Amy Berman Cybersecurity Strategic Operations Team Lead, MongoDB Industry: Technology, Science
Amy is the lead of the Cybersecurity Strategic Operations team at MongoDB. She has a love for problem solving, building out new solutions, and helping teams scale. Throughout Amy’s 9 years at MongoDB, she has helped build out MongoDB’s technical event content strategy team, develop sales enablement, and lead product marketing go-to-market for MongoDB University which resulted in hitting over 1 million registered students.
Amy is a founding member of a neurodiversity affinity group at MongoDB. She has a BA from UCLA and Masters in Education Entrepreneurship from University of Pennsylvania. She co-founded Vine Design & Engineering and obtained a patent on a Solar-controlled light device #US7994735B1.
Amy Berman
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Heidi Marston Executive Director, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Industry: Government & Military, Housing
Heidi Marston is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority where serves as a leader in the effort to reduce homelessness across Greater Los Angeles. She sits on the Leadership Alliance for the National Alliance to End Homelessness and served on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Agency Review Team for the Biden/Harris Presidential Transition. Heidi joined LAHSA in February 2019 as Chief Program Officer after serving at the VA in several roles, including Director of Community Engagement and Reintegration and Special Assistant to the VA Secretary under President Obama.
Heidi Marston
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Tracye Shaw Sales Leader and General Manager, Cloudflare Industry: Science, Technology
A People Leader that builds profitable and productive teams while aligning people, ideas, and systems with corporate vision, Tracye inspires a motivated, energetic, and customer-focused team culture with great operational knowledge and efficiency. She specializes in building customer success and sales organizations that deliver millions of dollars in revenue each year and position companies to become market leaders.
Her background spans more than 15 years and includes contributions to both new and established companies, including global cloud services provider Cloudflare, oil and gas technology startup RigUp (now Workrise), hospitality company HomeAway/Expedia, and technology pioneers Apple and Dell.
Some of Tracye's most notable contributions involve delivering large-scale revenue initiatives as well as developing people, which she believes are a company's greatest assets. From mentoring and coaching individuals to building comprehensive training and development programs launched globally, Tracye is well respected for her expertise in helping employees maximize their potential.
Tracye currently acts as the Austin Sales Leader and GM for Austin MM Sales at Cloudflare.
Tracye Shaw
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Mitu Yilma (she/her/hers) Digital Director, Born This Way Foundation Industry: Non-Profit
Mitu Yilma
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Elizabeth Cleary Head of School, The Miami Valley School Industry: Education
Elizabeth grew up in the halls of independent schools. Educated in New York City. She is a graduate of Smith College and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College where she attended the Vermont and Oxford, UK campuses. Elizabeth has taught at several independent schools in her career as a teacher and administrator and has studied with Harvard University in nonprofit administration and finance.
Elizabeth is has served as an English teacher in her early career, Director of Faculty Mentoring, and English Department chair at Greens Farms Academy, She was Dean of Academics and Faculty at Miss Hall's School in MA, and is proud to serve now in her fourth year as Head of School at The Miami Valley School in Dayton, Ohio.
Elizabeth is the recipient of an NEH Grant for an online educational exchange with students in Connecticut, New Mexico, and Alaska, as well as The Harvard Teacher’s Prize by The Harvard Club of Connecticut for "inspiring curiosity and the quest for excellence". In 2009 Elizabeth was awarded The Charles Deitrich Teaching award at Greens Farms Academy in recognition of a teacher who "demonstrates excellence in teaching and mentoring, nurtures the special interests of students and serves as a role model for the excitement and the value of lifelong curiosity."
In 2010 Elizabeth was awarded a travel grant to research American Western writers and traveled 3700 miles on a backroads journey across seven states. She was invited to attend Bread Loaf Writers Conference. August 2015 as well as the Post Graduate Writers Conference, Vermont College of Fine Arts, in both 2014, and 2016. Her book Landspeak, an art and poetry collaboration with painter and printmaker Nancy McTague- Stock was purchased by the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library based on the landscapes of the American West, New England, and Ireland. Elizabeth also collaborated on John Hafey's photographic study of Trustom Pond, a protected area in South Kingston, Rhode Island. Elizabeth's writing has been published in The Midwest Poetry Review, The Connecticut River Review, The Recorder: a Journal of the Irish Historical Society, and Independent School Magazine.
