General Session Speakers

Justin Jones-Fosu

Justin Jones-Fosu is a full-time family man who also happens to be a highly sought-after business speaker, social entrepreneur, and meaningful work researcher. He is the founder and CEO of Work.Meaningful. where he combines over a decade of leadership in Fortune 500 companies, his real-life experience and research to help global organizations create new rhythms of sustainable excellence, profitability, and engagement. Speaking over 60 times a year, Justin speaks and leads workshops and training with companies, organizations, and associations in the US and internationally on meaningful work and workplace engagement.

He is passionate about helping organizations and individuals take ownership of their mindset, purpose, and performance to achieve amazing results.  His latest book "Your WHY Matters NOW: How Some Achieve More and Others Don't" challenges the reader to merge their purpose and productivity to get more out of work and life. He is all about turning events into memorable and action-oriented experiences with his humorous and engaging delivery as well as with his research-based content!

 

 

Molly Nece

Molly Nece is a leadership expert in higher education who delivers high-spirited keynote presentations that challenge audiences to intentionally focus on becoming rich—and it doesn’t always mean dollars. 

 

After 25 years in higher education, at four universities of various sizes and levels of distinction, she launched Golden Age Leadership, a company that helps leaders and teams to create a culture that fosters a sense of value and belonging to support the future of work without sacrificing employees’ well-being or productivity.

 

Molly earned a Master’s degree in Training and Organizational Development from West Chester University and her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Education and Spanish from Gettysburg College. She later received numerous certifications in mediation, lean six sigma, performance & mental health coaching, crucial conversations, human performance improvement, and DEI workplace.

 

 

Howard Teibel

Howard Teibel is the founder of Teibel Education Consulting. For three decades, Howard and his team have worked with higher education leaders to confront their toughest challenges as they envision how to define – and redefine – the value of a 21st century education.

With the confluence of accelerating technology, external economic forces, demographic shifts and the questioning of the value of higher education, Teibel asserts the answer lives in learning to build a culture of shared commitment among the academy, administrators and their boards. One thing is certain: education in 2030 will look and feel different from today. Teibel’s mission is to break down the old fiefdoms -- The academy versus the administration -- to work across divisions and develop leaders who will step up to innovate and re-create education.

As a public speaker and writer for numerous higher education associations, Howard contributes to the national discourse on emerging trends facing education. His 10-year podcast Navigating Change brings together practitioners who innovate how teams in academia and business work together.

Howard is a graduate of University of Binghamton and long-time student of many modalities of personal growth including the language action theory of Dr. Fernando Flores and the transformation work of the Hoffman Institute. He is also a co-founder of Fathers Forever, an organization dedicated to creating fellowship among men who have experienced the death of a child.

Laura Sparks

Laura Sparks is the president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a recognized leader in higher education, finance, community economic development, and philanthropy.  

Laura assumed her role at The Cooper Union on January 4, 2017. She is the 13th president of the institution and the first woman to hold the position. With her leadership, Cooper is pursuing an ambitious and comprehensive plan to offer full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduate students, returning Cooper to its roots of providing a free education for students from all walks of life.  

Laura serves as Vice Chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges & Universities (CICU) in New York and is Chair of its Audit & Compensation Committee. Laura is also Chair of the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU). She was recently nominated by the Acting Secretary of the Air Force to serve in the Air and Space Force Civic Leaders Program, which will advise the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Chief of Space Operations, and Air and Space Forces senior leaders.

Previously, Laura served as executive director of the William Penn Foundation, a $2 billion private foundation dedicated to improving the quality of Philadelphia, the sixth largest U.S. city, and the region that surrounds it.

Prior to that, she had worked as senior vice president for financial services at Opportunity Finance Network—a national nonprofit serving local Community Development Financial Institutions across the country. She later served as the director of development finance initiatives for Citi Community Development and Citi Foundation. She also previously held positions in public and private finance at UBS Securities and at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Her prior board service has included the Governor’s Advisory Board for Community Development, the Credit Committee and Capital Formation Committee for Living Cities, and the board of Aeris, a nonprofit information service for community investors who champion economic justice in under-served markets.

Laura earned a B.A. in philosophy from Wellesley College, J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

 

Damon A. Williams

Damon Williams is a visionary and inspirational leader, and one of the nation’s recognized experts in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility, and organizational change.

 

For four years, he led a $250M social impact portfolio for the world’s largest youth development company, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, representing the interests of nearly 4M diverse youth and teens as Senior Vice President for Programs and Chief Education Officer.

 

One of the original architects of the Inclusive Excellence concept in American higher education, he is the author of best-sellers - Strategic Diversity Leadership and the Chief Diversity Officer. He is a global thought leader having worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, foundations, and government agencies, as keynote speaker, strategist, educator, and social impact leader.

 

He is currently chief catalyst for the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership & Social Innovation and a Senior Scholar and Innovation Fellow at the Wisconsin Equity, and Inclusion (Wei) Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he previously served as Associate Vice Chancellor and inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement Officer.

 

Damon received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education (CSHPE) in Organizational Behavior and Management, and his MS and BS degrees from Miami University in Educational Leadership and Sociology and Black World Studies, respectively.