James Ciriello, ‎Associate Vice President, IT Planning & Innovation at Merck & Co.

Thurs 10/2, 5pm – 6pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Jim Ciriello is Associate Vice President of IT Planning and Innovation for Merck, where he is focused on orchestrating the work of strategy, portfolio, architecture, innovation, digital business modeling, communications and learning across the larger organization. His previous roles at Merck include Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Health IT, which was focused on shaping the external environment and preparing the organization to compete on a new landscape of health information infrastructure, Senior Director of Strategy and Service Architecture for Shared Business Services and Senior Director of Business and Solutions Architecture for Human Health Information Technology. Prior to joining Merck, Jim worked at Boston University as Executive Director and Executive-in-Residence for the Boston University Institute for Leading in a Dynamic Economy (BUILDE), a research collaborative created to explore the effects of emerging technologies on competitive markets and organizations. Program Director for Global Mobility Insights and Innovations (GMII), a multi-university research program created to study the business impact of mobility and convergence of communications. In both roles, Jim worked with academia and industry to explore business platforms, real options, technological innovations and end user framed design. Prior to joining Boston University, Jim worked at AT&T and Lucent Technologies as a Director in positions spanning core business and the information technology organization. He is deeply rooted in the disciplines of business strategy, demand creation, functional architecture, systems engineering, and software development.

Jim is co-author of managerial points of view, including “Smart Health Community: The Hidden Value of Health Information Exchange”, “The Story of Island Man: It’s Not Just the Technology”, “Shaping the Future through Experimentation: Dr. Moulton’s Evolving Cone of Possibilities”, and “Convergence: Creating and Capturing Value for the Enterprise”. Jim holds degrees from St. Peter’s College (BS) and Stevens Institute of Technology (MS) in New Jersey, and attended the Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth.

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L. Kevin Cox, Chief Human Resources Officer, American Express Company

Thurs 10/2, 7am – 8am EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Kevin Cox is the Chief Human Resources Officer at American Express. He is the primary architect of the company’s human capital plan and related strategies that focus on making American Express one of the most financially successful and respected companies in the world.

Kevin has been a leader in Human Resources for more than two decades. His expertise lies in the fields of organizational effectiveness, talent management, and driving large-scale complex change.

He joined American Express in 2005 after 16 years at Pepsi-Cola and the Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG), where he held positions leading strategy, business development, technology, and Human Resources. He played a significant role in the successful initial public offering of PBG in 1999.

Kevin is a member of the board of directors of CEB as well as Kraft Food Group, where he is chair of the compensation committee.

He is active in a number of professional HR organizations, serving on the boards of the Human Resources Policy Association, the National Academy of Human Resources, and the Cornell University Center for Advanced Human Resources studies.

Kevin is a frequent speaker on strategy, building organizational capability and increasing the role and influence of Human Resources in global businesses.

He holds a Master’s of Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Marshall University.

He is an active member of his community in Connecticut, where he and his family enjoy their involvement with a wide range of charitable organizations. His hobbies include golf, weightlifting, and listening to an eclectic collection of music.

 

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Ashwini Kakkar, PhD, Vice Chairman, Mercury Travels, Chairman of Via.com, Ambit Corporation and the Fight Hunger Foundation

Wed 10/1, 7am – 8am EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Mr. Ashwini Kakkar is an Entrepreneur, Vice Chairman of Mercury Travels and Chairman of Via.com, Ambit Corporation and the Fight Hunger Foundation.

He is a Mechanical Engineer with a Post-Graduate from IIM Kolkata,  MBA from INSEAD France, and a Law Education from the Government Law College Mumbai.

A past President of Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also of Travel Agents Association of India, Chairman of World Travel and Tourism Council, he is a board Director of many companies including Pramerica, Europ Assistance India, Jai Medica and Himalayan Exploration.

A distinguished fellow of the Institute of Directors London, Kakkar was knighted by the French Government in 2007 with the “Chevalier De L’Ordre Merite”.

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Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO, Lumina Foundation

Wed 10/1 4pm – 5pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Jamie P. Merisotis is president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, the nation’s largest private foundation committed solely to enrolling and graduating more students from college.  Under his leadership, Lumina employs a strategic, outcomes-based approach in pursuing the Foundation’s mission of expanding college access and success particularly among low-income, minority and other historically underrepresented populations.  Lumina’s goal is to ensure that, by 2025, 60 percent of Americans hold high quality degrees, certificates and other credentials—up from the current level of less than 40 percent.

