As AbbVie’s Chief Equity Officer, Assil Omar leads efforts to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture at AbbVie.

Most recently, Ms. Omar was Vice President, Talent Acquisition and Human Capital Planning and maintains responsibility for that organization. Ms. Omar joined AbbVie in Singapore in July of 2014, to lead Talent Management and Acquisition in the Japan and Asia Pacific region. She has since held roles of growing responsibility, including Human Resource business partnership and Talent Center of Excellence positions.

Before AbbVie, Ms. Omar held Learning and Development positions at Unilever and played a key role in standing up Unilever’s flagship Leadership Development hub, Four Acres, in Singapore. She spent the earlier part of her career in Supply Chain with Agility, assuming different roles of increasing responsibility across Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Ms. Omar holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts, History, International and Comparative Studies from University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University of Toronto. She is a First Mover Fellow at the Aspen Institute for Business and Society.

Penny Neferis is the Director of Business Continuity & Emergency Response at JetBlue Airways.  Penny joined JetBlue in July 1999 and played a key role on the JetBlue startup team.  Penny founded the Care, Emergency Response and Business Continuity department for the New York-based JetBlue Airways and served as its first Director, developing and implementing the company’s emergency response plans, training, procedures, command centers and exercises.  Penny also leads the System Operations Safety Management System program development, implementation, and management.

Penny serves as JetBlue’s Executive Sponsor of the Crewmember Resource Group – Women in Flight. She is the Vice President to the Private Sector Emergency Management Association and a board member to the non-profit NYC Medics. Penny is also a lecturer for MIT’s Crisis Management and Business Continuity course.

Penny holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a dual major in Aeronautics and Management from Dowling College in Oakdale, NY.

Paula is located in São Paulo, Brazil.

In her role as DE&I sponsor, Paula drives local initiatives for Otis through collaboration and partnership with regional and functional teams in Brazil.

Nowadays, she oversees the expansion of Forward, our Employee Resource Group (ERG) in Brazil.

Paula brings experience in DE&I, implementing several initiatives for Otis, such as

Field trainings (employees and leaders), Mentoring Program, support for Retention, enhance technical tools for women.

She has represented the company as public speaker in external events to share best practices.

Paula holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in human resources.

Shakura Brewer leads the digital platforms strategy for the Kohler Energy business units at Kohler Company within IT. She is a technology leader who enjoys leveraging technology to create seamless beautiful experiences. Alongside blazing a trail in the underrepresented technology industry, she drives the footprint of community within corporate spaces. She co-founded and developed the BLK Catalyst, a business resource group at Kohler. Business Resource Groups (BRG) are a critical component of creating the culture of inclusion in corporate work environments. While inherently diverse, each BRG at Kohler is united under a common purpose: to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. The BLK Catalyst BRG pillars are rooted in [1] Recruit, Retain, and Immerse the African diaspora community of Kohler [2] Community Outreach, and [3] Impact product innovation through diverse perspectives and talent. Through the community built through BLK Catalyst, Shakura co-founded the Kohler Women’s Leadership Summit, an internal summit aimed at providing all Kohler associates with the resources, network, and tools to aid in developing skills for high-achieving leadership roles in the organization.

Renowned comedian, actress, writer, and disability advocate Maysoon Zayid jokes that if there were an ‘Oppression Olympics,’ she would win the gold medal: “I’m Arab, I’m Muslim, I’m a woman of color, I’m divorced, I’m disabled, and I live in New Jersey.” Known for her famed TED Talk “I got 99 problems…palsy is just one,” which has over 11M views, Zayid is a highly sought-after speaker for events with groups like the Ralph Lauren Foundation, Fidelity, Veeam, the Asia Society, Salesforce, and many more. Zayid has performed around the world, headlining the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour, in which comedians toured the U.S. in an effort to counter Islamophobia. She is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. In her New York Times bestselling memoir Find Another Dream, Zayid shares her hilarious and poignant journey of failures, successes, and insights about what it takes to make your dream a reality.
Zayid served as a full-time on-air contributor for Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and has been featured on The Nick Cannon Show’s Cannon’s Comedy Club, Let’s Kiki with Miz Cracker, CNN, The Wall Street Journal’s Secrets of Wealthy Women podcast, in The New York Times, and Glamour, which nailed her as “the most fearless comic alive.” Her writing has been featured in Refinery29 and The Daily Beast, among many others. Her second book, a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shiny Misfits, is set to be published by Scholastic in 2024, with an audiobook distributed by Audible. A current Princeton University Arts Fellow, she teaches in-demand courses on comedy, brand messaging, and collaboration. Hilarious, disarming, and sharing a message of inclusion that matters, Zayid’s comedy and commentary resonate with audiences of all kinds.

