Cornell Pineda is a Director of Product at The Estée Lauder Companies, where he leads Search & Discovery experiences across a global portfolio of direct-to-consumer Brands Ecommerce sites. With 15+ years of experience in product management, Cornell specializes in ecommerce innovation, AI-powered customer experiences, and digital transformation at scale.

In addition to his professional role, Cornell serves as a Co-Chair of The Estée Lauder Companies’ wELCome Employee Resource Group, where he helps lead global programming, community engagement, and initiatives that foster LGBTQIA+ visibility, inclusion, and belonging across the organization. Passionate about storytelling, mentorship, and authentic leadership, he brings both a technology and human-centered perspective to conversations around workplace culture and equity.

Tomas Howard is a dedicated healthcare construction project manager based in South Bend, Indiana, where he brings a wealth of expertise to the Beacon Health System. With a career spanning over two decades, Tomas leverages a strong operational background—including 16 years in senior retail management at Verizon—to oversee complex facility initiatives.

He holds an Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) certification and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, underscoring his commitment to precision, safety, and operational excellence in high-stakes hospital environments. Beyond his technical responsibilities, Tomas is a passionate advocate for workplace inclusivity, having served as Co-Chair of the Beacon Pride Employee Resource Group since 2021. Throughout his career, he has consistently balanced strategic leadership with a community-focused approach, ensuring that every project enhances both organizational efficiency and the patient experience.

Kayla Alvarez graduated from the University of Evansville with both her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Healthcare Administration. She joined Beacon Health System in 2021 as a project lead, with an emphasis on project management and process improvement across hospital clinical and operations workflows. She also earned her Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma during that time. When Beacon launched Associate Resource Groups in 2021, Kayla was eager to assist in building the Beacon Pride ARG for LGBTQ+ associates and allies. She stepped into a co-chair role in 2022 and has worked to advance education, resources, and awareness for queer folks in the organization. Kayla also served on the board of the directors for the LGBTQ Center of South Bend from 2022-2024. In 2025, she transitioned to a position as Workforce Development Coordinator where her primary focus has been on talent pipeline development with K12 partners, internal upskilling and mobility, and working to address healthcare talent shortages. She is passionate about advancing inclusive workplace cultures and building sustainable talent pipelines that reflect and support the communities they serve.

Mindee Chieu-chin is an accomplished pharmaceutical sales executive with more than 30 years of proven success with Merck. Her expertise spans Internal Medicine, antibiotics, antifungals, and Oncology. Recognized for her ability to build high value relationships with healthcare professionals, she has earned some of the industry’s highest honors, including Hall of Fame, and a six time Vice President’s Club winner.

Amber Rorris-Crow is a Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist at TE Connectivity She has worked in Talent Management and Inclusion and Diversity for 10 years, specializing in Engagement, Project Management, Learning and Development, and Creating Safer Spaces. She is currently the Program Manager for the Inclusion Champion Network as well as the 8 Employee Resource Groups at TE. Her passion is dismantling systems to make way for vulnerability and authenticity in all areas of life.

In addition to her full-time career, Amber is also the Deputy Director of Salem County Pride+, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that promotes education and programming for the LGBTQ+ community in rural Salem County, NJ. In this role, she also serves on the planning committee for the first ever South Jersey PrideFest.

As a queer person entering the corporate world, Amber experienced firsthand the struggles of being safely out at work. This experience and the financial inaccessibility of many career coaching resources led her to found The Queer Career Blog in 2019. Amber enjoys public speaking, training teams on how to embrace equity and inclusion, and working in new environments to bring improvement to existing teams.

Amber is a Philly Native and resides in Woodstown, NJ with her wife, twin girls, and dog. She is an active member of the Friends Meeting of Woodstown. Amber is also a founding member of the Woodstown Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. In her free time, she enjoys reading mystery novels, doing puzzles, watching trashy reality tv, and riding her Peloton.

Sid Mathur is the founder of Wellness at Work, an AI-focused company built around eliminating mundane work and helping knowledge workers focus on higher-value contributions. Before founding the company, Sid spent two decades in product management, including at Microsoft and Amazon, where he also led and sponsored inclusion programs for women and minority groups.

Cynthia Tee is the former Chief Technology Officer at Smartsheet. She brings more than 25 years of technology leadership experience across companies, including Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Schlumberger. She also served as Executive Director for Ada Developers Academy, a non-profit coding organization committed to advancing the technology talent pipeline by removing barriers to entry.

Michael Novasio serves as Chief AI and Trust Officer at Gottman Inc., where he focuses on AI strategy, policy, and product management. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Microsoft for over two decades, where he led enterprise compliance and content moderation platforms with a focus on trust, safety, and security.

Varshaa Kutik joined BIS on 1 March 2022 as their first Culture and Inclusion adviser. Her role has since expanded to include Talent management and is currently Talent, Culture & Inclusion Advisor. She has 18 years of experience in the DEI space and has worked across several industries. Prior to joining the BIS she was the APAC LEAD for D&I for Bank of America based in HK. Across her career she led D&I for the APAC & EMEA regions for Cargill, a Minnesota-based global leader in trading and distributing agricultural commodities. She also held a global role in Cargill driving learning, talent management, and D&I for one of Cargill’s 5 global businesses for over a year and was based in Minneapolis. Before Cargill, she was employed with Goldman Sachs in India and led their D&I efforts. Varshaa has a master’s degree in Globalization and Development from Warwick University in the UK. She is currently pursuing a doctorate at Warwick Business School. She has lived and worked in 5 countries (India, UK, US, Singapore & Hong Kong) and she is currently based in Basel Switzerland.