Conference Schedule & Agenda

Our programming gives you a unique view inside of today’s top performing workplaces and the teams who run them.

Kristine Dery

Professor of Work, Technology and Innovation

Macquarie University

Kristine Dery is the Professor of Work, Technology and Innovation at Macquarie Business School, and an Academic Research Fellow with MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR). Kristine’s current research explores what it takes for large companies to transform their workforce to be relevant in a digital world. Together with colleagues at MIT CISR, Kristine has recently published a framework that helps firms understand the degree to which their workforce is future-ready. Kristine’s previous research has explored the employee experience in the context of Agile Ways of Working, Virtual Connectivity, and also what it takes to attract and retain the Talent with the digital skills to successfully deliver on the challenges of new digital business models. She works closely with research colleagues both at MIT CISR and Macquarie Business School to ensure that her research is integrated into the broader context of digital transformation.

KRISTINE'S SESSIONS

Tiffany Prince

Chief Performance Officer

Prince Performance LLC

Tiffany Prince, internationally renowned speaker, consultant, coach, and owner of Prince Performance LLC, provides training/ facilitation, change management techniques and organizational strategy to a range of companies and industries. She has first-hand knowledge of Technology, US Federal Government, Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. She has designed and coached international development and change programs in the US and EMEA region, working with Fortune 500 companies. Tiffany obtained her Master’s degree in Business Administration, majoring in Global Business Management, from Pepperdine University. She is certified as an ICF ACC Executive Leadership coach and has served in multiple board member roles for the Association of Talent Development (ATD), including as the President of the Metro DC Chapter, VP of Membership of ATD Chicagoland, and recently as a National Advisor for Chapters for ATD. She currently is serving on the Business Intelligence Council of Chief Learning Officer and the Global Council of the Learning and Performance Institute. Tiffany is the author of the book, “Top of the Mountain Leadership: The Future of Performance and Productivity in a Technology Changing World.”

TIFFANY'S SESSIONS

[Master Class] Top of the Mountain: Leadership Practices to Build a Culture for Hybrid Success

Alan Pelz-Sharpe

Founder & Principal Analyst

Deep Analysis

Alan has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, working with various end-user organizations such as FedEx, The Mayo Clinic & Allstate, and vendors from Oracle and IBM to startups worldwide. He focuses his research on innovation and disruption in the Enterprise Software market. Formerly a Partner at The Real Story Group, Consulting Director at Indian Services firm Wipro, Research Director at 451, and VP for North America at industry analyst firm Ovum. Alan is regularly quoted in the press, including the TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, and has appeared on the BBC, CNBC, and ABC as an expert guest. Alan currently serves on the board of the industry association AIIM International.

ALAN'S SESSIONS

Howard Tiersky

CEO

FROM, The Digital Transformation Agency

Howard is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance which was recently listed by Forbes as “One of the ten most important business books of 2021.” Howard was named by IDG as “One of The Top 10 Digital Transformation Influencers to Follow Today,” and by Enterprise Management 360° as “One of the Top 10 Digital Transformation Influencers That Will Change Your World.” As an entrepreneur, Howard has launched two successful companies that help large brands transform to thrive in the digital age: FROM, The Digital Transformation Agency and Innovation Loft. Among his dozens of Fortune 1000 clients are Verizon, NBC, Universal Studios, JPMC, Morgan Stanley, the NBA, Visa, and digital leaders like Facebook, Spotify, and Amazon. Prior to founding his own companies, Howard spent 18 years with Ernst & Young Consulting which then became part of Capgemini, one of the world’s leading global consulting firms, where he helped launch their digital practice. Howard speaks regularly at conferences and events such as CES, Reshape by Business Insider, The North American Customer Centricity Awards, The Digital Business Summit, the Business Transformation and Operational Excellence Summit & Industry Awards, and many more!

HOWARD'S SESSIONS

[Master Classes] How to Create a Culture that Drives Customer-Centricity

Tom DeWitt

Director of [email protected], Academic Program Director for MC-CXM

Michigan State University

Tom DeWitt, Ph.D., is the Director of [email protected], an entity dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management (CXM), and a fixed-term faculty member in the Department of Marketing of the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. As the Director of [email protected], Dr. DeWitt created North America’s first academic program in customer experience management (Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management - MS-CXM) and hosts industry conferences twice each year for organizations to share best practices in CXM. For nearly two decades, Dr. DeWitt has also provided customer experience management (CXM) solutions to organizations and audiences around the world through consulting, workshops, and presentations. Prior to joining academia, Tom enjoyed a career in the hospitality industry, where he served in senior management roles in the USA and Asia.

TOM'S SESSIONS

[Master Class] From Theory to Practice: A Hands-On Masterclass on Employee Engagement Strategies and Implementation

Dave McCandless

Director of IT

Guardant Health

Dave McCandless is a seasoned IT leader with a 30+ year history of defining and implementing digital experience solutions across a diverse landscape of global companies. In his current role as Senior Director of IT and Global Operation for Guardant Health, Dave is transforming the employee digital experience by deploying powerful and compelling transformational applications. Guardant is committed to the ongoing evolution of smart collaboration as a core competence for the company’s focus of transforming cancer care at all stages of the disease. Prior to joining Guardant, Dave was VP of IT for Navis where he led transformation projects within the Navis software factory and the creation of the Navis Analytics Cloud. For his vision, Dave was recognized by CIO / Drexel University and Computer World for innovations in leveraging the cloud for IT operational efficiencies. Prior to joining Navis, Dave held a variety of leadership positions in software development and global IT operations for industry leaders Oracle, Bank of America, Chevron, and AT&T Bell Labs. Dave has been an adjunct professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, and is a contributing author in the book CIO Body of Knowledge about Business Continuity Planning. Dave is currently a board advisor to Heligenics, Yagna IQ, and The Pinkney Foundation. He is a past advisory board member for the Fisher CIO Leadership Program at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and a past advisory board member of the Harold Frank Engineering Entrepreneurship Institute at Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Washington State University, and an M.S. in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

DAVE'S SESSIONS

Nicholas Lethbridge

VP, Strategic Accounts

Interact

For 13 years Nick Lethbridge has been helping enterprises such as Levi’s, Domino’s, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Love’s Travel Shops to implement market-leading internal communications technologies. With the digital workplace growing more complex, Nick supports senior leaders to find an intranet solution that integrates with existing tech, reduces the burden on IT, and connects every employee.