Elizabeth Cleary
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Jordan Pearlstein Director of Equitable Recover and Revitalization, Enterprise Advisors Industry: Housing, Non-Profit, Mission-Driven Consulting
Jordan Pearlstein is the Director of Equitable Recovery and Revitalization with Enterprise Advisors, the mission-driven consulting arm of the nationally-recognized housing and community development organization, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. In this capacity, she leads a team that works with local governments and their partners to strengthen people and places to prepare for and recover from shocks to their community, and revitalize cities in a way that promotes resilience, racial equity, and upward mobility. Ms. Pearlstein also developed Enterprise Advisors’ civic engagement services, which are deployed across its program areas. Prior to joining Enterprise Advisors, Ms. Pearlstein worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for several nonprofit organizations focused on conflict resolution and community building. She is a trained public participation professional, community mediator, facilitator, and trainer of trainers. She has an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University.
Jordan Pearlstein
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Amanda Sobanet Director of Development Communications, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Industry: Communications
Amanda Sobanet is a strategic health care communications professional with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, with a focus on helping children and the elderly flourish. She brings extensive experience in branding, storytelling, editorial, media relations, events planning, executive scripting, and philanthropy. Currently, Amanda serves as Director of Development Communications at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where she collaborates with the Foundation’s fundraising staff – cultivating fresh strategies that fuel revenue growth, sustain donor and volunteer engagement, and support the field. Amanda has won several industry awards. She earned a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
Amanda Sobanet
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Stephanie Holland Senior Director, Sales & Marketing, American Chemical Society Industry: Non-Profit
Stephanie Holland lead corporate sales and business development initiatives for the American Chemical Society’s flagship publication, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). With more than 15 years of experience in advertising sales and marketing, Stephanie heads a global advertising sales team. In addition to sales, Stephanie is also the director of audience engagement and marketing. In 2017, Stephanie spearheaded the development of the C&EN, a custom content division providing native advertising solutions. In its first two years, the BrandLab was responsible for nearly $3 Million dollars in revenue. Stephanie has twice been named as one of the FOLIO: Top 100 in publishing in 2015 and 2017 and 2018 she was inducted into FOLIO’s hall of fame. Stephanie is passionate about media and is keenly interested in how traditional media continues to evolve.
Stephanie Holland
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Basmah Safdar, MD Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Affairs, Yale School of Medicine Industry: Academic, Healthcare
Dr. Safdar has expertise in designing multidisciplinary collaborative systems that foster rigorous translational research and successful clinical trials. She is a practicing emergency physician and an internationally recognized scholar in sex and gender-specific research. Her work focuses on endothelial function and microvascular health through a multi-system lens – investigating the heart, then brain and now COVID-19 patients. In addition, Dr. Safdar is invested in the personal and professional development of women and is leading local, national and international efforts to advance women in their careers. She is Past President of Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM).
Basmah Safdar
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Beth Stokes Executive Director, Episcopal Community Services Industry: Housing, Non-Profit
Beth Stokes, Executive Director, has over 20 years’ experience in housing and homeless services, with her work beginning at the Coalition on Homelessness. She is currently Executive Director of Episcopal Community Services (ECS), one of the most impactful provider of supportive housing and services for individuals experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Before joining ECS, Ms. Stokes served as the Western Region Managing Director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), based in Los Angeles, Director of Programs for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and Executive Director of Hamilton Families. She is currently a member of the City of Oakland Homeless Commission and on the Board of Directors of the Amity Foundation. Ms. Stokes received her MSW in Social Welfare, Administration and Planning from San Francisco State University.
