Previous Event Topics

2023 – “The Great Rethink – Reconnecting with Purpose, People and Perceptions”

2022 – “Change & Transformation – An Opportunity for Creativity & Innovation”

2021 – “Authentic Leadership – Acting on What Matters”

2020 – Dave Dallas: “Networking With Authenticity” (Download Dave’s one-page checklist.)

2019- “Be Fearless! Influence, Innovate, and Inspire!”

2018- “Charting Your Career Path: The Art of Navigation and Negotiation”

2017- “Game On! The Power of Women – It’s Our Time to Lead!”

2016- “Traits of Resilient Leaders”

2015- “Elevating your Game: Strategies to Build Your Brand, Raise your Confidence and Maximize your Network!

2014- “The Way Women Lead”

Previous Speakers

Amanda Slavin
Educator, Author, Advisor

Amanda Slavin is a renowned educator with a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, a Cannes Lion award-winning community designer, and Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. Her Seventh Level Engagement Framework has transformed how we measure learning success and is taught in MBA programs worldwide. Amanda is the author of the best-selling book, “The Seventh Level,” and Co-founder of CatalystCreativ and CatalystU, where she’s increased engagement for top brands like Google and Coca-Cola. Additionally, Amanda is a Co-Founder of Runway Health and is an advisor to 20+ startups, including HubSpot. She has been featured in Inc, Entrepreneur, Adweek, and Fast Company publications. Amanda is a sought-after speaker, with two TEDx talks under her belt, and has spoken at prestigious events such as INBOUND and Summit.

Dana Barrett
Former Tech Executive, Entrepreneur, Award-winning TV, Radio, and Podcast Host

Dana Barrett is a former tech executive, a serial entrepreneur, and an award-winning TV, Radio, and Podcast host. She was a candidate for US Congress in 2020 and was elected to serve as a County Commissioner in November of 2022. She is also a communications consultant and frequent emcee and speaker. Dana has written for Forbes and the Atlanta Business Chronicle and has appeared on Headline News to discuss women’s workplace issues, including pay equity and sexual harassment. A breast cancer survivor, and a long-time advocate for women, Dana serves on several nonprofit boards focusing on these issues. Originally from Philadelphia, she has called Atlanta home since graduating from Cornell University in 1988. Dana is proud to have raised her now full-grown daughter as a working single mom and believes that failure is just a pit stop on the road to success.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
Tech Executive

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is one of the most well-respected female tech executives in Silicon Valley. Named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, she’s served as president of StubHub, helped scale companies like Google and Amazon, and founded theBoardlist: a premium talent marketplace for diverse leaders. But despite her many successes, she’s the first to admit her path hasn’t always been linear. In her new book Choose Possibility, Singh Cassidy reveals the many poor choices, misfires, and unexpected headwinds she’s encountered along her path—providing a thoughtful new perspective on risk-taking: what it is, what it isn’t, and how to master it to achieve lasting success.

Brenda Reynolds
Leadership Consultant. Executive Coach. Amazon Best-Selling Author. TEDx Speaker.

Brenda K. Reynolds, M.S., is a change agent who provides organization development and leadership solutions to Fortune 500’s, non-profits, education, and individuals navigating complexity. Brenda draws on her own corporate leadership roles and extensive consulting experience to equip clients with easy-to-apply strategies and inspiration during their “now what?” moments. She has been trusted by a broad range of clients including Special Olympics, Delaware Hospice, Sherwin Williams, Moen, QVC, McDonalds, and Penn State University.

Brenda is author of Amazon best-seller TBD-To Be Determined: Leading with Clarity and Confidence in Uncertain Times (2017)She’s also the creator of the “Now What?” Transformation™ Clarity Card Deck and Kit. Brenda also hosts the COMING TO.GET.HER series and online community for women in leadership.

Brenda has graced the TEDx stage as a speaker on Navigating Transition Fog.

Brenda has also delighted and inspired audiences in a variety of venues, including:

–  Vistage International

– The International Organization Development and Change Conference, Beijing, China

–  The Designed for Impact Bermuda Women’s Conference

She is a frequent radio and podcast guest, residing in the Greater Philadelphia area, and proud mom of two amazing sons!

