David A. Thomas David,A. Thomas
Immediate Past Dean,McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

David A. Thomas is Dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. A recognized thought leader in organizational behavior and strategic human resource management, Dr. Thomas’ research focuses on issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership, and organizational change.

Thomas’ research focuses on issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership, and organizational change. Prior to his appointment at Georgetown University, Dr. Thomas was the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he directed the school’s Organizational Behavior Unit. He also served as senior associate dean and director of faculty recruitment at Harvard; led its business school’s required first-year MBA course, Leadership and Organizational Behavior; and held the position of faculty chair for several executive education programs. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 1990, Dr. Thomas was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomas has co-authored two books—Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America (Harvard Business Press, 1999) and Leading For Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County. (Harvard Education Press, forthcoming)—and more than 60 case studies and articles for leading academic journals and practitioner publications. In addition to being widely published, Dr. Thomas has been recognized with a number of prestigious awards, including the Executive Development Roundtable’s Marion Gislason Award for Contributions to the Theory and Practice of Executive Development. He recently received the Administrative Science Quarterly Scholarly Contribution Award for the article that had the most impact on the field in the last five years. He also earned the George R. Terry Award from the Academy of Management for the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge for his book, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America. Partnering with the Washington, D.C., community, Thomas is a member of the Federal City Council, and in 2014, the Washington Business Journal recognized him as a top Minority Business Leader. Dr. Thomas received a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Sciences and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Organizational Behavior from Yale University. He also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of DTE Energy, American Red Cross and the Estoril Conferences Advisory Board.

Judy Shen-Filerman Judy,Shen-Filerman
Principal and Founder,Dreambridge Partners

Judy Shen-Filerman is CEO of Dreambridge Partners LLC, a communications and leadership development firm, focused on advancement success for executives, professionals and graduate students who are crossing cultures. Her practice builds on three critical capacities: self-aware leadership, contextual communications and collaborative interpersonal relationships. As an executive coach to senior-level leaders and a sought-after lecturer at business schools around the country, Judy helps individuals decode critical cultural expectations and develop strategies to successfully navigate their professional environment. Judy’s coaching approach is strongly informed by her experience as a bi-lingual, immigrant, Chinese-American woman who has achieved cross-cultural success throughout her life.

Judy’s coaching approach is strongly informed by her experience as a bi-lingual, immigrant, Chinese-American woman who has achieved cross-cultural success throughout her life. Judy leverages interpersonal communications as the platform for bridging culturally diverse people towards shared outcomes. In addition to coaching and teaching, Judy writes extensively about leadership, career and culture and has been featured in numerous professional and national publications. Judy is an accomplished business leader, consultant and entrepreneur with an expansive 25-year career and has held innovation-oriented marketing management positions for the world’s top consumer brands including: Procter and Gamble, Campbell Soup Asia and Polaroid. Judy is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children.  .

Terri Nimmons Terri,Nimmons
President and co-founder,Stone Lake Leadership Group, LLC

As a successful corporate leader, Terri Nimmons held senior positions as an operations leader in telecommunications, technology outsourcing and consulting. She brings her clients and colleagues a track record – and a passion –​ for sustainable results delivered through exceptional leadership. Ms. Nimmons is now the President and co-founder of Stone Lake Leadership Group, LLC and is an expert in the area of Personal Brand Management and leadership development.

Nimmons is now the President and co-founder of Stone Lake Leadership Group, LLC and is an expert in the area of Personal Brand Management and leadership development. Since 2005, she has facilitated programs for thousands of leaders in global financial services, IT, energy, food service, telecommunications entertainment and engineering. She brings rigorous “real world” leadership offerings to committed leaders within Fortune 500 organizations, start-ups and to large federal agencies. Through her work this year, Ms. Nimmons has read and analyzed more than 1,000 Leadership Brand surveys. She has facilitated leadership workshops, keynotes and webinars. She is enjoying her engagements with executive coaching clients, high-potential groups. Ms. Nimmons focuses on working with her clients to navigate four key leadership & business trends:

1. Leveraging “cyberleadership” and “technopresence” through technology
2. Accelerating the business impact of early-career professionals while retooling Brand management strategies for mid-to-late career leaders
3. Sustaining a strong Leadership Brand during disruptive times in business
4. Aligning leadership development with US and global demographics trends through 2020

Alesia Latson Alesia,Latson
Founder and Principal,Latson Leadership Group

Alesia Latson has been studying and practicing the art and science of leadership and organizational development for over 19 years. She has held management and organizational development roles in large financial services organizations, healthcare, and government. Through expert facilitation and personal coaching, Ms. Latson has worked with hundreds of leaders at all levels to expand their management and leadership effectiveness.

