SPEAKERS

Nina E. Woodard

President & Chief "N" Sights Officer

Nina E. Woodard & Associates, a division of NDPendence, Inc.

Michael Stuber

CEO - Europe Diversity Research & Consulting

Germany's 'Diversity-Guru'

How can increasingly diverse potential be leveraged? This has been the key question in Michael Stuber's work for twenty years. While earning a degree in industrial engineering and management from the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) he had already been involved in European projects in the areas of education & employment. After four years of working with two leading consultancies in personnel and organisation development he founded, in 1997, his international Diversity firm with the two brands European Diversity and Ungleich Besser. Through his ground-breaking work, he has become an acclaimed researcher, author and speaker – known as the 'Diversity Guru'.

Approach
Michael Stuber has developed the Propelling Potential Principle to address key business issues: Inter-nationalisation, M&As and competitive pressure require new approaches to leverage increasingly diverse potential. In order to achieve this, Michael Stuber works on two levels: organisational and individual. He changes processes and cultures to make them more effective and attractive for different stakeholders. And he works with managers and employees to provide them with information and tools that enable them to operate successfully in a constantly changing business environment. The Propelling Potential Principle is Michael Stuber's systematic approach to address different challenges in a consistent way.

Innovation - Effectively combining different perspectives & approaches
Competition - Reaching out to target groups and the mainstream
Cost - Boosting productivity and efficiency through inclusion
Globalisation - Utilising cultural differences through active integration
Ethics - Building and sustaining a responsible reputation
Future of work - Mobilising individual talents by fostering inclusion

Areas of Work
Consulting - Corporate policy, quality of leadership, corporate culture & change, HR strategy & policy, marketing & communication, organisation development, diversity, inclusion, equality

Data & Analysis - Surveys, society or market data, theme or trend reports, analysis of corporate culture, best practices & benchmarking, process auditing

Communication & Concepts - Presentations, newsletters, communication on the Internet & Intranet, brochures, PR, annual reports, communication strategy & concepts

Learning & Experiencing - Trainings, thematic workshops, further education, eLearning, in-house events, mentoring & networks

Tony Tenicela

Global Leader, Workforce Diversity and LGBT Markets

IBM

Tony Tenicela currently advises C-Suite executives on the role of the workforce in the age of disruptive technologies with expertise in diversity strategy, talent management, leadership, and social collaboration. In honor of his accomplishments, Tony was awarded the Diversity Leadership Award by the World HRD Congress and the DiversityFirst Award by the California Diversity Council in 2016. Tony also manages IBM's global LGBT commercial strategy and was recently named one of the Top 50 LGBT Executives by the UK's Telegraph and Out at Work.

Prior to joining IBM, Tony was a founding employee of Worldview Systems, where he led the creation and development of the initial prototype for the Travelocity™ on-line travel service. Tony holds an MBA in Business Strategy from the Anderson School at UCLA, a MA equivalent in Personality/Organizational Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Alan Richter, Ph. D.

Founder and President

QED Consulting

Alan Richter is the founder and president of QED Consulting, a 28-year-old company based in New York. He has consulted to corporations and organizations for many years in multiple capacities, primarily in the areas of leadership, values, culture and change. He has provided strategic consulting and facilitation and program delivery for varied organizations globally, and has been involved in innovative instructional product development. He is a recognized pioneer in the diversity and ethics fields.

Dr. Richter is the creator of The Global Diversity Game -- an award winning training tool, and co-creator of the Global Diversity Survey -- a self-assessment tool which measures how we deal with difference, the Global Gender Intelligence Assessment – a new gender intelligence self-assessment, Global Leadership Survey – a leadership style self-assessment tool, The Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks and The Global Ethics & Integrity Benchmarks -- which help organizations measure their Diversity and Ethics initiatives, respectively, against global best practices. He also co-produced Global Words for Global Leaders -- an inspirational leadership video.

He has worked closely with many organizations including: American Express, Avon, BP, CERN, Chubb, Delphi, EY, GE, GSK, Home Depot, Kohler, KPMG, MetLife, NASA, Nokia, Pfizer, PwC, Prudential, RBS, Sasol, Saudi Aramco, Sony, UBS, UC Berkeley, Unilever, the United Nations, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, Wharton, and WHO. He has worked in Africa, Asia and Europe, in addition to the Americas, and has extensive global experience.

