2016 Speakers Speakers

Thank you to all of our amazing speakers from this year’s 2016 Conference! Check out the Conference Center page for recaps and resources.

Below are speakers from the April 2016 event. If you’re interested in submitting a proposal for the Feb 1st 2017 Watermark Conference for Women, please CLICK HERE.

2017 Speakers will be listed here as they are confirmed.

Keynotes

John Jacobs

JOHN JACOBS is co-founder and chief creative optimist of The Life is Good Company, which spreads the power of optimism through inspiring art, ... Read Full Bio

Leila Janah

LEILA JANAH is the founder and CEO of Sama and Laxmi; two companies that share a common social mission to end global poverty by giving work to ... Read Full Bio

Mindy Kaling

MINDY KALING is an actor, writer, producer and director. She currently stars in the Hulu original comedy series “The Mindy Project,” whic... Read Full Bio

Cindi Leive

CINDI LEIVE is the editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine and glamour.com, which together reach one out of every eight American women,... Read Full Bio

Pattie Sellers

PATTIE SELLERS assistant managing editor, Fortune and executive director of MPW/live content, Time Inc. Sellers has written more than... Read Full Bio

Abby Wambach

ABBY WAMBACH is a retired forward of the 2015 Women’s World Cup Champion U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. One of the world’s greatest p... Read Full Bio

Nicole Ward

NICOLE WARD is Western regional director of BDO USA, the fifth-largest global public accounting and professional services firm, providing assur... Read Full Bio

Special Guest Speakers

Jessica Aguirre

JESSICA AGUIRRE is the 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM evening anchor at NBC Bay Area News, and an Emmy award-winning journalist. She has been a primetime... Read Full Bio

Jenny Dearborn

JENNY DEARBORN is senior vice president and chief learning officer at SAP, accountable to drive measurable business impact by designing, aligni... Read Full Bio

Laura Garcia-Cannon

LAURA GARCIA-CANNON anchors weekday mornings, “Today in the Bay.” This multiple Emmy Award winning journalist began her career in broadcast... Read Full Bio

Francine Katsoudas

FRANCINE KATSOUDAS is senior vice president and chief people officer at Cisco. She plays a major role in the company’s overall performance, l... Read Full Bio

Karineh Khachatourian

KARINEH KHACHATOURIAN is managing partner of the Duane Morris Silicon Valley office, practicing in the area of intellectual property litigation... Read Full Bio

Felicia Mayo

FELICIA MAYO is currently serving as the vice president, global talent acquisition and authenticity and inclusion for Juniper Networks in Sunny... Read Full Bio

Erin McSweeney

ERIN McSWEENEY is the executive vice president of global human resources with EMC Corporation, setting the people strategy to ensure that world... Read Full Bio

Rami Rahim

RAMI RAHIM is chief executive officer with Juniper Networks, and a member of the company’s board of directors. Rahim was appointed CEO in Nov... Read Full Bio

Sridevi Koneru Rao

SRIDEVI KONERU RAO leads Cisco’s core data and analytics team that drives thought leadership and execution of the digitization strategy. She ... Read Full Bio

Breakout Session Speakers

Lisa Abramson

LISA ABRAMSON is an entrepreneur and executive coach. She co-founded Mindfulness Based Achievement, the New MBA, which teaches high potential w... Read Full Bio

Jolen Anderson

JOLEN ANDERSON is senior vice president and chief diversity officer of Visa Inc. In this role, she leads the strategic development and implemen... Read Full Bio

Radha Bhaman

RADHA BHAMAN is the senior vice president of human resources for the core technologies division at EMC. She brings over 20 years of experience ... Read Full Bio

Joanne Black

JOANNE BLACK is America’s leading authority on referral selling-- the only business-development strategy proven to convert prospects into cli... Read Full Bio

Trudy Bourgeois

TRUDY BOURGEOIS is the CEO and president of The Center for Workforce Excellence. She is a renowned and respected authority on leadership deve... Read Full Bio

Julie Campbell

JULIE CAMPBELL holds the position of associate buyer, Floorcare & Cleaning for QVC. In this role she supports the sourcing, selection, neg... Read Full Bio

Ginnie Carlier

GINNIE CARLIER is the west region talent leader at Ernst & Young LLP. She leads the EY talent team which is devoted to attracting, develo... Read Full Bio

