Concurrent Session

Lynn is a Senior Associate Attorney in the Northern Virginia office of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. She concentrates her practice on business immigration matters including nonimmigrant and immigrant visa issues, advising clients on every step of the process.  She represents clients in various industries so that US employers can obtain the talent they need when they need it.  Although Lynn has experience with diverse visas types, she devotes most of her time to L-1, H-1B, E-2, and TN processing. Of course, she also enjoys arguing with the government if a Request for Evidence is received in a USCIS filing. She frequently speaks on immigration related topics- including on the unpredictable immigration environment, PERM, and on Consular Processing of L-1 and B-1 visas. Lynn has also successfully handled complex audit requests from the Department of Labor and uses any resources available to zealously represent her clients.

Prior to joining BAL, Lynn served as a Senior Consultant on the USCIS Transformation project, working with leaders and subject matter experts within USCIS. She also served as the Former Chair and Founder of the Immigration Section of the Maryland State Bar Association.

Before Jeff joined Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP as Senior Counsel, Jeff served as Chief of the Legal Advisory Opinion section of the Visa Office in the Department of State. For over a decade, he led the team and provided legal guidance to consular officers worldwide on visa matters.

During his tenure in Washington, DC, Jeff was a trusted advisor to senior policymakers and worked closely with counterparts at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Justice. He assisted the Department of Justice on civil and criminal visa matters and testified for the government as an expert witness on visas. He twice earned the State Department’s Superior Honor Award.

Jeff also served in various positions at US consulates around the world and, before joining the government, worked as a criminal defense lawyer.

As Senior Counsel with Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP Jeff works in the Washington, D.C. office.  The government relations group helps to shape immigration policy, regulations and legislation and offers strategic guidance on working with government agencies.  Jeff is instrumental in overseeing the firm’s compliance and government affairs practices.

Julia is a Partner at Fragomen specialising in Global Government Strategies and Compliance. She supports clients worldwide with immigration best practices, global mobility strategies and crisis management.

Julia works closely with governments and business on Brexit and provided expert evidence to the European Parliament. She has represented business at the UK Prime Minister’s immigration stock take meeting and acted as an advisor to the Home Office. Julia sits on SHRM’s Immigration Specialty Panel, the board of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Mayor of London’s Brexit Advisory Group and the Home Office EU Immigration Employer’s Group.

Before joining Fragomen, Julia was a Partner and Head of Global Immigration at PwC leading complex multi-jurisdictional client engagements.

Mr. Brailer joined Johns Hopkins University in April 2013 as Assistant Provost for International Student and Scholar Services.  Now an Associate Vice Provost, Jim has led a transformation in the way JHU supports its growing international populations and serves sponsoring university departments through a reorganization and consolidation of the five offices that were serving international clientele, and has undertaken a comprehensive review of all international services policies and procedures. He also works with government relations staff to ensure policymakers at all levels appreciate the impact of immigration regulations on JHU.  Jim was Executive Director of the Center for Global Education Services at Arizona State from 2010-13.  He began his career at Ohio State in 1991 and has worked in international education for nearly three decades, presenting numerous sessions and workshops at national and regional professional conferences.  He is a current member of the SHRM Specialty Immigration Panel.  He has a BS in Business Administration from Ohio State and a JD from Capital University Law School.

I’m the Founder and CEO of LaborLess, an immigration tech startup that automates LCA compliance for H-1B employers and the law firms that support them. Here’s the story: after graduating from Brooklyn Law School where I founded and the Brooklyn Law Immigration Society, I landed a job practicing US immigration law at a firm in the Washington, DC area. I quickly realized, however, that I was doing more administrative paperwork than interesting and challenging legal analysis, particularly around LCA compliance. That's not why I went to law school, I thought, and I knew that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. I realized that no one was automating LCA compliance and that there was a gap in the market. So I quit working as a lawyer, worked in tech for a few years, and eventually launched LaborLess, a tech startup that helps H-1B employers and immigration law firms across the US and overseas automate their LCA process.

Michelle Silverthorn is a recognized organizational diversity expert and in-demand keynote speaker. She works with clients across industries to design inclusive spaces centered on equity, belonging, and authenticity. She is a TEDx speaker and author of the game-changing business book, Authentic Diversity: How Great Leaders Can Change the Workplace for Good. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School, Michelle lives in Chicago with her husband and their two daughters. Learn more about Michelle and her work at michellesilverthorn.com or follow her on social at @inwithmichelle.  

Christina Blacken is a public speaker, performer, podcast host of Sway them in Color, and founder of TheNewQuo.com -- a leadership development and communication consultancy helping leaders tap into their narrative intelligence to communicate new ideas with deeper connection and influence to achieve inclusive, status quo breaking goals. Narrative intelligence is understanding how story drives belief, behavior, memory, learning, and individual actions. Her mission is to bring more inclusion into business leadership through raising narrative intelligence and disrupting the affinity bias seen in traditional leadership while improving the visibility of underrepresented expertise through story driven branding. She’s taught 445 business leaders narrative intelligence on culture change and unconscious bias through her workshops, and she provides story-driven branding services to empower and brand the expertise of purpose driven founders through public talking development and content marketing. The New Quo has been featured in Elle.com, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Huffington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, and Thrive.com among other outlets. As an Utah native & NYC resident for 10 years, she knows more uses for jello than she’d like to admit.

