Adri Maisonet Morales, EdD, MBA, MSOP, PMP

Vice President of Talent Management, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina

Bio: 

Adrienna (Adri) Maisonet Morales is the Vice President of the award-winning, Enterprise Learning and Blue University at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC).  With over 29 years of experience, Adri has established a solid reputation as a trusted thought leader. 

With a passion for talent development, Adri serves on the boards of the North Carolina Business for Education, Durham Compact, Center for Talent Reporting, Chief Learning Officer, and the Durham Chamber of Commerce, to name a few.  Additionally, Adri actively volunteers for a wide range of civic and community opportunities and is committed to paying it forward and helping others achieve their personal best.  

As an accomplished speaker, Adri enjoys sharing her knowledge across the country on topics that range from corporate learning, workforce development, and a host of motivational and skill-building topics that inspires people to maintain relevance through continuous learning.  

Adri holds a BS in Leadership Development, in Organizational Performance from Bellevue University, and an MBA from Penn State University, a variety of certifications across multiple disciplines. 

Brenda Sugrue, PhD,

Former Chief Learning Officer, EY (Retired)

Bio: Brenda Sugrue, PhD, has over 25 years’ experience leading learning transformation and innovation in large organizations. She was the Global Chief Learning Officer at EY from 2014 to 2024 and was selected as CLO Magazine’s CLO of the year in 2018. Brenda’s career spanned corporate and academic roles, including Sales Learning Leader at IBM, Vice President of Innovation and Research at Kaplan, and Professor of Instructional Design and Technology at the University of Iowa. Brenda champions evidence-based practice, translating learning science into scalable processes and systems for designing, delivering, and measuring learning.

Judy Whitcomb

Founder, Storybook Leadership Consulting LLC

Bio: 

Judy has more than 25 yearsʼ experience in a variety of HR and organizational development leadership roles. An award-winning learning and development strategist, speaker, facilitator and trainer, sheʼs worked with over 1,000 leaders – from emerging high potentials to C-suite executives – to help them take steps to close gaps preventing them from leading most effectively. Judy is a veteran CHRO and chief learning officer with experience in the transportation, financial services, hospitality, health care and not-for-profit sectors. Judyʼs coaching clients have included leaders from organizations such as Coca-Cola, Hallmark, 7-11, IRI, Beam Suntory, Conagra, General Mills, Potters Industries, Black and Decker, Hannaford Brothers, Vi Senior Living and Google X. Additionally, she has practical experience leading operations, business development, marketing and finance functions and has worked with boards on governance, organizational strategy and succession planning. In 2020 Judy was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of Chicago’s top HR executives. She is a certified Berkeley Executive Coach and holds assessment and coaching certifications from Gallup, Korn Ferry, Center for Creative Leadership, Hogan and EQi 2.0.

Mary Kay Vona, Ed.D.

Change, Strategy and Transformation Leader
Innovation and Digital Executive
Educator, Mentor and Coach
Board Chair

Bio: 

• Dr. Mary Kay Vona brings over 37 years of industry and consulting expertise. She has a unique combination of practice leadership, education, strategy, innovation, change management, business transformation and talent strategy experience. She is a change agent with a strategic mindset and ability to motivate others. Mary Kay is an adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt, The George Washington Universities and University of California-Davis, where she teaches Consultation Skills, Organizational Development and Business Transformation courses to graduate students and Strategy/Analytics to doctoral students. She is also a Prosci TM Certified Change Practitioner and Train the Trainer as well as a recognized author and speaker. During her time at EY, Mary Kay led the Financial Service region for People Advisory Services (PAS) change management and talent practice. She also was the founding member of EY’s Learning Services and Adoption practice. Prior to joining EY, Mary Kay held similar Partnership roles at PW/PWCC/IBM for over 22 years and served many industries including Financial Services, Media & Entertainment, Automotive, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities,
Communications and Telco. She was IBM’s Human Capital Practice Leader and Global Learning Partner, driving learning and adoption solutions and thought leadership around the globe.
• Dr Vona has endowed the “Dr. Mary Kay Vona and Family” Doctoral Scholarship at The George Washington University as well as an undergraduate scholarship in business at Mercyhurst University.
• Dr. Vona has extensive experience in designing and implementing in- person, online and hybrid degree and non-degree programs in higher education and other industries.

Kevin D. Wilde

Executive Leadership Fellow, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Bio: 

Kevin D. Wilde serves as an Executive Leadership Fellow at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. He teaches applied leadership in several graduate courses. His current research topics include leadership coachability, executive derailment and contemporary talent development. In 2015, he concluded a 34-year corporate career in leadership and talent development at General Electric and General Mills.

During his time at General Mills, the organization was consistently recognized for its innovative development work, highlighted by Fortune’s #2 ranking as one of the best companies in the world at leadership development, #1 listing by Leadership Excellence magazine, #1 Global Learning Elite ranking, and Training magazine’s “Hall of Fame” designation as a top company for employee development. In 2007, Chief Learning Officer magazine selected Kevin as CLO of the year.

Kevin continues to be an active contributor to the leadership and talent development profession with business advising and writing. His advisory work includes the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and GP Strategies.

His most recent book, “Coachability: The Leadership Superpower,” was published in 2022 and received a gold award from the North American Book Awards. His early books include “Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves that Matter Now” and “A CLO Leadership Reader: Chief Learning Officer Magazine’s Best for Today’s Learning Leader.” His writing for Talent Management magazine received a national award for editorial excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. His work has also been published in over a dozen books, including “Coaching for Leadership,” the “Pfieffer Annual on Leadership Development” and “Forward Focused Learning.”

While actively researching, writing and teaching, he first and foremost considers himself a student of the game of leadership and believes there is always something new to learn.

Kristi Conlon

Fractional Chief Learning Officer, Kristi Conlon Consulting LLC

Bio: