Ruth Tilley is the vice president, human resources for McKesson Corporation. She is a seasoned HR leader with 20+ years of experience in a variety of industries and disciplines within HR. Past experiences include, Talent Delivery Leader at McKesson, HRBP at McKesson, HR Director at American HomeCare, Employment & Compensation Manager at VA Community College System.

Passionate about building the right teams with the right talent, developing talent and leadership capabilities, and creating an engaging culture, she believes that if you have the right organization structure, the right talent and the right culture, you will WIN.

Tilley is from Richmond, VA but recently moved from Atlanta, GA to Dallas, TX. She has a master’s degree in Strategic HR from the University of Richmond.

Willie (he/him) is a keynote speaker, consultant, and facilitator who helps organizations advance vital conversations that unlock connections across differences. His belief in the transformative power of media to change narratives led him to found Abernathy, a magazine for black men backed by companies like Mailchimp, Atlassian, and WeWork. In its four-year run, Abernathy published 400+ articles and produced a series of curated events for diverse professionals across the nation.

Willie served as Founding Technical Lead of Seth Godin’s altMBA program for high-performing individuals who want to level up and lead, and CTO of The Domino Project, an award-winning publishing company founded by business luminary Seth Godin and powered by Amazon.com. He's been featured in documentaries (I’m Fine, Thanks), on HGTV (House Hunters International), and in print (Icarus Deception). Willie is an avid houseplant aficionado and loves to spread the gospel of self-watering planters whenever possible.

Bertina Ceccarelli joined NPower as Chief Executive Officer in May, 2016. NPower is a national nonprofit dedicated to creating pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities. NPower empowers under-represented talent to pursue tech futures by teaching the digital and professional skills demanded by the marketplace, and by engaging corporations, volunteers and nonprofits in the long-term success of our students.

Ms. Ceccarelli is an engineer by training and began her career in technology as a Systems Analyst for Procter & Gamble before moving into sales and marketing for the company. After P&G, she joined the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), where she served in several executive roles, including Senior Vice President, Marketing for NBC’s online ventures and Senior Vice President for Brand Strategy for NBCi, a portfolio company of the broadcast network.

After a successful career in the corporate sector, Ms. Ceccarelli chose to transition her skills to the nonprofit sector. Growing up in a working-class family and the first to graduate from high school, she was drawn to a community that once supported her own educational endeavors. In 2001, Ms. Ceccarelli joined United Way of New York City as Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement where she led marketing, brand strategy, donor relationship management, fundraising, and corporate volunteer engagement.

Prior to her appointment at NPower, she served as Executive Vice President of Global Resources at the Wildlife Conservation Society where she led fundraising from private sources, capital campaigns, corporate strategy, conservation finance, membership, direct response, and events. She was responsible for generating over $85 million annually in programmatic and unrestricted funds. In her role she led brand development and strategy for the Society and launched Future Leaders, a workforce development initiative to accelerate career success for local Bronx youth.

Bertina holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley. She has served on the board of Girls Inc. New York and the Strategic Planning Council for Brooklyn Youth Chorus. She has also served on the board of Women in Development and chaired the Harvard Business School Club of New York’s Social Enterprise Conference. She is a certified yoga instructor. Bertina lives in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn with her husband and teenage son.

Bobby Griffin is the Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion for CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services company with over 100,000 employees and operations in over 100 countries. In his role, Bobby works closely with the Chief Diversity Officer and leadership on  development and execution of CBRE’s diversity and inclusion strategy and plans. Bobby provides guidance aimed at further positioning CBRE as an employer of choice for diverse talent. He focuses on CBRE’s commitment to its employees and the diversity and inclusion mission: To foster an inclusive and engaging work environment that values and leverages employee differences to achieve world class business results. This includes developing, implementing and supporting diversity initiatives, enhancing the effectiveness of employee networks and integration of D&I into talent acquisition and talent management processes. Bobby also works to engage and effectively partner with diversity focused organizations, suppliers and communities to enhance diversity & inclusion within CBRE and in the customer base and communities in which the company conducts business.

Prior to joining CBRE, Bobby was the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Flowserve Corporation, a manufacturing and fluid motion services company with operations in 50 countries across 3 global regions. In his role, Bobby was responsible for partnering with leadership on the strategy design and execution of Flowserve’s global D&I effort.  Prior to Joining Flowserve, Bobby worked as the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Alcon/Novartis, a global eye care and pharmaceutical manufacturing and sales company with operations in 75 countries around the world.

Bobby has also held various regional and national level human resource leadership positions in Fortune 100 companies in the consumer products goods and health care sectors including Coca-Cola Enterprises and Merck & Co. Inc.  In these roles he successfully developed and implemented strategies, initiatives, and solutions that drove and supported diversity & inclusion, leadership development, and talent management.

Bobby holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Abilene Christian University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas.

Yvonne Freeman is Vice President Global Total Rewards & HR Operations at Sabre Industries.

