Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top Women Leaders of New York for 2024. As a global epicenter of commerce and culture, New York stands as a beacon for business, culture, and progress. From Wall Street to Silicon Alley, the state’s economy is fueled by powerhouse industries like healthcare, finance, education, professional services, and technology. At the forefront of these dynamic sectors are women who have not only risen to the challenges of leadership but have redefined what it means to succeed in The Empire State.
These accomplished professionals are making a significant impact at some of the most renowned companies, including Audrey Hendley, President of Global Travel and Lifestyle Services at American Express. Inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame in 2012, Hendley has led teams that have earned the prestigious American Express Chairman’s Award for Innovation.
We also recognize Michelle McKenna, Senior Advisor and Partner at Evercore. A seasoned executive and experienced public board director, McKenna has led large-scale transformations at some of America’s largest media and entertainment brands, including Disney, Universal, and the NFL.
Finally, we congratulate Robin Merritt, Chief People Officer at Gainsight. Known for her impactful leadership, Merritt has launched programs that generated $14 million in income expansion and successfully led global operations across 16 countries.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top Women Leaders of New York for 2024.
Holly Washington
Chief Marketing Officer, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global
Holly Washington is the Chief Marketing Officer of S&P Global Market Intelligence, the data and software division of S&P Global. With more than 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, she is responsible for building the brand and driving customer demand in the global markets. She is also a member of the division’s Operating Committee.
Washington is an accomplished marketer with proven experience in guiding brands in transformation at enterprise software companies and financial services. She understands the critical importance of storytelling and leading high-performing teams, all while developing and executing comprehensive plans that create impact and achieve results. Before rejoining S&P Global, she served as a managing director at SS&C Technologies, where she led marketing initiatives to support the company's rapid growth. She has also held several brand and marketing leadership roles with J.P. Morgan, Thomson Reuters, and Lehman Brothers.
Washington holds a BS in Communications and an MA in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three teens.
Denise M. Berger
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer US East & LATAM Region, AECOM
Denise M. Berger is the Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of the US East and Latin America region of AECOM. A results-oriented leader recognized for her trailblazing service within the A/E/C industry, Berger brings extensive executive experience in strategy and operations. She is responsible for driving growth, strategy, and digital innovation across AECOM’s largest region, comprised of over 65 offices, 7,500 employees, and $1.7 billion gross revenue.
Berger is the former chief of operations for the engineering department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where she was responsible for leading the operations of an engineering department comprised of over 570 engineers and architects with an annual budget of $1.3 billion. In 2018, Berger was inducted into the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows for her leadership and advocacy of design excellence in transportation and infrastructure projects. In 2021, she was recognized by the international community with a fellowship in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and she was inducted into the National Academy of Construction in 2022.
Berger serves on AECOM’s Global Equity, Diversity. and Inclusion (ED&I) Steering Committee, and she is also the chair of the ED&I Committee for Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) International. She serves on several boards, including Columbia University’s Center for Buildings, Infrastructure, and Public Space; the New York Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture & Design; and the Women Builders Council. Berger has been recognized across the A/E/C industry, receiving the WTS International Woman of the Year Award, WTS Greater New York Chapter Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award, Professional Women in Construction (PWC) New York Chapter Woman of the Year Award, and ACE Greater NY Mentor Program Leadership Award.
Petra Schmidt
Global Financial Institutions Commercial Leader, Aon
Petra Schmidt is a Managing Partner with Aon’s Enterprise Client Group and leads the Financial Institutions practice. The Financial Institutions vertical includes global banks, asset managers, payment companies, rating agencies, and FinTechs. In this role, she is responsible for building infrastructure to support clients and colleagues globally on industry trends and themes and Aon’s solution across risk management and human capital.
Previously, Schmidt served in several leadership roles, including chief commercial officer, European sales and marketing, leading the Northeast region, and working in global business development. Schmidt has lived and worked in several regions, including two expatriate assignments in London, as well as leading client/project assignments in Asia Pacific and Latin America. She has served as a member of the Hewitt Foundation board of directors, as well as helped found their Women in Leadership program. Previously she was a VP of national accounts at Aetna for eight years. She has been with Aon for over 27 years and has a proven track record of delivering large-scale business solutions that have an impact and establishing herself as a trusted advisor and strategic partner of choice for clients.
Schmidt currently serves on the board of directors for the University of Wisconsin-Student Affairs. She recently completed a term as an appointed member of the Shelter Island Central Planning Committee developing its Vision 2030. In July of 2023, she trained and was certified for board of directors work by Maggie Wilderotter. She led Aon’s NYC Employer Coalition on Work, Travel, and Convene during and leading out of the pandemic and is a member of the Aon Apprentice program leadership group. Schmidt holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed the Executive MBA course at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, as well as leadership work at Harvard University. She speaks fluent German, as well as beginning-level French.
Mamta Rodrigues
Global President of Banking Financial Services & Insurance, Teleperformance
Mamta Rodrigues is the Global President of Banking Financial Services, and Insurance at Teleperformance (TP), where she leads the Banking Financial Services vertical and the Insurance vertical. She manages over 300 clients globally and has full responsibility for supporting the client expansion plans and leveraging the best assets to build, support, and grow the business unit globally. She is also the co-chair of TP Women, a member of TP’s Management Committee, and a board member in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Before this role, Rodrigues worked for five years at Synchrony, where she held various leadership roles in Product Management, Digital Transformation, Network and Cobrand Expansion, and Payments Innovation. Before Synchrony, she worked at Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. In all her roles over the past 25 years, she has been a passionate member of the Women’s Network and spearheaded a multitude of DE&I efforts.
Rodrigues has an undergraduate degree from Boston University and an MBA from Stern, New York University. She is a guest lecturer at NYU Stern School of Business, an active member at Boston University, and a speaker at the US Treasury and events like Obama’s African Summit, CARTES, Columbia Business School Digital Financial Services, and Emerging Payments Summit. She also was a member of the International Advisory Group for Government Payments (World Bank). Rodrigues has lived and worked in several countries.
Sherry Cassano
Chief Talent Officer & SVP of People Experience for the US & International Commercial Divisions, Pfizer
Sherry Cassano is the Chief Talent Officer and Senior Vice President of People Experience for the US and International Commercial Divisions of Pfizer. She steers the development and implementation of global HR strategies and initiatives for the internal population focused on leadership talent, culture, engagement, colleague experience, employer branding, recruitment, talent management, and growth. She also leads the team that develops and implements the people experience strategies and initiatives specifically for the commercial divisions at Pfizer.
Cassano joined Pfizer in 2004, and her aptitude for finding the right people for the right positions led to rising seniority, scope, and responsibility, supporting nearly every area of the company’s business. She is an exceptional human resources leader with over two decades of experience creating solutions that rapidly respond to the evolving needs of globe-spanning organizations. She has an exceptional ability to pinpoint issues within a complex system, and the dynamism to provoke essential change whilst developing robust relationships that ensure the sustainability and market effectiveness of the enterprise. Innovations, including flexible working models, leadership assessment strategies designed to drive transformation, and an overhaul of the Pfizer.com career site, speak to her commitment to excellence and progressive HR, shaping the future of Pfizer’s workforce.
Residing in Connecticut with her husband, son, and daughter, Cassano loves spending time with family and can often be found enthusiastically cheering them on in all their pursuits. She enjoys traveling, joyfully entertaining family and friends, and actively participating in Orangetheory Fitness.
Tanya Chakraborty
SVP & Payments Product Strategy Leader, US Bank
Tanya Chakraborty is a Senior Vice President and the Payments Product Strategy Leader at US Bank. US Bank remains a leader in payment services by focusing on enabling new and innovative payment options for their corporate and consumer clients. In Chakraborty’s present role, she identifies, develops, and evaluates near-term and long-term cross-business lines, issuing, acquiring, and treasury management.
Previously, Chakraborty 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. She started her career in 2005 at Goldman Sachs and spent the majority of her career in management consulting and payments. Chakraborty holds an MBA and undergraduate degree in finance and strategy. She also studied commerce at the Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Lisa Coleman
President Elect, Adler University
Lisa Coleman is the President Elect for Adler University. Previously, she was New York University’s (NYU) inaugural senior vice president for global inclusion and strategic innovation. She was also a faculty member at NYU’s Stern Business School.
Before NYU, 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 includes 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.
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, 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.
