Vineet Nayar is Founder Chairman of Sampark Foundation and former CEO of HCL Technologies (for wiki profile) and author of the highly acclaimed management bestseller “Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down” (Harvard Business Press, June 2010).

A management visionary and radical thinker, Vineet led the transformation of HCL Technologies into one of India’s fastest-growing global information technology services company, growing from $0.7 billion in 2005 to a $4.7 billion Global Technology Services Company with over 85,000 employees across 32 countries in 2013. This radical transformation led Fortune to recognize HCLT as “the world’s most modern management” while BusinessWeek named HCLT as “one of the world’s most influential companies”; which led its innovative management practices to be taught as a case study at both the Harvard Business School and London Business School.

Vineet, in turn, was chosen by Fortune Magazine for its first-ever global Executive Dream Team and also found a place on the elite Thinkers 50 List. His ideas of organization transformation have received rich praise from influencers like the late C.K. Prahalad, Tom Peters, Gary Hamel, and Ram Charan.

Vineet stepped down from the company in 2013 to focus on Sampark Foundation, co-founded with his wife Anupama Nayar, to catalyse ‘large-scale transformation in primary education through frugal innovation’. Today, Sampark Foundation is transforming learning outcomes of 7 million children studying in 76,000 rural schools across 6 states in India: Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Utter Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand at less than $1 per child per pa. This large-scale transformation is now a ‘case study’ at Harvard Business School.

Vineet has been cited by Forbes in its ‘Heroes of Philanthropy List 2016’ and also as a ‘Global Thinker 2016’ by Foreign Policy magazine for ‘unplugging technology so kids can learn’ along with his wife.

Vineet joined HCL in 1985 after earning his MBA from XLRI. In 1993, he founded the start-up Comnet, where he developed and put into practice many of the ideas described in this book, transforming it into a multi-billion-dollar business. In 2005, he became president and in 2007, the CEO of HCL Technologies, where over the next five years, he led a remarkable turnaround.

Vineet currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Fortune 1000 companies. He is on the Advisory Board of the Millions Learning Project led by the ex-Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard and has served as Governor of ICT, member of the Global Advisory Board of Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program at the World Economic Forum. And, as a mentor to multiple technology led start-ups, he continues to follow his passion of turning conventional management wisdom, upside down.
 

Hollie Delaney currently serves as Head of People Operations for Zappos.com. She joined the Zappos Human Resources team in 2006; prior to Zappos, she served in different HR leadership capacities at Wet ‘n’ Wild, Marshall Retail Group and Vegas.com. Ms. Delaney began her time at Zappos by creating and managing the employee relations and benefits roadmap. Later, she began shepherding programs that some consider synonymous with the Zappos brand, such as its new hire training program and focus on employee culture. Her distinctive approach to her work has grown the Zappos HR department far beyond what is typically considered a part of the job and now includes the corporate social responsibility/charity program (Zappos For Good), the employee store, employee engagement, and her most recent project called ‘Heart & Brain’. In this latest endeavor, she’s broken down a preexisting barrier to the business side of operations and is working one on one with C-level leadership and beyond to help infuse culture and mindfulness into the business world. Ms. Delaney is passionate about working to deliver happiness and provide the best place for employees to work. Ms. Delaney’s career in Human Resources includes multiple industries, more than 20 years, and countless experiences that have helped build her philosophy of doing what is right for the whole company and the whole person rather than focusing on what went wrong. When she’s not rethinking the way HR works for employees, Ms. Delaney can be found cheering on the Las Vegas Golden Knights with her family and friends in her hometown of Las Vegas.

