Desiree Adaway, CEO of The Adaway Group has over 20 years of experience researching and helping organizations pinpoint their trigger points when it comes to inclusivity. Her work helps leaders foster stronger relationships amongst employees and invest in programs that encourage employee development of all identities. She acknowledges that we are born into a world filled with assumptions, stigmas, and social identities that guide our decisions and perceptions.

Holly Burkett, Principal at Evaluation Works, has helped countless teams embrace change while avoiding common pitfalls (like change failure, employee burnout, and poor communication). She addresses two major types of change, while identifying transformational change as the primary growth roadblock for many leaders. This type of complex change requires consistent time and attention to continually keep up with industry pace, understand new market demands, and analyze the needs of your employees.

Shea Coakley, co-founder of multiple businesses like: Leanbox, Grind, The People Opps Society, and PERKS━helps create happier, healthier, and more productive employees. Shea understands that employees produce their best work and are happiest when they feel empowered by their employer and provided benefits that speak to their needs. So he’s created business models that do exactly that!

Denise Caleb, Executive VP of Strategic Partnerships at Talent Plus, Inc. knows the importance of understanding and caring for employees in all different life stages. She recognizes that, like every person, every career path is unique. It’s the job of the leader to utilize different technology and communication techniques to understand, meet, and set their employees up for success despite where they are in their personal and professional journey.

Daniel Jacobs, CEO and Founder of Avanoo helps leaders scale, sustain and drive ROI by creating positive company cultures through storytelling. With the use of AI he can create a map of a company’s culture – identifying their strong points and where opportunities exist. He believes that if you aren’t investing the time and effort into telling your own story, someone else will.

Alexa Baggio, Co-founder and Executive Director of PERKS is restarting the conversation around employee benefits and experiences. Longing for more thoughtful and modern solutions to workplace improvement and employee experience, Alexa co-founded the PERKS Convention to showcase the variety of benefits available for teams. She has seen firsthand the continuous transformation of benefits and new ideas that have been used to accelerate and improve company culture.

Lisa Calicchio, Senior VP, CHRO, and head of Sustainability at GAF shares her insights on how, as a business leader, you can increase your productivity, streamline processes, and manage time effectively, all while creating and operating a sustainable business. She recognizes that in order to effectively manage your internal systems, you must first have a full understanding of your business—that begins with understanding the current and future role of each employee.

Amy Bess, Shareholder and Chair, Labor and Employment Practice at Vedder Price PC, shares her insight on the importance of having difficult conversations to create compliant, productive workplaces that are focused on meeting and exceeding business objectives. Her expertise will provide you with proactive steps that you, as an employer, should be taking to cultivate a culture of inclusion.

Ben Eubanks, Principal Analyst at Lighthouse Research Advisory, outlines a clear map of how organizations and leaders should be thinking about transformative technology, automation, and artificial intelligence. Ben shares the startling reality that today’s current job vacancies outweigh the human’s available in the workforce.

Maigen Rowe, Director of Global Employee Experience at Allegion recognizes that the future dynamics of employee experience and team culture are rapidly evolving, especially given multiple generations operating in today’s workforce. She shares that employees, regardless of where they are on their professional journey, crave security – at their organization and in their role.