Women We Admire is pleased to announce Top 50 Women Leaders of New York for 2022. We acknowledge these individuals for not only their professional achievements, but also their philanthropic and community efforts. Their contributions span across all sectors and are as diverse as the state itself. This year’s awardees are leading within some of the state's largest industries including financial services, healthcare, professional and business services, manufacturing, education, and more.

Among this year’s awardees Emma Andrews, Vice President of Global Patient Advocacy for Pfizer, who works with stakeholders to advance patient-focused programs across the enterprise and to deliver outcomes that matter to patients and those involved in their care. Awardee Alison Pepper, Senior Vice President of Talent Strategy for CBS News, was instrumental in helping to launch and run several CBS News broadcasts, and is known for having an exceptional eye for finding and developing talent as well as creating award-winning production teams. Also awarded is Lisa Coleman, Senior Vice President of Global Inclusion & Strategic Innovation for New York University, who works to advance, promote, and build capacity for strategic global diversity, equity, inclusion, access, belonging, and innovation initiatives across NYU globally.

Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Women Leaders of New York for 2022.

 

1. Emma Andrews
Vice President, Global Patient Advocacy, Pfizer

Emma Andrews is Pfizer’s Vice President of Global Patient Advocacy, leading the organization’s work to embed the patient perspective across all Pfizer’s efforts – from bench to bedside, and beyond. A registered pharmacist, Emma is passionate about helping people live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. In her current role, Emma works with internal and external stakeholders to advance patient-focused programs across the enterprise and to deliver outcomes that matter to patients and those involved in their care.

Emma joined Pfizer in 1999 and has had multiple roles with increasing responsibility in Clinical Research, Operations, Strategic External Engagement and Medical Affairs. Her focus areas have spanned infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, malaria and she worked with multiple stakeholders to help improve HCP-Patient dialogue across multiple regions. Most recently, Emma was the Senior Director, US/Global Medical Affairs Team Lead for the Women’s Health Franchise.

Emma completed her Doctor of Pharmacy, as well as her undergraduate degree in pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science. She is motivated by Pfizer’s common purpose: to bring breakthroughs to patients, regardless of where they are in the world. Her experience growing up in Uganda and Cote d'Ivoire, has shaped her commitment to reducing healthcare disparities, improving health literacy, and advancing health equity in all she does.

 

2. Audrey Hendley
President, American Express Travel

Over the past three decades at American Express, Audrey Hendley has distinguished herself as an influential, innovative leader who has driven record results for various businesses across the company. She has accomplished this by delivering products and services that exceed customer expectations, innovating for long-term growth, developing and retaining outstanding diverse talent, and leading efforts that drive ESG initiatives. American Express Travel is one of the largest multi-channel consumer travel agencies in the world. As President, Audrey is an industry leader, responsible for delivering premium travel and lifestyle services to Card Members through a network of over 7,000 global travel advisors, overseeing the digital travel booking experience, travel benefits and programs, a global network of 1,400 lounges, supplier partnerships, and marketing and engagement strategies for the premium Card Member base. She is also committed to driving initiatives that promote DE&I, support local cultures and economies, and advance climate solutions.

Audrey has earned many of the top awards from American Express and was inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame in 2012. She has received many industry accolades including being named one of the 2018 Irish America Power Women, and she was included on the 2022 Irish America Business 100 List. Audrey’s teams have won the American Express Chairman’s Award for Innovation and she is a member of the company’s corporate ESG and Data Governance committees. As an advocate for women in business, Audrey proudly serves as chair for the New York Women’s Interest Network. She is also chair of the Board for World Education Services (WES), a social enterprise that helps international students and professionals to achieve their educational and professional goals in the United States and Canada.

Audrey is an Honors graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland where she received her master’s in Marketing Management. She also completed the Governing for Nonprofit Excellence program at Harvard Business School.

 

3. Asahi Pompey
Global Head of Corporate Engagement & President, Goldman Sachs

Asahi Pompey is Global Head of Corporate Engagement and President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. She leads the firm's philanthropic and community engagement initiatives, including 10,000 Small Businesses, 10,000 Women, One Million Black Women, Goldman Sachs Gives and Community TeamWorks. Asahi also leads the firm’s Community Reinvestment Act program, which drives investments to meet community credit needs. She is a member of the Management Committee and Global Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Prior to assuming her current role, Asahi was co-chief compliance officer of Goldman Sachs & Co and global head of Investment Banking Division Compliance, and had responsibility for conduct risk. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 and was named managing director in 2010 and partner in 2018. Prior to joining the firm, Asahi was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where she worked in the New York and Frankfurt offices.

Asahi serves on the Board of Managers for Swarthmore College and the board of trustees for the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship. She also serves on the advisory boards of Forbes' Next 1,000, Glamour Women of the Year and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College and earned a JD from Columbia University.

 

4. Laura Gilchrist
VP of Ignite Innovation Consulting, CMT Studio Leader

Laura Gilchrist is an executive in Salesforce’s Customer Success Group. She is responsible for growing Salesforce’s reputation and capabilities globally as a trusted advisor to the C-suite in the Comms, Media and Tech sector. As a leader of ‘Ignite’, Salesforce’s Strategic Innovation Practice, Laura helps ambitious customers reinvent business and operating models and create
more rewarding experiences for customers and employees.

Before joining Salesforce, Laura was a leader at PwC’s Experience Centre in Melbourne where she was responsible for advising clients on digital transformation, strategy through execution. Previously, Laura was based in London where she worked client-side in the Communications sector in intrapreneurial roles including creating a new wholesale business at Vodafone PLC and responsibility for Product Development & Marketing for B2B New Wave revenue at BT PLC. She graduated from Sprott School of Business with an undergraduate degree in international business.

 

5. Tanya Chakraborty
SVP of Emerging Money Movement Product Strategy, U.S. Bank

Tanya Chakraborty is a Senior Vice President with the Enterprise Money Movement team at U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank remains a leader in payments services by focusing on enabling new and innovative payment options for their corporate and consumer clients. In Tanya’s present role, she leads the embedded payments product strategy by building strategic partnerships and ecosystems.

Previously, Tanya was a cross industry payments leader at Deloitte Strategy Consulting where she worked across the payments value chain and advised corporate clients and networks on key payments-related initiatives. Tanya started her career in 2005 at Goldman Sachs and spent the majority of her career in management consulting and payments. Tanya holds an MBA and undergraduate degree in finance and strategy.

 

6. Tracy Keeping
SVP of Cyber & Head of GTS First Line Risk and Control, State Street

A veteran of the Financial Services and Technology industry, Tracy Keeping has successfully led numerous large scale, transformational technology initiatives over the past 30 years, and currently is an SVP leading the Global Technology Services First Line Risk and Controls organization at State Street. She is the co-chair of the State Street LGBT Community and a champion of EWF, the Executive Women’s Forum which focuses on building women leaders in Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy.

