Sonia Aranza
CEO/Principal Consultant
Aranza Communications
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Global Speaker Sonia Aranza has presented on the international stage from Spain to Singapore.  She brings 27+ years of experience in Diversity, Inclusion & Global Leadership. Her clients include Boeing, CIA, McDonald’s and more. The U.S. Department of Labor describes her work as “Outstanding” and was selected to execute programs for landmark cases. SHRM featured her as a Diversity & Inclusion Expert in HR Magazine and she is a LinkedIn Top Voice in Leadership. She serves on the Faculty of Howard University’s Executive Diversity Program; named “100 Most Influential Filipina Americans in the United States” and honored “100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World.”

SESSIONS:
Grace A. Odums
strategy consultant
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Grace A. Odums, an independent strategy consultant, has a growing consultancy spanning over fifteen years.  Her impressive client list boasts Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies including: Disney ABC Media NetWorks, Waste Management (PA/WVA Area), Fairmount Southampton Resorts, Chevron-Phillips, Siemens Medical Solutions, Wells Fargo Bank.  

A much sought after international speaker, Grace welcomes the opportunity to partner with organizations and professionals in the areas of management coaching, revenue recapture, change leadership, optimum customer care, talent performance enhancement, productivity improvement, increased efficiencies, balanced scorecard architecture, and diversity strategy creation with diversity scorecard and strategy map development and system-wide implementation.

SESSIONS:
Joe Gerstandt
speaker, author
Talent Anarchy
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Joe Gerstandt brings greater clarity, action, and impact to organizational diversity and inclusion efforts.

Joe has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, small non-profits, and everything in between. He speaks at numerous conferences and summits, and blogs at joegerstandt.com. He is a featured contributor for the Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum and his insights have been published in Diversity Executive, HR Executive, and numerous other print and on-line journals.

A strong advocate for resetting the diversity and inclusion conversation, Joe sees these issues as poorly understood and often misunderstood.

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 9:30am to 10:45am
Mark E. Fowler
Director of Programs
Tanenbaum
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In his current role, Mark is responsible for program development, project management and the expansion of Tanenbaum programs nationally and internationally. A sought-after expert on equality issues like race, gender, sexual orientation and religion, Mark's recent engagements include workshops at SHRM’s Annual Conference & Exposition, the National Association for Multicultural Education, the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, and Multicultural Forum for Workplace Diversity.

SESSIONS:
Nadine Augusta
director of Diversity & Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility
DTCC
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Nadine Augusta leads Global Diversity and Inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility for The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. In this role, Nadine is responsible for the respective strategies for the company including setting the global agenda aligned to strategic business priorities, establishing the infrastructure, elevating employee and stakeholder engagement and connectivity and fostering strategic partnerships.

Prior to assuming her current position in 2012, Augusta was Senior Vice President in Global Diversity and Inclusion at Bank of America where she redesigned the operating model and strategic focus for the Global Diversity and Inclusion Council and the employee networks and implemented a sponsorship program designed to increase opportunity, access and visibility of diverse talent. Augusta was a member of the US Trust and Merrill Lynch Merger Integration Teams contributing to the wealth management pre-merger assessment and integration strategy and leading the Global Markets technology deployment testing strategies. Previously, she held various positions in Bank of America’s Global Corporate and Investment Bank. 

Augusta has over 20 years of experience in financial services, with key positions in management consulting, project management, sales and trading and diversity and inclusion.  Augusta worked at several leading industry institutions, including Credit Suisse, BearingPoint LLC/KPMG Consulting LLC, and Pershing LLC.  Augusta is a member of the Board for Uncommon School – Leadership Prep Charter Schools, has twice received the President’s Volunteer Service Award, and was a 2007 recipient of the “Black Achiever in Industry” award from the YMCA of Greater New York.

Augusta recently completed the Ascent Executive Leadership Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.  She is a graduate from St. Peter's University and resides in New York. 

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 8:00am to 9:15am
Denise Pirrotti Hummel, J.D.
principal
Ernst & Young
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Denise Pirrotti Hummel, J.D., is a Human Capital Principal at EY, where she leads national culture integration and optimization across the globe. She is the former CEO and Founder of Universal Consensus, LLC, a culture transformation firm. Her team helps clients improve global business results and build lasting performance by enhancing corporate, national, gender and generational culture, key components of enterprise financial success. In addition to serving clients, she leads a team of 40 engineers, computer scientists, curriculum specialists and researchers that operationalize EY’s global culture tools used for H.R. transformation and M&A culture integration. Hummel is a member of the prestigious U.S. State Department Worldwide Speaker and Specialist Program and a speaker on culture and change management at SHRM 2013 and SHRM 2014. She has consulted for a myriad of Fortune 100 companies in every sector, as well as the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. Prior to founding Universal Consensus, Hummel was an attorney practicing commercial and employment law, and D&I internationally. That experience has enabled her to effectively link a client’s HR and cultural considerations with the overall enterprise risk management impacts. Denise was recognized by the American Bar Association as one of the top twenty young attorneys in the United States in 1992. She is a published author and speaks multiple languages.
SESSIONS:
Howard J. Ross
partner
Udarta Consulting
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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.