NICHOLAS'S SESSIONS

Aaron Kim

Senior Director and Head, Digital Workplace Solutions

RBC

Aaron Kim is Senior Director and Head, Digital Workplace Solutions, at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and leads the areas of internal social collaboration, mobility development, intranet, enterprise search, occupancy solutions, emerging technologies within the context of employee digital experience. He’s also spoken at several events across the globe, including London, Singapore, Barcelona and San Francisco. He has a passion for innovation and for making work smarter, more meaningful and rewarding to all. Born and raised in Brazil to a Korean father and Japanese mother, he also volunteers in several diversity initiatives inside and outside RBC. Aaron has held previous roles as a consultant at IBM Canada and Unisys Brazil. He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Universidade de São Paulo.

AARON'S SESSIONS

Alysha Campbell

CEO

Culture Shift HR

Alysha M. Campbell, Founder/Principal of CultureShift HR, is a 4x award-winning and highly respected Strategic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leader with a decade of experience encompassing all facets of Human Resource Management and DEI. She’s also a best-selling author. From executing successful multi-million dollar workforce diversity and optimization projects to spearheading inclusive employee culture initiatives, Alysha has truly seen and done it all in the DEI space. Her passion for the industry is what led her to start CultureShift HR. Alysha uses her business acumen to help companies utilize and engage their best talent while creating purposeful, diverse, and inclusive work environments that help businesses grow and thrive. Through her experience and foresight in the Canadian, US, and International talent space, Alysha has developed an eye for talent engagement patterns and the resulting effects on culture. As a speaker and entrepreneur, Alysha partners with and teaches organizations and non for profits her proven process on aligning their talent with corporate objectives to achieve more and increase inclusivity. She enjoys sharing the secrets of the trade to help businesses discover the benefits of a high-performance culture, the increasing value of employee engagement, and the ins and outs of talent acquisition. Within Alysha’s business practices, she encourages companies to embrace the “Employee First” philosophy that focuses on shifting the cultural dynamics and encouraging recognition of positive results and behaviors. Ultimately this leads to greater employee engagement, customer service, and recurring revenue, allowing clients to stay competitive in their respective industries and labor market. Alysha is currently a Board Member of Tech Spark Canada charity in Ontario, where she has served for four years. She graduated from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. In 2022, she was awarded IAOTP DEI Leader of the Year and became an Amazon Best Selling Author of the anthropology "Building Beyond the 9-5: Inspirational Lessons from Successful Black Women."

ALYSHA'S SESSIONS

[Master Class] Managing Organizations & Teams Through Chaos

Sam Marshall

Consultant: Intranet, collaboration, SharePoint strategy, digital workplace

ClearBox Consulting Ltd.

Sam Marshall is the owner of ClearBox Consulting and has specialized in intranets and the digital workplace for over 20 years, working with companies such as Unilever, Vodafone, Diageo, Sony and GSK. His current activities focus on intranet and digital workplace strategy, and the business side of Microsoft 365. He is the executive author of the annual ClearBox ‘Intranet an Employee Experience Platform’ report, the most comprehensive evaluation of this technology market. Sam is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences and has been named a ‘Contributor of the year’ for his CMSWire column seven years in a row. In 2015 Sam was given the Intranet Now award for 'remarkable contribution to the intranet community'. He has an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, an MA in Psychology and more bicycles than shoes. Email [email protected] or tweet @sammmarshall

SAM'S SESSIONS

Richard Harbridge

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

2toLead / Microsoft

Richard Harbridge is a Chief Technology Officer, an author, an internationally recognized speaker, and a Microsoft MVP. Richard works as a trusted advisor with hundreds of organizations, helping them understand their current needs, their future needs, and what actions they should take to grow and achieve their bold ambitions. Richard remains hands-on in his work and has led, architected, and implemented hundreds of business and technology solutions that have helped organizations transform both digitally and organizationally. Richard has a passion for helping organizations achieve more; whether it is helping an organization build beautiful websites to support great content and social strategy, or helping an organization leverage emerging cloud and mobile technology to service better their members or the communities that they serve. As a sought-after speaker, Richard has often had the opportunity to share his insights, experiences, and advice on employee experience, the digital workplace, Intranets, collaboration, process improvement, adoption, governance and Microsoft technologies at numerous industry events in around the globe. When not speaking at industry events, Richard works with Microsoft, partners, and customers as an advisor to business and technology, and serves on multiple committees, leads EX and technology groups, and is a Board Member of the Microsoft Community Leadership Board.

RICHARD'S SESSIONS

[Master Class] Smarter, Not Harder: How AI Is Changing Employee Experience

Andrew Lindsay

Head of Enterprise Design + User Experience

The Kraft Heinz Company

Andrew is a strategic, systems-oriented executive leader focused on designing and deploying innovative solutions for the many unique challenges that arise across the customer/consumer/employee experience. In his current role as Head of Enterprise Design at Kraft Heinz, he is positioning design as a driving agent of organizational transformation.

