Live 2022: Silicon Valley

David Lowe is Managing Partner of renowned employment law boutique Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff & Lowe, LLP, where he has been representing executives and employees for over 25 years. Fortune described him as “Silicon Valley’s Go-To Lawyer” in February 2022.

David’s clients include C-level executives, founders, and partners in tech companies, finance, life sciences, ai, entertainment, and many other fields, as well as pioneering technologists, preeminent scientists, iconic athletes, and media personalities. He is frequently retained to handle high stakes or sensitive employment law matters, often involving complex compensation or equity arrangements or international disputes. He is also passionate about representing workers at all levels in harassment, discrimination, and retaliation cases.
Many of David’s cases involve important public policy and have been extensively covered in the press, including his landmark settlement on behalf of Pinterest Chief Operating Officer Francoise Brougher—believed to be the largest public settlement of an individual gender discrimination case in U.S. history. He has been lead trial counsel in nearly 20 individual and class action jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, and brings this extensive litigation and negotiation experience to every engagement. In addition to representing clients, David serves as a neutral mediator, assisting parties to resolve difficult employment disputes.

David has been honored as California Lawyer “Attorney of the Year” for his “extraordinary achievement” in employment law and has been voted by his peers as one of the “Top 100” lawyers in Northern California and as a Northern California “SuperLawyer” since 2007, and as the San Francisco “Lawyer of the Year” for Employment Law or Employment Litigation for three years in a row.

He has also served on the boards of numerous non-profit and legal organizations, including as Chair of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in the Bay Area, Chair of the International Bar Association Discrimination and Equality Committee, and Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco Labor & Employment Section. He is co-author of the leading treatise on California employment law, among other publications. David is a frequent media commentator and regularly speaks and writes on employment law issues.

Maria Medrano, Sr. Director Diversity Strategy, Narrative and Partnerships responsible for setting a global diversity strategy that includes partnerships, policy, and practices with equitable outcomes. With more than 20 years of experience, Maria is a balanced blend of strategist and community advocate—holding roles in Inclusion & Community, HR, Finance, Operations and Strategic Sales. In her previous role as Visa’s Chief Diversity Officer, Maria was responsible for establishing the Inclusion & Diversity vision and mission and for supporting the company’s promise of universal acceptance for everyone, everywhere. Maria is a first-generation American of Mexican descent and the first in her family to earn a college degree. Through her work, Maria has earned several important accolades, including Top 100 under 40 Diversity MBA, Silicon Valley 40 under 40, and YWCA Tribute to Women Emerging Leader Award. She continues to advise and serve on multiple non-profit boards dedicated to improving the education of students in disadvantaged communities.

Kausik Rajgopal is PayPal’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, leading the company’s global Human Resources (HR), Procurement and Real Estate teams. The Human Resources team is responsible for global workforce planning, talent acquisition and evaluation, compensation, benefits, payroll, learning and development, culture, diversity and inclusion initiatives. The Procurement team stewards global supplier relationships and manages spend across all categories, ranging from technology to marketing. In partnership with the HR and Procurement teams, the Real Estate team helps shape PayPal’s approach to the future of work, including optimization of real estate footprints and formats to support an inclusive work culture and flexible work models.

Kausik brings a unique blend of senior leadership experience and expertise in human resources, technology and payments to his role. Prior to joining PayPal, he spent nearly 15 years as a Partner and Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company leading the development of high-performing HR, Procurement and other functions for global companies across industries and sectors. Most recently, he served as the firm’s co-Managing Partner for the United States office where he was responsible for client service across all industry sectors, as well as HR-related priorities and initiatives. Kausik also helped advance and scale McKinsey’s Fintech efforts in his time with the firm. He co-founded the Digital Payments Practice in 2005, led the firm’s global Payments Practice for five years from 2011 to 2016, and served as McKinsey’s global Fintech co-lead.

He serves as Chair of the Board and Executive Committee of the Bay Area Council and is on the Leadership Council of California Forward. He was previously a board member for the World Affairs Council, the San Francisco Symphony and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

Kausik earned his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and now serves as Vice Chair of the Advisory Council. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Political Science and Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Adam Lashinsky is the former executive editor of Fortune Magazine, where he covered Silicon Valley and Wall Street for nearly two decades. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired—and Secretive—Company Really Works (2012), as well as Wild Ride: Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination (2017). His work has appeared recently in Insider, Airmail, The Information, and The Washington Post. He currently is currently writing a biography of William Safire, the newspaper columnist and presidential speechwriter.

