Kristen Baller is the Head of Talent Acquisition at DISH Network, where she leads diverse facets of the recruitment process, including University Relations, Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing, Sourcing, Diversity Recruitment, and Referral Programs. 

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.

Brie Harvey is a talent management leader and digital strategist who writes and speaks about trends within Human Capital Management and the future of work.

Having served in a variety of leadership roles for HR Technology companies over the last decade, she brings expert level knowledge of Total Rewards, L&D, talent acquisition, and how to cultivate workplace cultures that transform employee engagement and the Employee Value Proposition.

Passionate about the intersection between behavioral science, managerial effectiveness and technology, Brie has partnered with some of the world’s largest, most complex organizations to build high performance cultures centered around authentic appreciation, trust and inclusion.

In her role as an Employee Engagement Evangelist, Brie works with the research arm of Achievers, the Workforce Institute, to share data-based insights about how to enhance employee engagement and recognition strategies for a pandemic-era workplace.

Matthew Gosney is the Vice President, Organizational Development at UCHealth.

Lynanne Kunkel is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Vail Resorts. Kunkel previously served in various executive positions for Michigan-based Whirlpool Corporation, most recently as senior vice president of global human resources. Prior to that role, Kunkel was vice president of global talent development and HR Asia, and earlier served as human resources vice president of the North America region. From 1989-2009, Kunkel served in a number of roles at Ohio-based Procter & Gamble Company, most recently as human resources director of global home care. Throughout her career, Kunkel has led all aspects of human resources to deliver enhanced business performance in areas that include: business HR; talent acquisition; talent management; leadership development; organizational effectiveness; diversity and inclusion; and talent analytics.

Kunkel received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University. She is active in the community, having served in multiple leadership roles with both the United Way and Habitat for Humanity. She, her husband Ray, and their five children are all avid skiers and snowboarders in the winter and enjoy boating and water sports during the summer.

Peter Boyle is the Vice President, Human Resources at Dell Technologies. He previously worked at HP and Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. He earned a BS and MBA from Colorado State University. 

Jennifer Herrod is the Senior Director, Talent COE: Global Learning & Development at Johnson Controls.

Chris Harrington is the SVP at Randstad RiseSmart.

During his college years, Chris enjoyed the academic environment and made the most out of his education. However, fate had other plans for him. After graduating, he found an opportunity that changed the trajectory of his career path. Chris landed a job as a ski instructor in the picturesque mountains of Beaver Creek. This experience ignited a newfound love for teaching and the outdoors.

Realizing that his true calling lay in education, Chris decided to shift gears. He pursued a masters of education in curriculum and instruction while also working for NASA as an instructional designer during his graduate school years. His time at NASA allowed him to combine his passion for teaching with technology, honing his skills as an instructional designer.

After completing his graduate studies, Chris embraced his role as a high school science teacher. He dedicated 11 years of his life to educating and inspiring young minds. His commitment and dedication did not go unnoticed, as he was awarded a full scholarship by the public school system to pursue a second masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology from George Mason University.

Armed with two master’s degrees and a wealth of experience, Chris embarked on a new journey as an instructional designer for various institutions, including the Marine Corps and different universities. But life had more in store for him. Chris’s passion for skiing and snowboarding led him to become the Sr. Manager of Coach Development for U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

In 2018, Chris decided to take the leap and set up his own venture called Emerge ID. He assembled a talented team of LMS Administrators, Curriculum Developers, Instructional Designers, Graphic Artists, Videographers, and Animators. Together, they helped organizations build effective training systems that benefited countless individuals.

Over the years, Chris’s dedication and excellence in his field garnered recognition. He received the prestigious 2020 Coach Educator of the Year from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the 2020 Coach of the Year Award for his volunteer coaching contributions to The Buddy Werner League at Beaver Creek. His exceptional skills and contributions led to an invitation to join the Buddy Werner Board of Directors.