Dr. Richter has also been a presenter at many conferences such as the Arthur Page Society, the ASJA, ASTD, the Conference Board, Diversity Best Practices, Forum on Workplace Inclusion, GlobalForum (Bangkok), Integral Leadership Summit (London), the International Institute for Research, the Human Resource Planning Society, NASAGA and ISAGA (North American/International Simulation and Gaming Association), SHRM, Arabian SHRM, and SIETAR. He is a member of the National Science Foundation's Social Task group on Sustainability Standards.

Prior to founding QED he consulted extensively in on-line services, taught philosophy, psychology, and interdisciplinary courses at the Open University in Britain. His articles have covered aspects of business ethics, diversity and globalization and he has written chapters in books on ethics and culture in medicine. He is the co-editor of a recent book on global values seen through the context of comparative jurisprudence. Dr. Richter has an M.A. and a B.A.B.Sc. from the University of Cape Town, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, London University.

Amelia Kinahoi-Siamomua

Head - Gender Section

The Commonwealth

Ms Amelia Kinahoi-Siamomua is a development practitioner and a graduate of Economics and Politics with post-graduate studies in Business Administration, Leadership and Development from the University of the South Pacific and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She is currently the Head of the Gender Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK. Prior to joining the Commonwealth, Amelia had a distinguished career with the United Nations and was the Inter-Regional Adviser (SIDS-Small Island Developing States) with the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs (DESA) in New York. Amelia had also served in the United Nations system as Senior Gender Advisor with UNDP and Regional Programme Director of the United Nations Development Fund's (UNIFEM) Pacific Regional Office.

Amelia served in previous capacities as the Women's Development Adviser and Head of the Pacific Women's Bureau of the Secretariat for the Pacific Community based in New Caledonia and also as Senior Program Advisor (Gender) with CARE International in Atlanta, USA. As a development economist, she served with regional and international organisations on economic and social development as the Development Cooperation Adviser for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) in Fiji. Prior to PIFS, Amelia worked for more than 7 years with the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank's regional office for the Pacific, in Port Vila, Vanuatu as a Program/Economics Officer. She started her career in her home country as an Economist for the Tonga Development Bank.

During her career, Amelia has presented papers at international, regional and national conferences, seminars and meetings on a range of development issues. She has more than thirty years of professional experience. Amelia is from Nuku'alofa, Tonga, and her interests include meeting people, tennis and gardening. Amelia is married to Miti Siamomua of Samoa and they have a family of five adult children and one grandson.

Anjali Gulati

Founder Director

People Konnect & Back to the Front

Anjana Nathwani

CEO

Athena Business Psychologists

Described by her peers and clients as a Life Enhancer

As a two-time survivor of cancer she believes Life is a Luxury!

Anjana has the courage and determination to follow her convictions. She is increasingly working with cancer patients and is the founder and owner of Athena Retreats for people who are experiencing cancer or building life post cancer.

More info on the retreats here
Mentor, psychologist etc etc
Expert on mental health issues and cancer xxxxxxx


CORPPORATE WORK
Anjana is also working with Employers on how to support people returning to work post cancer and mentoring people to realise the personal strength they have gained as a result of the pause caused by cancer.

As a Business Psychologist, she is passionate about the value diversity and inclusion creates for the business. Her experience spans across four continents and 80 different nationalities and over 100 clients.


MEMBERSHIPS, AWARDS, AFFILIATIONS + AUTHORSHIPS
Anjana is honoured to be a member of the International Society of Business Leaders and is also a member of the British Psychological Society. A commended nominee for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2012 and is a Business Mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation & an Advisory Board Member of Biz Divas Foundation in India. She has researched and authored several reports. Her research has influenced legislation and policies and practices globally. A published author in two books - View from the Top and What's the Difference. Writes a regular column for India Incorporated, an online business journal.

Speaks and delivers workshops at conferences, most recently at WIN conferences in Berlin and Tokyo.

Anjana has delivered high quality consultancy assignments to:
American Express, 3M, HSBC, Aviva, Goldman Sachs, Boots Alliance, PWC, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Glaxo Smith Kline, Equitable Life, WNS, Vodafone, Hindustan Unilever, University of Cambridge, PepsiCo, Microsoft, PWC, Tata, UBS, Imperial College, Transport for London, BBC, UBS, Lloyds, Rexam, Nokia, g4S and the UK Government and related agencies. Prior to starting her own consultancy practice, she was Senior Director at Schneider Ross and Director of Learning Design at Cass Business School. And is now visiting Faculty at Business Schools and currently teaches Cross Cultural Management at University of Hertfordshire Business School.

