Live 2024: Houston

Kristi Pittman is the Vice President of Human Resources for Daikin Comfort Technologies (DNA). She began her HR career at Goodman Manufacturing in 1990 as the Personnel/Payroll Coordinator when the Company had only five hundred employees, one manufacturing plant in Houston and approximately ten COD locations in Texas and Louisiana. Goodman was acquired by Daikin Industries, Ltd. in 2012 and now employs over 14,000 employees across the United States and Canada.

For the first phase of her career at Goodman, Kristi was primarily responsible for the development, administration and financial performance of the employee welfare and retirement plans, establishing general HR policies, leave and disability management and HR compliance. For many years, Kristi was responsible for managing a variety of employee activities, providing a unique opportunity to routinely interact with the employee population and fueling her overall passion for people. In 2011, Kristi was promoted to the Director, HR Shared Services, adding HR Technology, Timekeeping and the Employee Call Center to her existing areas of responsibility. Kristi was promoted to the HR leadership role in 2018 and is now responsible for the overall HR strategy, including Talent Acquisition, Succession Planning, Learning and Organizational Development, Compensation, Communications and the Business Partner functions.

Kristi lives in Cypress, Texas and enjoys spending time with her three children and grandchildren, and her dogs Beau and Lucy. Kristi is an amateur photographer who loves to take pictures while traveling, of animals and nature.

Sadie is the Vice President of Innovation and Deployment of People Systems and Digital Experience & Intelligence at Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) where she is responsible to deliver exceptional people
experiences through our people Systems, as well as enable intuitive digital services through process improvement, robotics and document automation, and the use of artificial intelligence. Prior to joining HPE, she worked for Dow Inc for several years serving in Senior Leadership roles across HR, Digital Manufacturing, and Information Systems. Sadie also worked with The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in Business Intelligence and Analytics and as a programmer for CSC. She is active in the communities where she has lived and is a philanthropist, especially for causes related to education, STEM, women, and equity. Sadie holds a master’s in mathematics from the University of Arizona and a Bachelors in Secondary Education. She is married and has 3 lovely children. She loves God, her family, tennis, and music.

Kelly Oliphant is the Vice President of Human Resources Talent & Organizational Development and Learning at Memorial Hermann Hospital. 

Trisha Conley is executive vice president, People and Culture for LyondellBasell. In this role, Conley is responsible for the company’s vision and culture to enhance the employee experience, talent management, employee relations, reward and compensation, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Prior to joining LyondellBasell, Conley served as the senior vice president, People Development for Renewable Energy Group until it was acquired by Chevron in 2022. Conley has more than 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, as well as the renewable products sector leading human resources, talent management, global integration and organizational development. Prior to that, she held a variety of human resources roles at BP.

Conley holds a Bachelor of Arts in public relations and communications from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Deanna Jones is Executive Vice President of People, Communications & Transformation at Baker Hughes. She joined the company in January 2020.

Before joining Baker Hughes, Jones served as Senior Vice President of HR, Communications, and Administration for Marathon Oil Corporation. Prior to that, she was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Commercial Officer for Newfield Exploration, and she also served as the head of Human Resources for Schlumberger’s Reservoir Production Group. Between 2006 and 2008, Jones was Vice President, North America for Schlumberger Information Solutions and, in that role, was responsible for leading software, information, and the company’s related infrastructure organization in the US. Prior to 2006, she worked in a variety of managerial assignments of increasing responsibility for Schlumberger in Canada and the US.

Jones previously served on the Board of Directors for Communities in Schools of Houston and was on the board of the Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU).

She earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Calgary, Canada. Jones has also completed executive business courses in human resources at the University of Michigan and in finance at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nikhil Shahane is Vice President & Global Head of People Development at TechnipFMC, based out of Houston. He has been with TechnipFMC for over ten years and prior to his move to Houston in 2019, been in HR Leadership roles in Middle East, India and Asia Pacific.

He has worked both at a strategic and operational level in delivery of a wide range of HR services to the business with specific emphasis on talent & performance management, learning & development, EVP, employee engagement, inclusion and diversity by learning and implementing programs impacting the business. He has championed HR processes in start-up organizations and been instrumental in cultural transformation, digital adoption and organization restructuring efforts in global corporations.

Nikhil is on the advisory board of prominent HR communities and magazines and actively involved in business and talent conferences both as a speaker and participant. He is passionate about all things people, believes in continuous learning, networking and volunteering for social impact.