Ms. Freeman is a results-oriented HR executive with success across a number of industries, including high-tech, retail, and consumer products. Leveraging extensive experience leading teams to improve organizational effectiveness, and create value through innovation, she is a change maker for companies going through growth, public or private transition, and culture change. Her broad areas of expertise include root cause analysis and process improvement, M&A, employment branding, mentoring and succession planning, team building and employee engagement.

Throughout her executive career, Ms. Freeman has held leadership positions at companies including Michaels, Raytheon, and Mattel Toys. She joined Sabre in 2018, as VP of Global Total Rewards, working with the HR and executive leadership team to create a better place for all team members to do their best work.

Yvonne holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Dallas. She has served as an advisor with Blackstone Equity Healthcare and Dallas HR, and is actively involved in Carry the Load, a Dallas based charitable organization dedicated to restoring the meaning of Memorial Day and honoring our military and first responders, as well as the Neuro Assistance Foundation, dedicated to ensuring every spinal cord injured or disabled person has the equipment necessary to be mobile and independent.

Curtis Brooks is responsible for Talent, Employee Experience, and Culture at DXC.

Curtis is also a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas’ Executive and Professional Development Coaching Graduate program and is Principal owner of The Blueprint Executive & Professional Development Coaching firm.

The Blueprint firm partners with professionals -through coaching relationships- in identifying necessary confidence, skills, and strategies- to overcome internal and external obstacles; navigate career challenges and opportunities; and, achieve success in every field of endeavor.

He has 20 years of experience designing Talent Strategies and shaping Learning organizations. Prior to his current role, Curtis led DE&I Education, Career Development, and Content Curation for U.S. Bank’s Corporate division and served as head of Learning and Development for U.S. Bank's Mortgage Servicing and Lending Services Division. Before joining U.S. Bank in 2017, he served in a number of leadership roles including Assistant Vice President of Leadership and Organizational Development for Mr. Cooper, Assistant Vice President-Director of Servicing Training for Homeward Residential, and Vice President of Training and Development for Bank of America Home Loans.

Curtis holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Business Management from Stephen F. Austin State University, is currently completing a Master’s degree in Leadership & Organizational Development from the University of Texas at Dallas; and, is certified in many disciplines including Meyer’s Briggs MBTI, FIRO-B, PDI 360 Coaching, and Prosci Change Management. He resides in Texas with his wife and three children.

Dr. Ollie Malone is Vice President, Human Resources for DFW International Airport, where he oversees all aspects of human resource functioning including hiring, staffing, development, diversity and inclusion compensation, benefits, employee relations, and the Airport’s award-winning wellness programs.

Ollie joined DFW after having founded and headed his own organization development consulting firm, Olive Tree Associates, which he managed for more than 20 years–working with domestic and international clients throughout the world. He has also held executive positions with Goodwill Industries, Pennzoil-Quaker State, The Mead Corporation, Sprint, and AT&T. In these capacities, he has brought leadership to a variety of areas including finance, marketing, operations, as well as human resources.

As a consultant, his clients included such organizations as Shell, American Express, Boeing, State Farm Insurance, WalMart, and the Howard Hughes Corporation.

The author of four books focusing on leadership effectiveness, Dr. Malone has published articles and book chapters, on a variety of topics including leadership effectiveness, employee learning and development, and diversity management.

Ollie has taught at the university level in a number of graduate programs including the country’s first master’s program in diversity management, held at Cleveland State University where Ollie was co-director of the program.

As vice president, human resources for Susan G. Komen®, Catherine Olivieri oversees the people-related programs and policies to connect and align business to people strategies throughout the organization. This includes talent acquisition, talent management, employee benefits, compensation, employee relations, succession planning and organizational development. She assures that Susan G. Komen complies with requirements of ERISA, EEO and all federal, state and local statutes in support of the world’s largest breast cancer organization.

Olivieri brings to Komen more than 25 years of experience in human resources and risk management, working for a variety of companies including manufacturing conglomerate RBH International, AON Consulting, Tia’s, Inc., Wyatt’s and Roma Corporation. Her experience in each of these capacities has always encompassed both risk management and human resources.

Prior to joining Komen, Olivieri held several positions of increasing responsibility at CEC Entertainment in Irving, Texas, ultimately earning the position of Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Risk Management.

Olivieri received her Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from Elmira College in New York. She also holds a Corporate Risk Management Certificate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She has earned her Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) designations.

Komen’s mission to end breast cancer is deeply personal to Olivieri, who lost her mother to breast cancer. She is married, has three children, and enjoys spending time outdoors. She and her family live in the Dallas area.

Tony Schwartz is the CEO and founder of The Energy Project, a global consultancy focused on the invisible human factors that stand in the way of business transformation and sustainable high performance. He was named a “Hero of Conscious Capitalism” by Conscious Capitalism® International for his contributions toward realizing a world in which business is both practiced and recognized as a force for good.

Tony has grounded his life and his work in the belief that human beings are forever capable of becoming better versions of themselves. He is considered one of the world’s thought leaders around building more human, humane and higher performing organizations.

Tony began his career as a journalist and he has been a reporter for the New York Times, a writer for Newsweek, and a contributor to publications including the Washington Post, the Guardian, New York, Esquire, and Vanity Fair.