Marysa Chiu
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Integra LifeSciences
Marysa Chiu is the Head of Colleague Engagement and Experience and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Integra LifeSciences, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of Integra’s global diversity and inclusion strategy.
Before joining the medtech company, Chiu was a director on the Talent, Development, and Inclusion Team at Gilead Sciences. She led inclusion and diversity for the global commercial and corporate functions. She 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, Chiu served as Dolby Laboratories’ first leader of diversity and inclusion. She 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.
Chiu graduated with a Master’s degree in Cognitive Studies from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in psychology and communications from Fordham University. Chiu lives in Westchester County with her husband and twin boys.
Jennifer Remling
Chief People & Culture Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery
Jennifer Remling serves as the Chief People and Culture Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, where she oversees a global team dedicated to attracting, developing, and retaining the company’s over 35,000 talented employees. Warner Bros. Discovery is a premier global media and entertainment company.
Before joining Warner Bros. Discovery, Remling served as the global chief people officer for WPP, the largest marketing services company in the world with 115,000 employees across more than 100 countries. She held the same role at GroupM, WPP’s media investment group. Before that, she was the global chief talent officer at Essence, GroupM’s digital media agency. She’s led large-scale HR teams in support of complex global organizations with tens of thousands of employees and made a lasting impact at WPP.
A respected thought leader in the HR space, Remling is passionate about employee development and inclusion initiatives and is committed to creating a positive and nurturing workplace environment where everyone can thrive. Remling earned an undergraduate degree in international economics from Texas Tech University.
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, food, restaurant and beverage, and consumer technology. She works with a team of digital marketers and category experts to support customers’ ambitions in digital marketing transformation.
In prior roles at Google, Hofmann 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, she 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 Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Hofmann is equally committed to helping CMOs across the advertising spectrum optimize today’s digital transformations to achieve their marketing and business goals. In addition, she 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, Hofmann 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.
Audrey Hendley
President, Global Travel & Lifestyle Services, American Express
Audrey Hendley is the President of Global Travel and Lifestyle Services for American Express. Over the past three decades at American Express, she 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.
Hendley 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. Her 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, Hendley proudly serves as chair for the New York Women’s Interest Network. She is also chair of the board for World Education Services, a social enterprise that helps international students and professionals achieve their educational and professional goals in the US and Canada.
Hendley is an Honors graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where she received her Master’s degree in Marketing Management. She also completed the Governing for Nonprofit Excellence program at Harvard Business School.
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.
Before starting 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.
Before 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 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.
Monica Alston
VP of Safety, Health & Environment, and Risk & Compliance, National Grid
Monica Alston is the Vice President of Safety, Health & Environment, and Risk & Compliance for the New York business of National Grid (NG), where nearly 9,000 employees serve four million gas and electric customers. In this role, Alston is responsible for evaluating and anticipating risks impacting the safety of employees, contractors, customers, and the public and developing strategies to mitigate and reduce risks while driving continuous improvement in occupational safety, process safety, health and well-being, and environmental sustainability. She is also responsible for oversight of the business risk control framework and assurance of operational risk controls and compliance obligations. She partners closely with corporate, functional, and business unit leaders, as well as members of NG’s board.
Alston also serves as the executive sponsor of the Alliance of Black Professionals (ABP) Employee Resource Group at National Grid. She provides strategic direction and guidance to the ABP leadership team to define and deliver on its mission and purpose to foster an inclusive workplace and harness the power of diversity, which are keys to long-term business success and profitability. She is also a member of National Grid’s Sustainability Steering Committee, ensuring we deliver on the NY Climate Act goals and our Responsible Business Charter commitments. Before joining National Grid, Alston served as the director of environment, health, and safety for Comcast-NBCUniversal, where she was responsible for developing strategies to reduce risks through effective sustainable management practices to derive business value. Throughout her career, she has held several leadership roles within highly regulated B2C and B2B industrial companies, leading in global roles at Kellogg’s, Eaton Corporation, and GlaxoSmithKline.
Alston has lived in Brussels and Montreal as an expat. Earlier in her career, she served as the Public Lands & Energy Fellow at the National Wildlife Federation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Washington DC, working with environmental and energy policy lobbyists. Alston holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University, an MS in Environmental Engineering from Villanova University, and various technical, management, and professional certifications. She was a sponsored participant in the Leadership Philadelphia Core Program and has served on various nonprofit boards providing insights, expertise, and guidance, including the YWCA Big Brothers Big Sisters, Riverbend Environmental Education Center, and presently Drexel University’s College of Engineering.
Laura Gilchrist
VP of Global Alliances, Salesforce
Laura Gilchrist is the Vice President of Global Alliances at Salesforce. In this role, her key objective is to enable the largest customers to digitally transform by overlaying the power of the Salesforce platform with strategic CX and business guidance.
Before joining Salesforce, Gilchrist was a leader at PwC’s Experience Centre in Melbourne, where she advised clients on digital transformation and strategy through execution. Previously, she was based in London, where she worked client-side in the communications sector in intrapreneurial roles. She was a general manager responsible for BT’s emerging tech portfolio, including mobility, fixed mobile convergence, and cloud-based solutions. Gilchrist graduated from Sprott School of Business with an undergraduate degree in international business.
Jennifer Hoffmann Roach
Global Head of Audience, Live Experiences, Bloomberg
As Global Head of Audience, Jennifer Hoffmann Roach leads audience development for Bloomberg Live Experiences, where she draws upon her over 20 years of experience at the intersection of data, marketing, and sales to create strategies that convene global executive audiences for news-driven conferences and event experiences across technology, sustainability, geopolitics, finance, media and entertainment, and more, delivering opportunities for connection, inspiration, and community.
Before Bloomberg, Roach held multiple roles at Dow Jones, leading marketing and audience development for The Wall Street Journal Conferences division, where she led membership development for the CEO Council and helped launch WSJ Live, and building the media consulting division for Dow Jones enterprise clients in the public relations and communications sectors. Roach holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in International Political Economy from Tulane University.
Michelle Snay
VP of Software Engineering, National Grid
Michelle Snay is the Vice President of Software Engineering at National Grid. National Grid lies at the heart of a transforming energy system. Their business areas play a vital role in connecting millions of people to the energy they use, while continually seeking ways to make the energy system cleaner. National Grid Ventures and National Grid Partners also enable innovations to help revolutionize and decarbonize the future of energy.
Snay is a proven senior technology executive and business leader with over 25 years of experience driving large, cross-functional technology teams in the development of global business solutions. Previously, Snay was the head of corporate technology at Guardian Life Insurance, where she was responsible for global technology solutions that support human resources, legal, risk, compliance, and enterprise-shared services. Her teams supported technology selection, solutions architecture, analysis, design, and development of systems. Before Guardian, she held executive and leadership roles at Gartner, Viacom, and The New York Public Library. Snay received an undergraduate degree in computer science from DePaul University and subsequently an MBA.
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.
Before A&M, 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 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. 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.
Anne Marie Darling
Partner, Goldman Sachs
As a Partner at Goldman Sachs, Anne Marie Darling is the head of the Multi-Asset Platform Sales team, which is responsible for building a multi-product distribution effort across equities and FICC to scale the firm’s product offering to a broader institutional client base. She is also responsible for the global FICC Execution Services business, Market Structure team, and Marquee Client Strategy and Distribution, through, which the firm delivers electronic execution services, liquidity, risk analytics, and differentiated content to clients. Darling serves on the Global Banking & Markets Division Operating Committee and Firmwide Digital Strategy Steering Group and is a member of the One Goldman Sachs firmwide steering groups for Client Relationship Management, Content and Digital Strategy, and Business Advisory. She is the former co-head of the Global Banking & Markets Inclusion and Diversity Committee.
Previously, Darling was the chief operating officer of Global Securities Division Sales. In this role, she drove key initiatives, including client relationship management, business strategy, and client and trading analysis across the division. She joined Goldman Sachs in the Electronic Trading Group in 1999 and was named managing director in 2007 and partner in 2012. Before joining the firm, she worked at the American Stock Exchange, managing the research team and order flow strategy for the Office of the Chairman.
Darling serves on the Presidential Leadership Council for Brown University and as co-chair of the Diversity Advisory Council for Brown University. She also serves on the Nasdaq’s Exchange Board and the New York City Executive Committee for Team IMPACT, and she is an officer on the Ho-Ho-Kus Education Foundation. Darling earned an engineering degree from Brown University in 1993 and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2000.
