2020 Agenda

The virtual Exhibit Hall will be available to attendees from 11/11/2020 until 11/19/2020.

Target Storytellers Presentation

Laysha Ward, EVP, chief external engagement officer, Target

Signe Wilkinson, editorial cartoonist

El Cavanagh-Lomas, VP, people & communities, Cisco Systems

Iyanla Vanzant, award-winning host and executive producer of OWN’s Fear Not

Rachael Boesing, program host, QVC @qvc

Emotional agility is a key skill set that enables you to remain curious, courageous and values-committed—and improve your ability to lead. Yet, in times of great challenges such as those we are facing today, you may find your agility replaced with rigidity, stifled creativity, and weakened relationships—all of which changes how you lead. In this session, Dr. Susan David, the creator of the concept of emotional agility, will explore the habits that enable people to be resilient and thrive, lead teams, and change a work culture. She will inspire you to stop getting caught up in your thoughts and emotions, and cultivate emotional agility in you and your team.

Speaker:  Susan David, author, Emotional Agility

Session Host:  Laysha Ward, EVP, chief external engagement officer, Target

Sponsor Spotlight:  Jennifer Dudinak-Dickson , SVP, Global regulatory strategy & policy, Bristol Myers Squibb

Effective communication is more important than ever now. It’s a projection of your competence and even your potential as a leader. Great communicators can confidently voice their vision, move plans forward, and effectively present their ideas (virtually or otherwise) across all levels of an organization. Join this workshop for actionable steps to develop your own best communication style. Learn about speaking so that your ideas are heard, your value is clear, and your opinions are remembered.

Speaker:  Charmaine McClarie, communications expert and C-suite leadership coach

Session Host:  Melissa Costell, enterprise risk coordinator, R&D data integrity, GSK

Sponsor Spotlight:  Jami Stewart, VP, CX Centers Americas, Cisco Systems

Esther Wojcicki is famous for three things: teaching a high school class that has changed the lives of thousands, inspiring legends like Steve Jobs, and raising highly successful daughters, including a doctor and two Silicon Valley CEOs. In this workshop, she shares her secrets for raising successful people, even in today’s complicated current learning environment. Her methods are rooted in trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness: simple lessons with radical results. She discusses how to stop helicopter parenting and start raising, educating, and managing young people to their highest potential.

Speaker:  Esther Wojcicki, educator and author, How to Raise Successful People for Radical Results

Session Host:  Joyce Russell, Dean, Villanova School of Business

Sponsor Spotlight:  Ada Chu, head, Global billing risk management, State Street

In Marcus Buckingham’s breakout bestseller, First, Break All the Rules, he showed how to turn an employee’s talent into high performance. This research became a core part of management training to attract and retain the most talented employees. But how do you build your employee’s strengths in the midst of a global pandemic and newly virtual world? Join this session to learn how to maximize the unique leadership skills that you and your team bring so that everyone can contribute their best selves now.

Speaker:  Marcus Buckingham, NYT best-selling author, founder, Strengths Revolution & head, ADP Research Institute

Session Host:  Daniela Mardarovici, managing director & co-head, US Multisector/Core Plus Fixed Income, Macquarie Investment Management

Sponsor Spotlight:  Leslie Ferraro, president, QxH, Qurate Retail Group

Whether it involves a big career decision or a day to day personal decision, uncertainty can paralyze us. In today’s environment of unprecedented uncertainty, it’s easy to put off deciding or stop considering the predictions that underlie our decisions. In this session, renowned poker player and business consultant Annie Duke will offer strategies to avoid these pitfalls when things are uncertain and help you to understand the tradeoff between time and accuracy in decision-making. She will identify when it makes sense to undo, reverse, or change a decision, and frameworks that you can exercise to identify your options so you can improve your decision-making abilities.