Beth Stokes
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Miranda Caserta
Project Engineer and Section Manager of the Propulsion Systems Project Engineering section, Dynetics
Industry: Aerospace
Miranda Caserta is a Project Engineer and Section Manager of the Propulsion Systems Project Engineering section at Dynetics. She has worked on multiple programs in the Propulsion Department in the Space Systems Division at Dynetics, including NASA's Human Landing System and the Orion Laser Air Monitoring System. She has served as Project Manager on several development projects and leads a team of Project Engineers within the Propulsion Department. She actively promotes growth and learning opportunities for her teams, and strives to foster an inclusive workplace.
Miranda Caserta
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Lisa Jones
Executive Vice President Strategic Initiatives, San Diego Housing Commission Industry: Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Lisa Jones is a highly experienced executive with demonstrated ability to inspire and empower staff to achieve new levels of success in a fast-paced environment. She has a proven ability to identify opportunities for growth/innovation within the area of affordable housing and homelessness to foster system-wide change, implement cost-effective solutions, enhance efficiency, develop funding strategies, and improve service delivery. She has diverse knowledge and expertise with sound judgment and integrity. She is a motivated individual with a track record of more than 15 years of progressively responsible, hands-on experience working in program development, operational performance, and strategy and policy development for both nonprofit and government agencies.
Lisa Jones
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Belen Mendoza Vice President Campaigns, AARP Industry: Advocacy and Public Affairs
Belen Mendoza has over two decades of experience in campaign design & execution, and providing strategic counsel to clientele across public, private and nonprofit sectors. She engages with diligence, creativity, and high emotional intelligence.
Belen Mendoza
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Lisa May Simpson
Vice President of Learning & Engagement, Forefront
Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management
Lisa May Simpson serves as Vice President of Learning & Engagement at Forefront, where she develops, manages, and sometimes teaches programs designed to meet the needs of Illinois grantmakers, nonprofits, and consultants. She joined Forefront in 2012. Prior, she held a variety of roles at Arts Alliance Illinois and served as an independent coach and consultant. Lisa has trained as a facilitator and educator with Kansas Leadership Center, Interaction Institute for Social Change, and the Institute of Cultural Affairs in the U.S.A.; she also holds a BA in theater from Western Washington University. She is the current board chair for Thousand Waves Martial Arts & Self Defense Center, aspires to be a decent drummer, and makes a pretty good lemon meringue pie if she does say so herself.
Lisa May Simpson
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Meredith Flowe
Executive Director, The Centers for Exceptional Children (CFEC)
Industry: Social Services, Education, Philanthropy
Meredith began her career as a teacher in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and then taught displaced students in rural Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. After graduating from UNC School of Law, Meredith was a fellow at the National Association for Legal Professionals and then Chief of Staff at Impact Center in Washington, D.C. In 2012, she joined the Commercial Lending Team at Self-Help where she focused on facility financing and real estate development for public charter schools serving low-income children in 17 states and D.C. as well as education policy. She has been leading CFEC's programs dedicated to children with special needs and their families since 2018.
Meredith Flowe
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Temika B. Jones Assistant Director and Chief Financial Officer, City of Houston Housing and Community Development Industry: Government
Temika B. Jones is Assistant Director and Chief Financial Officer for the City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD). In this role, Temika leads a team of 35 finance professionals that are responsible for all aspects of the finance and procurement functions for HCDD.
Temika started her career as an Information Technology auditor for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. Since then, she has served in numerous leadership roles within finance, operations, and information technology. Besides manufacturing, she has also worked in the energy and professional services sectors.
Prior to joining HCDD, Temika served as Associate Director and Houston Market Lead for P&N, a regional accounting firm. She served clients from an array of industries including government, manufacturing, oil and gas and technology. Temika holds a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems with a concentration in Internal Audit from Louisiana State University. She is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).
Outside of work, Temika enjoys spending time with her husband and cheering on their son and daughter as competitive swimmers. She has also volunteered with local non-profits serving as Board Member and Treasurer.