Marc A. Howze is Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Deere & Company, a position he was appointed to in November 2016. In this role, he has responsibility for key administrative activities of the company, including Human Resources, Labor Relations, Public Affairs, Communications, Brand Management, and Security. Mr. Howze joined Deere & Company in 2001 as an attorney. He later served as Senior Attorney, Senior Counsel, and Manager, Business Development, Consumer Equipment Division. Mr. Howze was elected Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel, Deere & Company, in 2006. In 2008, Mr. Howze was assigned to Deere's agricultural marketing group as Marketing Integration Manager. In 2009, he was appointed Factory Manager, John Deere Turf Care, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, and was later Global Director, Cotton Harvesting Product Line. Immediately prior to his current position, he was Vice President, Global Human Resources and Employee Communications, beginning in October 2012. Prior to joining John Deere, Mr. Howze served in the U.S. Army as an artillery officer and in various capacities as a Judge Advocate. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Howze earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a member of the Illinois and Michigan Bar Associations and member of the boards of the Executive Leadership Council, Human Resources Policy Association, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In 2018, Mr. Howze was elected to the board of directors for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

Betty Thompson is Booz Allen Hamilton’s Senior Executive Advisor. Ms. Thompson joined the firm in 2008, bringing more than 20 years of experience directing human capital strategy and human resource functions for large corporations. As the head of people services, Ms. Thompson ensures that the company has the best-in-class talent to solve their clients’ evolving needs. She is also instrumental in a creating a world-class employment experience for all staff. In addition to leading the day-to-day human resources functions, Ms. Thompson is a driving force behind the firm’s people strategy. Designed to enable key business imperatives, her people strategy focuses on workforce planning, talent management, critical skills and expertise, and employee engagement. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Thompson most recently served as Vice President of Human Resources for Fannie Mae. There she was responsible for all aspects of human resources management and operations. Ms. Thompson led company-wide organizational redesign and staffing efforts, as well as initiatives to improve productivity and reduce costs. She was also responsible for developing the company's people strategy to increase the performance, utilization, and engagement of Fannie Mae's workforce. Prior to her tenure at Fannie Mae, Ms. Thompson also held several human resource leadership roles with IBM, after holding key line positions in marketing and customer service operations. Ms. Thompson holds a master’s in human resources and personnel management from American University in Washington, DC.

Richard Bronson is the Founder and CEO of 70 Million Jobs, the first national, for profit employment platform for people with criminal records. The Y Combinator company’s job board matches a community of one million plus+ active job seekers with some of the nation’s largest employers.

His career began on Wall Street, where he was a partner in the infamous Wolf of Wall Street firm, before launching his own 500-person, $100 million business. Some of the company’s actions were outside the law, and he was punished with a two-year prison sentence. When he was released, he served as Director of the prominent reentry non-profit, Defy Ventures.

Jennifer E. Bracken, Director of Human Resources at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Attractions, is an accomplished HR professional with more than 20 years of hospitality experience within Marriott International. In her role, she is responsible for implementing innovative employee engagement and talent development strategies that enable her team to efficiently support five business units with 3,000 employees. She specializes in identifying high performing talent, cultivating comprehensive staff retention initiatives and streamlining HR support to increase operational efficiencies.

Prior to joining Gaylord Opryland, Jennifer served in a variety of HR leadership roles, including: Area Director of Human Resources Operations for Marriott International (Americas Eastern Region), Director of Human Resources at The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans, New Orleans Marriott and Minneapolis Marriott City Center and Minneapolis Marriott Southwest. In 2017, Jennifer was recognized by Marriott International as a distinguished Human Resources Excellence Award winner for her leadership in reenergizing and driving Breakthrough Leadership Training at Gaylord Opryland.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwest Missouri State University and a master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Villanova University. She is an active member on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee and the Middle Tennessee Workforce Development Board. She and her husband Matt, along with their daughters, Harleigh and Gracyn, live in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

As a senior director, Julie leads the development and execution of large-scale employee engagement initiatives and integrated marketing and public relations campaigns for several national clients. Her expertise includes strategic planning, change communications, employee engagement, corporate social responsibility, national and local media relations, and sponsorship and event marketing. During her time at Padilla, her work has garnered the agency numerous national and local awards. Julie graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Based in Richmond, Virginia, Natalie Smith, APR, is senior vice president at Padilla. A leader in Padilla’s RC2 Practice (Reputation, Risk, Change, Culture), Natalie is an expert in navigating the challenges of an ever-changing workforce and workplace. She works with clients who are going through substantial change, helping them to successfully navigate that change and in the process, build a culture that engages employees and drives company performance. Natalie has a bachelor’s degree in communications from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., and a master’s degree in mass communications/media management from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.