Maris Krieger is the  Senior Director, Talent Programs at the Hearst Corporation.

Lydia Dishman is Fast Company’s senior editor for growth and engagement. She has also written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton joined The Denver Post in January 2022 as a business reporter, focusing her coverage on social inequities in business. She writes for Smithsonian Magazine, Delish, Eater and other publications. She covers the Hawaiian diaspora for Ka Wai Ola, a Hawaiʻi-based newspaper. She also serves as a faculty adjunct at Arizona State University, teaching Media Issues in American Pop Culture. 

For two years, she chased after lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Bloomberg Government's agriculture and trade policy reporter. Megan has covered the Venezuelan refugee crisis in Peru, parliamentary affairs in England, White House press briefings in Washington, D.C., and the cannabis industry in Colorado.

Dr. Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He trained at Columbia and Harvard, studying empathy and kindness in the human brain. He is interested in human connection and how we can learn to connect better. His new book is “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness,” which bestselling author Adam Grant described this way: “If you think hope is naïve and cynicism is wise, get ready to think again. Jamil Zaki is at the forefront of the science of beliefs, and he shows that refusing to see possibility makes it impossible to solve problems. This book is a ray of light for dark days.” 

Prior to joining MiTek, Dr. Rotolo serviced as Vice President of Global Talent Management and Organization Development for PepsiCo, where his team was responsible for the global core HR people processes including the employee surveys, performance management, leadership development and feedback, career development tools, team effectiveness and early pipeline succession management. Christopher led the design and launch of
PepsiCo’s LeAD program for high potential assessment and identification. This program went on to win
SHRM/SIOP’s HR Impact Award in 2018 as well as several Brandon Hall Awards (2017, 2018, 2020). Prior
to joining PepsiCo, Christopher led the Leadership Strategy and Research team within IBM’s Global
Executive and Organization Capability group, where he was responsible for developing IBM’s strategy for
leadership assessment and development. Christopher’s other experiences include the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Hay Group, as well as running his own consulting firm.
Dr. Rotolo has presented over 50 sessions at professional conferences spanning over 30 years, and has
authored over 30 articles and book chapters focusing on the topics of leadership, high potential, culture,
and talent assessment. In 2015, he and his co-authors were awarded the Elliot Jaques Memorial Best
Paper of the Year Award from the Consulting Psychology Journal for their submission “How are top
companies designing and managing their high-potential programs?”
Since 2003, Dr. Rotolo has been an adjunct professor at New York University’s Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences in the school’s Master’s program in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. He teaches
Hiring & Selection, Organizational Climate and Culture, Training & Development, and Consumer
Psychology. He has also taught at Columbia Teacher’s College and Sacred Heart University.
Dr. Rotolo earned his Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Old Dominion University in
Norfolk, Virginia and his M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at University of Central Florida. His
Bachelors of Science was in Psychology from the University of Florida. He is a Fellow of the Society for
Industrial and Organizational Psychology and past-president of Metropolitan New York Association of
Applied Psychology.

Sonya brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in HR and operations to her current position at Comcast as the VP of HR for the Technical Operations, Network, Engineering, and Construction teams in the West Division.

Sonya joined the Comcast team in 2019 as the VP of HR for the California Region. There she helped California earn the top spot for both YourVoice results and participation, as well as increase overall eNPS scores.

Prior to Comcast, she led Human Resources for 13,000 employees at DaVita Medical Group where she transformed culture, led integrations and technology deployments, and supported growth through mergers and acquisitions work.

She’s received several recognitions including “Woman of the Year” from the Northern California Chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT). She is passionate in her support of several non-profits that advocate for the advancement of women in STEM-related fields.

In her spare time, you can find her somewhere building interesting things with AI, taking a class in quantum computing, or spending time with her fun family and friends.

Steve has spent the last ten years of his career building technology that helps people to learn, grow, and connect. Before starting Campfire, he spent 5 years at Instructure building a talent management platform focused on career development and human performance. He worked with product, marketing, sales, and strategy teams to grow the business from the ground up to $27 million in annual revenue. While with Instructure, he worked with teams at Disney, Tesla, Lululemon, Johnson and Johnson, and other global brands to strengthen their talent management practices.

Now, Steve is focused primarily on finding ways for people to learn and grow through connected learning experiences called Campfires. The business has strong investment and is responsible for training hundreds of managers in the key skills needed to effectively lead teams. Steve’s experience in technology, content, facilitation, and talent management provide a rich mix of skills for solving these challenges.

Campfire was founded in 2020 at the very beginning of the pandemic and has benefitted from the changes and shifts that allow for us to consider new ways of connecting and working with each other. Steve has three co-founders - Todd, Taylor, and Marinne - who are all passionate about the mission of providing universal access to connected learning experiences.

Matthew is the Head of Future of Work Thought Leadership at Microsoft.

Marcus is the Future of Work Strategist at Infor.

Bhavna is the VP, Talent Enablement + Engagement at SiriusXM.

Sumana is the Head HR for Network Services Business Unit at Tech Mahindra.