Before joining Lumina in 2008, Merisotis founded and served 15 years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy, one of the world’s premier education research and policy centers.  He previously served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the U.S. president and congressional leaders. Merisotis also helped create the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps), and serves on numerous national and international boards of directors, including Bates College in Maine, Anatolia College in Greece, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, and The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

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Rebecca Taylor, PhD, Dean and Professor of Economics, The Open University Business School

Wed 10/1, 11am – 12pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Professor Taylor is Dean and Professor of Economics at the Open University Business School. She holds a degree in Economics from Queen’s University, Canada, an MSc in Economics from the University of Toronto, Canada and a PhD in Economics from the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Rebecca started her career in financial services at the Toronto Dominion Bank. Following the completion of her PhD she spent several years lecturing in quantitative economics, international trade and economic development. She joined the Open University in 2011 from Nottingham Business School where she was Head of Economics for five years and Associate Dean of a further year.

Rebecca is a highly experienced educator at undergraduate and post graduate level. She has taught a range of courses, including: Doctorate in business administration- survey based statistical research; economics of international trade; international trade policy; Britain and the international economy; statistics for economists; and fundamentals of quantitative economics. She has also worked with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Academy on addressing the identified skills deficit in quantitative methods across Social Sciences.

Rebecca is a Board member of the European Foundation for Management Development and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. She regularly contributes to conferences and workshops related to developments and innovation in education.

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Rebecca L. Ray, PhD, Executive Vice President, Knowledge Organization and Human Capital Practice Lead, The Conference Board

Tues 9/30, 2pm – 3pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Chat: Tues 9/30, 11:00 am – 11:30 am EST
Foster Business School and Corporate Partnerships

Rebecca Ray serves as the Executive Vice President, Knowledge Organization and Human Capital Practice Lead for The Conference Board. In this role, she has oversight of the research planning and dissemination process for all three practices areas (Corporate Leadership, Economics & Business Development and Human Capital) and is responsible for the research agenda which, in turn, drives the business planning process for The Conference Board. She is responsible for overall quality and the continuing integration of our research and engagement efforts. She oversees Ask TCB™ our Business Information Service as well as The Conference Board Review®. Rebecca is the leader of the global human capital practice. Human capital research at The Conference Board focuses on human capital analytics, labor markets, workforce readiness, strategic workforce planning, talent management, diversity and inclusion, human resources, leadership development and employee engagement. In addition to published research, related products and services at The Conference Board include peer learning networks, conferences, webcasts, and experiential and other executive events. She hosts the monthly Human Capital Watch™ webcast, which explores current issues, research and practitioner successes in the fi eld of human capital. She oversees the Human Capital Exchange™, a website that offers research and insights from The Conference Board, our knowledge partners, and human capital practitioners. She created the Senior Fellows Program in human capital with some of the profession’s most acclaimed leaders. She is the Director of The Engagement Institute™, a research community of practice she created with Deloitte Consulting and Sirota. She is the co-author of numerous publications with a focus on leadership development and engagement. Rebecca is a frequent speaker at professional and company sponsored conferences and business briefings around the world. She is often a guest in business media (Bloomberg TV (Hong Kong and Europe) and Bloomberg Radio, CNBC India, and her research, commentary, initiatives and the accomplishments of her various teams have been featured in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and South China Morning Post newspapers as well as in Harvard Business Review, ChiefLearning Offi cer, Leadership Excellence, Training, CIO, Workforce Management, Human Resources, HR Magazine (Hong Kong), Chief Executive Offi cer, HR Magazine (UK), EMBA Magazine (Taiwan), People & Strategy (The Professional Journal of HRPS)and Talent Management. Rebecca was previously a senior executive responsible, at various times, for talent acquisition, organizational learning, training, management and leadership development, employee engagement, performance management, executive assessment, coaching, organizational development, and succession planning at several marquis companies. She taught at Oxford and New York Universities and led a consulting practice for many years, offering leadership assessment and development services to Fortune 500 companies and top-tier professional services fi rms. She was named “Chief Learning Offi cer of the Year” by Chief Learning Offi cer magazine, and one of the “Top 100 People in Leadership Development” by Warren Bennis’s Leadership Excellence magazine. She serves on the Advisory Boards for New York University’s Program in Higher Education/Business Education at The Steinhardt School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership and was recently elected to serve on the Business Practices Council of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). Rebecca received her Ph.D. from New York University. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including her co-authored work, Measuring Leadership Development (McGraw-Hill) in 2012 and Measuring Employee Engagement (ASTD), expected in 2014.