He earned an MBA to start his corporate career and followed it up a master’s in international human resources management from Cranfield School of Management, UK. He was recently awarded Talent Management Institute certification by The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Jenna Sneed is an Area Vice President with the Human Resources Consulting Practice of Gallagher's Human Resources and Compensation Consulting business line. Jenna serves as the Houston human capital strategy market leader where she helps employers develop data-driven strategies aimed at attracting, retaining, and engaging talent. Jenna is supported by a national team of 300+ consultants who specialize in Human Resources and assemble on project teams to fulfill client needs. Before joining the consulting profession, Jenna served as the HR Activation Leader for project teams focused on meeting accelerated growth targets in healthcare, higher education and startups.

Jenna is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and received her Masters of Public Health in Health Promotion Behavioral Science and Ph.D. in Healthcare Management from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Her research focuses on psychological safety, team effectiveness, resiliency, and ground up innovation. Jenna developed a Team Behavior Experience Index that assesses specific behaviors that promote and detract from psychological safety and team effectiveness. Jenna is a certified Thriving Workplace Culture Consultant, DDI Facilitator, Institute for the Future Future-Ready Foresight Facilitator, and Holistic Health Coach. Jenna guest lectures at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Rice University, Texas A&M and the Institute for Spirituality and Health.

Akhil is a Senior Solution Consultant in North America. Akhil has spent years working with Orgvue customers going through transformative change programs, from large scale organization design projects to detailed work and activity analyses. 

Akhil’s experience spans the suite of Orgvue’s solutions. He is passionate about enabling customers with these solutions and solving their problems using technology.

Matthew Kitchen has served as Chron's editorial director since 2021. He previously worked as a features editor at The Wall Street Journal, edited politics and future tech at NBC News, and has contributed to Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The Ringer. Before falling into journalism, Matthew worked in the film industry where he played a very insignificant role in crafting some of your favorite trailers. To submit tips, comments, or secrets, reach him at matthew.kitchen@chron.com.

Shern-Min Chow anchors KHOU 11 News at Noon weekdays, fills in on other newscasts and reports. She joined the station in 1996.

She began her career in journalism as a stringer for Newsweek and has worked at KTRK-TV and anchored at KPRC-TV in Houston, as well as KENS-TV in San Antonio. Chow's awards include the Houston Press Club Award for Best Series, the Texas Associated Press Award for Best Spot Newscast-Producer and an Emmy for the documentary "Hong Kong Under the Dragon."

Shern-Min speaks often to civic groups, schools, churches and other organizations. Over the years, she has made close to 1,000 community appearances. She is currently on the advisory boards of the Asia Society and the Chinese Community center. She has previously served on the boards of SpringSpirit Baseball, the Bo & Stacey Porter Self Foundation, the YWCA, The Houston Ballet, the Chinese Community Center and The Bayou City Medical Center.

A history graduate from Yale University, Shern-Min speaks conversational Mandarin and Shang Hai dialects of Chinese. She has also studied Spanish, French and German. Shern-Min and her husband have two sons. They are students at Rice University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jill Ramshaw is vice president, Human Resources, for Marathon Oil Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the human resources organization, which is made up of business partner teams, talent acquisition, talent development and total rewards. She joined Marathon Oil in November 2011.

Jill has worked in the oil and gas industry for 20 years, working for 8 years at Subsea 7, a global subsea engineering, constructing and services organization. Her earlier experience was within the legal and financial sectors.

Jill has a master’s degree in psychology and a post-graduate diploma in human resource management along with a professional qualification through the chartered institute of personnel development (UK). She is also an executive board member of Communities in Schools.

Madhuri Kumar, PhD., is VP and global head of talent management for ChampionX Corp., a global leader in chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and highly engineered equipment and technologies that help companies drill for and produce oil and gas. Her previous roles include leadership positions at Signify Health, Halliburton, GE Oil & Gas, and the University of Houston. She earned an MA at the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in training and performance management at Capella University. 