Prior to her current role, Tracy held numerous senior positions at Credit Suisse, Thomson Reuters, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase. She is an active advocate of cyber security and technology risk management best practice, frequently attending industry conferences and sharing her views through speaking engagements. Born in the United Kingdom, Tracy now resides in New York with her rescue dog, Cooper. Outside of work, Tracy’s hobbies include motorcycle touring, and watching sports fan of the New York Islanders hockey team.

 

7. Lisa Coleman
SVP of Global Inclusion & Strategic Innovation, New York University

Lisa M. Coleman is New York University’s (NYU) inaugural Senior Vice President for Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation. In this role, she works to advance, promote, and build capacity for strategic global diversity, equity, inclusion, access, belonging, and innovation initiatives across NYU globally, including at NYU New York, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi, and the University’s thirteen other sites and numerous global centers. Dr. Coleman is also a faculty member at NYU Stern Business School and teaches at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Prior to NYU, Dr. Coleman served as the first special assistant to the president and chief diversity officer at Harvard University where she and her team developed some of the first initiatives focused on the intersections of technology, disability, and access. Her early professional and research experience include working with Tufts University, the Association of American Medical Colleges, Merrill Lynch Inc, independent computer and data analytics consulting, and serving as an international organizational strategic adviser.

Dr. Coleman has spent more than 20 years working and consulting C-Suite leaders globally. Her work to advance diverse organizational development initiatives across higher education, as an international organizational strategic consultant, and as a collaborator with global stakeholders ranges from Fortune 500 companies to small boutique and start-up organizations. An interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Coleman earned a doctorate in social and cultural analysis and American Studies from NYU, and three master’s degrees in African and African American Studies; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Communication Studies. She also holds certificates focusing on legal theory and intercultural and organizational development and her undergraduate research foci were sociology, anthropology, and computer science.

 

8. Jennifer Sailer
Founder & Co-Chair, NBA Parents Group and Director, Marketing, National Basketball Association

Jennifer Sailer is a sports marketing leader with a career spanning marketing, media, and sponsorship, driving business for Xerox, Tribune Publishing and the NBA. She has spent the last nine years at the NBA in Global Partnerships and Marketing, as well as supported event programming around the world.

Jen has developed marketing platforms for brands like Mountain Dew, American Express and Gatorade – including the NBA Gatorade League title partnership. She introduced creative problem-solving techniques to uplevel the partnership development process and to initiate the league’s innovation initiative. She currently leads campaign planning across the Global Marketing team, driving brand, tune-in, NBA All-Star ticketing and DTC product marketing. In her most recent accomplishment, Jen led the NBA's 75th Anniversary initiative, driving league-wide work streams across the organization, international offices, and partners to bring to life the award-winning season-long celebration.

As a compassionate leader and problem-solver, Jen established the NBA Parents Group after returning from maternity leave and navigating the challenging and often lonely experience of a new-working-parent. Now a mother of two, Jen and her co-chairs have filled the void with a culture-enhancing employee network – and critical pandemic lifeline – dedicated to supporting community, communication, and empowerment for NBA peers at all stages of parenthood.
Jen is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and serves on the advisory board of the Penn State Sports Business Conference. She also is a graduate of Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business where she received her MBA.

 

9. Vynessa Alexander
SVP of Engineering Operations, Infor

With over 30 years in Technology and Operations management, Vynessa Alexander is attuned to how advances in technology can translate into process improvements—for customers and company alike. Over her career, Vynessa has experienced consistent and progressive growth. Before Infor, she had a number of management roles that have helped her define her place as Senior Vice President of Engineering Operations. Vynessa is motivated by the young professionals on her team and uses her broad expertise to help them grow into new opportunities. She manages several functions that operate globally, managing a team of over 600.

When she’s not in the office, Vynessa is a board member of several service-based organizations. She loves to read and travel, activities that complement each other for long haul flights, and is an active member of her church and community.

Vynessa is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, with an undergraduate degree in business administration and graduate work in technology and project management. She has previously been invited to AfroTech to discuss advancements in her industry. Her commitment to community extends to her professional network – she is a member of Toastmasters International, the Project Management Institute, and the Women’s Infor Network.

 

10. Michelle Snay
Head of Corporate Systems, Guardian Life

Michelle Snay is currently the Head of Corporate Technology at Guardian Life Insurance, responsible for global technology solutions that support human resources, legal, risk, compliance and enterprise shared services. Her teams support technology selection, solutions architecture, analysis, design and development of systems. She is a proven senior technology executive and business leader with over 25 years of experience driving large, cross-functional technology teams in development of global business solutions.

Prior to Guardian, Michelle held executive and leadership roles at Gartner, Viacom and The New York Public Library. She received an undergraduate degree in computer science from DePaul University and subsequently an MBA.

 

11. Marysa Chiu
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Integra LifeSciences

Marysa Chiu is the Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Integra LifeSciences where she has responsibility for the development and implementation of Integra’s global diversity and inclusion strategy.

Prior to joining the medtech company, Marysa was a director on the Talent, Development, and Inclusion Team at Gilead Sciences. There she led inclusion and diversity for the global commercial and corporate functions. Marysa was also responsible for launching several talent development and engagement programs and led a team of diversity business partners in the creation of functional diversity action plans across the company. Before Gilead, Marysa served as Dolby Laboratories’ first leader of diversity and inclusion. Marysa got her start in diversity and inclusion while at Time Warner (now WarnerMedia). There she held a variety of positions in corporate social responsibility, employee engagement and ESG before managing diversity and multicultural marketing efforts for the media company.

She graduated with a master’s degree in cognitive studies from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in psychology and communications from Fordham University. Marysa lives in Westchester County with her husband and twin boys.

 

12. Alison Pepper
SVP for Talent Strategy, CBS News

Alison Pepper is Senior Vice President for Talent Strategy for CBS News and Network Streaming, where she oversees talent recruitment and development across all platforms. In this role, Pepper works to ensure CBS has the best journalists in front of and behind the camera. She was appointed to the new position in October 2021. Pepper has more than two decades of network news experience as both an enterprising network executive and senior producer at CBS News and 60 Minutes, and as an agent at Creative Artist Agency. She was instrumental in helping to launch and run several CBS News broadcasts, and is known for having an exceptional eye for finding and developing talent as well as creating award-winning production teams.

Prior to her new position, Pepper was a talent agent at the Creative Artists Agency where she represented some of the biggest names in the business. Additionally, she worked with those journalists to develop their intellectual property in other areas, including documentaries, podcasts, books and scripted series. Pepper joined CAA in its television department in February 2020. Prior to her time at CAA, she spent almost two decades at CBS News, rising to senior producer for 60 Minutes in 2017. In that role she helped to manage the broadcast, and worked to hire the next generation of reporters both on and off the air. In addition to those responsibilities, Pepper oversaw the development of documentaries from 60 Minutes and CBS News archives including the acclaimed documentary, "Mike Wallace is Here," a co-production with Delirio Films. She also helped expand the 60 Minutes brand to cable with 60 Minutes Sports which ran for several seasons on Showtime, and helped create 60 Minutes' online presence with 60 Minutes OT.