Annie Colson (pronouns: she, her, hers) serves as Senior Manager of Global Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Kellanova (formerly Kellogg Company). Currently, she sets the global strategy for ED&I learning activations and works closely with regional partners to ensure continuity across the world.

Prior to Kellanova, she worked at Allstate Insurance Company’s global headquarters for a decade, serving in multiple leadership, HR and Learning & Development roles, where she led leadership development initiatives and mentorship programs.

Annie earned her bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Ohio University and is a strong believer of intrinsic motivation and perpetual learning. She is dedicated to creating a place at Kellanova’s table for all, where everyone feels like they can bring their authentic selves to work.

Glory Edim is an author, activist, and the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a nationwide book club-turned-literacy non-profit that celebrates the life changing power of literature. Well-Read Black Girl’s mission is to use storytelling as a tool for advocacy and collective empowerment. Glory has won numerous awards for her work supporting writers of color, including the 2017 Innovator’s Award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and the Madam C.J. Walker Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation. She also serves on the board of Baldwin for the Arts. Her best-selling anthology, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, was published by Penguin Random House in 2018. She is currently working on a memoir that explores the intimate relationship between reading and self-healing. She resides in Washington D.C. with her son, Zikomo.

Catherine Ewell is the Senior Vice President at Seramount, part of EAB. In this role, she leads Seramount’s Research and Insights division, overseeing the dedicated and talented team of researchers, advisors, and relationship directors who help over 500 partners navigate the rapidly evolving DEI and talent landscape.

Prior to joining the Seramount executive team in November 2022, Catherine served as Senior Vice President of Partner Success at EAB. There, she was responsible for ensuring that every partner maximized the value received from their EAB technology and research partnerships. Throughout her more than 20-year career with EAB and the Advisory Board Company, Catherine has worked with leaders in the higher education and health care sectors leading research, consulting, product, and customer success teams to turn ideas and technology into real-world, measurable impact.

Catherine is proud to serve as Executive Sponsor for the firm’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. She is passionate about leadership development and facilitates trainings for firm leaders on topics ranging from accountability to maximizing energy. Catherine holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. She is based in Washington, DC, and is an avid traveler and scuba diver.

Drawing on her extensive experience in government service, she provides valuable advice to clients on a diverse range of public policy issues, government regulatory enforcement trends, election and political law matters, congressional investigations, and civil and criminal white-collar and investigations matters. Her expertise spans various industries, including technology, financial services, FinTech, energy, and consumer goods.

She joined Covington after serving as Assistant to the President and White House Counsel for President Biden. In this role, she led the administration’s efforts to confirm Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African-American woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. She also provided counsel on a wide array of matters and policy initiatives, such as the administration’s covid strategy, voting rights, high-profile congressional investigations (including the January 6th Committee), and immigration reform.

Before her role as White House Counsel, she led the legal team for the Biden-Harris campaign as General Counsel. During the Obama administration, she served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel for ethics. Following the administration, she held key legal positions as General Counsel of the Obama Foundation and General Counsel of the personal office of President and Mrs. Obama.

Prior to her government service, she was a Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, specializing in legal and judicial ethics and the regulation of the legal profession. She also taught at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and served as an inaugural faculty member at the Drexel University College of Law.