Abrams, Sarah

Senior Vice President, Head of Global Real Estate, Iron Mountain

Sarah Abrams is Senior Vice President, Global Real Estate at Iron Mountain, a Fortune 1000 company.  Sarah leads a global real estate team responsible for real estate strategy, transactions, construction and facility management for a portfolio of 85+ million sf in 53 countries.   

Prior to Iron Mountain, Sarah was president of the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments, where she led the team responsible for providing all real estate and location strategy services to Fidelity's business units. 

Ms. Abrams is the recipient of 7 Luminary Awards for excellence in speaking at CoreNet Global Summits and regularly teaches the Capstone Case as part of CoreNet Global’s MCR designation.

 

Sessions:
• Delivering Value When the Low Hanging Fruit is Gone: Change or Be Changed

Akbari, Nadira

Vice President, Avison Young

Nadira Akbari is Vice President with Avison Young serving the Bay Area market. Mrs. Akbari brings years of experience in many aspects of Real Estate, specifically in corporate real estate, transaction management, strategic planning, and project management. Prior to joining Avison Young, Mrs. Akbari co-founded a women owned brokerage and advisory firm in Silicon Valley, where she helped grow the company and achieve several industry awards.  Nadira also won the 2016 CoreNet Northern California Young Leader of the Year Award for her achievements and contributions to the industry.  Mrs. Akbari specializes in Tenant Representation for clients from all fields including Corporate Clients, Tech-Startup, Pre-Post IPO companies, and Professional Services Firms.

 

Sessions:
• 5 Killer Questions Everyone Needs to Ask a Mentor!

Allon, Eric

Partner, Bernkopf Goodman LLP

Eric Allon is a Partner in the real estate department of Bernkopf Goodman LLP.  Eric’s principal practice areas are real estate and business law, with particular emphasis on commercial leasing, the acquisition, management and sale of properties, financing transactions, and commercial loan workouts. His clients include commercial landlords, tenants of retail, warehouse and office space, private and institutional lenders, hotel and restaurant operators, fiduciaries, brokers, and lawyers. Eric’s clients often credit his responsiveness and business acumen with maximizing their business opportunities and minimizing their financial and legal risks.

  

Sessions:
• Co-Working Learning Theater - The Intersection of Tech and Real Estate and the Chase for Talent

Andel, Alex

Senior Managing Director, CBRE

Alex is a global Client Solutions executive in CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions business, and has held leadership positions in the Americas and EMEA. He collaborates with CBRE’s global clients by understanding their objectives and challenges, and developing bespoke solutions to align with those needs. Alex positions himself at the forefront of innovation in the real estate outsourcing sector, and has been instrumental in defining how CBRE’s global corporate clients address complex real estate issues through a consultative and solutions-oriented approach. He is currently based in San Francisco, after relocating from London in 2015.

 

Sessions:
• CRE as a Conduit to Enterprise Strategy

Appley, Stuart

Managing Director, CBRE

Stuart Appley is the Technology Solutions Leader for the West Division of CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions Group, where he is responsible for providing executive technology oversight, innovation and consulting to current and potential clients across the region. Stuart was previously the Chief Information & Technology Officer at Shorenstein Realty Services, a leading national Commercial Real Estate Investment and Operating company.  At Shorenstein, Stuart led the transformation of the company’s technology environment into an innovative organization, championing and leading new digital engagement opportunities. He’s a frequent speaker on innovation and he serves on several advisory boards for emerging technology companies, industry organizations, and VC’s.

 

Sessions:
• Lessons Learned from a CRE Machine Learning Proof of Concept

Arenas, John

CEO, Serendipity Labs

 

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - The Coming Workforce Disruption: Are You Prepared?

Asmar, Paul

Head of Real Estate and Property Services, MilliporeSigma

Sessions:
• Millipore Sigma’s Plan to Solve the Unknown
• How Do Your Sustainability and Wellness Policies Stack Up?

Bacon, Kelly

Americas Practice Lead - Strategy+, AECOM

Kelly has 18 years’ experience helping clients and teams navigate complexity as they seek to create better workplaces. She uses her training in behavioral research methods, sociology, communication strategy and business to facilitate the adjustment to new ways of working. Her education combined with diverse project experience, as workplace strategist and corporate end user, enables her to provide a broad societal context for working environments.

Sessions:
• Emerging Trends Learning Theater: Predictive Analytics + Wearables in Corp Environments: The Privacy Factor

Baldi, Sara

Vice President, Global Workplace, McKesson Corporation

Sara Baldi leads McKesson’s Global Portfolio Strategy, Global Workplace, Occupancy Planning and Real Estate Technology teams. Her most recent accomplishments include opening McKesson Las Colinas, a LEED and WELL Institute certified campus in Dallas; opening McKesson’s Specialty call center in Scottsdale and the development and roll out of Global Workplace Design Guidelines.

Before joining McKesson in 2015, Ms. Baldi worked at Kaiser Permanente as the Executive Director of National Functions and Shared Services.

Ms. Baldi graduated from the University of California – Berkeley and completed the McKesson Executive Leadership Program at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sessions:
• Against All Odds: Designing for Change Amidst Uncertainty

Banks, Cristina

Director, Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Cristina Banks is Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces at the University of California, Berkeley, where she leads an interdisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners in innovative research projects and distribution of state of the art information regarding the development and implementation of healthy workplaces.  She is also a Senior Lecturer at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, where she teaches MBA and undergraduate students in management.  She combined her work as an academic with 40 years of consulting experience including the founding two firms to address the need for radical change in the way people experience work and workplaces.  Dr. Banks is an elected Fellow of the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology and of the American Psychological Association.

  

Sessions:
• The Future is Gen Z: Anticipating Changes in Office Design and Real Estate Strategies

Bass, Robin

Real Estate and Workplace Services Group Team Lead, Google

Sessions:
• Exploring Radical Ecologies of Land Economics

Bedford, Slade

Senior Manager, Global Facilities, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Slade Bedford is the Senior Manager for Global Facilities within the Global Facilities, Events, & Travel Team (GFET) at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  His experience spans manufacturing, aerospace, small business ownership, real estate, and facilities.  In his current role, he oversees the extraordinary experience that employees and guests receive while working for and visiting the Gates Foundation. 

Sessions:
• Impatient Optimism: How Culture, Strategy, and Place Are Changing the World

Bernstein, Ethan

Assistant Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business School

Ethan Bernstein is an associate professor in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. He teaches the second-year MBA course in Managing Human Capital, the HBX Live Developing Yourself as a Leader course, and various executive education programs. Professor Bernstein’s research investigates the impact of workplace transparency—the observability of employee activities, routines, behaviors, output, and/or performance—on productivity, with implications for leadership, collaboration, organization design, and new forms of organizing.

Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Bernstein spent a half-decade at The Boston Consulting Group in Toronto and Tokyo. Tapped by Elizabeth Warren to join the implementation team at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he spent nearly two years in executive positions, including Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Assistant Director of Mortgage Markets, at the newest United States federal agency. Professor Bernstein earned his doctorate in management at Harvard, where he also received a JD/MBA degree. He also holds an AB in Economics from Amherst College.

 

Sessions:
• Workplace as a Living Lab: Leveraging Data to Create a Dynamic Environment

Berthold, Bryan

Managing Director, Workplace Strategy & Change Management, Cushman & Wakefield

Mr. Berthold is the Managing Director of Workplace Strategy & Change Management within C&W’s Strategic Consulting practice.  This practice includes all aspects of developing integrated experiences for clients and employees.  Mr. Berthold works to lead and inspire teams to improve a client’s brand experience with solutions that drive culture and integrate people, place and technology.

Workplace Strategy focus is unique in its breadth. While many have focused on discrete segments of workplace, Workplace Strategy includes cultural alignment, client and employee experience, workplace strategy, technology strategy, sustainable designs, health & wellness strategies, change management, and service strategy. 

The practice leverages best practice research, systems, design thinking, and key partnerships across Cushman & Wakefield and the entire industry.  Workplace Strategy brings clients to the forefront of new ways of working and building compelling client and workplace experiences that increase value, improve the bottom line and accelerate a client’s progress toward their strategic objectives.  Workplace Strategy serves as client catalyst within the Global Consulting Group, helping to drive change, create compelling experiences.

Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, Mr. Berthold was SVP, Corporate Real Estate & Workplace at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta where he rolled out their first Alternative Workplace program and co-working space.  He began his 20+ year career as an architect, and is an industry leader in workplace strategy, change management and the alignment of business and real estate strategies.

Mr. Berthold was the 2014 CoreNet Global Corporate Executive of the Year for Atlanta and is a Top Faculty-rated instructor for CoreNet Global.  He has been active in workplace strategies with SunTrust Bank, Altisource, TD Financial Group, Washington Mutual, Capital One and Fleet Boston Financial.  At Capital One, Bryan led the award winning, Future of Work alternative workplace strategy program that garnered the CoreNet Global, Global Innovator’s Award; Great Places to Work, Best Practices award; Alfred P. Sloan Award for Workplace Flexibility 4 times; and Working Woman’s Best Place to Work.

Sessions:
• Experience per SF - Measuring Workplace Engagement

Billing, Michael

Managing Director, JLL

Michael Billing is a Managing Director at JLL and serves as the firm’s Global Lease Accounting Lead. He is a Certified Public Accountant responsible for all activities related to lease accounting, including education, process and technology implementation, and client strategy development and execution. He has held numerous accounting and finance leadership roles such as Director of Finance, Budgeting and Forecasting Manager and Infrastructure Controller.  With more than 20 years of experience, Michael helps CRE teams with lease accounting, global real estate portfolio strategy, asset financial structuring, occupancy strategy, headquarters relocation and real estate governance.  Michael has an MBA from Northwestern University and is a U.S. Navy and Gulf War veteran.

Sessions:
• Digital Talent and CRE Strategy: Which Comes First the Chicken or the Egg?

Blankson, Amy

Co-Founder, GoodThink

Amy Blankson is the only person to receive a Point of Light from two US Presidents.  After graduating from Harvard College and Yale School of Management, she co-founded GoodThink to bring the science of happiness to life for others.  Amy has since focused her work on understanding how to cultivate happiness in a digital era.  She is a member of the UN Global Happiness Council, a Fellow of the World Innovation Organization, and is working with the IEEE to create standards for well-being in artificial intelligence.  Amy is a regular contributor for Forbes and author The Future of Happiness.