Dr. Christine Carter

CHRISTINE CARTER is a sociologist and senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She is the author of “The Sweet Spot: H... Read Full Bio

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy

SUKHINDER SINGH CASSIDY is a leading technology executive and entrepreneur. She is currently founder and CEO of JOYUS, the leading online vid... Read Full Bio

Karen Catlin

KAREN CATLIN is a leadership coach, an advocate for women in the tech industry, a TEDx speaker and co-author of "Present! A Techies Guide to Pu... Read Full Bio

Bina Chaurasia

BINA CHAURASIA is Ericsson's chief human resources officer, responsible for maintaining the company¹s culture of collaboration, engagement and... Read Full Bio

Sharon Chiarella

SHARON CHIARELLA is the vice president of community shopping at Amazon where she leads the team responsible for iconic Amazon experiences inclu... Read Full Bio

Mallika Chopra

MALLIKA CHOPRA is a mom, media entrepreneur, public speaker and published author. Her most recent book, “Living With Intent: My Somewhat Mess... Read Full Bio

Lea Coligado

LEA COLIGADO is a computer science major at Stanford whose work experience includes Google, Apple and Facebook. Last year she started a photose... Read Full Bio

Marianne Cooper

MARIANNE COOPER is a sociologist at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and an affiliate at the Stanford Center o... Read Full Bio

Mark Coopersmith

MARK COOPERSMITH is an educator, Fortune 500 executive, entrepreneur and author. A senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, he... Read Full Bio

Janet Crawford

JANET CRAWFORD is CEO of Cascadance, a Bay Area-based firm supporting leaders in building brain-friendly organizations. A female scientist and ... Read Full Bio

Jennifer Dabnor

JENNIFER DABNOR is a category leader for collectibles at Amazon Marketplace, focused on innovation and new business development. She has facili... Read Full Bio

John Danner

JOHN DANNER teaches courses on innovation, strategy and venture development at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and School of Informatio... Read Full Bio

Jonathan Davidson

JONATHAN DAVIDSON is executive vice president, general manager with Juniper Development and Innovation. In this role, he is responsible for dri... Read Full Bio

Derek DeWinter

DEREK DeWINTER is partner and president of the DeWinter Group, where he helps lead his organization and maintain its position as the premier fi... Read Full Bio

Dr. Lisa Dyson

DR. LISA DYSON is the CEO of Kiverdi, a next-generation sustainable oil company that converts CO2 and waste carbon gases into customized oils u... Read Full Bio

Jodi Euerle Eddy

JODI EUERLE EDDY is a senior vice president and the CIO for Boston Scientific, a medical device company that transforms lives through innovativ... Read Full Bio

Tamar Elkeles

TAMAR ELKELES, Ph.D. is the chief people officer at Quixey, where she leads all global human resources operations. Her scope of responsibility ... Read Full Bio

Gail Evans

GAIL EVANS is the chief information officer for Mercer. She joined Mercer from Microsoft, where she was the group partner program manager. In t... Read Full Bio

Danielle Feinberg

DANIELLE FEINBERG is the director of photography for lighting for Pixar Animation Studios. She began her career at Pixar in February 1997. As s... Read Full Bio

Brienne Ghafourifar

BRIENNE GHAFOURIFAR is a young, full-stack entrepreneur on a mission to radically transform the way technology helps people interact. While she... Read Full Bio

Jackie Glenn

JACKIE GLENN is the vice president and global chief diversity officer for EMC Corporation, leading the D&I strategy for the company’s glo... Read Full Bio

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith

MARSHALL GOLDSMITH is the world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior, for themselves, their pe... Read Full Bio

Emily Greener

EMILY GREENER helped launched I AM THAT GIRL in 2008. A nonprofit inspiring girls to LOVE, EXPRESS, and BE who they are, I AM THAT GIRL is cu... Read Full Bio

Annabelle Gurwitch

ANNABELLE GURWITCH is an actress, activist and New York Times best-selling author. Her most recent book is “I SEE YOU MADE AN EFFORT... Read Full Bio

Dr. Heidi Hartmann

HEIDI HARTMANN is a MacArthur fellow, and leading economist and women's movement intellectual whose work has been translated into more than a ... Read Full Bio

Elaine Lin Hering

ELAINE LIN HERING is a consultant with Triad Consulting Group, where she works with clients to diagnose challenges, design solutions, and deliv... Read Full Bio