Since founding The Energy Project in 2003, Tony has written extensively for the New York Times and the Harvard Business Review, including several articles that have won worldwide attention: “Manage Your Energy Not Your Time” and “The Productivity Paradox” for HBR, and “Why You Hate Work,”  “Relax, You’ll Be More Productive,” and “Addicted to Distraction” for the New York Times. He also has a regular TV segment on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,” called “State of Mind.

Tony is the author of several books, including “The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time” with Jim Loehr, which spent 28 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, and “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working,” a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller.

Tony has delivered keynotes and trainings to leaders of companies around the world, including Google, Unilever, Apple, Facebook, Whole Foods, Ahold Delhaize, Ernst and Young, Microsoft, the Los Angeles Police Department, Kaiser
Permanente, the National Security Agency, and Save the Children.

Tony graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan. He is married to Deborah Pines, a psychotherapist, with whom he has two daughters, Kate and Emily, and four grandchildren, all of whom he adores. He is also an avid tennis player and ballroom dancer.

As CEO, Katherine Wagner has provided executive leadership for Business Council for the Arts for nearly a decade, expanding business support for the arts through programs such as Leadership Arts institute in Dallas and Collin/Denton Counties, On My Own Time, a business engagement program based in creativity, the Business of Art , providing education to arts organizations and artists, the Arts & Industry Breakfasts and studies on the economic impact of arts and culture.

Ms. Wagner began her career in arts management at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she received her MFA and a Ford Foundation Grant.

Previous to her current position, Ms. Wagner served for more than 10 years as Executive Director of Dallas Visual Art Center (now “the Contemporary”), providing opportunities for regional working artists, arts organizations and arts supporters and representing the organization to The Meadows Foundation, Inc. on the design and building of a new state-of-the-art facility which was completed in 2000.

Ms. Wagner has served as a curator, jurist, panelist and representative for numerous organizations including those of the General Services Administration, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs and Americans for the Arts as well as for regional municipalities and private business interests.

Ms. Wagner serves on the Cultural Plan Steering Committee for the City of Dallas, the Cultural Tourism Committee for the City of Dallas and on the advisory boards of the Mexico Institute, Creative Arts Center and Inspire Art Dallas. She was a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Business, given by the Dallas Historical Society in 2018, was named in DCEO’s most influential North Texas leaders in 2018. She will be receiving the award for North Texas Community Arts Leader from the Southern Graphics Council International in March, 2019, and accepting the award for 2019 Arts Advocate on behalf of Business Council for the Arts by the Greater Children’s Chorus of Dallas in April, 2019. She is featured in the March 2019 issue of DCEO magazine.

Sharla is Vice President, Learning and Development Manager for Hilltop Holdings, headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has an extensive background in learning initiatives, employee engagement and career development. As a Certified Strengths Coach, Sharla is a fierce strengths enthusiast and strengths champion and is passionate about helping others grow and succeed by leveraging their strengths so they can become more of who they already are. She shares her passion for strengths as a keynote speaker, strengths coach and group facilitator.

Sharla has earned a reputation as a warm and caring facilitator who ensures her participants have excellent learning experiences and are able to apply that learning at work and at home.

Sharla has a bachelor’s degree in Human Relations from Southern Nazarene University, as well as SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications. She also holds other numerous certifications from Bergerac, DDI, Gallup, InsideOut Development, Partners in Leadership, Personalysis, Prosci, Root Learning and VitalSmarts.

Sumi Sran is the venture lead at PwC Boarding Pass, a solution that focuses on the design and delivery of employee experiences that drive high engagement. With 15 years of experience and technology strategy expertise, Sran has advised Fortune 500 executives as well as managed technology startups. With a sharp focus on business enablement via innovation and technology, he is passionate about developing strategic digital applications and phenomenal user experiences that produce positive business outcomes.

suminder.sran@pwc.com

Tyler Muse is the Founder and CEO of Lingo Live, a language learning company started in 2012 after learning Spanish over Skype from a woman in Guatemala. Today, Lingo Live helps thousands of working professionals across the globe to express their authentic voice and communicate more effectively in their jobs through highly personal, one-on-one English communication training. The company’s mission is to encourage meaningful human connections through learning.

Prior to starting Lingo Live in 2012, Tyler worked as an analyst for GE Energy Financial Services. His team underwrote power project finance opportunities in emerging markets such as Latin America, India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia

Danielle is a former educator turned CSR champion, working with companies of all shapes and sizes to help them leverage technology to enhance and grow their charitable giving and volunteering programs. As a Sales Manager for YourCause, a Blackbaud company, she leads a team within Sales and Marketing responsible for building the Global Good Network and partnering with companies to connect their employees to the causes they care about most. As a part of the YourCause team since 2014, Danielle has had the opportunity to play a part in the exciting growth of the YourCause organization and technology, the expansion of the Global Good Network, and to share in the impact of what over 350 corporations can do together when collaborating with a technology partner dedicated to their success. Outside of YourCause, Danielle is busy expanding her own family and has a baby girl on the way, expected to arrive in January!

