Concurrent Session

Lisa's professional energy and passion is driven by a desire and commitment to help leaders-at-all levels, teams, and organizations perform at their highest level in order to remain competitive and relevant in an ever-changing, and challenging, global business ecosystem.

As a Senior Behavioral Scientist at CoachHub, Lisa leads research initiatives, solutions development, and client partnerships in the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging practice area. Her goal is to help companies drive change and transform by building, and sustaining, inclusive cultures while creating a diverse workplace.

Lisa's career has included leadership roles in every aspect of talent development: career development, talent acquisition, employee engagement, leadership development, and executive coaching. She has worked for notable organizations such as Carnegie Mellon University, Barclays, and Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH). At CoachHub she is focused on the design of global coaching solutions, deployed at scale, which accelerates the career advancement and promotion of underrepresented groups through inclusion and belonging strategies. She enjoys this work. Lisa thrives from providing her clients with insights and metrics which allows them to integrate her solutions into their broader learning and development strategy.

She is an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a graduate of Oberlin College. She obtained her Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Rutgers University. She loves to hike, kayak and volunteer at the animal shelter. Lisa is also an advocate for adults with disabilities.

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.

Buck Gee is the co-founder of the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian American Executives at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Since 2010, the executive education program has provided leadership training to over 500 Asian American executives from over 100 companies including Microsoft, Google, HSBC, Chevron, and IBM.  He has co-authored many Ascend Foundation research papers on the topic of the Asian glass ceiling, analyzing EEOC workforce data that show that Asians are the most likely to be hired into the white-collar workforce, but least likely to reach executive positions.  He has written opinion pieces on Asian American issues published in the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, USA Today, the San Jose Mercury-News, KQED public radio, and salon.com.  He has also been featured on podcasts posted by CNBC, One-in-a-Billion, Russell Reynolds Associates, Committee-of-100, Studio Sacramento, Asian Women of Power, and SHRM.

Mr. Gee retired in 2008 from Cisco Systems, where he was Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Business Unit.  He joined Cisco with its 2004 acquisition of Andiamo Systems where Mr. Gee was President and CEO. 

He is the Northern California regional chair for the Committee-of-100 and serves on the board of directors.  He is also a board member for the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, Asia Society/Northern California, and the San Francisco Chinatown Media and Arts Collective.  He holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Conor Dale is a principal in the San Francisco, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has experience representing employers in state and federal employment litigation including single plaintiff discrimination, harassment, retaliation and breach of contract claims and wage and hour class action experience.  He has particular expertise in contractual arbitration and representing employers in the technology industry, including defending companies and boards of directors from claims filed by current and former c suite executives.

Conor also has experience advising and counseling employers on all aspects of California and Federal employment law.

Karen Yasukawa has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and serves as the primary consultant to a variety of institutional plans including Corporate, Endowment, Foundation, and Taft-Hartley Joint-Trusteed plans. She also serves as the principal consultant responsible for assisting clients with the development and implementation of their defined contribution programs.

Ms. Yasukawa was named to the Financial Times Top 401 Retirement Advisors* in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in the United States. Ms. Yasukawa was named to the NAPA Top Women Advisors – All-Stars*** in 2019. In 2002, Ms. Yasukawa earned the CIMA® designation from the Investments & Wealth Institute taught in conjunction with The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2010, Ms. Yasukawa earned her Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation. Ms. Yasukawa currently serves as a member of the Raymond James RPAC Committee and The Retirement Advisor Council****.

Ms. Yasukawa graduated with Distinction from the University of Hawaii in English Literature.

Ms. Yasukawa is the founding member of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Hawaii Chapter, past Chair of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Hawaii Chapter, and a founding Director of the Hands of Hope Foundation. She has been a member of the Metropolitan Rotary Club of Honolulu and is a Legacy Member of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii**.

