Amanda Andrade is the Chief People Officer for Veterans United Home Loans, an award winning organization including Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 Great Places to Work. Amanda’s responsibilities focus on employee growth, innovation, success, health, happiness and the preservation of Veterans United’s company mission to Enhance Lives Every Day.

In addition to leading human resource organizations in both the public and private sectors, Dr. Andrade has served as an Adjunct Professor for various colleges, including most recently Stephens College and the Jack Welch Management Institute. 

Howard Ross is lifelong social justice advocate, and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias.  Howard has delivered programs in 47 states and over 40 other countries to audiences including Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and major institutions within healthcare, government, and non-profit sectors. He authored the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias:  Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance. His latest  book, Our Search for Belonging: How the Need for Connection Is Tearing Our Culture Apart, published by Berrett-Koehler in 2018, received the Nautilus Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice. His next book, Building Belonging: 9 Pathways to Creating Inclusive and Joyful Organizational Communities, will be published in 2020.

Robert Garcia is Vice President & Chief Staff Officer of ICF Coaching in Organizations and is responsible for leading the operations that enable global organizations to build coaching capabilities and develop a strong coaching culture. He has held senior level positions at Randstad, SHRM, Baptist Health, Florida International University, LHH, ADP, and United Healthcare. 

He has an MBA from FIU and a Bachelor of Science in Management from NSU. He has 5 HR Certifications, the ICF Associate Certified Coach credential and is a Certified Association Executive. He is fluent in English and Spanish and has presented in 6 continents.

Jeanne Morris started her SHRM journey over 30 years ago, advancing from roles in accounting to HR strategy and was recently appointed to SVP, Consumer Products.  Jeanne provides leadership and oversight of the design, development, and execution of all consumer products and certification operations businesses. This includes certification preparation, seminars, specialty credentials, eLearning, the People Manager Qualification (PMQ) and credentialing operations. Jeanne and her team are passionate about providing professionals with the tools and knowledge to elevate performance in their workplaces, build resilient teams, and cultivate positive and flourishing cultures.

Shilpa Pherwani is an organizational psychologist by training and the Principal and CEO of IBIS Consulting Group, Inc. She has expertise in the areas of cultural competency, diversity and inclusion, organizational development and e-­learning.  As a consultant and trainer, Shilpa provides guidance to organizations to develop and achieve their D&I business goals.  She provides subject matter expertise in change management, organizational development and diversity to help organizations align D&I with business strategy. Shilpa heads the design and development team at IBIS for diversity e-­learning tools. She has led the team for several highly effective programs for clients such as Aetna, Boeing, Campbell Soup, Grainger, ESPN, Nestle, Microsoft, Sun Life Financial, and Xerox. Shilpa’s work with global organizations has included conducting diversity assessments, diversity and cross-­cultural training, leadership development, and implementation of diversity strategic plans. Shilpa received her Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Springfield College with a focus on Organizational Development.