Rob Catalano is WorkTango’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. Rob has spent the last 20 years building HR Technology companies. He was on the founding team at Achievers, where he spent the majority of his 10+ year tenure leading their Marketing function as well as the final few years leading their global expansion out of the UK. Rob’s passion for improving the employee experience led to him co-founding WorkTango in 2015 to help companies collect and act on authentic employee feedback. He has been named as a top 101 Global Employee Engagement Influencer every year since 2017, and has had the privilege of speaking to HR leaders at conferences in over 45 cities. Rob is an avid hockey fan, traveler, once played guitar in a metal band, and is a self-proclaimed ‘pointaholic’ – collecting loyalty points for anything and everything. Get in touch with Rob at rob@worktango.com.

Helena Deal is Vice President of Human Resources for Hess Corporation, a global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas.

Deal has more than 25 years of global experience in organization dynamics, driving culture change, and the sourcing, onboarding and management of talent. She has served as a strategic advisor, generalist and specialist with assignments in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In a role she has held since 2013, Deal is responsible for leading a team of Human Resources (HR) professionals that provides generalist support in more than a dozen countries to two business units – Exploration and Production – and a number of functional groups, such as Finance; General Counsel; Technology and Services; Environment, Health and Safety; Global Supply Chain; and Information Technology.

Since joining Hess in 2000, Deal has held a range of leadership roles within the HR function, including Leader, Global E&P Reorganization Project; Director, HR, Global Production; Senior Manager, HR – Asia Pacific; and Manager, HR – International.

Earlier in her career, Deal was HR Advisor for Koa Oil Company Limited Japan; HR Specialist at Star Petroleum Refining Company – Thailand; Compensation Specialist at Texas-based Caltex Petroleum Corporation; Personnel Assistant for Olsten Staffing Services; Research Consultant for Russell Reynolds Associates – Australia; and Personnel Assistant for Avon County Counsel in the UK.

Deal holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics at the University of London.

Mike leads sales for Orgvue’s Great Lakes Region and has spent nearly three decades years in business development, including 15 years in the Human Capital Technology space. He has worked with both medium and large sized global organizations while helping to deliver efficient solutions for their organizational design and workforce transformation needs. Mike is passionate about helping his customers craft solutions, conquer their roadblocks, and watch as it all come to fruition as they achieve their goals and advance their organizations.

Alan Witt is Professor of Management & Leadership, Public Policy, and Psychology at the University of Houston. He holds a Ph.D. degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Tulane University.

He was a human resources director in the financial services sector and has consulted with public sector organizations at the local, state, and federal levels and with private sector organizations ranging from small professional firms and family-owned businesses to multi-national banks, international airlines, and multi-national telecommunications companies.

Elise Smith is the Co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs. Focused on scaling access and opportunity to drive equitable outcomes for all, Elise is inspired by her lived experiences and those of her family. She was raised on stories of her parents navigating systems and structures that weren’t set up equitably for them. This led her to asking: how can we scale access and opportunity for all people, especially those most underestimated people in society? Scale is what brought her to technology. At IBM Watson, she helped build the first-generation of Watson for education products during the early phase of AI commercialization. During her tenure at New Schools Venture Fund, Elise supported a portfolio of investments for innovations in learning with a focus on DEI, soft skills, & leadership skills training. In this role, she led a thesis on emerging tech for learning, exposing her to Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a leading lab on empathy, bias, and behavior change in VR. There, she saw first-hand the power of immersive technology to change attitudes and behaviors. The culmination of her personal and professional experiences led Elise to co-found Praxis Labs with a clear objective: to make workplaces work better for everyone. With more than $23M raised through venture capital funding to date, Elise is one of the most funded Black women in the United States, and one of 20 to raise over $10 million. Currently based in Los Angeles, Elise finds inspiration in the city's vibrant energy and enjoys running, hiking, and playing tennis with friends and family. Elise holds a B.A. in Geography and Social Inequity from Dartmouth College, and an MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University.

Tara, an authentic leadership expert with over 13 years in the field, stands at the forefront of leadership development, people management, behavioral science, and learning design. Her tenure at LifeLabs Learning has been marked by innovative approaches to organizational learning, leading cross-functional teams to create programs that effect lasting behavioral change and cultural transformation. Tara has significantly enhanced leadership skills in over 3,000 managers and executives across diverse organizations, including NASA, AirBnB, UTHealth, and Culture Amp, shaping a new era of leadership through her mentorship.

In her role at LifeLabs Learning, Tara is more than a Learning Designer; she is a strategic architect of growth, blending innovation with practical application to make leadership development both impactful and engaging. Her educational background, including a Master of Education in Adult Learning and a Master of Public Health in Behavioral Science, underpins her ability to develop evidence-based learning solutions. Tara's unique blend of theoretical knowledge and practical experience continues to redefine the learning and development landscape, cementing her status as a transformative force in preparing leaders and teams for the future.

