Organization (Technical)

Katie Oertli Mooney, Managing Director at Seramount, is an accomplished DEI leader and thought partner with expertise in driving strategy, planning, and programs. Before joining Seramount, she served as Vice President of Jennifer Brown Consulting. There, Katie was responsible for the firm’s successful consulting project delivery to clients including the Fortune 1000, government agencies, startups, and nonprofits.Prior to that, she managed the DEI enterprise learning and development strategy at Capital One to support historically underrepresented talent and communities of color.Katie has a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management with a concentration on Diversity and Inclusion Management from Georgetown University. She is based in Seattle, WA.

Kathleen has over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing wellbeing, fitness, occupational health, EAP, benefits, work/life and organizational development initiatives.  Prior to Gallagher, Kathleen spent nineteen year’s leading award winning occupational health and wellness programs at Campbell Soup Company.  Her experience lies in designing integrated approaches to organizational wellbeing by connecting culture, employee behavior, risk, and outcomes.  Kathleen has an MS in Organizational Development from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a BS in Cardiovascular Health from Northeastern University in Boston.  In 2022 Kathleen was named a Luminary by BenefitsPRO Magazine for transforming and humanizing the benefits business.

Brian McComak is a consultant, speaker, author, and facilitator with over 25 years of experience in DEI, HR, culture, change management, internal communications, and employee experience. He is an openly gay man and a person with a disability who shares his lived experiences in service of fostering workplaces where humans thrive.

​Before starting Hummingbird Humanity, he was the Global Head of Inclusion for Tapestry – the home of Coach, Kate Spade & Stuart Weitzman – where he designed and launched the company’s DEI strategy. He put Tapestry ‘on the map’ as a great place for inclusion, earning recognition from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, Women in the Workplace and Forbes’ Best Places to Work for Diversity.

​​Brian has also worked in leadership roles at leading global companies including The Walt Disney Company, L’Oreal, and Christie’s Auction House. His experience spans a diverse variety of industries including fashion/retail, hospitality, auction, entertainment/media and he has consulted with organizations in technology, financial services, media and non-profit.​

Brian is a frequent guest on podcasts where he shares his passion for creating human-centered workplace cultures. Recent appearances include Jennifer Brown’s The Will to Change, Surabhi Lal’s SIPS & Leadership and Nikki Lewallen’s Gut+Science.

​Brian holds a master’s degree in Human Resources and Change Management from the University of Central Florida and a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in Management and Marketing. 

​Join Brian in working to create a world where we accept each other, celebrate our differences, and recognize that we truly are #bettertogether.

Kristen Howe is the Vice President Enterprise Products for SHRM Enterprise Solutions, where she oversees Product Management and Product Development. She has over 20 years of experience building and leading businesses in the leadership and development space, with a focus on leadership development, sales, coaching and facilitation.

Kristen is passionate about building products that foster inclusive behavior, positive corporate performance and business outcomes. She strives to create products that help global organizations develop key segments of their business, in both live settings and through digital platforms. She empowers teams by developing smart and efficient processes designed to utilize the individual skills of every team member, all while optimizing overall performance.

Kristen is a highly sought-after leadership consultant and speaker, with a deep expertise in Advancing Women Leaders and Inclusive Leadership. She has delivered programs and keynotes to thousands of leaders globally at organizations such as the Chief HR Officer Exchange, The Chief Learning Officer Exchange, Constellation Brands, The Tata Group, Western Union, and Texas Instruments, among others. She is also an emcee at Linkage’s Women in Leadership Institute™, an immersive experience which attracts more than 1,400 women leaders across the globe each year.

Background & Experience:

Prior to joining Linkage, Kristen spent the last decade growing businesses within Corporate Executive Board (CEB), now Gartner. During her time there, she led multiple teams across the Talent Solutions business, focusing on conceptualizing, building, selling and delivering talent solutions based on CEB data. She also ran CEB’s Leadership Academies business, which developed more than 30,000 professionals at 2,100 companies throughout 50 countries; Kristen was consistently recognized as one of the top managers and coaches across the entire firm.

Education & Training:

Kristen previously served in a variety of roles including global facilitator, consultant and engineer. She has a Master of Business Administration from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University.

Sara leads Cara Collective’s national expansion arm, Cara Plus, where she drives growth, strategic partnerships, and impact to help businesses and non-profits drive more inclusive employment pathways in Chicago and around the country. Prior to Cara Collective, Sara spent 12 years managing, measuring, and scaling programs across the social sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia, and as a social impact strategy and measurement consultant for organizations like the Canadian Federal Government, City of Chicago, Google.org, TD Bank, and YouTube. Sara serves on the Executive Board of Fast Company and as a graduate mentor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She holds a BA from Boston University and an MPP from the University of Chicago.

Exceptional at using story-telling to teach concepts and inspire, Candice Gottlieb-Clark is a sought-after speaker at leadership conferences world­wide. A renowned Business Advisor, Coach and Conflict Management Specialist, Candice distills her more than 20 years of expertise into actionable strategies, that attendees can apply to raise the functionality of their teams, leaders and organizations. 
Candice is the author of the best-selling book, FIND, FIX, FILL your LEADERSHIP GAP, and she has been published in numerous business and professional journals, including Business Insider and Forbes, where she serves as a contributing writer. Candice's passion and expertise for helping businesses raise the level of their functionality, teamwork, productivity, and performance are boundless. 

Gina and Margaret are the coauthors of the bestselling book, The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workshop and Why It’s Actually Good for Business (McGraw-Hill, 2021). You can download a free chapter on their website.

Gina and Margaret are OD (organizational development) consultants and coaches, not DEI experts, and that is precisely why their systems approach to workplace racial equity is fresh and actionable.

Chris leads the American Heart Association’ national portfolio of health and well-being programs and initiatives, which includes the Well-being Works Better workforce well-being platform and the Health Equity in the Workforce initiative, a collaboration with Deloitte Health Equity Institute and SHRM Foundation.  Before AHA, Chris was a health policy analyst for the Vitality Group, provider of the Vitality wellness program.  Chris has published articles in Health Affairs, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Circulation. Chris holds a Master of Public Policy (with honors) from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

Carol is a proven executive with extensive experience in building and leading sophisticated, high-performance teams across broad geographies and various industries.  She develops and executes Human Capital strategies that enable and extend corporate strategy - driving performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and profitability.  Carol’s career spans over 20 years as a transformative leader with tech-savvy and agility, 

Carol has been published in Manage HR Magazine, HR Tech Outlook, CMP’s “C-Suite on Talent” and Bruce Waller’s “Life in the Leadership Lane.”  She achieved her B.S. in Computer Science and her M.B.A.

She was most recently, until August 2023, VP of HR at Halff Associates, a full-service engineering/architecture firm operating in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.  

Lisa McConnell is a human resource professional with over 20 years of experience in HR management primarily focused on employee relations, legal compliance, training, and workplace investigations. She is a Senior Certified Professional with SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) and is also an MD-110 certified EEO investigator. Lisa has worked in roles ranging from an HR department of one to leading a team of over 30 HR professionals. Her HR experience spans industries from healthcare, call centers, construction, manufacturing, distribution and retail to the federal sector, and she has a passion for training!