Dr. Shyama Venkateswar is currently the Senior Director, Learning, at Seramount, where she heads up the development and design of tailored DEI curriculum and workshops based on client needs to tackle complex workplace culture and talent challenges.

In 2021, she was appointed to the NYC Commission on Gender Equity by the Mayor of New York. She has more than 20 years of experience in addressing social and policy issues, and has built her career in the higher-education and nonprofit space.

Most recently, Shyama served as director of the Public Policy Program at Roosevelt House and as a faculty member at Hunter College, City University of New York, a position that she held for eight years. There, she led the expansion and governance of the program, crafted new and innovative curriculum, taught the Capstone curriculum, and played an instrumental role in implementing initiatives for student and faculty development, with a focus on providing opportunities for first-generation learners, immigrants, undocumented and other underrepresented students through comprehensive mentoring programs.

Before arriving at Hunter College Public Policy Program, Shyama was director of Research and Programs at the National Council for Research on Women (now merged with the International Center for Research on Women). In this role, she helped provide the vision and strategic direction of the council’s policy agenda on economic security and women’s leadership, and received grants from foundations and corporate philanthropy. Shyama has also served as the founding director of Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger, and as director of the Asian Social Issues Program at the Asia Society.

Shyama is a graduate of Smith College and received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in political science.

Jess Kramer is Associate Director, Event Programming at Seramount, developing impactful live experiences that shift mindsets and accelerate inclusion. At Seramount, she leads the content curation and manages programming for Seramount’s annual member and non-member marquee events advocating for diversity, equity & inclusion in the workplace. She determines program themes, designs and develops agendas, and identifies, secures, and preps 100+ speakers annually for Seramount’s virtual and in-person conferences that reach audiences of up to 2,000 people each across a wide variety of industries.

Jess is also a writer and public speaker on the topics of neurodiversity and disability inclusion in the workplace. Prior to working in events and management consulting, she worked as a writer, researcher, and editor.

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Jess enjoys live music, theater, and dancing; walking dogs at her local animal shelter; escaping the city to hike, kayak, and swim; and traveling around the world.

Bridgette Scales is Managing Director on Seramount’s Advisory team. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion expert with experience in sales and human resources. Bridgette joined Seramount from American Airlines in 2020, where she was the human resources business partner for customer experience. There, Bridgette was responsible for collaborating on people policies, talent management, career development, succession planning, departmental training initiatives, and aligning employee strategies with American Airline business goals.

Prior to her time at American Airlines, Bridgette spent 27 years at Proctor & Gamble. During her tenure at P&G, she was instrumental in developing and implementing strategies, programs, and processes across a complex and matrix organization. As a DEI practice leader for North America, Bridgette guided and counseled senior leaders on the integration of strategies that included awareness, cultural competency, leadership development, accountability and employee engagement. This led to better processes in the identification of high-potential employees, reduction in attrition rates of minorities, and increased DEI scores on the corporate employee survey.

Bridgette currently serves on the Global Advisory Board for the Women’s Leadership Forum within the P&G alumni network. She also sits on the She Runs It Foundation board’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

She has a BA from the University of Oklahoma, an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a Senior HR Professional certification from HRCI.

Katie Oertli Mooney is a Managing Director at Seramount. She is an accomplished DEI leader and thought partner with expertise in driving strategy and growth of diversity and inclusion change management, planning and programs. Prior to joining Seramount, she was responsible for overseeing the client delivery, staffing, operations and growth as Vice President of Jennifer Brown Consulting. She was accountable for the firm’s successful consulting project delivery to clients from the Fortune 1000, government agencies, startups, to nonprofits.

Prior to that, she managed the DEI enterprise learning and development strategy at Capital One specializing in differential investment programming to support historically underrepresented talent and communities of color. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the GSBA; the largest LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce in North America and is supporting the organization in 2020, by advancing diversity, equity and inclusion for the Board of Directors, for the benefit of GSBA staff, members, partners and the LGBTQ+ and allied community of Washington State. Katie has a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management with a concentration on Diversity and Inclusion Management from Georgetown University. She is based in Seattle, WA.

Laura Sherbin is Managing Director of Consulting at Seramount. She is an economist who specializes in the creation of advantage through inclusion and diversity. Most recently, Laura was co-president at the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) in New York City, a premier think tank and content provider that studies global workplace diversity.

Laura has co-authored several Harvard Business Review articles, including “How Diversity Can Drive Innovation,” “How Gen Y and Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda,” and “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps Revisited,” as well as the Harvard Business Review research report titled “The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology.” She has also taught a Women and Globalization course at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Laura built the rigorous data analytics machine and team that have been core to innovative approaches to measuring and tracking employee experiences. She is known as a leading expert in applying diversity and inclusion data to human behavior in organizations and using such data to quantify how workforce sentiments and satisfaction affect company bottom lines.

Laura holds a BS in math and economics from the University of Delaware and earned her PhD in economics from American University. She currently resides in Irvington, New York, with her husband, their four children, and their dog, Gus. Laura has always loved math and numbers, but when not working, she also enjoys baking, traveling, and meditating.

Joan Sheridan LaBarge is the Managing Director, Relationships at Seramount. Since joining in 2005, Joan has been a leader in expanding the company’s scope on initiatives that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, the advancement of women, and work/life integration. She leads the Sales and Relationships team and is responsible for all revenue generation across Seramount. With over 30 years of sales and marketing experience, Joan is a strategic thinker, customer focused and a consultative seller.

Joan is a core member of the executive leadership team and brings a revenue producing mindset to our work. She identifies market opportunities and helps shape new services. In her early years at Seramount, Joan took the lead in expanding the company’s multicultural women’s initiative and helped to bring its advancement of women work around the globe. Most recently, she was instrumental in developing and executing the company’s successful selling strategy during the 2020 pandemic. Prior to joining the company, Joan was a highly regarded Publisher at Gruner & Jahr, Weider Publications and Hachette Filipacchi Magazines leading national titles Shape and Men’s Fitness among others. Joan received her B.S. in Communication Arts from St. John’s University and was honored as an outstanding alumni in 2008 and a Woman of Distinction in 2012.

Amy is the Head of Marketing and Events for Seramount. She leads the product marketing, demand generation, digital, communications and events teams to build stronger customer experiences across all touch points. Amy spearheaded the development and launch of the Sermount brand and continues to own the strategic vision for brand and product portfolio.

Amy brings 20 years of experience operationalizing B2B marketing transformations to maximize revenue potential in changing market landscapes. She spent more than a decade in the specialty chemicals industry, where she led an $80M center of excellence through category expansion, breakthrough product innovation, and global growth. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and art history from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.  She lives outside of New York City with her family.