Melinda (Mel) leads the multicultural segment in the Client Strategy Office (CSO). In this new role for Wealth Management USA, Mel is responsible for the firm’s forward-looking strategy to cultivate an inclusive investor experience and support the growth of multicultural financial advisors. Working closely with other senior leaders across the firm, she works to expand thought leadership, champion product and solutions innovation, and identify business opportunities.
Mel joined UBS from J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she managed large client relationships and served as a trusted wealth management advisor to technology and health care entrepreneurs, executives, and investors. In addition, she drove engagement strategies for diverse prospects and clients as well as select firm diversity partnerships. Previously, Mel was a Vice President with ICONIQ Capital, a privately-held investment firm and family office. Prior to her work at ICONIQ, she was a member of the Tax Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where her practice included counseling family offices and private foundations. She began her career in 2000 as a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Mel has a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. A Detroit native, she currently lives in San Francisco.

Nationally-recognized as a beacon of light for social sector people management, and since 2001, Patty Hampton has serves in several leadership capacities as Managing Partner, Vice President and Chief Social Impact Officer. Among her many accomplishments with the firm, Patty helped build its infrastructure, culture and workforce. Patty currently serves as Interim Managing Director for Impact Search Advisors by Nonprofit HR. She is also creator of the firm’s social enterprise collaborative, and spearheads multiple strategies and business initiatives. In her role as Managing Partner, she co-leads the firm’s business and financial strategies and is a member of the senior management team. Innovation is a personal core value of Patty’s which has helped her shape the firm’s executive recruitment and consultation services. Her expertise includes developing and delivering training programs and facilitating focus groups that result in an enriched employee/supervisor relationship and engaged workforce culture.

The Honorable Troy A. Carter, Sr. is serving in his first term as the Congressman from Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, encompassing most of New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, and River Parishes including St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, as well as portions of East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge Parish.

Congressman Carter currently serves on two House Committees, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, one of the largest committees in Congress that has jurisdiction over all modes of transportation, and the Small Business Committee, which has direct oversight and consideration over all matters affecting America’s backbone, small businesses.

The youngest of six children, Congressman Carter was raised in Algiers. He is a product of Orleans Parish Public Schools and went on to graduate from Xavier University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Administration. Additionally, Congressman Carter earned his MBA graduating Summa Cum Laude from Holy Cross University.

Soon after graduating from Xavier University, Congressman Carter served for six years as the Executive Assistant to Mayor Sidney Barthelemy. In 1991, Congressman Carter became the first African American to be elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 102nd District in Algiers, where he served as the youngest ever floor leader representing the City of New Orleans.

In 1994, Congressman Carter was elected to the New Orleans City Council, representing District ‘C’, which includes Algiers, and the historic French Quarter, again becoming the first African American elected to the position. After a hiatus from public office, Congressman Carter was elected to the State Senate for Louisiana’s 7th District, where he served as the Senate Minority Leader for the Democratic Caucus. During his time as a Legislator, Congressman Carter authored and co-sponsored hundreds of bills.

As a Louisiana state legislator, Congressman Carter championed large-scale infrastructure projects, economic development, and efforts to decrease homelessness drastically. He has also worked as a staunch advocate for criminal justice reform, women’s health care, and civil rights and equality on behalf of the LGBTQI+ community. As a Congressman, he actively continues his work to address the issues above and several others, including COVID-19 relief for individuals and small businesses, environmental justice reform, and reducing student debt.

Congressman Carter is a proud husband to wife, Brigadier General Andreé Navarro-Carter of the United States Army, and father to sons Troy Jr. and Joshua. They live in Algiers, New Orleans, where Congressman Carter was born and raised.

The Honorable Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr.  has enjoyed a series of historic firsts including:

• 1st African American elected to the Louisiana State House from District 102

• 1st African American elected to the New Orleans City Council representing District C

• 1st African American elected to the Louisiana State Senate from District 7

• 1st Congressman elected to Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District from the Westbank

• 1st Congressman whose spouse is a General Officer in the United States Army

Chris Brunson is the Vice President of Total Reward, which includes executive compensation, compensation, benefits and wellbeing.

