The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is an award-winning advocate, author, and keynote speaker. She earned the Helen Keller Achievement Award, reached Forbes 30 under 30, and President Barack Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She believes disability challenges are opportunities for innovation, sparking new technologies that move society forward. Haben travels the globe teaching organizations how to build stronger, resilient, and more connected communities.

Her bestselling book Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law takes readers on adventures around the world, including training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and talking with former presidents Biden and Obama at the White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating book shows how we can resist isolation and find the keys to connection. The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, the TODAY Show, and Stephen Curry have all praised the book.

A spellbinding speaker, Haben’s keynotes have touched the stages of Apple, Bottega Veneta, Disney, Gartner, Google, Microsoft, Oxford University, and many more. Her engaging presentations ignite audiences to make positive changes in their communities. TIME included her as a speaker in TIME100 Talks.

In 2023, Haben became one of the first leaders appointed to serve as a Commissioner for the World Health Organization’s new Commission on Social Connection.

Haben was born and raised in California, where she currently lives. She travels with her Seeing Eye® dog Mylo. He often falls asleep during her keynotes.

Kathy Mazzarella is chairman, president and CEO of Graybar, an employee-owned, Fortune 500 distributor of electrical, communications, and data networking products. Graybar has approximately 10,000 employees, 350 locations across North America, and $11.6 billion in annual revenue (2024). 

Kathy joined Graybar in 1980 in customer service and soon became one of Graybar’s top salespeople. She advanced into field sales management and later was promoted into corporate product management. At Graybar’s corporate headquarters, she held executive-level positions in strategic accounts, human resources, strategic planning, sales, and marketing. She was named executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2010. Kathy was appointed Graybar’s 11th president and CEO in 2012, and she became chairman of Graybar’s board of directors the following year. 

Kathy holds an associate degree in telecommunications engineering, a bachelor’s degree in applied behavioral sciences, and a master’s degree in business administration. 

She serves on the boards of Waste Management, Inc., Cigna Corporation, Core & Main LP, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), and Greater St. Louis, Inc. In addition, she is a member of The Business Council, The ONYX Group, the International Women’s Forum, and The American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer of Missouri – St. Louis Chapter. She is also a Committee for Economic Development Trustee.  

Tamla Oates-Forney is an innovative thought leader and speaker, women’s advocate, wellness champion, philanthropist, and investor. Tamla serves as Chief Executive Officer of SHRM Linkage, a leadership development firm empowering organizations to achieve business success by unlocking the full potential of their talent from the backpack to the boardroom.

Tamla previously served as EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for USAA, where as a member of the Executive Council she led USAA’s team of more than 500 HR professionals spanning talent development, talent acquisition, pay and benefits, culture, and employee services for 37,000 teammates. Prior to joining USAA, Tamla served as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at WM (previously Waste Management). She spent the majority of her career (20 years) at General Electric, where she held multiple leadership roles, including HR Leader for GE Africa, Chief Diversity Officer for GE Appliances and Lighting, and Vice President of HR for GE Energy Connections.

Tamla is also a member of the Board of Advisors for her alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and is a sought-after speaker, advisor, and thought leader for several HR-related technology startups.

Tamla is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration. A renowned expert in her field, she has received multiple honors, including being featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, The Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business, and Savoy’s 2020 Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America. She is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), a network of Black CEOs and business leaders who support the development of diverse talent and the promotion of social justice.

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture, and leadership, Johnny is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers, and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy magazine and one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian magazine, Johnny is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues, and he authors the weekly USA Today column, “Ask HR.”

Johnny’s career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive, and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Johnny was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of bestselling hardcover business books.

Johnny is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics, Flores & Associates, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump administration.

The Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Johnny as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay, and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.

Susan MacKenty Brady is a global leader committed to fostering a future of respect and human connection through genuine, human-centered leadership. As the founding CEO of the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership and the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership, she aids organizations in developing high-performing cultures driven by respect. An acclaimed speaker with over 25 years of experience, Susan has consulted for more than 500 organizations worldwide, instructing leaders on cultivating environments where individuals thrive and businesses succeed. She is the lead co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership, along with three other books, and her insights have appeared in ABC’s Good Morning America, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes magazine, and others.

Her next book, All the Difference: Six Leadership Actions to Bridge Perspectives, Strengthen Teams, and Create Value, co-authored by Stuart Kliman and Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith, U.S. Army (Ret.), is set to be published by Harvard Business Review Press in early 2026.

Prior to joining Simmons, Susan was Executive Vice President at Linkage, Inc., a global leadership development consulting and training firm. She was part of founding Linkage’s Women in Leadership Institute™ and launching Linkage’s global practice on Advancing Women Leaders and Inclusive Leadership.