Despite his busy schedule, Chris always made time for his family and hobbies. He now resides in the beautiful Vail Valley in Colorado with his wife, son, daughter, lab mix, and golden retriever. Whenever he’s not immersed in work, you can find him enjoying the great outdoors. He loves mountain biking, backpacking, playing disc golf, strumming his guitar, riding motorcycles, and, of course, skiing and snowboarding with his loved ones and friends.

Chris Packert’s life journey is a testament to the power of following one’s passions and the joy of making a positive impact on others’ lives. As he continues to thrive in his career and personal pursuits, Chris remains an inspiration to those who dream of finding fulfillment and success in life’s unexpected twists and turns.

As the Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Keystone Partners, Tim is responsible for the overall performance of the firm’s sales and marketing initiatives, alignment with the business strategy, and the expansion of Keystone into new markets nationwide and globally.

Tim has over 25 years of expertise spanning across global sales, marketing, client success, and revenue operations. Tim brings a track record of success and expertise in revenue growth, market expansion, and change execution across the teams he’s led with Fortune 100, global enterprise, mid-market, and startup SaaS companies. Tim excels at building and optimizing go-to-market teams and strategies to drive and sustain growth. Over the past 12 years Tim has worked with numerous HR executives on their people and leadership strategies, including employee engagement and performance strategies. Tim has held leadership positions at UPS, Tiffany & Co., O.C. Tanner, Inspire Software, and Reward Gateway; he has also served on the Advisory Board for HR.Com, contributing thought leadership in HR leadership practices. Outside of work, Tim enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf and tennis, skiing, hiking, and rooting for his kids’ college sports teams.

Shawna is responsible for successfully managing and fostering current and prospective client relationships, ensuring proper and consistent delivery of holistic development strategies. Nothing thrills her more than to work with clients, helping companies and individuals excel, grow, and develop. Her warm, engaging style, combined with her quick intellect and understanding of psychological processes, organizational effectiveness, and dynamics have made her a highly sought-after consultant.

She strives to be an authentic leader with a strong commitment to mentoring, promoting collaboration, and developing new approaches that are built on credibility, creativity, ethics, and knowledge. Previously, she held Board positions with the Mile High Society for HR Management (MH-SHRM) and the Executive Advisory Council of the Association for Talent Development, Rocky Mountain Chapter. Shawna is a writer for the ColoradoBiz Magazine, Training Industry, and serves as an Advisor on the Corporationʼs Advisory Board with Merritt Trailers, Inc. 

Libby brings 20+ years’ experience in Management, Sales, Training and Facilitating in the manufacturing, software, medical, and corporate arena.   

Libby began her career in life science in training and sales and then led large teams in the Midwest. After having children, she took the entrepreneurial route and joined Advantage Performance Group, and group of consultants and facilitators.  She based her success on the client’s ability to implement change through individuals and with organizational impact.  She has been awarded honors from BTS and Power-Presentations for collaboration and facilitating in both her rookie years with these organizations. She partnered with Celemi and became their succession plan for the Americas. Libby strives for excellence in each client endeavor.   

Currently at Celemi, Libby leads the Americas team in providing business acumen and agility solutions to corporations throughout the Americas continents. As part of the management team for Celemi’s global organization, she recently began leading global marketing.  She is an integral part of setting strategy at Celemi 

Libby received her Bachelor of Science degree from Western Illinois University and mastered in business administration at Keller Graduate School of Management.  She is also certified in digital marketing strategy from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.      

Mike Siano has spent much of his career as a practitioner of talent management, with a background of nearly two decades in learning and development. He brings experience from for-profit-education, entertainment, healthcare, and manufacturing. During his tenure, he has led Talent Development programs for organizations small and large and been engrained in the technology to support organizations' talent efforts. His industry reach expanded to traditional education, financial, government, logistics, supply chain, and SaaS/technology.  Mike’s holistic approach has a proven record of connecting the value people-centric investments bring to the organization and its bottom line.

Kerri DiCicco, Vice President, Business Development, has spent over 30 years in the healthcare industry. In her role at Progyny, Kerri partners with consultants and employers to provide end to end family- building solutions that drive superior clinical outcomes and cost savings. Prior to joining Progyny, she held various sales roles with Great-West Healthcare and Cigna, and with Anthem where she had responsibility for large accounts. 