See other VIP guest from The Conference Board: Jonathan Spector

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George Pappas, Chancellor of Victoria University

Wed 10/1, 7pm – 8pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

George is the Chancellor of Victoria University, a position he has held for the last 4 years.  He was the Chairman of Committee for Melbourne from 2005 til 2013 where he led the Committee’s efforts to support the Higher Education Sector as well as new and innovative industry development.

George has over 30 years commercial experience in strategy consulting work for the largest companies in the United States, Japan, Asia and Australia.

He co-founded the business strategy consultancy, Pappas Carter Evans and Koop (PCEK) in 1979 and later became Managing Partner of Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG’s) Australasian offices following BCG’s acquisition of PCEK in 1990. He was also a member of BCG’s worldwide Executive Committee

Since retiring from BCG in 2002, George served as Under Secretary in the Department of Premier and Cabinet for the State of Victoria, as Member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Monash Faculty of Business and Economics, Chairman of the Monash Institute of Medical Research. He has also served on several other private sectors and not for profit boards.

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Martha Josephson, Partner, Digital Media Global Practice Leader, Egon Zehnder

Tues 9/30, 8pm – 9pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Martha has been a partner at Egon Zehnder for 16 years, and is industry recognized as a trusted advisor to many of the world’s most admired organizations. She leads the firm’s Global Digital Practice, which she founded in 1997 as the first purely digital practice in any global executive search firm; now the industry leader.  She also co-leads the Global Media Practice. She is one of the most sought after and reputed talent consultants in the Silicon Valley, and from her base in Palo Alto operates locally and  globally to secure, retain and develop exceptional C-level and Board talent for the world’s leading e-based and media centric organizations. She leads the Firm’s significant relationship with Google handling more than 300 executive searches as their primary partner over the course of the last ten plus years.

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Lynda Gratton, PhD, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School, Founder of The Hot Spots Movement

Wed 10/1, 10am – 11am EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Lynda Gratton is a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School where she directs the program ‘Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Companies’ – considered the world’s leading program on human resources. Lynda is the founder of The Hot Spots Movement and for over five years has led the Future of Work Research Consortium which has brought executives from more than 80 companies together both virtually and on a bespoke collaborative platform.

Lynda has written extensively about the interface between people and organizations. Her eight books have been translated into more than 15 languages. They cover the link between business and HR strategy (Human Resource Strategy: corporate rhetoric, individual reality and Living Strategy), the new ways of working (The Democratic Enterprise), the rise of complex collaboration (Hot Spots and Glow) and the impact of a changing world on employment and work (The Shift). Lynda’s case on BP won the EECH best case of the year, her article on ‘signature processes’ the MIT Sloan award, and in 2012  The Shift received the best business book of the year award in Japan. Her latest book The Key, published in June 2014, looks at the impact of the changing world on corporate practices, processes and leadership.

Lynda’s work has been acknowledged globally – she has won the Tata prize in India; in the US she has been named as the annual Fellow of NAHR and won the CCL prize; whilst in Australia she has won the HR prize. Lynda is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and has chaired the WEF Council on Leadership. She serves as a judge on the FT Business Book of the Year panel, chairs the Drucker prize panel and is on the governing body of London Business School.  In 2013 she was awarded the Life Time Achievement Award by HR Magazine and equally in 2013 she was amongst the 15 top thought leaders in the Thinkers50 ranking.

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Marshall Goldsmith, PhD, Executive Leadership Coach, Marshall Goldsmith Group

Tues 9/30, 1pm – 2pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

In November 2013, at the bi-annual Thinkers 50 Ceremony in London, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith was recognized again as one the Top Ten Most Influential Business Thinkers in the World – and the top-rated executive coach.  His work has been recognized by almost every professional association in his field and every major business publication around the world. Dr. Goldsmith’s 34 books have sold over two million copies, been translated into 30 languages and become listed bestsellers in twelve counties.  He has written two New York Times bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award for Business Book of the Year.  Marshall’s next book, Triggers, will focus on our relationship with the world around us and how we can increase our own experience of engagement, happiness and meaning.  Dr. Goldsmith is one of a select few executive advisors who have been asked to work with over 150 major CEOs and their management teams.

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