Kristen Dodge is a Learning Director at the Hartford, focusing on leadership and early career development. Leveraging needs analysis, assessment and focusing on behavioral change, she collaborates with leaders to provide content and performance support that accelerates development and ensures a talent pipeline.

Kristen has Leadership Learning and Development experience within the Fortune 500 financial services industry. She is a member of the Masie Learning Consortium and throughout her career has engaged with the Association for Talent Development and other industry groups.

Kristen is an active volunteer for the Pan Massachusetts Challenge and is a member of the Volunteer Engagement Committee at her alma mater.

Kristen received her BA degree from Mount Holyoke College.

Hiba M. Anver is a Managing Director/Attorney for Erickson Immigration Group. Her practice focus is primarily on the employment-based green card process. Hiba has extensive experience in all aspects of PERM, I-140s, and I-485s. Whether a Fortune 500 company or a start-up, Hiba works with clients in various industries, including tech, fintech, e-commerce, retail, medicine/oncology, investment, and education. She also advises corporate clients on complex immigration matters that result from corporate restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, and reductions-in-force. She has briefed congressional staffers on Capitol Hill and has provided commentary to television/publication media outlets such as PBS’ Nightly Business Report, CNBC, The SF Chronicle, Bloomberg Law, and Politico Pro.  Hiba has also lectured at the George Washington University School of Law, American University Washington College of Law and the University of Texas at Arlington. Her past experience includes Appeals/Oral Argument before the Fifth Court of Appeals.

EBONY BLAKE is a native of Dayton, OH and a graduate of Wright State University.  Most recently, she opened the San Francisco production of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child at the Curran Theatre.  Her regional theatre appearances include Little Shop of Horrors (Portland Center Stage), Black Nativity (Classical Theatre of Harlem), and Nefertiti: A Concert of Music and Dance (alongside the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater).  Ebony’s favorite job was traveling across the U.S. in the first national tour of the musical, The Book of Mormon, written by the creators of South Park. She’s an avid reader, loves to make her husband snort-laugh, and she thinks she could be on Jeopardy, but is probably more suited for Family Feud. 

Ms. O’Connell is the Founder & CEO of Global Disability Inclusion. She is an internationally recognized disability employment and inclusion expert with over 20 years of experience in human capital management, talent acquisition, performance management, disability inclusion, employee engagement, marketing and customer service programs. 

Ms. O’Connell provides strategic program design and implementation of disability employment and inclusion programs for Global 500 companies, US Federal Contractors, colleges and universities, non-profits, and foundations.

Prior to founding Global Disability Inclusion, Ms. O’Connell was Vice President at The National Organization on Disability where she designed and led their national consulting practice, Bridges to Business, providing disability inclusion expertise to Fortune 500 companies.  She was the lead architect of the first ever disability assessment tool, The Disability Employment Tracker, and led the analysis of the first data captured on employee engagement of people with disabilities.

Ms. O’Connell also spent ten years at the premier consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.  She was a member of the firm’s People Strategy team and led several large-scale talent management projects and diversity & inclusion efforts that transformed business operations for her clients. 

While at Booz Allen, Ms. O’Connell developed and led their employee resource group for employees with disabilities, and won Booz Allen’s Global Diversity Award for Individual Contributor. Booz Allen was also one of the first recipients of the New Freedom Initiative Award for their disability employment programs.

Her work has received numerous accolades including the Society of Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) Innovative Practice Award.  She has been quoted in Diversity Executive magazine, The Huffington Post, DiverseAbility and numerous trade magazines for her insights on employment of people with disabilities.  She keynotes and presents at national conferences regularly.  Ms. O’Connell holds a certificate in ADA Mediation and she is also conversationally proficient in American Sign Language.

A few of O’Connell’s notable clients have included Aetna, Arrow Electronics, Cummins, HBO, JLL, Lowe’s, NCR, P&G, The Poses Family Foundation, Starbucks, Toys R Us, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Understood 4 All, IRS and the Department of Homeland Security.

Ms. O’Connell is a board member of the United States International Council on Disabilities, which serves to promote global equality for persons with disabilities and is working to promote and ratify the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.   She is also an expert resource to The Valuable 500, a global organization working with CEOs to include disability on their board agendas.