 

Sessions:
• Wellness in the Workplace: the Demand is Real

Boyette, Del

President and CEO, Boyette Strategic Advisors

Del is President/CEO of Boyette, an economic development and location analysis firm he started over 13 years ago. He has served as Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission; led economic development programs for the State of Georgia, and started and led the Comprehensive Incentives Management Services Practice at Deloitte.

Del served on the CoreNet Global Board of Directors for eight years, participated in Corporate Real Estate 2020, has served as a judge for the Economic Development Leadership Award and Corporate Real Estate’s Global Innovators Award, and has received the CoreNet Global Luminary Award. Del is affiliated with CoreNet Global's New England Chapter.

 

Sessions:
• Economic Developers Roundtable: “Fireside Chat” with Top Corporate Real Estate Executives

Brady, Londa

National Director, Project and Development Services, JLL

Ms. Brady is Vice President with Jones Lang LaSalle's Project and Development Services group located in Orlando, FL where she brings over twenty six years of diverse project and real estate management experience including corporate office, higher education, government, industrial, historic preservation and retail projects. Ms. Brady's excellent analytic and critical thinking skills, in combination with her passion to deliver strategic operational results and cost efficiencies provides Jones Lang LaSalle's clients with a valuable and effective partnership.

Ms. Brady is responsible for Jones Lang LaSalle's Project Development Services business for the state of Florida. One of her most recent major projects was managing the 225,000 SF build-to-suit Financial Services Center for Verizon in Lake Mary, FL.

Sessions:
• Revolutionizing the Future of Smart Buildings

Brill, Micah

Vice President, Urban Land Institute

Sessions:
• Creating Business Value and Enhancing Productivity through Sustainability and Innovation

Bron, Christelle

Senior Managing Director, CBRE

Christelle Bron is part of the Strategic Consulting Group at CBRE. Ms. Bron brings 20 years of experience as a real estate client service professional to her position. Combining management consulting experience with real estate expertise, she offers a strategic and multidisciplinary approach to solving her corporate clients’ real estate challenges that delivers innovative, actionable and value-added solutions.

Over the past 5 years, Christelle and her team - in partnership with prestigious Universities such as Cornell and Columbia - have actively researched, developed and tested unique predictive analytics and robust optimization models, which provide a truly proprietary way to solve for the supply/demand equation.

Sessions:
• Outrunning the Bear

Brower, Tracy

Principal, Applied Research + Consulting, Steelcase, Inc.

Dr. Tracy Brower is a Principal with the Applied Research + Consulting group for Steelcase and the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work: A Guide for Leaders and Organizations. Tracy has worked with many of the Fortune 500, as well as educational and health-care organizations. She is a three-time recipient of the CoreNet Global Luminary Award and recipient of the UofH Real Estate Innovation Award. In addition to her PhD and MM, Tracy holds a Master of Corporate Real Estate. Tracy’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CoreNet Global Leader Magazine, Real Estate Review Journal, Fortune.com, Forbes.com, Inc. Magazine, and more.

   

Sessions:
• Impatient Optimism: How Culture, Strategy, and Place Are Changing the World

Buck, Khari

Director, Workplace Transformations, CBRE

Khari Buck leads Workplace Transformations for CBRE on behalf of her client, McKesson Corporation. Ms. Buck is responsible for Occupancy Planning, Workplace Strategy, Change Management, and Communications. She currently driving new workplace adoption at 3 major hubs in Dallas, TX; Scottsdale, AZ; and McKesson HQ in San Francisco.

Before joining the McKesson account in 2015, Ms. Buck was a Portfolio Strategy Manager on CBRE’s MUFG Union Bank account.

Mrs. Buck holds a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Finance & Construction Management from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Real Estate Investment & Consulting from Cornell University. 

Sessions:
• Against All Odds: Designing for Change Amidst Uncertainty

Buolamwini, Joy

Founder, Algorithmic Justice League

Joy Buolamwini is a poet of code on a mission to show compassion through computation. She uses art and research to investigate the social impact of artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to fight the coded gaze, algorithmic bias that can worsen social inequalities. At the MIT Media Lab, she pioneered evaluation techniques for face classification algorithms which is leading to increased transparency in the use of this technology. She chairs the IEEE working group creating the first international standards for facial analysis technology. She serves on the Global Tech Panel convened by the European Union to advise world leaders and technology executives on ways to make technology more beneficial for humanity. Her Gender Shades research which uncovered large accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification has been covered in over 230 articles in 37 countries by media outlets including the New York Times, The Economist, NPR, BBC World Service, and the Daily Show.

 Joy is an international speaker having shared her work at venues including the White House, The Vatican, WIRED Live UK, SXSWedu, Aspen Ideas Festival, and FundForum. Her TED Talk on bias in AI has been viewed nearly 1 million times. 

 Joy produces media that makes daughters of diasporas dream and sons of privilege pause.  Her short film, The Coded Gaze: Unmasking Algorithmic Bias, debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

 Joy is a Rhodes Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, and Google Anita Borg Scholar. She holds two master’s degrees from Oxford University and MIT and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is now pursuing a PhD at MIT.

Sessions:

Burke, Tarana

Journalist, Attorney, and Author,

Tarana Burke, best known as the founder of the 'me too' Movement, shares the heartbreaking story behind the genesis of the viral awakening for women's rights, and gives strength and healing to those who have experienced sexual trauma or harassment.

The simple yet courageous #metoo hashtag campaign has emerged as a rallying cry for people everywhere who have survived sexual assault and sexual harassment – and Tarana’s powerful, poignant story as creator of what is now an international movement that supports survivors will move, uplift, and inspire you.

#metoo is not just an overnight hashtag sensation; Tarana has dedicated more than 25 years of her life to social justice and to laying the groundwork for a movement that was initially created to help young women of color who survived sexual abuse and assault. The movement now inspires solidarity, amplifies the voices thousands of victims of sexual abuse, and puts the focus back on survivors.

A sexual assault survivor herself, Tarana works under the banner of The ‘me too’ Movement which is housed at Brooklyn based Girls for Gender Equity where she serves as Senior Director. On stage, she provides words of empowerment that lift up marginalized voices, enables survivors across all races, genders, or classes to know that they are not alone, and creates a place for comfort and healing to those who have experienced trauma

Sessions:

Busch, Sarah

Senior Project Manager, Perkins+Will

As a Project Manager at the award-winning architecture and interior design firm, Perkins+Will, Sarah Busch is supremely knowledgeable about current and past industry trends. She is thoroughly familiar with the intersection of the design profession and related professions. She is well respected across the interior design industry, and is equally avid as either student or mentor. Sarah has worked across a variety of fields throughout her career, from business development to project management to design. Her poise, flexibility, and good sense carry her through many unpredictable situations. She serves as an exemplary representative of both our firm and our profession.

 

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - Activating the Workplace: The Impact of Active Workstations on Employee Effectiveness

Capron, Brent

Design Director for Interiors, Perkins+Will

Sessions:
• Resilient Design - An Essential Discussion at the Crossroads of the World

Chin, Ryan

CEO, Optimus Ride, Inc.

Dr. Ryan C.C. Chin is the CEO and Co-founder of Optimus Ride Inc – an MIT spinoff company based in Boston, MA that develops self-driving technologies that enable safe, sustainable, and equitable mobility access.

Dr. Chin is a leading expert in the area of Smart Cities and urban mobility systems. He was the Managing Director of the City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab (2012-2015) where innovative research was conducted on urban housing, transport, energy, and big data analytics. He researched Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (MoD) Systems – a network of self‑driving, shared-use, electric vehicles (EVs). He developed EVs including the GreenWheel, RoboScooter, Persuasive Electric Vehicle, and the CityCar. Dr. Chin advises industry and government agencies on Smart Cities innovations. He was a member of the White House PCAST’s (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology) working group on “Technology and the Future of Cities.”

Sessions:
• Demystifying Self-Driving Vehicles and Their Impact on Real Estate

Cho, Anthony

Vice President, Client Service Delivery Central, Canada, BGIS

Anthony Cho is Senior Vice President, Client Service Delivery & Professional Services at BGIS. By focusing on innovations that lead to portfolio performance excellence and operating cost effectiveness, Anthony has proven results in managing, operating and delivering integrated real estate services to corporate, retail and infrastructure portfolios. His experience with $1B+ in complex design, construction programs and projects of all scale and building types has allowed Anthony to develop specialized and advanced knowledge in asset management, facility performance, program and project management, design management, building science, construction contracts, procurement and administration.

Previous to his current role, Anthony was North American Account Director at BGIS for a major North American financial institution. Prior to joining BGIS, Anthony was Operations Leader with Stantec Architecture.

Anthony holds a BArch, and BES Architecture from the University of Waterloo, and was awarded with CoreNet Global’s ‘Professional Excellence Award’ in 2016.

Sessions:
• Climate Disruption: Overcoming the Unexpected

Clark, Christina

Managing Principal, Cresa Global Inc.

Sessions:
• Business Intelligence: A Catalyst for Action

Clark-Cole, Karen

CEO, Blink UX

Sessions:
• A Contingent Workplace: Opportunities and Implications of the New Gig Economy

Clarkson, Martha

Senior Program Manager, Global Workplace Design, Microsoft

Martha has been with Microsoft since 1997, leading workplace transformation. Before that she was a commercial interior designer at architecture firms in Seattle. Martha manages design for Microsoft, as well as video and photography production, and the Inclusive Workplace program. She is a writer and photographer. Martha grew up in Portland, Oregon and attended University of Oregon. In 2011, Martha was bestowed with the Business Leaders in Design award from IIDA.

 

Sessions:
• Designing for a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace - A Microsoft Story

Collins, Brian

Senior Manager, Workplace Change, Microsoft Corporation

Based in Redmond, Wa. Brian is responsible for Operationalizing Microsoft’s ‘Workplace Advantage’ (WPA) Program; defining and integrating the implementation of WPA across several multidisciplinary CRE groups (including Capital Projects, Occupancy Planning, Change Management and Integrated Facilities Management & Services) in Microsoft’s 14m sqft regional portfolio.

Brian joined Microsoft 1995 as the Facilities Manager for the Dublin campus, and in his previous roles with Microsoft he was responsible for The Global Workplace Strategies Group; defining and driving the ‘Workplace Advantage (WPA)’ program; including Workplace research, knowledge management, change management project consulting across Microsoft’s global portfolio. He was also Area Portfolio Manager for RE&F in Central & Eastern Europe, and Facilities Manager for EMEA (Europe Middle East & Africa) where he coordinated facilities activities over 160 locations in 50+ countries.

 

Sessions:
• Designing for a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace - A Microsoft Story

Conti, George

Vice President International Real Estate, Iron Mountain

George Conti joined Iron Mountain in August 2012 as Vice President of Global Client Solutions and Planning.  In that role George was responsible for delivering comprehensive analyses/plans that provided P&L owners with the information needed to make decisions in any area that real estate touched.  He created strategies to right size the portfolio and/or reduce cost, to integrate real estate portfolios that were acquired as a result of mergers or acquisitions and to ensure that GRE decisions had appropriate business input and alignment.

In June 2014 George became Vice President, International Real Estate adding responsibility for project management and transactions for the international portfolio to his planning and client solutions responsibilities.  In that role he oversees the permitting and executing of real estate projects, transactions, budget adherence and, together with local finance, the real estate capital budgeting. 

In 2014, in conjunction with IRM’s conversion to a REIT, George was asked to stand up the firm’s first Global Real Estate Purchase Program with the goal of owning more real estate over time and optimizing the existing portfolio. In the first year of this program the team developed the infrastructure, market data and processes for executing the program and acquired over 1M SF as well as identifying 20M SF of additional opportunities.  In this capacity George presented multiple times to the Finance Committee of Iron Mountain’s Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Iron Mountain, George was the Vice President of Portfolio Planning, Research and IT with Fidelity Real Estate Company (FREC), the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments.  Overseeing a portfolio of ~11M SF, he was responsible for the creation of all short-term, medium-term and long-term real estate portfolio and occupancy strategies worldwide, covering multiple business units and functions.  He also led a team focused on Research, including demographics for location analysis, benchmarking, and data analytics.  In addition to his responsibilities running the Planning and Research functions, George was also responsible for overseeing the operation of FREC’s Information Technology group, with a focus on platform innovation and adoption of mobile technology in the real estate industry.

A native of the Boston area, George holds a BS from Cornell University.  He served as President of the Boston Cornell Hotel Association from 2002 to 2009 and is an active member of CoreNet Global and the Real Estate Executive Board.  George has delivered presentations on multiple occasions at CoreNet Global summits in North America and Europe and in 2014 won a Luminary award for achieving a top 10% in speaker rating scores.  He and his wife, Rachel, have four children and live outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

Sessions:
• Facing Uncertainty Together - The Value of a Mentor / Mentee Relationship

Cordani, Benjamin

Director of Human Resources, Caterpillar

Ben Cordani is Director of Human Resources for the Surface Mining & Technology Division of Caterpillar Inc. In this capacity, Ben leads a global team to attract, develop, support and engage more than 6,000 professionals in delivering the highest value surface mining equipment and technology to customers around the world. Ben has spent his career in Human Resources, Public Relations, Governmental Relations and Strategy Development at Caterpillar, having worked in Peoria, Illinois, Beijing, China, and Washington, DC. 

Ben has a Mass Communications degree from Illinois State University, is a Freidrich-Naumann Fellowship recipient and is enrolled in the Mining Practitioner Program at South Dakota School of Mines. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Sun Corridor Inc. in Tucson, Arizona, focused on regional economic development, and serves on the Board of Next Door in Milwaukee, engaged in early childhood and family development within the city.

Sessions:
• Unknown Unknowns: Capitalizing on Uncertainty as a Strategic Workplace Advantage

Culver, Kathleen

Program Manager, Nokia

Kathleen has spent her thirty-year career at Nokia (and its associated acquisitions) converting cutting edge technologies into real solutions to real problems for real people.  The Internet of Things (IoT) and big data are the latest technologies being shaped into an Occupant-Oriented Smart Building strategy for Nokia’s CRE organization.  Her expertise in technology is balanced with her management skills and is reflected in a breadth of professional certifications (PMP, PgMP, TOGAF, ITIL, CBAP).

Sessions:
• Beyond the Proof-of-Concept: How Nokia Rolled Out Smart Buildings

Darling, Kate

Research Specialist, MIT Media Lab

Dr. Kate Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center. Her interest is in how technology intersects with society. Kate’s work has explored economic issues in intellectual property systems and increasingly looks at the near-term effects of robotic technology, with a particular interest in law, social, and ethical issues. She runs experiments, holds workshops, writes, and speaks about some of the more interesting developments in the world of human-robot interaction, and where we might find ourselves in the future.

Sessions:
• What Role will Robots Play in our Future?

Davis, Simon

Sales Director, saltmine

Sessions:
• The Impact of Machine Learning and Virtual Reality on Corporate Real Estate

DeClercq, Caitlin

Post-Doctoral Researcher, Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces, University of California, Berkeley

Caitlin DeClercq earned a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.  Caitlin is a Core Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces at UC Berkeley, where she is leading a study to identify workplace design features that promote positive psychological states in employees.  Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Caitlin worked as a college health educator and earned an M.S. in an interdisciplinary program, Health Professions Education, at the University of Rochester.  Her work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals, edited books, and professional journals. 

Sessions:
• The Future is Gen Z: Anticipating Changes in Office Design and Real Estate Strategies

DeNamur, Mike

Vice President, Smart Building Solutions, JLL

Mike coordinated the JLL team responsible for smart building strategies at McDonald’s corporate HQ project. This included working through a structured process to prioritize program goals, identify strategies, select appropriate technologies and oversee program implementation over an 18-month engagement. He draws on nearly thirty years’ experience in the commercial building industry, including various leadership roles with global, market-leading brands. He has unique smart building expertise having been involved in the definition and mainstream adoption of building system standards and technologies; and deployment of integrated building systems. Mike is a frequent speaker on the state, regional and national level.

Sessions:
• We’re Lovin’ It: McDonald’s New HQ Models an Evolving Future

Desrocher, Nina

Vice President, Global Business Services, IBM

Sessions:
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Devendran, Pooja

CEO, Novolux

Sessions:
• Wellness in the Workplace: the Demand is Real

Donnelly, T. Patrick

Client Leader, BHDP Architecture

An expert in the strategic design of the workplace, Patrick is nationally recognized for connecting organizational culture and work process improvement to the design of space.  He is passionate about improving the efficiency of workplace, the effectiveness of the workforce and their experience in the workplace.   Clients include Aetna, Fidelity, General Dynamics, GSA, Nationwide, Novartis and P&G.  Patrick is MIT visiting lecturer 2016-17, write and speaks on design, applied research, innovation, change and organizational architecture. He served on the Board of Directors for CoreNet Global, 2011-2014 and has been awarded top faculty honors at CoreNet Global Learning consistently since 2000. 

Sessions:
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Donoghue, Regan

Regional Workplace Manager, Newmark Global Strategy

Regan works for the Newmark Knight Frank Global Strategy team leading the Southwest Region. Their team works alongside the brokers in each location to help guide clients looking to solve the major challenges brought by changes in Workforce, Workplace, & Technology.

Regan spends the other half of her time consulting for Uber’s PAI Team (Programs, Analysis, & Innovation). She supports the “Uber@Work” Initiative to help enhance the employee experience in the work environment for their future HQ project and global real estate initiatives.

 

Sessions:
• Man vs. Machine: Emotional Intelligence as Job Security in the Face of AI

Duff, Mary Lee

Principal and Director of Workplace Strategies, IA Interior Architects

 Mary Lee Duff is a Principal and Director of Workplace Strategies for IA Interior Architects in San Francisco. Mary Lee has over 25 years of experience working with clients to develop comprehensive workplace solutions that require a sensitivity to each client’s culture, brand, and work processes. Bringing best practices, a proven methodology, and an inquisitive point of view, Mary Lee works with the design team to align the workplace planning and design to support and improve business. 

 

 

Sessions:
• A Contingent Workplace: Opportunities and Implications of the New Gig Economy

Dunsmore, Madeline

Regional Workplace Manager, Newmark Knight Frank

Ms. Dunsmore is a workplace strategist and change management professional with 6 years’ experience in workplace strategy and over 12 years’ experience in public speaking, stakeholder relations, and communications planning. She is a trusted advisor to her clients and specializes in leading Workplace Intelligence Assessments to build a holistic understanding of her clients’ workplace needs and aspirations. In particular, her work around telework implementation and their impact on managers, the workforce, and space needs, set her apart as a leader in the workplace field.

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - The Impending Loneliness Epidemic: Let’s Be Part of the Solution!

Earlywine, Angie

Principal, BatesForum

Angie is a Principal at BatesForum and Director of Advisory Services bringing 20 years of leadership and expertise in workplace strategy, facility planning, change management, and design innovation.  She focuses on ensuring the built environment supports varying work styles,  integrate wellbeing strategies, infuse the latest technological advancements, and balance the needs of businesses with a multi-generational workforce. Angie is a national speaker on todays topic and the influence environments can play in improving employee engagement while positively impacting company objectives.  Angie is an immediate past-president of CREW, and a member of ULI, CoreNet Global, and IFMA’s Workplace Evolutionaries council.

 

Sessions:
• Workplace 911: NOT So Best Practices Revealed

Edwards, Douglas

VP, Head of Workplace Solutions, Humana

Sessions:
• Progressive Diversity & Inclusion Strategies for Global Organizations

Farrow, Ronan

Journalist, Attorney, and Author,

Ronan Farrow is an influential voice in government and media, helping traditional institutions address the frustrations – and tap the promise – of a new generation. Forbes Magazine has twice named him one of the “30 Under 30” most influential people in law and policy, a contest he has gone on to judge. New York Magazine has named him “activist of the year.” Esquire magazine recently named him the man of his year of birth. He has received numerous human rights awards, including Refugees International's McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award for “extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people”. His speeches on the struggles of young people he's worked with around the world as well as his own childhood growing up amidst a high-profile Hollywood scandal have been selected among NPR's “Greatest Commencement Speeches Ever” and Huffington Post's top ten speeches of the year. As an NBC News anchor and investigative reporter, Farrow founded and fronts the Today Show's “#Undercovered” series, combining traditional reporting with innovative crowd-sourced story selection. He has also anchored an MSNBC cable news program, Ronan Farrow Daily. He has written about human rights and foreign policy for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. Farrow served as a State Department diplomat in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and reported to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the United States' first special adviser for global youth during the Arab Spring revolutions. He has also served as spokesperson for youth at UNICEF in Nigeria, Angola, and the Darfur region of Sudan, and appeared as an expert witness before the US Congressional human rights caucus. Farrow is a Yale Law School educated attorney and a member of the New York Bar, and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  He is the author of the forthcoming Pandora's Box: How America Creates Its Own Enemies from Penguin Press.

