Past Keynote Speakers

Abby Chin is the Boston Celtics courtside reporter and studio host for NBC Sports Boston. While in her 10th season covering one of the most storied franchises in professional sports, Chin also served as an on-site reporter for NBC Sports at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

A graduate of the University of Colorado, where she earned a B.S. in broadcast journalism, Chin began her career as a production assistant for Monday Night Football at ESPN, moving on to become an on-air reporter and host in Alabama and then for NBC Sports Portland, where she covered the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and PAC-12 football.

UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney is a national leader in innovation in higher education. The first woman to lead the university since its founding in 1894, she was recognized in 2017 as one of seven prominent "Women Who Mean Business" by the Boston Business Journal. Since that year, UMass Lowell has been ranked in the top 15 of the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts by the Boston Globe Magazine and the Commonwealth Institute.

In her 37 years with UMass Lowell—where she also earned two degrees—Moloney has served in a number of roles, including professor, researcher, dean and executive vice chancellor.

Dr. Robin Jones is a principal at Deloitte with 22 years of organization and workforce transformation consulting experience. She spent the majority of her career advising business leaders of technology, media, and telecommunications companies through complex business transformations.

With a focus on the future of work, Jones advises senior executives as they contemplate how data, technology and societal changes are impacting the work, workforce and workplace. At Deloitte, Jones leads the Workforce Transformation Offering with end-to-end responsibility for the market, services and talent, and serves on the CEO's Marketplace Leadership Team in Deloitte Consulting.

Jones completed her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and in the late 1990s published research on the future of work for architecture, engineering and construction, focusing on the technological changes, innovation, value creation opportunities and executive skills required to lead companies into the 21st century. She holds an M.S. in architecture and B.S. in interior design from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

As vice president of global sales operations and chief of staff, Barb Vlacich manages teams across the world that directly support the Kronos sales teams, including inside sales, lead development, presales, cloud sales, and alliance partners. Her focus is on innovating the buying experience, from reimaging business processes to providing the expertise and resources to support customer interactions.

Vlacich joined Kronos in 2003 as director of HR and payroll services, helping Kronos establish new markets and expand their mid market base considerably, through new solution packaging for those markets. In 2006, she became vice president of presales operations, where she created specific industry-focused teams, and an expanded industry consultancy. She established a year round college intern program that today thrives globally. In her current position, she created a pivotal Sales Management Council that has become a central think tank for the entire sales organization.

Upon her arrival at Kronos, Vlacich brought a wealth of knowledge on global sales cycles and strategies and experience with both vendors and consulting companies within the workforce management industry. Some of her prior roles include practice director of human resources management systems at Delphia Consulting and director of North American presales at Sage Software (formerly Best Software) as well as a variety of executive roles.

A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Vlacich has presented at many industry conferences including the American Management Association, American Payroll Association, and Massachusetts Conference for Women on topics ranging from creating an outstanding customer experience to managing high-performing teams. She also founded the Kronos Women's Leadership Forum in 2009. Her creativity, leadership and ability to get things done have been all key reasons she has received the Kronos SVP MVP award for the global sales organization for the last 7 years.

Vlacich attended Rider University and currently serves on the boards of UTEC (United Teen Equality Center) based in Lowell, Mass and the serves on the 2020 WOB (Women on Boards) Steering Committee.

Lorna Boucher is managing director and chief marketing officer of Instinet Holdings Inc., the innovative equity trading arm of the Nomura Group. She serves on Instinet's executive committee, the global firm's most senior management organization.

Boucher has always embraced the challenges of leading a company at a major pivot point in its marketing or branding strategy. She launched her marketing career as part of an academic project while still a student at the Manning School of Business at UMass Lowell by proposing a marketing plan to help the small businesses in downtown Lowell compete with the shopping malls nearby. Her program was so well received that she was offered an internship and then her first full-time professional job with The Lowell Plan, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to transformative projects for the city. Over the next 20 years, Boucher went on to more senior roles in marketing and brand management, ultimately relocating to New York City in the early 1990s to work for major global financial services firms including Bankers Trust Company, UBS and KCG Holdings.

In November 2017, Markets Media, a financial services industry media company, honored Boucher with the Women in Finance Award for Excellence in Marketing, also known as the "Marketing Maven" award.

Boucher currently serves on the Manning School's Advisory Board.

Sophie V. Vandebroek, Ph.D. is the vice president of emerging technology partnerships at IBM Corporation, leading key strategic initiatives to scale IBM's partnerships and ecosystems. She was previously the chief operating officer for IBM Research, one of the world's largest and most influential corporate research labs. IBM Research is pioneering the most promising and disruptive technologies that will transform industries and society, including AI, Blockchain and Quantum Computing.

Prior to joining IBM, Vandebroek served for over a decade as corporate officer and chief technology officer at Xerox Corporation.

Vandebroek is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and holds 14 U.S. patents. She also serves on the board of directors of IDEXX Corporation and on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering dean's advisory council. Previously, Vandebroek served on the boards of Analogic Corporation and Nypro Corp and was a trustee at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering from KU Leuven, Belgium, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Linda M. Gadsby is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Scholastic Inc., the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. She has been with the company since 1997. In her current role, Linda advises the company's Management Executive Team members regularly, is responsible for handling all labor and employment law matters, serves as the primary attorney for the company's Education, Book Fairs, and National Service Organization divisions, handles the company's immigration and employee benefits law areas, and serves on the company's Administrative Committee. Linda values giving back to her community, especially in support of youth, education, and women. She is a member of numerous community service organizations, including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, The Links, Inc., and Jack and Jill of America, Inc.. Linda is also an active alumni leader at her alma maters: Cornell University, where she serves on the Board of Trustees, NYU School of Law, where she is on the Board of the NYU Law Alumni Association and Co-Chair of the Awards Committee, and Stuyvesant High School, where she is one of the founding members of the Stuyvesant High School Black Alumni Diversity Initiative. Linda has been widely honored for her professional achievements and community service by the Consulate General of Barbados in New York, Chambers USA, NYU School of Law, Girl Scouts of Greater New York, Young Barbadian Professionals Society, Savoy Magazine, The Network Journal, and Diversity MBA Magazine.

Danielle Niles is the Meteorologist for CBS Boston's WBZ-TV Morning (4:30AM-7AM) News with co-anchors Kate Merrill and Chris McKinnon. A native of Weymouth, MA, Niles joined WBZ-TV News from New England Cable News where she spent five years as weekday morning meteorologist. Before that, Niles was a forecaster at Weather Services International in Andover, MA where she provided forecasts for private companies.

Niles is a 2006 cum laude graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Lowell where she earned her bachelor's degree in atmospheric science, and was captain of the women's varsity soccer team. She then went on to earn a master's degree in meteorology at Florida State University.

Bonnie Comley '81 is the founder and CEO of BroadwayHD.com, an online streaming service on a mission to promote and preserve live theater by extending the reach of Broadway and Broadway-caliber shows to anyone, anywhere. On June 30, 2016, Bonnie and BroadwayHD made history with the first livestream of a Broadway show. "She Loves Me" was livestreamed to over 60 countries, trending on both Facebook and Twitter. BroadwayHD currently has over 150 titles of stage-to-screen content, accompanied by educational features, subtitles, captions and audio descriptions.

Bonnie is a three-time Tony Award-winning producer. She has also received an Olivier Award and two Drama Desk Awards for her stage productions. She is a longstanding member of The Broadway League and has produced 24 shows on Broadway. She is currently producing "On Your Feet!" the Gloria and Emilio Estefan story, and "Sunset Boulevard," with Glenn Close.

Bonnie has received numerous awards for her philanthropic work, including The Actors Fund Medal of Honor, The Drama League Special Contribution to the Theater Award, The Paul Newman Award from Arts Horizons and The Theater Museum Distinguished Service Award. Comley's educational honors include the Distinguished Alumni Awards from Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and she is a member of the business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma. The Music Theater Program is named in her honor at Boston University, The Musical Theater Society Room bears her name at Emerson College and the Comley-Lane Theatre in Mahoney Hall at UMass Lowell also is named for her.

Therese Gearhart is president of the Coca-Cola Latin Center Business Unit, responsible for 31 countries across the Caribbean, Central America, Ecuador and Colombia.

Therese brings 28 years of international experience in general management, marketing and sales. She joined The Coca-Cola Co. at its Atlanta headquarters in 1998, and over the past 17 years she has held the following positions: central region vice president, North America Food Service Division; vice president of marketing, North America Food Service Division; general manager, Central America; vice president for marketing, customer and commercial functions, Eurasia Africa; and president, Southern Africa Business Unit.

Therese also currently co-chairs the Global Women's Leadership Council for the company and serves on the board of directors for the Coca-Cola bottling company in Peru.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Therese held various positions in general management and marketing at Motorola and Black & Decker. Therese holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Central Florida and a master's degree from the American Graduate School of International Management in Arizona.

Therese is the mother of three children: Taylor, 18, Noah, 16, and Paige, 13. She is fortunate to have been experiencing her amazing international career with her entire family, including her husband, Chuck, who is enjoying the full-time benefits of playing golf. In her spare time, Therese enjoys cooking for her family, reading, playing tennis and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Gina Barreca, author of "e;It's Not That I'm Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World"e; (St. Martin's Press), has appeared on 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, the BBC, Dr. Phil, NPR and Oprah to discuss gender, power and politics with humor. Her earlier books include the bestselling "e;They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor,"e; and "e;Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League."e; Gina's latest book is a collection of essays titled, If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse

Taniya Nayak is one of the nation's foremost interior designers. She became a household name as a design expert on HGTV and the Food Network. Taniya owns a successful, Boston-based interior design firm, Taniya Nayak Design LLC., where she adds a fresh, clean look to both commercial and residential spaces.