Julia Hu

JULIA HU is a serial entrepreneur, who has been named to the 30 Under 30 list by Inc. magazine and Top 10 Women in Tech by Forbes<... Read Full Bio

ALBANY IRVIN

ALBANY IRVIN joined QVC in 2009 as a program host. Her unquenchable thirst for learning new things makes her a go-to electronics host in the ev... Read Full Bio

Nicole Lapin

NICOLE LAPIN is a finance expert you don’t need a dictionary to understand. She got her start in finance at age 18, reporting from the floor ... Read Full Bio

Jennie Leigh

JENNIE LEIGH is vice president of service enablement in the global services and support organization at Akamai Technologies. In this role, she ... Read Full Bio

Ana Carolina Lopez Pinaya

ANA CAROLINA LOPEZ PINAYA is an M.B.A. candidate and innovation access intern at University of California-Davis. Her focus is on entrepreneursh... Read Full Bio

Leslye Louie

LESLYE LOUIE has held numerous senior marketing, sales, and operational roles during her 20 year career in the global high-tech industry. She... Read Full Bio

Heather McNicholl

HEATHER McNICHOLL holds the position of director, vendor education, development and new vendor discovery with QVC. In this role, she develops... Read Full Bio

Nikki Medoro

NIKKI MEDORO is an award winning journalist with KGO 810, Cumulus Media. She has covered news in the bay area for more than a decade. A graduat... Read Full Bio

Nikita T. Mitchell

NIKITA T. MITCHELL is a senior manager at Cisco where she is responsible for strategy and planning initiatives for the company’s $20 billion ... Read Full Bio

Tara Sophia Mohr

TARA SOPHIA MOHR is an expert on women’s leadership and well-being. She helps women play bigger in sharing their voices and bringing forwar... Read Full Bio

Kerry Morris

KERRY MORRIS joined Zulily in May of 2013 and has headed up the Home & Hardlines Merchandising teams after spending 10 years at Amazon, wh... Read Full Bio

Kathleen Mullaney

KATHLEEN MULLANEY joined Udacity in 2011 as one of its first employees with the aim of making education more affordable and useful to students... Read Full Bio

Jay Newton-Small

JAY NEWTON-SMALL is Washington correspondent for TIME and the author of “Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Wor... Read Full Bio

Kendall O’Brien

KENDALL O’BRIEN is vice president, finance and CFO for the office of the chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson. In supporting t... Read Full Bio

Sonya Park

SONYA PARK is a senior relationship manager at State Street Global Advisors and is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships wit... Read Full Bio

Patricia A. McDonald

PATRICIA A. McDONALD is vice president of human resources and director of the Intel talent organization at Intel Corporation. She leads a globa... Read Full Bio

Jacqueline Hornor Plumez

JACQUELINE HORNOR PLUMEZ is an award-winning psychologist. Her 500 colleagues in the Westchester County Psychological Association have named h... Read Full Bio

Victoria Pynchon

VICTORIA PYNCHON is the co-founder of She Negotiates Consulting and Training. Her mission is to equip women with the knowledge, skills and conf... Read Full Bio

Robin Hauser Reynolds

ROBIN HAUSER REYNOLDS is the director and producer of cause‐based documentary films at Finish Line Features, LLC. As both a business woman, a... Read Full Bio

Carissa Romero

CARISSA ROMERO is the co-founder of the Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS), at Stanford University’s applied research center ... Read Full Bio

Jill Sharp

JILL SHARP is a corporate trainer and performance coach who delivers coaching and development programs to corporate executives and teams from a... Read Full Bio

Courtney Skarda

COURTNEY SKARDA is vice president of Racker experience with Rackspace. She is responsible for reinforcing the company’s core values and conti... Read Full Bio

Shari Slate

SHARI SLATE is vice president and chief inclusion and collaboration officer with Cisco. She is responsible for building a strategy that enhance... Read Full Bio

Lisa Smith-Strother

LISA SMITH-STROTHER has been the senior director and global head of employer branding and diversity talent acquisition across Ericsson’s soci... Read Full Bio

Cindy Solomon

CINDY SOLOMON is a world-renowned leadership expert, author and speaker who helps Fortune 500 companies build Courageous Leaders®, better enab... Read Full Bio

Mary Spio

MARY SPIO is founder and president of CEEK VR, Inc., a social virtual reality company that helped create Boeing’s industry-changing digital c... Read Full Bio