Sessions:

Fatema, Nishar

Head - Global Accounts, Space Matrix

A passionate global representative, architect, workplace design strategist, artist, and a volunteer - Nishar is part of the core-cell Space Matrix global team. She has work experience in five countries: Singapore, India, Germany, Iran and the US, and has traveled to more than 45. Her career is backed by an eight-year proven track record in workplace design and business strategy. Nishar manages global clients of North America for design and execution in APAC. Deep understanding of the workplace design & build is her key asset. She provides unique solutions for global clients challenged with setting offices in APAC, providing efficient delivery and honest communication with technical and business stakeholders alike.

Nishar is also an author of the research piece "Understanding of an ornamentation in Islamic architecture" and contributor to a book on vernacular housing of North India called "MATRA: The measure".

  

Sessions:
• APAC View - Demystifying the Myth

Feltmate, Blair

Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (University of Waterloo)

Dr. Blair Feltmate is Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo. Previous positions held by Mr. Feltmate include Vice President, Sustainable Development, Bank of Montreal; Director, Sustainable Development, OPG; and Partner, Sustainable Investment Group/YMG Capital Management. Blair has written textbooks on environmental science, banking and sustainable development and is generally interviewed by the media between 100 and 150 times annually. He is involved in the creation of several national climate adaptation Standards involving the National Research Council, Standards Council of Canada and the Canadian Standards Association; and, he is Chair of the Federal Government of Canada Expert Panel on Climate Adaptation.

  

Sessions:
• Climate Disruption: Overcoming the Unexpected

Flaminio, Joann

President, Boston Athletic Association

Joann E. Flaminio has been a member of the Boston Athletic Association, organizer of the Boston Marathon, since 1993, and has served on its Board of Governors since 1996.  In January 2011, she became the 23^rd President of the Boston Athletic Association, and the first woman to ever lead the 130-year-old athletic organization.  She was at the helm of the organization in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and helped shape its positive response to the tragedy, widely lauded both locally and nationally.

A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, she is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University, and Suffolk University Law School.  She was employed at Fidelity Investments for seventeen years in Workplace Investing.

Sessions:

Forster, Eleanor

Managing Director North America, Leesman

Eleanor is MD North America for Leesman. Coming on board in 2016 to launch Leesman in the US, Eleanor is responsible for the strategic development of the Leesman brand in North America, establishing the company’s first office in NYC. Eleanor has a long-standing interest in people and space, how they influence and interact with each other and how we can better understand our human needs in the built environment.

Before joining Leesman, Eleanor ran her own business for 12 years. Initially launching an art and design consultancy and then a contemporary art gallery representing British based artists, before returning to work as a private and corporate art consultant. She collaborated with artists, collectors, gallerists, architects, and designers for private and corporate clients. Alongside her work as a gallerist and publisher, Eleanor created and implemented interior design schemes, both corporate and private.

Sessions:
• Employee Experience: Proven Factors For A More Flexible Workplace

Gabree, Matthew

Senior Director, Global Office Experience, TripAdvisor

Matt joined TripAdvisor in October of 2014 to lead the office operations and facilities function. Since then, Matt has transformed the group into OfficeX, a hospitality-inspired office experience model, designed to help TripAdvisor attract and retain the best talent in tech.  OfficeX oversees the design, construction, and operation of TripAdvisor’s ~700k square foot real estate portfolio.  Matt’s group reports into the Chief People Officer where they work alongside Human Resources professionals to support more than 3500 employees in 40 offices around the world.  Before TripAdvisor Matt spent 20 years in operational roles, most recently within The Ritz-Carlton Hotel company and Starwood Hotels & Resorts.  

Sessions:
• Employee Experience: Proven Factors For A More Flexible Workplace

Gibney, Tara Gibney

Global Head of Human Resources, Global Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield

Sessions:
• Progressive Diversity & Inclusion Strategies for Global Organizations

Gill, Karen

VP Workplace Strategy, Fidelity Investments

Sessions:
• A Contingent Workplace: Opportunities and Implications of the New Gig Economy

Goldberg, Ken

Professor and Department Chair, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, UC Berkeley

Ken Goldberg is an artist, inventor, and UC Berkeley Professor focusing on robotics. He was appointed the William S. Floyd Jr Distinguished Chair in Engineering and serves as Chair of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department. Ken is Director of the CITRIS "People and Robots" Initiative and the UC Berkeley AUTOLAB where he and his students pursue research in machine learning for robotics and automation in warehouses, homes, and operating rooms. Ken developed the first provably complete algorithms for part feeding and part fixturing and the first robot on the Internet. Ken's artwork has appeared in 70 exhibits including the Whitney Biennial and films he has co-written have been selected for Sundance and nominated for an Emmy Award.

Sessions:

Goodman Lampson, Lauri

President and CEO, PDR

Lauri changes the way organizations think about work and place.  She works with executives to “future-cast”, challenging them to redefine the purpose of bringing people together at work.

Lauri advises the world’s most influential industry leaders including, ExxonMobil, Hines, HP, Chevron, and Sonos, developing strategies to break through the Innovation Barrier and position their organizations for the future.  Her Business, Workplace, Engagement, and Design Strategies have been transforming business for 30 years.

Lauri believes thoughtful placemaking connects people and inspires organizations to thrive.  She is the ultimate optimist about the opportunity of automation to free humans to focus on work that matters. 

Sessions:
• Nothing About the Way We Work Will Be Relevant Tomorrow

Graham, Eric

CEO, CrowdComfort

Sessions:
• The Next Frontier of Intelligent Workplaces - Employees and Smartphones

Grams, Kathy

McKesson, Sr. Director Workplace Technology

Working in Technology for over 20 years, Kathy’s been part of the tremendous evolution in this space.  With a keen focus on end user experience, Kathy is a champion of a simpler user experience where technology is a key enabler to the worker.  Kathy led the IT efforts to drive and support McKesson’s workplace transformation.   Kathy and the team at McKesson have built three major hubs in the last 18 months where significant changes have been made to the workplace environment and the services offered.  Kathy lives in Colorado with her husband, Kurt.

Sessions:
• Against All Odds: Designing for Change Amidst Uncertainty

Griffin, Dana

Senior Vice President, Jamestown

Sessions:
• Creating a Scalable Innovation Ecosystem

Grossberg, Philip

Vice President - Global Real Estate and Facilities, Avnet

Sessions:
• The "F" in RFP stands for Fun!

Guelen, Fred

President of North America Operations, Planon Corporation

Sessions:
• Designing Resilient Organizations for Tomorrow’s Uncertain Business Environment

Harrison, Matt

Principal Consultant, Thorogood Associates

Matt Harrison is a Principal Consultant at Thorogood Associates specializing in unlocking business value with data and analytics. He is a member of the US Management Team and the head of the Global Tableau Data Visualization Practice. At Morgan Stanley, Matt works with Rob Ripp’s team in Corporate Services to collect, understand, and synthesize business objectives around space management, seat supply/demand analysis, and real estate P&L culminating in a suite of dashboards servicing various Corporate Real Estate audiences. Matt is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in mathematics and economics.

Sessions:
• Morgan Stanley: Creating a CRE Business Intelligence Web

Hatchadorian, Rebecca

Associate, Arup

Rebecca Hatchadorian, LEED AP BD+C, is an Associate at Arup with over 10 years of experience as a Sustainability Consultant. She leads the Sustainability team in Boston and is a Board member of USGBC Massachusetts. Rebecca works to optimize environmental and human outcomes in her projects which range from higher education academic buildings, residences and lab buildings to commercial office and athletics facilities. She has worked on master planning projects for clients like Massport, Partners Healthcare, MIT and Cambridge Public Works Department. She also helped the Boston office to achieve its WELL Gold and Fitwell 3-Star certifications and completed a robust post-occupancy evaluation as part of the office move. Rebecca has spoken at ABX, NeoCon, IFMA, and Greenbuild.

Sessions:

Hautop, Brett

Senior Director of Global Design + Building, LinkedIn

Sessions:
• Global Uncertainty? Getting Ahead of Change at The Coca-Cola Company and LinkedIn

Heller, Wendy

Workplace Strategy Leader, The Coca-Cola Company

Sessions:
• Global Uncertainty? Getting Ahead of Change at The Coca-Cola Company and LinkedIn

Hindmarsh, Holly

Occupancy Planning Services Manager, Buildingi

Holly has over 20 years of computer-aided drafting and design (CAD) experience. She has a working knowledge of numerous IWMS software applications, as well as various industry standards referenced in space and workplace management. Holly has experience with strategic and tactical occupancy and space planning, move planning and coordination, and the data maintenance and quality assurance in organization reporting and changes. She is focused on occupancy data analysis and reporting together with realistic action plans to help keep up with the pace of change for her clients.

  

Sessions:
• The Ultimate Collaboration Challenge: Mergers and Acquisitions

Jancourt, Melissa

Associate Vice President, HGA Architects & Engineers

Melissa Jancourt, CID, LEED AP is a designer and strategist at HGA, where she co-leads Work|SIGHT, the firm’s national strategic planning group to original insights that support the creation of places for people and organizations to thrive. She engages clients and teams in translating business mission and operations into strategies that target improvements in employee engagement, health, and happiness—all critical components of well-being, in both the design process and the built environment.

Sessions:
• The Future is Gen Z: Anticipating Changes in Office Design and Real Estate Strategies

Johnson, Jan

VP Design and Workplace Resources, Allsteel

Jan has spent her career strengthening the correlations between business strategies and the planning, design and management of workplaces. She is a highly respected workplace strategist; leads Allsteel’s Workplace Advisory team; and frequently writes, speaks and teaches. 

Combining an Interior Design degree and MBA, Jan has worked for both Perkins + Will and HOK/Advance Strategies where she supported Sun Microsystems and co-developed Nortel Networks’ groundbreaking Workscape Improv program. 

