Concurrent Session

As LinkedIn’s head of Inclusion Recruiting, Kathy Goss is helping drive the company’s vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Kathy joined LinkedIn 3 years ago to build the program and team from the ground up, embedding inclusion throughout the entire recruiting process working in close collaboration with the TA teams and business leaders.

Prior to joining LinkedIn, Kathy spent over 10 years on Accenture’s diversity team building large-scale diversity initiatives focused on the recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse employees, as well as building a broad culture of inclusion. She excels at collaborating with stakeholders to design and implement innovative, practical and impactful solutions to complex diversity challenges.

Kathy graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Learning & Organizational Change, a foundation that serves her well in the diversity work that she does today. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and 3 active children.

Josh Christianson is Project Director for the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA) where he leads efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce through apprenticeship. Josh has extensive experience in supporting the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts of non-profit organizations, private companies, and government agencies.
 
He is the former director of the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), where he built cross-sector partnerships to shape the policies and practices contributing to the development of accessible emerging technologies in the workplace.
 
Before coming to PEAT Josh was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte where he provided talent strategies, change management, and leadership development support to federal agencies.
 
Prior to Deloitte he spent several years with The Posse Foundation as the Career Program Manager where he cultivated relationships with companies and organizations to provide career development opportunities for Posse Scholars and Alumni.

Debra Lyons is Principal Strategist, Workforce Engagement.  In this role, she uses her experience and entrepreneurial skills to successfully launch a new, national external engagement effort focused on workforce advancement.  She also serves as Executive Director to the National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board, an organization of senior business leaders who provide guidance to ACT on navigating the national workforce development landscape.  Most recently, she served as Vice President of Community and Economic Development for ACT, Inc.  In this position, she led a national effort to provide community based workforce solutions to states to drive economic growth and greater productivity.  Lyons is the chief architect for ACT Work Ready Communities, a unique opportunity ACT, as a 501c3 public trust, provides to all states.  ACT Work Ready Communities is a data driven approach designed to take ACT workforce solutions to help states and communities to align resources, establish goals, use information to close skills gap and develop a workforce aligned to the needs of employers.  She oversaw the initiative from its conception to currently being active in twenty four states and hundreds of counties.  Under her leadership, ACT Work Ready Communities was the recipient of the International Economic Development Council’s Human Capital Award – Populations greater than 500,000 in October 2014. 

Prior to this role, she served as the Executive Director for the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development for Governor Sonny Perdue. She was responsible for advising the Governor on workforce development policy and implementing initiatives to strengthen the state’s workforce development enterprise. Lyons oversaw not only the start-up of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, but was the pioneer and architect of Georgia Work Ready, a one-of-kind workforce development system that links education and workforce development and aligns to the economic development needs of the state, its regions and communities. Georgia Work Ready was recently honored with the Governor’s Award for Customer Service – 2008 Team Excellence, the Technology Association of Georgia’s Excalibur Award, 2008, the Georgia Bio Community Award, 2009 and the ACT Community Award, 2009.

Before joining ACT, she served as Executive Director for Workforce Development Strategies for the Technical College System of Georgia. Lyons is the former owner of Debra Lyons Technical Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in providing training solutions focused on improving manufacturing productivity.  Prior to starting her own business, she worked as an industrial training specialist for a local technical college. Lyons also previously held the position of associate professor in engineering technology and worked as a design engineer for a major defense contractor.

Lyons previously served on the state board for the Technical College System of Georgia where she helped establish a cross-education board committee to help build more collaboration among Georgia’s education partners. She was appointed to the Southern Growth Policies Board’s Council for a New Economy Workforce by Georgia Governor Perdue in May, 2010 and was nominated to the Board for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in 2011.  Lyons most recently served on the Board of Directors for EdLink until 2013 when the company was acquired by Bright Horizons.  She has several published papers and articles on workforce development with the two most recent papers being Understanding and Solving the Skills Gap – A Call to Action [2017] and ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Crosswalk to Lumina beta Connecting Credential Framework [2017].  She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland.   Lyons is the mother of four grown children and one granddaughter.  She resides in Macon, Georgia with her husband, Dr. Anthony V. Lyons.

During her 15 years in the recruitment industry, Lauren has worked on both the agency and media sides of the business, helping clients build their employer brands and navigate the ever-changing landscape of candidate behavior. As a Recruitment Evangelist with Indeed’s Employer Insights team, Lauren pairs platform data with industry trend analysis to share Indeed’s story and bring the value of the company’s programs and solutions to life. Lauren holds a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Somen Mondal is the General Manager, Talent Intelligence, at Ceridian (NYSE:CDAY). Most recently, Somen served as the CEO and Co-Founder of Ideal, which was successfully acquired by Ceridian in 2021. Prior to Ideal, Somen served as Co-Founder & CEO of Field ID until it was successfully acquired by Master Lock LLC (a subsidiary of NYSE:FBHS). In 2012, Somen won the Ontario Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the “Emerging Entrepreneur” category.

Joe Urbanski believes an Undeniable Culture™ inspires its people to unleash their best selves, take home more wins and less stress to their families, and create incredible value for the company, its customers, and community. For more than two decades, he has worked with HR and training departments, consulting and coaching 750+ executives and leaders at 400+ global organizations, and facilitating 800+ kickass trainings, strategic retreats, and leadership programs for 480,000 people. Joe has a remarkable understanding of how to transform the workplace experience. Plus, you’ll have more fun and laughs than you’d expect.

Founder and CEO of the Hire Talent Fletcher Wimbush interviews over 1,500 applicants, assesses thousands more, and places upwards of 35 top performers for a wide range of companies and industries each year. Having grown businesses in both entrepreneurial and corporate settings, Fletcher presents to businesses, Chambers of Commerce, and webinar audiences across the globe. He also coaches business leaders on best recruiting practices using self-established resources such as the Power Interview Guide, Reference Checking Guide and eBook, as well as several articles.

Dawn Burke, founder of Dawn Burke HR, is an HR leader, speaker and writer specializing in new HR practices, engagement and workplace culture. Her HR and leadership career has spanned the last 20 years, most recently serving as VP of People for Birmingham, AL, award-winning technology company, Daxko.

During her tenure as VP of People, Dawn was responsible for finding great talent, developing team members, and preserving company culture - a culture recognized in Fortune Magazine as one of the “50 Best Small and Medium Workplaces.” Recognized as a Top HR Innovator, she is creator of DawnHBurke.com, and a contributor to a variety of national blogs including SHRM Next and Fistful Of Talent.

Born in sight of England’s Canterbury Cathedral, Stuart has called the Midwest home since 2004. Stuart believes that conversation helps us to live better and work well in our organizations and our communities. Stuart founded the conversation catalyst Squishtalks in 2010, working with Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits, leveraging the power of conversation to unlock the capacity of human relationships and spark innovation and performance. Previously, Stuart was a UK lawyer and a partner at a branding agency. He is a member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development with Master’s level accreditation in Organizational Learning & Development. 

Alan Fine is considered the pioneer of the modern-day coaching movement and is the co-creator of the widely recognized GROW® Model. Alan is a New York Times Bestselling Author, international performance expert, and well-respected business executive and professional athlete coach. He has dedicated the past 35 years to helping people elevate their performance and unlock potential. From the golf course to the boardroom, Alan has worked with many respected athletes and organizations.