Cheryl Nienhuis is Director of Health and Welfare Programs at Mayo Clinic. With over 20 years of experience as a leader human resources and benefits, she has also developed core competencies in health promotion and benefit communications. Previously, Cheryl helped employers manage health care costs while providing high-value health care benefits to employees through the Mayo Clinic Complex Care Program.

Cheryl holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Health Care Management degree from Dallas Baptist University. She holds Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) and the Professional Human Resources (PHR) certifications, which reflect her dedication to excellence and lifelong learning in her field. Her mission is to serve others so they can do their jobs and fulfill their dreams to the best of their ability.

Avenica CEO Scott Dettman is a dynamic leader with a strong track record of driving growth through transformation and innovation in the human capital arena.

Scott joined Avenica in 2019 following a six-year stint with ManpowerGroup that included progressive leadership roles spanning analytics and transformation to general management and business development.

Scott has a master’s degree and Ph.D. (ABD) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and most recently completed an Executive Leadership program at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Randee L. Sanders is the Founder of RL Sanders & Associates, LLC. She is a women’s career strategist, speaker, and Associate Dean of Faculty at National University who has an affinity for advancing highly ambitious professional women leaders into positions of leadership and influence. Through her Design Not Default Academy, Dr. Randee consults with women leaders to establish a strong sense of self, develop her voice, and generate new strategies to develop her effectiveness, influence, talent, and power to lead. She also has an affinity for empowering/motivating employees and developing a top-notch workforce.

Dr. Randee has over 20 years of experience in leadership development and organizational engagement. She utilizes strength-based approaches to engage individuals and organizations to innovate and get results. She holds a Doctor of Management from the University of Maryland University College and a Master in Public Administration with a concentration in the inspector general track from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Dr. Randee is passionate about educating the next generation of leaders in business and higher education arenas. She enjoys creating positive energy, passionate synergies, and transforming people's lives.  The time is now to live your fabulous life!

Kris Palmer, a Kutztown University alumnus with a Political Science degree, is a seasoned professional in the talent acquisition field, renowned for his ability to build and nurture relationships. After an initial stint at Coca Cola, he discovered his passion for talent acquisition while working as the Southeastern PA District Manager at a K-12 educational staffing company. Kris excelled in connecting hiring partners with emerging talent, recognizing their untapped potential. This led him to Avenica, an organization focused on launching careers, where he returned in 2023 as Vice President of Partner Solutions after a brief period in pharmaceutical consulting. His dedication to matching employers with emerging talent makes him a pivotal figure in shaping the future of young professionals.

With more than 20 years of experience guiding organizations toward workplace inclusion, Teresa Hopke brings a wealth of knowledge and wisdom on the importance of establishing cultures of belonging where everyone can thrive. Her unique, trusted, and proven insights on employee wellbeing, women's leadership development, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) make her an incredibly valuable resource as Talking Talent’s CEO and as a partner to her coaching clients. ​

​Teresa’s career has been focused on building up others in order to achieve the best results, both for the individual and the teams they work with. Her innovative ideas and determination to see real change are the reasons for her success over the last two decades.  She is a nationally recognized thought leader on the topic of inclusive leadership, and she has been featured in many top tier business publications and media outlets such as CNBC, the CBS Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, NPR, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, HR Magazine, Money Magazine, and others. ​

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As a mother of four, Teresa understands the needs of working parents and caregivers. She also continually advocates for people who are underserved, undervalued, and underestimated in the workplace.

In the role of Senior Vice President, Employer Sales, Sarah leads growth for MOBE’s large employer business. With over 20 years of experience in the health and wellness industry, she is passionate about helping others achieve their best health and well-being, while helping organizations validate outcomes of their programs. Sarah previously served as SVP of Corporate Sales at Wellbeats, a LifeSpeak company, and as Vice President of Employer Solutions at RedBrick Health. 

Amanda Drane is an energy reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Amanda covers the Texas energy industry and the people affected by it, with a particular focus on oil, gas, chemicals and the transition to cleaner energy. Before joining the paper’s business desk in May 2020 she worked as a City Hall reporter in Massachusetts, where she won regional awards for covering issues such as police accountability and the exploitation of undocumented restaurant workers. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts.

Shelby Stewart currently serves as the Associate Editor at Essence. She is a graduate of Dillard University and the University of Houston with a BA and MA in Communications.

Ben Sampson is the Chief Evangelist - Social Impact and Employee Engagement, at WizeHive. Ben is a serial entrepreneur, startup advisor, and product management expert. Over the past four years, he has worked with hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies on their CSR strategies with a specific focus on how to maximize employee engagement through high-impact, scalable, volunteer programming. Ben speaks frequently on industry webinars, podcasts, and conferences about the future of corporate volunteerism, how to scale high-impact experiences and the success stories of companies reaching a new level of social impact. Ben is a graduate of the Sustainable Business Strategy program at Harvard Business School and continues to write about new and interesting ways companies can maximize social change. 

Paul A. Pavlou is the Dean of the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He is also a Cullen Distinguished Chair Professor of Information Sciences.

Paul received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. His research has been cited over 70,000 times by Google Scholar, and he was recognized among the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” by Thomson Reuters based on an analysis of “Highly Cited” authors in Economics & Business for 2002-2012. He was ranked #1 in the world in publications in the top two Information Systems journals (MISQ & ISR) during 2010-2016.

Paul is a Distinguished Fellow of the INFORMS Information Systems Society. He won several Best Paper awards for his research, including the Sheth Foundation award for “Long-Term Contributions to Marketing” in the Journal of Marketing (2019), the Maynard Award for the “Most Significant Contribution to Marketing” in the Journal of Marketing in 2015, the ISR Best Paper award in 2007, and the 2006 IS Publication of the Year award. He won the Best Paper award in 2012, the Runner-Up to the Best Paper of the 2005, the Best Interactive Paper in 2002, and the Best Student Paper award in 2001 from the Academy of Management. Paul also won several Reviewer awards, including the 2009 Management Science Meritorious service award, the ‘Best Reviewer’ award of the 2005 Academy of Management Conference, and the 2003 MISQ ‘Reviewer of the Year’ award. Paul is currently a Senior Editor at ISR and earlier at MISQ and JAIS. Paul also won the Best Doctoral Dissertation award of the 2004 International Conference on Information Systems. He received over $2,000,000 in grants from funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF).

His research appeared in Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association of Information Systems, among others. His research spans several disciplines (information systems, marketing, strategy, operations, decision sciences) with emphasis on data science, analytics, artificial intelligence, digital business strategy, and research methods.

Lucho Vizcardo is a Global Human Resource Management leader with extensive experience in all facets of organizational development, global mobility, executive and non-executive compensation, benefits, payroll, and employee relations.  His foreign language proficiency includes Spanish and Portuguese.

Lucho currently serves as the Head of International Human Resources, Western Hemisphere at Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) and has been with the company since 2019.  He is an active leader of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council of the company.  He also serves at the Advisory Panel for the Managing Human Resources Certificate Program at University of Houston, Bauer College of Business.

Prior to joining Nabors, Lucho served in a number of HR Management positions at Occidental Petroleum, Kerr-McGee, Anadarko and TETRA Technologies.

Lucho earned his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from University of Lima, and his master’s in Business Administration from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.  When not at work, Lucho enjoys being with his wife and kids, playing tennis, and travelling.

As Head of HR OpEx and PMO, Mindy leads the HR function through governance and processes that drive efficiencies, and effectiveness and collaboration. She also has the role of HR Director, where she partners with our Legal, EHS and Government Relations executives to execute people strategy in support of Air Product’s role in generating a cleaner future.

Mindy most recently served as the Director of Diversity Culture and Engagement. In this role, she built and led the functions of employee engagement, talent attraction and marketing, and diversity, inclusion, and belonging. She played a pivotal role in the success of executive leadership development, advancing diversity KPI's and achieving results through signature DEI programs. Mindy also executed employee engagement surveys that enhanced work culture.

Additionally, she served as the company's EEO officer and authored the people and culture sections of the Air Products’ Sustainability Report. Mindy was also a Director of the Air Products Foundation focusing on talent and diversity giving.

Prior to Air Products, Mindy accumulated over 20 years of experience in the oil, gas, and chemical industries across multiple geographies. She led departments in learning and development, talent management, people strategy, and project management within HR. She also served on the Deepwater Horizon incident response team leading competence assessment programs and delivering learning and leadership programs at site locations.