Sherry Aaholm is the Vice President and Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of Cummins Inc. Aaholm joined Cummins in 2013 and spent 8 years as the company’s Chief Information Officer before taking on the CDO role. Prior to Cummins, she spent 15 years at FedEx, and served as the Executive Vice President of Information Technology, where she drove the IT transformation strategy for the global enterprise.

At Cummins, Sherry is currently responsible for the product digitization strategy including connectivity, IoT enablement, software engineering, analytics, and data management. This work includes bringing digital solutions to global markets and leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence to deliver the next generation of predictive services for customers and Cummins.

Sherry attended the University of Wisconsin and received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration with majors in Marketing and Economics. She recently was awarded a Master’s of Science in Sustainability from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. She has also attended the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where she studied Finance for Executives and Strategic Business Leadership.

Sherry is a strong advocate for helping to develop the next generation of talent, and for encouraging women to develop careers in IT. Her work in developing leadership programs has been recognized by Computerworld, and she has spoken at Gartner and Computerworld events on the subject. In addition, she believes strongly in helping women to achieve their goals, and was involved in the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, which focuses on helping single mothers get an education and support to succeed.

Sherry has been awarded the CIO “Ones to Watch” and Computerworld’s “CIO 100” List. She is also on the board of Old Dominion Freight Line, and the Chair of the TechPoint board in Indiana. TechPoint is a state focused non-profit that brings together Indiana’s tech companies, philanthropies, government, universities, and talent to create opportunity and designate Indiana as the Midwest’s tech hub for innovation.

Sherry is married, has a daughter and lives in Indianapolis, Ind.

Aine Allen is the Divisional Vice President, IT Strategy, Planning & International Operations. In this role, she leads key strategic initiatives, which include governance, portfolio management, and working across the IT leadership team to ensure full alignment across programs, initiatives, operating model, budgets, and timelines. And as part of this role, Aine is responsible for International IT (Affiliate IT).

Previously, Aine was Divisional Vice President of Information Technology for Abbott Rapid Diagnostics (ARDx). Abbott Rapid Diagnostics is one of the world leaders in point of care, with a focus on cardiometabolic disease, infectious disease, and toxicology. Aine had global responsibility for overall planning, organizing and execution of all IT functions.

Prior to these roles, Aine served in several senior level roles in positions of increasing responsibility across Supply Chain, Operational Excellence & IT. Her roles spanned the Medical Device, Nutrition Products & Diagnostics businesses in Abbott. Her Abbott career began in 2005 in Ireland, having previously worked for 3Com Technologies & Hewlett Packard.

Aine holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from University College, Limerick, Ireland and a post graduate in Computing from Griffith College, Dublin, Ireland.

Julia is a Chief Information Officer (CIO) who leverages technology to increase revenue and sustainability for iconic global brands like Campbell's, Smithfield, Pepsi, Heinz, and Kraft. She pairs strategy and implementation to streamline core businesses and propel innovation and profitability. Julia has a long history of efficient ERP and SAP deployment and has won multiple awards for her leadership, including for her work championing diverse teams and culture. Julia joined SIM in 2000 after completing Regional Leadership Forum (RLF) in Boston MA. Julia has been a member of the Advanced Practices Council (APC) since 2006. Julia currently serves as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Chair for SIM National. She has been a member of the SIM Fairfield Westchester Chapter and previously served on the chapter board.

Judy currently manages the Office of the CIO for Covanta. Her responsibilities span Portfolio Management, Change/Communications, Financial and Vendor Management. She has had responsibility for a variety of departments; IT Operations, QA, Infrastructure and PMO. She has implemented multiple Global Project Management Offices at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Cushman & Wakefield, International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Dow Jones, and Realogy Franchise Group.

Judy is Past President of PMINJ and the NJ SIM Foundation. She has served on other professional boards and planning committees for flagship fundraising events including: Executive Women of NJ, ELT of the Go Red Champaign for the American Heart Association in Central NJ, and Advisory Board for SAFE in Hunterdon, (providing services to victims of domestic violence).

Judy holds a Masters Certification in Project Management from George Washington University and a BA from Purdue University. She is a certified Project Management Professional and Scrum Master.

Deborah Butler is an Information Governance Executive who provides leadership for Fortune 500 firms in the financial services, technology, and pharmaceutical sectors, including a firm with up to $230B in assets and another with 140,000 employees. Throughout her career, she has been known for mastering emerging areas of the law and best practices in privacy, cybersecurity, information management, public pension law, and complex commercial transactions. She has been recognized for her leadership of cultural transformations over her career.

Ms. Butler is currently SVP and Head of Third-Party Data Services Management at Truist, the seventh largest bank in the US. She has led strategic enterprise-wide tiger teams to address general data protection regulations for the business, cybersecurity compliance with the NY Dept of Financial Services, and vendor relationship right-sizing. She has led the preparation of the legally required Information Security Annual Reports and spearheaded corporate participation in the Financial Data Exchange.

Prior to tenure at Truist, Ms. Butler was Director, Knowledge Assurance and Legal Operations for Dell Technologies, where she designed and led the transition to a global information governance consultancy from a traditional records management program, including leading the deployment of the Titus data classification software to 116,000 users.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Butler was the Chief Privacy Officer and Assistant General Counsel for Pfizer, where she developed and implemented data privacy protection policies and procedures for all patients, customers, employees, and other stakeholders. She led the transfer of personal data for the 48,000+ Wyeth employees joining Pfizer and remediation efforts for two major vendor data breaches, one affecting 12.5M individuals.

As Chief Privacy Officer and Assistant General Counsel for Unisys, Ms. Butler designed, built, and led the firm’s first global privacy program; she also closed 25+ multi-million-dollar strategic alliance agreements with firms such as Microsoft, Oracle, and Siebel. She has also served as the Chief Deputy City Solicitor, Commercial Law Unit, City of Philadelphia, and Senior Attorney for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Ms. Butler has actively engaged in the Philadelphia and Charlotte communities, supporting the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Barnes Foundation, National Constitution Center, Kimmel Center, Museum of American Revolution, Rebuilding Together, Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA), and Breast Cancer causes as well as many Truist-sponsored events in the Charlotte area.

Ms. Butler earned a Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology from Occidental College, both in Los Angeles, CA. She is a member of the Bar in Pennsylvania and the US Virgin Islands and a graduate of Leadership Inc.’s Philadelphia Women of Distinction Program. Ms. Butler is certified in Big Data/Hadoop Fundamentals (IBM) and holds a Six Sigma White Belt (Unisys).

Tessa Flippin is the Founder and Managing Partner of Capitalize VC, a pre-seed and seed stage VC fund investing in early-stage Black and Latino founders at the intersection of e-commerce technology and consumer brands.

Tessa began her career in venture capital as a venture investor at TechNexus, a Chicago-based fund, where she invested in enterprise SaaS technologies at the seed stage. She went on to join Genius Guild Greenhouse Fund as a Venture Partner, investing in Black founders in fintech, health tech and connectivity.

Prior to venture capital, Tessa founded La Plataforma, a fintech payments platform, sending international money transfers throughout Latin America.

Tessa attended Stanford University for undergrad where she ran Track and Field and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She went on to receive her MBA from Columbia Business School where she studied entrepreneurship, venture capital and social impact.

Tessa actively serves on the boards of BLCK VC Midwest and Chicago:Blend working to bring diversity to the tech ecosystem.

Risa Fogel is a technology leader with a passion for talent development. She has had a unique career path, spending several years in public health program design and policy analysis before transitioning to information technology.

After spending time in consulting, she worked for Cendant and Cushman & Wakefield, leading functions such as Business Relationship Management, Strategy and PMO. Most recently she was with Bayer, where she established Digital Innovation programs and led Digital Workplace Performance Management – where she and her team were responsible for guiding a third-party ecosystem of services for 160,000 employees.

She is passionate about DEI and employee development, and led DEI across the global IT organization at Bayer. She is a longtime supporter of SIM and held a variety of leadership roles for the New Jersey Chapter.

Carole Gatsch is Sr. Manager IT for Exelon corporation in the Enterprise Analytics department. Her organization manages the operations of over 330 servers, 5.8 Petabytes of data, and thousands of reports. She is a highly motivated, respected, and engaged individual with proven leadership skills and over 28 years of IT experience. She brings exceptional coaching and interpersonal skills to inspire, and technical and business skills to provide superior solutions. She is a PMP and COBIT 5 Foundation certified IT leader with experience managing projects and/or IT budgets ranging from $500K up to $90M. Carole has exposure working within IT in multiple areas such as large projects, operations, governance and risk, business intelligence, data governance, and consulting. Carole has lived in the Chicago area for most of her life and has a pre-teen daughter. She graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems.

Angela V. Harris is a collaborative Leadership Coach, Technology Leader, and Philanthropist with over twenty years of business experience in Fortune 500 companies. She has a deep understanding of the “unique experiences” Black women face in the workplace. In her coaching practice, Angela helps clients strategically navigate the corporate landscape so they can be seen, feel valued, and get promoted. Her intuitive approach brings clarity, direction, and positive support to her clients. Angela has a proven track record of success in coaching individuals to improve their performance, build their skills, and drive success for themselves and their organizations.

As a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech industry, Angela established the Angela V. Harris Scholarship Fund in 2017 to support African American students studying in the College of Computing & Informatics at Drexel University. She also founded a Scholarship Fund under the same name at La Salle University in 2020 for African Americans in the School of Arts and Sciences. Angela is committed to creating opportunities for African American students to reach their potential.

Angela has received many awards and honors, including the Philadelphia Tribune Women Achieving Award, Drexel University 40 under 40, Drexel University Black Alumni Council (DUBAC) Distinguished Alumni Award, the World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE) Hall of Fame, and Anita Borg Systers "Pass It On" Award. She is a native of Washington, D.C. with a M.S. degree in Information Technology Leadership from La Salle University and a B.S. degree in Information Systems from Drexel University. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Angela completed her professional coach training through the Institute For Professional Excellence In Coaching (iPEC). She is the Chartering President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. – Greater Seattle Chapter and currently serves on the Drexel University Alumni Board of Governors, Drexel University Black Alumni Council (DUBAC), and La Salle University IT Advisory Board.

Angela’s life’s purpose is to be of service: to encourage, engage, and equip others to believe in the possibilities. She is a contributing author in the award-winning book A Legacy To Share: Navigating Life’s Challenges and Celebrating Our Greatest Achievements, and the author of a forthcoming book on Black women and workplace trauma. Angela will forever strive to be the best as she lives by Gandhi’s famous words “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Learn more about Angela at www.angelavharris.com.

Anjana has more than 25+ years of experience as Global Chief Information Officer and as a Technology Executive at several companies including Fresenius Medical Care, Hillrom, Shire Human Genetic Therapies and Novartis. She is a strategic leader with broad business knowledge and deep technical expertise, focused on improving business outcomes through digital strategies. Anjana has had the opportunity to take on some tough challenges and successfully drive large scale business transformations throughout her career journey. She is known for being a change catalyst with a penchant for inspiring, motivating and coaching teams to achieve uncommon results. Anjana strongly believes that information is a strategic asset that should be leveraged as a competitive differentiator. She has won multiple awards for her leadership and for driving digital innovation. She has presented her ideas at various conferences and written articles about it.

Anjana has an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering from Bangalore University, India.

Myra Capri Herring is a Wellness Coach and the founder and CEO of Capri Brand, LLC, a personal branding company, where she coaches women how to live a life of flow that is in alignment with their most true and beautiful self.

After graduating from Spelman College in Atlanta, Myra spent 10 years as a technology consultant where she noticed women’s careers being negatively impacted by their lack of understanding of the importance of their image and presence. As a result, Myra started Capri Brand with an aim to help women polish their personal and professional brand through image consulting and personal development coaching. She continues to coach and inspire women as a Wellness Coach, Speaker and transformation facilitator.

In addition to Capri Brand, Myra recently served as the Vice President of Operations for the IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), a non-profit organization focused on the representation of black executives at senior levels in technology through enrichment of their mind, body and soul.

Myra is a native of Roanoke, Virginia, who came to Atlanta by way of Spelman College where she earned her Bachelors degree. Myra earned her MBA degree from Emory Goizueta Business School in 2018.

Myra currently serves on the Advisory Board for S3 Recycling Solutions, a full-service technology recycling firm. She has served as a Board member and Secretary of 10 years for the Resurgence Leadership Foundation (formerly the Metro Atlanta Leadership Foundation) non-profit organization. Myra has also served as a volunteer with the Big Brother Big Sister of Metro Atlanta program, as a big sister for over 10 years. She enjoys spending time with her family who has relocated to Atlanta, traveling, and advocating for ambitious women pursuing greater purpose in life.

Erica Hausheer is SVP and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Teradata. She is a seasoned, insightful, and highly driven cross-functional leader who bridges silos to produce enterprise-wide results. She brings extensive expertise in Business Process Transformation, Organizational Change, Technology Transformation, Master Data, Business Alignment, IT Budgeting, and Governance. 

Erica is a strategic leader in all aspects of the IT function with demonstrated ability to transform culture, reduce costs, and enhance business operations via successful delivery of complex IT programs. Leveraging her broad IT expertise, Erica also assumed leadership of the Global Sourcing & Procurement organization, invigorating focus on global collaboration and process efficiency to reduce costs.  

Prior to joining Teradata, Erica was a transformational leader and CIO at 3D Systems for four years, building upon her two successful decades before that at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in various global roles, including IT leadership for two business units, overall test lead for the HP separation, and VP of IT Architecture for the newly separated HPE organization. Prior to HP, she was a US Naval Officer for six years.

Extending her leadership contributions beyond Teradata, Erica volunteers as a board member for the non-profit Kids Included Together (KIT) and is also a guest speaker for the College of Business, California State University San Marcos.

Maryfran is an award-winning technology journalist, event moderator and public speaker who specializes in IT leadership, innovation and business transformation. Connecting CIOs and digital leaders with opportunities to shine -- online, onstage or on camera -- is the core mission of Maryfran Johnson Media, which offers a range of editing, content strategy, coaching & consulting services to CIOs, digital leaders and technology providers. Before launching her own firm in late 2019, Maryfran served as Editor in Chief of CIO magazine & its event division, where she created and hosted dozens of IT leadership events over the past decade. Today, she serves as host for CIO.com's CIO Leadership Live video show and podcast, which has featured more than 100 in-depth interviews with prominent Fortune 1000 CIOs. Maryfran is well known and respected throughout the IT leadership community nationwide for her engaging stage presence, deep understanding of business technology issues and extensive network of CIOs, CTOs and Chief Digital Officers. She holds a Master of Arts in Journalism from The Ohio State University's Kiplinger Fellowship Program and a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida.

Whynde Kuehn is the Founder and Managing Director of S2E Transformation, helping organizations bridge the gap between strategy and execution. She is recognized globally as a highly sought-after pioneer and thought leader in business architecture, with a distinguished track record of creating successful strategic business architecture teams worldwide. She has worked with an extensive array of organizations to build their capacity for end-to-end strategy execution, including Fortune 500 and global enterprises, governmental and non-profit organizations, social enterprises, startups, and cross-sector initiatives. Whynde is the creator of Biz Arch Mastery, a dedicated online platform and community that helps professionals master the art and science of business architecture. She is a Fellow with the Institute for Digital Transformation and a member of the Fast Company Executive Board. She is also the co-founder of a not-for-profit business architecture association that has helped advance and formalize the discipline across the globe. She is Chair of the Women In Architecture (WIA) global initiative. Beginning Spring 2023, Whynde will be an adjunct professor within the Penn State Smeal College of Business in the Executive Education program. She is the author of the book Strategy to Reality.

Randi Levin is a CEO, Entrepreneur, Speaker, 4 time, award winning CIO who is passionate about empowering Women in Technology. She has developed and delivers sustainable programs for mid-career women in tech and operations to escalate them up the corporate ladder. She is an innovative and transformational in business and technology executive with proven experience in managing large-scale organizations. She specializes in strategic planning, digital transformation, cybersecurity and leading edge thinking as well as implementation. She is results-oriented business manager with outstanding interpersonal skills.

Randi’s latest major achievement was leading JPL’s Information Technology Division and support a successful rover and helicopter landing on Mars while working from home during Covid. Randi was also responsible for ensuring the Voyager continued to operate while moving all the ground data systems and retrofitting them for the future. Randi also led and matured the cyber program for JPL.

Randi was the first Public and Private sector CTO or CIO to implement cloud-based email - Google Applications – Gmail for the enterprise in 2008. Her extensive partnership with Google provided the City of Los Angeles many benefits beyond just a new email system and began the city’s digital transformation. It also disrupted an entire industry and enabled much more cloud adoption.

Randi has been an advocate for women in technology staying and advancing in the field, and helping middle school girls get interested in STEM. She has spoken on this topic and is writing a book about women in technology.

Randi has lived in the Los Angeles area for approximately 30 years and has two grown children. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration with a Management Information Systems degree from the University of Arizona.

Susan Lindner is the Founder and CEO of Innovation Storytellers, a leading innovation storytelling consulting firm. She is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, workshop leader, messaging strategist, storytelling coach, and the world’s leading expert on innovation storytelling.

Susan draws from her initial experiences as an anthropologist and international aid worker in rural Thailand in the 1990s, where she shared stories that helped at-risk populations disproportionately affected by AIDS to slow the virus’ spread. Today, as a 20-year communications expert, she is committed to using those same storytelling skills to inspire innovation leaders everywhere to become incredible storytellers and ensure that their innovations get the resources, runway, and recognition they deserve.

Susan is the host of Innovation Storytellers, a weekly podcast that takes the mystery out of how to communicate breakthrough ideas to the people who matter most. Every week, Susan interviews top global innovation leaders from companies like Amazon, Bloomberg, Cisco, Corning, and Tesla about the stories that moved their innovations past the boardroom, lab, and production line and into our everyday lives.

Susan speaks at global conferences, consulates, and trade organizations. She has worked with C-level leaders and teams from over 60 countries at Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, AT&T, Arm & Hammer on their innovation storytelling strategies. The result? Those innovation leaders become incredible storytellers who go on to change the world. Susan is driven to ensure every breakthrough idea reaches its finish line through powerful stories that connect to every listener and power that brilliant idea forward.

Jen Nash is a keynote speaker, trainer/coach, and award-winning author who leverages her 20+ years as a creative director and strategist for Fortune 100 companies to help individuals and companies lean into connection. Through her masterful storytelling and connected culture-focused lenses—Nash helps teams boost sales, upsell, improve overall culture and reduce attrition. Connection is everything!

Elaine Norman is Vice President of Member Services & External Affairs for the IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF). ITSMF increases the representation of black professionals at senior levels in technology, to impact organizational innovation and growth. ITSMF accomplishes this by developing and nurturing these dynamic leaders through a series of rich, developmental, and career-advancing programs.

As an accomplished technology, strategy and operations management-focused executive, Elaine has always been drawn to companies dedicated to innovation and improving the human condition. She has previously served as Vice President, Support Services for Elekta, Inc, Senior Director, within Hewlett Packard’s Global PMO Office & Office of the CIO; Senior Director of the Enterprise PMO for SageNet, Vice President Technology for The American Cancer Society; Senior Director of IT Strategy and Planning for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Chief Information Officer for The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Throughout her 25+ year career, Elaine has been a driving force behind numerous key technology initiates and programs that have led to significant cost savings, increased productivity, and improved enterprise wide operations. And as an accomplished executive and business leader, Elaine is passionate about driving positive change, creating collaborative and inclusive work environments, and building highly effective, high-performance teams. Her industry expertise includes High-Tech, Telecommunications, Consumer Products, Healthcare and Human Services.

Elaine has served as an advisory board member for the Global Leadership Forum, Georgia CIO Leadership Association, IT Senior Management Forum and as an advisor for the Women in Technology (WIT) Foundation. She serves on several industry committees for organizations such as the Women’s Business Council, and SIM Women Leadership Summit. She has also received numerous industry awards for her contribution to technology leadership such as Woman of the Year in Technology by WIT (Women in Technology); CIO of the Year, by the CIO ORBIE; Atlanta's 100 Most Influential Women from Women Looking Ahead Magazine, and as a featured MBA alumnus from the Gouizetta School of Emory University.

Elaine has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Behavioral Science from Oglethorpe University and an MBA from Emory University.