 

13. Juliska Koolman
VP & Chief of Staff, The Knot Worldwide

Juliska Koolman has a diverse background from paralegal to intelligence analyst in the United States Coast Guard through to multiple roles in eCommerce in corporate america. She uses this unique perspective and her organization and analytical skills to program manage the detailed implementation of eCommerce execution. This discipline helps her work quickly and effectively through the multiple layers of activity required to generate rapid eCommerce revenue.

Juliska is currently Vice President and Chief of Staff, eCommerce at The Knot Worldwide (TKWW). TKWW helps couples around the world navigate and enjoy life’s biggest moments together. As a global company, TKWW’s industry-leading websites, top-ranked mobile apps and trusted resources provide the most sought-after information, connection and services to engaged couples, newlyweds and first-time parents everywhere. Her role as Vice President and Chief of Staff, eCommerce, focuses on strategy, planning, and operations.

Prior to joining TKWW, Juliska was a founding member of Alchemy-Rx, working with large and small brands to accelerate organic growth and value creation in digital and eCommerce. Prior, Juliska was chief of staff at Newell Brands where she was instrumental in scaling their eCommerce business to an over $1B global revenue engine. She attributes her success in business to her years as an intelligence analyst in the United States Coast Guard.

 

14. Robin Merritt
Chief of Staff & SVP of Operations, Gainsight

As a member of the executive leadership team at Gainsight, backed by Vista Private Equity, Robin Merritt serves as Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Operations. In her role, Robin manages the team responsible for global business operations, strategic programs, executive and internal communications, global internal events, and social impact.

Robin founded Pulse Impact, Gainsight’s social impact arm which sits within the Office of the CEO. Under her leadership, Pulse Impact has launched two principal programs which address job creation, lack of diversity and income acceleration across the Customer Success industry. CS YOU is the industry’s first-ever Customer Success Associate program for underrepresented minorities. To date, nearly 300 individuals have graduated from the CS YOU program - these associates have earned a total of $14M in income expansion in their full-time career placements. Gainsight Admin Leadership League (GS ALL) is designed to train mothers returning to work as Gainsight admins. Based in India, the GS ALL program addresses the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on mothers, providing them with training and career opportunities to expand their wages and support their children. Established in 2022, the pilot program has seen ~20 graduates to date with 80% returning mothers. Robin continues to trailblaze the transformation of the industry’s double bottom line (profit and people), raising over $2M for global giving and founding the global Impact effort at Gainsight.

Robin’s early career began at Bridgewater Associates, the largest and best-performing hedge fund in the world. In 2015 she joined Box where, on the CEO’s team, she directed global internal communications across 4 continents, 9 countries, and 2,000+ employees. Robin earned her undergraduate degree in communications and marketing from Fairfield University graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa and with honors in six world languages.

 

15. Britt Groosman
VP of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund

Britt Groosman is Vice President of Climate-Smart Agriculture at Environmental Defense Fund. The Climate-Smart agriculture work focuses on working with farmers, the food and finance industries, researchers and policymakers — to make agriculture more climate-smart (both adaptation and mitigation), profitable and resilient. Their approach focuses on building the scientific, economic and political case for a transition to climate-smart agriculture, while pushing for new investments and policies that reward these practices. By clearly demonstrating the economic benefits for the agricultural sector, we can drive lasting change. The end result is a triple win — keeping farmers farming and land in production, bolstering food security, and securing a safer climate and environment for all people.

Previously, Britt served as VP of global climate at EDF, focused on the use of market-based climate policies throughout major economies including China, Brazil and India. She has over 25 years of experience as a strategic leader, environmental economist and advocate working across sectors including agriculture, forestry, fisheries and energy in the US, EU, India, China, and Brazil.

 

16. Christina Minkler
Vice President, Johnson Mirmiran & Thompson

Christina Minkler is the Vice President of Johnson Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT). She first joined the organization in 2018. JMT is a multi-disciplined firm offering a full array of planning, design, and construction phase consulting services for infrastructure projects throughout the United States and its territories since 1971. Their client base consists of federal, state, and local government agencies as well as many private institutions, commercial, and industrial clients. Minkler has over 17 years of experience in the civil engineering industry.

Prior to joining JMT, Minkler was a transportation senior project manager for CHA Consulting, Inc. Before that, she served with the Maryland State Highway Administration as a project manager for over eight years. Minkler graduated from Clarkson University with an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and industrial management. She later earned a master’s degree in project management and an MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

 

17. Emily Gates
SVP of Customer Success, Dataminr

Emily is a seasoned go-to-market SaaS executive leader with over 20 years of experience building effective global teams, driving change management and leveraging technology and data to meet revenue goals, ROI and happy client partnerships. She is passionate about customer experience and thrives on building great teams that enable client success and positive business impact through relationships and technology. Her leadership style is authentic with a strong bias for action and a rigorous approach to operational execution and excellence. In her current role at Dataminr, Emily has built the customer success organization from the ground up, developed a post-sales engagement model to drive retention and growth, defined and built a strategic corporate solutions overlay team and a pre-sales solution engineering team, all aligning to strategic growth initiatives.

Prior to joining Dataminr, Emily was VP, Customer Success, Enterprise and Global for BrightEdge, providing an SEO and content marketing platform solution. Before that she led as SVP, Global Client Service for Return Path, an email deliverability and optimization platform. And for many years she lived abroad in London working for Ipsos, one of the world’s largest market research organizations, as a global SVP, where she helped build a social media research and innovation business unit throughout Europe, LATAM and APAC. In her free time, Emily is a global roamer, visiting 43 countries to date and many more on her bucket list. She is also a foodie, a wine connoisseur, a music lover and an active athlete and yogi.

 

18. Ali Skinner
VP of Communications & External Affairs, CDPHP®

Ali Skinner is a communications professional with nearly 20 years of media, marketing, advertising, public relations, and government relations experience. Ali joined CDPHP in November 2011 and currently serves as Vice President of Communications and External Affairs for one of the top health plans in New York and the nation. In this role, Ali oversees all internal and external communications, advertising, public relations, government relations, and community relations for the health plan’s 400,000 members and 1,200 employees.

A self-described recovering journalist, Ali spent 10 years writing and delivering news for a number of television and radio stations in the Syracuse and Albany, NY markets. Today, she uses her journalism background to help patients and the public make sense of complex health care topics.

 

19. Oksana Matviichuk
Founder, Strategic Forecaster

Oksana Matviichuk is an advertising executive with over 15 years of experience, including a decade of serving Fortune 500 C-Suite clients across WPP and Publicis. Her professional career started 20 years ago. For the last six years, she moved into B2B marketing with a focus on global brand campaigns, where she succeeded and progressed, launching B2B brand campaigns for several leading B2B brands.