ANDREW'S SESSIONS

Thom Singer

CEO

Austin Tech Council

THOM'S SESSIONS

[Master Classes] Building Meaningful Connections: The Art of Authentic Networking

Brice Dunwoodie

Founder, CEO

Simpler Media Group (CMSWire & Reworked)

Brice Dunwoodie is the founder of Simpler Media Group, the publisher of Reworked and CMSWire, and the creator of the Digital Workplace Experience and DX Summit conferences. Having started his career in large organizations like Oracle and Macromedia (now Adobe), Brice moved in an entrepreneurial direction following the first dot com bubble, co-founding Cylogy, Inc., a boutique digital experience agency, and founding Simpler Media Group, a B2B media, research and events company.

BRICE'S SESSIONS

[Welcome] CEO, Brice Dunwoodie Opens CONNECT 2023

Scott Galloway

Professor of Marketing; Author, Adrift; Co-Host, Pivot; Creator, No Mercy/No Malice

NYU Stern

Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business and a serial entrepreneur. He was named one of the world’s best business professors by Poets & Quants. Scott has founded nine companies, including Prophet, Red Envelope, L2, and Section4. He is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, and Post Corona. Scott has served on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Panera Bread, and Ledger. Across his Prof G and Pivot podcasts, No Mercy / No Malice newsletter, and his YouTube channel, he reaches millions. He has won multiple Webby and Best Podcast awards. His latest book, Adrift: America in 100 Charts, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list in October.

SCOTT'S SESSIONS

[Opening Keynote] Overhyped or Underhyped? The Trends & Tech Shaping the Next Decade of Digital Experiences

Chuck Gose

Head of Community & Industry Insights

Firstup

Chuck Gose is a self-proclaimed Skyline Chili connoisseur and Duran Duran fan with nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, corporate communications, and internal communications. His unrivaled passion and enthusiasm for the communications profession began early in his career at General Motors and Rolls-Royce, where he became fascinated by the positive impact internal communications can have on a company's success. At Firstup, Gose is the Head of Community & Industry Insights. In this role, he creates content and opportunities for the internal comms community and the Firstup customer community.

CHUCK'S SESSIONS

[Case Study - Presented By FirstUp] What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

J.P. Salman

Director, Internal Communications

Southern Company

J.P.'S SESSIONS

Jason Midtdahl

Solutions Consultant

Workvivo

Jason has spent the last 10+ years in the technology space working with Talent, HR, IT and Communications professionals to help maximize the employee experience. Today, Jason focuses on helping organizations realize their communications strategy, amplify company culture, and drive employee engagement. Jason spends his time traveling with his wife and 2 daughters, making music, and pretending he is good at golf.

JASON'S SESSIONS

[Innovation Theater] Why an Employee Experience Platform is the Centre of Every Modern Digital Workplace Stack

Javier Aldrete

SVP of Product

ActivTrak

Javier has over 20 years of experience building SaaS products that apply Artificial Intelligence, Predictive Analytics and Business Intelligence to solve problems across various industries. He is responsible for ActivTrak's product strategy and roadmap.

JAVIER'S SESSIONS

[Innovation Theater] Thriving in Tough Times: How to use Workforce Analytics to Drive Results

Sean Albertson

Head of Client Experience Measurement & Analytics

Charles Schwab

Sean Albertson is the Head of Client Experience Measurement & Analytics at Charles Schwab. Sean and his team provide analysis and actionable insights to leaders within the Investor Services, Advisor Services and Digital Services business units. In addition to traditional survey and research, Sean drives journey & text analytics strategies across Schwab’s contact channels.

SEAN'S SESSIONS

[Mainstage Panel] Strategies for Enhancing Customer Experience

Siobhan Fagan

Editor In Chief

Reworked

A NYC-based writer and editor, Siobhan is the Editor-in-Chief for Reworked. Prior to joining CMSWire she worked as a research consultant at the design consultancy, Helsinki Group, as a librarian for the Wildlife Conservation Society and worked on the International Information and Library Review. She has an MLIS, Library and Information Science, from The University of Pittsburgh.

SIOBHAN'S SESSIONS

Mary Slaughter

Global Head of Employee Experience & Communications

Morningstar

MARY'S SESSIONS

[Mainstage Panel] EX Enterprise Experience Brand Panel

Ashley Perryman

VP, Global Human Resources, Head of People

Spiceworks Ziff Davis

Ashley Perryman is the Vice President of Global Human Resources at Spiceworks Ziff Davis, a 1500+ person Tech & Media company. She's led the Human Resource function for US public companies and private-equity backed firms, as well as high-growth startups with globalized workforces. Her background has led to her specialization in designing a comprehensive People Strategy that centers the talent and elevates the People Experience, therefore enabling scale for emerging technology companies. Through her intrapreneurial approach, she creates best-in-class cultures that have resulted in winning multiple best places to work awards. She is a business-minded HR executive that transforms companies & propels them forward by ensuring the right leadership, processes and systems are in place to achieve desirable outcomes. She mentors Human Resources Professionals and volunteers in local professional associations and non-profit organizations in Austin, TX. She studied at Boston College and Harvard University, has a Senior Professional Certification from SHRM, and has served on several Boards in an advisory capacity.

ASHLEY'S SESSIONS

[Mainstage Panel] EX Enterprise Experience Brand Panel

Kristin Hancock

VP, Community & Engagement

ICology

Just a small town girl living in a fabulous world, Kristin is always looking for magic moments in the employee experience. Her 15+ years in corporate communications have given her a unique perspective on work, life, and how human connection improves both. In 2020 Kristin revitalized the ICology brand, alongside its founder Chuck Gose, her partner in life and work. ICology is now a thriving community of internal communicators who are leading the change in our industry and transforming the future of work, one office at a time. Kristin is a Canadian immigrant living in Indianapolis and learning how to America. When she’s not connecting communicators, she is probably handing out dog biscuits at her local animal shelter.