She was an award-winning journalist at the Washington Post and Washington Post magazine, where she was part of the team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including Time, the Boston Globe, the Toronto Globe & Mail, the Guardian, and the Sydney Morning Herald. She has been quoted as an expert or featured in numerous publications, including Forbes, Fortune, the Atlantic,TheTimes of London, Macleans, the IrishTimes,The Financial Times and Fast Company, and has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Katie Couric Show, MSNBC, CNN, Morning Joe, the BBC, CBC, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR’s Morning Edition,Tell Me More, On Point, the Diane Rehm Show, the Leonard Lopate Show, the Bob Edwards Show, Efecto Naim with Moises Naim, the Australian Broadcast Company, and other television and radio programs.

She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, Tom Bowman, who covers the military for NPR, and their two children. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, and spent her summers in Wyoming on her family’s sheep ranch, where she did not feel so overwhelmed.

Brigid Schulte

Director of the Better Life Lab

Brigid is the Director of the Better Life Lab and The Good Life Initiative at New America, a nonpartisan think tank, and author of the NewYorkTimes bestselling Overwhelmed:Work, Love and Play when No One has the Time, which was named a notable book of the year by the Washington Post and NPR. She has spoken all over the world about how to make time for a Better Life by redesigning work cultures to focus on effective work, by re-imagining gender roles for a fairer division of labor and opportunity at work and at home, by rewiring social policy to meet the needs of diverse 21st century families, and, instead of seeking status in busyness, by recapturing the value of leisure.

She was an award-winning journalist at the Washington Post and Washington Post magazine, where she was part of the team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including Time, the Boston Globe, the Toronto Globe & Mail, the Guardian, and the Sydney Morning Herald. She has been quoted as an expert or featured in numerous publications, including Forbes, Fortune, the Atlantic,TheTimes of London, Macleans, the IrishTimes,The Financial Times and Fast Company, and has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Katie Couric Show, MSNBC, CNN, Morning Joe, the BBC, CBC, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR’s Morning Edition,Tell Me More, On Point, the Diane Rehm Show, the Leonard Lopate Show, the Bob Edwards Show, Efecto Naim with Moises Naim, the Australian Broadcast Company, and other television and radio programs.

She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, Tom Bowman, who covers the military for NPR, and their two children. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, and spent her summers in Wyoming on her family’s sheep ranch, where she did not feel so overwhelmed.

Nadia Bilchick

President of Greater Impact Communications

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Nadia, President of Greater Impact Communication, is an interna- tionally renowned television personality, communication and professional development training expert, author and keynote speaker.

Nadia has anchored and hosted feature programs for CNN International, CNN Airport Network and MNet Television (South Africa) and reported for CNN Weekend. Nadia is currently Editorial Producer for CNN’s Weekend Morning program.

Her uniquely dynamic, entertaining and substantive approach
to communication skills training, comes from her extensive experience in conducting training workshops, coaching business professionals and delivering keynote addresses to a broad range of audiences both in the USA and globally, as well as interviewing high-profile figures, celebrities and corporate leaders. They include President Nelson Mandela, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, and George Clooney amongst others.

A sought after moderator, Nadia has hosted events for Coca Cola, Ted Turner’s -The Captain Planet Foundation, as well as the International Women in Film Crystal Awards with Alfre Woodard. She has opened the SOS Children’s Villages in South Africa with President Nelson Mandela.

Nadia is author of 3 books including The Little Book of Big Networking Ideas, small changes BIG IMPACT-Maximize the Power of Your Presence and Leverage the Power of Your Personal Brand and OWN YOUR SPACE – The Toolkit for the Working Women.

Nadia received a Licentiate in Speech and Drama from Trinity College, London, and Bachelor of Arts degree majors in Drama and English from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Libby Gill

Leadership Expert

Helping you be your most fearless self in work and life, Libby Gill guides your group of emerging and established women leaders to challenge limiting assumptions, take bold risks, and support each other on their journey to success. She looks at issues we continue to struggle with, despite our growth and gains, including career advancement, wage inequality, gender bias, and work/life balance.