As a farsighted and cohesive strategist, Oksana worked with 20+ middle-size companies and 10+ enterprises, 100+ small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Today, Oksana offers clear and compelling business and marketing strategy solutions for the industry's heavyweights and inspires entrepreneurs, startups, and medium businesses for growth. Her newly opened private consulting practice OM Strategic Forecasting offers a comprehensive approach based on vast experience and the best Harvard and Cambridge strategic thinking practices.

Oksana's accomplishments extend to being a USA Today Best Selling author and contributing expert panelist, regularly featured in Forbes for the last five years. She is an empathetic leader, effective facilitator, and inspiring mentor.

 

20. Kirsten Marchioli
VP of Sales, GoodRx

Kirsten Marchioli is VP of Sales in the Pharma Manufacturer Solutions business at GoodRx. GoodRx’s mission is to build better ways for people to find the right care at the best price. The company’s goal is to provide all Americans — regardless of income or insurance status — the knowledge, choice, and care they need to stay healthy.

Prior to GoodRx, Marchioli worked in leadership roles across marketing, sales, and business development at ConnectiveRx, Trusted Media Brands - where she was group publisher for WebMD, Time, Inc., AOL Time Warner, and Warner Bros. Online. Marchioli graduated from Loyola College of Maryland with an undergraduate degree in English and psychology.

 

21. Anne-Claire Berg
Chief People and Impact Officer, Gen II Fund Services

Anne-Claire Berg brings to Gen II, the market leader in Private Equity administration, over 20 years of HR and business experience from a wide range of industries, including the financial, media, luxury, and food sectors. She is passionate about driving change and impact with and through people. Anne-Claire’s expertise is aligning strategy, organization, culture, and skills to foster high performance and sustainable growth. She is well known for attracting and developing talents and teams, fostering an inclusive culture of ownership and empowerment, and leading large-scale, complex transformation.

Prior to joining Gen II, Anne-Claire held senior positions at Danone as the global head of culture and engagement, the secretary-general, and the head of intellectual property – in the US and in Europe. Earlier in her career, Anne-Claire co-founded LUXE.TV, the world-wide, leading television network dedicated to luxury and to the art of living.

Anne-Claire started her career at King & Spalding LLP in New York. She is a member of the NY Bar and holds a Master of Laws from New York University and an Executive MBA from the HEC School of Management. A recognized thought leader on sustainability and inclusive growth, Anne-Claire is a regular speaker for high-visibility events such as the United Nations WEP Forum (Women Empowerment Principles). She is also a guest lecturer for Harvard University regarding sustainability and leadership. Passionate about joining forces with like-minded peers, Anne-Claire serves various industry, educational, and community organizations, including as a board member of the HEC Alumni Committee.

 

22. Robyn Hannigan
President Elect, Ursinus College

A distinguished scholar, entrepreneur, and academic leader, Robyn Hannigan became the first female president of Ursinus College in July 2022 following her service as provost at Clarkson University. Ursinus College, one of only 44 colleges in the US with the distinction of being a College That Changes Lives, centers its mission in the transformational power of the liberal arts in advancing sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing concerns.

Hannigan has earned wide recognition for developing and implementing strategic initiatives tailored to building both financial and institutional support for student success, research, and community engagement. A successful fundraiser and economic development partner, she has raised significant philanthropic support for facilities, scholarships, and research at the institutions she has served. She is the recipient of numerous national awards including the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences and induction as fellow to both the Geological Society of America and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hannigan is a member of the board of directors of World Media Foundation, Inc. (Living on Earth Radio) and the Blue Institute and serves on several federal, state, and local committees and boards centered on economic development and the environment.

Hannigan earned her undergraduate degree in biology from the College of New Jersey, a master’s in geological science from the University at Buffalo, and a master’s and PhD in earth and environmental science from the University of Rochester. She has translated her spirit for innovation into several start-up companies, founded with her students, and continues to be an active, prolific researcher and mentor, garnering over $32 million in external funding and producing over 100 peer-reviewed publications with her students.

 

23. Madiha Fatima
Director & Head of Third Party Risk Management, Angelo Gordon

Madiha Fatima is a Director and Head of Third Party Risk Management at Angelo Gordon, where she leads the development of Third Party Risk Management framework while enabling businesses to achieve their strategic objectives from utilizing service providers. Angelo Gordon is a leading global investment management firm headquartered in New York. Madiha oversees the firmwide Third Party Risk Management function including vendor cyber, technology, business continuity and data security assessments and governance. Madiha is a well-known industry expert in risk management and regularly contributes to risk management forums and publications.

Prior to joining Angelo Gordon, Madiha served as head of third party risk governance & oversight at DTCC. She is a Certified Third Party Risk Professional (CTPRP). Madiha earned an undergraduate degree in financial and capital markets from Rutgers Business School.

 

24. Lara Pedrini
Vice President, Exiger

Lara Pedrini, Vice President at Exiger, brings 12 years of experience in the Governance, Risk and Compliance space. At Exiger, Lara has led multi-million-dollar engagements with clients, from identifying customer needs and larger business objectives to designing solutions that fulfill these needs and meet rapidly evolving regulatory requirements. As a trusted advisor to Exiger’s clients, Lara has worked extensively as a due diligence specialist and Supply Chain Risk Management expert, providing valuable insights and unique perspectives on new laws and regulations, and how to leverage AI and automation technologies in compliance programs and initiatives. Exiger is a global leading third-party and supply chain management software company; its work has been recognized by over 35 AI, RegTech and Supply Chain partner awards. Exiger is revolutionizing the way corporations, government agencies and banks manage risk and compliance in their third-parties, supply chains and customers through its software and tech-enabled solutions. Emboldening its 550 customers across the globe, including 150 in the Fortune 500, with award-winning AI technology, Exiger leads the way in ESG, cyber, financial crime, third-party and supply chain management.

Lara joined Exiger from Dow Jones Risk & Compliance where she was responsible for advising institutional clients on knowing your customer, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and corruption and sanctions solutions, as well as providing transactional diligence and enhanced due diligence on high-risk clients and third parties. Prior to joining Dow Jones, Lara worked at Diligence where she conducted enhanced due diligence reviews for financial institutions and corporate clients. In this role, Lara also supported the firm’s investigations practice, focusing primarily on FCPA investigations, litigation support, business intelligence (competitive analysis and influence mapping), and complex cross-border asset tracing (ownership and corporate structure mapping).

Lara holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a master’s from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of St Andrews with an undergrad in international relations and economics.

 

25. Nicole Thomas
Talent Manager, Morningstar Inc.

Nicole Thomas is a Talent Manager for Morningstar Inc. She currently administers two global learning programs in collaboration with colleagues in the EU, EMEA, and North America. Thomas has spent over a decade in the training and development field, focusing on leadership, facilitation, and curriculum design. She has worked in both the finance and healthcare sectors.

Prior to joining Morningstar, Thomas served as AVP of learning and development for DBRS, and before that, she served as an organizational capability manager for Healthfirst. She has also served as AVP of training and documentation for Pershing. Thomas is an advisory board member for the Customer Experience Certification at Ithaca College. She is an accredited coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership. Thomas is published in the HR director and shares her knowledge on Medium and in published works.

