The first African-American woman to hold the top policing job in Seattle, Washington, Carmen Best served with the Seattle Police Department for 28 years. In 2018, Best was promoted to Chief of Police, a job she called “a dream of a lifetime.” Best quickly began efforts to diversify the police force, which had long been less diverse than the city, recruiting more than 40 new officers of color. Chief Best speaks on diversity, inclusion, and leadership lessons-learned guiding a police department during times of crisis.

Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the post pandemic world. As a keynote speaker, Heather gives lucidity to complex topics through her research rich, graphic frameworks, and powerful metaphors. In 2017, LinkedIn ranked her as its #1 global voice for education and in 2020 McGowan was listed as one of the Top 50 Female Futurists in Forbes. NYT columnist Thomas Friedman describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work. McGowan is the coauthor of The Adaptation Advantage (April 2020) and the Empathy Advantage (March 2023).

Linda Bernardi lives and breathes technology disruption and innovation. She is currently Co-Founder and CEO of XdMind Inc., a revolutionary company using AI to dynamically adapt music to video gaming. Today, technology is evolving like never before, and Linda is involved in creating cutting-edge technologies across all sectors, including finance, retail, healthcare, high-tech, logistics, automotive, consumer goods, and all others. Her focus is to enable all enterprises to imagine, disrupt, innovate at record pace, and make the impossible become possible. She works with startups all around the globe, as well as large companies, to enable and inspire enterprises to build a culture of mindful innovation. She loves to practice the beautiful Art of Imagination – the first step towards innovation. Linda believes that the best ideas are the ‘crazy’ ideas, stemming from a keen sense of unbounded imagination, and she works to unleash people’s imaginations.

Frances West is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inspirational speaker, strategy advisor, author, and women in technology trailblazer known for her work in innovation, technology, and business transformation. She is the founder of FrancesWestCo, a global strategy advisory company focused on operationalizing inclusion as a business and technology imperative through her unique Authentic Inclusion™ blueprint. Her insightful and impactful approach comes from her unique personal background as a first-generation, no-English speaking immigrant to her trailblazing professional path as one of the first women in the technology field and her experience as a global executive in sales, marketing, business development, and research as well as her ground-breaking work in accessibility as IBM’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. Frances brings a valuable business perspective to this human rights-based initiative. Because of her expertise, she was invited as the sole IT industry representative to testify before the US Senate on the need to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in recognition of her work in accessibility, research, and digital inclusion.

Dr. Lindsey Piegza is the Chief Economist for Stifel Financial. She specializes in the research and analysis of economic trends and activity, world economies, financial markets, and monetary and fiscal policies. Prior to her role with Stifel, she was the Senior Economist for an investment bank in New York City for eight years consulting clients in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

In 2010, Susana Martinez was elected governor of the State of New Mexico. She became New Mexico’s first female governor and the first minority (Hispanic) female governor in the history of the United States. Prior to being elected governor, Martinez was a prosecutor for 25 years along the nation’s southern border and served as Doña Ana County’s elected district attorney for almost half that time. As governor, she prioritized keeping New Mexico’s communities safe, ensuring all students receive a high-quality education, and diversifying and growing the state’s economy.