Shveta Miglani currently serves as the Head of People Development Experience for Micron Technology. In her role, she fulfills the growth and development needs of all 40,000 Micron employees across 18 countries. Her global team is dedicated to creating a culture of continuous learning through digital transformation of the learning space. Shveta held leadership roles at GlobalFoundries, SanDisk, Palo Alto Networks and LiveRamp. She is passionate about Future of Work and is currently working on upskilling and reskilling efforts.

Shveta is also an official Member of Forbes HR Council, an Executive Board Member of CityYear and a member of World Economic Forum. Shveta holds a Bachelor’s in Economics and Sociology, Master’s of Science in Instructional Technology and a Master’s in Organizational Development. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Leadership Development and Organizational Development.

Kara Silverstein is the Director of Integrity - Senior Director, People Operations at Google.

Charles Moses is the Dean of the Eberhardt School of Business at the University of the Pacific, appointed in March 2022.

Previously, he was dean of the School of Management at the University of San Francisco, where he led the School of Management’s 3,000 students, 100 full-time and part-time faculty and 50 staff across seven undergraduate majors, eight graduate programs and five dual degree programs.

Larry is a strategic, energetic, inspirational and visionary senior leader. He is consistently sought after as a thought leader in the HR space, both internally and externally and he was named in the Top 50 Human Resources Professional Award by OnConferences in January 2021.

Over his career Larry has built highly effective talent acquisition and enablement strategies and development programs. Larry is known for his exceptional ability to work with cross-functional leaders and silo bust throughout organizations. His passion and authenticity has led him to focus on transforming the landscape of talent and ensuring the people strategy closely aligns with the business strategy using cutting edge technologies.

Currently, Larry is the Vice President of Global Talent at NetApp. He is transforming how NetApp thinks about talent with resilience, curiosity and a growth mindset. He is leading a digital transformation of the HR functions, leveraging powerful technology to  introduce an internal talent marketplace. Larry believes in leading with authenticity and creating a place where NetApp talent can continue learning and growing their careers.

Rosalind "Roz" Conerly, Ed.D., is a scholar-practitioner based in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 15 years of experience in roles focused on creating strategy to affirm and highlight the nuanced experiences of BIPOC individuals within an organization to contribute toward culture shift. She has held roles in cultural centers and organizations focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and has taught courses focused on DEI and career exploration. Her expertise and scholarship focuses on creating and developing identity affirming spaces to assist with and retention and belonging.

She is currently the Associate Dean & Karr Family Director of the Black Community Services Center within the Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership at Stanford University. She is also the Founder and Managing Director of RDC Consulting, LLC. a boutique consulting firm that specializes in strategic planning, DEI and lifestyle consulting. She is currently connecting being a scholar practitioner in higher education to other industries by consulting with employers around creating strategy to recruit BIPOC students from elite universities as well as developing diversity and inclusion education and strategy.

As the 11th chancellor of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Cynthia K. Larive leads an institution known throughout the world for its interdisciplinary approach to research for the public good, and for its commitment to social and environmental justice. Since its founding fewer than 60 years ago, UC Santa Cruz has been on an unprecedented trajectory, with its faculty advancing world-changing research and establishing its reputation as one of the most innovative, collaborative, impactful institutions in higher education. It is a place where ideas are converted into action, and action into real, transformative change.

UC Santa Cruz, which enrolls 19,000 students, joined the Association of American Universities in 2019 and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities in 2020, remarkable achievements that underscore the impact and quality of the campus’ research as well as the breadth and caliber of its graduate and undergraduate teaching. UC Santa Cruz also shares the distinction of being the youngest member of the esteemed 66-member AAU and is one of only four members that is also a Hispanic-serving institution. Additionally, underscoring the school’s reputation for positive change, UC Santa Cruz was named the No. 3 public university in the nation for students focused on making an impact on the world in the Princeton Review’s latest college rankings.

A common thread throughout Larive’s career has been her commitment to student success, inclusion and equity. She has led programs for undergraduate research and curricular innovation and has written extensively on active and experiential learning and mentoring. She has personally mentored 30 doctoral and master’s students, and she has been active in encouraging the participation and success of women and other underrepresented groups in the STEM fields.