 

26. Radhika Duggal
Chief Marketing Officer, Super

Radhika Duggal is a C-level marketer, transformational leader, and builder of high performing brand and growth marketing teams. She is a passionate, hands-on leader equally capable of building results-oriented marketing functions from the ground up and managing existing high performing teams. She has cultivated these capabilities over two decades of brand and growth marketing work across management consulting, startups, and Fortune 100 companies.

Radhika specializes in building and leading multidisciplinary brand, growth, product marketing and communications teams, using research and insights to deliver positioning, messaging, and award-winning campaigns that drive brand love and cultivating a general manager mindset and P&L ownership to drive profitable growth. She earned an MBA in marketing from Columbia Business School and an undergraduate degree in marketing and international business from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. She also teaches Consumer Behavior at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

 

27. Rebecca Fitts
AVP of Real Estate, Leap

Rebecca Fitts is AVP, Real Estate at Leap. She specializes in non-traditional retail real estate strategies, brick and mortar customer experience and omni-channel solutions in the physical space. Her expertise lies in connecting brands to the right spaces at the right time and negotiating leases. She loves being part of the continuing evolution between landlords and tenants.

She’s had the pleasure of working with digitally native and emerging brands to help them navigate the disruptive retail landscape starting in 2008 with her own brand and series of pop-up shops in New York City. Before her adventures in real estate she spent a decade working for retailers such as Vera Wang, Playboy and Steve & Barry’s in their public relations and marketing departments.

Most recently, Rebecca worked at Warby Parker on their real estate team. Prior to Warby, Rebecca was part of the mall industry for GGP/Brookfield and Westfield (now Uniball-Rodamco) in omni-channel solutions, retail and business development positions helping attract new retailers to the portfolio in the form of pop-up shops and experiences. She attributes her success in these roles to her ability to listen and relate to these retailers, sense when they were ready to make the transition into the brick and mortar world and acting as a source of information on topics outside of real estate.

 

28. Anna Frazzetto
Chief Revenue Officer, KORE1

As Chief Revenue Officer for KORE1, Anna Frazzetto is an IT solutions strategist whose digital transformation and data analytics expertise guides businesses of all sizes and industries, from leading US enterprises to fast-growing start-ups. As CRO, she is dedicated to helping organizations expand their digital capabilities, embrace innovation, and tackle business challenges leveraging data analytics, cloud, social, and mobile technology. She is dedicated to working with organizations of all sizes to help drive revenue and growth both for KORE1 and her clients globally.

Prior to joining KORE1, Frazzetto was president and chief digital technology officer for NashTech Global, part of the Harvey Nash PLC family. At NashTech, she led outsourced and offshore software development teams in North America and the APAC region as they built and maintained mission-critical systems and applications for businesses worldwide. She was responsible for opening up new markets across ASIAPAC for Harvey Nash PLC in her 15-year stint. Frazzetto has been on Staffing Industry Analysts’ Global Power 150 Women in Staffing list for five consecutive years She is a regular contributor to CIO.com and sits on the Forbes Technology Council. A sought-after speaker on digital innovation, outsourcing, and workplace diversity, she was named to SIA’s Top 50 DEI Influencers list in 2021. Frazzetto is also a passionate advocate for increasing the numbers and influence of women in technology. She is currently the national chair of ARA, an organization committed to attracting, retaining, and advancing women in IT.

 

29. Salomé Jean
Chief People & Talent Officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC

As the Chief People & Talent Officer (CPTO), Salomé Jean provides leadership and strategic vision for talent acquisition, career development, compensation and benefits, diversity and inclusion, HR compliance, and employee relations. Her ultimate goal is to maximize the company’s investment in human capital, driving innovation that not only promotes internal cohesion and synergy among all departments but also creates a platform to elevate employees to become effective leaders within the organization.

She has over 20+ years of combined human resources generalist and operations management in shaping and leading retail teams, as well as leveraging entrepreneurial drive
and market acumen to achieve results. Salomé has been a successful nonprofit HR leader excelling in employee relations, always striving to be a force of change in providing an outstanding employee experience while harnessing leading technologies to accomplish core business goals. In her current role, leading the people and Talent team in NYC, Salome is a passionate driver fordiversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC. Salomé's prior HR practitioner experiences have seeded in her the necessity and urgency to remain inclusive, transparent, and accountable in her work. Moreover, she brings significant experience and passion for working with youth-serving organizations.

Salomé serves as the liaison to the Board of Trustees Human Resources Committee and drives strategic policy updates and changes at the organization. She holds a degree in operation management from Baruch College and a human resources generalist degree from C.W. Post LIU.

 

30. Sana Mujtaba
Associate Partner, August Leadership

Sana Mujtaba is an Associate Partner at August Leadership, a global executive search firm, where she leads and executes senior search mandates across industries. She initially joined the firm as principal and VP of marketing and was responsible for branding and the global marketing operations of the firm. The firm makes an impact by helping their clients realize their biggest business opportunities through talent. She is passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and plays a key role in driving the DEI agenda at August Leadership.

Prior to August Leadership, Sana was consulting at the United Nations Population Fund in their talent acquisition function primarily focusing on branding, sourcing, and outreach. She also successfully runs a small business making Urdu language puzzles and related products for young children. She holds a master’s degree in human resource management from New York University and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration.

 

31. Heather Berti
VP of People Services, Arlo Hotels

Heather Berti is the Vice President of People Services for Arlo Hotels, a string of boutique hotels in NYC and Miami that offer social hubs, cozy workspaces, and safe havens in the coolest and most vibrant cities. Berti’s passion for people and culture lead her to a career in human resources, specifically in the hospitality sector. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Berti launched career in New York City in 2015. Her entrepreneurial mindset assisted in launching the Arlo Hotels brand. She has successfully aided Arlo Hotels being named Crain's Top 100 Best Places Work for consecutive years.

Prior to Arlo Hotels, Berti was the director of people services for tommie Hotels and before that a director of people services with Thompson Hotels. She’s family oriented and has taken that mindset and applied it to her professional environment. Outside of her work, she has a passion for health and wellness, is an avid runner and loves boxing. Berti graduated from Saint Mary;s University with an undergraduate degree in psychology and from George Brown College with a certificate in human resource management.

 

32. Amanda Willinger
Chief Digital Officer, LAGOS

Amanda Willinger is an experienced executive who has a demonstrated history of transforming luxury brands to compete in the digital age. As Chief Digital Officer for LAGOS, she oversees all aspects of eCommerce, digital marketing, web operations, user experience, customer service, public relations, and social media. She brings intellectual and strategic rigor to the role, which helps evolve and propel the business forward.

Always inspired by beautiful things, Willinger started her career in the art world working for such esteemed brands as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips De Pury. Prior to joining LAGOS, Willinger held senior positions at IPPOLITA and David Yurman, where she successfully grew those digital businesses.

