Business Acumen

Robin Stenzel is the Chief People Officer at Outmatch. In her role, she is focused on building a high performance culture that drives strong business performance while creating an environment where employees bring their whole self to work everyday.

Mike is the current CEO of Crosschq, a Slack, Tiger Global, GGV, Bessemer, Rocketship.vc and SAP.io backed startup that helps companies screen, source and hire the best talent through its digital and automated reference checks/assessments. Prior to Crosschq, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Advanced TV Advertising & Commerce Company, Connekt, Inc. which was acquired by JMJ Financial in 2018. Mike was also the former Founder & CEO of Interactive Commerce Company, Delivery Agent which was acquired by Hillair Capital in 2016. 

Mike is experienced in all aspects of corporate and business development as well as general corporate functions including finance, sales & marketing, technology and product management. Named a Forbes Next 1000 in 2021, Mike is an industry thought leader who has been featured on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, NY Times, WSJ, Forbes among others. 

Russell Podgorski is the head of executive recruiting at Providence, which operates across seven states on the west coast and is comprised of 120,000 employees, 51 acute care hospitals, 1,100 physician clinics, 22 long-term care facilities, 19 hospice and home health programs, 693 supportive housing units, and one major health plan. Russell specializes in building and improving high-performing executive recruiting teams and functions that exceed national benchmarks. He brings over a decade of experience recruiting executives and physicians for multi-billion dollar integrated health care delivery systems. He holds a B.A. degree from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri and a Master of Health Administration degree from St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine.

As a measurement strategist, Whitney’s passion and expertise lies in the field of surveys and assessments. A self-professed “data nerd,” Whitney has a Master’s degree in the area of Human Resources Measurement and Evaluation and has conducted extensive research on the predictive validity of various hiring assessment strategies.

Whitney has been a highly rated speaker at several National HR Conferences and has authored articles on assessments for several books and publications, including Harvard Business Review. She is a member of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and has two decades of experience working in the assessment industry.

Jeremy Eskenazi, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CMC is Managing Principal of Riviera Advisors, Inc., a global Human Resources management consulting and training firm that helps organizations improve, enhance and optimize their internal talent acquisition and recruiting capabilities.

Prior to founding Riviera Advisors in 2001, Jeremy spent almost 20 years leading talent acquisition and recruiting teams at Universal Studios, Amazon.com, and Idealab. A regular SHRM speaker and a member of the SHRM Talent Acquisition Special Expertise Panel, Jeremy is also proud professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Institute of Management Consultants-USA.

Jeremy is the author of the books, “RecruitCONSULT! Leadership – The Corporate Talent Acquisition Leader’s Field Book”, and “The High-Performance Talent Acquisition Advantage”.

Daryll Bryant is a transformational leader with a distinguished career in manufacturing providing outstanding results for a number of Fortune 100 companies.   He is a Keynote Speaker, Leadership Coach, Trusted Business Advisor and Author of the book entitled “Engage. Lead. Deliver.   Leadership Tenets for Tapping into the Collective Genius of Your People”, available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles online book stores.  

Daryll’s passion is to inspire New Leaders and provide them with the confidence to begin on their leadership journey.   His desire is to coach New Leaders by helping them to identify their personal leadership signature and leverage it to unlock the collective genius of their people.  His mission is to equip New Leaders with tools which will support them in overcoming roadblocks to their growth; and provide them with skills that will enable them to lead change, create business value, and foster engaged work environments.

Amber Beam is on a mission to create a ‘win-win’ growth strategy for best-in-class companies and their employees. She teaches teams and leaders to tap into the hidden potential of existing employees to solve emerging business challenges. Improving employee experience and eliminating the time-suck of hiring externally.

As a speaker and a coach, she encourages individuals, teams, and leaders to tame uncertainty, throw out the dusty rule book, and create a culture where everyone wins.
She lives and works in Washington, DC, loves to travel, and delights in the pursuit of finding the best taco in the city.

Tahmina Watson is a nationally acclaimed immigration attorney and founder of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle, Washington, USA. Her practice focuses on business and investment immigration matters. She handles all employment-based visas such as L1A, H1B, O1, E2, EB5 etc.  Her clients include individuals and businesses from all over the world. 

Tahmina was a barrister in London, UK, before immigrating to America herself.  A passionate advocate for immigration reform, Tahmina is the author of “The Startup Visa: Key to Job Growth & Economic Prosperity in America”.  In addition to regularly publishing articles and appearing in the media including CNN, Forbes, The Telegraph and much more, she is the host of “Tahmina Talks Immigration” a radio show turned podcast available on itunes/Spotify and other podcast applications.  Recently, Tahmina founded a non-profit, the Washington Immigrant Defense Network- WIDEN which funds and facilitates legal representation in the immigration courtroom.   She is also cofounder of www.airportlawyer.org, a web portal that helps passengers at the airports seek assistance of volunteer lawyers.

Learn more about Tahmina at www.watsonimmigrationlaw.com and can contact her info@watsonimmigrationlaw.com.

Alejandra Zapatero is a Managing Director with Erickson Immigration Group. Alejandra has been practicing immigration law for 10+ years in Virginia, Washington D.C., and California. Her practice focuses on corporate immigration working with large, medium, small, and startup companies in filing employment-based petitions for foreign workers seeking temporary and permanent employment in the U.S. Her experience includes immigrant and non-immigrant visa petitions. Alejandra advises employers from startups to Fortune 500 companies on establishing and refining immigration programs including strategies for hiring, compliance, and complex immigration matters resulting from corporate restructuring including mergers, acquisitions, and reductions-in-force. 

She has counseled clients on workforce compliance including I-9 issues and public access file audits. Alejandra is proficient in the preparation and filing of non-immigrant visas such as E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN. She is also adept in immigrant visa processes, including the preparation and filing of PERM, I-140 petitions, and I-485 Adjustment of Status applications. She is also well-versed in family immigration law and has represented individuals seeking family-based green cards, deferred action of childhood arrival (DACA) work authorization, and naturalization applications. 

Alejandra is a frequent speaker on immigration issues and has presented at various conferences and events including SHRM, Worldwide ERC, Bay Area Mobility Management, British American Business Council, sf.citi, Global HR Business News, and the Council for Global Immigration.