Merline Saintil

MERLINE SAINTIL is the head of operations for the executive vice president and chief technology officer at Intuit. She is an international tec... Read Full Bio

Maya Strelar-Migotti

MAYA STRELAR-MIGOTTI is senior vice president of Marvell Semiconductor. She is a highly accomplished executive with a history of maximizing rev... Read Full Bio

Lynn D. Tinney

LYNN D. TINNEY is the vice president of Americas channels at Riverbed Technology. Prior to joining Riverbed in 2014, she served as the director... Read Full Bio

Wendy Wallbridge

WENDY WALLBRIDGE is a strategic and intuitive advisor to Fortune 100 leaders and teams across industries and a pioneer in the coaching field. S... Read Full Bio

Katie Watson

KATIE WATSON joined Gilead in February 2003 to manage compensation and HR information systems. In 2006 she was promoted to senior director of t... Read Full Bio

Karen Willem

KAREN WILLEM is the chief financial officer of Lilee Systems, a leader in Industrial IoT. She is a veteran of the technology industry, with mor... Read Full Bio

Marlene Williamson

MARLENE WILLIAMSON is the chief executive officer of Watermark and serves on its board. Previously, she was chief marketing officer of a numbe... Read Full Bio

Lisa Wrightsman

LISA WRIGHTSMAN is the director and founder of Street Soccer USA’s Sacramento Lady Salamanders, a nationwide non-profit that uses soccer to b... Read Full Bio

Expert Exchange

Anjula Acharia-Bath

ANJULA ACHARIA-BATH is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, pop culture enthusiast and Angel Investor. She’s worked with ClassPass, The Hunt, (ac... Read Full Bio

Gunjan Aggarwal

GUNJAN AGGARWAL is an accomplished HR leader with several years of experience as head of HR in various roles across U.S., Switzerland, UK and I... Read Full Bio

Rita Bojalian

RITA BOJALIAN is the business unit attorney for the neuromodulation division at Boston Scientific’s, a medical device company that transform... Read Full Bio

Lynne Born

LYNNE BORN is a partner and chief operating officer of Seiler LLP. The firm specializes in the ultra-high net worth space and provides tax, a... Read Full Bio

Dawn Cates

DAWN CATES is the director and site head of quality at Boston Scientific’s Bay Area facilities, focused on capital equipment manufacturing, r... Read Full Bio

Blessie Concepcion

BLESSIE CONCEPCION currently leads the global clinical trials team at Boston Scientific Corporation’s structural heart business, in developin... Read Full Bio

Jina Daniel

JINA DANIEL is a program manager with the strategy, planning and execution organization in Cisco Services, focused on operations and special pr... Read Full Bio

Ana Flores

ANA L. FLORES is the founder and CEO of Latina Bloggers Connect, Inc and #WeAllGrow Summit. She has dedicated her career to empowering Hispanic... Read Full Bio

Ehrika C. Gladden

EHRIKA C. GLADDEN is the vice president of market strategy for the enterprise infrastructure solutions groups (EISG) at Cisco Systems. EISG is ... Read Full Bio

Deanna Harshbarger

DEANNA HARSHBARGER is the global director for the deep brain stimulation franchise at Boston Scientific’s neuromodulation business. Boston ... Read Full Bio

Heather Hiles

HEATHER HILES is the founder and CEO of Pathbrite, the world’s leading portfolio learning software platform. She recently sold Pathbrite to C... Read Full Bio

Colin Kincaid

COLIN KINCAID is vice president of product management of web portfolio for Cisco. He leads the teams responsible for the development and execut... Read Full Bio

Susan Lovegren

SUSAN LOVEGREN is the senior vice president of human resources for Juniper Networks. With an emphasis on the needs of today’s diverse workfor... Read Full Bio

Lisa Nichols

LISA NICHOLS is one of the world’s most-requested motivational speakers, as well as media personality and corporate CEO whose global platform... Read Full Bio

Jossie Prochilo

JOSSIE PROCHILO was named vice president and key account manager for the TDS/US Cellular account in September 2014 and is responsible for bringing in core net... Read Full Bio

Ileana Rivera

ILEANA RIVERA is the senior director of IT for computing and client productivity services for Cisco Systems. She leads the teams responsible fo... Read Full Bio