Willinger’s philosophy is that a great product begins and ends with superior user experience. She believes that decisions should be informed by data yet infused with an elegant point of view – a great blend of art and science. This, along with championing talent recruitment and building a collaborative team, is the most important key to her success.

 

33. Amanda Fajak
President of North America, Walking the Talk

Amanda Fajak is the President of North America for Walking the Talk, one of the world’s leading specialist consultancies in organizational culture. As an expert in culture transformation Amanda has over 25 years’ experience in enhancing performance results by aligning culture with strategy and creating workplaces for the future. Amanda and the Walking the Talk team have impacted over 200 organizations, from start-ups to some of the world’s largest companies, on how they build their company culture as a strategic asset, working with over 50,000 leaders in the process. Continually challenging the status quo through applied research into the future of work and innovative product design, Amanda regularly shares her expertise through CEO advisory and keynote speeches.

Amanda’s professional career spans Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. She has a master’s degree in organizational behavior from the University of London and has been published in the British Journal of Social Psychology on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. She was a contributor to the World Book of Values as well as being involved in developing the Australian National Diploma in change management and has operated as an advisor to the UK government on culture.

 

34. Judith Clarke
VP of Equity & Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer, Stony Brook University and Health System

Dr. Judith Brown Clarke is the Vice President for Equity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer for Stony Brook University and Health System. She reports directly to the University President and sits on the university’s senior leadership teams, including the President’s Cabinet, University Council, Vice Presidents Council and Campus Climate. She possesses over 17 years of experience working on senior management teams shaping strategic plans for diversity and establishing infrastructures for inclusive excellence and equity sustainability. She has a strong portfolio in grant funding and has demonstrated effective collection, analysis, problem solving and predictive analytical processes using benchmarked metrics that directly align with the institution’s goals.

Clarke is currently an American Association of State Colleges and Universities 2022 Millennium Leadership Initiative Fellow, Chair of the Association of American Universities CDO Steering Committee, Co-Chair for the United State Anti-Doping Agency, Harvard Advanced Leadership Senior Fellow, and an external advisory committee member for three NSF-funded Science and Technology Centers (STC) - Center for Cellular Construction, Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) and Bio-Computation Evolution in Action Network.

Formerly, Clarke was a member of the External Advisory Committee for W.K. Kellogg Biological Research Station, Director’s Research Advisory Committee for MSU National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, International Advisory Committee for the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, and External Advisory Committee member for Nevada’s EPSCoR Grant for the Study of Solar, Wind and Water Power. She has experienced great athletic success, she is a 4-time national collegiate champion, 12-time Big Ten Champion, 3-time Pan American Games gold medalist, 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist, and 1987 Sports Illustrated Woman of the Year.

 

35. Paula M. Bernstein
VP of Sales & Marketing, David Burke Hospitality Management

Paula M. Bernstein, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, is a keystone to the proven success of the powerful effectiveness of the David Burke Hospitality Management brand. Working with many varied and unique hospitality partners, Paula is a positive force who pulls together all of the various tentacles to reach an agreed upon goal. Using the culmination of her 20-plus years of experience as a world-renowned experiential event director and sales manager for multibillion-dollar corporations, Paula employs a valuable, multifaceted skill set that allows her
to work seamlessly with many clients, each owning a unique hospitality company with
distinctive demographics and style of doing business. She does this by symbiotically living and
breathing the client company’s numerous attributes while simultaneously upholding and
maximizing the David Burke brand for the client’s benefit. Her tailored approach has placed
their partner companies well ahead of their competition.

As an accomplished leader and intuitive manager, Paula uses her interpersonal and high-level
communication skills to motivate and challenge the many managers she interacts with within
each account. From an owner to a CFO to executive chef and managers, Paula is able to keep all involved engaged and focused on the David Burke Hospitality’s mission and its end goals.
Paula’s natural talent as a relationship builder allows her to lead complex individual marketing
campaigns for each of their clients as she interacts with many marketing and publishing venues.
She uses her creative spirit, her global exposure to many different cultures and her passion for
the hospitality business to create distinctive, innovative and effective marketing solutions all the
while working within and maximizing a client’s marketing budget.

 

36. Ginger Dhaliwal
Co-Founder & CPO, Upflex

Ginger Dhaliwal is a seasoned entrepreneur with 15+ years of successfully working with startups in Asia and North America. She has led the product development from ideation to launch for several disruptive patented technologies in the healthcare, e-commerce, and fashion industries. In addition, Ginger was the founding member of Embedded Wireless, an R & D facility, and was instrumental in growing the company from 1 to 100 engineers with international offices in Malaysia, India, and the US. Ginger is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Upflex, a B2B solution for on-demand workspace. Upflex strives to help businesses become more efficient, agile, and sustainable while giving employees access to a global network of workspaces.

 

37. Hazel Jack
VP for University Communications & Events, Colgate University

Hazel Jack is Vice President for University Communications and Events. She leads all internal and external communications efforts to steward Colgate’s reputation and identity; build awareness of the University, and support the University’s core mission, goals, and priorities.

Beyond Hazel’s professional responsibilities, she is an active member in the community and serves on the board of directors for Community Memorial Hospital and A Better Chance Clinton. She earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Pace University, an MBA and a master’s degree in education from Baruch College. She is currently pursuing a PhD in higher education at Syracuse University.

 

38. Asia Giles
VP & Creative Director, Prudential Financial

A creative leader and problem solver, Asia Giles began her career in “traditional” advertising and has steadily grown and evolved within the industry. The early chapters of Asia’s career were spent honing her skills as an art director and creative director at some of the most respected names in advertising, including Grey, Doner, and Tribal DDB, leading creative efforts for some of the most recognized brands in the world across many categories, including Pantene, DuPont, Yahoo!, Neutrogena, Panasonic, and Excedrin.

Quick to recognize the power and potential of the digital and social media space and Asia evolved her classical training to forge new pathways in this new frontier. In fact, she was the foundational creative director at MRY, one of the first social media agencies in New York. Here, she designed and built the full creative structure and approach of this award-winning shop. Her strength in this area caught the attention of the creative team at Prudential Financial and in 2014, Asia joined the in-house agency for Prudential as VP, Creative Director. Since then Asia has led creative teams that have been steadily transforming Prudential’s digital spaces, helping to deliver on their mission of making lives better by meeting the challenges of a changing world.

For Asia, great work is all about authentic connections. With that as her guiding light, her work consistently resonates across platforms and touch points.

 

39. Robin Kleban
SVP & Group Account Director, George P. Johnson Experience Marketing

Robin is a Senior Vice President and Group Account Director at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (GPJ). She has been with the company since 2007, holding various strategic account leadership roles. GPJ is the world’s leading event and experiential marketing agency, and part of the Project Worldwide network. In her role at GPJ, Robin devotes her time to the developing and managing teams that create enduring value for the agency’s clients. She oversees a team of diverse thinkers who believe in the transformative power of human engagement and true relationships. She delivers that ethos through a management style that fosters collaboration, fearless ideation and allowing everyone to show up as their authentic selves.