Olamide Ajibesin
Partner & Principal, KPMG US
Olamide Ajibesin is a globally recognized dealmaker and finance executive based in New York. She is a Partner in the KPMG Deal Advisory and Strategy Advisory practice, where she provides Financial Due Diligence on transactions for private equity and large corporate clients. Ajibesin brings over 20 years of mergers, acquisitions, and strategy experience and was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in M&A by middlemarket.com. She previously founded and led the transaction advisory practice at Anchin and worked at Kroll.
Ajibesin is entrepreneurial-minded and enjoys working with founders, CEOs, CFOs, and investors to create deep value that is consistent with their corporate mission. Her knowledge in M&A, strategy, negotiation, and people facilitates a culture of success for all stakeholders. She has substantial buy-side and sell-side M&A experience, having executed over 250 transactions ranging from middle-market deals to mega deals exceeding $5 billion in a variety of industries, including consumer and retail, healthcare, and technology.
Ajibesin is vice chair of the board of trustees at The Brooklyn Hospital Center. She is passionate about promoting equity and empowering others through self-advocacy, resilience, and sponsorships. She has been actively involved in several organizations, including the chief of the Association for Corporate Growth, the International Society of Female Professionals, and Women in the Boardroom. Ajibesin was selected three times in the Notable Women in Accounting & Consulting by Crain’s New York Business. She has been featured in the media as a thought leader and has authored articles on topics, such as M&A, due diligence, and socially responsible investing.
Amanda Hindlian
President of Fixed Income & Data Services, ICE
Amanda Hindlian is the President of Fixed Income and Data Services at Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE). She is responsible for managing ICE’s global fixed income and data business, including pricing and analytics, reference data, indices, desktop solutions, consolidated feeds, connectivity services, and the ICE Bonds execution venues.
Hindlian started at ICE as a global head of capital markets for NYSE Group, where she oversaw the team responsible for attracting new listings to the Exchange. In that role, she worked with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and investment banks to advise private companies as they moved toward an NYSE public listing, whether through traditional IPOs, SPAC combinations, or Direct Listings. Before joining ICE in 2021, Hindlian was a partner and COO of global investment research at Goldman Sachs, where she oversaw a range of business functions, including technology, digital strategy, and legal and compliance matters. She also served as president of the firm’s think tank, the Global Markets Institute, and led the firm's ESG thought leadership efforts.
Hindlian held several other positions during her nearly twenty-year career at Goldman Sachs. She served in the executive office as a senior strategic advisor, working alongside the firm's senior management, including the chairman and CEO and president and COO. She also led the Client Strategy Group within the Office of the Chairman. She was chair of the Global Investment Research Client and Business Standards Committee. She also served on the firmwide Partnership, Diversity, and Commitments Committees. Hindlian began her career at Goldman Sachs as an equity research analyst in the technology sector. She holds an undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in economics and Spanish from Wellesley College.
Alicin Williamson
Senior EVP, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer & President of MAKERS, Yahoo
At Yahoo, Alicin Reidy-Williamson is a Senior EVP, the Chief Diversity and Culture Officer, and the President of MAKERS, a media and community-focused brand that exists to accelerate equity in the workplace. Reidy-Williamson works closely with leaders at Yahoo to continue to grow a diverse workforce and strengthen policies, practices, and businesses that nurture a culture of inclusion. She also leads a talented team of DEI and employee experience practitioners, oversees employee engagement and strategic partnerships, and champions accountability across teams, functions, and geographies.
For over 25 years, Reidy-Williamson has led culture, purpose, and DEI for top companies. She previously served as chief inclusion officer at Endeavor, leading inclusion strategies globally across multiple businesses. Before Endeavor, she was managing principal for The Raben Group, a national public policy and communications strategy firm, where she developed the DEI practice. Reidy-Williamson also spent 13 years at Viacom and MTV Networks, launching the company’s efforts in corporate responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and public affairs, while managing their growth.
Reidy-Williamson’s passion extends beyond the corporate environment and into her community. She is on the board of the March on Washington Film Festival and She Should Run, and she is the chair of the Diversity Advisory Council for Operation Homefront. Williamson earned a Master of Public Policy in Urban and Environmental Policy and an undergraduate degree in international relations from Tufts University.
Shilpa Bangera
CPO & GM, Global Head of Payments, Adyen
Shilpa Bangera is the CPO and GM at Adyen, as well as the Global Payments, where she spearheads the payment platform, channels, partnerships, customer experience, and impact organizations. She is a fintech leader with over 25 years of driving growth, innovation, and transformation for global businesses.
Before Adyen, Bangera was the chief commercial officer and global head of platform fintech GTM at Finastra, where she was instrumental in developing their fintech ecosystem, platform, and data business. The platform also helped empower and enable minority-owned fintech startups to gain access to the larger fintech ecosystem to enable growth. Bangera’s background includes diverse roles at Uber, Bloomberg, and Fiserv. She takes great pride in building, and her drive to operate at scale, solve complex problems, and build high-performance team cultures has led to double-digit growth and expansion. In addition, her passion for building successful ventures with a purpose while advocating the importance of teamwork and DEI has led to exceptionally productive teams prioritizing collaboration, parity, and excellence.
Bangera has an undergraduate degree in finance and an MBA from the University of Mumbai. She is on the board, an angel investor, and an advisor to a series of technology-driven start-ups. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, distance running, triathlons, and promoting regional art through her travels.
Lauren Zeinfeld
VP of Transformation Strategy & Special Projects, WeightWatchers
Lauren Zeinfeld is the Vice President of Transformation Strategy and Special Projects at WeightWatchers. She first joined the team in 2023. Zeinfeld is a strategic creative executive with over 15 years of experience developing branded entertainment and experiences that ignite love beyond reason with consumers.
Previously, Zeinfeld was a chief marketing officer at Betty Buzz. Before that, she was a vice president of brand strategy at Maximum Effort. Earlier in her career, she worked with Female Factor as a research assistant. She has a degree in communications and journalism from DePaul University.
Lisa V. Kerr
VP of Global Risk Management & Business Continuity, Henry Schein, Inc.
Lisa V. Kerr is the VP of Global Risk Management and Business Continuity for Henry Schein, Inc. A Fortune 500 company with $12 billion in sales, Henry Schein, Inc. is the world’s largest provider of healthcare products and services to office-based dental and medical practitioners.
Kerr leads a team of five risk management professionals in support of the company’s growth strategy. In 2004, she joined Henry Schein Inc. as the company’s first director of risk management. Previously, she worked at Aon Risk Services and Marsh as an international property and casualty broker, managing the international insurance programs of global companies like General Electric, PepsiCo, and Walmart.
Kerr received an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Queens College. She holds an ARM designation with the Enterprise Risk extension. She is a Business Insurance Women to Watch Award Recipient from 2017 and a member of the Liberty Mutual Client Advisory Board.
Radhika Duggal
Chief Marketing Officer, Major League Soccer
Radhika Duggal is the Chief Marketing Officer for Major League Soccer. She 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.
Duggal 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 cultivate a general manager mindset and P&L ownership to drive profitable growth.
Duggal 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.
Lynn Teo
Chief Marketing Officer, Northwestern Mutual
Lynn Teo is the Chief Marketing Officer of Northwestern Mutual. Her responsibilities encompass brand strategy, product marketing, field and customer experience marketing, digital marketing, marketing technology, operations, and consumer insights/market research. She is a data-driven and revenue-centric tech sector marketing executive specializing in driving growth for the enterprise through the buildout of modern marketing capabilities. Teo joined Northwestern Mutual in September 2022. In her 24 years in industry, she has led digital transformation initiatives in a broad range of industries: advertising, publishing, education, retail, finance, travel, and health.
Teo is a seasoned international executive who has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and Asia during her career. From 2014 to 2018, she assumed roles as VP of digital marketing and head of marketing for Asia Pacific & Japan at CA Technologies. From 2018 to 2021, she expanded her scope of responsibilities as VP of global marketing and customer experience at Wolters Kluwer Health. Before joining Northwestern Mutual, Teo served as the CMO of three lines of business at Thomson Reuters.
Teo received her honors undergraduate degree from the National University of Singapore and an MA in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She enjoys international travel, experiencing new cultures and cuisines, and hiking in the national parks across the US.