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Hitendra Wadhwa is Professor of Practice at Columbia Business School, where he teaches the most popular MBA leadership elective, Personal Leadership & Success. He is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence and the MAC Award for the Most Dynamic and Engaging Professor.

Hitendra’s mission is to codify and teach scientific principles of success in life and leadership. With a Ph.D. in Management Science from MIT and a lifelong study of the world’s mystic traditions, Hitendra brings a mathematician’s rigor and a truth-seeker’s spirit to some of today’s most vexing questions about authenticity, success, leadership, human potential, and more. His widely acclaimed research and teaching on leadership have been covered by Inc., Forbes, Fortune, CNN, Psychology Today, BBC World Service, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Hitendra is the founder of Mentora Institute, which is at the forefront of creating a new model of leadership for the 21st century where executives achieve ever-growing Outer Impact through ever- deepening Inner Mastery. Through its digital learning platform, Mentora has created a pocket “flight simulator” for leadership that helps learners gain mastery in a wide range of leadership skills through MicroPracticeTM. His clients include Accenture, SAP, Pfizer, Tata Group, Ericsson, GE, Kraft Heinz, Siemens, a Big-4 Accounting Firm and Morgan Stanley.

In the past, Hitendra was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company and the CEO/founder of a Silicon Valley start-up, Paramark, which was twice recognized as a Top-100 Internet technology company by Technologic Partners/Venture Wire.

Carolyn Broderick, SPHR, SHRM-CP, HRIP is part of the HR Workforce Planning & Analytics team at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. She is responsible for data and processes in HR and works with clients on HR Metrics and Analytics.

Carolyn recently held the position of Senior Consultant with DeFoe Associates, a consulting firm that implements and optimizes HR technology, where she was responsible for process improvement, data analytics, Diversity metrics consulting and regulatory reporting. She worked with clients such as Biogen and Daiichi Sankyo. 

Previously, Carolyn was Manager, Strategic Data at Prudential Financial where she was responsible for Affirmative Action and Diversity data management, data analysis functions, systems implementation, regulatory reporting and system upgrades. She was accountable for keeping Prudential’s HR technology in compliance with government requirements. She also held positions in Benefits, Employee Relations, Policy & Process, HR Technology & Staffing.

Carolyn is past president of the Jersey Shore Association for HR and is currently the SHRM NJ State HR Certification Director. She has taught SHRM Certification courses for the last seven years, most recently at Rutgers and FDU.

Carolyn holds a BA in English from Kean University and an MA in Liberal Studies from Monmouth University in NJ. She was a member of the Society for Human Resources National HR Technology Management Panel from 2012 to 2019 and is currently on the Diversity and Inclusion Panel.

Dr.  Di Ann Sanchez, Ph.D., SPHR, SHRM – SCP, is the Chief Exceptional Officer of DAS HR Consulting LLC and Sanchez & Associates, a WMBE/HUB-certified firm focused on creative and non-traditional Human Resources programs and Diversity. Dr. Sanchez has over 35 years of experience, is a certified Senior Human Resources Professional (SPHR & SHRM – SCP), and has held executive positions with both private and public companies, including: 
    Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
    United Natural Foods, Inc.
    Burlington Northern Santa Fe
    Boeing Commercial Airplane Group
    American Airlines 
    Delta Technology 

Dr. Sanchez received the 2018 Top Minority Business Leaders Award for Tarrant County. Hispanic Business magazine named her one of the “Top 50 Hispanic Women in Business,” one of the “Top 80 Elite Hispanic Women,” and one of the “Top 100 Latinas in America.” She is also a past SMU Latino Leadership Initiative Advisor. 

She was highlighted in the Hispanic Journal Magazine, recognizing her human resources and diversity accomplishments at American Airlines. She has also been featured in USA Today to improve the employment verification process and encourage comprehensive immigration reform.  

Dr. Sanchez has spoken at the SHRM National Conference, Talent Management, and National Diversity and Inclusion. She has also spoken at several SHRM and Business Chapters and has been featured in many publications as a national Human Resources and Diversity expert. She is also a SHRM National Speakers Bureau Member. Dr. Sanchez actively participates in the SHRM Voice of Work Research Panel. 

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an International Business Performance Consulting Corp. specializing in Business Improvement, Diversity Return on Investment (DROI®) Measurement/Analytics, and organizational development.  Author of more than 59 DEI ROI and Business-related books, Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Analysis, ROI Measurement, Strategic Planning, and more. Dr. Hubbard was an honoree at the Inaugural International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Living Legends of Diversity Award Ceremony in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where he received the “Living Legends of Diversity Award” for creating the “Diversity ROI Analytics” and “Diversity Measurement Fields and their associated Disciplines” and is recognized globally as the creator of these unique sciences and fields of study. 

Dr. Hubbard received the “Excellence in Global Leadership Award” from the World HRD Congress (the highest individual professional award given), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences, the Sentry Award from the U.S. Pentagon, and many others.

Dr. Hubbard serves on the Harvard Business Review, Diversity Executive Magazine and Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine Editorial Advisory Boards and serves on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University African American Alumni Society. He also holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Neuroscience discipline. Dr. Hubbard earned Bachelors, Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.