Brittany Hill is the CEO of Accelerist, the partnership intelligence SaaS platform where some of the industry’s most prolific brands and nonprofits prospect, value, access and measure their events and partnerships with each other. As a passionate data seeker and trend translator, Brittany specializes in using analytics and innovations to support B-corporations and Fortune 1000 companies as well as enterprise and federated nonprofits in their pursuit of sustainable events and partnerships. In her role, Brittany spearheads social impact product development and leads a talented team who has supported 100s of customers in effectuating social change.

Brittany holds over 15 years of experience in the entertainment, nonprofit and agency sectors, with a consistent specialization and commitment to purpose-driven work. Throughout her career, Mrs. Hill’s portfolio of work ranges from building multi-channel partnerships and award-winning campaigns between blue-chip nonprofits and companies, to helping entertainers and celebrities find their social purpose, and producing social activism events.

Brittany’s trendsetting insights have been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, TIME, and MSN.com. She is a seasoned speaker on the topics of data-driven cause partnerships, social impact measurement, industry trends, sponsorship valuation and cause partnership sales, with previous engagements at Sustainable Brands, SXSW, Association of Fundraising Professionals and Engage for Good

Mina Morris is a Partner with Aon’s Assessment Solution Practice.  As an organizational psychologist, Mina works with clients to maximize the effectiveness of their talent selection processes, implement talent management systems and manage change.

Mina has extensive global experience partnering with clients in North America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East to deliver human capital solutions that help deliver business results. Before joining Aon, Mina held various management consulting roles with leading human capital firms.

Mina holds a Masters of Science in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Psychology, from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Rick is responsible for AT&T’s global corporate diversity segment strategy – supporting a range of diverse communities including women, people with disabilities, Native Americans, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. He and his team drive initiatives that elevate AT&T's impact on its diverse communities, workforce, suppliers and consumers.

Rick started his professional career in consumer sales. Since then, he has continued to elevate into more expansive roles, ranging from both strategic and large scale operational leadership positions - sales management, ethics/EEO compliance, mergers & acquisition integration, recruiting/talent acquisition, corporate strategy and global HR policy.

Rick holds a bachelor's degree in communications from John Carroll University and a master's degree in labor relations and human resources from Cleveland State University. He currently resides in Dallas.

Joan Buccigrossi, PhD is Head, Global Diversity & Inclusion for Alcon.

Joan is a seasoned organizational development professional with expertise in D&I, culture change and leadership development. She has a reputation for collaborating with senior business leaders to create and execute innovative, strategic plans to meet organizational goals.

Previously, Joan led D&I efforts as the Director of Global Inclusion and Engagement and Rockwell Automation, and the Director of D&I at the Kellogg Company. Prior to these corporate roles, Joan was a strategic consultant to Whirlpool, GE and Mobil Corporation (now Exxon/Mobil), among others. She has also worked in the US, Bolivia, Hungary and Switzerland as a broadcast and documentary film producer.

Joan earned her Master of Arts in Human Development from Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, and her Bachelor’s in education and English from The College of St. Rose in Albany, New York. She also holds a doctorate in Organizational Systems and Development from Fielding, with a focus on intercultural competencies and working across differences.

Sejal Desai leads CFT For Business, an initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas. In her role, she has worked with over 300 companies across North Texas to engage them with the community through strategic philanthropic consulting and community engagement.

Sejal is also the Founder of SevaYatra, a social venture that offers short-term service project opportunities at NGOs in India. Sejal previously worked as a Principal at MHT Partners, a boutique investment bank based in Dallas where she worked on cross-border merger and acquisitions primarily between US and Indian companies. She was also a Co-Founder and Principal of STARTech Early Ventures, a seed stage venture firm, that invested in early stage technology ventures in Texas. She also led various entrepreneurial education and training efforts as CEO of STARTech Foundation, a sister organization of STARTech Early Ventures. In addition to STARTech, Sejal also co-founded and sold a hands-on science education business, Mad Science of Denton County. Prior to her work in the U.S., Sejal served as a manager in the corporate advisory services division for Ernst & Young in Mumbai, India for a few years where she worked on various foreign inward investment projects, valuation as well as due diligence studies. She began her career at D.J. Shukla & Co., where she handled personal taxes and conducted audits for domestic corporations.

In her career, she has worked with over 300 entrepreneurs and 35 venture-backed companies and investors. She also has extensive working knowledge of the philanthropic community in India and US. Sejal is an active volunteer in the community and is often found with her family, friends and colleagues at Hunger Busters, North Texas Food Bank, The StewPot Second Chance Café, Minnie’s Food Pantry and more.

She is the recipient of the Dallas Business Journal Women in Business Award in 2019 and the Audrey Kaplan Inspiring Women of the Southwest. She serves on the Boards of Trusted World and talkSTEM, SMU’s Women of the Southwest, North Texas Food Bank’s Indo American Council. Sejal is a co-founder of the Orchid Giving Circle and Be the Change South Asian Youth Giving Circle. Sejal has previously served on the boards of The Dallas Assembly, DFW South Asian Film Festival, thinkIndia Foundation, Texans Credit Union and On-Target Supplies & Logistics Ltd. Sejal is a graduate of Leadership Richardson and a Fellow of the OpEd Project.