Muys Snijders
Head of Fine Art & Collections Services, AIG
Muys Snijders is the Head of Art Services at Private Client Select (formerly AIG’s Private Client Group) based in New York. She oversees all aspects of risk management for Private Client Select’s insurance portfolio of art, jewelry, cars, wine, and collectibles. She provides collections-related loss prevention and collection care services to policyholders, ensures that high-value claims are handled seamlessly, and implements disaster mitigation and response initiatives.
Snijders is a seasoned executive and visionary leader with over 25 years of international experience working in the art world. Before joining AIG, she launched her art consultancy firm and served as the managing director of Christie’s Americas. She has a deep knowledge of the market for post-war and contemporary art, having led the division for Bonhams in New York and before that she was a global director of client strategy and private sales for this department at Christie’s. Snijders also held key positions in client advisory, estates, appraisals & valuations, and the Chairman’s office, which places her uniquely to advise clients across the entire spectrum of their art collections. She is a Chartered Private Risk and Insurance Advisor (CPRIA) offering specialized solutions to complex insurance and risk management issues.
Snijders holds an MA in art history and classical archaeology from Leiden University in the Netherlands, as well as an MA in arts management from Greenwich University and an MA in art market appraisal from Kingston University in the United Kingdom. She is a graduate of the Senior Executive Leadership Program for China from Harvard Business School, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and CEIBS in Shanghai, and most recently obtained a Certificate in Alternative Investments from Harvard Business School. She is multilingual and has worked in London and Amsterdam, as well as in New York.
Amita Goyal
Partner and Head of GCC Practice, Zinnov
Amita Goyal is a Partner and Head of Global Capability Centers (GCCs) business practice at Zinnov. She is a seasoned leader with more than a decade of experience in global engineering, new product development, project management, change management, and business strategy. An innovation enthusiast, Goyal is deeply versed in identifying GCC Hotspots and providing implementation strategy advisory by leveraging a suite of customized models and proprietary frameworks.
At Zinnov, Goyal has been extensively working with top-tier organizations spanning across industry verticals, including Software Enterprises, Retail, Healthcare, Automotive, BFSI, and Telecom initiating strategic globalization initiatives. Before her current role, she worked with Canon Inc., Tokyo, at their corporate R&D headquarters as a research engineer and new product development lead. As a materials engineer at Canon Inc., she developed next-generation semiconductor materials. Goyal has several patents, patent awards, and journal publications to her credit. She is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives, she has been actively involved in cross-cultural alignment and organizational change management for clients and within Zinnov.
Goyal is a sought-after author and speaker and has extensively contributed to thought leadership and strategic points of view on globalization and other major functions. She was featured in the Times of India and was recognized as a Global Leader in Consulting in 2023 under the “Excellence in Client Service” category by the Consulting Magazine. Goyal holds an MBA from IE Business School, Spain, and a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Delaware.
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, Alexander has experienced consistent and progressive growth. Before Infor, she had several management roles that have helped her define her place as SVP of engineering operations.
Alexander 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, Alexander 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.
Alexander 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.
Christina Minkler
Senior Vice President, Johnson Mirmiran & Thompson
Christina Minkler is a Senior 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.
Before 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.
Georgette Ledgister
VP of DEIB & People Experience, DoubleVerify
Georgette Ledgister is Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) and People Experience at DoubleVerify (DV). Her role includes expanding and executing a global strategy that reflects DV’s commitment to its values of passion, accountability, collaboration, and trailblazing, not only its innovative products that make the digital ad ecosystem stronger, safer, and more secure but among DV employees who make the company the market leader that it is.
Before joining DV, Ledgister was the vice president of diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Universal Music Group (UMG), where she led global workplace initiatives that cultivated a culture of belonging in the company through education and celebration, including launching a targeted advancement program for Black employees at the director and senior director levels to advance to vice president at UMG. She was also a research associate and visiting lecturer in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, and a visiting fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Ledgister has deep consulting experience and served as the executive director and lead facilitator of an Atlanta-based organization that prioritizes innovation and transformation in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, and leadership development.
A Congolese-American who is fluent in four languages, Ledgister specializes in training leaders and teams to courageously embrace the constructive possibilities of conflict and difference. She holds a PhD in Social Ethics from Emory University and has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, and Earlham College.
Susan Cho
VP of Global Partnerships, CommerceIQ
Susan Cho is the Vice President of Global Partnerships at CommerceIQ. CommerceIQ is the pioneer in helping brands win on retail e-commerce channels, such as Amazon, Walmart.com, Instacart, and over 800 other retailers.
Cho began her early work in 2007 as a digital associate director at MediaVest. From there, she went on to Initiative, before eventually rising to head of agency development and head of Dooh agency and retailers at Quotient Technology Inc., her most recent role before joining the CommerceIQ team. Cho graduated from New York University with a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing and from Cornell University with an undergraduate degree in communications.
Sherry Pitkofsky
VP of Marketing, The E.W. Scripps Company
Sherry Pitkofsky is the Vice President of Marketing of The E.W. Scripps Company, a diversified media company focused on creating a better-informed world. As one of the nation's largest local TV broadcasters, Scripps serves communities with quality, objective local journalism and operates a portfolio of 61 stations in 41 markets. Today, as a senior marketing executive, Pitkofsky draws upon a differentiating blend of creative voice and analytical insights to move businesses forward in achieving success in both traditional and digital markets. She is an early adopter of digital technologies and marketing concepts, championing the adoption of data-driven agile marketing, A/B testing, AI, and scrum execution to transform go-to-market and growth strategy.
Pitkofsky has earned recognition as a leader in marketing strategy for multicultural audiences. In her role, she is the face of the company to highly influential cultural organizations and trade organizations to elevate involvement in market-relevant initiatives. Pitkofsky joined Katz Networks in 2017. In partnership with the president, she designed and led the execution of a fully integrated corporate marketing strategy across four brands. The resulting growth helped position the company for sale to E.W. Scripps. Today, she oversees ad sales marketing and branding, as well as the design and delivery of strategy to reach new consumers through events/experiential marketing, promotion, media, PR, and strategic communications.
Throughout Pitkofsky’s career, a trajectory that has woven through small, midsize, and Fortune 500 businesses, she has been the creative and business mind behind co-branded campaigns for strategic partners, including Macy’s, GlaxoSmithKline, Pepsi, Bayer, Walgreens, GM, Unilever, Lowe’s, Kellogg’s, Church & Dwight, Citibank, Mars Wrigley, Kohl’s, Verizon, AmEx, Quaker, ConAgra, Target, Coca-Cola, and Chase.
Andriana Spence
VP of Marketing, Chelsea Piers
Andriana Spence is the VP of Marketing at Chelsea Piers. She first joined the team in 2018 as regional director of brand and events marketing. Chelsea Piers Fitness is designed to inspire and reflect the creative needs of its members as they build toward achieving their fitness goals.
Previously, Spence was a founder at Hank & JoJo, LLC and Fort Greene General Store. Before that, she was a PR and Marketing Manager at Kate Spade New York. Spence earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology and photography from The George Washington University.
Smita Baliga
Managing Director & Chief Privacy Officer, Webster Bank
After 20 years in consulting at PwC, Smita Baliga decided it was time to “walk in the shoes” of her clients, and now enjoys leading Webster’s Digital Services Compliance and Regulatory Relations functions and serving as the Bank’s Privacy Officer. Baliga joined Sterling National Bank in December 2020, soon after the merger with Webster Bank was announced. Webster completed its merger with Sterling National Bank in February 2022.
In her role as Head of Digital Services Compliance, Baliga develops and governs risk management programs related to Banking as a Service (“BaaS”), other types of Digital Partnerships, and Equity Investments in innovative startups at Webster. She advises the Business on evolving regulatory requirements, and the ever-changing industry landscape to effectively assess and manage risks associated with working with fintechs, crypto, and technology companies. Baliga works with BaaS and other Partners to enhance their programs to meet Webster’s standards and best practices. She partners with Risk Functions, Data, and Technology leaders to develop a coordinated approach and program.
Baliga has established Webster’s Regulatory Relations function, which centrally coordinates and reports on interactions with the bank’s primary regulators, including key examinations and ongoing supervision. She also serves as Webster’s Privacy Officer and in this role, she is enhancing the Privacy Program, including implementing Privacy by Design. She partners closely with the Business, Legal, Third Party Risk, Data, Infosec, and IT teams to assess, manage, and report on Privacy risks and controls.