KRISTIN'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] Get in Communicators, We're Building Community

Ryan Anderson

Vice President, Global Research & Insights

MillerKnoll

Ryan Anderson serves as Vice President of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll. His team leads MillerKnoll’s research efforts in partnership with a wide variety of global collaborators and is active in sharing insights gained from that research with organizations across the world. With nearly thirty years of industry experience, Ryan’s work has centered on how the places we inhabit can be better designed and managed to support positive, productive experiences. Ryan hosts MillerKnoll’s Looking Forward podcast on the future of work, regularly speaks at public events about MillerKnoll’s historical and current research, and has been featured in wide variety of publications such as The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the BBC, Fortune, and Bloomberg.

RYAN'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] The Science and Design of Productive Workspaces

Ted Hopton

Technology Experience Strategist

Motorola Solutions

In his Technology Experience Strategist role, Ted is focused on maximizing the value that more than 20,000 Motorola Solutions employees get from their LumApps employee experience platform. He has spent over a decade leading digital workplaces in large organizations, and held leadership and product team roles at consulting and software development firms. Ted co-founded the Chicago Online Community Professionals co-working group and has been a frequent speaker at conferences for 20 years. Ted likes fixing up his 100-year-old house, walking Chicago’s neighborhoods with his dog, and escaping to the great outdoors whenever possible to kayak, hike and camp.

TED'S SESSIONS

[Innovation Theater] Improving User Experience through User Discovery

Jeff Corbin

Principal Strategy Advisor

Staffbase

Jeff Corbin is Senior Strategic Advisor, Internal Communications Consulting at Staffbase. For the better part of his 25+ year career, he was CEO of KCSA Strategic Communications, a New York City based consulting firm. He is better known for being one of the U.S. pioneers in the use of mobile technology for internal communications - he was the founder and CEO of APPrise Mobile and theEMPLOYEEapp which was recently sold to a private equity firm. Jeff is also a principal in ECA Consulting Group that helps organizations take advantage of technology (employee communications applications) in order to be most effective in their internal communications. Jeff is a licensed attorney and practiced securities and bankruptcy law in NYC. He holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

JEFF'S SESSIONS

[Innovation Theater] Who Should Own the Corporate Intranet?

Juanita Olguin

Senior Director Marketing, Platform Solutions

Coveo

Juanita Olguin is Sr. Director of Marketing for Platform Solutions at Coveo. She has been in the productivity, digital workplace, and enterprise content management space over the last decade and is on a mission to help companies make sense of AI and smart tech for the workplace.

JUANITA'S SESSIONS

[Innovation Theater] Want to Augment EX + CX? Unlock content silos with AI

Lisa Goddard

Intranet Manager

UFCU

Lisa Goddard, Manager of Intranet Services at UFCU, is an award winning digital marketing and communications expert with more than three decades of experience in various industries including internet startups, healthcare, education, nonprofit, and financial services. She has lectured at diverse fora such as the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, the Austin Multicultural Entrepreneurs Series, the Nonproﬁt Technology (NTEN) Conference, the University of Texas at Austin College Communication, and at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, among others and her work has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Austin Women Magazine, and Giving City Magazine.

LISA'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] Creating Employee Experiences People Love: Perspectives from Practitioners

Scott Ashen

Senior Consultant, Digital Workplace Platforms and Strategy

New York Life | Convene Communications

As a communications and technology consultant for almost fifteen years, Scott’s focus has been on digital workplace strategy and platforms to help clients increase engagement and better align with their communications and editorial goals. His twenty years of project management experience has enabled him to lead complex projects from vision to launch in both staff and consulting roles.

SCOTT'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] Creating Employee Experiences People Love: Perspectives from Practitioners

Erin Caldwell

Vice President Marketing

Interact Software

Erin D. Caldwell is vice president of marketing at Interact Software. At Interact, she manages go-to-market strategy, brand, and business development. Throughout her career, Erin has built and driven marketing strategies for various startup and enterprise companies, including in the fintech, AI, martech, robotics and manufacturing/supply chain sectors. She is based in Boston, where she still cheers on her hometown Buffalo Bills and Sabres, much to her neighbors’ chagrin.

ERIN'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] Creating Employee Experiences People Love: Perspectives from Practitioners

Dion Hinchcliffe

VP and Principal Analyst

Constellation Research, Inc.

Dion Hinchcliffe is an internationally recognized digital thought leader, best-selling author, business strategist, enterprise architect, transformation consultant, analyst and keynote speaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in digital workplace, customer experience, and enterprise IT. Dion has led large IT, CX, and strategy projects around the world for the Fortune 500 and Global 2000 in six continents. Industry analytics firm Onalytica ranks Dion as the #2 influencer globally on the subject of digital transformation. He has keynoted or spoken at hundreds of leading industry conferences including CeBIT, KMWorld, IT Roadmap, Dreamforce, CIO Perspectives, AIIM Conference, and other industry events.

DION'S SESSIONS

Stephen Riley

Enterprise Customer Experience Lead, Journey Design, Design Thinking Practice Co-Founder

Allstate

Stephen Riley serves as a journey design expert within Allstate’s Enterprise Customer Experience group and is a co-founder of Allstate’s Enterprise Design Thinking practice. His team partners with Allstate family of businesses to collaboratively provide exceptional customer experiences to Allstate customers. With over 20 years of experience with design, marketing, UX, CX, Design and System Thinking, Stephen leads his partners through a participatory design process he developed with his team utilizing Design Thinking methods to create a shared understanding of our customer’s needs and rapidly test ways to help solve them. Stephen also co-founded Allstate’s Enterprise Design Thinking practice by building an extensive framework and curriculum based on the needs of the organization. He has additionally served as an instructor and lead facilitator for the practice since 2017, helping elevate the role of design within the larger Allstate organization and empower its employees to best serve its customers.