Neil Taylor is the Vice President of Product Marketing at Visier.

Melissa Doman, MA, is an Organizational Psychologist, Former Clinical Mental Health Therapist, & Author of Yes, You Can Talk About Mental Health at Work (Here’s Why And How To Do It Really Well). Melissa works with companies across industries around the globe – including clients like Google, Dow Jones, the Orlando City Soccer Club, Microsoft, Salesforce, Siemens, Estée Lauder, & Janssen. She’s spoken at SXSW and has been featured as a subject matter expert in Vogue, NPR, the BBC, CNBC, Inc., and in LinkedIn’s 2022 Top 10 Voices on Mental Health. Having lived abroad in South Korea, England, Australia and traveled to 45+ countries, Melissa calls upon her global experiences to inform how she works with companies around the world. She has one core goal: to equip companies, individuals, and leaders to have constructive conversations about mental health, team dynamics, and communication in the workplace. Her work and book aim to accomplish just that. To learn more about Melissa, her work, or the book, please visit www.melissadoman.com.

Erin Gabrysh is the Director of Learning at Bundle, where she leads the strategic design and development of innovative, human-centered learning solutions. With two decades of experience in corporate learning and higher education, Erin specializes in aligning learning and development strategies with business goals to foster future-ready workforces. Her expertise spans the creation of personalized learning experiences, developing comprehensive skills taxonomies, and executing high-impact L&D programs for Fortune 500 companies and leading organizations. Passionate about creating impactful and transformative learning experiences, she is dedicated to developing programs that meet evolving workforce needs and drive meaningful change.

Kenneth joined Vail Resorts as Vice President of Human Resources in 2022. As the HR Executive for corporate business units, he has played a key role in establishing the new C-suite senior executive team. Kenneth has led the senior leadership management system transformation, giving the organization a common language and framework to drive business decision making and problem-solving at scale. Kenneth has an innate passion for ensuring institutional systems impacting organizational culture are effective in achieving business outcomes through its people.

Kenneth has over 20 years of corporate experience across multiple industries in both Human Resources and Business Operations. Before joining Vail Resorts, Kenneth served as the Division Vice President of Human Resource at Comcast NBC Universal – leading HR for the multi-billion dollar business. He also brings experience in the insurance industry where his experience includes roles across various HR disciplines as well as field operations and call center operations. Kenneth is a proud Inroads Alumnus, where he was able to start his corporate career in the oil and gas industry at Shell Oil Company.

Kenneth currently serves as a board member for City Year Denver. He received his Bachelor of Science of Business Administration in Finance from Colorado State University, with post graduate studies in Business Management and I/O Psychology. 

Liz is currently a Director of Business Human Resources & Global HR Lead at Avanade, where she is a strategic partner to executive leadership teams, providing thought leadership, counsel, and coaching on human capital strategy, performance, rewards, culture and organizational change. She is a seasoned HR Leader with a proven track record of creating and executing talent programs that accelerate business performance and growth plans while advocating the employee experience.  She has also led HR integration, change management, and communication activities through acquisition, driving culture change and adoption of new HR ecosystems. Elizabeth's experience spans diverse organizations, including IBM and Promontory Financial Group, where she has advised on organizational talent strategy, workforce optimization, and HR program deployment. Outside of work and being a mom, Liz's passions are outdoors and exploring. She loves hiking, horseback riding, skiing, snow-shoeing, camping, food & wine'ing and traveling, all of the above with family, friends or her dog. 

Erica Breunlin is an education writer for The Colorado Sun, where she has reported since 2019. Much of her work has traced the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic on student learning and highlighted teachers’ struggles with overwhelming workloads and low pay. She has traveled throughout Colorado — from the San Luis Valley to Aspen — to write about both the bright spots and the challenges of school districts, educators and kids. She previously reported on education in Milwaukee, Wis.; Daytona Beach, Fla.; and Knoxville, Tenn. She earned her BA in journalism at Marquette University.

