In-person Pass

Jennifer McCollum is CEO of Linkage, Inc., where she oversees the strategic direction and global operations of the Boston, MA-based leadership development company. With a mission to “Change the Face of Leadership,” Linkage has dedicated 30 years to improving leadership effectiveness and equity in hundreds of organizations globally. Linkage provides assessments, training, coaching, consulting and conferences, with Solutions designed to Accelerate Purposeful Leaders; Advance Women Leaders; and Create Inclusive Organizations. 

Jennifer is a highly sought-after consultant and speaker, with a deep expertise in Inclusive Leadership and Advancing Women Leaders. She has delivered workshops, keynotes, webinars and podcasts to thousands of leaders globally on live and virtual stages, including 100 Leaders Live (Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches conference), Chief Learning Officer Exchange, Chester Elton’s “Leading with Gratitude” LinkedIn Live, John Baldoni’s “Grace under Pressure” LinkedIn Live, Candy O’Terry’s “The Story Behind Her Success” podcast, and VoiceAmerica radio broadcast. She is a contributing author to Leadership in a Time of Crisis and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Chief Talent Development Officer, CEO Refresher, and Real Leaders. She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches.

Background & Experience:

Jennifer has 20 years of experience building and leading businesses in the leadership space. Prior to Linkage, Jennifer spent a decade growing businesses within Korn Ferry and Corporate Executive Board (CEB), now Gartner. At CEB, she led product management within the leadership division, driving innovative solutions that helped organizations select, develop and place leaders at all levels. She also ran CEB’s Leadership Academies business, which developed more than 30,000 professionals in 2,100 companies throughout 50 countries and grew revenue at a 97% combined annual growth rate across five years. 

Previously, Jennifer served as CEO of IntraVision, a leadership consultancy she founded and grew over the course of eight years. She worked with public companies, start-ups, associations and nonprofits. Her passion is creating vision, executing strategy and managing cohesive teams toward aspirational goals, with a special focus on supporting women in leadership roles.

She is an avid tennis player and skier, and lives in Bethesda, MD, with her husband and three children.

Education & Training:

Jennifer has a master’s degree in communications from the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, and an undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in psychology and communications.

Antonio Cortes is the Managing Director for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Justice (EDIJ) at Nonprofit HR. He is an Industrial/Organizational and Business Psychologist with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector. In his current role, he provides strategic and operational leadership to the EDIJ practice area. Areas of support include Organizational Equity Assessments to uncover operations that lead to inequities, strategy development to solve unique organizational issues in the EDIJ space, global application of EDIJ concepts for multinational organizations and training on topics such as Building a Business Case for EDIJ, Implicit Bias, Microaggressions and Systems Theory Application to Workforce Development.

Anna Burroughs is a Cultural Anthropologist, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Expert and Coach, Genealogist, and Advocate for Justice. She is the Manager of Global Diversity & Culture at Harvard Business Publishing. Her work is instrumental in helping the organization advance strategic measures around DEI, L&D, unconscious bias and microaggressions, education, employee resource groups and implementing tools around diversity of thought and behavior. Previously, she had a long career in various roles at American Airlines most recently managing DEI Learning & Development for the global organization. She is the Executive Director of the non-profit SPECS Movement, focused on cultural and racial reconciliation.

Brian McComak is a consultant, speaker, author, and facilitator with over 25 years of experience in DEI, HR, culture, change management, internal communications, and employee experience. He is an openly gay man and a person with a disability who shares his lived experiences in service of fostering workplaces where humans thrive.

​Before starting Hummingbird Humanity, he was the Global Head of Inclusion for Tapestry – the home of Coach, Kate Spade & Stuart Weitzman – where he designed and launched the company’s DEI strategy. He put Tapestry ‘on the map’ as a great place for inclusion, earning recognition from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, Women in the Workplace and Forbes’ Best Places to Work for Diversity.

​​Brian has also worked in leadership roles at leading global companies including The Walt Disney Company, L’Oreal, and Christie’s Auction House. His experience spans a diverse variety of industries including fashion/retail, hospitality, auction, entertainment/media and he has consulted with organizations in technology, financial services, media and non-profit.​

Brian is a frequent guest on podcasts where he shares his passion for creating human-centered workplace cultures. Recent appearances include Jennifer Brown’s The Will to Change, Surabhi Lal’s SIPS & Leadership and Nikki Lewallen’s Gut+Science.

​Brian holds a master’s degree in Human Resources and Change Management from the University of Central Florida and a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in Management and Marketing. 

​Join Brian in working to create a world where we accept each other, celebrate our differences, and recognize that we truly are #bettertogether.