 

SESSIONS:
Minjon Tholen
senior consultant
Cook Ross Inc
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Minjon Tholen is a Consultant and Training & Development Lead at Cook Ross Inc. She has over a decade of experience in facilitation & curriculum design, and specializes in creating and facilitating trainings on diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, leadership development, and cultural competency. Minjon has developed and led workshops for corporations, educational institutions, nonprofits, healthcare organizations, and other clients in the US and around the world. Her clients include EMC-EMEA, the Royal Bank of Canada, T. Rowe Price, Bank of America, Genentech-Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Mitre Corporation, USDA, Kellogg’s, Tata Communications, George Washington University, Community Health Network of Connecticut, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Human Rights Campaign. Minjon has been a speaker at a number of conferences, such as the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles annual event, SHRM Diversity & Inclusion Conference, and Linkage Institute for Leading Diversity & Inclusion. She also served as an international witness at the first European diversity conference dedicated to addressing racial and ethnic differences in the European Diversity & Inclusion space. Minjon’s other responsibilities at Cook Ross include the onboarding and learning & development programming for consultants, delivering Train-the-Trainers, curriculum design, and managing the pro-bono and charitable giving initiative of the organization. Born in Sri Lanka, raised in the Netherlands, and further educated in the United States, Minjon graduated cum laude from the University of Utrecht for her Bachelor’s degree, and holds a Master’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining Cook Ross, Minjon was a New Leader at the Center for Progressive Leadership and the National Council of Women’s Organizations. She has also worked at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington D.C., and served as a Pipeline Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute in New York.

SESSIONS:
Michael Miller
motivational speaker
FUN Enterprises, Inc.
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Michael is “the happiest person he knows!” That said – Michael has a unique take on life given his experiences growing up in The Bronx, New York City. The son of a brave New York City Policeman and fabulous Italian-American mother, Michael finds being direct and honest easier than most – allowing him to mix humor and passion in a way that makes him memorable and motivational!

Expect no soft soaking – rather, Michael gets you motivated in this arena by telling it like it is and by insisting that you consider new ways to “get it done.” Done humorously, his employers and clients repeatedly claim that his manner really gets people to listen and motivates to make positive changes.

Michael has been working at hundreds of college campuses across the US for 10+ years.  He brings a positive attitude, a multitude of experience and humor to all of his programs.  As a former Student Affairs professional, he is in touch with the needs of college campuses today.

After reading this, you might like to meet Michael – consider this session as your first introduction.

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 8:00am to 9:15am
Sarah Morgan
sign language intepreter
National Reconnaissance Office
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Sarah began working with Deaf/Hard of Hearing people while she was still a college student in the year 2000. Upon her 2001 graduation she earned her national certification as a Sign Language Interpreter and became a staff Interpreter for the National Institute of Technology for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY. In 2006 Sarah earned her graduate degree in Service Management and Leadership from the Rochester Institute of Technology and transitioned to working in the, then brand-new, arena of Video Relay Service interpreting, where she became a team lead for Snap! VRS. In 2011, Sarah joined the Central Intelligence Agency’s EEO office as a staff Sign Language Interpreter, and transitioned to the National Reconnaissance Office as a Reasonable Accommodations Specialist in 2013. She is passionate about bringing education to the workplace about working with Sign Language Interpreters and the Deaf/Hard of Hearing population.

SESSIONS:
Sarah Morgan
sign language intepreter
National Reconnaissance Office
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Sarah began working with Deaf/Hard of Hearing people while she was still a college student in the year 2000. Upon her 2001 graduation she earned her national certification as a Sign Language Interpreter and became a staff Interpreter for the National Institute of Technology for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY. In 2006 Sarah earned her graduate degree in Service Management and Leadership from the Rochester Institute of Technology and transitioned to working in the, then brand-new, arena of Video Relay Service interpreting, where she became a team lead for Snap! VRS. In 2011, Sarah joined the Central Intelligence Agency’s EEO office as a staff Sign Language Interpreter, and transitioned to the National Reconnaissance Office as a Reasonable Accommodations Specialist in 2013. She is passionate about bringing education to the workplace about working with Sign Language Interpreters and the Deaf/Hard of Hearing population.

SESSIONS:
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 3:15pm to 4:30pm
Nikki Cicerani
president and CEO
Upwardly Global
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Nikki Cicerani became president & CEO of Upwardly Global in April 2009 after serving as founding managing director of the organization’s New York Office. During her tenure as CEO, the organization expanded from two major metropolitan areas to five, launched online, virtual services and elevated its mission from a local program to a national conversation around skilled immigrants’ value to the United States. Upwardly Global's services now reach thousands of underserved immigrants and refugees across the country, who are increasingly being recognized as a valued community asset at the city and state level.

 

Today, Nikki leads the organization’s efforts to scale its impact by advocating for inclusion of skilled immigrants in federal, state, and local workforce policy, as well as full integration of this population into corporate recruiting and diversity programs. Nikki believes in building strong national and community partnerships that support the awareness and resources available to this often invisible and overlooked talent pool.

 

Nikki is a founding member and serves on the steering committee of IMPRINT, a coalition of organizations working to promote and implement best practices in the integration of immigrant professionals. She has advised the White House Domestic Policy Council on the economic integration of foreign-trained professionals. She has also served as an expert panelist at national and international forums on migration, including the 2010 Cities of Migration Conference, 2014 Global Great Lakes Conference, and the 2011 and 2013 Clinton Global Initiative meetings on the U.S. economic recovery.

Prior to joining Upwardly Global, Nikki worked in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. She was an associate in Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management Practice, and spent several years with Ernst & Young in the Economics Consulting Practice, as well as in the Office of the Chairman where she focused on evaluating the success of integration strategies for advancing women to the Partner level. Nikki proudly initiated and led the creation and implementation of the first network for women of color at the firm. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was president of Columbia Women in Business, and a bachelor’s degree in Policy Analysis from Cornell University.

Nikki lives in Millburn, New Jersey with her husband and two children.

SESSIONS: