2013 Speakers

Bob Beaudine

Bob Beaudine is president and CEO of Eastman & Beaudine, the nation’s leading executive search firm in professional sports and entertainm... Read Full Bio

Addie Broyles

Addie Broyles is a writer based in Austin, Texas. As a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, she covers everything from cookbooks and re... Read Full Bio

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee is the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate. She is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is f... Read Full Bio

Sallie Krawcheck

Sallie Krawcheck is a woman with a reputation for integrity, independence of thought, a sense of humor and an unrelenting focus on results. Kra... Read Full Bio

Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson is an award-winning blogger and is author of the New York Times #1 best-selling memoir “Let's Pretend This Never Happened.”  ... Read Full Bio

Vernā Myers

Vernā Myers, Esq., principal of Vernā Myers Consulting Group, LLC (VMCG), is a nationally recognized expert on diversity and inclusion within... Read Full Bio

Rachael Ray

According to Rachael Ray, she grew surrounded by food. “My first vivid memory is watching my mom in a restaurant kitchen. She was flipping something with a sp... Read Full Bio

Esmeralda Santiago

Esmeralda Santiago was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She came to the United States at thirteen, the eldest in a family that would eventually i... Read Full Bio

Wendi Aarons

Wendi Aarons is an award-winning humor writer and blogger who lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two sons. In the past few years, she ... Read Full Bio

Miki Agrawal

Miki Agrawal is a serial social entrepreneur. She is the founder of the acclaimed farm-to-table, alternative pizza concept called WILD (www.eat... Read Full Bio

Michelle Baden

Michelle Baden is managing director, corporate and government affairs for United Airlines.   In her current role, Baden is responsible for ma... Read Full Bio

Jessica Baker

Jessica Baker leads the development of The Respect Institute’s programming and trainings for youth influencers and our fundraising initiative... Read Full Bio

Sera Bonds

Sera Bonds is the founder of Circle of Health International (COHI), a U.S.-based NGO that works with women and their communities in times of c... Read Full Bio

Colleen Brewer

Colleen Brewer joined the Statesman in August 2011 as the vice president of sales and marketing. Brewer has worked in the media industry for o... Read Full Bio

Erin Cargile

Erin Cargile is an Emmy nominated reporter who anchors the weekend morning show on KXAN. She joined the KXAN News team in 2008 and focuses on e... Read Full Bio

Sarah Palisi Chapin

Sarah Palisi Chapin is chief executive officer of Hail Merry.  Chapin began her career in food retailing on the boardwalk of the Jersey Shore ... Read Full Bio

Natalie Madeira Cofield

Natalie Madeira Cofield currently serves as the president and CEO of the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce in Austin, TX, a reg... Read Full Bio

Trenesa Stanford Danuser

Trenesa Stanford Danuser has utilized her highly creative and strategic communications acumen throughout her career, which has led to global me... Read Full Bio

Allison Dew

Allison Dew is an accomplished marketing executive with significant experience in online, integrated cross-discipline global marketing, brand a... Read Full Bio

Janine Driver

Janine Driver is the founder, president and lead instructor for the Body Language Institute, an elite certification program that offers award-w... Read Full Bio

Debbie Dunnam

Debbie Dunnam is senior vice president of Americas services at Cisco Systems.   She leads a diverse and integrated team of over 700 employees... Read Full Bio

Susie Ellwood

Susie Ellwood is publisher for the Austin American-Statesman. Ellwood began her media career in 1984 when she joined the Arkansas Gazette as VP... Read Full Bio

Delia Ephron

Delia Ephron is a bestselling author, screenwriter and playwright.  Her book, “Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc)”, a memoir, will be publish... Read Full Bio

Mauria Finley

Mauria Finley is the founder and CEO of Citrus Lane, an innovative social e-commerce company focused on helping moms discover the best products... Read Full Bio

Erica Ariel Fox

Erica Ariel Fox is a highly sought after advisor in organizational effectiveness and executive development. In addition to her teaching at Harv... Read Full Bio

Shirley Franklin

Shirley C. Franklin is former Mayor of Atlanta. She is currently the Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor in Ethics and Political Values in the LB... Read Full Bio

Porter Gale

Porter Gale is an internationally known public speaker and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in marketing, advertising and ind... Read Full Bio

Holly Gordon

Holly Gordon is executive director of 10x10. She sets the strategy and leads the day-to-day operations to "Educate Girls, Change the World" as... Read Full Bio

Laura Huffman

Laura Huffman is the state director of The Nature Conservancy in Texas and heads a statewide team of scientists, conservation experts and suppo... Read Full Bio

Deborah Jackson

Deborah Jackson is the founder and CEO of Plum Alley, an e-commerce and crowdfunding site for women's innovation, and a Founder of Women Inn... Read Full Bio

Emma Johnson

Emma Johnson is a fulltime freelance business writer and creator of WealthySingleMommy.com, a leading voice on marriage, parenting, work-life balance for women ... Read Full Bio