Helen Scotch

HELEN SCOTCH is head of global regulatory for one of Boston Scientific’s highest growth businesses. Boston Scientific is a worldwide leader i... Read Full Bio

Bob Worrall

BOB WORRALL is senior vice president and chief information officer leading Juniper’s global information technology team. In this role, he lea... Read Full Bio

Local Leader

Johanna Argan

JOHANNA ARGAN is a Los Angeles based costume designer by way of New York. She has been around clothes most of her life, dating back to the NY g... Read Full Bio

Erna Arnesen

ERNA ARNESEN is vice president of global channel and partner marketing for Plantronics. She is responsible for developing Plantronics’ global... Read Full Bio

Andrea Dew Steele

ANDREA DEW STEELE is the founder of Emerge America. She is also a co-founder of the company’s first affiliate, Emerge California. Steele is p... Read Full Bio

Kim Polese

KIM POLESE is a technology entrepreneur and business leader with a deep track record of innovation. She currently serves as chairman of ClearSt... Read Full Bio

Linda Oubre

LINDA OUBRE was appointed Dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University in July 2012. Oubre’s goals for the College inclu... Read Full Bio

Justine Siegal

JUSTINE SIEGAL is the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization and to throw batting practice to a MLB team. She’s worked... Read Full Bio

Christie Simons

CHRISTIE SIMONS is a partner at Deloitte & Touche’s Bay Area technology practice and has 25 years of experience serving global technology... Read Full Bio

Social Media Roundtable

Michelle Glauser

MICHELLE GLAUSER wrote her master's thesis on women's autobiographical acts on the internet and turned from academia to tech when she learned t... Read Full Bio

Tanya Holland

TANYA HOLLAND is the executive chef and owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, CA, both featuring her inventive takes on modern soul food, So... Read Full Bio

Nicole Johnson

NICOLE JOHNSON is a senior content, digital, and social media marketing professional with over 15 years of experience helping companies tell au... Read Full Bio

Nancy Davis Kho

NANCY DAVIS KHO is a writer in Oakland whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, US Magazi... Read Full Bio

Christine Martinez Loya

CHRISTINE MARTINEZ LOYA has won widespread acclaim as one of the most influential pinners on Pinterest with over five million followers and has... Read Full Bio

Christine Mellon

CHRISTINE MELLON is vice president, HCM transformation with Oracle. She has over 25 years of diverse experience in human resources, and has hel... Read Full Bio

Bonnie Grant Petrich

BONNIE GRANT PETRICH is the senior director of sales development at EMC. For the last five years she has been passionately educating the EMC s... Read Full Bio

Linda Popky

LINDA POPKY is the president of Leverage2Market Associates, a Silicon Valley-based strategic marketing company that helps transform organizatio... Read Full Bio

Laura Jane Watkins

LAURA JANE WATKINS is the director of RackspaceStartups|SF, a curated incubator of cloud and big data companies. She was a 2014 Hackbright Engi... Read Full Bio

Nuria Santamaria Wolfe

NURIA SANTAMARIA WOLFE leads Twitter’s multicultural strategy for the sales organization in the United States. In her current role, Wolfe a... Read Full Bio

Small Business Roundtable

Julie Hill Barton

JULIE HILL BARTON is a writer, mother of two and animal lover from Piedmont, California. Her memoir, “DOG MEDICINE, HOW MY DOG SAVED ME FROM ... Read Full Bio

Carolyn Bruen

CAROLYN BRUEN is a co-founder of The Fletching Group, a talent identification firm focusing on hard-to-find senior level and technical talent. ... Read Full Bio

CeCe Clark

CeCe Clark is director of global sales for Motivating the Masses. She has over 17 years of corporate development and entrepreneurial experienc... Read Full Bio

Lina Nilsson

LINA NILSSON is vice president of strategy and operations at Enlitic, the medical company founded to dramatically improve diagnostic outcomes f... Read Full Bio

Bruce Potterton

BRUCE POTTERTON is a co-founder of The Fletching Group, a talent identification consultancy that supports the needs of hiring managers of small... Read Full Bio

Kathy Quinlan-Perez

KATHY QUINLAN-PEREZ has been a master trainer in the personal and professional development industry for over 30 years. She trains and coaches... Read Full Bio

Janet Zhou

JANET ZHOU is a new venture expert and product manager at YouTube. Previously, she was director of product for BandPage, the central profile fo... Read Full Bio