Upon her arrival in Santa Cruz in 2019, she immediately prioritized improving graduation rates and eliminating graduation gaps for low-income and first-generation students, and for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education. She elevated the role of the campus chief diversity officer, and restructured the Office of Student Affairs and Success to align with her goals.

She also has been a booster of regional economic development, fostering the university’s relationship with Startup Sandbox, the premier local technology incubator, and launching the new Innovation and Business Engagement Hub to give potential industry partners and supporters a clear point of entry to the campus innovation ecosystem. She serves as a member of the board of directors of the California Campus Compact, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

An accomplished bioanalytical chemist, Larive came to UC Santa Cruz from UC Riverside, where she was provost and executive vice chancellor. As provost, she was responsible for the academic enterprise, managing large-scale initiatives as well as the daily operations of the Riverside campus. Over her career at UCR, she served in a variety of other leadership roles including Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Divisional Dean of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, and interim Dean of the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences.

Larive has authored more than 155 publications, and has received funding to support her research from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and a range of foundations and corporate grant makers.

She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society, and has received campus and national awards for her teaching, research and leadership.

Larive is a first-generation college graduate, earning her bachelor’s of science from South Dakota State University and her master’s from Purdue University, both in chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from UC Riverside while raising daughters Erin and Megan with husband Jim.

Rachael Myrow is Senior Editor of KQED's Silicon Valley News Desk. You can hear her work on NPR, The World, WBUR's Here & Now, and the BBC. She also guest hosts for KQED's Forum. Over the years, she's talked with Kamau Bell, David Byrne, Kamala Harris, Tony Kushner, Armistead Maupin, Van Dyke Parks, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tommie Smith, among others. Before all this, she hosted The California Report for 7+ years, reporting on topics like assisted living facilities, the robot takeover of Amazon, and chocolate persimmons. Awards? Sure: Peabody, Edward R. Murrow, Regional Edward R. Murrow, RTNDA, Northern California RTNDA, SPJ Northern California Chapter, LA Press Club, Golden Mic. Prior to joining KQED, Rachael worked in Los Angeles at KPCC and Marketplace. She holds degrees in English and journalism from UC Berkeley (where she got her start in public radio on KALX-FM...Go Bears!). Outside of the studio, you'll find Rachael hiking Bay Area trails and whipping up Instagram-ready meals in her kitchen.

Scott Thurm is a senior editor at The Information. He has been living in and covering Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Most recently, he was business editor at Wired. Previously, he spent 18 years as a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, and earlier at the San Jose Mercury News. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for work at the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal and is a two-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.

Allan Brown has over 35 years of business experience in finance, sales, and human resources, and most recently joined Electronic Arts as VP, Total Rewards where he leads compensation, benefits, and workplace experience.  Prior to EA, Allan served in similar roles with Citrix Systems, Yahoo!, Marvell Technology, Google and Microsoft.  He started his HR career with Towers Perrin, consulting with management and boards on executive pay and expanded into total rewards during the dot com boom.  He built his career on high change situations where creativity, analytics, and influence drive results.

Joanne Wright is the Senior Associate Vice President, University Personnel at San Jose State University.

Skye King is the Senior Vice President, Resilience & Social Change at Ogilvy.

Ian White is Managing Director, Human Resources Business Partner at Applied Materials. Applied Materials is the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world. Ian has worked at Applied Materials since 2018 and has served as a senior HR partner to several different organizations during his tenure. Currently he supports Applied’s global sales organization for semiconductor equipment, working closely with business leaders and an extended HR team across the globe. Ian has a 20+ year career in high tech, serving in various HR leadership roles at NetApp and LSI Logic prior to Applied.

Joni Quintal is the Head of Learning & Development at Cushman & Wakefield.

Sarah began her career in Human Resources at companies like SiriusXM, Coach, and Gilt Groupe before transitioning to the role of Head of Sales at Gilt City—the company’s luxury lifestyle experiences arm. In this role, Sarah ran a 65-person sales team, managed $60 million in yearly revenue, and expanded the brand to top cities across the U.S. It was there that she identified the direct correlation between culture and the bottom line—when employees failed to address their issues with colleagues and managers, revenue suffered.

Before co-founding Bravely, Sarah launched an EdTech company (accepted into the acclaimed 500 Startups accelerator) that helped educate kids on the importance of environmental and wildlife conservation.
Sarah’s experience in HR, team management, and tech—combined with an ongoing obsession with helping people gain the confidence they need to find meaning in their work—inspired her to co-found Bravely in 2017.

