In-person Pass

Bethany Adams has more than 15 years of experience in HR and education.  She began her career working in learning & development and human resources in the restaurant and retail industries. She has experience in both small, privately-owned businesses and large, Fortune 500 organizations. Bethany holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Organizational Management, the SHRM-SCP certification, and is a Certified Genos International Emotional Intelligence Practitioner. She currently teaches at Villanova University in the Graduate Programs in HR Development.  Bethany has spoken at a variety of conferences throughout the country and leads corporate training on topics including emotional intelligence, DEI, and strategic HR.  Bethany hosts an HR podcast called HR Tea.

Michael S. Cohen is a partner in Duane Morris’ Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group.  Michael concentrates his practice in the areas of employment law training and counseling. He has trained and counseled employers throughout the country on subjects including harassment prevention; diversity, equity and inclusion; combatting implicit bias; performance management; discipline and discharge; hiring and recruiting practices; performance evaluations; FMLA, ADA and FLSA compliance; leave of absence policies; LGBTQ+ issues in the workplace; substance abuse testing; workplace violence; records retention; conducting background checks; and more. Michael also has conducted investigations into claims of harassment and discrimination and has drafted employee handbooks, employment agreements, non-compete agreements and post-termination agreements. Michael regularly conducts in excess of 200 trainings each year.  He has represented clients throughout the country in EEO and other administrative proceedings.

Michael has been cited as a national authority on employment issues by The New York Times, The Associated Press, USA Today, MSNBC.com, HR Magazine, SHRM On-Line, Employment Law 360, Inside Counsel Magazine, as well as many other publications. Michael serves as an Advisory Board Member of GenHERation and as a Board Member of Serve, Inc. Michael is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kim Lear is a writer, researcher, and the founder of Inlay Insights. She is known for skillfully weaving eye-opening statistics, insightful stories, and relevant case studies to make presentations come alive. Previously, Kim was the content director at BridgeWorks, a research firm dedicated to generational and millennial trends. Her undergrad research focused on baby boomers and longevity, and her post-grad work centered on millennials and social media trends. She is currently in her ninth year of a longitudinal study on leadership.

Kim was recently named one of today’s best speakers by Meetings and Conventions Magazine, and she appeared as keynote speaker before some of the most renowned companies in the world. She has received rave reviews from clients such as American Express, Cisco Systems, Deloitte, Disney, General Mills, LinkedIn, Mastercard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wells Fargo, and more.

In addition to speaking, Kim was head of research on the book Gen Z @ Work. She has written whitepapers on generational wealth transfer, retirement trends, and Gen Z’s impact on higher education. Kim is the writer of the popular Substack, Kids These Days. She has been featured on NPR and national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, USA Today, and TIME magazine.

She is a highly sought-after generational expert and serves as an advisor to FORE, an AI startup focused on predictive analytics for attrition. She also volunteers for The 78 Cents Project, an organization dedicated to helping young women develop strong presentation skills.

When not delving into the minutia of human behavior, Kim can be found spending time with her husband and daughters in Minneapolis.

Ruth Hickin is Vice President of Workforce Innovation & Transformation at Salesforce, where she leads strategies for workforce adaptation in response to AI, skills development, and talent redeployment. She oversees the Career Connect internal mobility platform and drives transformation to meet future business needs.

Before joining Salesforce, Ruth was with the World Economic Forum, where she led strategy and thought leadership on the future of technology and global tech governance, publishing influential reports. She has also held leadership positions at Virgin Unite, focusing on strategic partnerships and impact investments.

Ruth holds an MBA in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts, an Executive Master of Arts (MA) in Global Leadership from the World Economic Forum, and a Master of Arts (Honors) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow.

Brandon Roberts is the group VP of People Analytics and AI at ServiceNow. Roberts has 20 years of experience in people analytics, AI/ML and workforce planning. He has spent his career building and leading teams in these spaces at ServiceNow, Pinterest and Qualcomm. He's passionate about using data and AI to drive better decisions and outcomes at work. Additionally, he is a published author on a variety of HR topics, including advanced analytics, employee experience, cross-cultural psychology at work and equity/inclusion in the workplace.

Charlene is the New York Times bestselling author of six books, including The Disruption Mindset, Open Leadership, and the critically acclaimed Groundswell. Her latest book, Winning with Generative AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, lays out a master plan for generative AI strategy. 

She is an experienced speaker who has inspired leaders in intimate forums and expansive conference halls. She has delivered keynote addresses at such venues as the World Economic Forum, TED, and South by Southwest.

Charlene is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USAToday, Reuters, and The Associated Press, and she’s shared her expertise on 60 Minutes, The McNeil NewsHour, ABC News, CNN, and CNBC. 

Charlene earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. degree magna cum laude from Harvard College. In her spare time, she teaches her beloved cat new tricks.

Nilanjan (Neel) Adhya is the Chief Digital Officer of BlackRock. In his role, Neel actively collaborates with marketing, design, product and sales teams at BlackRock to reimagine all aspects of digital experiences, create new digital innovations, build great experiences and accelerate transformation across the digital ecosystem.

Neel has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of technology, platforms, and people to help global organizations leverage new business models and drive growth.

Nick Schacht is a highly experienced executive with more than three decades of experience in professional services, education,  and corporate learning and development.  He has a history of driving product innovation, growth and profitability and he has led organizations operating worldwide. 