Surabhi Gandotra
Partner, Enterprise Strategy & Value, Strategy&
Surabhi Gandotra is a Partner of Enterprise, Strategy, and Value at Strategy&, a global strategy consulting business. As a part of PwC, they’re building the winning systems at the heart of growth every day.
Gandotra sets her focus on enterprise strategy and transformation for financial services across a broad array of technology and operations topics. She has extensive experience in managing and delivering on consulting engagements, architecting business solutions, and working with multi-disciplinary teams. Gandotra volunteers her talents mainly to small start-up businesses, and champions women and education causes. She represented NYU Stern at the first-ever Asian American & Pacific Islander Youth Leadership Forum organized by the Obama White House in 2012.
Before joining Strategy&, Gandotra was a project leader at Boston Consulting Group. Before that, she was a senior consultant of financial services and capital markets strategy at Accenture. Earlier in her career, she worked with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance as a key account manager in group business. Gandotra graduated from NYU Stern School of Business with an MBA and from Hindu College, Delhi University, with an undergraduate degree in chemistry.
Sylvie Gadant
Partner & Practice Leader, Transaction Advisory Services, Citrin Cooperman
Sylvie Gadant is a Partner with Citrin Cooperman’s Private Equity and Capital Markets Practice and is the Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) practice leader. She leads buy-side and sell-side due diligence engagements for private equity firms, independent sponsors, family offices, and strategic buyers.
Before joining Citrin Cooperman, Gadant was the principal-in-charge of the TAS practice at a top-20 national accounting firm, where she also spent more than 10 years with its audit and advisory practices. Previously, she served middle-market private companies across several industries for another public accounting firm. Gadant has advised clients on over 600 transactions valued between $5 million and $300 million, including platform investments, add-on acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations, carve-outs, and minority investments. Her areas of expertise include analyzing an acquisition target’s quality of earnings, understanding key performance indicators, assessing working capital requirements, and identifying key deal issues and risk areas. She also provides her clients with guidance on accounting for mergers and acquisitions.
In 2017, Gadant launched Citrin Cooperman’s Independent Sponsor Survey, which was the first of its kind. The subsequent reports continue to be the definitive resource on the state of the independent sponsor community. Gadant is a frequent speaker, panelist, and moderator for various industry forums, including the Kayo Private Equity Conference, the iGlobal Forum, the Association for Corporate Growth, the Exit Planning Exchange, and Expert Webcasts. She has been featured in business and industry publications, including Inc. Magazine, Forbes, PE Hub, Buyouts Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, and Accounting Today.
Kristine Colosimo
VP of Brand & Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, Newlab
Kristine Colosimo is the VP of Brand and Marketing at Newlab, a global venture platform focused on decarbonizing the economy by commercializing critical technology. Previously, Colosimo helped build the marketing function at Silicon Valley unicorn, Workato, from pre-seed as the 30th employee to over 800 employees and a $5.7 billion valuation. She began her career on the consumer side at companies like RedBull Energy Drink, Uber, and HeavyRoc Music.
Ginger Dhaliwal
Co-Founder & CPO, Upflex
Ginger Dhaliwal 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.
Dhaliwal is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience 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, Dhaliwal was the founding member of Embedded Wireless, an R&D facility, and was instrumental in growing the company from one to 100 engineers with international offices in Malaysia, India, and the US.
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 her 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, Giles evolved her classical training to forge new pathways in this new frontier. 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.
In 2014, Giles joined the in-house agency for Prudential Financial as VP and Creative Director. Since then, Giles 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 Giles, great work is all about authentic connections. With that as her guiding light, her work consistently resonates across platforms and touch points.
Britt Groosman
VP of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund
Britt Groosman is Vice President of Climate-Smart Agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund. This 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.
Previously, Groosman 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. Groosman has an MA in Economics from Ghent University and a Master’s degree in Economic Analysis of Law from the University of Oxford.
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. Berg’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 transformations.
Before joining Gen II, Berg 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 Europe. Earlier in her career, Berg co-founded LUXE.TV, which is the world-wide, leading television network dedicated to luxury and the art of living.
Berg 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, Berg 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, Berg serves various industry, educational, and community organizations, including as a board member of the HEC Alumni Committee.
Oksana Matviichuk
Founder & CEO, OM Strategic Forecasting
Oksana Matviichuk is the Founder and CEO of OM Strategic Forecasting. Matviichuk is a media and communication executive with over 15 years of experience. Agile and committed strategist, she led integrated planning for Lenovo, Verizon, Ford, IBM, and Dell EMC, driving brand metrics and demand. She is a thought leader, a Forbes author, and an expert panelist. She is the co-author of the USA Today anthology Game On: Leaders Who Last.
Oksana has a deep understanding of digital and performance marketing, focusing on full-funnel building, and offering engaging and smooth audience experiences. She has a robust conceptual approach to strategy and can bring it to the granularity needed for successful execution. She also translates business goals into marketing objectives and media KPIs.
Oksana is a Harvard Disruptive Strategy program alumna. An innovator and a challenger, she is always striving to test new media and discover new ways of engaging consumers. A proven data storyteller, results-driven, and fluent in the data language, Oksana translates audience insights into media metrics, keeping an eye on diminishing returns. She has a proven track record in strategy, media, B2B, performance, and integrated marketing.
Vanessa Yen
Partner, Mintz
Vanessa Yen is a Partner at Mintz, a litigation powerhouse and business accelerator serving leaders in life sciences, private equity, energy, and technology. With nearly 20 years of work experience, Yen is a litigation partner whose practice focuses on complex IP patent litigations and disputes in the life sciences, including Hatch-Waxman and Biosimilars litigations, medical devices and technologies disputes, IPRs, licensing and arbitrations, counseling, pre-litigation diligence, strategic assessment of IP for mergers and acquisitions, and more. Yen has never lost a trial on behalf of a client, and she has been commended for “exceptional skill sets and profound insights” (IAM Patent 1000, 2019).
Named as the US Rising Star in IP, Yen handled one of the top litigations and disputes and achieved a patent litigation victory named Hatch-Waxman Impact Case of the Year. She was part of a team that obtained the first IPR victory for an Orange Book-listed patent dispute involved in a parallel Federal district court litigation. As an MIT graduate, Yen has deep experience handling matters for clients in the life sciences and tech industries, as well as academic and nonprofit organizations. Experienced with trials before US district courts, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and IPRs before the PTAB, she is experienced in handling IP matters in various technologies, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, cannabis medicine, dermatology, femtech, prostate disorders, genetic vectors, molecular cloning, musculoskeletal disorders, smart WiFi photo frames.
Yen is currently on the Intellectual Property Owners Association's Amicus Briefing Committee. She regularly speaks and writes on developments in law and DEI matters. She sits on the Cornell Law School Alumni Executive Board. She served as partner co-chairperson of the Asian affinity group at her prior firm and is committed to DEI as an active member of multiple national bar associations and organizations dedicated to the same. Previously, Yen spent years conducting breast cancer research and genomic research while at MIT and Cold Spring Harbor Lab. She also worked at a top strategic management consulting firm serving Fortune 500 companies.
Michelle McKenna
Senior Advisor & Partner, Evercore
Michelle McKenna is a Partner and Senior Advisor in Evercore’s corporate advisory business with a focus on technology, entertainment, and sports. She is a seasoned executive and experienced public board director, with experience leading large-scale transformations at America’s largest media and entertainment brands, Disney, Universal, and the NFL. As chief information officer of the NFL for 10 seasons, McKenna was responsible for the strategy and management of the league’s technology activities. She was also the executive sponsor of NFL’s Women’s Interactive Group and partnered with the NFL Sponsorship team to bring in a new era of technology partnerships with such entities as Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, and Verizon. McKenna joined the NFL from Constellation Energy in Baltimore. She also has extensive experience in the media and entertainment industry as senior vice president and CIO at Universal Orlando Resort.
McKenna spent over a decade at The Walt Disney Co. in finance and strategic planning, marketing, operations, and technology. She is on the board of WWE and recently participated in the landmark transaction to combine WWE and UFC with Endeavor. Earlier in her career, McKenna was a CPA and audit professional at PwC.
McKenna was inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame and is an Outlier Award recipient for driving transformation. She was named a Crain’s New York Business’ Notable Women in Tech, and a Sports Business Journal Game Changer. She earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from Auburn University and an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College.