Latson has worked with hundreds of leaders at all levels to expand their management and leadership effectiveness. Ms. Latson is well known for her exceptional skills as a facilitator and coach. Ms. Latson’s client list includes, EMC, Fidelity Investments, McDonald’s, GE, Teradyne, Bright Horizons, Marriott, Pfizer and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Ms. Latson received her M.A. in Training and Development from Lesley University and her B.A. in psychology from the University of Illinois. She is currently a faculty member at St. Joseph's University and formerly an adjunct faculty member of Lesley University and Bentley College. Ms. Latson is a frequently guest speaker at Babson Executive Education, MIT Sloan School of Business and the University of Michigan’s Ross Business School. She is the co-author of the soon to be released More Time for You – A Powerful System for Organizing Your Work and Get Things Done.

Jane Hyun Jane,Hyun
Founder and President,Hyun & Associates

Jane Hyun is an internationally renowned executive coach and leadership strategist to Fortune 500 companies, top MBA programs, and non-profit organizations.   In addition to coaching professionals to maximize their potential and advance their careers, she advises senior management teams and diversity councils on building effective dispersed, multicultural teams and the critical role of the global talent pipeline. The firm's Cultural Fluency Roundtables and Bamboo Ceiling® Series leadership coaching programs has garnered praise from global Fortune 100 companies in the U.S.

S. and in key global markets. Previously, Jane was Vice President of Human Resources/Talent Development at JP Morgan, and Director of Recruiting at Deloitte & Touche and Resources Global. A graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Economics and International Studies, she is active with the Cornell Women’s Alumnae Council. She is also an Advisor to the Toigo Foundation and the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force/Center for Talent Innovation, researchers of recent Harvard Business Review studies "Leadership in Your Midst" "The Sponsor Effect" "The Athena Factor", and "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps."She has led research with the Conference Board Research Working Groups. Her firm's approach to global business and talent development has received international recognition, and she has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Time, Fortune, CEO, and Crains. she is the author of the groundbreaking book, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling. Jane lives in New York City and enjoys helping people reach their full potential in the workplace and community. She is currently completing her next writing project, Flex: The New Playbook for Managing Across Differences.

Dr. Jeff Howard Dr. Jeff,Howard
Founder and President,Efficacy Institute, Inc.

Howard is the founder and president of the Efficacy Institute, Inc. He also founded J. Howard and Associates, a corporate training and consulting firm that is now part of the Novations Group. In 2008 he was appointed by the governor to the Massachusetts State Board of Elementary & Secondary Education.

In 2008 he was appointed by the governor to the Massachusetts State Board of Elementary & Secondary Education. He is a regular presenter at the Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Howard has more than 30 years of experience as a staff developer and consultant to school and community leaders on systemic education reform and as a consultant to corporate executives and senior managers of Fortune 500 companies. His work is based on the idea that intelligence can be developed, challenging the still prevalent notion that intelligence is fixed and immutable. Over the past two decades, the Efficacy Institute has developed a comprehensive set of field-tested training programs, consulting services, and materials for adults and youth. The institute’s mission is to promote the academic and social development of children by helping educators, parents, and human service providers operate from a simple belief: all children can learn at very high levels if the process of education is effectively organized. The Efficacy Institute has trained more than 50,000 educators in more than 50 school districts throughout the United States. Howard holds an A.B. from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University. His work has been published in the New Republic, Daedalus, Education Week, the National Urban League's The State of Black America, and the Boston Globe.

Susan Hodgkinson Susan,Hodgkinson
Founder and Principal,The Personal Brand Company

Susan Hodgkinson is a trailblazer in personal branding, and founded The Personal Brand Company in 1994. She is a leadership development expert, award-winning executive coach, and professional speaker. Hodgkinson was the first practitioner in the US to combine 15 years of a corporate marketing and branding approach to developing leaders, and the first to build a leadership development model—“The 5 P’s of Leadership Brand®” --fusing the two disciplines. Hodgkinson was the first practitioner in the US to create a leadership development model that incorporated the needs and issues of women and people of color into the mainstream framework, vs.

Hodgkinson was the first practitioner in the US to create a leadership development model that incorporated the needs and issues of women and people of color into the mainstream framework, vs. creating a ‘separate’ framework for these talent pools. She works with thousands of professionals in a diverse array of businesses who know they must strategically manage their own professional learning, leadership development and personal brand to succeed—for their company and themselves. In 2005, Hodgkinson published The Leader’s Edge: Using Personal Branding to Drive Performance and Profit with iUniverse. The book has sold more than 30,000 copies worldwide and received the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award in 2009. The Leader’s Edge is now considered to be the defining textbook on personal branding for leaders in the US and abroad. Hodgkinson’s work has most recently been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Indian Express, The Detroit Free Press, Essence Magazine, The Boston Globe, Fox News, Chronicle, and other major electronic media and syndicated business columns. She holds her MBA from Simmons School of Management and is on the Executive Education faculty there and at other business schools and Leadership Institutes.

Fred Harburg Fred,Harburg
Managing Partner,Harburg Consulting LLC

Fred Harburg is a clinical professor and Executive Director at Kellogg School of Management’s Executive Leadership Institute providing Boards, CEOs and C-Suite Teams with catalyzing research and growth guidance from the world’s leading thinkers and experts.  Fred served as the Chief Learning Officer and President of Motorola University and Senior Vice President for Leadership and Learning at Fidelity Investments. He began his career as a pilot and was a flight instructor for some of the first US Air Force female pilots.  He has lectured at MIT, Harvard Business School and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, is a senior fellow at PathNorth, and for the Human Performance Institute’s Thought Leadership Council.