Speaker:  Annie Duke, decision strategist, former poker champion, and bestselling author of Thinking in Bets and How to Decide

Session Host:  Funmi Williamson, chief customer officer & SVP customer operations, PECO

Sponsor Spotlight:  Marge Jackson, SVP, sales enablement and multicultural symphony, Comcast

Planning for retirement has always been complex, and current events may be causing you to second-guess all that planning. Join America’s favorite personal finance expert as she shares the practical tools you need to pivot your financial plan and adjust to this new reality. You’ll find new rules for downsizing and spending wisely as well as getting rid of any regrets or fears you have about your spending. You will leave this session with the practical and personal steps you need to create a happy and secure financial plan.

Speaker:  Suze Orman, NYT bestselling personal finance author, with over 25 million books in circulation, available in 12 languages

Session Moderator:  Celeste Headlee, communication and human nature expert, Award-winning journalist & author

Session Host:  Lisa Washington, SVP and chief legal officer, WSFS Bank

Dzung Lewis, YouTube star & chef

Leslie Stiles, board president, PA Conference for Women 

Angela Zepeda, CMO, Hyundai

Tara Westover, American historian, memoirist, and best-selling author, Educated

in conversation with Kelly Corrigan, author & host, PBS’ Tell Me More and Kelly Corrigan Wonders @kellycorrigan (IG)

Catherine Owen, SVP, major markets, Bristol Myers Squibb

Viola Davis, Academy Award winning actor, producer, and philanthropist

Whether we want to or not, we all have unconscious biases. These learned stereotypes are deeply ingrained and, left unconfronted, can negatively influence how we manage teams and interact with colleagues. But bias is famously hard to completely eliminate, and seductively easy to talk about. How can we talk productively about bias without letting ourselves off the hook as leaders? As individuals, how can we reckon with our own biases without getting lost in shame and blame? Join inclusion expert Lily Zheng as she shares why we need to move the conversation from individual bias to systemic bias—and how you can make real change by leading and strategizing with your own biases in mind. This session will offer new opportunities for both personal and organizational growth.

Speaker:  Lily Zheng, diversity, equity & inclusion thought leader

Session Host:  Dana White, chief communications officer, Hyundai

Sponsor Spotlight:  Wanda Hope, chief diversity and inclusion officer, Johnson & Johnson

As much as we wish it weren’t so, we still live in a world where being underrepresented often means being underestimated. Five years ago, Arlan Hamilton was homeless and living on food stamps, with nothing but an old laptop and a dream of breaking into the venture capital business. She wanted the chance to invest in the ideas and people who didn’t conform to the image of how a founder is supposed to look. With fierce determination and a will to succeed, Arlan now invests in those high-potential founders who also happen to be female, LGBTQ, or people of color. Join this session to hear her story of how she found the big upside to being undervalued and learn how to find your voice and work your way into any room you want to be in so you can defy other people’s expectations and achieve your own dreams.

Speaker:  Arlan Hamilton, founder & managing partner, Backstage Capital and author, It’s About Damn Time

Session Moderator:  Erica Williams Simon, narrative strategist & author, You Deserve the Truth

Session Host:  Lakshmi Stockham, SVP, retail product and customer acquisition technology, TD Bank

Sponsor Spotlight:  Maya Martinez-Davis, president, U.S. Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline

Stress and anxiety have increased tenfold for many women this year and yet time to focus on our emotional health is fleeting. In this session. Dr. Nina Vasan will break down the high-yield strategies you can leverage to improve your mental health. From the more commonly understood tactics such as enough sleep and exercise to the more lesser known such as your connecting to community, everyone has unique needs, but by focusing on the most universal approaches that are backed by the greatest scientific evidence, you can develop a plan of action that will improve not only your mental health, but your physical health and longevity as well.

Speaker:  Dr. Nina Vasan, psychiatrist, executive director, Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, and chief medical officer, Real

Session Host:  Dr. Reetika Kumar, medical director & VP, clinical services, Independence Blue Cross