As the CEO and Founder of RiseKit, a software company that connects untapped job seekers to career opportunities and supportive services, Matt has over 5 years of experience in social entrepreneurship and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Matt's passion for focusing on social problems stems from his volunteer work as a mentor for young people from under-resourced communities in Chicago. He realized the need for a system change that would break down the barriers and silos in workforce development and empower job candidates to access the resources and networks they need to thrive. That's why he created RiseKit, a software platform that helps nonprofits, employers, government systems, and community foundations save time in finding, training, and supporting job candidates, while also collecting powerful data on how to best organize communities and cities. Matt and his team work tirelessly around the belief that the zip code in which someone is born shouldn't determine one's life trajectory.

Matt is also a Forbes Human Resources Council Influencer and Contributor for The Sociable, where he shares his insights on topics such as talent acquisition, diversity equity and inclusion, social entrepreneurship, culture, community engagement, and mental health.

For fun, you should ask Matt about his love for soccer, family, poke bowls, or social entrepreneurship.

Melanie Hallenbeck is Chief Growth Officer at Alegeus, leading the company’s go-to-market strategy. With more than two decades of channel experience in the employee benefits and consumer-directed healthcare space, Melanie most recently served as chief growth officer at Elevate, a fast-growing developer of employee benefits technology. Prior to Elevate, she served as chief growth and marketing officer at benefitexpress, which was acquired by Wex, a leading global benefits company. Previously, she was senior vice president at WageWorks, leading the organization’s health plan partner channel business. Earlier in her career, she held senior sales roles at ADP and Progressive Benefits Solutions.

John works with leaders and teams to activate their DEI values, cultivate leaders within an organization, and unify teams. He is a changemaker who builds bridges and inspires genuine impact through his leadership and speaking!

John’s unique perspective in the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation empowers leaders to use their own unique experiences to bridge divides. As an executive leader of an organization that works with dozens of cross-sector executives, John actively collaborates with professionals of diverse and divergent views to improve their city.

As a result of John’s work, people experience a real understanding of why bridge builders are needed and how to authentically be one. Palpable growth in organizations happen when this culture of belonging and leadership is cultivated with the tools and language John provides.
 

Dr. Michael Baran is the CEO of Iris Inclusion, a global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) firm. Dr. Baran draws on his own social science research to inform his DEI speaking engagements, writings, consulting, leadership development, and eLearning. After teaching at Harvard University, he has been supporting DEI in organizations for 20 years. His work has been covered in the New York Times, BBC, Forbes, CNN, NPR, and more.

His recent book, Subtle Acts of Exclusion, was named by Forbes as one of “The 11 Books To Read To Be A More Inclusive Leader” and has won several awards.