Mel is a seasoned technology executive with over 30 years of experience building high-performing teams that drive quantifiable results for global enterprises, startups, and non-profit organizations. As a CIO and CISO, Mel has successfully navigated through the IT drama, managing application development, eCommerce, backend data integration, and global compliance with a focus on security, infrastructure, and fraud management.

Mel has a proven track record of delivering value for Fortune 10-500 companies, FinTech, Media Agencies, CPG, Manufacturing, and startups, including Pepsi, T-Mobile, Lowe's, Priceline, Publicis Groupe, and Omnicom agencies.

Mel is laser-focused on leveraging his strong financial acumen to deliver measurable business value through precision budgeting and strategic planning. While at Synchrony, he led the IT and Business strategy of over 100 cross-matrixed resources, delivering a 400% increase in PayPal's credit portfolio to $12B in 2 years. Additionally, he led enterprise fraud and authentication efforts resulting in $711M in sales increases and over $29M in fraud prevention and operational cost savings while supporting over 90M customers.

In addition to his executive experience, Mel is an advisory board member of several prestigious organizations, including the Society for Information Management (SIM) SoCal, HMG Strategy Financial Services, Pace University's Cybersecurity Board, Vation Ventures, and Tech Impact. He is also a startup advisor for Scrut Automation, Zluri, Uno.ai, Apolyta, Lend for Good, VeraScore, Live Fr8, PieEye, and Reshuffle.

Mel is a highly sought-after moderator and speaker for Tech Impact, GRCIE, SIM, HMG, IIBA, AFCOM, and several other organizations. He is passionate about giving back to the community and volunteers his time and expertise to help non-profit groups as an advisor, speaker, and mentor.

Christine pairs a master’s in management and organizational behavior with experience working with elite companies like Dell, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, and a large community of tech start-ups.

As a trusted advisor to organizations and leaders–and a mentor to hundreds of working professionals–her transformational and pragmatic guidance drives results at scale. She is a partner to one, parent to four, author of two books, and a mentor to many.

And for fun, she likes to track the number of people she helps get new jobs, promotions, and raises.

Rosa L. Smothers has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity. She is currently Senior Vice President of Cyber Operations at KnowBe4, where she is responsible for leading KnowBe4’s Federal Practice efforts, including providing cybersecurity advisory services to civilian and military agencies within the U.S. federal government. Smothers is also responsible for providing analysis for KnowBe4’s cybersecurity research and cyber threat intelligence efforts. Having served for over a decade in the Central Intelligence Agency, she is a highly decorated national security professional with extensive experience leading the planning and execution of cyber operations against terrorist and nation-state targets as well as the adoption of cutting-edge computer technology.

Smothers served as a cybersecurity analyst and technical intelligence officer in the Center for Cyber Intelligence and the Counter Terrorism Mission Center and on multiple overseas tours, to include extensive service in Iraq. She holds a B.A. in Information Studies from Florida State University and an M.S. in Computer Network Security from Capitol Technology University. Smothers is a mentor to women and young people in cybersecurity and is a member of Infragard and Women in Defense.

Kristen Sonday is the co-founder and CEO of Paladin, whose mission is to increase access to justice by helping legal teams run more efficient pro bono programs. In her role, she works with AmLaw250 firms, Fortune 500s, bar associations, and legal services organizations to increase pro bono engagement while decreasing administrative costs. In addition, Kristen currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council, working to highlight the value of legal aid in the United States.

Prior to Paladin, Kristen worked on international criminal matters for the U.S. Department of Justice and served on the founding team of a New York City-based tech start-up. As a result of her work to close the justice gap, she has been named an ILTA Influential Woman in LegalTech, ABA Woman in Legal Tech to Watch, ABA Journal Legal Rebel, and FastCase50 honoree. Lastly, Kristen also served as a Code2040 Entrepreneur-in-Residence, supporting Black and Latinx founders, and is a Founding Partner at LongJump, a venture capital fund investing in diverse founders in Chicago.

Leona Thomas is a Strategic Executive Leader and Business Transformation Expert with over 25 years in executive leadership, business strategy, operations, technology, business transformation, and change. Leona got involved in business transformation early in her career and has developed an expertise in building and reshaping companies from startups to the Global Fortune 500's leading through critical transformations involving startups, rapid growth, merger and acquisitions, major regulatory and industry change, emerging industries, new opportunities, corporate repositioning, and innovation.