Before becoming CEO at betterworks in March of 2018, Doug was the CEO of Alfresco for over 5 years, a next generation software platform that helps large enterprise customers manage their content and processes.

Prior to that Doug was President of Successfactors, and was responsible for all revenue generating activities of the company, including, but not limited to, customer success and results, renewals, and marketing and left after Successfactors was acquired by SAP for $3.2 billion dollars in 2011.

Doug served for 11 years, from 1998 to August 2009, at Cisco Systems, Inc. [CSCO], where he was responsible for running the 6000+ person enterprise sales organization, and growing revenue to $9.5B.

During the last 3 years at Cisco, Doug became the General Manager of Cisco WebEx and SVP/GM of the collaboration software group post the acquisition of WebEx, including the responsibility of running Cisco WebEx and the Collaboration Software Group.

Before joining Cisco, Dennerline spent 10 years at 3Com Corporation where he held numerous leadership positions. Specifically, Doug led the Northern American Systems Channels. Prior to that role, he was Managing Director of 3Com Asia while living in Hong Kong. He also played a key role in the opening of 3Com KK, a joint venture in Japan.

Doug began his technology career as an HP sales representative in the Bay Area of San Francisco.

Doug holds a Bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University. He lives in Carmel, California. He is married and has 4 children.

Amelia Wilcox is the Founder and CEO of Nivati, a company providing employee stress management and mental health services that employees can access–anytime, anywhere. Recently listed as a Forty Under 40, Fast 50, Twice on the Inc. 500 and twice awarded National Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year, Amelia has exponentially grown her company from a solo living-room service business to an international technology brand. She operates Nivati with a virtual team and provides flexible work for more than 1,200 practitioners across North America while balancing the demands of motherhood with her three daughters.

Haeli Harris is the director of clinical operations at Nivati, a licensed mental health therapist, yoga instructor, health and wellness coach, and mindfulness practitioner dedicated to helping others through holistic health and healing. She takes a client-based, solution-focused approach helping the client to find their own solutions that are within them and building on their own strengths. Haeli has specialized training in combining yoga and mental health including using a trauma-informed lens when working with her clients. She is also a mother to teenagers and a lover of chocolate and dancing!

Peter Lu is an engineering leader who believes the best teams are those that hire and retain talent from diverse backgrounds and experiences. As VP of Customer Experience and Solutions Engineering at CodeSignal, he is passionate about leading companies to go beyond resumes in technical hiring. Peter, along with the Customer Success, Solutions Engineering, Assessment Research, and Assessment Design teams that he leads help clients develop a successful strategy for hiring qualified engineering talent while reducing bias in their recruiting process. Prior to joining CodeSignal, Peter worked as Director of Technology Solutions at Google for 10 years, leading a Product and Engineering team of over 70 employees to deliver custom solutions that enable exceptional support experiences for most Google products.

Tilmin has over 20 years of experience in developing, coaching, hiring, and retaining sales and customer service teams. Her previous experience includes leadership positions at The Myers Briggs Company, where she led the US Sales Division and sub-teams of customer success, customer support, professional services, sales operations, Field Sales Reps and BDR/SDR teams. Tilmin has developed and implemented global Social Selling programs for US, UK, and AUS sales teams. Tilmin is certified in the Myers-Briggs Assessment, Strong Interest Inventory, and the FIRO B Assessment. She believes that peer-to-peer coaching brings growth and growth brings success, both personally and professionally. She is a graduate of Antioch College with a Bachelor's degree in Human Development.

Prasun Maharatna is the  Vice President Human Resources at Zensar.

Alicia Cafarelli is the VP, Client Experience at Blueboard. She has been in the client success space for about 13 years, and is an advocate for transparency and authenticity in her workplace and on her team. She is passionate about creating a team culture of curiosity, empathy and recognition. She has spoken at Girls in Tech events and many Blueboard webinars around the topics of creating a culture of appreciation and the importance of employee recognition, wellbeing, and fulfillment.

Outside of work Alicia loves volunteering and contributing to the San Diego community. She currently sits on the board of directors for the Think Red Project, a local San Diego charity. She also enjoys listening to the San Diego Symphony and attending any Broadway show available.