Charlotte Sweeney

Founder of Creating Inclusive Cultures & Charlotte Sweeney Associates Ltd. Specialists in Inclusion, Diversity and Change

Dawn Metcalfe

Managing Director

Performance Development Services (PDS)

Dawn Metcalfe is a dynamic coaching and skills development professional, whose expert knowledge has transformed the professional performance of individuals, teams and organisations. Her unique insights and straight-talking approach has kept her constantly in demand from large multinationals and government entities, across the Middle East, over the last 10 years. Put simply, Dawn is one of the leading authorities on how to develop the skills needed to succeed in business.

As the founder and Managing Director of PDSi (formally Performance Development Services) Dawn works closely with senior managers, high potentials and teams through a mixture of tailored coaching, mentoring and leadership development programmes as well as facilitated retreats and soft skills training. Over the years she has worked with a broad range of clients including Burberry, Credit Suisse, PwC, AXA, ADCB and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Dawn's expertise lies in people. Since her first role in merchandising sales, she has been fascinated by the way people interact and the importance of communication effectively. Her understanding of power ratios and dynamics and how to harness them, as well as a constant search for improved communication tools, have made her a specialist in helping businesses grow. In the words of the Kanoo Group Chairman, Mishal Kanoo "Dawn is a rare combination with an incredible level head, you want to listen to her for hours. Truly a gem of a find." Her specialist experience and popular method have made her a frequent speaker and moderator at key events such as The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, CFO, Women in Leadership and the Human Capital Forum where she speaks about how individuals and teams can improve the way they work together so as to get the results they want.

The typical topics on which she provides speaker services include:
- mbracing conflict - how to take the inevitable and make it work for you.
- Getting the best from living in the diverse workplace of the Middle East.
- Being heard and hearing others - the key to personal and organizational success
- Working effectively across cultures.

As well as being an experienced coach and facilitator, she is also a published author and trainer. Her book, 'Managing the Matrix: The Secret to Surviving and Thriving in Your Organization', available in both Arabic and English, laid out the secrets to successful professional relationships and her innovative HardTalk programme focuses on combatting common communication stumbling blocks in diverse workplaces.

With a degree in Modern Languages and a Master's Degree in Education, both from the UK, Dawn spent her early career working in challenging schools and honing her knowledge of how people work. Her experience grew further with work all over the world, including mainland Europe, China and Japan before settling in Dubai in 2008. She is a determined advocate for the positive power of diversity, when managed correctly, and her refreshing style and bespoke approach has proven hugely successful both within the UAE and the wider GCC region.

Dawn is also a regular contributor to regional radio, print and online platforms including Dubai Eye, Entrepreneur.com, Linkedin, Training Magazine and Arabian Business.

Don Trahan, Jr., Ph.D.

Associate Director, Diversity and Inclusion

Thomas Jefferson University Office of the President

Topic - Examining Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace from a Culturally Responsive Lens

Don P. Trahan, Jr., Ph.D. is a strong advocate for multiculturalism and social justice. Dr. Trahan specializes in multicultural counselling with an emphasis on advocating for historically marginalized groups and/or individuals. His scholarly work and advocacy focuses on culturally responsive practices in contemporary society, which has led to the publication of several peer-reviewed articles, nationwide conference presentations, and international speaking engagements addressing such issues. Dr. Trahan endeavours to assist his students and the various audiences he engages with developing the competencies required to examine, address, and resolve issues in their communities with a critical lens. This same critical lens is the driving force behind his platform for social change. Today, he serves as a consultant on matters pertaining to diversity, inclusion, and multicultural education, teaches several graduate-level courses, and runs a private practice as a clinical mental health counsellor.

Presentation Brief - Examining Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace from a Culturally Responsive Lens
This presentation will address how inclusive excellence (i.e., diversity, inclusion, multiculturalism) impacts the structural, systemic, human resource, and political frames of an organization in contemporary society. All participants will be expected to develop a thorough understanding of the following: 1) Participants will be expected to learn about the basic philosophic elements of multiculturalism; 2)Participants will be expected to learn how ones intersecting identities influences their positionality on the working team; and 3) Participants will be expected to learn how to integrate the model presented into the climate of their organization.

Gamiel Yafai

Co-Author - Demystifying Diversity and

Founder & MD - Diversity Marketplace

Topic : The Voice inside your head

Gamiel Yafai is the co-author of Demystifying Diversity and the founder and managing director of Diversity Marketplace, a specialist Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy which provides innovative practical solutions to mainstreaming Equality and Diversity and Inclusion within the workplace and the wider society. Gamiel has headed up the Diversity Practices for two of the UK's largest Recruitment Communications Agencies (Barkers now Penna PLC & Euro RSCG Riley now Havas) and continues to support a number of recruitment advertising and resourcing agencies as a diversity partner as well as direct clients. Gamiel has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and practical experience of Equality, Diversity and inclusion in relation to talent acquisition and talent management as well as the barriers that employers experience when attempting to recruit diverse talent from across the UK. Gamiel is a passionate practitioner of Diversity and Inclusion and works with many grassroots organisations in his Spare Time!!

