Leena Nair is the first female, first Asian, youngest ever CHRO of Unilever and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), which is responsible for delivering Unilever’s business & financial performance. Leena bears overall responsibility for the 160,000-strong human capital of Unilever, which operates across multiple regulatory and labour environments spread over 190 countries. She ensures the company has the right people, in the right roles, with the right capabilities and mindset to deliver high business performance. This is a key enabler for Unilever to meet its ambitious business goals with positive environmental and social impact. Throughout her career, Leena has gained a strong reputation for her leadership ability to ignite outstanding business growth. Through always-on learning and constant experimentation, together with an outside-in view of her customer, Leena ensures that her people and business stay ahead of the curve. Leena is also a Non-Executive Director of BT, BEIS (The Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy for the UK) and a member of the board for the Leverhulme Trust. Her purpose is to “ignite the human spark for a better business and better world”.

Marc helps the world’s biggest brands and most successful companies elevate the quality and impact of their talent. He leads transformational projects globally in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to consumer products to technology. As the founder and President of the Talent Strategy Group, he leads the firm’s global consulting, education, executive search and publishing businesses.

Marc co-authored the Harvard Business Review Publishing best-selling book One Page Talent Management, often called the “talent management bible.” Companies worldwide apply its discipline of science-based simplicity, accountability and transparency. His most recent book 8 Steps to High Performance (Harvard Business Review Publishing) is quickly reaching best-seller status with its powerful messages about how everyone can elevate their performance.

Marc co-founded the Talent Management Institute at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. It has become the world’s most popular executive education program on talent management with more than 3,000 graduates.

Prior to forming The Talent Strategy Group, Marc served as VP, Talent Management for Avon Products and led Global Leadership Consulting Practice for Aon Hewitt. He was also SVP, Leadership Development for Bank of America and a Congressional Staff Assistant.

Marc has been published in or heard on Fast Company, Financial Times, BBC, Bloomberg Radio, Inc., Harvard Business Review, New York Post, Knowledge@Wharton radio and some of the world’s most popular podcasts. Marc publishes TalentQ magazine which he founded in 2013 to help executives make smarter decisions about how to manage talent.

Marc earned a M.B.A. from the Yale University School of Management and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

With a passion to turn every leader into a servant leader, Ken Blanchard shares his insightful and powerful message with audiences around the world through speeches, consulting services, and bestselling books. Universally characterized by his friends, colleagues, and clients as one of the most influential and compassionate leadership experts in the world, Ken is respected for his lifetime of groundbreaking research and thought leadership. In fact, few people have influenced the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard.

When Ken speaks, he speaks from the heart with warmth and humor. No matter how large the audience, he is able to communicate with each person as if the two of them were alone and talking one on one. Ken is a sophisticated storyteller with a knack for making the seemingly complex easy to understand.

Dr. Ken Blanchard is the cofounder and Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California. In addition to being a renowned speaker and consultant, Ken is a trustee emeritus of the Board of Trustees at his alma mater, Cornell University, and he also teaches students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego.

Ken’s impact as an author is far reaching. His iconic 1982 classic, The One Minute Manager®, coauthored with Spencer Johnson, has sold more than 13 million copies and remains on bestseller lists today. In the past three decades he has authored or coauthored 60 books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works—including Raving Fans, The Secret, and Leading at a Higher Level, to name just a few—have been translated into more than 42 languages. In 2005 Ken was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.

Ken has received many awards and honors for his contributions in the fields of management, leadership, and speaking. The National Speakers Association awarded him its highest honor, the Council of Peers Award of Excellence. He was inducted into the HRD Hall of Fame by Training magazine and Lakewood Conferences, and he received the Golden Gavel award from Toastmasters International. Ken also received the Thought Leadership Award for continued support of work-related learning and performance by ISA, The Association of Learning Providers.

Born in New Jersey and raised in New York, Ken received his master’s degree from Colgate University and his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from Cornell University.

Josh Bersin is an analyst, author, educator, and thought leader focusing on the global talent market and the challenges and trends impacting business workforces around the world. He studies the world of work, HR and leadership practices, and the broad talent technology market. He is often cited as one of the leading HR and workplace industry analysts in the world.

He founded Bersin & Associates in 2001 to provide research and advisory services focused on corporate learning. Over the next ten years, he expanded the company’s coverage to encompass HR, talent management, talent acquisition, and leadership and became a recognized expert in the talent market.  He sold the company to Deloitte in 2012, when it became known as Bersin™ by Deloitte.   He currently sits on the board of UC Berkeley Executive Education.

Most recently, Bersin launched the Josh Bersin Academy, the world’s first global development academy for HR and talent professionals at all levels and across all industries.  Serving as the Academy’s dean, Bersin guides its program offerings, interacts with members, and shares relevant research and insights to help HR and talent professionals stay current on the trends and practices needed to drive success in the modern world of work.

Bersin is frequently featured in talent and business publications such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, HR Executive, FastCompany, The Wall Street Journal, and CLO Magazine.  He is a regular keynote speaker at industry events and a popular blogger with more than 800,000 followers on LinkedIn.

Prior to founding Bersin & Associates, Josh spent 25 years in product development, product management, marketing, and sales of database, e-learning and other enterprise technologies. His education includes a BS in engineering from Cornell University, an MS in engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is the author of two books, The Blended Learning Handbook and The Training Measurement Book, along with dozens of studies on corporate HR, learning, and talent technologies. He currently has a third book under contract with Harvard Business Publishing.

Josh’s eminence as an analyst and thought leader has been globally recognized. During his time at Deloitte, Josh was the principal author and architect of the Deloitte Human Capital Trends, the world’s largest global study of HR, talent, and workplace trends.  This report, which covers all major HR issues around the world, became one of Deloitte’s most widely read research studies and formed the basis for Deloitte’s global human capital consulting. His model for employee engagement, “Simply Irresistible,” was the most widely read research in the Deloitte Insights website.

His research on employee engagement, new models of performance management, and the ever-changing nature of HR and workplace technology is widely respected. He is often credited with the concepts of “high-impact corporate training,” “learning in the flow of work,” and hundreds of articles on the evolution of people analytics and the use of AI in the workplace.

Throughout his career in HR and HR technology, Josh has continued to focus on the needs of HR executives, HR teams, and the careers of HR professionals. He believes in the “craft” of human resources and is one of the profession’s most vocal advocates for the importance of HR in the ever-changing world of work.