Concurrent Session

Jennifer is the Vice President of Walmart Academy, the learning arm of the world's largest retailer, where she leads the design and delivery of learning experiences that enable over 2 million associates to build skills for now and the future. She has experience in various learning and development roles at Department of Defense, American Express, Walmart and Sam's Club, where she has launched award-winning programs that have enhanced the learning culture, career development, and performance of the frontline and supply chain workforce.

Jennifer holds an Executive Program for Leadership Acceleration certificate from Harvard Business School Executive Education, a Master's degree in Education from the University of South Florida, and a Bachelor's degree from Florida State University. She has published multiple articles on learning and development topics and has been recognized as a Top 50 Learning and Development Professional and a CLO LearningElite Finalist. She is passionate about creating learning opportunities that empower associates to achieve their career dreams and contribute to the success of the organization.

Tara Taylor, MPA, is the Managing Director of ADR Vantage, Inc., a woman-owned consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., that supports clients across the U.S. through conflict management, organizational effectiveness and leadership development, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices, as well as training and coaching. Tara holds a B.A. in Organizational Communication, an M.A. in Management & Public Administration and is a professional mediator and facilitator. She is a highly sought-after consultant and a dynamic speaker focused on helping audiences engage, get inspired, and walk away with ready-to-implement solutions for their professional challenges.

Nejat Abdurahman is the founder and lead at N-BAC, a business advisory and consulting firm that helps organizations transform the way they lead to transform their business and create a sustainable impact. Nejat is a certified Leadership and Emotional Intelligence coach, a keynote speaker, and a trainer. She facilitates Leadership Development programs at N-BAC Academy to equip managers and leaders with the needed skills to transform the way they lead.Nejat earned her MBA from Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst and holds a BA degree in Economics from Addis Ababa University. 

Evelyn Farías is a DEI&B Program Manager at Lyra Health. She is the creator and leader of Lyra’s Community Leads Program, a social and educational community where leaders of employee resource groups and peer champions programs can learn best practices for mental health promotion. Prior to this role, she worked as a full-time therapist, specializing in working with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ populations in private practice and non-profit settings. Evelyn holds Master’s degrees in Psychological Counseling and Bilingual-Spanish Latinx Mental Health from Columbia University and is a former fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program.

Discover the extraordinary journey of Dethra U. Giles, the visionary force behind ExecuPrep, pioneering leadership development and organizational transformation. Rooted in education, performance optimization, and HR, Dethra empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to surpass their expectations. With degrees in English, Spanish, Business and Conflict Management, she blends communication and cultural understanding seamlessly. As a respected faculty member and TEDx speaker, her influence resonates globally, shaping inclusive cultures in corporate giants like LVMH and the EPA. Dethra's compassion fuels her advocacy for social justice, while her writings and media presence inspire resilience and growth. With her, the future promises boundless opportunity and transformation.

Todd Lemmis is an author, organizational architect, musician, lawyer, and impact investor/developer. His diverse background in human resources, music, law, and business leadership affords him a creative, whole-brain perspective and approach to all the adventures he undertakes. 

His seminal work involves transforming organizational design with a simple, natural approach that unlocks the keys to career development and employee retention through his novel, common model. It simplifies organizational architecture, job competencies, career pathing, job descriptions, job families and succession planning, resulting in happier, more stable, productive organizations.

Todd’s current work with Pacific6, Enterprises, a Long Beach, California based investment/development firm involves impact investment and development of hotels, multi-family properties, aquaculture, and HR consulting. Within Pacific6, Todd focuses on human resources, public and government relations, development, consulting and design.

Todd holds a BA in philosophy from UCLA and a JD from Southwestern University School of Law. For fun, he loves writing, music, reading, cooking, entertaining, and designing leather goods and ceramics. In addition to his proprietary works on organizational architecture and human development, he invented a punctuation mark and developed a couple of colognes.

Todd lives in Long Beach, California with his awesome, patient wife and three children. He’s a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the US Navy Musician’s Association, and Costco. He also likes cats.

Azizi Marshall, a leading mental health and workplace wellness expert, guides global businesses in cultivating their healthiest, most successful selves. As the Founder & CEO of the Center for Creative Arts Therapy in Chicago, she's a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Board Certified Trainer in Creative Arts Therapy, international speaker, and published author. Featured in Oprah Magazine, CNN, NBC News, Thrive Global, Bustle, Reader’s Digest, and The Huffington Post, Azizi's expertise extends to podcasts and international news articles, focusing on workplace wellness and creativity. Through interactive wellness trainings and programs, she actively engages corporations worldwide, shaping healthier work environments for all.

WHAT CAROL BRINGS TO THE TABLE
Carol has 25+ years of Organization, Leadership, and Team Effectiveness experience. She led organization transformation efforts inside telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies, and then took that experience to clients across industries when she transitioned to external consulting. Carol led consulting teams at Andersen, Deloitte, and Capital H Group before starting HighBar Consulting, a firm that is now part of TiER1 Performance. In all her work, she brings a unique blend of deep subject-matter expertise, curiosity, objectivity, systems thinking, and pragmatism. Carol cares deeply about her clients and supporting them on their journey to success. As a result, she has many long-standing client relationships.

WHAT SHE’S PASSIONATE ABOUT
Carol is passionate about helping clients find innovative solutions to organizational challenges. She has a knack for developing practical, systems-focused solutions that are rooted in an understanding of the unique characteristics of each client’s situation. Her approach helps clients simultaneously build organizational performance and people engagement.

FUN FACT
One of Carol’s ancestors was a pirate in the 1500s. He worked on behalf of his country, the Netherlands, raiding the ships of enemy countries. Ahoy, Matey!

WHAT CAROL BRINGS TO THE TABLE
Carol has 25+ years of Organization, Leadership, and Team Effectiveness experience. She led organization transformation efforts inside telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies, and then took that experience to clients across industries when she transitioned to external consulting. Carol led consulting teams at Andersen, Deloitte, and Capital H Group before starting HighBar Consulting, a firm that is now part of TiER1 Performance. In all her work, she brings a unique blend of deep subject-matter expertise, curiosity, objectivity, systems thinking, and pragmatism. Carol cares deeply about her clients and supporting them on their journey to success. As a result, she has many long-standing client relationships.

WHAT SHE’S PASSIONATE ABOUT
Carol is passionate about helping clients find innovative solutions to organizational challenges. She has a knack for developing practical, systems-focused solutions that are rooted in an understanding of the unique characteristics of each client’s situation. Her approach helps clients simultaneously build organizational performance and people engagement.

FUN FACT
One of Carol’s ancestors was a pirate in the 1500s. He worked on behalf of his country, the Netherlands, raiding the ships of enemy countries. Ahoy, Matey!

As founder of WorkJoy, Tina builds on 20 years of operations, technology consulting, and HR leadership experience to provide facilitation and coaching solutions to organizations ready to unleash the potential of their people. She co-creates talent programs that drive business outcomes and deliver human results, partnering with leaders from prominent organizations including Fabletics, FOX Sports, National Wildlife Federation, SAP, Savage X Fenty, and Spotify. Tina graduated from the University of Virginia (BA), University of Michigan (MBA), and Coactive Training Institute coaching program, and is adjunct faculty at Loyola Marymount University. She lives in Los Angeles with her writer husband and two pet parrots.