On CoreNet Global’s Workplace Community Knowledge Advisory Panel, Jan has taught MCR classes since 2009. She also helped develop core competencies that define workplace strategy and CoreNet Global’s three new MCR.w courses. 

Sessions:
• Leveraging the Power of Hearts and Minds: Knowledge Worker Productivity

Jordan, Brian

Director of Real Estate, Sprint

Brian Jordan is the Director of Sprint Real Estate. Mr. Jordan is responsible for the oversight of facility management for over 2000 buildings with over 20 million square feet of space and has over 25  years combined real-estate experience. He holds a juris doctorate from the University of Kansas and is the designated instructor for the Real Estate Technology Class for the CoreNet Master of Corporate Real Estate (MCR) program for which he was recently awarded for being an outstanding instructor. He was also awarded the IAOP Global Excellence Award in 2013 for the Sprint-CBRE Alliance Partnership and the value of innovation created between the two organizations. In addition, he was awarded Corenet’s Industry Excellence Award in 2012 and the Commercial Property Executive (CPE) Distinguished Achievement Award in 2013 for the Alliance Partnership as well. 

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - Sprint Speed: How Innovation and Agility Transformed Over 350 Locations in 90 Days

Karpook, David

Strategic Business Consultant, Planon Corporation

David Karpook is a 25-year real estate and technology industry veteran. He has been a customer, vendor, system implementer, trainer and strategist, managing workplace technology projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Planon Corporation in 2015, he served as president and CEO at Bricsnet, an enterprise software provider. He was 2017 Chairman of the Board of Directors at OSCRE International, the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate and is past chairman of IFMA’s Real Estate Advisory & Leadership community. He speaks frequently at real estate and facility management industry events.

  

 

Sessions:
• Ambient Intelligence: A New Value Proposition for Corporate Real Estate

Kay, Sarah

Principal, Woods Bagot

As Director and Global Workplace Interiors Sector Leader, Sarah has a passion for working with organizations to ensure design positively influences their business outcomes.

During her career, Sarah, has advised and designed for some of the world’s largest and most successful organizations. Her clients include companies such as Google, Bloomberg, HSBC, JPMorgan, and Macquarie Group Limited. Sarah’s ongoing work for many of these organizations is testament to her ability to achieve her goal of adding value to her clients.

Having worked throughout Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, Sarah brings a global vision to her client’s projects. 

Sessions:
• Dismantling Subjectivity, Reducing Uncertainty through Data Augmented Design

Keenan, Molly

Senior Associate + Strategy Lead, Gensler

Sessions:
• Workplace as a Living Lab: Leveraging Data to Create a Dynamic Environment

Kelly, Christopher

Co-Founder & President, Convene

Chris is the co-founder and president of Convene, a “workplace-as-a-service” platform. Convene operates a network of full-service meeting and event venues and partners with landlords to infuse hotel-like services and amenties in commercial office buildings. Serving 70% of New York’s Fortune 500, the company has 13 locations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC., with locations in Los Angeles and Chicago coming soon. Chris is an active thought leader and industry spokesperson, and has spoken at WORKTECH, Cornell Baker School of Real Estate, NYU Shack Institute of Real Estate and MIT Center for Real Estate. He has been recognized as a Top Entrepreneur by Crain’s New York Business, a finalist in Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® awards and is the only person to have been twice recognized on Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list of Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs.

 

Sessions:
• Real Estate’s Flexible Future
• Co-Working Learning Theater - Beyond Co-Working: The Evolution of Agile Workplace Strategies

Kimmel, Michael

Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Stony Brook University

Michael Kimmel is one of the world’s leading experts on men and masculinities. He is the SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University. Among his many books are Manhood in America, Angry White Men, The Politics of Manhood, The Gendered Society and the best seller Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. A tireless advocate of engaging men to support gender equality, Kimmel has lectured at more than 300 colleges, universities and high schools He consults widely with corporations, NGOs and public sector organizations on gender equity issues. He was recently called “the world’s most prominent male feminist” in The Guardian newspaper in London.

Sessions:

Kinch, Jamie

VP Real Estate and Workplace Experience, Rapid 7

Sessions:
• Employee Experience: Proven Factors For A More Flexible Workplace

Kross, Amanda

Senior Vice President, Consulting, JLL

Sessions:
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Kruklinski, Michael

Head of Region Americas, Siemens Real Estate

Michael Kruklinski is Head of Siemens Real Estate, Region Americas, overseeing all operations for Siemens Real Estate within the Americas. Siemens Real Estate is a $3.2 billion operation covering the globe. With over 20 years’ experience at Siemens, Kruklinski has held a number of senior positions within the company. Most recently, he served as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Corporate Development for Siemens Corporation USA. In this role, he was responsible for cross-sector strategies, new business opportunities and portfolio management.

  

Sessions:
• Are Communal Workspaces Really Working?

Kruse, Tish

Principal, Director of Strategy, IA Interior Architects

Tish Kruse, Principal and Director of Strategy, co-leads IA Interior Architect’s Strategy practice. Her role involves cultivating new business, developing thought leadership, and enhancing the firm’s service offering. Driving a process-oriented and data-centric approach to creating great workplaces, Tish has extensive expertise working with clients to effectively capture their needs, develop their vision, and create strategies  that  foster flexible and enduring workplaces. She is adept in the areas of change management, master planning, and mobility strategies.  A strong proponent of the integration of strategy and design expertise in shaping workplaces, Tish is actively engaged in furthering these synergies at IA.

Sessions:
• We’re Lovin’ It: McDonald’s New HQ Models an Evolving Future

Lambert, T.J.

Senior Director of Corporate Real Estate – Americas, adidas

T.J. is a results driven global leader experienced in developing real estate solutions that support business operations, developing portfolio strategy and facility operating standards.

T.J. has extensive international experience in the integrated delivery of real estate and workplace services.

T.J. is known as a strong communicator with the ability to lead and influence stakeholders at all levels to execute real estate projects.

He is currently working at adidas as the Senior Director of Corporate Real Estate for the Americas.

Sessions:
• Creating a Scalable Innovation Ecosystem

LaPata, Chris

Client Leader - Carolinas, BHDP Architecture

Sessions:
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Lee, Angie

Global Workplace Sector Leader, Stantec

  

Sessions:

Lee, Daniel

Senior Program Manager of Reporting Systems, Microsoft

Sessions:
• Metrics that Matter: Actionable Business Insights at Microsoft

Levin, Arnold

Principal, Smith Group

Arnold brings over 48 years of experience in organizational design, workplace and design strategy, design implementation and research resulting in client business driven solutions. A strong believer that design strategy can result in workplace solutions enabling a client’s business performance, he has developed frameworks and methodologies that connect workplace design solutions to a client’s intrinsic organizational design. “The workplace has the potential to serve as a true catalyst for organizational performance and transformation when developed through the right lens.”  With an undergraduate degree in design and two graduate degrees in business and organizational design, Arnold has worked with clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia spanning diverse industries such as corporate, health care and science.  As Principal, Design Strategies at Smith Group JJR, Arnold is responsible for developing firm wide design strategy initiatives that both focus on business case driven design solutions and bringing together firm wide practice areas to provide innovative workplace solutions across market sectors.

Sessions:
• Unknown Unknowns: Capitalizing on Uncertainty as a Strategic Workplace Advantage

Liebman, Brad

Vice President, HOK

Brad is a skilled relationship manager with 20 years of experience in the architectural and design industry. As a Vice President at HOK, Brad manages several global WorkPlace accounts and enhances the overall level of service provided to clients. His professional career has taken him around the world servicing large-scale international clients; fine-tuning his customer focus and work methodology. Brad is a Board Member of the Arts & Education Council in St. Louis, as well as an associate member of the St. Louis chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, the leading professional real estate association.

Sessions:
• Artificial Intelligence and the Human Experience

Loveland, Sharon

Workplace Strategy Manager, Global Facilities, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

I have always had a passion for making space work better for people. My name is Sharon Loveland and I am the Workplace Strategy Manager for the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. I studied Interior Design at the University of Arkansas and began my career space planning for a Herman Miller dealership. I managed Occupancy Planning, Design and Construction for great Northwest companies from Seafirst Bank/BofA to Starbucks' corporate facilities and T-Mobile’s corporate headquarters.  My current focus at the Gates foundation is to experiment with place to support behaviors that shape culture and drive impact.

Sessions:
• Impatient Optimism: How Culture, Strategy, and Place Are Changing the World

Luchetti, Robert

President & Architect, Robert Luchetti Associates, Inc.

Robert Luchetti is an American architect, industrial designer and educator and the president of Robert Luchetti Associates, a multi-disciplinary design practice including architecture, interior and industrial design and work and learning environment consulting. In 1985, in collaboration with psychologist Professor Philip Stone and while teaching at Harvard, they published "Your Office is Where You Are" in the Harvard Business Review. In this seminal and prescient article they presented their creation and invention of the concept of the “office as activity settings”. This approach is now widely adopted as a foundation for the planning and design of office work environments.

Sessions:
• Your Office is Where You Are: Looking Back / Leaping Forward

Maguire, Gillian

Program Manager Supported Employment, CBRE

Gillian Maguire is the CBRE program manager for Microsoft RE&F’s Supported Employment program, bringing experience in management and consultant roles at a statewide disability rights organization. She has worked closely with people with disabilities and disability community organization leaders, as well as legal and professional staff. She has created and managed an advocacy team responsible for provision of high quality services; recruited and trained team members; championed continuous quality improvement; launched a federally-mandated program for people with traumatic brain injuries; and managed content on social media and website platforms.

Sessions:
• Designing for a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace - A Microsoft Story

Mark, Barry

Vice President, Design and Construction, Capital One

As Vice President of Design and Construction, Barry leads Capital One’s entire workplace development program including direct oversight of the new headquarters project in Tysons, Va. When completed, the Tysons project will include: two city blocks, the tallest office building in Washington, DC, a premier Performing Arts Center, a Wegmans grocery, restaurants, parks and residential buildings.

Barry is an accomplished real estate executive experienced in all facets of corporate real estate. He has more than 25 years of experience managing major rezoning cases, large-scale construction projects, national facilities management, and corporate security organizations at Fortune 500 companies. He has demonstrated expertise in managing large real estate organizations with a focus on customer service and operational excellence.