Emily Gates
SVP of Customer Experience & Sales, Dataminr
Emily Gates is the SVP of Customer Experience and Sales at Dataminr. In this role, Gates has built the customer success organization from the ground up, developed a post-sales engagement model to drive retention and growth, and defined and built a strategic corporate solutions overlay team and a pre-sales solution engineering team, all aligning with strategic growth initiatives.
Gates 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.
Before joining Dataminr, Gates was a VP of customer success, enterprise, and global for BrightEdge, providing an SEO and content marketing platform solution. Before that, she led as SVP of Global Client Service for Return Path, an email deliverability and optimization platform. 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, Gates 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.
Amanda McKenna
Tax Partner, Withum
Amanda McKenna is a Tax Partner at Withum. With almost two decades of experience in financial services tax, McKenna has extensive experience in the alternative investments industry. She specializes in providing tax compliance and consulting services for venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds. Her primary focus is on partnership structures, including stand-alone entities, master-feeder structures, offshore funds, fund of funds, real estate entities, management companies, and general partner entities.
McKenna has a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding fund structures and brings a creative approach to her client’s tax planning. She is experienced in working with both domestic and international investment funds and advises on various structuring options to determine the best tax efficiency and impact on US and non-US limited partners. Her comprehensive knowledge of tax laws and regulations has proven invaluable to her clients in navigating the ever-changing tax landscape. She provides practical solutions to complex tax issues and is dedicated to helping her clients achieve their investment goals while minimizing tax liabilities.
McKenna is an active member of the Women of Financial Services initiative at Withum to support, develop, and mentor future generations of women.
Brette Graber
VP, Client Services, Mass Appeal
Brette Graber serves as the Vice President of Client Services at Mass Appeal, a distinguished entertainment company in New York. Graber is driven by a commitment to amplify the voices and perspectives of women and multicultural groups that have historically been underrepresented. She actively champions this cause in her work at Mass Appeal, ensuring that diversity is at the forefront of every project.
Graber began her professional journey in TV production, where she honed her skills in storytelling and content creation. Her career trajectory shifted towards branded media when she took on the role of production manager in the Branded Content department at Vice. In 2016, she transitioned to Mass Appeal, where she was appointed as the agency producer for the Creative Division. Her role evolved, and by February 2018, she was named director of integrated programs, shortly after she was named VP of client service in 2020. In her various leadership positions at Mass Appeal, Graber has and continues to spearhead the production of original and branded content, experiential activations, and paid media campaigns for an impressive roster of clients, including Adidas, Google, YouTube, Amazon, HBO, Disney, Hulu, Netflix, Sony, Diageo, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Live Nation, Michelin, Genting, Paramount+, and NFL.
During her career, Graber has been recognized for her work with awards from institutions that recognize innovation and creative excellence in advertising, including Clios, Webbys, Shortys, Tribeca X, and most recently, two 2024 Webby wins for Best Media Strategy and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Google Pixel’s RePresents Campaign.
Jennifer Sailer
Director of Marketing, National Basketball Association
Jennifer Sailer is the Director of Marketing for the National Basketball Association. She 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.
Sailer 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, Sailer 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, Sailer 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, she 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.
Sailer 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.
Robin Merritt
Chief People Officer, Gainsight
As a member of the executive leadership team at Gainsight, backed by Vista Private Equity, Robin Merritt serves as the Chief People Officer. In her role, Merritt leads global people strategy and company operations across 16 countries, three continents, and 1,500 employees. She is responsible for employee and organizational success, diversity, equity, and inclusion, talent acquisition, the Office of the CEO, business operations, and social impact.
Merritt 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 that 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, and these associates have earned a total of $14 million 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 about 20 graduates to date with 80% returning mothers. Merritt continues to trailblaze the transformation of the industry’s double bottom line (profit and people), raising over $2 million for global giving and founding the global Impact effort at Gainsight.
Merritt’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 four continents, nine countries, and over 2,000 employees. Merritt 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.
Missy Foristall
Global Chief Operating Officer, DEPT
For more than 25 years, Missy Foristall has spent her career driving innovation and digital transformation for both consumer and enterprise brands. As Global Chief Operating Officer and Americas CEO at DEPT, Foristall continues this work by bringing integrated end-to-end digital experiences to clients and their customers.
Before joining DEPT, Foristall was a VP of the digital business group at IBM in several digital transformation roles, from leading IBM’s 1,700-person internal agency to managing the digital design group and marketing platform products. Previously she also led digital marketing groups at Martha Stewart, JP Morgan Private Bank, and Razorfish. As managing director for Razorfish’s New York office and executive sponsor for several high-profile client accounts, she oversaw emerging platforms, creative, and delivery of projects.
Foristall is passionate about empowering women and providing support and mentoring. She leads the DEPT Women’s Employee Resource Committee and has recently launched a Women’s Mentoring program. Originally born and raised in New York and a graduate of Hartwick College, she now lives in Connecticut with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Erin Mote
CEO, InnovateEDU
Erin Mote is the CEO 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.
Mote is the co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School with her husband. 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 working with the country’s leading technology companies. Mote 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. She served as the founding Chief of the Party for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance, a $19.5 million global technology expansion project.
Mote 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, she 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.
Sara Faitelson
Founder, Stiletto Financial
Sara Faitelson is a financial educator and retirement income specialist. She founded Stiletto Financial in 2019 because she realized women were looking for education. They were also looking for guidance when it came to how to make independent financial decisions.
With over 13 years of experience, Faitelson decided to create a whole new language: “Shoeology.” She teaches finance with the use of shoes to help women who are separated, divorced, widowed, and are looking for advice on how to make independent financial decisions. Faitelson's goal is to serve as a resource for women to explore and incorporate components of a comprehensive strategy to help ensure their value, security, and future are valued.
Eleanor Petigrow
Global Chief Growth Officer, GCI Group
In 2021, Eleanor Petigrow joined GCI Group as the Global Chief Growth Officer, a newly created role, where she’s a catalyst for business growth worldwide, launching new capabilities, developing new platforms for executive thought leadership, and cultivating high-performing teams. Additionally, she partners closely with the agency’s chief people officer and its head of DE&I to identify opportunities for training, development, and growth.
Throughout her career, Eleanor Petigrow has stood apart through her keen ability to assess agencies, companies, and colleagues, identify their strengths, and help them achieve success. Whether driving the healthcare agency business, helping to establish the first boutique healthcare communications agency as a major global player, or nurturing personal, professional, and pitch excellence, she has had a profound impact on the medical marketing industry. Petigrow has held a variety of roles in healthcare PR and communications, advertising, and medical communications agencies, including client service, new business, learning, and development, and talent management.
As the executive sponsor of GCI’s Parents and Caregiver Employee Resource Group, Petigrow shares her experiences to support the group’s leaders. Bringing her years of corporate experience to bear, she also coaches young professionals to build their narratives and communicate confidently. She’s been married to her husband for 34 years, and together, they have three daughters, who are now each pursuing their career paths.
Jodie Gunzberg
Managing Partner, InFi Strategies
In August 2024, Jodie Gunzberg became a Managing Partner at InFi Strategies. She was previously the head of strategic partnerships at Cboe Global Markets, where she managed key partnerships and critical commercial relationships for Cboe by collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to assess and enhance existing partnerships and identify new growth opportunities.
Before joining Cboe, Gunzberg was a managing director at CoinDesk Indices and the chief institutional investment strategist for wealth management at Morgan Stanley. She also served as head of the Graystone Investment Office, supporting the investment needs of Graystone Consulting, which included the supervision and guidance of the Graystone Discretionary program. 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 joined S&P DJI in 2010 as director of commodities product management.
At the CFA Institute, Gunzberg is a charter holder, a member of the Education Advisory Committee, and a curriculum consultant. She is a former member of the board of directors for CFA NY and CFA Chicago and founded the CFA New Jersey Group of CFA NY. Gunzberg received her MBA from the University of Chicago, and she earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Emory University.
Barrett Golden
Partner, Joele Frank
A founding member of Joele Frank, Barrett Golden advises boards and management teams facing complex, high-profile events, including proxy contests, mergers and acquisitions, unsolicited takeovers, and special situations that threaten the company’s reputation, and their leadership’s credibility. Her clients are across sectors and include large, global public corporations, as well as smaller, private enterprises both within the US and abroad.