STEPHEN'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] Scaling Design Thinking Across the Enterprise: Empowering Teams and Departments for Success

Spencer Mains

Head of Digital Workplace Experience

Pacific Gas & Electric

Spencer Mains brings more than two decades of experience leading information technology and knowledge management for major consulting, branding, and merchandise firms, including 16 years with Landor, a global branding firm. Spencer currently leads the technology and digital workplace mobilization for a leading utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, headquartered in Oakland, CA. Spencer is obsessed with driving digital transformation within large, complex organizations, and has evangelized the need for highly intuitive workplace solutions that are not only beautiful, but also functional. Spencer is passionate about identifying customer needs and requirements building robust collaboration, knowledge and customer support solutions aligned with culture, efficiency, and continuous improvement for some of the world's most recognizable brands to include Gap Inc, Landor Associates and Stanford University. Committed to providing exceptional customer service and championing innovative ways to transform how people work together with a strong focus on coworker productivity, customer happiness and overall delightfulness with technology. His success building an award-winning intranet that was recognized by Nielsen Norman Media Group as a “top ten intranet in the world” is among some of his proudest achievements.

SPENCER'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage] Transforming Workforce Engagement: Lessons from Business Leaders

Lauren DeYoung

Workplace Futures Director

Allstate

Lauren DeYoung serves as the Workplace Futurist at Allstate where she is re-envisioning the way Allstaters connect and interact in a distributed work model. Across her twelve-year tenure at Allstate, she has held leadership roles across Marketing, Sales, Operations, CX, Claims and Human Resources. Core to all those roles has been optimizing culture, communication, and practices to deliver memorable experiences for customers and employees. Now, Lauren focuses her collective experience to rally her organization around flexibility, technology, and new ways of working to help Allstate attract, retain, and cultivate a diverse workforce that will help the company succeed.

LAUREN'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage] Transforming Workforce Engagement: Lessons from Business Leaders

Dante Ragazzo

Senior Director, Digital Workplace

Tapestry

Dante Ragazzo is Sr. Director, Digital Workplace for Tapestry. With more than 20 years of experience in communication and collaboration technologies, Ragazzo is a passionate digital workplace evangelist and user experience advocate. He believes tools at work should help, not make your job harder. If he's not preaching about the employee digital experience, he's probably spending time with his wife and kids, or prattling on about the benefits of driving a manual transmission.

DANTE'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage] Navigating the Hybrid Workplace: Strategies for Engagement and Innovation

Jennifer Leemann

Vice President Communications

Tapestry

Jennifer (Jen) Leemann is Vice President, Communications, at Tapestry, a global house of brands including Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman. Today, Jen is responsible for internal and owned communications, corporate and talent branding as well as running communications operations. Across her eight-year tenure Jen has elevated the role of communications and played defining roles in the company’s transformation to a house of brands including rebranding the company from Coach, Inc. to Tapestry, Inc., developing and launching the company purpose and building a culture of transparency and purpose-driven action.

JENNIFER'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage] Navigating the Hybrid Workplace: Strategies for Engagement and Innovation

Dom Nicastro

Managing Editor

CMSWire

Grew up on the North Shore of Boston and have been a lifelong journalist.

DOM'S SESSIONS

[Day 1 Highlights]

Karna Crawford

Head of US Marketing

(formerly) Ford Motor Company

Karna Crawford has over 25 years of data-driven brand marketing experience, with the past 10 years focused on delivering digital transformation and growth for Fortune 50 companies, including Ford, Verizon and JP Morgan Chase. During her career, Karna has been recognized as an inspirational executive leader, known for innovative strategic thinking, cultural transformation, and operational excellence. Most recently leading US Marketing for the iconic Ford Motor Company, Karna stewarded marketing transformation, consumer connections and a technology- forward approach to driving growth and loyalty for the nearly $90B US business. Prior, Karna was Head of Activation Strategy and Media for Verizon Consumer Group. She ran the division’s nearly $1B in media and activation investments nationally, and was accountable for revenue, cost management and customer experience in Activations. Karna has been recently appointed the Director of North America Marketing Communications for Ford Motor Company. As a self-described “builder” she is ready to shape Ford’s future at this pivotal moment during the company’s digital and technology transformation. Karna’s career is anchored in leading strategic marketing, digital and media in consumer-packaged goods, telecommunications and financial services for some of the world’s most recognized brands. Responsible for the early development of digital marketing at companies such as Miller Brewing and The Coca-Cola Company, Karna has been instrumental in the transformation from traditional marketing to data-driven and consumer-centric integrated marketing. She leverages insights, digital capabilities, and key sponsorship assets to build brands and drive growth. Karna has been the catalyst behind transformation initiatives across various organizations, including transforming strategic marketing at Chase Consumer Bank and building its digital acquisition capability, transforming digital media sales for Verizon, and introducing database-driven marketing at Georgia Pacific, as she led its digital marketing account within Publicis Groupe. Driven by her passion for talent and culture, Karna currently serves as the lead for the Diversity and Inclusion Council for Verizon Marketing, and was formerly the Executive Sponsor of the Black Employee Resource Group

KARNA'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Interview] Driving Innovation and Growth: Lessons from Karna Crawford, Former US CMO of Ford

Drew Ianni

Chief Content Officer

Simpler Media Group (CMSWire & Reworked)

DREW'S SESSIONS

Lina Taylor

Olympian & Philanthropist

CLOSE The Gap Leadership

In life and in business, breakthrough transformations don’t just happen. It takes clear goal setting and sharp focus to get from where you are right now to where you want to be. Lina’s life story is an inspiring lesson in doing just that - growing up in communist Bulgaria, she transformed her own circumstances, finding a path to higher education in the United States, becoming a scientist, and later, a two-time Olympian in beach volleyball, entrepreneur, and mother of three. Lina is the founder of Climate Executive Coaching, a global resource for climate and sustainability teams, accelerating their mission through science-based, solution-focused professional coaching. Through her ‘CLOSE the Gap’ leadership training, Lina helps teams and individuals – from senior leaders to young professionals – take the next big leap forward and achieve their goals. Leading companies like Google, Amazon, Deloitte, Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer, Cardinal Health, Comcast and many others draw inspiration from Lina’s principles and her story of resilience, determination, and grit.