Sessions:
• Capital One’s New HQ is an Entire City Neighborhood

Mattson, Hakon

Director, CRE Sustainability, Anthem

Sessions:
• Moving to Leadership in More Sustainably Healthy Buildings Worldwide

McGinty, Alan

Senior Director, Global Workplace Innovation Group, CISCO Workplace Resources

Alan McGinty is currently the Senior Director of the Global Workplace Innovation Group for Cisco Systems and is working to design and deliver the “Next Generation Workplace” for Cisco - integrating the physical workspace with advanced technologies and thought leading policies to support a highly evolved global workforce.  He is also responsible for global Environmental Safety and Health as well as Energy Management and Sustainability

Alan has over 25 years of global real estate leadership experience working for several multi-national companies leading development activities supporting high-growth portfolios of manufacturing and headquarters facilities around the world.

Mr. McGinty advises Cisco’s global leadership teams in driving concepts forward that will increase Cisco’s ability to attract and retain talent in a rapidly changing world. He uses hard data gained through current research to prove the benefits of portfolio optimization and employee engagement through a workplace environment that provides choice to the new generation of mobile knowledge workers.

Sessions:
• What Role will Robots Play in our Future?

McQueen, Koo

Head of Real Estate Strategy, IBM

Sessions:
• Outrunning the Bear

Mehta, Suzanne

Chief Experience Officer, Cushman & Wakefield

Sessions:
• Careers Learning Theater - Millennial Mindsets: The New Bosses in the Boardroom?

Mick, Brady

Director of Strategic Design, Workplace, SHP Leading Design

Brady provides strategic design to clients by focusing his 30 years of professional experience on thought leadership, research and creative thinking. Brady’s is a Prosci accredited change leader, a CoreNet Global accredited workplace Master of Corporate Real Estate, and a 12 time top faculty teaching the MCR.w. Brady’s work includes writing, presenting, visioning, ideation, data integration and synthesis, and behavioral design. Strong communication skills coupled with an insatiable curiosity drive Brady to create results that have measurable outcomes for people within design. He has passion for learning, idea generation and maximizing all opportunities.

 

Sessions:
• Teen Social Practices and the Future of Work

Miller, Rex

Principal and Thought Leader, mindSHIFT

Rex Miller is an international award winning author, keynote, advisor and expert on organizational and team performance. His book The Commercial Real Estate Revolution won the CoreNet Global Innovator award and became a catalyst for the construction industry adopting more collaborative and trust-based strategies. His next book, Change Your Space, Change Your Culture addressed workplace disengagement, leading change and won the CoreNet Industry Excellence award. His current project is called thrive@work. It is a three-year research project on the future of workplace health and wellbeing. This book will be released in Q2 of 2018.

  

Sessions:
• The Healthy Workplace Nudge: How Healthy People, Culture and Buildings Lead to High Performance

Mills Johnson, Kiki

Managing Director, MassChallenge

Sessions:
• Creating a Scalable Innovation Ecosystem

Miscovich, Peter

Managing Director, JLL Consulting

  

Sessions:
• What Work Will Humans Perform in the Digital Future?
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Morris, Laura

Managing Principal Interiors and Planning Strategies, Perkins+Will

Sessions:
• Technology Playground - Will There Be a Watson in the Workplace?

Moy, Tamar

Senior Managing Director, Director of Workplace Strategy, Newmark Knight Frank

Tamar Moy is a Workplace Strategist specializing in design and human experience. She is a Senior Managing Director of Newmark Knight Frank and the Director of Workplace Strategy for the New York region. As a practicing strategist for over 20 years, she has collaborated with companies of all sizes and industries to promote the power of place to influence people and enable business performance. After graduating with a degree Design and Environmental Analysis, Tamar’s first job was working with Robert Luchetti in his Cambridge architectural firm helping to research design theory and work with clients to determine their workplace needs.

Sessions:
• Your Office is Where You Are: Looking Back / Leaping Forward

Newman, Lise

Workplace Practice Director, SmithGroupJJR

As Director of the Workplace Practice at SmithGroupJJR, Lise brings over three decades of design and management expertise to shape the firm’s workplace portfolio for corporate headquarters, campus development, workplace interiors and mixed use typologies. Her design philosophy is rooted in the belief that the workplace plays a pivotal role in creating organizational success. Newman also conducts the SmithGroupJJR Workplace Advisory Board, a forum comprised of corporate and institutional real estate executives, workplace strategy leaders, facility directors and human resource professionals to share insights into emerging trends, challenges and opportunities related to creating and maintaining today’s sophisticated workplace environments. 

Sessions:
• Unknown Unknowns: Capitalizing on Uncertainty as a Strategic Workplace Advantage

Packard, Josh

CEO, The Packard Group & Associate Professor of Sociology Executive Director, Social Research Lab, University of Northern Colorado

My research-driven insights reveal opportunities in places organizations, entrepreneurs and executives have been conditioned to ignore.  As an expert in organizational commitment and design, I help you to think differently in order to drive true and lasting innovation and client engagement.

I have a passion for translating complex academic ideas into accessible and actionable insights for industries who are looking to engage and inspire a new, modern workforce that has shifted dramatically in recent years.  I’ve been a keynote speaker for numerous groups and thousands of people.

I am a sociologist, professor and researcher at the University of Northern Colorado, where I also serve as the Executive Director of the Social Research Lab.  My research has appeared in numerous academic and trade publications. I earned my B.A. in English from Texas Lutheran University, and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University.

 

Sessions:
• Systems of Innovation: Thinking Strategically, Thinking Tactically

Parman, Sherri S.

Partner, Capstan Advisors

Sherri is a partner at Capstan Advisors, a specialized management consulting firm for corporate real estate and facilities management.  She brings a strong financial background, objective, unbiased advice, and 30 years of experience to outsourcing engagements, organizational transformations and benchmarking.  Her distinguished roster of clients includes corporate real estate and sourcing executives from industry leaders such as American Express, Time Warner, Schlumberger, Morgan Stanley, Kimberly-Clark, Deutsche Bank, S&P, Thomson Reuters, Northern Trust, Duke Energy and Iron Mountain.  She is also a Highly-Rated Faculty in CoreNet Global’s MCR program teaching finance courses.

Sessions:
• Delivering Value When the Low Hanging Fruit is Gone: Change or Be Changed

Peltz, Hugh

Head of Property Corporate Services, Citizens Bank

Sessions:
• Wellness in the Workplace: the Demand is Real

Penny, Claire

Global Leader IOT for Buildings, IBM

Sessions:
• Buildings 2050: The Cognitive Building and Digital Twins

Perri, Chris

Senior Managing Director, CBRE

Sessions:
• CRE as a Conduit to Enterprise Strategy

Perske, Keith

Leader, Workplace Innovation, Americas, Colliers International

Keith Perske has spent a career at the intersection where the evolving nature of work collides with the traditional, rigid work environment.  Keith leads the Workplace Innovation consulting practice for Colliers international where he helps clients create environments that engage employees, drive culture, promote wellness, enable productivity leading to competitive advantage.  Previously, he was the global leader for Workplace Innovation at Johnson & Johnson where he lead a team to develop and implement a new set of workplace principles for the company’s 60 mil SF portfolio.  He has been a VP at HOK Architects and at Home Savings of America (Chase) and he ran his own workplace consulting practice (now sold).  He spent nine years with Sun Microsystems when they built the largest alternative work program on the planet.  Keith is a speaker (SXSW, TEDx, CoreNet, IFMA, IAMC, CoREtech), educator (CoreNet Global) and writer on the power of place to make people’s work lives better.

 

Sessions:
• Ambient Intelligence: A New Value Proposition for Corporate Real Estate
• The Missing Link: The Quantifiable Impact of Real Estate Metrics on Employee Engagement

Pesenti, Tido

Director, Global Real Estate & Finance Operations, Airbnb

Tido is the Global Head of Real Estate & Finance Operations at Airbnb and is responsible for strategic, employee facing initiatives. The organizations he leads foster the marriage of Airbnb's core values with their tremendous growth around the globe and deliver on the promise of creating the most loved workplace.

His experience in Corporate Real Estate, Corporate Development and as a consultant for the world's largest technology firms laid the foundation for developing workplace strategies which unleash the potential of employee by utilizing the built environment to inspire, empower, and deliver productivity.

Tido is passionate about Airbnb's mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere, and equally passionate about leading teams to develop strategies which are complimentary to business priorities in pursuit of driving value for the Airbnb community.

Sessions:
• Navigating Uncertainty by Building Community and Curating Experience

Pfeifer, Allison

Interior Designer, Eppstein Uhen Architects

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - The Battle for Talent: 5 Key Ways to Attract and Retain GenZ

Phillips, Scott

Director, Workplace Managerment, McDonald's Corporation

Scott Phillips is the Director, responsible for Real Estate, Facilities, Project Management, and Workplace Strategy for approximately 2 million square feet of U.S. office portfolio.  He recently completed McDonald’s Global and US Headquarters relocation from Oakbrook, IL to a newly developed 500,000 SF office in the West Loop Neighborhood of Chicago.  The new HQ features an integration of Activity Based Workspace with some of the latest thinking in Smart Building/IoT technology.  Scott is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in the School of Architecture where he currently serves as guest lecturer.     

Sessions:
• We’re Lovin’ It: McDonald’s New HQ Models an Evolving Future

Pogue McLaurin, Janet

Principal, Gensler

Janet is a global leader for Gensler’s workplace practice and leads the Gensler Workplace Index measuring performance and experience for clients.  Janet specializes in workplace strategy and innovative workplace environments for a wide variety of clients including Vanguard, Capital One, GSA, Gallup, 3M, and The Coca-Cola Company.  Her workplace research and expertise have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, BBC, NPR, SxSW, and Future of Work.  A registered Architect and IIDA Fellow, she has been a CoreNet Global member since 2003, and served as the 2017 Education Chair for the Mid-Atlantic chapter.  

 

Sessions:
• Global Uncertainty? Getting Ahead of Change at The Coca-Cola Company and LinkedIn

Powers, Matthew

Executive Vice President, JLL

Sessions:
• Millipore Sigma’s Plan to Solve the Unknown

Ripp, Rob

Executive Director, Morgan Stanley

Rob Ripp is an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley in Corporate Services.  Rob joined the Bank in 2007.  He is responsible for Data Management and Business Intelligence analytics and reporting across a global real estate portfolio of 18.9MM square feet.