Sejal holds a Masters in Liberal Studies from Southern Methodist University. She has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and she is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Sejal lives in Dallas with her husband, Hemang and two children, Mohan and Maya.

Dr. Phillip Shero is the President of MasterMinds Leadership, a cutting-edge executive coaching, team development, and strategic planning consultancy located in Fort Worth, Texas.

Helping others grow as leaders is Dr. Shero’s driving force. He brings two decades of leadership development and strategic planning expertise to some of the most well-known medium-sized finance, non-profit, and construction companies in Texas. With a long track record of success in coaching existing and emerging leaders at the CEO, partner, and senior management levels, he has become known as one of the most dynamic and engaged leadership and strategic planning coaches in DFW. His national reputation is growing through his expert leadership training seminars; senior leadership retreat facilitation; strategic planning services; and a full line of job benchmarking products. Dr. Shero holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Regent University, as well as an M.T.S. from Texas Christian University, and a B.A. from Harding University.

Dr. Shero’s experience and scholarly education enable him to apply a unique practical perspective, innovative leadership, and organizational theory to the real-world issues facing business owners and leaders. Today, he focuses on coaching leaders to build and grow their companies through intentional leadership development.

Phillip is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hiking, camping, running, and cycling. He has completed three cycling events of over 150 miles and climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341ft). Phillip and Laura have been married since 1995 and have three children.

As E4E Relief’s Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships, Ashley enjoys working with a determined group of (mostly female!) leaders, as well as thoughtful organizations around the globe to spread the word on why employee relief programs are good for people and good for business. A born and bred Tarheel, Ashley graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with degrees in organizational communications and romance languages.  Her love for language and all things sports is now mostly practiced with her two kids.  Serving on community boards including the YMCA, U.S. Airways Education Foundation, and the Ballard Food Bank have been significant opportunities for her to participate in advancing meaningful missions.

Cheryl, a journalism graduate of SMU, has covered business for more than 45 years and gets her phone calls returned. She's won numerous awards including several Katies from the Press Club of Dallas and a lifetime distinguished achievement award from the Society of American Business Editors and writers.

As a Managing Director at Citigroup, Dan currently serves as the head of Global Storage and Engineered Systems responsible for cloud technologies including storage, engineered systems and associated delivery vehicles. Dan and his team are driving world class innovation in the financial industry focusing on software defined storage, cloud, dev-ops, deep analytics, AI and next generation data center transformation. In addition, Dan serves as Citigroup’s operational executive for next generation compute technologies including GP-GPU systems, Quantum computing and deep learning networks. He works extensively with the executive team at the world's largest vendors of storage and compute to build unique and massively scaled compute and storage ecosystems. Of note, Dan is responsible for setting board level strategic direction for technology at Citi.

Dan’s military career began at New Mexico Military Institute ROTC in 1989. He was commissioned in 1991 as a Field Artillery Officer and served in the Army National Guard until 2003. While in The Guard he served at various locations including Korea where he served as a Scout Platoon Leader, Battery Commander, Fires Direction Officer as well as Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Officer.

As a veteran, Dan is proud to be involved in and help drive Citi’s initiatives that value and increase the hiring of veterans. He sits on the Citi Salutes Affinity Steering Committee, Npower National Advisory Council, Npower Apprenticeship Group, Citi Salutes Affinity Steering Committee. He also serves as a key champion of Veterans on Wall Street Dallas Chapter.

Erica Yaeger is the Chief External Affairs Officer for the North Texas Food Bank. Prior to joining the Food Bank, she served as Assistant Dean of Development and Alumni Relations at The University of Texas at Dallas, where she led the Naveen Jindal School of Management’s development and alumni relations team, and as Executive Director of Sci-Tech Discovery Center in Frisco. Before joining the non-profit sector, Yaeger spent eight years in the telecom industry and was the founder, owner and publisher of Richardson Living magazine, a lifestyles publication designed to connect communities and inspire involvement.

As a community volunteer and advocate, Yaeger currently serves on the City of Richardson Civil Service Board, Junior League of Collin County Advisory Council and John Paul II High School Board of Trustees.  However, she is most excited about engaging the community in her current role to support the mission of the NTFB and to close the hunger gap in North Texas.

Yaeger earned a Bachelor of Communication from North Carolina State University and an MBA with a concentration in marketing from The University of Texas at Dallas. She lives in Richardson with her husband, Dave, and two children.

About North Texas Food Bank

The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit hunger-relief organization operating a state-of-the-art volunteer and distribution center in Plano— the Perot Family Campus. Last year, the Food Bank worked hard in partnership with member agencies from our Feeding Network to provide access to almost 77 million nutritious meals across a diverse 13-county service area— this means more than 200,000 meals per day for hungry children, seniors and families. But the need for hunger relief in North Texas is complex and in order to meet the need the NTFB is working to increase our food distribution efforts. Our goal is to provide access to 92 million nutritious meals annually by 2025. NTFB is a member of Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization.