Ms. Fairweather is an abuse survivor with 30+ years of experience in the domestic violence response and prevention field. Her unique subject matter expertise was developed by handling thousands of high-risk cases throughout her career. Her company "Presage Consulting and Training" provides tailored guidance and education to a diverse portfolio of multinational Fortune 500 employers. Ms. Fairweather regularly presents at industry conferences around the world and is an active member of the National Speaker’s Association, the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, and the American Society for Industrial Security. She is also an award-winning author on the subject of domestic violence.

As a diversity leader and consultant, Dr. Kimberly Underwood has over two decades of experience in diversity management and strategic planning in business, government and higher education. She has also received numerous awards for teaching and research excellence throughout her academic career, including her recent acceptance of the 2023 Research and Scholarship Award, in Washington, DC. Dr. Underwood earned her Ph.D. in Educational Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Executive Certificate in Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management from Georgetown University, and Diversity and Inclusion for Human Resources Certification from Cornell University. 

Eddie Turner is an in-demand leadership development expert who works with leaders to “Accelerate Performance and Drive Impact!”®  He is "Changing the Face of Leadership" and helping to create “Better Workplaces and a Better World”™ as a Principal Consultant and Executive Coach at Linkage, a SHRM company.

 Eddie is a professional speaker, facilitator, trainer, technologist, author, and executive coach.  He is recognized on global ranking lists and has shared his expertise in national print, radio, and television media, such as the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News, PBS, NPR, and ABC.  He has also worked as a national media commentator.

Kristen Howe is the Vice President Enterprise Products for SHRM Enterprise Solutions, where she oversees Product Management and Product Development. She has over 20 years of experience building and leading businesses in the leadership and development space, with a focus on leadership development, sales, coaching and facilitation.

Kristen is passionate about building products that foster inclusive behavior, positive corporate performance and business outcomes. She strives to create products that help global organizations develop key segments of their business, in both live settings and through digital platforms. She empowers teams by developing smart and efficient processes designed to utilize the individual skills of every team member, all while optimizing overall performance.

Kristen is a highly sought-after leadership consultant and speaker, with a deep expertise in Advancing Women Leaders and Inclusive Leadership. She has delivered programs and keynotes to thousands of leaders globally at organizations such as the Chief HR Officer Exchange, The Chief Learning Officer Exchange, Constellation Brands, The Tata Group, Western Union, and Texas Instruments, among others. She is also an emcee at Linkage’s Women in Leadership Institute™, an immersive experience which attracts more than 1,400 women leaders across the globe each year.

Background & Experience:

Prior to joining Linkage, Kristen spent the last decade growing businesses within Corporate Executive Board (CEB), now Gartner. During her time there, she led multiple teams across the Talent Solutions business, focusing on conceptualizing, building, selling and delivering talent solutions based on CEB data. She also ran CEB’s Leadership Academies business, which developed more than 30,000 professionals at 2,100 companies throughout 50 countries; Kristen was consistently recognized as one of the top managers and coaches across the entire firm.

Education & Training:

Kristen previously served in a variety of roles including global facilitator, consultant and engineer. She has a Master of Business Administration from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University.

Rachel Sheerin, CPBA is an award-winning keynote speaker, emcee and employee engagement consultant on a mission to help people feel better, think better and do better - together!

A Certified Professional Behavior Analyst, audiences are transformed and recharged with energy and leave equipped with strategies and tangible tools. What makes Rachel connect is the fact that she has been on all sides of business - sales, operations and executive leadership.. She's built multi-million dollar sales teams for organizations that want to grow profits and boost happiness and delivered organization-wide training for different vocations from machinists to executive director, SVP and beyond.

She's also burned out, failed and ruined her career a couple of times - which makes her messages of burnout prevention, happiness and success sincere, impactful and hilarious. With a strong dash of vulnerability, Rachel meets audiences where they are and with her background in meetings and events, gives planners and executives the 5-star surveys they want most.

With Fortune 500 clients such as The Ritz Carlton, WAL-MART, National Associations in Healthcare and Banking, Hilton, Berkshire Hathaway and many more, Rachel is also Co-Founder of MAGNET METHOD, an employee engagement and retention consulting firm for growing cultures.

Rachel's continued research and motivational content around burnout, happiness and success can be seen regularly on her LinkedIn profile and read in her upcoming book, BETTER: How to Feel Good as You Live, Lead and Succeed (8/8/23, Hawthorn Road Press).

Currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Association for Women in Events (AWE), Rachel is a proud member of Meeting Planners International (MPI), supporter of the Appalachian Bear Foundation and can often be found playing ping pong badly with her husband, Jeff.