This includes developing processes for capturing, analyzing and reporting on a variety of data.  Key areas of focus include business unit demand forecasting, monthly space allocations and creating and developing an automated global property P&L forecast tool for the 700+ Morgan Stanley locations worldwide. 

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Rob was with American International Group where he was the principle portfolio and transaction manager for the 3 million square feet of space in the NYC headquarters.

Before joining AIG, Rob was a senior manager in the real estate consulting group of EY.  There he provided real estate strategic advisory services to The Bank of New York, KeySpan Energy, Barnes & Noble, Empire State Development Corporation and Battery Park City Authority.  Prior to his role at E&Y, Rob was a Vice President at Chase Manhattan Bank where he managed the bank’s retail branch portfolio.

Rob holds a degree in economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo and studied at Parsons School of Design.  He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Real Estate professionals. He is the Chairman of the not-for profit Town of Huntington Economic Development Corporation.

Sessions:
• Morgan Stanley: Creating a CRE Business Intelligence Web

Rossi, Meagan

Vice President, Delos

Meagan Rossi joined Delos in 2015 with extensive project management experience in the public and private sectors. She consults on wellness architecture and programming integration for developers and corporate tenants.

In her previous role, she worked for the Office of the Mayor of New York City under both Bloomberg and de Blasio, managing efforts to repair buildings damaged by Hurricane Sandy and increase storm resiliency throughout the City. Meagan holds a BA from Smith College and an MPA from Columbia University.

Sessions:
• Wellness in the Workplace: the Demand is Real

Rothblatt, Gabriel

Facilities Coordinator, United Therapuetics Corporation

Gabriel Rothblatt holds a BA in Political Philosophy from UVM and was nominated in Florida as a US Congressional Candidate in 2014. Today he currently manages real estate technology and global sustainability projects for United Therapeutics Corporation. Mr. Rothblatt also advises many other projects which intersect his interests in sustainability, governance and the evolving human condition. One such project he advises, Blue-Frontiers, is building sustainable floating islands in special economic zones. As a board member of Humanity+, he advocates for an understanding of how the merging of technology and biology will change how we interact with buildings.

 

Sessions:
• Ambient Intelligence: A New Value Proposition for Corporate Real Estate

Rothe, Peggie

Development Director, Leesman

Peggie is Development Director at Leesman, where her role includes leading the research undertaken on the world’s largest independent workplace effectiveness database. Before joining the company in 2014, she was a researcher at Aalto University (Finland) with a focus on CRE and workplace management. She has published her findings in many peer-reviewed academic journals and presented at several academic and industry conferences.

 

Sessions:
• Employee Experience: Proven Factors For A More Flexible Workplace

Sanquist, Nancy

VP of Strategic Global Marketing, Planon Corporation

 

Sessions:
• Designing Resilient Organizations for Tomorrow’s Uncertain Business Environment

Sato, Teri

Manager, Manager of Global Real Estate and Workplace Services, Alaska Airlines

Sessions:
• The Ultimate Collaboration Challenge: Mergers and Acquisitions

Schneider, Neil

Design Director, IA Interior Architects

As a Design Director at IA Interior Architects’ Chicago office, Neil has provided successful design solutions for well-established and innovative brands including LinkedIn, Dyson, JLL, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Amazon, United Airlines and McDonalds, to name a few. Neil’s designs are a reflection of his longtime advocacy for providing the client with options that align with their goals and needs. His responsiveness and sensitivity to design have earned him the trust and respect of his clients and have helped form flourishing long-term relationships. Neil Schneider studied at the Harrington College of Design, where he received a Bachelor of Interior Design.

Sessions:
• We’re Lovin’ It: McDonald’s New HQ Models an Evolving Future

Schuster, Greg

Head of Integrated Portfolio Management, Americas, Cushman & Wakefield

Sessions:
• Progressive Diversity & Inclusion Strategies for Global Organizations

Shtofman, Kevin

National Blockchain Lead – Real Estate, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Kevin Shtofman serves as the National Blockchain Lead – US, in the Real Estate practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP. Kevin has over 14 years combined experience in providing strategic, financial, accounting, business improvement, and technology services to owners, operators, developers, service providers, and asset managers in the Real Estate industry.

Kevin has been working on Blockchain, Robotics, and Cognitive Automation initiatives for the past two years and has presented to audiences from coast to coast in 21 cities to date, including multiple podcasts and news articles.

Sessions:
• Cryptocurrency, Blockchain Technology, and Applications for Corporate Real Estate

Simoneauxz, Bruce

Principal of Applied Research Consulting, Steelcase Consulting

Mr. Simoneaux consults internationally with companies to support the linkage of corporate strategies to workplace development. He has been with Steelcase for 22 years and is a principal with the Steelcase Applied Research & Consulting Group. He is a registered Architect, expert in Organizational Development and works globally as a professional consultant in workplace envisioning, design development, and organizational/cultural change management. He lectures extensively around the world on topics that contribute to continuing education credits for professionals. He is particularly interested in helping organizations in leveraging business strategies to foster innovation and alignment of vision in the work environment.

Sessions:
• Man vs. Machine: Emotional Intelligence as Job Security in the Face of AI

Sita, Veresh

CWeO, WeWork Enterprise, WeWork

Veresh Sita leads WeWork’s Enterprise Business, which provides full lifecycle space as a service solutions to enterprise clients. This includes the unique Powered by We offering that runs in the physical space of large enterprise clients. Powered by We includes advisory services, design and build services, operate services, as well as proprietary WeOs technology solutions.

Prior to WeWork, Veresh was based in Dubai as the Chief Digital Officer for Emaar, the largest property developer, hotel operator, and retail mall operator in EMEA. Veresh also served as Chief Information Officer for Alaska Airlines in Seattle, where he was responsible for delivering hassle free customer experiences and using technology to enable the number one, on time airline.

 

Sessions:
• Navigating Uncertainty by Building Community and Curating Experience

Sloan, Peter

Vice President, HOK

Peter Sloan is a vice president with HOK specializing in workplace strategy and design. As a strategic partner to his clients, Peter strives to bring a business-minded design approach to every project. Throughout his 30+ year career, he has embraced an “inside-out” humanistic design philosophy.  This approach has assisted clients and users in identifying their needs and leveraging the built environment to provide flexible solutions focused on long-term value. His experience includes a diverse group of project types, ranging in size from 500 sq. ft. to more than 500,000 sq. ft. for legal, creative, non-profit, and corporate clients. Peter has also played an integral role in the growth of several Kansas City non-profits and is the former president of the Kansas City chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Sessions:
• Artificial Intelligence and the Human Experience

Smart, John

Program Director, IBM Watson IoT, Cognitive Retail & Workplace Solutions, IBM

Smarty is known for helping clients drive costs out of their real estate portfolio while helping them create an engaging experience for the people that use the buildings.  He is an industry thought leader in workplace strategies.

Smarty leads the global strategy and direction for retail and workplace IoT offerings in the IBM Watson IoT business unit.  He serves clients by defining market strategies, creating innovative offerings, growing delivery capabilities, and helping them drive operational performance goals. Smarty has 25+ years’ experience in the real estate industry covering all industry segments.

 

Sessions:
• Emerging Trends Learning Theater - The Future of Work: Leveraging IoT and AI

Spilger, Alex

Senior Vice President, Global Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield

Alex Spilger is Senior Vice President at Cushman & Wakefield where he focuses on the intersection of sustainability, technology and innovation within the Commercial Real Estate sector.  He has consulted with technology clients such as Google, Salesforce, Adobe and Genentech among others and was an early adopter of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology. 

Sessions:
• Cryptocurrency, Blockchain Technology, and Applications for Corporate Real Estate

Spurlin, Stefanie

Senior Director, Workplace Solutions, Capital One

Sessions:
• Capital One’s New HQ is an Entire City Neighborhood

Stanley, Lisa

CEO, OSCRE International

As OSCRE’s CEO since 2013, Lisa brings over 20 years’ real estate industry experience in strategic planning, operations and finance, property and asset management, and effectively managing change in dynamic environments. She leads corporate strategy and executive level relationships for the organization, working with key stakeholders to expand understanding and implementation of OSCRE Standards, effective data governance and emerging technologies.  She is an evangelist for building effective change leadership skills to address the impact emerging technologies will have on information that drives CRE.

Sessions:
• High Performance Change: Leadership in Corporate Real Estate

Steele, Rusty

Sales Director – Building Solutions, United Technologies Corporation (UTC)

As the Sales Director for the Building Solutions Group, Rusty leads the North American enterprise accounts sales team, helping strategic clients achieve sustainable and efficient building operations with UTC’s broad portfolio of solutions and services. UTC Building Solutions Group is part of United Technologies Corp, provider of high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries, including Carrier air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, Automated Logic controls solutions, Lenel security solutions and Edwards fire systems.  Prior to joining UTC, Rusty held sales and marketing leadership roles over a span of 20 years with General Electric, Grainger and Schneider Electric.

Sessions:
• Revolutionizing the Future of Smart Buildings

Switzer, Kathrine

President, Marathon Woman, AtAlanta Sports Promotions, Inc.

Iconic athlete, sports and social advocate, author, and Emmy award-winning television commentator, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon. She has been honored widely for her achievements, most recently being inducted into the USA National Women’s Hall of Fame for creating positive social change. The ramifications of this work is both joyful and profound, changing forever the face of sports, health, and opportunities for women around the world and fearlessly empowering millions beyond the finish line, especially through the non-profit “261® Fearless, Inc.”

Sessions:
• Take Charge of Your Body, Take Charge of Your Life

Tamburro, Amy

Vice President | Principal, ASD|SKY

A graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design, Amy’s design career spans over 20 years. Amy’s career began in 1996 at ASD|SKY’s Washington, DC office.  Amy moved to ASD|SKY's HQ in Atlanta in 1997. In 2000, Amy expanded ASD|SKY's presence opening our first West Coast office in San Francisco and shortly thereafter became a Principal/Vice President at the firm. Today, ASD|SKY California has over 30 employees and locations in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Amy is involved in many professional organizations including IIDA and CoreNet; and is active on the Board for the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco and leads their Facilities Committee. Amy lives in San Francisco with her husband Alex and their children Max and Sofia.