  He has lectured at MIT, Harvard Business School and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, is a senior fellow at PathNorth, and for the Human Performance Institute’s Thought Leadership Council.  Fred’s grasp of leadership, organizations, and performance, coupled with his capacity to coach leaders to excellence, make him sought after as a keynote speaker, executive coach, writer and organizational consultant. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the US Air Force Academy and his MBA from UCLA.

Dr. Vijay Govindarajan Dr. Vijay,Govindarajan
Professor,Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

Vijay Govindarajan is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and innovation. He is the Earl C.

He is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He was the first Professor in Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He worked with GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt to write “How GE is Disrupting Itself”, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) article that pioneered the concept of reverse innovation – any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world. HBR rated reverse innovation as one of the ten big ideas of the decade. VG writes about innovation and execution on his blog and through his quarterly newsletter, Harvard Business Review. He is a co-leader of a global initiative to design a $300 House-for-the-poor. Govindarajan has been identified as a leading management thinker by influential publications including: Outstanding Faculty, named by Business Week in its Guide to Best B-Schools; Top Ten Business School Professor in Corporate Executive Education, named by Business Week; Top Five Most Respected Executive Coach on Strategy, rated by Forbes; Top 50 Management Thinker, named by The London Times; Rising Super Star, cited by The Economist; Outstanding Teacher of the Year, voted by MBA students. Prior to joining the faculty at Tuck, VG was on the faculties of Harvard Business School, INSEAD (Fontainebleau) and the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, India). The recipient of numerous awards for excellence in research, Govindarajan was inducted into the Academy of Management Journals’ Hall of Fame, and ranked by Management International Review as one of the Top 20 North American Superstars for research in strategy and organization. One of his papers was recognized as one of the ten most-often cited articles in the entire 40-year history of Academy of Management Journal. VG is a rare faculty who has published more than ten articles in the top academic journals (Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal) and more than ten articles in prestigious practitioner journals including several best-selling HBR articles. He received one of the McKinsey Awards for the best article in HBR in 2010. He has published ten books, including international best sellers Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators and The Other Side of Innovation. VG has worked with CEOs and top management teams in more than 25% of the Fortune 500 firms to discuss, challenge, and escalate their thinking about strategy. His clients include: Boeing, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Deere, FedEx, GE, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, J.P. Morgan Chase, J&J, New York Times, P&G, Sony, and Wal-Mart. He is a keynote speaker in CEO Forums and major conferences including the BusinessWeek CEO Forum, HSM World Business Forum, and World Economic Forum at Davos. VG received his doctorate from the Harvard Business School and was awarded the Robert Bowne Prize for the best thesis proposal. He also received his MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School where he was included in the Dean’s Honor List. Prior to this, VG received his Chartered Accountancy degree in India where he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal for obtaining the first rank nationwide. Vijay Govindarajan, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, 100 Tuck Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, Tel. 603-646-2156, Fax. 603-646-1308, vg@dartmouth.edu.

Dr. Phillip L. Clay Phillip L.,Clay
Professor,City Planning and ex-Chancellor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Phillip L. Clay, Professor of City Planning, was the Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from June 2001 to March 2011. He is currently on sabbatical until 2012, when he will return to his faculty responsibilities in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. Prior to his position as Chancellor, Professor Clay held several other positions at MIT.

Prior to his position as Chancellor, Professor Clay held several other positions at MIT. A member of the MIT faculty since 1975, Professor Clay served as Associate Provost in the Office of the Provost from 1994 to 2001. He was the Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1992 to 1994 and its Associate Department Head during 1990 to 1992. From 1980 to 1984, Professor Clay served as the Assistant Director of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard. Outside of MIT, Professor Clay is widely known for his work in U.S. housing policy and community-based development and has been involved in several studies that received national attention.   He later served on the national commission that recommended the policy that became part of the Housing Act of 1990. His research and writing continue to explore U.S. housing and urban policy. Professor Clay is a founding member of the National Housing Trust that continues to address the issue of housing preservation. He is also President of the Board of The Community Builders, Inc., the nation’s largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing. He served as Chairman of the Board of Roxbury Community College from 2002 to 2006. Additionally, he has served as a consultant to numerous agencies and foundations. He also maintains extensive involvement in community and professional activities, including memberships on other local and national boards and committees. He serves as a member and Vice Chair of the MasterCard Foundation board. In addition, he serves on the Kresge Foundation Board, and on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among other works, his publications include two books, Neighborhood Renewal: Middleclass Resettlement and Incumbent Upgrading in American Neighborhoods, and Neighborhood Politics and Planning (with Rob Hollister). Professor Clay is a native of Wilmington North Carolina. He received the AB degree with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968 and his Ph.D. in City Planning in 1975 from MIT.