Nick is Chief Commercial Officer for SHRM, the world’s largest HR professional society. Before joining SHRM, Nick was the founder and CEO of KnowCyber, a learning and development company focused on improving the cybersecurity-related skills of people in all types of organizations worldwide. Prior to KnowCyber, Nick was President and Chief Operating Officer for PetroSkills, a provider of training and development services to the worldwide petroleum industry.  Prior to that, he was CEO and President of Learning Tree International, a publicly traded provider of IT and management learning and development.  Nick was also the President of Global Learning Systems, a start-up focused on e-Learning and digital content.  He served in a variety of capacities at ESI International, culminating in his role as President when ESI was sold to the Institute for International Research (IIR) and then as Group President for the Americas for IIR.  He has been a Research Fellow at the Logistics Management Institute, and began his career as a U.S. Navy Supply Officer, on the headquarters staff of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. 

Nick graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy, and holds Master’s degrees in Administration from the University of Maryland University College, and Information Systems Technology from The George Washington University.

Guillermo is a seasoned senior executive with extensive leadership experience driving AI adoption, digital platforms and user-centered business initiatives to accelerate culture transformation and people performance across global organizations. He is a Cofounder of Atlas Copilot AI headquartered in London, UK since the Spring 2023; and balances his time advising unicorns and early stage digital platform ventures (BetterUp, Beamery, Syndio, Yawi Labs, Emerge and Reach Capital).

Most recently he was Boeing’s Chief Learning Offi cer and Sr Vice President of Leadership Development. Before joining Boeing in February 2021, he was IBM’s Global Head of CSR and President of the IBM Foundation. He also previously held roles as IBM’s Chief Learning Offi cer, and the fi rst CHRO for the newly chartered IBM Digital Business Group.

Along with his day-to-day business responsibilities, Guillermo launched the Digital Learning Consortium in 2017 and was actively advising innovation projects with top tier clients to shape business transformation and talent initiatives in collaboration with IBM Consulting. Guillermo also previously served as the CHRO of the InterAmerican Development Bank Group. Based in Washington D.C., he had overall responsibility for people processes and organizational development initiatives for all Bank operations across Latin America and the Caribbean.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Hortifrut Ltd, the leading berries producer worldwide, and also chairs the Projects Committee of the Jesuits International Foundation Supervisory Board. He is a proud Latino leader and volunteers on initiatives to provide access to education and STEM skills for underserved communities.

Guillermo is a Lawyer, graduated from the Pontifi cia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima, and attended the Master in Business Administration Program at Deusto University in San Sebastián, Spain. He currently resides in Madrid, Spain with his wife Talia and their 3 children.

Mickey McManus is a serial entrepreneur, Senior Advisor, executive coach, and BCG-U faculty member at BCG (Boston Consulting Group) and a research fellow emeritus at Autodesk’s Office of the CTO.  He is a pioneer in design futures, augmented collective intelligence (ACI), and high performance human/AI teaming and culture building. At BCGU he helped build an executive development workshop for Google's AI offering for their customers and teaches an 8-week Harvard business school style executive education course co-developed by Karim Lahkani at HBS and BCG.  Mickey holds 12 patents in the area of connected products, environments, vehicles and services and co-authored the Carnegie Science Award winning book, Trillions – Thriving in the Information Ecology. In Trillions he and his co-authors posit that in a deeply interconnected world unbounded malignant complexity will be one of the most significant challenges. Taming complexity will be a super power for individuals and organizations. His design innovation & digital transformation lab/startup studio, MAYA, was sold to BCG in 2017 and became a foundational part of their global design and build offering called BCG X. The educational institute he co-founded and helped build, LUMA Institute, has taught design thinking and co-creating with people to over 100,000 people globally and is now a core part of Mural's co-creation operating system.

Tina Beaty changes the way people think, feel and believe. Using an integrated communications strategy, based on research and audience insights, she deploys omni-channel campaigns to change behaviors in pursuit of better workplaces for a better world. 

Paul J. Gennaro is senior vice president and chief communications officer for New York Life, where he leads the Corporate Communications team for the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest life insurers in the world.  New York Life, a Fortune 100 company with $63 billion in annual revenue, provides insurance and investment solutions to individuals and businesses – and operates one of the world’s largest global asset managers through New York Life Investments, with $808 billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining New York Life in Sept. 2023, Paul spent nine years as senior vice president, and chief brand and communications officer, for Voya Financial, a leading health, wealth and investment company with $790 billion in total assets under management and administration.  Previously, he was senior vice president and chief communications officer for AECOM, a $20-billion global infrastructure firm with nearly 100,000 employees serving clients in more than 150 countries, since 2006.  Paul’s corporate career also includes leadership roles for Johns Manville, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, where he led all global corporate and marketing communications; Ingersoll-Rand; Dell; and American Express.  He began his career as a journalist and public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy.

Twenty-two of Paul’s 31-year corporate career has been in the top communications role. He has overseen multiple global rebrands as well as communications in support of more than 50 M&A-related transactions, an award-winning initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, multiple seamless CEO transitions and new business launches, and numerous business integrations.

Paul has been honored with PRWeek magazine’s PR Professional of the Year award; the John W. Hill Award, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) New York chapter’s most prestigious honor; and the International Business Award for Communications Executive of the Year.

He is a member of four prominent organizations for the most-senior global brand, corporate communications and public relations executives: the Institute for Public Relations (trustee), the Arthur W. Page Society, The Seminar, and The Wisemen.  Paul was also a member of the Wall Street Journal Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Network. 

Externally, Paul serves as treasurer on the board of directors for Disability:IN, a national nonprofit that advances disability inclusion in the workplace, supply chain and marketplace.