Val Ries is the author of the #1 New Release on Amazon: Chief Inspiration Officer - How to Lead the Team everyone wants to be on. She is the owner of Executive Muse, a training and mentoring organization designed to help companies create cultures where employees care and want to do remarkable things. 

Ries holds a Bachelors in Nursing and Masters in Business. Val has certifications in leadership coaching and organizational culture.  She has worked with hundreds of tech startups to Fortune 500 companies across the US to enhance their culture. Val lives in San Jose, CA with her husband, 2 teenagers and dog named Odee.

Beth’s expertise is enabling board members, chief executive officers and their teams to build the personal and organizational capabilities necessary for sustainable growth.  She is known to be a high impact executive coach and a trusted advisor with a reputation for developing insightful and practicable strategies that enable leaders to successfully meet complex business and leadership challenges.  

Ms. Goldstein’s practical business background as an executive dealing with the challenges of running a successful business are blended with her extensive experience as an executive coach. With over 35 years of experience working with a variety of private and public companies at all stages of their growth cycle, Beth skillfully coaches and collaborates with leaders to master the necessary leadership competencies.   

Ms. Goldstein’s corporate background includes serving a Chief Human Resources Officer, most recently for CoolSys, Inc., the market leading provider of full spectrum HVAC solutions for the retail, commercial, and industrial sectors.   Prior to that she was the CHRO for Smile Brands Inc., a rapidly growing Dental Services Organization with nearly 400 locations nationwide.   

  Before joining Smile Brands Inc., Beth spent several growth years with Borders Group Inc., a Fortune 500 multi-national, multi-division retailer of books, music, and movies.  Based at the Borders Group worldwide headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Beth was the Vice President of Organizational Development and part of the leadership team that grew Borders Books and Music from 50 to more than 550 locations in the U.S., U.K., and Asia Pacific regions.   

 Beth holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and studied Psychology at California State University, Northridge.  She is a graduate of the esteemed University of Michigan Human Resources Executive Program.  She is a former Board Member and Program Co-Chair of the Human Resources Strategy Forum, the California affiliate of Human Resources People and Strategy, the premier global organization focused on human capital strategy. 

JR began his career at AARP in 2017 as a Senior Program Specialist in Sacramento.  Currently, he is responsible for managing the California District Liaison Volunteer Program; California Veterans, Military, and their Families Advisory Committee; California Employer Caregiving and works on community outreach to the Hispanic/Latino population in the greater Sacramento region. He is also taken on special state and national projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic. JR is also a member of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Before joining the AARP California Team, he was a grassroots manager for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network covering 32 counties in Northern and Central California.

 JR earned his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing Management from California State University, Sacramento after just three and a half years of study. Outside of work, JR is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and has served as an Advisory Board Member for the National Teen Leadership Program. He has also served on the Influencing Health Policy Committee for the National Partnership for Action - United States Office of Minority Health’s Southwest Regional Health Equity Council. He is currently a member of the American Cancer Society Breast Health Leadership Council and is on the volunteer leadership committee responsible for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk of Sacramento. He is also a volunteer for the Sacramento Medical Reserve Corps, part of the Sacramento County Department of Public Health’s Sacramento Medical Foundation that helps support community health  and public vaccination clinics.

As Vice President, Research Growth Strategy at EAB, Carla leads the design and development of new research initiatives, experiences, and services to drive action and results for Seramount’s DEI Research Partnership as well as EAB’s K12 and higher education partner institutions. With Seramount, her research seeks to understand the DEI needs of organizations and to help CDOs effect change in their own companies that advance the cause of DEI more broadly.

Following her time as an undergraduate at Colgate University, Carla cultivated a passion for education as a K12 teacher in the Bronx and Washington, DC. She holds an MS in Teaching from Pace University and a Duke MBA from the Fuqua School of Business. When not cheering on the Cubs or the Crimson Tide, you’ll find Carla volunteering as a mentor for Tennessee Achieves or serving as chair for the Duke University Learning Innovation Advisory Council.