In her dynamic interactive keynote, Libby shares leadership strategies as well as scientific data on hope theory to show participants how to link beliefs and behaviors to create a powerful future-focused vision. They’ll leave your event feeling renewed purpose, recharged passion, and reinvigorated commitment to excellence.

The former head of communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, Libby is the CEO of Libby Gill & Company, an executive coaching and consulting firm. She has been featured on CNN, NPR, the Today Show, and in BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more. Libby has delivered keynote presentations for women’s leadership events including ADP, AMC Networks, EY, Genentech, Intel, Microsoft, Safeway, Urenco Nuclear, Wells Fargo, Viacom, Zurich Insurance, and many others.

Tammy Heermann

Leadership Development Expert

Tammy Heermann is a sought-after advisor who helps individuals and organizations get serious about leadership. She has developed pioneering and multiple award-winning programs aimed at changing mindsets to achieve high performance. Passionate about advancing female leaders, she is specifically sought out by Fortune 500 companies for her expertise in gender diversity and programs that accelerate female talent around the world.

While having significant impact in the C-Suite, she is happiest when pushing up-and-coming leaders to break through organizational and self-imposed barriers to reach their potential. With real-world stories of her own journey from Senior Consultant to Senior Vice-President, people express the value of Tammy’s down to earth, practical style in creating an environment of trust in a room of strangers.

Tammy sits on the Women’s Leadership Advisory Committee for Women in Communications and Technology. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics with a Master of Science degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations and holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She lives in Toronto with her daughter Ava and husband Thomas.

Dr. Leigh Thompson Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern

Dr. Leigh Thompson is the J. Jay Gerber Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is the director of the Kellogg Team and Group Research Center, the Kellogg Leading High Impact Teams Executive program, and co-director of the Constructive Collaboration Executive program and the Negotiation Strategies Executive program. In addition, she is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Northwestern.

Her research focuses on negotiation skills and strategies, group decision making, creativity, and analogical reasoning. Her most recent research projects include investigations of divergent versus convergent thinking on negotiation performance; mindfulness and negotiation performance, gender and the use of ethically-questionable negotiation strategies, embarrassment and pride and their effects on creativity; and how analogical reasoning improves negotiation performance.

She has published more than 130 research articles and chapters in edited books. She has authored 9 books: Stop Spending, Start Managing (Harvard Business Review, 2015); Making The Team (6th edition, Pearson); The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator (6th edition, Pearson, 2015); Creative Conspiracy The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration (Harvard Business Reveiw, 2013); The Truth About Negotiations (2nd edition, Pearson 2013); Shared Knowledge in Organizations (with David Messick and John Levine); Organizational Behavior Today (2008); Negotiation: Theory and Research (2006); and The Social Psychology of Organizational Behavior: Essential Reading (2003).

Jan Hargrave
Author & Professional Public Speaker

Jan Hargrave is an expert on nonverbal communication.  She presently the CEO of Jan Hargrave and Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm, and continues to provide many of today’s leading corporations such as Merrill Lynch, Rockwell, El Paso Energy, Exxon, Chase Manhattan Bank, and NASA with seminars and specialized training in how to take advantage of nonverbal communication. She has been a guest on many shows, including but not limited to The Maury Povich ShowThe Ricki Lake ShowThe Gayle King ShowTalk Soup and The Learning Channel.

Corinne Costa Davis

Former CHRO E*Trade Financial Services

Ms. Corinne Costa Davis is an experienced Corporate Executive who held leadership roles as a Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer. She has worked with global organizations in multiple industry sectors including banking, asset management, financial services, telecommunications, insurance, healthcare and philosophy. Her expertise is in driving productivity and bottom line results through the transformation of Corporate Functions (Human Resources, Technology, Operations, Finance, Procurement and Marketing) from traditional infrastructure models into best practice providers of products and services.

She has chaired Corporate Giving, Health & Welfare Benefit ad 401k Committees for publicly traded companies. Additionally, she has worked closely with Independent Board of Directors in the development of Compensation Plan Design and Succession Planning Processes. She has advised Executive Teams and External Boards as they managed significant operating model ad organizational structure transformation.