Crystal Janes is the Storage Product Manager for Citi’s Technology Infrastructure organization. As Storage Product Manager, she owns and drives the development of next generation distributed storage products across global datacenters.

Prior to joining Citi, Crystal spent 7 years in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Maintenance Administrator stationed at naval airbases in Fort Worth, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida with multiple detachments to Bahrain, Japan, Italy, and Guam.

While in the Navy, she managed several Naval Aviation Maintenance Programs and served as Logs & Records Assistant Leading Petty Officer, and Lead Squadron Data Analyst & Database Admin. Her duties included scheduling and issuing aircraft inspections and work orders, ensuring reliability and accuracy of aircraft system charts, and maintaining aircraft electronic records. In addition to her primary duties, she served as a staff writer for the Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base Newspaper, Career Councilor, Command Fitness Leader, and served on the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) committee.

As a veteran and champion of cultural change, Crystal enjoys giving back to the veteran community and being a catalyst for cultural development. She serves on the Dallas Citi Salutes Steering Committee, Organizational Employee Engagement Co-Chair, Culture Champion, and recently joined the NPower Regional Advisory Board.

Crystal earned her B.S. in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from Campbellsville University and a M.S. in Business Analytics from the University of North Texas. She is also an NPower Alumni, graduating from Dallas Tech Fundamentals Class 7 in December 2016.

Military Awards include four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Navy Good Conducts, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and VR-62’s 2014 Junior Sailor of the Year.

Civilian Awards include 2011 GEICO Military Service Award and Community Builder Award given by the North Texas U.S. Attorney’s office.

Sean Gaven has been a member of the American Airlines team for over 18 years. He is currently a SVP with American Airlines Federal Credit Union, a $7.5 billion financial institution organized to support the financial wellness of American Airlines employees and their families.

Mr. Gaven participates in a number of industry organizations including the Research Council for Filene (a Credit Union industry think-tank), Experian’s Credit Union Advisory Board and serves on the Board for the North Texas Business Council for the Arts.

Sean is a proud graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where he received his bachelor & masters degrees and most importantly met his wife of 20+ years.

As business engagement officer for CFT for Business, Kymberlaine builds bridges between companies, their employees and the community. She guides those who value being good corporate citizens toward relationships with each other, connecting them with nonprofits in need of volunteers, board members and financial support.

Kymberlaine combines executive expertise in public relations, communications and employee engagement in the corporate arena with a long history of board and volunteer service in the community. She takes joy in building relationships that serve the greater good.  Kymberlaine's passion is forming meaningful connections with people to form community because we are all stronger when we recognize and celebrate each other's originality, diversity, and humanity.

Tresia Eaves is a Senior Manager within the Technology Consulting Practice of Protiviti. Tresia has a total of 26 years of combined military, consulting, and line leadership experience.  She is also an author, instructor and public speaker.  Tresia was a recent finalist for the Tech Titans Community Hero award in 2018 and was awarded “Top Women in IT” by the Dallas Business Journal in 2017. She is a PhD student at UNT expected to defend her dissertation in 2020.  Her area of study for her doctorate is Information Science and how veterans seek information when looking for employment in North Texas when transitioning from the military. Her book, “Above and Beyond: The Secrets of Outstanding Project Leadership” was published in 2014 and expands on her combined military and industry experiences and how they contribute to her project management skills. Tresia has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Baylor University, a Master’s in Human Relations--Organizational Behavior from the University of Oklahoma. She achieved her Project Management Professional certification in 1999, was awarded the PMI Dr. Harold R. Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award in 2007, earned her Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma in 2009, and graduated from the PMI Leadership Masters Course in May of 2010.  She was awarded the PMI Educational Foundation’s Community Achievement Award in 2017 based on her work with NPower and helping veterans through a Speed Mentoring program she created which connects veterans/their spouses with executive mentors who coach and help them find technology jobs after they complete training with NPower.  She is a member of several non-profit boards including: the NPower Texas Regional Board, the Agile for Patriots Board of Directors, serves as the long-time Philanthropy Chair for the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of Society for Information Management (SIMDFW), and she is the Past President of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Project Management Institute (FWPMI).  Tresia is also a proud USAF veteran who served from 1992-2000 working on the AWACS programs at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma and later for NATO AWACS in Geilenkirchen, Germany. She resides in Grapevine, Texas with her family.

Russ joined NPower as the Executive Director for the Texas region on June 1, 2017. NPower has impacted over 4,000 young adults, and 1,200 Veterans and Veterans Spouses. Recently, the Governor of Texas cited NPower with a Proclamation for its dedicated Apprenticeship and Workforce efforts.  Additionally, the Texas Workforce Commission awarded NPower the Veterans Employer Support of the Year. Russ was recognized by D  CEO as the Outstanding Technology Advocate at the CIO/CTO Awards, and received the Society of Information Management National Technology and STEM Advocate of Year for 2019.

Russ is a seasoned professional with decades of leadership experience in building and growing technology companies. He has contributed in a variety of roles with startup and fortune 500 companies.

