2021 Agenda

Master of Ceremonies: Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist & author, We Need To Talk, Do Nothing and Speaking of Race @celesteheadlee

Mellita Neely, director, Medicare product development and management, Independence Blue Cross @ibx

Pre-Keynote Morning Meditation featuring Jessamyn Stanley, body liberation advocate & author, Every Body Yoga and Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance @mynameisjessamyn (IG)

Target Storytellers Presentation featuring Laysha Ward, EVP, chief external engagement officer, Target @target

Brené Brown, researcher and storyteller @brenebrown
in conversation with Aminatou Sow, cultural commentator, co-host, Call Your Girlfriend podcast & author @callyrgf

Shawn Dawson Troutt, VP, licensing strategy, Cisco @cisco

To be a successful leader during radical uncertainty means unknowing our preconceived notions of leadership and creating an agile environment that empowers your team with a shared sense of purpose. In this session, Professor Linda Hill will show us how leaders can build organizations that can successfully pivot and innovate by allowing individual slices of genius to be leveraged into collective genius. Attendees will learn how to think creatively about the future and develop organizations where team members are willing to do the hard work that innovative problem solving requires.

Speaker:  Linda Hill, professor, Harvard Business School & author, Collective Genius and Being the Boss

Host:  Joyce Russell, PhD, dean, Villanova School of Business @vsb_dean

Executive Spotlight:  Payal Sahni Becher, EVP, chief human resources officer, Pfizer @pfizer

Studies have shown that introverts tend to be the most creative people on a team. But, bringing out the creative best of your introverted team members can be challenging in this new hybrid world of work, where speaking up is more difficult and the most assertive team members often dominate. In this session, Susan Cain, who started a revolution with the 2012 publication of her book, Quiet, will share her strategies for how you can structure your team so that the best ideas, rather than the most vocal people, are heard. She will show how introverts can overcome their fear of speaking up and be more participatory in meetings and how leaders, with tactics such as providing more regular feedback and building better team relationships, can better empower their introverted team members to do their best work and stimulate innovation.

Speaker:  Susan Cain, author, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking @susancain

Host:  Kristie Pappal, VP, human resources, Philadelphia Eagles @eagles

Executive Spotlight:  Daniela Mardarovici, co-head, multisector/core plus fixed income, Macquarie @macquarie

Despite our best efforts, the social distancing, isolation and great uncertainty of the past year has taken a huge emotional toll on us. Michelle Gielen has spent decades researching strategies that are scientifically-proven to help us stay happier and more resilient. Additionally, she found that these strategies can create more interconnected teams and cultures of high performance, so can improve both teamwork and your own career trajectory. Join this session to learn how to inoculate your brain to stresses and negativity and become a resilient optimist with strong mental health.

Speaker:  Michelle Gielan, renowned resilience researcher & author, Broadcasting Happiness @michellegielan

Host:  Lea Knight, VP, finance, Janssen supply chain, Johnson & Johnson @jnjnews

Executive Spotlight:  Anna Rodriguez, chief nursing officer and VP, nursing & patient services, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health @templehealth

What do you do when you are confronted with inequality and discrimination in your organization? Speaking up is critical, but also complex in today’s world and as a leader, you set the tone for your team. In this session, diversity and inclusion pragmatist Dolly Chugh will share strategies to help you avoid being a well-intentioned barrier to equality and speak up with confidence. Attendees will learn how to communicate so that you reduce the likelihood of misunderstanding, be a better colleague and create a workplace where everyone has the confidence to speak up and the language to effectively advance equity in the workplace.

Speaker:  Dolly Chugh, award-winning professor & author, The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias @dollychugh

Moderator:  Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist & author, We Need To Talk, Do Nothing and Speaking of Race @celesteheadlee

Host:  Angela Conti, SVP, head, consumer payments, TD Bank @tdbank_us

Executive Spotlight:  Loren Hudson, SVP & CDO, Comcast Cable @comcast

If you are the only woman or person of color in the workplace, you may feel out of place and unsafe speaking your mind. Instead we try to subconsciously assimilate to the environment we are in and as a result, our stories are diminished. No matter what, being the first is hard and Cecilia Muñoz not only lived these moments as the first Latinx to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, but she also researched other women of color who had to make their way without examples to follow. Join this session to learn her invaluable lessons about working through fear, overcoming doubt, and facing down detractors by not being afraid to make others uncomfortable sometimes. Attendees will learn what they need to be successful without compromising who they are.