LINA'S SESSIONS

[Keynote] The Power of Serendipity

Sydney Brunson

Executive Director, Community and Inclusion

Travere Therapeutics

Sydney Brunson is a journalist-turned-strategist passionate about creating equity for all employees and the communities in which they belong. Sydney currently serves as the Executive Director of Community and Inclusion at Travere Therapeutics. Travere is a biotechnology company whose mission is to identify, develop and deliver life-changing therapies to people living with rare disease. In this role, she serves as an effective, trusted, and credible advisor to leaders on people strategy, inclusion, culture, engagement, and employee-centric programs and utilizes a data-driven approach to identify needs and foster an organization where everyone can do their best work. Prior to Travere, she served as the Head of Culture for Microsoft North America in the Executive Office of the President. She also has held roles in diversity & inclusion and management consulting at Pinterest and IBM.

SYDNEY'S SESSIONS

[Breakfast Briefing] The Power of DEI in a Hybrid/Remote Workplace: Benefits, Advantages, and Strategies for Success

Alex Kantrowitz

Founder

Big Technology

Alex Kantrowitz is the Founder & Report for Big Technology. He was most recently a Senior Technology Reporter at BuzzFeed News. His work has been referenced by dozens of major publications, from The New Yorker to The Wall Street Journal to Sports Illustrated. Kantrowitz is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay on Top Forever” is his first book.

ALEX'S SESSIONS

Daniel Wu

Head of AI & Machine Learning, Commercial Banking

JPMorgan Chase

DANIEL'S SESSIONS

[Keynote] The Future of Banking with AI: Insights from JPMorgan Chase's Head of Machine Learning

Kate Cox

Assoc. Managing Editor, Reworked

Simpler Media Group

Kate is the Associate Managing Editor for Reworked, where she manages the company's growing community of expert practitioner contributors. She has more than a decade of experience in journalism as a critic, reporter, and editor covering tech and tech policy; privacy; consumer issues; mergers and antitrust; and video games and online culture with outlets such as Protocol, Ars Technica, CQ Roll Call, Consumerist, and more. She is originally from Boston but settled in the Washington, DC area in 2008, where she lives with her family.

KATE'S SESSIONS

Raj Krishnan

Director

Microsoft

Raj Krishnan has over 30 years of experience in the technology sector in multiple verticals including Manufacturing, Retail and Healthcare. He conducts Digital Transformation workshops for Fortune 500 companies and has deep technical expertise in Application Modernization, Data and AI. Currently he focuses on AI and ML helping customers apply Large Language Model capabilities to solve business problems.

RAJ'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Roundtable] AI is the New Electricity Roundtable

Shawnte Holland

Senior HR Business Partner, Finance

Vanguard

Dr. Shawnté Cox Holland is a Human Resources executive specializing in talent management, organizational effectiveness, diversity and inclusion, and employee experience. With over 20 years of experience, Shawnté uses innovative and research-based approaches to manage the talent lifecycle in a way that yields better business performance. As the Head of HR for the Finance Division of the Vanguard Group, she oversees all aspects of HR for over 1,500 employees across a global footprint (e.g., organization and job design, talent attraction and management, leadership development, and employee experience and retention). Prior to joining Vanguard, Shawnté worked for Gartner Consulting leading engagements and conducting research for private and public sector clients related to defining the people strategies needed to enable IT operations. Shawnté holds a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia, a M.S. in Technology Management from George Mason University, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Wilmington University. Her research centers on the intersection between organizational culture and business outcomes. She is certified in project management from PMI, change management from ProSci, and holds a Federal CIO certificate for technology leadership from the Federal CIO Council.

SHAWNTE'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Roundtable] HR Business Partners Best Practices: Navigating the Changing Landscape

Shaelyn Otikor-Miller

Senior Vice President and Head of Global Digital Workplace Strategy

Northern Trust Asset Servicing

Shaelyn is a seasoned corporate professional accustomed to ushering teams through some of the most complex business transitions. She understands that successfully implementing a change management strategy is an art that involves balancing policies, client demands, stakeholder engagement, workforce dynamics, perceptions, and motivating factors. Shaelyn has honed this art over 27 years while leading organizational and digital transformations from origination, through execution, to post-implementation in response to internal and external environmental factors. In addition, she is a well-respected senior leader responsible for motivating staff to resolve client servicing challenges, increase productivity, and reduce costs. Peers recognize Shaelyn for her ability to efficiently communicate with executives and influence cross-functional stakeholders through respect, collaboration, and follow-through. Shaelyn is a Senior Vice President and Head of Global Digital Workplace Strategy at Northern Trust in the Asset Servicing business unit, which contains 15K of the company’s 24K employees across 20 countries. She assesses the client-employee servicing constructs to design and deliver an innovative digital model aligned to evolving fintech trends. In addition, she provides thought leadership to the business unit President and executive leadership team by leveraging data analytics, industry research, project management methodologies, and empirical insights to transform the business and retain clients. Before this role, she was Head of Global Workforce Strategy and was responsible for people-focused strategies that created a renewed end-to-end employee experience to source, develop, and advance talent. During her career, Shaelyn has held dozens of roles across North America and Europe, delivering company-wide programs that have refined her ability to lead by persuasion and manage indirectly. She has subject matter expertise in multiple domains, including client servicing, operations and technology, product development, PMP certification, regulatory risk and compliance, HR, DE&I, and ESG. Shaelyn received her BA from DePaul University, Chicago, and her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She also holds a DE&I certification from Cornell University.