Temika B. Jones
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Cynthia Nagendra Director of Planning and Policy San Francisco Dept of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
Industry: Homelessness, Housing, Social Services
Cynthia Nagendra, a nationally recognized expert in the field of homelessness, was recently appointed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed to a new executive leadership team to lead planning and policy at the City’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. She brings 18 years of experience in designing homeless response systems and effectuating systems change at all levels of government using outcomes-based analysis and program design, with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness and advancing housing justice. She has focused her career on homelessness policy, planning, data-driven program design and evaluation, advocacy, cross-sector partnerships, and research in San Francisco as well as over 40 communities across the country. Most recently, Cynthia was the founding Executive Director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), a research and policy center at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) focused on homelessness, housing, and public health, where she built an organization of multi-disciplinary experts to provide research and equitable policy recommendations to strengthen the public sector’s response to the most critical issues facing unhoused people. Prior to leading BHHI, she was the Director of the Center for Capacity Building at the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), a leading national policy and advocacy organization on the issue of homelessness. At NAEH, Cynthia worked closely with federal policymakers to design national evidence-based policies and programs to respond to homelessness. She designed and delivered technical assistance and capacity building in best practices to dozens of communities around the country to educate policymakers, practitioners and thought-leaders on outcomes-driven system design and program practices. She began her career providing direct services to people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco as a Program Manager at St. Anthony Foundation, a direct services organization. She earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where she worked on immigration, criminal justice re-entry, and women’s rights issues and a B.A. from Vassar College, where she majored in English.
Cynthia Nagendra
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Whitnee Hawthorne
Vice President Customer Support, JetBlue
Industry: Business
Whitnee Hawthorne, Vice President Customer Support, oversees JetBlue’s Customer Support operations in Salt Lake City (SSC) and Orlando (JSC), leading over 1,500 crew members responsible for handling all Customer interactions via phone (1-800JETBLUE) and digital channels. She also oversees JetBlue’s Customer Experience (CEX) Operations Center that monitors and recovers customers impacted by flight delays, diversions, and other operational disruptions. Before transitioning to Customer Support, Ms. Hawthorne served as Director Strategic Execution Technology and played a central role in developing and executing on JetBlue’s IT strategy and vision. She also spearheaded the launch and implementation of JetBlue’s Barclaycard MasterCard partnership, the international expansion of the co-branded card suite, and other marketing partnerships as Manager TrueBlue Partnerships. Prior to joining JetBlue in 2017, she served in Customer Experience, Loyalty, and Marketing roles at American Airlines, E*TRADE Financial, and HBO, with a focus on repeat interactions with key customers. Ms. Hawthorne holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Babson College and Bachelor’s Degrees in International Business from Northeastern University and Ecole supérieure de Commerce de Reims. She is fluent in Spanish and is certified by the Balanced Scorecard Institute and in Agile Leadership from Scrum Alliance. In addition to her commitment to strengthen and evolve the JetBlue customer and crewmember experience through technology, she is deeply passionate about supporting and uplifting women, especially mothers in the workplace.
Whitnee Hawthorne
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Michele M. King
Director of Student Wellness and Academic Support, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)
Industry: Education
Michele King is a professional in the education industry for nearly 20 years with prior experience in the areas of mental health and developmental disabilities. She has also served as an adjunct instructor for the University of North Carolina.
Michele M. King
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Bakeyah S. Nelson, PhD
Executive Director, Air Alliance Houston
Industry: Nonprofit
Bakeyah S. Nelson, PhD, is the Executive Director of Air Alliance Houston, a research-based nonprofit organization working to reduce the public health impacts of air pollution and advance environmental justice in the Houston Region. Dr. Nelson has been working to reduce environmental inequities in Houston communities for 15 years. She was recently honored as the 2020 Texas Energy Summit’s Clean Air Champion of the Year. In 2019, she was selected as one of the Aspen Institute’s Health Scholars and in 2018 was one of the Texas Organizing Project’s Community Champions of the Year. Dr. Nelson currently serves on a number of committees aimed at reducing environmental inequities. Dr. Nelson’s doctorate in public policy, master’s in applied sociology and bachelor’s degree in psychology all come from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Bakeyah S. Nelson, PhD
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