Johnita Jones

Johnita Jones is the Texas Conference for Women board president and the Pipeline Risk and Integrity Manager for ExxonMobil Pipeline Company. Sh... Read Full Bio

Kelly LIvers

Kelly Livers has been with Schwab for almost 22 years, and is one of 10 regional branch executives overseeing the retail brand network. Her reg... Read Full Bio

ShaChelle Delvlin Manning

ShaChelle Devlin Manning is the director of innovation and enterprise integration for Pioneer Natural Resources, a large independent upstream a... Read Full Bio

Dr. Sherri Reuland

Dr. Sherri Reuland became a business owner fresh out of orthodontic school when she opened her first orthodontic practice in the east Dallas ar... Read Full Bio

Karen Reuther

Karen Reuther is a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural design leader whose experience includes   industry-leading corporations, twelve years a... Read Full Bio

Mel Robbins

Mel Robbins is a CNN and HLN Legal and Political Contributor, one of the top female talk radio personalities in America and the COO of C-4 Anal... Read Full Bio

Jessica Shortall

Jessica Shortall has led a global career in social entrepreneurship built on experience across a number of industries, and commercial and non-p... Read Full Bio

Eileen Silvergleid

Eileen Silvergleid is a 20-year veteran of C-level sales and account management. Having worked with CEB, a company that provides best practices... Read Full Bio

Carla Piñeyro Sublett

Carla Piñeyro Sublett is the executive director of marketing for Latin America with Dell. She has responsibility for all segmentation spanning... Read Full Bio

Manisha Thakor

Manisha Thakor is the founder and CEO of MoneyZen Wealth Management. Known for making the complex simple, Thakor and her team provide holisti... Read Full Bio

Tracy Yelencsics

Tracy Yelencsics is director of global brand in corporate marketing and communications at Xerox. Yelencsics is responsible for the worldwide ma... Read Full Bio

Stacy Zoern

Stacy Zoern has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is a form of Muscular Dystrophy. She has never walked.  At the age of 20, Zoem wrote her first ... Read Full Bio

Randi Zuckerberg

Randi Zuckerberg served as the marketing director for Facebook for six years, where she struck groundbreaking deals with ABC (for the first onl... Read Full Bio

Dr. Laurence Altshuler

Dr. Laurence Altshuler is a board-certified internist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Tulsa,OK. He has worked at various Oklah... Read Full Bio

Tracy Carmen-Jones

Tracy Carmen-Jones is a leadership coach to high potential and C-suite leaders, leveraging coaching best practices and real work experience to ... Read Full Bio

Sandy Hoffman

Sandy Hoffman is chief diversity officer for Cisco. In this capacity, Hoffman is responsible for building a strategy that enhances Cisco’s vi... Read Full Bio

Sridevi Koneru Rao

Sridevi Koneru Rao is the business development director for the Cisco Services organization, an integral part of the Cisco product and services... Read Full Bio

Lynn Tinney

Lynn D. Tinney is the director of strategy and planning at Cisco Systems in the Americas theatre. Her team coordinates and tracks performance a... Read Full Bio

Kylie Bentley

Kylie Bentley is the regional dietitian for H-E-B in Austin. She is the in-store nutrition expert for both customers and H-E-B Partners. Prior ... Read Full Bio

Dr. Caitlin Giesler

Dr. Caitlin Giesler M.D., F.A.C.C., is board certified in nuclear cardiology, cardiovascular disease and internal medicine. Following a residen... Read Full Bio

Mario Mendias

Mario Mendias is the owner, founder and CEO at My Fit Foods (www.myfitfoods.com), a prepackaged, pre-portioned meal company that focuses on providing fresh, hea... Read Full Bio

Dr. Randall Wright

Dr. Randall Wright considers leadership and community service as the cornerstones of personal and professional life. He works as a neurologist ... Read Full Bio

Vernetta Freeney

Vernetta R. Freeney is an award winning blogger and Editor in Chief of vernettatfreeney.com. She is the former CEO of Women Are Gamechangers L... Read Full Bio

Lisa Hickey

Lisa Hickey is marketing director at C3 Presents, the third largest concert promoter in the US, and oversees marketing and community relations ... Read Full Bio

Bryn Harrington

Bryn Harrington currently serves as the Austin community manager for Google+ Local, a role in which she leverages partnerships, plans events an... Read Full Bio

Brittany Highland

Brittany Highland is the editor of the Austinot, the top-ranked blog about the city of Austin. The Austinot exploded in early 2012, shortly aft... Read Full Bio

Christina Linnell

Christina Linnell has thrived, launching and building Linnell Media as an outsourced director of social media for small and medium businesses a... Read Full Bio

Nettie Reynolds

Nettie Reynolds is a laughter yoga teacher and marketing/branding consultant. She is an award-winning humor writer and blogger who lives in Aus... Read Full Bio

Lani Rosales

Lani Rosales is the COO of AGBeat.com, co-founder of TheBashh.com, and has been repeatedly named as one of “Real Estate's 100 Most Influential Leaders” by I... Read Full Bio