JoDee is the Founder of Purple Ink, a human resources consulting firm in Indianapolis, IN. They serve a wide array of organizations with recruiting, HR consulting, leadership training, and HR outsourcing services.

JoDee serves on the Indiana SHRM State Council and is the chair of the Indiana SHRM conference.

Alex Murzaku leads the Genius Institute’s Research and Development team at Gap International. His ideas have been implemented in various consulting practices and digital products as well as data analysis and the adaptation towards a world expanded by artificial intelligence. 

After his doctorate at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy, Alex worked in leadership positions at several startups—in the areas of information retrieval, machine translation, and knowledge discovery. Following a decade in industry, he returned to academia as a university professor of both Linguistics and Data Science.

Since joining Gap International in 2014, Alex’s research has focused on the role of language in mindset transformation and in the creation of mental tools that allow performance to reach breakthrough, genius levels.

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.

Shannon Bayer, JD, is a Principal Consultant with over a decade of consulting and facilitation experience. Shannon brings in-depth expertise and a passion for designing and implementing programs focused on advancing women in leadership—and empowering each leader with the knowledge they need to transform how they show up in their role and drive change in their organization. Shannon has led strategic engagements across a variety of industries, ranging from government to financial services, healthcare, insurance, and consumer products and goods. 

As a keynote speaker, Shannon brings stories from her personal leadership journey to the forefront, connecting her real-life experiences and work with leaders globally to key leadership concepts designed to help participants reflect on their own journey and take control of their path forward. 

Shannon holds a BS in animal science from the University of Vermont and a JD in international law from Suffolk University. 

Shannon was a rower in college and still loves to get on the water when she can. She enjoys spending time outdoors and will travel for a good hike or beach day with her dog and son, Max. Currently, Shannon resides in the greater Indianapolis, IN, area of the US after living in New England for over 25 years. 

Amber Clayton is the Senior Director of Knowledge Center Operations at SHRM.  Amber leads a team of HR experts who field an average of 60,000 HR-related inquiries from members a year.  She is frequently sought after as a speaker and expert for webinars, conferences, and media interviews.  Amber co-hosts a podcast called Honest HR.  She is SHRM-certified with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore.  She also holds specialty credentials in California law, inclusive workplace culture, and workplace investigations.  Prior to joining SHRM in 2011, she had years of HR experience in healthcare and retail.