Over her 20 years with Joele Frank, Golden has advised scores of companies in their engagement with, and proxy contests against, some of the most prominent activist investors, including Carl Icahn, D.E. Shaw, Elliott Management, JANA, Starboard, Third Point, Trian, and ValueAct. A trusted M&A advisor, she develops and executes multi-stakeholder communications strategies that have influenced successful outcomes in hundreds of unsolicited, shareholder-contested, and negotiated M&A transactions.
Golden’s crisis management experience touches a wide range of issues from the C-suite to the heart of a company’s culture, including restatements and/or accounting fraud, misconduct allegations, ethical violations, management changes, short attacks, cybersecurity, regulatory investigations/actions, product liability and recalls, litigation, and workplace violence. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where she also attended the University’s McIntire Institute for Business.
Robyn Hannigan
President, Ursinus College
Robyn Hannigan, a globally recognized environmental scientist and thought leader, was appointed the 19th president of Ursinus College by the Ursinus Board of Trustees. She began her presidency in 2022. Hannigan distinguishes herself by articulating a vision for the liberal arts that is grounded in the public good. She speaks eloquently about how colleges like Ursinus, institutions fully committed to undergraduate, residential education, uniquely prepare students to become problem-solvers who view today’s greatest issues through a cross-disciplinary lens.
She reflects the very best of their mission, a curious and lifelong learner whose own unique lived experience as a first-generation student and descendant of the Narragansett Indian Tribe has resulted in an unwavering commitment to access and opportunity for every student.
An accomplished researcher with four patents, Hannigan founded two separate start-ups improving technological and diagnostic processes. She was provost of Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY; was the founding dean of the School for the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Boston; a policy officer at the National Science Foundation, and a professor at Arkansas State University. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles; is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Chemical Society’s Camile and Henry Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences; and is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A graduate of The College of New Jersey, Hannigan holds a master’s degree from SUNY Buffalo and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Rochester.
Though these professional achievements are noteworthy for transforming her field of work, Hannigan speaks about how these opportunities opened greater doors for her students, resulting in meaningful partnerships and friendships that have grown over time. Her willingness to engage with every student, providing nontraditional avenues for growth and potential, will propel Ursinus forward at a time when society is seeking out its most creative and inventive problem solvers.
Amanda Fajak
CEO, Walking the Talk
Amanda Fajak is the Chief Executive Officer of Walking the Talk, one of the world’s leading specialist consultancies in organizational culture. As an expert in culture transformation, Fajak has over 25 years of experience in enhancing performance results by aligning culture with strategy and creating workplaces for the future.
Fajak 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, Fajak regularly shares her expertise through CEO advisory and keynote speeches.
Fajak’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 she has operated as an advisor to the UK government on culture.
Jessica Spiegel
Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, SUMMUS
Jessica Spiegel is a founding member of SUMMUS. Now as the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, she leads the Member Experience and Customer Success teams.
Spiegel was previously vice president at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), where she was responsible for product strategy and managed relationships for financial services clients. Before GLG, she was an associate in the commercial real estate department at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. In this role, she drafted, reviewed, and analyzed documents for private developers, REITs, and investment advisors in connection with various commercial real estate matters. These matters included joint ventures, purchases and sales, loan modifications, refinancings, and leases. Spiegel holds a JD from Fordham Law School and a BA in History with highest honors from Johns Hopkins University.
Emily Chasan
SVP of ESG & Sustainability Communications, Citi
Emily Chasan is Senior Vice President of ESG and Sustainability Communications at Citi, where she manages Citi’s external and internal communications efforts supporting its ESG, sustainability, and net zero initiatives. Before 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, Chasan 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, Chasan 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 US 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.
Lara Pedrini
SVP & Global Head of Sales, Exiger
Lara Pedrini is an SVP and the Global Head of Sales at Exiger, a global leading third-party and supply chain management software company. At Exiger, Pedrini 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, she 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.
Pedrini brings more than 12 years of experience in the governance, risk, and compliance space. She joined Exiger from Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, where she was responsible for advising institutional clients on knowing their customers, 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. Before joining Dow Jones, Pedrini worked at Diligence, where she conducted enhanced due diligence reviews for financial institutions and corporate clients. In this role, she 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).
Pedrini 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 undergraduate degree in international relations and economics.
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 led her to a career in human resources, specifically in the hospitality sector. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Berti launched her career in New York City in 2015. Her entrepreneurial mindset assisted in launching the Arlo Hotels brand. She has successfully aided Arlo Hotels in being named Crain's Top 100 Best Places Work for consecutive years.
Berti has been credited with creating the company culture in the early days, recruiting and training staff for the first two Arlo hotels in New York. She is known for bringing everyone together as a uniquely engaged and collaborative team with an unwavering commitment to fostering learning, growth, and enjoyment. She is said to be the key to holding their teams together through the challenges of the pandemic, juggling many conflicting and emotionally taxing tasks.
Before Arlo Hotels, Berti was the director of people services for Tommie Hotels. Before that, she was 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.
Kirsten Marchioli
SVP & Team Lead, Manufacturer Solutions, GoodRx
Kirsten Marchioli is an SVP and Team Lead for Manufacturer Solutions 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.
Before GoodRx, Marchioli worked in leadership roles across marketing, sales, and business development at ConnectiveRx, where she was a 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.
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. Before that, 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, Nauiokas was honored with the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service. She 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 her as one of its “Heroes” in the November 2011 issue and described her 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 in School Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in addition to an undergraduate degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire. She holds a School District Administrator’s license in New York.
Tina Roth Eisenberg
Founder & CEO, CreativeMornings
Tina Roth Eisenberg is the Founder and CEO of CreativeMornings, which she created in 2008 out of a desire for an ongoing, accessible event for New York's creative community.
The concept was simple: breakfast and a short talk one Friday morning a month. Every event would be free of charge and open to anyone. CreativeMornings is the world’s largest creative community, hosting local events every Friday, hosting virtual field trips every week, and posting jobs and company profiles via the CreativeGuild. Eisenberg and her team believe in the power of community, giving a damn, face-to-face connections, learning from others, hugs, and high-fives. Eisenberg began her early work in 2002 as a design director at Thinkmap. She studied communications and graphic design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.
Twyla Tiongson Neal
Managing Director, Accenture
Twyla Tiongson Neal is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience building and growing businesses in the tech industry. Neal 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.
Before joining Accenture in 2021, Neal 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. Neal’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 DEI, Neal 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.
Neal 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. Neal has a passion for culture and arts, loves to travel, eating her way across the globe; and enjoys the outdoors, running, skiing, and playing tennis. She resides with her husband and two young daughters in NYC, where she was also born and raised.
Joele Frank
Managing Partner, Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Joele Frank is the Founder and Managing Partner of Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher. Founded in 2000, the firm has ranked number one in M&A since 2013.
For more than 30 years, Frank has been a trusted advisor to executive teams and boards of directors as they manage through some of the most complex situations in their company’s history. Having played a major role in more than 3,000 M&A transactions and special situations, Frank understands the impact of communications on corporate reputation and a company’s ability to achieve its overall business objectives.
Frank has been named to PRWeek’s Hall of Fame and Inside PR’s Hall of Fame as an All-Star for Investor Relations, and she has appeared on PRWeek’s PR Power List of The 25 Top PR Industry Leaders.
Amanda Smith
President, Fairchild Media
Amanda Smith is the President of Fairchild Media Group (FMG), overseeing brand operations and the strategic vision for the 18 million combined global audience across WWD, Footwear News, Beauty Inc., Sourcing Journal, WWD Weekend, Rivet, and Fairchild Live. As a leader of the industry’s most trusted and relied upon news sources globally, Smith leads all business initiatives and new product development across all media platforms.
With over two decades of leading high-profile brands across the B2B and B2C sectors, Smith brings deep experience and relationships across the luxury, retail, fashion, footwear, and beauty sectors to her role at FMG. Throughout her award-winning career, she has built a reputation for unprecedented operational transformation and is widely recognized as an innovator who outperforms expectations, delivers revenue, and audience growth, and is dedicated to the development of successful teams and first-to-market opportunities and partnerships. Smith maintains close ties with the Council of Fashion Designers, The Council of Executive Women, is dedicated to creating FMG programs that specifically address equity and advancement for women in the fashion and beauty industry and is on the board and executive committee of the Fashion Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit, that provides mentoring, advice, and scholarships for students in the fashion industry.