Sessions:
• Against All Odds: Designing for Change Amidst Uncertainty

Taranto, Jennifer

Director of Sustainability, Structure Tone LLC

Jenn Taranto ensures the principals of sustainability and wellbeing are incorporated into client projects and everyday work practices throughout the entire Structure Tone Organization and has more than eighteen years’ experience in the commercial real estate and construction industry.    

As a founder of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter and the former Chair of the Chapter’s Board of Directors she is recognized as a leader in the sustainable built environment. She spoken at Labs21 Conference (I2SL), Delaware Valley Green Building Council’s Sustainability Symposium, Living Futures and Greenbuild. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Engineering from North Carolina State University.

 

Sessions:
• How Do Your Sustainability and Wellness Policies Stack Up?

Taylour, Jim

Head of Design & Wellbeing, Orangebox

Jim Taylour, is Head of Design and Wellbeing at Orangebox, the design led office furniture manufacturers based in the UK. 

Jim trained as a furniture designer and ergonomist has published a number of papers on the relationship between physical and psychological workplace wellbeing and appropriately deployed workspaces and technology Research and innovation around the topics of nomadic and collaborative working . With work being increasingly defined as what we do rather than where we do it, Orangebox R and D continues to explore ways in which innovative design can connect people in a more productive and healthy way.

Sessions:
• How Can Real Estate and Workplace Culture Ensure Organizations Survive?

Thurman, Paul

Clinical Professor of Management, Director of Non-Degree Executive Education Programs, Columbia University

Professor Thurman, a Columbia MBA valedictorian, service award winner, and multiple teaching award recipient, has extensive experience helping a variety of governments and corporations realize value from innovative leadership, operations, and technology strategies. Thurman teaches strategic management and data analysis at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and has led the department's Non-Degree Executive Education Programs and its Professional Development Program. Previously, he was a Healthcare Research Fellow, Professor, and MBA Director at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, and has held professorships in China, India, Brazil, Greece, Saudi Arabia, England, and Iceland. His recent peer-reviewed research has focused on scientific collaboration and its effect on research quality, and on cancer drug patents, FDA approvals, and market pricing. He received his BS in Mathematics from Stanford University, received his MBA (with highest honors) from Columbia, and completed doctoral (DrPH) coursework in health policy and management at the State University of New York. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Business Administration degree (DBA) from Ecole des Ponts, in Paris, France.

Sessions:
• Co-Creation Lab: Innovation and Design Thinking

Tovar, Charemon

Managing Director, CBRE

Charemon is the Director of the Strategic Business Solutions team for CBRE Global Corporate Services group on the Sprint account. Her charter is to develop, deploy and support innovative performance management practices, aligned with corporate strategies through the use of emerging technologies and process engineering. The goal of her team is to develop and apply world-class business practices that enable optimization of resources and assets in the execution of enterprise strategies. With over 25 years of corporate real estate experience, Ms. Tovar has served in various management roles for commercial office, retail and technical corporate real estate portfolios. She has been responsible for Strategic Planning, Portfolio Optimization, Client Relationship Management, Alternative Workplace Strategies, Performance Management, End to end Service Delivery Management, Organizational Design, Business Process Engineering, and most recently, Technology Strategy. Her work has focused extensively on innovative uses of technology for corporate real estate management, particularly in the area of Innovation and Strategic Planning.

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - Sprint Speed: How Innovation and Agility Transformed Over 350 Locations in 90 Days

Truhan, James

Director, Workplace Strategy, IA Interior Architects

Sessions:
• A Contingent Workplace: Opportunities and Implications of the New Gig Economy

Turner Loth, Heather

Project Developer/Client Executive, Eppstein Uhen Architects

Sessions:
• Workplace Learning Theater - The Battle for Talent: 5 Key Ways to Attract and Retain GenZ

Vazquez, John

Sr. Vice President & Chief Supply Chain Officer and Head of Global Supply Chain and Global Real Estate, Verizon

John M. Vazquez is Sr. Vice President & Chief Supply Chain Officer and Head of Global Supply Chain and Global Real Estate. John oversees 30,000 contracts and is responsible for a $50B annual Sourcing managed spend; he is also responsible for over 107M square feet of real estate, 4,700 facilities and 1,700 retail stores in 56 countries. John manages 3,000 real estate and supply chain professionals and oversees an annual budget of $3.5B.

John has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News and was named CoreNet Global’s 2016 Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year.

Sessions:
• Progressive Diversity & Inclusion Strategies for Global Organizations
• Navigating Uncertainty by Building Community and Curating Experience

Verny, Sonya

Executive Managing Director, Solutions Development - Corporate Solutions, Colliers International

Sessions:
• Amazon's HQ2 Search: What happens after We Win?

Verrault, Vince

GWS Digital & Technology, Americas, CBRE

Sessions:
• Lessons Learned from a CRE Machine Learning Proof of Concept

Voget, Taryn

Project Lead for Space & Innovation Projects, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Taryn works at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on new space and innovation projects. Prior to joining the Foundation, Taryn spent 10 years working with genius. She has pioneered original research on genius, heart, and passion. She has authored six books on strategies of genius (and one book on her two year “walkabout” travels). She is also a speaker and thought leader on genius and human potential. She brings everything she has, including her work with many of the largest companies in the world, to the Gates Foundation, fired up every day to create a planet where everyone thrives.

Sessions:
• Impatient Optimism: How Culture, Strategy, and Place Are Changing the World

Von Seggern, Catherine

Executive Director, EY

Sessions:
• Morgan Stanley: Creating a CRE Business Intelligence Web

Waber, Ben

CEO and Co-Founder, Humanyze

Ben Waber is recognized worldwide as an expert in people analytics, collaboration, and wearable technology. He is the leader of Humanyze (previously Sociometric Solutions), a behavioral analytics company that uses wearable sensing technology to transform how companies are managed. He is also a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where he received his PhD, and he was previously a senior researcher at Harvard Business School. Ben has been featured in Wired, CNN, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal and his work was selected for the Harvard Business Review's List of Breakthrough Ideas and the Technology Review's Top 10 Emerging Technologies. His book, People Analytics, is an international bestseller and was released in 2013 by the Financial Times Press.

 

Sessions:
• Workplace as a Living Lab: Leveraging Data to Create a Dynamic Environment

Warnick, Holly

Senior Director, Global Account Operations, CBRE

As the Senior Director of Global Account Operations on the Microsoft account, Holly Warnick is responsible for the management of the operational aspects for the global portfolio including procurement and sourcing, analytics and IT, sustainability and energy, account programs, global facilities service center and the supported employment program. Holly has been involved with the program since its inception. This program works with RE&F vendor partners to provide employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities.

Sessions:
• Designing for a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace - A Microsoft Story

Wassmansdorf, Gregg

Senior Managing Director, Global Strategy, Newmark Knight Frank

Sessions:
• The Coming Labor and Location Challenges posed by "Industry 4.0"

Weinstein, Howard

Chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, MassGeneral Hospital for Children

Dr. Howard J. Weinstein is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by Fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the Children's Hospital in Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 1996, he returned to the Massachusetts General Hospital as Chief of the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology program. During the past thirty years, he has spent his time mentoring pediatric hematology and oncology fellows, caring for children with cancer, and has been the principal investigator for many novel clinical trials for children with acute myeloid leukemia, as well as non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma. He is the founder and team captain of the MassGeneral Marathon Team "Fighting Kid's Cancer...  One Step at a Time". The team has raised over 12 million dollars to support the Childhood Cancer Program at MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

Sessions:

Welch, Maureen

Founder, CREate the Solution

Thought leader with over 30 years of strategy and operations management experience.  Held senior-level leadership positions with premier management consulting firms (including Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, and HOK Consulting), with start-up organizations, and with corporations. Focused on assisting Fortune 500 companies in managing their real estate, facilities, and capital projects more efficiently and effectively. Results driven, yet process and system oriented with a distinct competency in assessing complex business situations and developing practical yet creative solutions. Recognized innovator who is often quoted and published in major publications.

Sessions:
• Ambient Intelligence: A New Value Proposition for Corporate Real Estate

Whinnery, Randall

VP of Design, Fidelity Investments

Randy Whinnery is VP of Design with Fidelity Investments. As an architect and thought leader, he works collaboratively with consultants, designers, and business partners worldwide to improve the confluence of building design, interior design and workplace strategy. Over the last 12 years he has been a key contributor to Fidelity's growth as an industry leader in workplace solutions, and has helped its business leaders understand the importance of leveraging the workplace to achieve business objectives.

Sessions:
• How Can Real Estate and Workplace Culture Ensure Organizations Survive?

Wildeman, Youri

Marketing & Channel Director, Lone Rooftop

Directly after completing his Marketing studies, Youri entered the Tech Industry. He started his career at a b2b marketing agency, followed by technology leaders such as SAS, Google and Informatica. That’s also where his fascination for data started, and the huge added value enterprises can derive from data-drive decision making. After spending 2 year in Dubai to head up Marketing for Informatica’s rapidly growing Emerging Markets region, Youri decided to move back to Amsterdam and join Lone Rooftop in 2015. At Lone Rooftop, he looks after Global Business Development and Lone Rooftop’s growing partner ecosystem.

 

Sessions:
• Beyond the Proof-of-Concept: How Nokia Rolled Out Smart Buildings

Yalpani, Nasim

Senior Manager, Strategy & Planning, Uber Technologies

Nasim Yalpani is the Senior Manager for Uber Technologies, Inc.’s global Workplace Strategy & Planning team, internally known as PAI: Programs, Analysis & Innovation. Ms. Yalpani drives the strategic roadmap for the organization’s portfolio in transaction, project and facilities management by implementing metrics-driven initiatives for capital planning, workplace strategy, process efficiency, and innovation initiatives. She manages a global, in-house team of (15) program managers, systems product managers, and financial analysts who create tools and provide business intelligence to organizational senior leadership and stakeholders.

Sessions:
• Man vs. Machine: Emotional Intelligence as Job Security in the Face of AI

Ying, Ming

Student, Harvard University

Ming Ying is an undergrad at Harvard studying Economics, Computer Science, and Statistics. Ming’s interests are in quant finance, private equity, and entrepreneurship. In 2018, Ming had the opportunity to intern for Planon, where he was able to combine his interest in technology with market research. During the summer of 2018, Ming will work as a quantitative analyst for Fidelity Asset Management’s Counterparty Research team.

Sessions:
• Designing Resilient Organizations for Tomorrow’s Uncertain Business Environment