In the corporate world, Laura has done nearly every job in learning, moving through design, facilitation, and many leadership roles. She has been involved with several volunteer organizations. She has four crazy children – two of which are twins and three of which are boys. So she also has a crippling coffee addiction, and she really loves work trips. She finds sanity through taking hikes and reading new books. Don’t get her started on dad jokes, because it will delay your meeting for at least five minutes.

Heather Sepulveda is the Head of Executive Search & Talent Intelligence at Takeda.

Alvaro Soto is VP of Product at TeamSense, leading product strategy and applied AI for the platform that connects hourly workers across manufacturing and logistics via SMS. Before TeamSense, Alvaro spent years building enterprise AI products at IBM Watson and led product at Procore Technologies, one of construction tech's largest platforms. He brings a rare cross-discipline background spanning product management, UX design, and AI — and a sharp focus on applying that experience where it's needed most: the 80% of the workforce most tech ignores.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.

Jordan Lewis is Senior Director of Product at Deputy, a global workforce management, HR, payroll, and communications platform that has been used to schedule over one billion shifts. He has spent his career building products for the desk-less workers who keep businesses running — with earlier stints leading product teams at Xero and Vend POS (now Lightspeed), where he developed a deep passion for solving the real, daily challenges faced by frontline teams. He brings a builder's instinct and a decade of experience in workforce tech to the conversation about what it takes to connect, support, and empower the workers most software leaves behind.

Corinne Lestch works with high-level executives to shape their stories into impactful op-eds, Substacks and nonfiction books. She is an award-winning journalist who recently served as deputy editor at Forbes, where she oversaw content by contributors across Careers, Leadership Strategy and ForbesWomen. Her work has been published in Bloomberg Law, The London Reader, The Washington Post, and many other outlets. 

Angie Parsons is Director of Product Marketing at Beekeeper by LumApps, where she is at the forefront of transforming the workplace for frontline workers. With a mission-driven focus, Angie champions the development and execution of strategic initiatives that enhance the lives of those who are the backbone of business — the deskless workers on the frontlines delivering products and services for customers, clients, and patients all around the world. Her expertise and thought leadership on the subject is coupled with an enthusiasm for leveraging technology to foster cross-functional collaboration, breaking down silos between Communications, IT, HR, and Operations teams to create a seamless and empowering digital experience for frontline employees.

Angie’s passion and work is centered in helping businesses thrive by ensuring their teams - from frontline to desk - are engaged, productive, and aligned with the company’s mission and culture. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Angie is committed to making a meaningful impact on the future of work through innovative, people-centered technology solutions.

Michelle is a strategic learning and development leader with deep experience building enterprise-wide learning ecosystems that strengthen capability, accelerate growth, and enhance performance. As Vice President, she oversees enterprise learning and talent strategies, including technical training, professional and personal development, career mobility initiatives, performance and talent review processes, and engagement strategies that support a high-performance, high-retention culture.

She partners closely with business executives and HR leaders to align learning, talent, and organizational priorities, creating scalable frameworks that elevate skills readiness, improve internal mobility, and strengthen leadership pipelines. Known for connecting people development directly to business outcomes, Michelle focuses on building environments where employees can grow, contribute, and thrive.

Amber Rabo is the Vice President, learning and talent development, at ABM Industries. As a business-oriented HR leader with a more than 20-year track record of progressive experience and success in leading critical initiatives that directly impact and improve talent capabilities, performance, and engagement, Amber has played an instrumental role in supporting the vision and success of organizations across a diverse spectrum of industries. Among them: oil and gas, healthcare, technology, and financial services. Amber received her Ph.D in business administration from Northcentral University, her MBA/MSW in business/social work from the University of House, her BS in biology from the University of Mississippi, and her BA in psychology from Loyola University New Orleans. 

Kelli Wingo is an entrepreneurial culture evangelist, leadership development strategist, fire-starter, and lover of laughter. She serves as a ThinkHuman facilitator helping organizations to thrive by equipping their leaders to navigate multi-layered complexities to drive business outcomes.

Prior to entering the leadership development space, she enjoyed a 25-year career in the financial services industry at Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Her writing can be seen in Forbes, CEO World, Thrive Global, Addicted 2 Success, Medium, The Good Men Project, and LinkedIn.

Kelli is an alumna of the University of Michigan - Residential College with a B.A. in Social Theory and Practice.

As a native North Carolinian, Courtney was raised in an equitable ecosystem of urban and rural life; embracing a legacy of what it means to be Tarheel born and Tarheel bred.

As a global business leader, executive coach, consultant, speaker, and community advocate, finding his purpose in life was an incredible alarm clock; leading to his life quote “If your presence doesn’t make an impact, then your absence won’t make a difference.” Currently, he serves as the head of North America human resources and global diversity, equity, and inclusion for BASF Agricultural
Solutions.

Having worked with top-tier organizations, across multiple industries, for more than two decades, Courtney’s career has been focused on helping people and organizations unleash greater potential, innovation, and performance to deliver sustainable social and economic impact.

Yulia Denisova is VP, Talent and Development at Fanatics Commerce, the leading designer, manufacturer, and seller of licensed fan gear. She has nearly 25 years of HR leadership experience building, empowering, and managing global high-performing teams of varying scale, type, and autonomy.  Prior to joining Fanatics in August 2024, Yulia spent more than 11 years with The Coca-Cola Company where she held HR, talent, and development roles, and reengineered talent practices enterprise wide. Before that, Yulia was with BP (British Petroleum) supporting HR across Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the UK.

A native of Russia, Yulia lived in Eurasia before relocating to Atlanta during her time with The Coca-Cola Company. Yulia received a diploma in Philology and Linguistics at the Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow.  

Jaylon Jackson is the Chief Revenue Officer at Corporate Traditions, where he leads sales strategy, event planning, and revenue growth across one of the most active HR conference circuits in the country. A fixture in the HR community, Jaylon is known for his authentic approach to relationship-building and his commitment to serving diverse HR communities — including the Native American HR space, where he brings both personal connection and deep expertise. Teach and leading in the HR Gifting community.

Bette Kidane is an award-winning learning, organizational development, and workforce performance professional with over 20 years of experience building and leading high-performing, collaborative teams in the talent development space.

She specializes in workforce optimization through performance-based learning and organizational development strategies, including leadership development, change management, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), culture transformation, and process improvement. Bette has successfully designed and implemented learning strategies for Fortune 500 organizations across a wide range of industries.

With extensive experience leading both global and national learning and development functions, she has trained and mentored professionals worldwide in instructional design, development, and the broader learning discipline. A seasoned project manager and certified PMP, she consistently delivers results on time, within budget, and aligned with stakeholder and subject matter expert expectations.

Her industry background includes healthcare, global learning consulting, international trade (import/export), supply chain logistics, and customs brokerage. She is well-versed in human resources law, HR information systems, and regulatory compliance at both local and federal levels.

As a Certified ROI Professional, Bette leverages operational key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of human capital initiatives and drive measurable business impact.

Griffen Kelly is the Senior Director of Partnership Development at Cariloop, where he works closely with partners and consultants to expand access to care solutions that support today’s workforce. With nearly 10 years of experience in the benefits space, Griffen brings deep expertise in growing partnerships, expanding new markets, and aligning solutions to real business needs across industries.