Before joining PMC, Smith served as a senior leader at some of the most iconic brands in media, including Fast Company, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Conde Nast Traveler. Smith graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an MA in Journalism and Mass Communication and from Drake University with an undergraduate degree in journalism.
Jacquelyn Lane
President, 100 Coaches Agency
Jacquelyn Lane is the President of the 100 Coaches Agency, an organization designed to amplify the collective impact of the world’s most iconic leadership thinkers and executive coaches.
Lane is the co-designer proprietary curation process of the 100 Coaches Agency and the company’s relationship-first philosophy. In her role, she oversees the growth and development of the agency, serves as a critical pillar of the 100 Coaches community, and is a member of the editorial team that selects the authors and titles published in their new book imprint, 100 Coaches Publishing.
Together with legendary coach Marshall Goldsmith and 100 Coaches CEO Scott Osman, Lane is a Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of Becoming Coachable: Unleashing the Power of Executive Coaching to Transform Your Leadership and Life.
Josephine Guzman
Senior Director, Physician Relations Management, Northwell Health
Josephine Guzman is the Senior Director of Physician Relations Management at Northwell Health. She is a highly-skilled, accomplished, and award-winning executive. She has served in leadership roles within diverse industries, including healthcare, pharmaceutical, and hospitality. Her responsibilities have included business development, marketing, community outreach, new program development and administration, operations, budgets/P&Ls, institution branding, and public relations. In addition, she has been at the forefront of diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Guzman’s responsibilities have included the management of the relationship of a 500-physician healthcare network, practice management of a multi-physician and multi-location practice, the development of the LatinX community outreach and marketing campaign for one of the system hospitals, the creation of the LatinX business employee resource group for the system, business development in the healthcare and hospitality industry, growing revenues from $1 million to $20 million. Guzman is highly skilled in coaching and developing a high-performance team, creating a vision and strategic objectives and alignment with the broader objectives of the organization, She also serves as a catalyst for positive change/transformation partnering with physician and administrative leadership. In addition, Guzman uses her relationship management skills to build collaborative working partnerships with local communities and to penetrate new markets.
Guzman is a strong advocate of performance excellence, best practices, and continuous improvement initiatives. She is also a strong advocate of servicing and transforming the care of her internal and external diverse communities. She earned a Master of Science from New York University.
Cara Pearson
VP of Client & Revenue Services, Trail of Bits
With over 12 years in consulting services, Cara Pearson is a customer success and revenue-focused leader. She currently serves as the Vice President of Client and Revenue Services at Trail of Bits, a distinguished cybersecurity consulting firm in New York City. With a career marked by project management, strategic client partnerships, business development, and a passion for delivering outstanding results, Pearson plays a pivotal role in Trail of Bits' reputation, client base, revenue growth, and mission to safeguard organizations from cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
In previous consulting roles at Rapid7, EnerNOC, and SRA International, Pearson has always been client-facing, ensuring the best client experience when delivering services. She actively promotes the cyber security industry through social platforms, attends conferences, and Trail of Bits’ monthly New York meetup, Empire Hacking.
When she’s not in the office, Pearson’s hobbies include traveling, skiing, hiking, and connecting with friends and family. With a career marked by a commitment to enhancing client experience, strategy, and business development, She is a force to be reckoned with in the world of client and revenue services.
Hazel Jack
VP & Chief of Staff to the President, Colgate University
Hazel Jack is Vice President for University Outreach and the Chief of Staff to the President of Colgate University. She serves as chief communications officer and member of the president’s cabinet.
Jack leads the development and execution of all areas related to university communications, reputation management, presidential communications and outreach, university-wide events, and the management of the president's office. Beyond Jack’s professional responsibilities, she is an active member of the community and serves on the board of directors for Community Memorial Hospital and A Better Chance Clinton.
Jack earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Pace University. She also has an MBA and a Master’s degree in Education from Baruch College. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Higher Education at Syracuse University.
Rachel Horovitz
VP of Medidata AI Strategy, Medidata Solutions
Rachel Horovitz is the Product Lead for the Trial Impact Analytics offering, which helps companies navigate the evolving COVID-19 environment and inform critical decisions as it relates to recovery planning. Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company, is leading the digital transformation of life sciences, creating hope for millions of people.
Before this role, Horovitz was the head of strategic initiatives and led the launch of the Medidata Institute. Before joining Medidata, she spent several years at Bain & Co. and Rothschild, advising healthcare and technology companies on a broad range of strategic issues and decisions. Horovitz holds a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Bern in Switzerland, as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Enid Dillard
Senior Director of Marketing & Communications, One Brooklyn Health
Enid Dillard is the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for One Brooklyn Health System (OBH). She is responsible for the design and implementation of comprehensive marketing, communications, and media strategies that enhance the brand awareness and visibility of OBH's programs, services, and medical specialists.
Dillard joined the system in 2002 as the director of marketing and public affairs at Kingsbrook Medical Center. There, she was responsible for Kingsbrook's rebranding and developed marketing and public affairs efforts that significantly increased media coverage and overall brand awareness for the facility. She was also responsible for the successful rebranding and coordination of Kingsbrook's fundraising events, helping to raise considerable dollars for medical programs and services. In collaboration with Kingsbrook's Community Leadership Council, she also helped develop sustainable and robust education and wellness programs.
With over 30 years in media and communications, Dillard has a vast career spanning television publicity, production, and voice-over arts. She has been honored by the HOPE Outreach Foundation, the Caribbean Heritage Foundation, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the 67th Clergy Council, Assemblymember Diana Richardson, Assemblymember Farah Louis, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, the Diva Deluxe Foundation, and Borough of Manhattan Community College. Dillard holds a BFA in Broadcast Journalism and Public Relations from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA in Television Production and Radio Management from Brooklyn College-CUNY.
Kristen Glass
Director of Camp Kaufmann, Girl Scouts of Greater New York
Kristen Glass is the Director of Camp Kaufmann for the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. Founded in 1913, the Girl Scouts of Greater New York is New York City's largest girls-only leadership program, reaching nearly 28,000 girls and over 8,000 adult volunteers across the five boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, & Staten Island. They believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-take, Leader)™ of all ages and backgrounds to empower herself through collaborative, girl-led, and hands-on experience that can be found nowhere else.
Kristen is an environmental leadership, informal education, and nonprofit professional with exceptional attention to detail, motivational enthusiasm, and an unmatched work ethic. She is passionate about championing community empowerment, fostering positive and productive youth identities, building meaningful relationships with internal teams and external supporters, as well as cultivating the appreciation and exploration of the outdoors.
Sana Mujtaba
Founder, Little Learners Pk
Sana Mujtaba is the Founder of Little Learners Pk. Little Learners is an Educational Toy Company with the mission to nurture a child's curiosity with fun and interactive resources.
Previously, Mujtaba was 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 its 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.
Before August Leadership, Mujtaba was consulting at the United Nations Population Fund in their talent acquisition function primarily focusing on branding, sourcing, and outreach. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from New York University and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration.
Stacey Mazzella
Senior Director of Marketing, National Convenience Distributors
In her role as the Senior Director of Marketing at National Convenience Distributors, Stacey Mazzella orchestrates the marketing execution of NCD's business strategies and objectives. Her approach revolves around leveraging MarTech solutions, innovation, and automation, and crafting interactive, engaging B2B and B2C partner journeys that touch all aspects of this over $3 billion company. Mazzella’s career spans over 21 years, traversing diverse industries, including consulting, hospitality, technology, construction, and distribution.
In the first half of her professional journey, Mazzella dedicated herself to supporting working moms in non-traditional roles. The creation of Hybrid Mom, a multimedia consulting company, stands as a testament to this commitment. This venture aimed to support the woman behind the mom, providing a haven for those blending their aspirations as entrepreneurs or consultants without compromising their families. The Visionary Award bestowed upon Mazzella by the National Association of Women Business Owners during this experience still holds a special place.
Today, Mazzella’s focus extends beyond industry landscapes, reaching the heart of what the marketing department means to a corporation. It serves as the vital conduit that communicates, connects, and harmonizes the collective efforts of all internal departments and external relationships. This responsibility is not just a role; it's a commitment to meaningfully contribute to the intersection of passion, knowledge, and professionalism in the ever-evolving world of marketing and Corporate America. Her most crucial and cherished role is being a mom to her five children: Shane, Carly, Chloe, Michael, and Jonathan.