Lisa M. Sanchez has been in HR management and leadership positions since 1995 in hotels, higher education, non-profit, public and private sectors and union and non-union environments. Since March 2015, she is the Vice President, Employee Experience and Engagement (HR), at ArtCenter College of Design. She leads a team dedicated to enriching the experiences and engagements for faculty and staff. Critical to this work is Sanchez's direct work in ABIDE: access, belonging, inclusion, diversity and equity. As a change agent, she leads organizational development and culture because they have a direct impact on how individuals perform, contribute and thrive personally and professionally.  She received her bachelor's degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Northridge and a master's degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She is SHRM and HRCI HR-certified as well as a certified professional life coach.

 

Lori Gentles is the chief people officer for the city of Santa Monica for the past three years. She is entrepreneurial and a transformative change-promoter. Lori has dedicated 20-plus years to inspiring and leading strategic organization-wide initiatives in various complex and diverse public sector agencies. Over the years, she has established a professional brand as a Cultural Architect specializing in designing, building and cultivating a culture that embraces employee empowerment and leverages individual and collective genius through creativity, diversity, equity and inclusion. She received a bachelor's degree in Interpersonal Communication from Arizona State University, and a MBA in International Business from Saint Mary's College of California.

Marco Rosa is a certified communication and leadership executive coach supporting C level and Director-level executives in human resources management. He is a former Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Services for several companies in reputable (pre/post public) life sciences and technology. A seasoned executive, he assists our clients in both coaching and consulting in human resources management, executive team leadership facilitation, performance management systems, and bonus plan/equity plan administration design. A seasoned human resources executive who has worked in three multinational public companies and key start-ups preparing for an IPO, Marco assists clients in both coaching and consulting for as little as an hour and as comprehensive as setting up entire HR departments. His search expertise and capabilities at the director & VP level are "spot on with timely results!" As an Adjunct Professor both at Hult International Business school and Palo Alto University, Marco is a certified instructor at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley teaching courses such as Best Practices in Performance Mgt, Comprehensive Employee Benefits Design, and Effective Employee Relations. He is past president and member of the Bay Area Human Resources Executive Council (BAHREC), and Financial Board Member at Bay Area Adoption Services (BAAS). He has held key positions at General Electric Company, Sony Electronics, ReplayTV, COR Therapeutics (acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals), Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, and MAP Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Allergan, Inc).

Sejal Thakkar is on a mission to educate and empower people to create a world where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Sejal is a former employment law attorney, a 2X TEDx speaker, and the Founder and Chief Civility Officer at TrainXtra, where she helps leaders create positive, safe, and respectful workplaces through customized training and coaching. She is responsible for cultivating a people-first culture at Nobody Studios.

Sam is the founder and owner of Beckworth Benefits, a health and benefits agency. After two years into the financial services industry beginning in 1995, Sam began to observe a pattern within group health insurance agencies at large. Brokers tended to be more reactive to their company-client needs rather than proactive. Annual renewal time seemed to be the only events that triggered activity from the broker of record. As he worked with both smaller independent agencies and large national organizations, agency engagement reflected a common thread: whether agency resources were vast or lean, agency success was directly related to the specific broker serving that company-client. Although training, resources and corporate backing is helpful, he found that individual broker engagement, or lack thereof, was the key determining factor for client satisfaction.

From this perspective came the driving force behind Beckworth Beneficial’s BEYOND Broker approach. The benefits business, with all of its needed online portals, required ERISA compliance and helpful benefits administration services, is first and foremost an authentic people business.  While offering a full spectrum of professional services, rich product offerings and strategic tools to help Human Resource professionals measure what they manage, Sam's consistent heartbeat is to put the human back into benefits.

 

 

Lily (she/her) Is the Head of People Science and Consulting at ReadySet, a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Solutions firm. Lily has over 10 years of expertise in organizational well-being and behavior change from her research at Ideas42 think tank, Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell, where she got her Ph.D in Social Psychology and at London Business School and the University of London, Queen Mary where she was a professor. Lily is still an active researcher and her internationally-recognized work on gender biases in feedback has been funded by the National Science Foundation & the UK Royal Society and covered by CNN, Forbes, Inc, Politico, the BBC and other media orgs. Lily grew up in a hotel in Costa Rica, which inspired her lifelong interest in human behavior and cultures. She is also a huge horror film fan.

Meghna (she/her) believes a world run by a "rainbow nation" of leaders is one in which most people would want to live. Her expertise is in helping leaders of all types, especially firsts and onlys - the first from their family or community of the only one like them in the room, to do the inner work to build an authentic sense of power, authority, and leadership and navigate the outer structures of their workplace. Meghna brings close to 20 years of experience as a strategy consultant and executive coach across diverse industries: healthcare, technology, financial services, consumer goods and automotive, as well as several non-profit organizations. Using her training as an anthropologist, strategist, and transformational Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner, she listens to what is being said between the lines and reframes complex challenges for quick action. Meghna has a BA magna cum laude from Harvard University, an MPH from the University of Cape Town, and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Outside of work, Meghna can be found plotting her next plant-based cooking endeavor, checking out different fitness apps and gyms, or looking for a great cup of coffee.

Stevon Cook (he/him) believes that when the values of inclusion are put into practice every aspect of an organization improves. As a Senior Consultant with ReadySet and a member of the Executive Services team, he works in partnership with business leaders to build their practice around inclusive leadership. Prior to joining ReadySet, Stevon was elected to the San Francisco Board of Education where he served as President. While serving, he passed K-12 Black Studies for all students, reformed the student assignment system and championed equity causes as it related to achievement, housing and transportation. He was also CEO of Mission Bit, an Edtech nonprofit that strives to end generational poverty through coding. He raised several million dollars in partnership with companies like Adobe, Salesforce, the City of San Francisco and The Golden State Warriors to expand access to this critical learning opportunity. In his spare time, Stevon enjoys traveling, writing, pretending to learn Spanish and training for his first amateur boxing match. Please excuse him in advance if you hear his dog Willow in the background during a remote meeting. She's always trying to distract him because she wants to play.

Hana is the founder of Gen Z Planet ─ a research and advisory firm. She helps business leaders to prepare for the next generation of employees and consumers. In this role, Hana combines her passion for insights with her commitment to support the integration of the next generation into society. As an award-winning management consultant who was named as one of the “Top 25 Consultants” by Consulting Magazine, Hana is a sought-after speaker and business commentator and is the author of the book Gen Z 360: Preparing for the Inevitable Change in Culture, Work, and Commerce.