Elizabeth Hernandez is a reporter at The Denver Post with a passion for covering historically marginalized communities and issues impacting younger readers. She started at The Denver Post in 2014. Hernandez is a leader in DEI efforts within her newsroom. As a first-generation college student and a Latina, Hernandez understands the value and importance diverse perspectives bring to an organization.

Noelle Phillips is a 31-year newspaper veteran who is a reporter at The Denver Post. Throughout her career, she has covered everything from the rural South to combat in the Middle East. Right now, she focuses on air quality, wildfires and other interesting things that catch her attention. Noelle, a Nashville native, graduated from Western Kentucky University where she learned how to be a reporter while also never skipping a party. Noelle lives in Arvada with her husband, Jay Potts. In her spare time, she hikes, reads, listens to music, palys and watches sports and is never far from her loyal dog, Foxy Brown. 

Cynthia Barnes is a Denver-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, 5280, The Boston Globe, The Denver Post, and many other publications. She loves dives (both scuba and bars), baseball, and planning her next adventure.

Donald Deas is director, HR, and business partner at the E.W. Scripps Co., one of the nation's largest local TV broadcasters. Previously he served in leadership and HR roles at Northrup Grumman, International Paper, and the U.S. Army. He earned MA degrees at Webster University and the Army War College, and his BS at South Carolina State University.

Marisa Carson is the Head of Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness at Elevance Health, the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and provider of clinical, behavioral, pharmacy, and complex-care solutions that promote whole health. Prior to joining Elevance, Marisa led Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness functions at TIAA and worked in human capital consulting with Kenexa, an IBM Company, and Strategic Management Decisions, a boutique human capital consulting firm. She has significant experience in the areas of talent management, organizational design and effectiveness, employee engagement, performance management, leadership development, and succession planning. Having worked with organizations across the finance, utilities, healthcare, and nonprofit industries, she is skilled in implementing evidence-based talent management solutions that drive organizational performance.

Marisa is a co-author of Business-Focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results and has published several articles on leadership and employee development. She serves as Vice Chair of the Paddington Station Preschool Board of Trustees and Chair of the Paddington Station Head of School Search Committee. She is also a member of the Denver Public Schools Foundation Board and a graduate of the Denver Metro Chamber’s Impact Denver program. Marisa holds an M.S. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and a Ph.D. in Organizational Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 

Judith Almendra, Group Vice President of People & Culture of TTEC, is an accomplished human capital professional with a proven track record of integrating business and people strategies to drive results. With over 15 years of business and human capital experience, Judith has led teams in the implementation of traditional and innovative strategies in the areas of marketing and communications, public relations, learning and development, talent acquisition, performance management, succession and employee engagement and employee retention.

In her 12 years with TeleTech, Judith has held progressive leadership positions, covering multiple facets of the for Human Capital spectrum as well as leading the development of company’s proprietary human capital tools, programs and solutions. Through her career, she has gained deep expertise in the international business and multicultural markets. And, she has played key roles leading global cultural transformation.
She is originally from Mexico and moved to the US in 2001 to pursue her Masters in Business at the University of Colorado. She is also a board member of the TTEC Community Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to provide better education opportunities to children in underserved communities, which is something Judith is very passionate about.

Jill Coln is a dynamic People Leader who has driven transformational change in
leadership development practices and frameworks, driving accountability through
performance management, implementing employee listening strategies for actionable
change and aligning culture and values.
Jill led the cultural integration of two global organizations with over 60k employees
through a set of new values and purpose statement. She has adapted and enhanced
talent practices to cement a culture of accountability and performance. Jill is an
innovator in the talent development space who has won 2 Brandon Hall awards for her
global leadership development programs and is a campaigner for employee’s voices.
In her current role as VP of Talent Management, Development and Culture at Discover
Financial Services, she leads a team that focuses on attracting and developing emerging
talent, onboarding, employee listening, talent management, growing leaders and
employees along with creating an inviting culture.