SHAELYN'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Roundtable] HR Business Partners Best Practices: Navigating the Changing Landscape

Carl Rivers

SR HR Business Partner

TikTok

A versatile, high-energy HR Leader with over 15 years of success driving people initiatives. Recognized as strategic problem solver who envisions smart solutions that have significant impact on the business and protects companies from employment legal risks. Carl is currently an HR leader at TikTok, but has worked for some of the largest brands across the Financial Services and Technology sectors such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank of American and WeWork. Carl holds a BA in Forensic Psychology from John Jay in New York City. He is originally from South Florida, but has lived in New York for over 20 years.

CARL'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Roundtable] HR Business Partners Best Practices: Navigating the Changing Landscape

Heather Knuffke

Air Force Enterprise Change Manager

United States Air Force

As the Air Force Enterprise Change Manger, Ms. Knuffke leads the Air Force efforts to build change capacity and change competency in Airmen and Guardians. In 2018 she established the Air Force’s first enterprise change management program with resources nested in each major human resource organization in the Air Force. She’s trained over 100 Air Force Organizational Change Management (OCM) Practitioners, and regularly leads training and coaching programs for senior leaders, supervisors, and program management teams. She institutionalized change capacity in budgeting, contracting, leadership training, and professional development, and established a cadre of master trainers who instruct role-based OCM in their respective organizations. In addition to building capacity and competency, Ms. Knuffke leads the Air Force portfolio change management program for the Human Resource and Talent Management Digital Transformation. The Air Force is modernizing 118 + legacy systems and applications as it streamlines business processes and service delivery across the Active Duty, Reservist, Guardsman, Civilians, Non-Appropriated Funded Civilians, Retirees, and Families. Each of these global stakeholder communities are supported by separate organizations, systems, and processes. While the total population of Air Force employees numbers 650,000, the Air Force supports their families and dependents, and integrates deeply into their social and medical communities. Portfolio change management seeks to standardize the change support across these programs, promote a human centered design mentality, and project a unified voice through strategic communications. Previously, Ms. Knuffke led the Digital Transformation program at the United States Air Force Academy, modernizing their data, information technology, and business processes for recruitment, onboarding, medical clearance, scheduling, and cadet services. This included digitizing their warehousing, inventory, and point of sales efforts, and building their strategic communications, community, and fundraising engagement platforms. Before this, Ms. Knuffke served the Department of State, Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, and deployed twice to Baghdad, Iraq in service of the Multinational Forces during Operational Iraqi Freedom. When not supporting the Federal government, she’s conducted research in support of University of Michigan, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs at their Center for Homeland Security, the University of Colorado Denver, and the Buechner Institute for Governance. She holds graduate degrees in economics and public policy, and is a doctoral student in organizational leadership, performance and change.

HEATHER'S SESSIONS

[Coffee Briefing] Driving Talent Transformation At Scale

Sarah Kimmel

VP of Research

Simpler Media Group (CMSWire & Reworked)

As Vice President of Research, Sarah holds overall responsibility for CMSWire INSIGHTS and Reworked INSIGHTS research design and implementation. She leads the internal and client-driven research practice in the areas of customer experience, marketing leadership, customer data management, employee experience, digital workplace, learning and development and modern HR leadership. Sarah has 20+ years of experience designing and communicating original research across a broad range of technology, HR and L&D topics. Prior to her current role, Sarah led the research division at Human Capital Media for 8 years, overseeing the LearningElite benchmarking program and all in-house and custom research for Chief Learning Officer and Workforce brands.

SARAH'S SESSIONS

Billie Wright

Austin SHRM

President

Billie is an accomplished HR and operations strategic leader with 20+ years’ progressive people operations and executive leadership experience in various industries, scaling and leading teams, coaching for greatness, driving culture and change transformation, and strategy execution at all levels to achieve business results. In addition to serving as the 2023 President for Austin SHRM, Billie also serves as an independent Leadership Consultant and Performance Coach. She previously served as the VP of People Operations for a public benefits corporation and for the WA State Employment Security Department (ESD) as the Chief Human Resource Officer. Prior to serving as ESD’s CHRO, she also served as their Chief Learning Officer where she led and directed the agency’s employee engagement initiatives, training program, leadership development and executive coaching program. Furthermore, Billie also served as the Director of Human Resources for other state and municipal entities, transportation and manufacturing industries. Billie is a Master Certified Engagement Curriculum Facilitator, nationally certified Crucial Conversations® instructor, certified change management practitioner, DEI practitioner and certified leadership coach. She is also a skilled facilitator who brings a sense of fun and curiosity into her presentations! Billie hails from Texas by way of Louisiana, enjoys traveling and spending time with her family. She is a graduate of Western Governor’s University, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management and a Master’s Degree in Management and Leadership.

BILLIE'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Panel] Building a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workplace: Insights from Austin SHRM

Angela Shaw

SVP, Talent

Amplfiy Credit Union

As the SVP of Talent for Amplify Credit Union, Angela Shaw is an award-winning human resources leader, speaker, teacher, and DEI advocate. She has an extensive background in human resources and holds two senior-level human resources certifications. Angela was recognized on the 2022 Top 50 Women Leaders of Austin list and most recently for the third year in a row was named a 2022 top DEI Influencer in HR. She tirelessly works towards building a more inclusive world by dedicating herself to educating herself and others. Angela has served her local HR community as both President of the Williamson County HR Association and Austin SHRM. She has also previously served on several nonprofit boards and currently is a Board Member for I Live Here I Give Here which is an organization known for engaging the community in giving. In addition to her action-oriented work professionally and in the community, Angela is fiercely devoted to her family and friends. She is a zealous and loyal daughter, sister, auntie, and friend.