Over the years Gamiel has been involved in over 32 research projects which have given him some great insight into the perception of minority groups & women as potential employees and reality of working for organisations from and minority & Female perspective. The combination of conducting research and working within the Private, Public and Voluntary sectors has given Gamiel a greater insight into business case for Diversity and the need for creating an inclusive culture within working environments.

Topic : The Voice inside your head
The focus of the talk with be barriers to inclusion within organisations and particularly the impact of unconscious Bias within the employment cycle.
- Great awareness of your own biases
- The Impact of Unconscious Bias on the Workplace
- How to reduce the impact of unconscious Bias in the Workplace.

James O. Rodgers

The Diversity Coach

---

James O. Rodgers CMC, MBA was recently elected to be a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC-USA). The Fellow of the Institute is the highest honor awarded in the management consulting profession. Jim has been called a "keen observer of business from many perspectives" and is acknowledged by his colleagues as the leading strategist in the field of diversity and inclusion. Jim is the author of the groundbreaking book Managing Differently: Getting 100% from 100% of your people 100% of the time which changed the conversation about diversity and has been adopted as source material for a number of major MBA programs including Kellogg School of Management. His second book, Epiphany: Finding Truth without Losing Faith is designed to change the conversation about religious diversity.

James received a B.S.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from Howard University, an M.B.A. in Management from the University at Alabama, and is a Ph.D. candidate at Walden University. He was a Guest Facilitator for Georgia State University's Leadership and Strategy M.B.A. course, and designed and presented an Executive Management course at Cornell University. He has been a Guest Presenter at Diversity, Innovation and Leadership events at Kellogg School of Management, Cornell University, and the University of Michigan, among other institutions. James has provided advice and counsel to over 200 companies including industry giants such as IBM, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, the Southern Company, AT&T, ThyssenKrupp Elevator and the YMCA. He is the thought leader for the concept of diversity management as a key business strategy, which he calls Deliberate Diversity™. Jim has become the leading resource for leaders who want to use diversity to achieve better business results. He teaches business owners and executive teams how to create tangible results by effectively managing people and valuing differences. Jim is also a spiritual teacher and a serial non-profit leader. He has chaired half dozen major non-profits like Habitat for Humanity and served as Vice-Chair of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Charlotte Sweeney

Director & General Manager - Diversity & Inclusion

Tata Communications Ltd.

Kulbir Shergill

Director

Benton & Shergill

Kulbir Shergill has over 20 years' experience working with and advising major professional services companies, Government agencies, International Charities and Community Interest Companies. These include KPMG, The Red Cross, and London School of Economics and Chartered Institute of Housing. Her strategy work with organisations such as KPMG, Genesis a social housing innovator with £5.4bm of assets and NACRO (one of the largest charities in the country) have led to external recognition by Stonewall, Opportunity Now, Wealth in the City and National Business Awards. Benton and Shergill are an advisory and management consultancy focusing on diversity and inclusion strategies and best practice.

Lorelei Carobolante

President & CEO

G2nd Systems

Monika Navandar

Global HR Leader - Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion

Johnson & Johnson

She is an HR Expert with diverse experience across businesses, sectors and geographies in 10 different industries. She is also a soft skills trainer, who has coached/managed large multinational teams in India, Singapore & the USA. She has worked in D&I, Talent Management, HR Strategy, Learning & Development and Leadership Development. She has numerous awards appreciating her work and her giving back to community. She has worked on a book called Cultural Agility that deals with Global Workforce Management. She is an eminent HR and D&I speaker at many local, regional and international speaking engagements. She has a Masters in Human Resource Management from Rutgers University, New Jersey and Bachelors in Computer Science & Engineering. She is passionate about HR strategy, data analytics & insights and networking. She is an avid traveller and speaks 5 languages.

Topic - The Power & Versatility of Strategic Diversity & Inclusion

Brief of presentation
In today's hiring landscape, Diversity & Inclusion is key to talent attraction, talent quality, employee engagement, productivity, innovation and top-line impact. Other than hiring people from diverse backgrounds, it is also important to develop the right metrics to drive a diverse and inclusive culture in the organization. This presentation would cover various aspects of successful D&I strategy and metrics and help organizations to implement, grow, measure and create first-in-class diversity programs.