Corinne holds a B.S. and M.B.A. from Steton Hall University. Additionally, she is a professionally trained modern dancer who continues to practice this performance art.

Corinne sits on the Board of Directors of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Foundation and is the Chairperson of the Foundation’s Development Committee.

Dr. Tracy Alloway
Award Winning Psychologist

Dr. Tracy Alloway is an award winning Psychologist, TEDx speaker and author. Dr. Alloway’s research has contributed to the scientific understanding of working memory, specifically in relation to education and learning needs. She has shared her research with organizations such as the National Center for Learning Disabilities, The Japanese Society for Developmental Psychology and the Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children At Risk  in Germany, among others. In addition to more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 7 books, and 2 standardized test batteries on the topic of working memory, her work has also been featured on Good Morning America, the Today ShowForbesBloombergThe Washington Post, and Newsweek, to name only a few. Dr Alloway also blogs for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post.

Dr. Helen Fisher
PhD biological anthropologist

Dr. Helen Fisher is an American anthropologist who specializes in the evolution, biology, and psychology of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, and the neural chemistry of romantic love and attachment. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University as well as a member of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. Prior to her work at Rutgers she was a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She is a contributor on ABC News as well as at the 2006 and 2008 Ted Conferences.

Tiffany Dufu
Chief Leadership Officer for Levo

Tiffany Dufu is a nationally recognized expert on women’s and millennial leadership, and the author of “Drop the Ball: Achieve More by Doing Less. In 2012, she was named one of Huffington Post’s 19 Women Who Are Leading the Way.  Tiffany was featured in The Seattle TimesThe New York Times, NPR and Bloomberg for raising over $20 million toward causes for women and girls. She is a frequent speaker on women’s leadership and nonprofit fundraising, recently presenting at Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit and TEDxWomen.

Fawn Germer
Bestselling Author

Fawn Germer is a four time Pulitzer Prize Award Nominated Author and is one of the nation’s most sought after motivational speakers and corporate trainers. Oprah featured Germer and her book Hard Won Wisdom on her award winning talk show. Germer has personally interviewed more than 300 of the most accomplished leaders of our times, including Olympic athletes, CEOs, prime ministers, presidents, Academy Award winners and many others who shared with her their secrets of true success.

Betsy Myers
Center for Women and Business at Bentley University Founder

Betsy Myers is the founding director of Bentley University’s Center for Women and Business. She was also a senior advisor in former President Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign. She served at first as his Chief Operating Officer and then as the Chair of Women for Obama. She also spent several years Harvard’s School for Government, ending as the Executive Director of its Center for Public Leadership. During the Clinton Administration, Myers spent several years at the U.S. Small Business Administration in posts that included; Director of the Office of Women’s Business Ownership, President Clinton’s senior adviser on women’s issues and Director of the Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach.

Pegine Echevarria

CEO of Team Pegine INC.

Pegine Echevarria is the CEO of the locally based, Team Pegine Inc. and is also a motivational speaker, author, life coach and entrepreneur. Her company Team Pegine ranks amongst the 50 fastest growing businesses in Northeast Florida. Echevarria also created the foundation, Success4Vets, to help veterans acquire leadership skills and settle back into civilian life. She is a Certified Speaking Professional member of the National Speakers Association and is the only Latina inducted into the 58 member Motivational Speakers Hall of Fame. She is also the only Latina in the Million Dollar Speakers Group.

Echevarria was also named the “2010 Women in Business Champion of the Year for the North Florida District and the State of Florida.” She has been featured in Minority Business Entrepreneur Magazine and was on the cover as a “Woman Who Rocks In Business.” She was interviewed by columnist Devin Thrope in the Forbes article “Renowned Speaker Offers Tips To Women Entrepreneurs”.

Susan Packard
Co-founder of Scripps Network

Susan Packard is the Co-founder of Scripps Network Interactive (SNI), the former Chief Operating Officer for HGTV and an Award winning author. She was the second employee of SNI and helped build the company to a market value of more than $10 billion. Under Packard’s helm, HGTV became one of the fastest growing cable networks in television history. She has been widely recognized as an innovator, a role model and mentor for women aspiring to climb the corporate ladder. She received the Woman of the Year award by Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT) and was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2008.

