Sue Pelbath was appointed Deputy Director of the Specialized Services Division at the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) by Governor Gavin Newsom in June 2022. In this role, Pelbath oversees all of DOR’s employment and independent living services for blind and deaf Californians. Prior to her current appointment, Pelbath held multiple other positions at DOR, including Administrator of DOR’s Orientation Center for the Blind, Manager of the Programs and Services Division, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Qualified Rehabilitation Professional and Service Coordinator. She was a Paraprofessional in Special Education at the Oceanside Unified School District from 1990 to 2004. Pelbath earned a Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from San Diego State University. She acquired blindness as an adult and brings valuable lived experience to the work she does.

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.

Charmaine Davis is an experienced policy strategist, facilitator and organizer that has built diverse coalitions of labor, community and government organizations, trained grassroots leaders, and directed legislative campaigns using a racial and gender lens to end employment discrimination against justice impacted people, expand access to job protected leave and advance pay equity.

Charmaine began her career as a community organizer for the national organization Project Vote. After moving to Atlanta, GA Charmaine became the State Director for the Georgia chapter of 9to5, The National Association of Working Women. As State Director, she led all chapter organizing, legislative work and membership-building activities. In her role with 9to5 she worked with Georgia state legislators to draft the Family Care Act, a bill to expand job protected leave to Georgia workers. She successfully led lobbying efforts that resulted in the Family Care Act being signed into law by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal in May of 2017. 

While serving as the State Director for 9to5 Charmaine launched Atlanta’s “Ban the Box” campaign. Ban the Box is a campaign to reduce employment discrimination against the formerly incarcerated by removing questions from employment applications inquiring about an individual’s criminal record. In January of 2013, in response to Charmaine’s organizing efforts, the city of Atlanta made history by becoming the first city in Georgia to remove all questions regarding an applicant’s criminal background from city employment applications. This policy change has expanded employment opportunities to thousands of people across the state of Georgia.

Charmaine has received various forms of recognition and awards for her work including being inducted into the YWCA’s Women of Achievement Academy, being named one of Georgia’s 40 under 40 Rising Stars by Georgia Trend Magazine, being awarded Political Organizer of the Year by Project Vote and being named one of Marquis Who's Who in America in 2019.

Charmaine continues to promote the welfare of wage earning women by serving as the Director of Regional Programs and Operations for the US Department of Labor’s Women's Bureau.

Amber Barth is the Director and Representative to the Bretton Woods and Multilateral Organizations at the International Labour Organization (ILO) office for United States and Canada. Since joining the organization in 2005, she has been responsible for providing economic and social policy guidance to strengthen decent work outcomes in the United Nations’ and other global development processes, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In her previous roles, Amber served as a Decent Work Specialist with the Multilateral Cooperation Department at ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland where she coordinated multi-stakeholder partnerships in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. She also worked to stimulate the creation of health and social sector jobs in low and lower middle-income countries through her role as the ILO executive coordinator of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth. At her current position, she leads the ILO in the United States and Canada, advocating for its core values including decent work and social justice for all.