Kleban has three decades of marketing experience across various industries. Before GPJ, she spent 10 years in publishing, including 5 years as VP of marketing at Gannett, Inc. and several years as marketing manager for Film & Video magazine. She is active in several local organizations, including sitting on the board of Dutchess Outreach. Kleban earned an MBA in marketing from the Zicklin School of Business (CUNY Baruch) and an undergraduate degree in Spanish language and literature with a concentration in business from Binghamton University. She and her husband, Rich live in Poughkeepsie, NY and are proud parents of three children: Jake, 24 and Lexy & Sarah, 17.

 

40. Sunita Bajaj
Managing Director & Registered Principal, Fortis Lux Financial

With 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Sunita Bajaj is the Managing Director for Fortis Lux Financial. She is a Registered Principal and responsible for over 100 financial professionals and advisors, along with her leadership team. She holds her securities licenses and is a Registered Principal. She started her career as an advisor and financial planner in 2002, and built long term relations with her clients, before she assumed a leadership role in 2008. She is dedicated to attracting talented and quality advisors who are committed to helping clients achieve their financial goals through a comprehensive approach to financial empowerment. She is committed to the growth of the financial professionals through practice acquisition and succession planning as well as by creating business development opportunities and strategic alliances through her extensive network and experience.

Sunita is a former member of the Financial Planning Association, Women in Financial Services, American Association of Life Underwriters. Most recently, she was invited to be a part of the CHIEF network, the only private network of women leaders and executives.

Serving on the board of directors for the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce as an EVP for 12 years, she has been engaged in the community through her volunteer work for various social and economic initiatives. Sunita was awarded the 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility Award by City & State Reports. She is also the NYC co-chair of the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge, an organization focused on providing a platform for women business owners, entrepreneurs and business leaders. Sunita has a master’s degree in history. She resides in New York City and enjoys arts and culture, and Broadway Theatre. She likes spending time with family/friends and loves to travel.

 

41. Jenna McAuley
Managing Director & Head of Enterprise Technology & Cyber Risk, Citi

Jenna McAuley is a Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Technology and Cyber risk for Citi. She first joined the organization in 2020. McAuley has expertise in the design and delivery of cost-effective, high-performance enterprise security. She is skilled in all phases of the security life cycle, from application development and code analysis through compliance monitoring, incident management and remediation.

Prior to joining Citi, McAuley served as a VP of information security and information technology oversight for American Express. She previously served as a chief information security officer for Mercer and as a senior manager of cyber threat management for EY. McAuley graduated from Mount Holyoke College.

 

42. Stephanie Redish Hofmann
Managing Director & Global Client Partner, Google

Stephanie Redish Hofmann is currently a Managing Director and Global Client Partner at Google where she leads a portfolio of global category partnerships across Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs), and Food, Restaurant & Beverage (FBR) and Consumer Technology (CE). She works with a team of digital marketers and category experts to support customers’ ambitions in digital marketing transformation.

In prior roles at Google, Steph led global partnerships with the world’s largest agency holding
companies, including Publicis, WPP, and IPG, in addition to industry relations partnerships with the ecosystem’s top ad trade associations: ANA, IAB, and 4As, to name a few. Ultimately, Steph aims to help brands bridge online and offline marketing to achieve and exceed business growth and profitability goals.

As a board member at 1-800-FLOWERS.com and at Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Steph’s equally committed to helping CMOs across the advertising spectrum optimize today’s digital transformations to achieve their marketing and business goals. In addition, Steph is an Advisory Board Member for Girls with Impact and the Governor’s New York State Council on Women and Girls. In both these roles, Steph is passionate about preparing and mentoring the next generation of women leaders who have a desire to make a difference. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and received a master’s degree in communications from Seton Hall University. She lives in Jersey City with her husband and two children.

 

43. Kathleen Kinsella
Managing Director, CIBC

With a background in economics, sales and trading, Kathleen Kinsella serves as the Managing Director and the Head of US fixed income sales for CIBC, with which she has been employed since 2013. She supervises a team that has produced a three-year average of $100 million in client revenue.

Prior, she worked as the managing director for RBS from 2010 until 2014 and Citibank from 1998 until 2010, where she amassed an average of $20 million a year in production. Some of Kinsella's initial roles in the field were that of the vice president for Lehman Brothers nine years. Prior to beginning her career in finance, Kinsella earned an undergraduate degree in economics and sociology at Mount Holyoke College.

 

44. Michelle Krueger
Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal Transaction Advisory Group

Michelle Krueger is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Transaction Advisory Group out of New York. She specializes in providing buy and sell-side financial due diligence services for private equity, as well as strategic buyers. Krueger brings experience working across several industries, notably in the manufacturing, consumer, industrial products, distribution, and business services sectors. She provides buy-side services focusing on quality of earnings, quality of assets and working capital requirements, as well as consideration of off-balance sheet exposures, and general knowledge of companies' operations and finance functions. On the sell-side, she specializes in preparing companies for the sale process and developing diligence reports to maximize value at every point in the transaction lifecycle.

Krueger has supported private equity funds including AEA Investors, American Industrial Partners, Littlejohn & Co., York Capital, ABRY Partners, and Harvest Partners, among others. She was one of the recipients of the 13th Annual Emerging Leaders Award in 2022 by the M&A Advisor. The Emerging Leaders Awards were born as the ‘40 Under 40 Awards’ to recognize and celebrate the achievements of M&A, financing and turnaround professionals who have reached a significant level of success and made notable contributions to their industry and community.

Prior to A&M, Mrs. Krueger worked at Deloitte, where she served as a senior associate in the M&A transaction services group in New York. While at Deloitte, she worked on Blackstone & strategic corporate buy-side deals, as well as on a Fortune 500 multinational corporate carve out and divestiture. Before her time in New York, she served with Deloitte's audit and assurance practice in Denver, Colorado primarily working on The Sports Authority and National Cinemedia corporate audits. Krueger earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in three and a half years. She also received a master's degree in accounting from the Mendoza College of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of New York.

 

45. Smita Baliga
Managing Director & Chief Privacy Officer, Webster Bank

Smita Baliga began her professional career over 25 years ago. Today she is a Managing Director at Webster Bank where she oversees digital service compliance, regulations relations, and serves as the Bank’s Chief Privacy Officer. In addition, Smita is part of the Culture Activation team, and is a certified culture facilitator. Webster Bank (“Webster”) is a leading commercial bank in the Northeast that provides a wide range of digital and traditional financial solutions across three differentiated lines of business: commercial banking, consumer banking, and its HSA bank division, one of the country’s largest providers of employee benefits solutions.

Smita’s volunteer activities include serving on the board of Girls on the Run NYC and on Manhattan Country School’s Board of Trustees as co-treasurer and member of the finance and Executive Committees. Prior to joining Webster, Smita worked at PwC where for 20 years she was immersed in solving complex problems for her large global clients.