Over the course of her career, Leona has worked for large consulting companies such as Slalom Consulting and CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) where she founded and built CSC’s multimillion-dollar Global Chemical Regulatory and Sustainability Practice, has held executive leadership roles such as COO at Wylie, an AI and Machine Learning Company picked up out of incubation, and CTO at Benefits Data Trust – a leading non-profit helping people get access to the public benefits they are eligible for; and has founded multiple consulting companies providing Strategic Management and Transformation expertise such as PHMC (Public Health Management Company). All of these efforts, and many others, focused on leading an organization through a major transformational change and building an organization able to take its next steps for the future.

In addition to her professional experience, Leona is involved in multiple community development and volunteer activities. She is a current a Board Member at Philadelphia City Rowing, a Philadelphia non-profit giving Philadelphia Public High and Middle School students an opportunity to row combined with educational support, coaching, and mentoring as well as a graduate and member of DiverseForce On Boards, a member of Society Information Management (SIM) Nation DEI Committee and a long-standing member of SIM Women’s Summit Executive Leadership Council. She also spent over 8 years on the board of William Way, Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ Community Center, as well as co-chairing and founding their Strategic Planning Committee for over 10 years.

In addition to her professional and community activities, Leona also has an BSE in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an Executive MBA from Drexel University.

Lili is a former corporate executive turned entrepreneur, Cultural Intelligence® expert, and television business commentator known for her analysis of data and cultural trends impacting our economy and businesses. As an immigrant from Colombia, who came to the U.S. at the age of 17 without speaking English, she embodies the American Dream going from corporate executive turned entrepreneur. After a successful corporate career, including a 10-year tenure at Johnson & Johnson, where she pioneered multicultural marketing efforts for the Pharma sector and co-founded the Hispanic employee resource group “HOLA”, Lili co-founded the marketing agency CIEN+ and the A.I. market research tech firm CulturIntel. After over a decade of impacting the world’s most iconic brands and corporations, her firm has grown to become a first of its kind independent family of Cultural Intelligence®companies under the group name Culture+. Her firm has been listed by the Inc. 5000 as one of America’s Fastest Growing Independently-owned companies and is proudly a certified minority-owned and woman-owned firm.

With offices in the U.S. and Latin America, the group offers proprietary research, business strategy and inclusive marketing solutions for some of the world’s most iconic brands and Fortune 100’s that want to successfully understand how to tap into the full power of diverse market segments for greater impact and business growth. Some of their clients include Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Kroger, Merck/ MSD, Prudential, among other iconic Fortune 500’s.

Lili is one of less than 1% of Latinas serving on a Fortune 500+ public board, as an independent director for the global youth retailer Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) and RCN Television (BVC: RCNTELEVI). She also serves as Chairwoman of the FRIENDS of the National American Latino Museum and is an investor and operating executive board member for AUA Private Equity Partners, an investment firm that has deployed over $475 million in capital to scale family-owned and Hispanic-focused businesses.

She is a sought after global speaker and academic lecturer, known for her TEDx talk called, “Diversity is Overrated” and is a regular independent television commentator to various national networks like Fox Business, CNN en Español, NTN24, among others. For her unique application of A.I. and Cultural Intelligence® shaping board rooms, she has been featured by Forbes, Bloomberg and Fortune Magazines and has received recognitions like, 2023 MM&M Agency 100, 2023 D Magazine Most Influential CEOs in Dallas, 2022 PRWeek Top 30 Most Influential in Healthcare, 2022/ 2021 Top 100 Most Influential Latinas by Latino Leaders Magazine, 2021 Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, Pinnacle Award by Medical Media & Marketing (MM&M), Silicon Valley Visionary, U.S. Hispanic Businessperson of the Year by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, among others. She is an active voice supporting the economic power of diverse communities, particularly Hispanics, in support of initiatives at The United Nations, The World Economic Forum, The White House and as a mentor to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program. Lili holds a degree in Business Administration from Southwestern Adventist University, where she serves today as a trustee, an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado and an executive degree in Global Leadership and Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is married to entrepreneur and former football player Chris Valletta and has two sons.

BIO COMING SOON!