ANGELA'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Panel] Building a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workplace: Insights from Austin SHRM

Laurel Dzneladze

Employee Communications Digital Platforms Leader

Laurel currently works at LinkedIn as a leader in Employee Communications & Technology. At LinkedIn she is focused on driving culture and engagement through technology while creating inclusive experiences for hybrid and remote workers. Prior to joining Linkedin, Laurel worked at Microsoft as a Customer Success Manager for Modern Work – helping companies like CBRE, Dell, AMD, iHeartMedia and more digitally transform. Over the past 10 years she has held various communication roles in social media, internal communications, and marketing working at companies like Whole Foods Market and Johnson Controls. Laurel is passionate about the role technology plays in the employee experience and is active in the Austin community through local HR and technology organizations. She is also the community lead for the 150+ remote LinkedIn-ers in the Austin area.

LAUREL'S SESSIONS

[Main Stage Interview] "10 Good Minutes" with LinkedIn's Laurel Dzneladze on Digital Employee Communications

Nidhi Madhavan

Research Editor

Reworked

NIDHI'S SESSIONS

[Breakout] The State of the Digital Workplace in 2023

Carmen Simon

Cognitive Neuroscientist, Instructor at Stanford University, and CSO at Corporate Visions

Stanford University

Carmen Simon, PhD is Chief Science Officer at Corporate Visions. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur, cognitive neuroscientist, and keynote speaker, Dr. Simon has developed a groundbreaking approach to creating memorable messages that are easy to process, hard to forget, and impossible to ignore―using the latest in brain science. Dr. Simon is the author of Impossible to Ignore: Creating Memorable Content to Influence Decisions. Results from her brain science studies are available at B2B DecisionLabs, the research division of Corporate Visions.

CARMEN'S SESSIONS

[Keynote] Creating Change — The Neuroscience of Motivation

Ice-T T

Actor, MC, Rapper

Ice-T

Ice-T not only invented gangster rap, he has lived it. Ice-T is the original embodiment of LA Hip-Hop and a cultural icon. Through his music, his books (The Ice Opinion, Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood), and his lecture tours of America’s prisons, high schools, libraries, and colleges (including Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford), Ice-T has become an influential spokesman for America’s youth, regardless of color. Born in New Jersey, Ice-T learned the art of survival pretty fast. An only child whose parents died when he was very young, Ice-T became involved in Los Angeles gangs before spending four years in the army. His first break came when the producers of the film Breakin’ asked him to rap in the movie. He went on to become rap music’s original gangster, writing songs like “Six in the Mornin” and “New Jack Hustler.” Ice-T formed Rhyme Syndicate Records in 1989 and released a string of groundbreaking West Coast rap records. He subsequently formed the thrash metal band Body Count with close high school friend and guitarist Ernie C. Body Count’s 1991 self-titled debut contained the controversial single “Cop Killer.” Body Count was the most critically acclaimed act on the highly successful 1991 Lollapalooza tour, and continues to tour worldwide. As his politics were grabbing headlines, Ice-T’s film and television career was taking off. The controversial personality secured roles in New Jack City, Ricochet, Trespass and Johnny Mnemonic, all while building a flourishing television career. He has numerous independent and documentary film roles to his credit as well. Ice-T currently stars in NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Odafin Tutuola for his 20th season. For three seasons in 2012/2013 Ice and his wife, Coco starred in the E! reality show Ice Loves Coco. As an artist, his reach has crossed into interactive media. He is the voice of “Griffin” in the billion dollar grossing Gears of War 3 & 4 games as well as other popular games like Grand Theft Auto and Scarface. As an author, he has released three books in, the first being, The Ice Opinion (1994), following that there was, Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood (2011) and a fictional tale entitled, Kings of Vice (2013). In Jan 2012, Ice premiered his directorial debut, Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap, at the Sundance Film Festival. In Sept 2012 the Ice-T produced documentary Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2013. For 2017, Ice produced and starred in Who Shot Biggie and Tupac for FOX. He also released a new Body Count album, that garnered a 2018 Grammy nomination for Best Metal performance and Produced and Hosted Ice Cold Murder for Oxygen.

ICE-T'S SESSIONS

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Kristine Dery

Tiffany Prince

Alan Pelz-Sharpe

Howard Tiersky

Tom DeWitt

Dave McCandless

Nicholas Lethbridge

Aaron Kim

Alysha Campbell

Sam Marshall

Richard Harbridge

Andrew Lindsay

Thom Singer

Brice Dunwoodie

Scott Galloway

Chuck Gose

J.P. Salman

Jason Midtdahl

Javier Aldrete

Sean Albertson

Siobhan Fagan

Mary Slaughter

Ashley Perryman

Kristin Hancock

Ryan Anderson

Ted Hopton

Jeff Corbin

Juanita Olguin

Lisa Goddard

Scott Ashen

Erin Caldwell

Dion Hinchcliffe

Stephen Riley

Spencer Mains

Lauren DeYoung

Dante Ragazzo

Jennifer Leemann

Dom Nicastro

Karna Crawford

Drew Ianni

Lina Taylor

Sydney Brunson

Alex Kantrowitz

Daniel Wu

Kate Cox

Raj Krishnan

Shawnte Holland

Shaelyn Otikor-Miller

Carl Rivers

Heather Knuffke

Sarah Kimmel

Billie Wright

Angela Shaw

Laurel Dzneladze

Nidhi Madhavan

Carmen Simon