Sid Nayar is the Vice President of People Strategy, Operations, Insights, and Talent Development at Freshworks, where he leads transformative initiatives at the intersection of technology and human potential. With a wealth of experience in driving operational success within billion-dollar global companies, Sid specializes in organizational leadership, change management, and talent development. He is dedicated to empowering teams, fostering collaboration, and delivering results that drive business growth. Outside of his work at Freshworks, Sid is a committed advocate for children’s welfare, serving as a National Board member of Gift of Adoption. An avid traveler and hiker, he draws inspiration from his global adventures to fuel both his personal and professional journey.

Anita I. Jivani is the Head of Innovation at Avanade Northeast and Director of the NYC Innovation Center, where she is focused on advising organizations on the Future of Work, Innovation, and Organizational Strategy and Design. She has spent time dissecting how shifts in our ecosystem are impacting how we live and reframing the way we work. She has counseled organizations on how these megatrends impact their strategy and how investing intentionally can prepare leaders for the future. Her interest in innovation and cross-sector collaboration stems from her work as a Fulbright Scholar, in which she examined the role of business in improving sociopolitical relations between the United States and Mexico.

Johanna Anchundia Bazos is an executive recruitment and talent strategy leader with more than 15 years of experience across financial services, technology, and media. As Head of Executive Recruitment at BNY, she drives senior hiring across corporate functions and is building a global talent research engine that supports all executive recruitment at the firm. In her role, Johanna partners with the executive leadership, senior stakeholders, and HR to deliver executive recruitment and talent strategies that accelerate transformation, improve decision quality, enhance cost discipline, and strengthen governance.

Prior to BNY, Johanna served as Executive Search Leader at NBCUniversal, working across different businesses and brands including Telemundo, DreamWorks, Peacock.  She was previously a Senior Executive Recruiter at BlackRock for iShares, BlackRock Solutions, and corporate roles, and began her executive search career at Heidrick & Struggles.

Johanna started her professional journey at Davis Polk & Wardwell working on capital market matters and continued at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as a senior analyst.

Originally from Ecuador, Johanna lives on the Upper West Side with her family and is a graduate of Haverford College.

Michelle L. Anderson is the Global Assistant Vice President, Learning, Develop at AmTrust Financial Services.

Laura Bartus is the Chief Learning Officer for the Human Health Project and the head of learning and development for CenterWell Pharmacy, a division of Humana. At the Human Health Project, Laura helps the organization set near-term and future strategy, scale up its patient education programs, and increase its reach to new groups of patients and caregivers. At Humana, Laura’s teams create, deliver, and track learning and development programs for the pharmacy organization’s 12,000 associates. This includes dispensing sites, call centers, professional tracks, and Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs. Laura’s organization effectiveness team tracks operational results and develops learning metrics strategy to improve their business impact. Laura leads development sessions for leaders and associates across the enterprise, and also externally at many industry events. Laura is passionate about coaching, providing employees with equitable advancement opportunities, building up a robust talent pipeline, and helping her team to be a valued partner to the business.

Laura started out as a high school English teacher, teaching and learning a ton from some amazing teens. In the corporate world, Laura has done nearly every job in learning, moving through design, facilitation, and many leadership roles. She has been involved with several volunteer organizations. She has four crazy children – two of which are twins and three of which are boys. So she also has a crippling coffee addiction, and she really loves work trips. She finds sanity through taking hikes and reading new books. Don’t get her started on dad jokes, because it will delay your meeting for at least five minutes.

Heather Sepulveda is the Head of Executive Search & Talent Intelligence at Takeda.

Alvaro Soto is VP of Product at TeamSense, leading product strategy and applied AI for the platform that connects hourly workers across manufacturing and logistics via SMS. Before TeamSense, Alvaro spent years building enterprise AI products at IBM Watson and led product at Procore Technologies, one of construction tech's largest platforms. He brings a rare cross-discipline background spanning product management, UX design, and AI — and a sharp focus on applying that experience where it's needed most: the 80% of the workforce most tech ignores.

Arj Ugarow is the Head of Talent Acquisition at Panasonic Connect.

Allison is the Sr. Director, Human Resources at  Interpublic Group.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.