As an entrepreneur, Russ successfully launched a startup that built a nationwide broadband network for clients such as Lucent and Verizon that the Wall Street Journal recognized as Startup of the Year.

Russ retired from the US Army after serving 22 years as an enlisted soldier and officer.   Russ is an advocate for other non-profits such as the American Legion, 22Kill, USO, Women Veterans in Technology, SIM, PMI, AUSA, ESGR, Allies in Service, CitySquare, and the United Way.  He is focused on helping veterans and their spouses successfully transition into new civilian careers.

He served as an Infantry Commander and he is a qualified Airborne Ranger. He received his commission from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.  Russ and his wife Lorie live in Frisco, TX, and have 5 children and 7 grandchildren.

Rob Schneider is currently Managing Editor-Events for the Dallas Business Journal. He oversees the editorial components for the Business Journal's live events, including writing, editing, visuals, photo and video. Previously he was Creative Director of the Dallas Business Journal.

Prior to that, Rob was Presentation Director for The Dallas Morning News in charge of design, graphics and illustrations for the publication. He has led successful redesigns of the DMN, The Providence Journal and various other print and digital products.

In his career, Schneider has been an editor, designer, writer, photographer, copy editor and sports editor for newspapers in Missouri (St. Joseph News-Press and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and Nebraska (Omaha World-Herald.) His work has been awarded by The Society for News Design, Malofiej, Communication Arts, Illustrator’s Annual, PRINT magazine and other state and regional journalism competitions.

Rob is a past president for The Society for News Design and has been a regular volunteer since 1997. He's served as speaker at seven SND annual workshops and has been a three-time judge at SND's creative competition. Rob has organized and hosted several SND Quick Courses in Texas and has been a featured speaker for SND and other organizations at events around the country.

Odessa Jenkins is the Founder of the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC), and sought after executive leader. She most recently served as the Head of Business Develop for Parity, and VP of Support/Ops at YourCause. An in demand national speaker, Jenkins is also the founder of multiple nonprofits. She is a recognized market leader in CSR, DE&I, Team Dynamics, and SAAS technology with multiple years of leadership experience in private funded start-ups, joint ventures and fortune 100 public companies. Jenkins served for several years as an executive leader at YourCause, a start-up which helped to revolutionize the CSR industry.

As a disrupter in sports, Jenkins is paving the way to create inclusion and equity in sports for women and girls. She was an inaugural participant in the NFL’s first Women’s Career in Football Forum and is one of the first women to obtain the coveted NFL Bill Walsh Diversity Internship in an on-field position (Running Backs Coach – Atlanta Falcons). Featured on Fox, Sport Illustrated, CBS, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, The Undefeated and more, Jenkins was recently recognized as one of the most influential and powerful women in sports by Sports Illustrated (Unrelenting).

Jenkins has 22 years of coaching and leadership experience, is a Hall of Fame, a 5X National Champion, 2X USA National Team captain, 2X Gold Medalist, and heralded as one of the top leadership experts in the country.

Levi Nieminen, PhD is the Central Regional Vice President of Sales at BetterUp.

Prior to joining BetterUp, Levi was the Director of Research, Senior Consultant, and Partner at Denison Consulting, where he advised global organizations on culture diagnosis and transformation including British Petroleum, Lowe’s, and the Defense Logistics Agency.

Levi has published and presented extensively on topics including: the impact of organizational culture on performance and safety, the role of coaching in culture change, and behavioral and psychological assessments and analytics.

Levi has a PhD in Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology.

Brandon Call is the managing editor of D CEO magazine, which has been named the best regional business publication in the country. Previously he served as data editor for the Dallas Business Journal and research director for Albuquerque Business First. Prior to that, he held various editorial posts at Albuquerque The Magazine and New Mexico Magazine.

A graduate of The University of New Mexico where he earned a degree in communications and journalism, Call has written for a variety of business and lifestyle publications. His work has been honored by the Association of Area Business Publications, City and Regional Magazine Association, International Regional Magazine Association, and Society of Professional Journalists.

Call is a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico. His interests include art, tennis, travel, and his rescue dog, Lambert.

Mr. Philip Silvestri is President and Publisher of Local Profile, Collin County’s leading publishing and events company that is focused on bringing communities together through paper, pixels and in-person events. Established in 1982, Local Profile is based in Plano, Texas and reaches a monthly audience of approximately 500,000 readers.

Connecting communities is Mr. Silvestri’s passion. He brings two decades of marketing, events, publishing and community building experience to the North Texas market. Having transformed, rebranded and repositioned Local Profile from Plano Profile, Mr. Silvestri has been a driving force to leverage the power of local media to connect communities. It’s his mission to ask important questions, spark meaningful conversations and shine a spotlight on the incredible, and diverse, members of our communities making a difference—while striving to correctly represent the unique demographics of North Texas.

Leveraging the power of in-person events, Mr. Silvestri has invested in a range of high-quality leadership and inclusion programming to fill the needs of North Texas residents and businesses. Upcoming 2020 events include: 19th Annual Women in Business Summit, Dynamic Women of Color Summit, LGBTQ+ Summit, Latinx/Hispanic Summit and Mental Health Summit.

