2025 Session Speakers

Jamie Woolf

Jamie Woolf is a renowned innovation cultivator, speaker, and CEO of Creativity Partners. She was the first Director of Culture at Pixar Animation Studios where she was recruited to be a force for “constructive disruption.”

With 30+ years of experience practicing organizational psychology, Jamie has inspired thousands worldwide to embrace innovation as a catalyst for personal and organizational transformation.

SESSION: Finding Your Authentic Voice...

Diana Stepner

Diana is a Silicon Valley native who believes in the power of putting people first. For over 20 years, Diana built and led global product teams - discovering launching people is even more rewarding than launching products. This awareness led her to focus on coaching, combining extensive product leadership experience with a human-centered approach to help ambitious product leaders unlock their full potential.

Through coaching, Diana partners with clients to develop a deeper self-awareness, aligning actions with vision, and embracing an authentic leadership style. Diana believes every...

Meg Helf

Meg Helf, M.S., CMPC is a seasoned executive, performance and wellbeing coach. She is a certified master resilience instructor by the University of Pennsylvania and a psychological safety external practitioner by the Fearless Organization. Meg has over 16 years of experience working in both individual and group settings with elite, collegiate, and Olympic athletes and coaches, corporate leaders and teams, first responders, and the military. Meg has dedicated her life to inspiring individuals to cultivate authentic relationships, optimize their performances to their full...

Erin Weldon

Erin Weldon is a Senior Associate Director of Admissions for the Full-Time MBA program at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, bringing over 16 years of experience in graduate admissions. She leads admissions operations and is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive work environment. Enthusiastic about tackling challenges and making a positive impact, Erin explores innovative ways to leverage technology, improve processes, and create effective solutions. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, listening to podcasts, reading, and solving logic puzzles....

Dr. Lorneka Joseph

A native of The Bahamas, Dr. Lorneka is a pharmacist, speaker, and coach helping professionals merge wellness with work. She’s been hired by Citi Bank, The Florida Bar Association, Orange County Government, and Arkansas State University, delivering workshops on resilience, productivity, and mental health.

Founder of Brightly Awake, Dr. Lorneka empowers individuals to embrace holistic success. She believes success isn’t about doing more—it’s about working well. No stranger to media, she’s been featured in Forbes magazine and Comcast. She enjoys time...

Alison Steel

Founder, Show up with Steel

Ali is a leadership coach and team coach who uniquely combines her coaching expertise with her belief in the amplification of people’s natural talents and values, and her 20+ years working in talent development, communications, and chief of staff roles (most recently at Adobe), to help people realize their professional and personal goals.

Born and educated in the UK, Ali studied Education at post-graduate level, is a...

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson is a rare blend of aviator, entrepreneur, and career thought leader.

He’s spent over 14 years as a Commercial Helicopter Pilot and an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. He’s accustomed to working in high-stress and high-pressure environments in the most remote parts of Canada. Overcoming numerous layoffs and enduring turbulent times for nearly a decade.

While proud of his aviation success, Chris is passionate about entrepreneurship. He’s a mentor at e@UBC—Entrepreneurship at The University of British Columbia—and LOI —League of Innovators—Canada’s largest startup...

Liesel Mendoza

Liesel is passionate about helping people find meaningful work and become purpose-driven leaders. After 30 years in IT solving business challenges, she founded The Mentoring Club to connect aspiring and seasoned leaders worldwide. She believes meaningful work leads to success and happiness—and that mentors play a vital role in this journey. With a bold vision to provide mentorship for anyone, anywhere, The Mentoring Club now spans six continents, 50+ countries, and a thriving community of 500+ mentors and mentees, all dedicated to changing the world, one leader at a time.

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Catherine Burns (she/her)

Catherine Burns is the Senior Trainer & Content Developer on the Learning & Development team at UCOP. Her area of focus is supporting the development of emotional intelligence and people skills in leaders at every level to create organizations that are more cohesive, inclusive, and impactful. Prior to her work at UCOP, she trained and coached teams, managers, and CEOs throughout the Bay Area as a Leadership Trainer at LifeLabs Learning, and developed leadership curriculum for girl-identified youth and the adults who serve them as the National Training Director at Girls Leadership....