Zoe Lofgren has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1995. She represents the 19th District of California, based in the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” San Jose, and the Santa Clara Valley. A lifelong Bay Area resident and the daughter of a truck driver and a cafeteria cook, Zoe attended public schools and attended Stanford University on a California State Scholarship, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1970. Prior to attending Stanford, Lofgren worked the night shift at the Eastman Kodak plant in Palo Alto to save money for non-tuition college expenses not covered by her scholarship. After graduating from Stanford, she attended, with the help of a scholarship, Santa Clara University School of Law, graduating cum laude in 1975. She served as a member of Congressman Don Edwards’ staff for eight years in both his San Jose and Washington DC offices. While practicing and teaching immigration law, she was first elected to the San Jose Evergreen Community College Board in 1979.  In 1980, she was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors where she served for 14 years. Following Congressman Don Edwards’ retirement in 1994 after 32 years in Congress, Zoe was elected to the House of Representatives. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and the Committee on House Administration.

As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, and a former immigration attorney and immigration law professor, Zoe is recognized as an established champion of top-to-bottom immigration reform and a national leader in immigration policy. During the 113th Congress she played a key role in negotiating a comprehensive reform bill in the House Representatives as part of an eight-person bipartisan working group.

In 2010, in part due to her work on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented Zoe with the gavel used to preside over the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives. Zoe is known for her work on patent reform, copyright issues, digital rights, and net neutrality.  She successfully fought to initiate the “e-rate” that provides affordable internet access for schools, libraries, and rural health centers, and she is the author of legislation that would allow the unlocking of cellular phones and other digital devices to give owners more control over their devices. She led a bipartisan effort in the House to decontrol encryption technology.

A staunch advocate for digital rights, Zoe was the lead early opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and led a successful fight to stop bill in the House Judiciary Committee. Her Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before retrieving communications and documents stored remotely or geolocation information about an individual.

In 2014, Zoe led a bipartisan effort to close backdoor loopholes on unwarranted government surveillance. The Massie-Lofgren amendment to the 2015 Department of Defense Appropriations Act to stop the NSA from searching Americans’ private communications collected without a warrant, and to prohibit the NSA from weakening security protections in devices and software for unwarranted surveillance purposes, passed the House by a resoundingly bipartisan vote of 293 to 123.In 2019, Zoe was appointed Chairperson of the Committee on House Administration by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and confirmed unanimously by the House Democratic Caucus. The Committee on House Administration (CHA) was established in 1947 as part of a larger effort to streamline the U.S. House of Representatives' committee system and to modernize its internal management and operations. After more than 70 years since the committee was established, CHA’s two principal functions include oversight of federal elections and day-to-day operations in the House. Historically, the committee has had a hand in shaping legislation that touches on any and all aspects of federal elections. Issues concerning corrupt practices, contested congressional elections, campaign finance disclosures, and credentials and qualifications of House Members also fall under its purview. Additionally, she is a member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, formed to make Congress more transparent, unifying and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the American people.

Zoe is also the Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation. It is the most diverse delegation in the House and outnumbers all other state House delegations.

Zoe is married to John Marshall Collins and is the mother of two.

An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Daymond John has come a long way from taking out a $100,000 mortgage on his mother’s house and moving his operation into the basement. John is CEO and Founder of FUBU, a much-celebrated global lifestyle brand, and a pioneer in the fashion industry with over $6 billion in product sales. He is an award-winning entrepreneur, and he has received over 35 awards including the Brandweek Marketer of the Year, Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award and, most recently, was named #4 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Voices, a list of the top influencers in the U.S. worth following to get inspired and stay informed!

His marketing strategies and ability to build successful brands has made him a highly influential consultant and motivational speaker today. His marketing firm The Shark Group offers advice on how to effectively communicate to consumers through innovative means and connects brands with the world’s top celebrities for everything from endorsements to product extensions. John is also an author of four best-selling books including his New York Times best-selling books, The Power of Broke (2016) and Rise and Grind (2018). In March 2020, John will release his sixth book, Powershift, that walks through his tried and true process of how to transform any situation, close any deal and achieve any outcome through his own experience and vast network of industry leaders.

Finally, he’s celebrating his 11th season on ABC’s hit business show Shark Tank by acclaimed producer Mark Burnett. It has now gone on to win four Emmys and millions of weekly viewers tune into the show as John demonstrates his marketing prowess and entrepreneurial insights.