Global & Cultural Effectiveness

Dr. David S Cohen, Ed. D. has a vision: organizations that thrive by living their values in good times and especially VUCA times. David's first career was in elementary and high school education, where he built a reputation for building school communities based on purpose and social responsibility. Thirty-three years ago, David transitioned to corporate consulting. As a consultant, David earned a reputation as a contrarian consultant because he does not always follow what is popular in his chosen field. David works with leaders helping them understand what is and what is not necessary to build an active and positive organization. He helps leaders' step into life's challenges, inspiring them to create a sustained approach through a values-based focus, resulting in better business results. David has had the privilege of partnering with firms across five continents and all business sectors. Additionally, he has worked with governments, from the local to the federal levels, and not-for-profits.

He has taught at Queens University School of Labour Relations and the executive education program at the Schulich School of Business, York University. Currently, he teaches organizational development at Durham College. David earned his doctorate from Boston University in Humanistic and Behavioural Studies. During that time, he also completed independent studies at the Harvard School of Education, where he was a teaching assistant.

David is a keynote speaker, educator, disruptor, facilitator, team builder, and executive coach. He has authored two books and numerous articles in professional journals.

• The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing, and Keeping Top Performers (John Wiley and Sons, August 2001)
• Inside the Box: Leading With Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success (Jossey-Bass September 2006)

When David is not travelling, he is hanging out with his five grandchildren, when possible, attending Toronto Raptor's games, or relaxing with family and friends.

David is honored to be recognized by the GlobalGurus30 as one of the top 30 GlobalGurus in Organizational Culture.

Brigadier General (Ret.) Carol Eggert is SVP, Military and Veteran Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal. She provides strategic leadership to all aspects of Comcast NBCUniversal’s programs and outreach to the military and veteran community. Carol completed her distinguished military career in 2014 as the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Deputy Commandant for the Army War College. She served in a variety of command and staff positions and completed numerous overseas deployments, including a 15-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of the Women’s Initiatives Division and Senior Liaison to the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, and received numerous military awards and commendations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. 

Patti Perez is on a mission to transform workplace culture. She is the founder of PersuasionPoint Inc. and combines her experience as a licensed California attorney, a professionally-certified HR executive, a tech company leader, a specialist in the prevention and resolution of workplace drama, an expert witness in state and federal court, a state regulator and as an entrepreneur to create a revolutionary shift in the way we communicate and connect at work.

Patti is the author of The Drama-Free Workplace: How You Can Prevent Unconscious Bias, Sexual Harassment, Ethics Lapses, and Inspire a Healthy Culture (Wiley 2019), a one-of-a-kind, informative resource that explains what it takes to build and sustain an equitable, inclusive and healthy workplace culture.

Jeff Korzenik is one of the country's leading experts on the reemployment of people with criminal records. A regular guest on CNBC, Fox Business News and Bloomberg TV, Jeff’s writings on economics and public policy have been published in Barron’s, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune and other periodicals.  He is the author of "Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community" (HarperCollins Leadership, April 2021), which shares the business case and best practices of hiring people with criminal records. Jeff earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Certificate of Proficiency in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.

Keiko Sakurai has expertise in team building, organizational development, executive coaching, management-skills training, and leadership development for multinational companies. She passionately supports individuals and teams to recognize their strengths and expand their abilities to the fullest extent possible. 

Ms. Sakurai holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business from the University of California, Berkeley, with a certificate in global management, as well as a BS in management from Hitotsubashi University in Japan. Ms. Sakurai has also completed coaching and leadership courses at the Coaches Training Institute in California. She maintains her CPA credentials and is Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® certified.

As chief diversity and inclusion officer, Audra is responsible for working with Randstad’s U.S. operating companies to further diversity strategies both internally and externally. With more than 20 years of human resources, diversity and compliance experience, Audra provides clients across the organization with guidance for effective strategies in diversity, inclusion, veterans and compliance. Audra also helps run Randstad’s Hire Hope program to provide career readiness training and job placement services to underserved and at-risk women, including survivors of exploitation and trafficking. Audra holds a Master’s in Business Administration with a Human Resources concentration, and a Bachelor’s in Finance, from the University of North Carolina. A member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); she is also a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and a Six Sigma Green Belt. Audra is known for her speaking engagements at diversity conferences and has published white papers in her area of expertise.