 

46. Twyla Neal
Managing Director, Accenture

Twyla Tiongson Neal is a seasoned executive with 20+ years of experience building and growing businesses in the tech industry. Twyla has worked with clients in various capacities and is currently a Managing Director in the Cloud First Practice at Accenture. She has built a track record of success through her deep understanding of the strategic imperatives and challenges faced by clients. She leads high-performance teams that are focused on driving long-term value and solutions among clients.

Prior to joining Accenture in 2021, Twyla led the Go-to-Market organizations of the Watson and Cloud divisions at IBM. She previously held several commercial leadership positions at GE Healthcare, including VP of global sales for analytics and AI, and Healthcare Digital North America. Twyla’s passion for technology started in AI and Analytics, where she led software development and informatics teams at the Cancer Centers of Ohio State and Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

Driven by her passion for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Twyla serves as a speaker and executive sponsor within several ERGs, including Asia-Pacific American (APA), Women, LGBTQA, founder of the APA Filipino Subgroup, and NYC executive sponsor for Upwardly Global, an organization that uplifts and supports the immigrant and refugee community.
Twyla earned an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Rutgers University, a master’s degree in health informatics from Rutgers University and an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. Twyla has a passion for culture and arts (she is a member of MoMa, NY Philharmonic), loves to travel, eating her way across the globe; and enjoys the outdoors, running, skiing and playing tennis. She resides with her husband and 2 young daughters in NYC, where she was also born and raised.

 

47. Erin Mote
Executive Director, InnovateEDU

Erin Mote is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of InnovateEDU. She leads the organization and its major projects including technology product development, work on data interoperability and data systems, and an urban education Fellowship for new educators. She leads the organization’s work on creating uncommon alliances to create systems change - in special education, talent development, and data modernization. An enterprise architect, she created, alongside her team, two of InnovateEDU’s signature technology products - Cortex, a next-generation personalized learning platform, and Landing Zone - a cutting-edge infrastructure as a service data product.

Erin is also the co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School with her husband Dr. Eric Tucker. She is a recognized leader in technology, mobile, and broadband and has spent much of her career focused on expanding access to technology in the US and abroad. She has led ground-breaking initiatives, including scaling wireless communications to the developing world, developing global and national strategic technology plans, and work with the country’s leading technology companies. Erin has served in an advisory capacity to the White House/OSTP’s US Ignite Initiative, the Obama Administration’s Global Development Innovation Policy, the State Department’s TechCamp program, and the Obama Administration’s intra-agency process for Rio 2.0 and Rio+20. Erin served as the founding Chief of Party for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance – a $19.5 million global technology expansion project.

Erin has served in senior positions with CHF International and Coulter Companies after starting her career as the Director of External and Strategic Relations for Arizona State University. A recognized leader in alliance building, Erin serves in an advisory capacity for several leading international organizations including Digital Promise, SXSWedu Launch, XPrize, and the Barbara Bush Foundation. She is an Aspen Institute Socrates scholar and a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan.

 

48. Jessica Nauiokas
Executive Director & Co-Founder, Mott Haven Academy

Jessica Nauiokas is the Executive Director of Mott Haven Academy Charter School. In the absence of traditional public schools that could fully respond to the unique needs of child welfare-involved youth, Haven Academy partnered with The New York Foundling in 2008 to become the first effort of its kind in the country. Haven Academy has become a unique and nationally recognized model, designed to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of a student population that has experienced significant trauma. In 2015, Nauiokas was selected by the US Department of Education to serve as a Principal Ambassador Fellow, giving counsel and opinion to the US Secretary of Education. Prior to her appointment to Principal, she was the Director of School Development at the NYC Center for Charter School Excellence. Nauiokas has been a New Leaders for New Schools Fellowship Recipient and an Adjunct Professor for NYC Teaching Fellows. She began her career in education as a Teach for America corps member in Washington DC.

In 2019, Jessica was honored with the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service. Nauiokas received a 2017 Black Board Award for Outstanding School Leadership. She was featured in Richard Whitmire's 2016 book 'The Founders' for her innovative work on child welfare education reform. In 2013, Nauiokas was NY1's New Yorker of the Week and was the feature of a news story that aired throughout the week. New York Family Magazine selected Nauiokas as one of its “Heroes” in the November 2011 issue and described Nauiokas as “A Principal for the Neediest”. As a teacher, she was a Kennedy Center Grant Recipient and she received the Most Dedicated Teacher Award at Malcolm X Elementary. Nauiokas has a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in addition to an undergraduate degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire. She completed a master’s in school administration and holds a School District Administrator’s license in New York.

 

49. Jodie M. Gunzberg
Managing Director, CoinDesk Indices

Jodie M. Gunzberg is Managing Director at CoinDesk Indices. Prior to joining CoinDesk, Jodie was the chief institutional investment strategist for wealth management at Morgan Stanley. She served as head of the Graystone Investment Office supporting the investment needs of Graystone Consulting, which include the supervision and guidance of the Graystone Discretionary program.

Previously, Gunzberg was the managing director and head of USEquities at S&P Dow Jones Indices where she was responsible for the product management of US Equity indices, including the S&P 500 and The Dow, the most followed equity indices in the world. She had joined S&P DJI in 2010 as director of commodities product management. Prior to that, she spent several years in investment consulting at Ibbotson and Morningstar, and was the chief investment strategist for Marco Consulting, where she advised roughly 350 Taft-Hartley plans with $85 billion in assets. Gunzberg started her career as an actuarial associate at New York Life Insurance Company and subsequently worked as a quantitative analyst and portfolio manager on the buy-side.

Gunzberg is a CFA charterholder and is an Education Advisory Committee member and curriculum consultant of the CFA Institute. She is also a former member of the board of directors for CFA NY and CFA Chicago and founded the CFA New Jersey Group of CFA NY. She currently serves on the advisory board for the Department of Finance of Hofstra University and on the Industry Advisory Council and editorial advisory board for the Global Commodities Applied Research Digest at the University of Colorado Denver Business School’s J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities. She received her MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Emory University.

 

50. Emily Chasan
SVP of ESG & Sustainability Communications, Citi

Emily Chasan is Senior Vice President of ESG & Sustainability Communications at Citi, where she manages Citi’s external and internal communications efforts supporting its ESG, sustainability and net zero initiatives. Prior to the role, she was director of communications for Generate Capital, a sustainable infrastructure investment and operating company focused on climate solutions.

A long-time financial journalist, Emily was the first sustainable finance editor at Bloomberg News, where she pioneered the news organization’s coverage of ESG, sustainability and impact investing. She wrote and edited Bloomberg Green’s weekly Good Business newsletter on the frontiers of sustainable and responsible investing. She has also been a contributing editor for GreenBiz Group’s GreenFin newsletter and a frequent co-host on The Energy Gang podcast.

Earlier in her career, Emily was a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal, and a senior correspondent at Reuters where she covered accounting, law, hedge funds, manufacturing, and the U.S. stock market. She led the Reuters team of bankruptcy reporters during the financial crisis from 2008 to 2010. She graduated from Tufts University cum laude with a degree in economics and international relations.