Speaker:  Cecilia Muñoz, VP, New America, & author, More Than Ready: Lessons from Women of Color on the Rise @cecmunoz

Moderator:  Jenice Armstrong, metro columnist, Philadelphia Inquirer @jenicearmstrong

Host:  Dr. R. Lorraine (Laurie) Bernotsky, EVP & Provost, West Chester University @wcuofpa

Executive Spotlight:  Kortney Cruz, VP, sales & marketing, Medicare, Independence Blue Cross @ibx

Together, we experienced a harrowing year of change. And now that life is supposedly going “back to normal”, the assumption is that we will get on with our day to day living as we did before the pandemic. But, for many, there were too many irreparable changes and challenges to our resilience in the past year to go back to the way it was. So, how do we get back up? Nora McInerny experienced tragic loss, grief and change in her life and along the way, she figured out how to redefine resilience in a way that helped her move forward. In this session, she will share her strategies for a new start with a redefined, more accessible version of resilience and the strength that comes from knowing that we are not alone in this uphill climb, but still together.

Speaker:  Nora McInerny, best-selling author & host, award-winning podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking @ttfapodcast

Host:  Gina Clark, EVP and chief communications & administration officer, AmerisourceBergen @healthcare_abc

Executive Spotlight:  Dr. Sindhu Srinivas, director, obstetrical services and vice chair, quality & safety, Penn Medicine @pennmedicine

Master of Ceremonies: Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist & author, We Need To Talk, Do Nothing and Speaking of Race @celesteheadlee

Leslie Stiles, board president, PA Conference for Women @pennwomen

Payal Sahni Becher, EVP, chief human resources officer, Pfizer @pfizer

Laverne Cox, award-winning actress, producer & equal rights advocate @lavernecox
in conversation with Jenna Wortham, journalist, podcast co-host, Still Processing & community care worker @jennydeluxe

Antoinette Brock, VP, corporate analytics & transparency, Bristol Myers Squibb @bmsnews

Glenn Close, award-winning actress, mental health advocate & co-founder, Bring Change to Mind @bc2m
in conversation with Amna Nawaz, Peabody and Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist & chief correspondent, PBS NewsHour @iamamnanawaz

Inspiration is a well-acknowledged aspect of good leadership. But, keeping your team inspired this past year has been challenging and will continue to be so in a hybrid workspace. So, how do you coach your team to take initiative, produce strong work and perform at peak level? Simon Sinek, whose TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, is one of the most watched of all time, will teach you the practical strategies to inspire your team, starting with changing your mindset from finite to infinite. He will share how to eliminate the behaviors that contribute to declining loyalty and engagement and instead adopt this new infinite mindset that will help you build a stronger and more resilient team that is empowered to thrive.

Speaker:  Simon Sinek, optimist & best-selling author, Start with Why, Leaders Eat Last and The Infinite Game @simonsinek

Moderator:  Rachana Bhide, leadership psychologist, broadcaster & founder, The Corner of the Court Project @rachanabhide

Host:  Karen Lemire, chief of staff, Cisco Systems @cisco

Executive Spotlight:  Karen Etzkorn, chief information officer, Qurate Retail Group @qurateretailgrp

The volatility of the past year’s job market left many women feeling vulnerable and wondering what skills they need to remain indispensable to their employers and be a strong candidate for future leadership positions. Since now is the best time to master these new skills, join this session to hear career coach Alexandra Levit share what competencies you need to stay marketable. She’ll talk about upgrading your soft skills, hard skills, technology know-how and developing a growth mindset. You’ll also leave with a sense of the expertise you need for long-term, sustained employment and how to be prepared for the inevitable next disruption.

Speaker:  Alexandra Levit, former nationally syndicated Wall Street Journal columnist & best-selling author @alevit

Host:  Damaris Schneider, international transformation leader, State Street @statestreet

Executive Spotlight:  Funmi Williamson, chief customer officer & SVP, customer operations, PECO and board director, PA CFW @pecoconnect

How do you define success? Olympic powerhouse Simone Biles is the most prolific and decorated gymnast in World Championships history – male or female – with 25 medals overall. Yet, her success was never a given. From her early beginnings in foster care to surviving abuse and her own doubt, Biles has defied expectations throughout her life and career. Now, after she has continued to raise the bar by facing head-on an unexpected challenge at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Biles will speak about mental wellness, perseverance and how she thinks about achievement. Don’t miss the chance to hear this remarkable woman speak about how success is not only taking home the gold, but in making the rules and setting her own milestone markers.

Speaker:  Simone Biles, most decorated gymnast of all time @simone_biles

Moderator:  Erica Williams Simon, president, SageHouse; founder, Snapchat’s Creators Lab; social Impact strategist & author @missewill

Host:  Laysha Ward, EVP and chief external engagement officer @target

Executive Spotlight:  Michelle Calope, VP, US cardiovascular, Bristol Myers Squibb @bmsnews