Take Aways:
- Learn how to apply the power of analytics to D&I
- Learn to measure, manage and improve an Organization's diversity program
- A set of practical D&I metrics

Nereida (Neddy) Perez

Founder & Principal

D&I Creative Solutions

Nia Joynson-Romanzina

Founder and Director

iCubed

Dr. Niru Kumar, M.B.B.S

Medical Doctor

Diversity Consultant & Coach

Dr. Niru Kumar has been powerfully impacting and transforming lives through a unique blend of expertise in modern medicine, Psychology, coaching skills and energy based healings. She is a Medical Doctor, Psychologist, Gender Diversity Consultant, Mars Venus coach, Senior Barbara Annis Associate, Pranic healer, Reiki Grandmaster and teacher, Hypnotherapy practitioner, teacher affiliated to California Hypnosis Institute and an NLP expert.

After a 20 years of experience in clinical practice, she felt an intense need to help people even more deeply in personal and professional fronts. She realized that conventional medicine heals only the disease and not the individual. This led her to acquire qualifications in Psychology and become a Mars Venus coach. Now as a fully qualified and experienced psycho spiritual healer, Dr. Niru feels deeply satisfied on being able to help and heal people on the physical, mental and spiritual plane.

As the only Mars Venus Coach in India, she is a part of an International team of experts and has ongoing support from highly trained coaches and trainers across the world along with access to a vast resource of materials, systems and programs.

Dr. Niru is also a Senior Associate with BAA (Barbara Annis and Associates). Barbara and John are the world leaders in the field of Gender Intelligence. A creative and powerful blend of John's and Barbara's work combined with Dr. Niru's own rich experience makes her training a profound life changing event!

The awareness of the need of Gender Intelligence and Woman Empowerment has powerfully spread in the past 05 years. Dr. Niru is a known pioneer in the field who began this work in leading organizations 10 years back. She has personally conducted more than 400 workshops till now covering more than 5000 professionals in India and APAC region. Based on excellent feedback of these workshops she has made her mark in the field and is recognized and sought after by many organizations.

Dr. Saundarya Rajesh

Founder - President

AVTAR Career Creators & FLEXI Careers India

How often have you heard of a woman entrepreneur building a successful business actually solving the problems women face?? Meet Dr. Saundarya Rajesh - an award-winning thought-leader, entrepreneur, writer and Women's Careers Evangelist.

Dr. Saundarya is one of India's earliest voices to speak on Gender Diversity & Inclusion of Women. She has won a slew of awards - a few of which are listed here - The Standard Chartered SCOPE Woman Exemplar Award 2006, The Yuvashakthi woman entrepreneur award 2007, the CavinKare Innovation Award 2011 and the TiE Stree Shakti Entrepreneur of the year award 2011. For her work in building and creating India's first women's careers service she was awarded the Swadeshi Jagran Manch Woman Entrepreneur Award, the FICCI FLO Woman Entrepreneur of the year award 2012, the Naturals Extraordinary Woman 2014 and the Jeppiaar Icon Award 2016. In Jan 2016, she won the highly prestigious #100Women Achievers of India award in a public voting selection process and had lunch with the President of India! Recently, she was named to the United Nation's List of "25 Women Transforming India" developed by the NITI Aayog.

Founder-President of AVTAR Career Creators and FLEXI Careers India, Dr. Saundarya leads tripartite (community-organization-individual) engagements in Women's workforce participation, Diversity training, Diversity Audits, Sensitization Training and Diversity Recruitment. But Dr. Saundarya's biggest claim to fame is the undoubted fact that under her guidance and mentoring, India has seen the advent of formal Second Career programs for women, initiated by over a dozen large organizations leading to resurrection of the careers of several thousand women! She works with over 40000 women managers as part of the AVTAR I-WIN network and has influenced the creation of gender inclusive policies by corporates.

FLEXI Careers India, a social enterprise founded by Dr. Saundarya is arguably India's Number One expert on Women's Careers. A much sought after speaker who is both practical and profound, Dr. Saundarya's programs are featured in national and international forums. Last month, Dr. Saundarya addressed an elite forum of Diversity & Inclusion experts at New York on the topic of "Recruiting, Retaining and Raising Women Professionals - the India Story" - a session that received great acclaim for its insightful aspects on what the Indian Woman Professional needs and what Corporates can do about it.

If you ask Dr. Saundarya how she identifies herself, this is what she says, "I am a Mother, Wife, Daughter, Daughter-in-law, Sister, Friend and finally, an Entrepreneur!"