Mr. Silvestri is also a proud husband and father of two and enjoys exploring his surrounding communities with his family, always seeking out the interesting things happening locally.

Growing from a passion for connecting and creating thriving communities, Mr. Silvestri has been a supporter of the arts, recognizing their importance as a vital aspect of a community that brings people together to share ideas and perspectives, enriching all those involved. This passion has driven ongoing participation with arts organizations and nonprofits. Recent collaborations have included: Business Council for the Arts, The Kinsey Collection, Plano Art Centre, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Davidoff Art Initiative and the Altos de Chavon School of Design, affiliated with the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York.

Mimi Crume Sterling is Vice President of Corporate Culture and Philanthropy at Neiman Marcus Group.  Relocating her family to Dallas in 2014 after 15 years of working in Luxury Fashion and Lifestyle PR, Branding, and Marketing in New York City, Mimi joined Neiman Marcus originally as Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations.  After five years of service, she assumed a new role in early 2019, in which she is responsible for enriching the lives of Neiman Marcus Group associates through corporate culture and igniting communities through the Youth Arts and Creativity focus of the Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation.

During her time in New York City, she held positions at Hermès, HL Group (a luxury PR agency), Assouline, and Hearst Magazines - where she oversaw PR for Harper’s Bazaar, Town&Country, Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, among many others.  She has also launched a private island in Turks and Caicos, through driving their marketing and communications.

In addition to raising her family with a focus on service and the arts, philanthropy was engrained in Mimi’s life at a very young age, starting with shadowing her mother who was very active within the Indianapolis Children’s Museum Guild throughout the 1970s and 80s.  During her senior year, Mimi was head of the Community Service program at her high school, Phillips Academy, Andover.  Staying true to both her personal and professional mission, Mimi is a proud board member of Business Council of the Arts, an organization creating strong business/arts partnerships that build world-class communities where people want to live, work and grow.

Supporting a mission close to home, Mimi is also a proud member of the leadership board of Friends of Solar Prep, a non-profit organization that supports the Solar Preparatory School for Girls, a challenging, nurturing, and inclusive performance-based learning environment.  She is also active in the ATTPAC Education and Community Engagement Committee, and the Girls Scouts of North Texas Latinx Community Engagement Committee.

Mimi grew up in Indiana and spent most of her formative years between Boston and New York City.  She has traveled to more than 40 countries, has lived in Paris, Milan, and Rabat, Morocco.  In addition to art, her personal passion is SCUBA diving, and as a child, dreamed of being Jacques Cousteau’s assistant.

Mimi lives in Dallas with her husband Ulrich, their two small children: Veva (8) and Murphy (6), her mom, Michele, and their Labradoodle, Oliver.

Bret is the co-founder and CEO of The Pack Shack, a nationwide nonprofit that supplies provisions and opportunities for neighbors in need. The Pack Shack's crazy fun Feed the Funnel parties have engaged more than 165,000 people in 40 states to pack over 33 million meals for local nonprofits across the country. When he's not packing meals, Bret can be found with his family on their farm in the Ozarks.

Héber currently serves as Vice President at the BVA Nudge Unit USA, a global consultancy that applies behavioral science to effectively encourage and facilitate the adoption of desired behaviors that are beneficial to people, organizations and society.

In this role, he advances strategy and business development and serves as an active consultant, behavioral designer and coach.  Héber’s work is primarily focused on applying insights from behavioral science to organizational transformation and to helping cities prepare for the challenges of tomorrow and the sharing economy, especially in real estate and transport projects. As the driving force behind the BVA Nudge Unit’s Behavioral Blueprint approach for carrying out behavioral analysis within buildings, Héber has been working closely with co-working spaces to address key challenges and increase value for users.

Prior to joining the BVA Nudge Unit, Héber worked as an independent consultant in behavioral science and economic and financial modeling.  Before that, Héber worked as a Senior Associate at ideas42, a nonprofit behavioral science consulting firm.

Héber received his master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and his bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy from Georgetown University.

Jenic is the Executive Vice President of the BVA Nudge Unit USA, a global consultancy that applies behavioral science to effectively encourage and facilitate the adoption of desired behaviors that are beneficial to people, organizations and society.

Through the company’s Nudge Management practice, she works with clients to bridge the leading academic insights on human behavior with design thinking and organizational transformation to boost efforts in the areas of diversity and inclusion, employee wellness and engagement, innovation and culture.  As a consultant to the United Nations HeForShe movement and affiliate clients, driving change for a gender equal world is a passion topic of hers.

Prior to joining the BVA Nudge Unit, Jenic developed and led the global Qualitative Research arm of PRS In Vivo, a global insights company.  She served as a consultant to Fortune 500 clients specializing in the application of behavioral science to influence shopper and consumer behavior.

Jenic holds a BA in Psychology and a BBA in Marketing and Organizational Behavior/Business Policy from Southern Methodist University, and completed Harvard and Yale’s Executive Programs on Behavioral Economics.  She resides in New Jersey, is an avid traveler and is immersed in all things metaphysics.