Ben Nemtin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?” and a star of MTV’s highest rated show on iTunes and Amazon called “The Buried Life.” As the co-founder of The Buried Life movement, Ben’s message of radical possibility has been featured on The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, FOX, and NBC News. President Obama called Ben and The Buried Life “inspiration for a new generation” and Oprah declared their mission “truly inspiring.” An acclaimed keynote speaker, Ben has headlined business conferences and Fortune 100 leadership teams around the world, garnering standing ovations from AIG, Anthem, Amazon, FedEx, Harvard, Microsoft, Verizon, and more. Ben is recognized as one of the World’s Top Organizational Culture Thought Leaders and was ranked 3rd Best Motivational Speaker in the world by Global Gurus in 2022.

In his first year of university, Ben was unexpectedly hit with a depression that forced him to drop out. In an attempt to feel more alive, he created the world’s greatest bucket list with his three best friends. They borrowed a rickety old RV and crisscrossed North America, achieving the unthinkable. And most importantly, every time they accomplished a dream, they helped a complete stranger cross something off their bucket list. From playing basketball with President Obama to having a beer with Prince Harry, from reuniting a father and son after seventeen years to surprising a young girl with a much-needed bionic arm—Ben’s bucket list quest has inspired millions to thrive personally and professionally.  

Wendi Safstrom is a senior non-profit leader committed to serving the public through philanthropic program management, cultivating strategic partnerships and managing and developing high performing teams. She has both association and nonprofit management experience including; national program development and administration, membership strategy, marketing and product development, grant management, development and donor stewardship, and leading cross functional teams. Safstrom currently serves as President for the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation (SHRM Foundation), where she leads the development and implementation of SHRM Foundation's programmatic, development, and marketing and communication strategies in support of SHRM Foundation's new mission and vision, creating growth plans and ensuring alignment with SHRM goals.  

Prior to assuming the role at SHRM Foundation, Safstrom served as Vice President at the National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, where she led the development and implementation of their Foundation's most recent five-year strategic plan, and was responsible for all Foundation programming, including workforce development initiatives, scholarship and event management, community relations and engagement initiatives. The NRAEF's philanthropic programming supported a number of audiences including high school youth, veterans transitioning from service to civilian work and life, opportunity youth and incumbent workers. Of particular note, she led the implementation of the restaurant industry's premier high school career and technical education program, growing the program to over 2,000 public high schools, engaging over 150,000 students annually, nationwide. In 2016, she served as lead project director for the development of a $10 million contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to develop the hospitality industry's first apprenticeship program, and was instrumental in the Foundation's reorganization and relocation of operations from Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C., transforming the staff and culture.  

Safstrom has also held human resource management roles with the Leo Burnett Company and Hyatt Hotels Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. She has a BS in Business Administration from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University and was recognized as a member of the 2014 "Power 20" by Restaurant Business Magazine as a leader in philanthropy within the restaurant industry.  

Mark has over 20 years experience in partnership marketing from AARP and MCI WorldCom.

Mike Aitken is Executive Vice President, HR Professional Solutions at SHRM, following 15 years of leading SHRM’s successful advocacy programs as Vice President of Government Affairs.  

Mike is a leading authority on the issues important to the human resource profession and drives SHRM’s membership vision, ensuring excellent member experiences, and implementing the organization’s newly developed business strategy.

He applies his proven model of engagement to shape the future of work, workers, and workplaces. He is an expert relationship-builder across diverse constituencies and stakeholders, always seeking out the “win-win” in every situation.

As a member of SHRM’s executive team, Mike also plays a key role in setting the strategic direction of the organization, offering important counsel on SHRM’s educational programs and professional development opportunities.

Before joining SHRM in 2003, he spent 14 years with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), which represents more than 23,000 HR professionals at over 1,900 higher education institutions. 

In 2015 and 2016, Mike served as an employer representative on the U.S. delegation to the International Labour Conference.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of San Diego.

Nate Mahanes,SHRM-CP, is the Affiliate Operations Director for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).  Prior to this, he was Director of Dual Membership Operations & Services for SHRM where he led operational and relationship management for the SHRM Dual Membership Release (DRM) program. Nate also serves as the senior account and relationship manager for the SHRM Chapter and State Council Dual Membership Release distribution channel, providing a single point of contact for issue resolution, process optimization and program improvement and strategy.

Tiffany Meehan (She/Her/Disabled) is the Vice President of Marketing at Inclusively, an innovative employment platform connecting disabled job seekers to inclusive employers. Tiffany was born with Spina bifida and is a wheelchair user, making Inclusively’s mission to create opportunities for disabled professionals in the corporate world incredibly personal and important. As a first-generation Latina and disabled marketing professional, she is proud to create inclusive branding, accessible content, and to collaborate with leaders within the disability community. 

Based in Northern Virginia, Tiffany graduated from The George Washington University and received a BA in English and Religion. She has previously worked on successful marketing campaigns with the Office of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, SiriusXM, Lisner Auditorium and is on the board of directors for non-profits Loudoun Cares and The Arc of Loudoun. In her spare time, she enjoys taking photos, going to concerts, traveling, and making home-cooked meals for family and friends.

Dr. Elizabeth Baca is a clinician strategist at Deloitte providing systems thinking and insights to health care and life science clients to support care delivery innovation to foster total health and well-being recognizing health equity and sustainability are central to this work. She helps strategically address ESG issues in a comprehensive way.

She served in both administrations of Governor Brown and Governor Newsom, first as Senior Health Advisor and then Deputy Director in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research for California. She has worked on a variety of projects to foster health through land use planning, systems change, food systems, precision health, precision medicine and big data.  Much of her work is about connecting the dots; she loves working across sectors to foster participant-centered design and collaboration.  A significant part of her work is aligning win-wins for projects that offer co-benefits particularly in addressing the social, economic, and environmental factors that impact health. As an example, she has done work to improve health through climate mitigation and adaptation projects. In her role with California, she has provided leadership and guidance to several initiatives including The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, the Global Climate Action Summit, and the California Health Care Climate Alliance.

Dr. Baca has served in several national and global advisory roles including with the Urban Land Institutes Health Leaders Program, an advisor to FoodSystem6, a food system accelerator, and as a contributor and member of the Biotech Futures Council for the World Economic Forum. She has been a contributing author on several publications including the National Academy of Sciences (formally Institute of Medicine) Consensus Committee for Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity, Demystifying Big Data and Machine Learning for Health Care, and Precision Medicine: An Action Plan for California.

Previously, she served on the General Pediatric Faculty at Stanford Medical School and directed the Community Pediatric and Child Advocacy Rotation.

Dr. Baca studied health policy at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. She completed her Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and her Doctorate of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baca completed her residency in the Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program at University of California, San Francisco.