Prior to joining General Mills, Chris was the Vice President of Total Rewards & HR Shared Services at Celanese Corporation, a global technology and materials company which manufactures and sells specialty chemicals and high performance engineered polymers. Before Celanese, he spent four years in a variety of HR leadership roles at The Hershey Company, including roles as the Sr. Director, Total Rewards, Global Benefits and Wellbeing and as the Sr. Director, Talent Management and Organization Design. Chris has also worked for Kohl’s Department Stores in a variety of leadership roles and Hewitt Associates.

Chris holds an Accounting degree from the University of Iowa and a JD from Marquette University Law School. He and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their son and many pets.

Ume Farwa is the Specialist, Brand Communications, at SHRM.

A passionate and multi-tasking business professional with over 13 years of experience, Dedeepya handles the portfolios including Advisory, Research and Academic Partnerships catering to the regions of India, as well as APAC, MENA regions. She further also heads the South Region for SHRM India and is responsible for business development & consulting in the area of Human Capital Management. Prior to this, she has worked with Oracle India as HR Consultant.

Her areas of interest include Knowledge Management, Diversity and Inclusion, Competency Assessment & Development, Organization Development, Research and HR Analytics. She has been involved in the project design, content generation and implementation of consultancy projects in the above areas. She is experienced in using Quantitative and Qualitative research methods for diagnostic purposes including identifying relevant variables, designing questionnaires and using various statistical methods for analysis. She co-authored papers/ book chapters in the areas of Diversity and Inclusion and further has contributed extensively to various articles/interviews in leading newspapers. Dedeepya is a Mechanical Engineer from Jawaharlal Technological University (Kakinada, A.P) followed by an MBA from Indian Institute of Science (IISc, Bangalore, India). She is a certified SHRM Senior Certified Professional ( SHRM SCP), Level -1 Hogan Assessor, SHRM PMQ and is certified in Job Evaluation by KornFerry – Hay. Along with her work, Dedeepya is passionate about painting, dancing and sports.  

Kevin Harrington, chairman and founder of As Seen On TV, Inc., is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and principal architect of the infomercial industry.

In 1984, Kevin produced one of the industry's first 30-minute infomercials. Since then, he has been involved with over 500 product launches that resulted in sales of over $4 billion worldwide with 20 products that reached individual sales of over $100 million.

Kevin founded Quantum International, Ltd. in the mid 1980s, which merged into National Media Corporation in 1991. Under his leadership as President, National Media reached $500 million in annual sales, distributing in over 100 countries and 20 languages. This company's success has been chronicled in a case study at Harvard/MIT for over a decade.

Kevin was also CEO of several other entrepreneurial companies including HSN Direct, a joint venture with Home Shopping Network, in 1994 and Reliant International Media in 1997. Reliant International Media was sold in 2007.

In 2011, Kevin's company As Seen On TV, Inc. acquired the web property AsSeenonTV.com. AsSeenOnTV.com represents a highly trafficked catalog of direct response products with over two million customers, 700,000 email registrants and hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each month.

Throughout his career, Kevin helped to establish two of the most important and recognized global networking associations: the Entrepreneur's Organization, or EO (formally known as the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization) and the Electronic Retailing Association, or ERA. Today, the EO has 113 chapters in 38 countries. The ERA represents the $125 billion electronic retailing industry and is comprised of over 450 member companies and subsidiaries that use the power of electronic retailing to sell directly to consumers via television, radio, Internet and wireless media in over 100 countries worldwide.

Due to his extensive resume, Kevin was selected as an investor "Shark" on the ABC television series Shark Tank produced by Mark Burnett. The show gives budding entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their products to a panel of acclaimed judges in hopes of turning their ideas into a successful business reality. He has a book entitled "Act Now: How I Turn Ideas into Million-Dollar Products" that chronicles his life and experiences in the DRTV industry.