Pat Baxter
Former Senior Manager of Leadership for Bi-Lo Holdings

Pat Baxter was the Senior Manager of Organizational Effectiveness at Bi-Lo Holdings, LLC, the nation’s ninth largest grocery chain. Her corporate experience includes functional leadership roles in CitigroupSykes Enterprises, Inc.UNISYSAchieveGlobalRight Management and The Prudential. Pat holds a doctorate from Argosy University in Organizational Leadership, which she has used to great effectiveness as a consultant and executive coach for firms such as American Express, Dollar General, Sweetbay Supermarkets, Comcast, and Toyota. Dr. Baxter has served on the Advisory Board at the Center for Ethics at the University of Tampa, the Latin Community Advisory Committee (LCAC) at the University of South Florida and as the Education Chair at the Florida Diversity Council, Tampa Bay chapter.

Sandra Yancey
Founder and CEO of eWomen Network

Sandra Yancey is the founder and CEO of eWomen Network, a multi-million dollar
company that helps women across the globe build their businesses. Sandra was
recognized by the International Alliance for Women as one of the world’s 100 Top
Difference Makers and by CNN as an American Hero. She is the bestselling author of Doubt, Fear &
Crisis, which rose to #1 status in five categories at Amazon.com. She is a mentor and example for
women across the globe.

Dr. Lois Frankle
President of Corporate Coaching International

Dr. Lois Frankel is the President of Corporate Coaching International and an internationally known author. Her books Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich, and Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It are translated in over 25 languages worldwide. Dr. Frankel has appeared on the Today Show, Larry King Live, CNN and Fox News and has been featured in USA Today, People Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Sylvia Ann Hewlett Founder and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation

Dr. Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an economist and the Founder and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation, a Manhattan-based think tank. She is also the Founder of Hewlett Consulting Partners LLC,The co-director of the Women’s Leadership Program at the Columbia Business School, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association.

Hewlett is the author of 11 Harvard Business Review articles and 12 critically acclaimed books. Her writings have been published in the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal and she’s a featured blogger on HBR Blog Network and the Huffington Post. She has appeared on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, The Today Show, and BBC World News.

IN 2011 she received the Isabel Benham Award from the Women’s Bond Club, as well as Women of the Year awards from the Financial Women’s Association. In 2013 she received a Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute, and in 2014 she was recognized as the Most Influential International Thinker by HR magazine and was honored by the European Diversity Awards with its Global Diversity Award.

Previous Panelists

Dr. John Avendano

Martha Barrett

Sandy Bartow

Pat Baxter

Grace Brasington

Sandy Cook

Gary Chartrand

Liz Dantin

Dave Dallas

Lisa Davis

Kristi Dosh

Marty Evans

Brian Fay

Latoria Farmer

Dr. Veronica Scott-Fulton

Pat Geraghty

Dr. Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Glover

Jared Graybeal

Dr. Diana Green

Angelia Hiers

Lyndsay Rossman-Hill

John Hirabayashi

Sharon Wamble-King

Dr. Carolyn Landolfo

E. Denise Lee

Tiffani Lee

Nancy Hogshead-Makar

 

Jennifer Mansfield

Michelle McManamon

Ann Wong Meyers

Melanie Lawson-Minor

Audrey Moran

Lisa Palmer

Ju’Coby Pittman

Holly Bohn Pittman

Raymond Rhee

Jen Devore Richter

Meg Rose

Betzy Santiago

Laura Schepis

Kristine Schoonmaker

Darnell Smith

Rebecca Steele

Kerri Stewart

Travis Storey

Craig Thomas

Nicole Thomas

Katy Thompson

Tera Tuten

Wyman Winbush

Brian Wolfburg

Scott Wooten

Christina Zorn, J.D.

Feedback From Past Participants

“The Jacksonville Women’s Leadership Forum annual event provides a unique opportunity to meet the female leaders in our local community. It’s a valuable learning and networking day.” – Charlene West, JEA

Charlene West, JEA