Laura Normile is the Manager, Client Experience at Blueboard. She has over 7 years of experience working on client-facing teams. Before her current role, she managed Blueboard’s Client Success team where she partnered with many Enterprise-level organizations to roll out meaningful employee recognition programs that align with their people strategy.

LeeAnn Mallorie, founder and CEO of Guts & Grace Leadership, is a transformational leadership coach and trainer with over fifteen years of experience helping leaders and organizations achieve high-performing results by truly walking their talk. She specializes in leadership embodiment and executive presence, supporting her clients to lead mission-critical initiatives and steward organizational change utilizing neuroscience, mindfulness and positive psychology tools. Her client list includes organizations like Nasa, Capital One, Google, Mattel, Logitech, thredUP and Kiva.

LeeAnn’s award winning Guts & Grace leadership curriculum helps female leaders break through internalized glass ceilings and bring their hidden superpowers to work. She is uniquely skilled at helping female leaders reduce burnout and cultivate emotional resilience. Her clients appreciate her keen ability to see right to the heart of the matter, help them clearly articulate visionary goals, and mirror their behavior – both liabilities and strengths – in real time. LeeAnn’s recent book Guts and Grace: A Woman’s Guide to Full Bodied Leadership was published by Conscious Capitalism Press in January of 2020.

A strategic leader with decades of experience, Knuth is passionate about connecting people with an organization that inspires them. At Quantum Health, she enjoys creating a team that is motivated by a shared purpose: navigating members through their very personal healthcare journeys — no matter how simple or complex they may be. She believes employees should feel they are an integral part of Quantum Health’s vision and mission.

Knuth specializes in creating a culture that is inclusive and puts its employees first. This equips and empowers them to be their best — both personally and professionally. Knuth fosters transparency and open communication to ensure dynamic and productive dialogue and interactions.

Prior to joining Quantum Health, Knuth led highly successful teams as vice president of human resources at several diverse companies, including CoverMyMeds, Victoria’s Secret and La Senza. She enjoys extending meaningful leadership relationships in the community, where she is involved with organizations focused on boosting equity and capability.

Michael Watson is a talent acquisition expert and artificial intelligence enthusiast who is dedicated to using cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize the world of work. Michael's passion for work began in his early life, as he grew up with military parents who instilled in him the values of hard work, dedication, and service to others. His father dropped out of high school at 16 to join the Navy, and his mother served in both the Air Force and Marines, so Michael knows firsthand the importance of having a strong work ethic and a sense of purpose.  After years of experience in corporate HR and talent acquisition for companies such as Aerotek, Robert Half, Polycom, Western Digital, Workday, Rambus, and Gigamon, Michael joined the artificial intelligence startup Eightfold.ai. As a former customer of Eightfold.ai, he has unique first-hand knowledge of how AI is being used to hire and retain talent.

At Eightfold, Michael is part of a team that is using AI for good, mapping skills to opportunities and enabling the right career for everyone in the world. As the Head of Global Customer Evangelism for Eightfold's products and solutions, Michael frequently interacts with business leaders, customer executives and government officials to amplify the power of Eightfold’s artificial intelligence (AI) and their vision to use artificial intelligence for good and enable the right career for everyone in the world. Michael believes that AI has the potential to help individuals find fulfilling and meaningful work, and he is dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to the right career opportunities. He is passionate about helping individuals find work that aligns with their unique skills and interests, and he believes that AI can be a powerful tool to help people achieve their career goals.

Michael is a thought leader in the field of talent acquisition and artificial intelligence, and he is committed to using his expertise to help organizations and individuals navigate the rapidly changing world of work. He is the author of 2 books; Career AI: Navigating the Job Market in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and The AI-Powered HR Professional. He is a frequent speaker and writer on topics related to AI, talent acquisition, and career development, and he is always looking for new and innovative ways to use technology to improve people's lives. Michael attended Fresno State University where he studied Criminology.

When he is not working, Michael is busy working on his family's farm and dedicates a lot of time to coaching youth baseball and softball in his community. He is married and has two children.

Ken Narita is the Head of Digital Marketing and Demand Generation at Velocity Global.

Chris currently leads a growing team of AEs at Hibob. He has spent 15 years in the HR Tech space and has held various leadership roles at fast growing companies like ADP, DocuSign, and Zenefits. Chris has spent his career running sales Organizations, building winning cultures, developing talent, and driving results. He resides in Seattle with his wife and daughter.