In-person Pass

Rob Shriver serves as the Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). His portfolio includes recruiting and hiring, pay and leave, labor relations, performance management, the Senior Executive Service, work-life, telework, and supporting governmentwide diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Rob previously served at OPM during President Obama’s Administration. From 2009-2012, Rob was OPM’s Deputy General Counsel for Policy, leading development and implementation of a number of government-wide initiatives, including expanding equality for LGBTQ+ Federal employees, improving Federal sector labor relations, and reforming the hiring process. From 2012-2014, Rob served as OPM’s Assistant Director for National Healthcare Operations, where he led the creation of a new program under the ACA called the Multi-State Plan program.

In the years between his OPM stints, Rob continued to work on the ACA, first in state government, serving from 2014-2018 as the Director of Marketplace Innovation, Policy, and Operations at the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority. He then worked for a private sector IT company—IdeaCrew, Inc.—as the Vice President for Business Development, working with states to improve their health benefit exchange IT platforms.

Rob began his career as an Assistant Counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union, litigating cases on behalf of federal employees at all levels of the Federal judiciary from 1996-2009.

Rob earned his B.A. in International Studies from Virginia Tech and his J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife JoAnn and three children Robby, Mitch, and Justine.

Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP is the Chief People Officer for LaRosa's, Inc., a regional Pizzeria chain. He has 35+ years working as an HR professional in a variety of industries. He has a globally recognized HR blog and author of three books, HR on Purpose !!, HR Rising !! and HR Unleashed !! He is a past member of the SHRM Board of Directors. Steve also runs a global HR network called the HR Net which reaches 15,000+ HR and business professionals weekly.

For over 20 years, Ian has been an investor, entrepreneur, and advisor to education and technology companies. He has a deep global network in the education sector and brings a wealth of investing and board experience to the Owl Ventures team. Ian serves on the boards of Degreed, BenchPrep, LeLe Ketang, Sanjieke, and Abl and works closely with MasterClass. Prior to joining Owl Ventures, Ian led the education sector at Warburg Pincus and was a technology investor at Silver Lake Partners. Earlier in his career, Ian was a consultant at Bain & Company and also helped launch BigMachines, a SaaS company that was acquired by Oracle.

Ian serves on the Advisory Board for SEO, a non-profit that provides educational, career, and mentoring programs for young people from underrepresented communities. He is a member of the Advisory Council for Gladeo, a digital social enterprise dedicated to providing career guidance to underserved youth of diverse backgrounds. Ian was also the lead author of Caution: Watch for Scholarships Ahead, a practical guide for students to navigate the complex scholarship application process, which was endorsed by Stanford University’s Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

Ian is a graduate of Stanford University, where he earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, with Distinction, and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering, with a concentration in technology management and entrepreneurship. He also received his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and Arbuckle Leadership Fellow.

Deborah Hanus is the CEO and co-founder of Sparrow, the first high-tech, high-touch leave management solution to help employers care for their people. By managing federal, state, and local leave compliance, Sparrow ensures employee leave is stress-free for human resources, payroll, compliance, managers, and employees. Before founding Sparrow, Deborah earned multiple engineering degrees from MIT, worked in Cambodia as a Fulbright Scholar, and started a Ph.D. in AI at Harvard. Under her leadership, Sparrow has quickly grown to impact hundreds of thousands of lives.  

Kaitlin brings over 10 years of inclusive leadership experience and business innovation to her diversity, equity, inclusion, and access work. With a strong corporate background in crisis and change management, her superpower is building empowered teams and organizational cultures that interrupt systems of oppression and marginalization. As a queer woman and fat liberation activist, Kaitlin is passionate about creating safer spaces where all bodies are celebrated and have agency.

Kaitlin lives on the Little Feminist Farm just outside of Atlanta, where she and her partner enjoy sustainable homesteading and host social justice workshops and sanctuary retreats.

Lisa set out to build a market where one didn’t exist. She founded Nonprofit HR, the leading talent management firm in the U.S. that works exclusively with the nonprofit sector. Lisa’s goal is to ensure that every Nonprofit HR engagement inspires social sector leaders to strengthen their most important asset: their people. Over the course of her career, Lisa has presented to hundreds of organizations, staff and leadership teams. Today, fueled by the passion of their 100-plus employees and consultants nationwide, Nonprofit HR is helping many of the nation’s most impactful nonprofit organizations get ahead through smart people management strategies.

Joy Chen, CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute, is a trailblazer in global leadership development. A former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles and executive recruiter with Heidrick & Struggles, she brings unique cultural insights to modern leaders.

Joy’s pivot to leadership development was serendipitous, fueled by her blog's viral success in China, establishing her as founder of global training organizations that have served millions. Joy's contributions to global cross-cultural leadership have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, CNN and Vogue China.

Join Joy to hone your ability to excel in a world rich with possibilities.

Been there – done that!  With 30 years of HR and business experience – Lori has walked in your shoes.  A recovered HR Generalist, she built a consulting company that she sold to Arthur J Gallagher after 7 years and then reinvented her current business – HR Topics -  training, speaking and developing content for HR professionals.  Lori delivers facts, tips, tricks and best practices in a way that appeals to human resource and business leaders: with a sense of humor, a bias toward actions that improve their operations right away, and practical resources and tools to support their progress.  As an annual speaker at the National SHRM conference, she has leveraged her masters in HR, SPHR and SHRM-SCP background to elevate the position of all HR professionals!

With over 16 years of experience in the tech industry, Somen is a seasoned leader, innovator, and entrepreneur who is passionate about building and scaling AI-powered solutions that enhance talent management and decision making. As the General Manager at Dayforce, Somen is responsible for driving the vision, strategy, and execution of the company's talent product offerings, including all current and future next generation talent products.

Prior to joining Ceridian, Somen successfully founded and exited two companies. Most recently, Somen served as the CEO and Co-Founder of Ideal, which was acquired by Ceridian (NYSE:CDAY) in 2021. Somen also served as Co-Founder and CEO at his prior company, Field ID, which was acquired in 2012 by Fortune Brands (NYSE:FBHS). Somen's professional accolades include spots on both the Profit Hot 50 and Deloitte Fast 50 lists, as well as the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2012.

An absolute powerhouse, Lakeisha Robichaux is a speaker, business transformation strategist, leadership expert, and CEO and Founder of Chief of Minds, LLC, a human resources firm. With over 22 years of experience in human resources and leadership positions at several Fortune 100 and 500 companies, she focuses her livelihood on leading authority in complex operations, she is revolutionizing the way organizations succeed by optimizing operations, developing executive leaders and building high-performing teams. With a strategic skillset that is unmatched, Lakeisha is a problem-solver, a success seeker, and the organizational leader that every company needs by their side-and at their table.

An absolute powerhouse, Lakeisha Robichaux is a speaker, business transformation strategist, leadership expert, and CEO and Founder of Chief of Minds, LLC, a human resources firm. With over 22 years of experience in human resources and leadership positions at several Fortune 100 and 500 companies, she focuses her livelihood on leading authority in complex operations, she is revolutionizing the way organizations succeed by optimizing operations, developing executive leaders and building high-performing teams. With a strategic skillset that is unmatched, Lakeisha is a problem-solver, a success seeker, and the organizational leader that every company needs by their side-and at their table.