Ruchi Jalla is Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer of BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based, international defense, aerospace, and security company. In her current role, Ruchi provides direction on enterprise diversity and inclusion strategies and ensures alignment of initiatives that bring about sustainable shifts in workplace culture. Ruchi previously held diversity and Affirmative Action/EEO roles in various organizations including BlackBerry, RBC Financial Group and Sodexo. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for designing and developing programs in the areas of talent acquisition, employee engagement, international compliance, communications and social media. Ruchi graduated from the University of Western Ontario.

Tanuja has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources with large multi nationals at leadership roles both India and USA. She held strategic and leadership roles with organisations like NTT Data, Bank of America and GE.

Tanuja is extremely passionate about the gender diversity cause. Currently Tanuja runs her company “Beyond Pinks” which focuses on gender issues and challenges at corporates as well as atuniversity level. She works with corporates to build leadership talent pipeline and on employability and sustainability of women at workplace.

Tanuja holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and an Executive MBA from Cornell University.

Her personal belief in life: Live the day as if it’s your last.

Emily Gregory’s gift is to create for her audience a moment of self-discovery that leads to change.

Clients praise Emily for her nuanced mix of vitality and credibility. Emily’s depth of experience, academic background, and rigorous intellectual reasoning that provides the solid foundation for her message.

For 15 years, Emily led Crucial Learning teams including Product Development, Training and Consulting, Delivery Operations, and Sales.

Emily is also the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and travels the world speaking and presenting on the crucial skills for improving results and relationships.

Angelina Darrisaw Cheeks is a business and career coach, who firmly believes that career advancement is a social justice issue. As the founder and CEO of C-Suite Coach, a career-coaching platform that provides accessible professional development resources to diverse working professionals, Angelina collaborates with employers to create business solutions that empower and educate teams, as well as retain and engage diverse employees. She also facilitates transformative career workshops and experiences that have reached over 6,000 working and aspiring
professionals in person, through outlets like outlets including: TEDx, Brown University, West Point, Bank of America, the 2016 Democratic National Convention, WICT, Ebony Magazine’s WomenUp Series, and The NYC BAR Association. She has also appeared as a career expert on Univision and Fox 5.

A 1st prize winner of Uber’s NYC Pitch Competition, C-Suite Coach has a growing global client footprint with companies like BLKTechCLT, TIAA, and individual entrepreneurs and across the United States, Israel, Australia, Canada, and more. C-Suite Coach has been featured in
numerous media outlets, including Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Thrive Global, Essence, and career sites such as Levo.com, Recruiter.com and Monster.com. Angelina covered Google’s Thrive magazine, highlighting women business owners who
partner with Google, and services small businesses as a Google Digital Coach. She joins Google in bridging the digital divide, by offering free coaching and resources to over 2500 NY-based small businesses. She’s helped these businesses strategically revamp their digital
outreach strategies through over 70 in-person programs. C-Suite Coach now runs the program, nationally, supporting coaches for 8 major markets in this same work. She has also mentored entrepreneurs through General Assembly’s inaugural mentoring program and teaches related
content as an adjunct professor at New York University. These efforts helped her earn “Program of The Year” by Black Googlers and Walker’s Legacy Power25 award in 2017.

Prior to C-Suite Coach, Angelina was the Senior Manager of Digital Business Development at Viacom, developing strategic business partnerships with social media platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr and more. She did similar digital strategy work at ESPN. As a My Black is Beautiful and Pantene brand ambassador, Angelina was featured in national ads in Oprah, Ebony and Essence magazines and profiled in Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and on BET. She has also appeared in ad campaigns for 23andMe, Hairfinity and more.

Angelina holds an M.A. in Management from Wake Forest University, a Certificate of Coaching from New York University and a B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College. Angelina serves on the board of Youth Communication and the steering committee for the Alvin Ailey’s Young Patrons Circle and was a founding member of the Wake Forest School of Business’ Development Council. She is a two-time Top 20 finalist for Miss New York USA, a marathoner, and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.