Tracy Layney is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Levi Strauss & Co. Tracy is responsible for LS&Co.’s people strategy on a global scale, including diversity, equity & inclusion, recruiting, employee engagement, talent management, compensation, and benefits,
HR technology and HR communications.

Tracy brings more than 20 years of experience in human resources and organization strategy to her role. Prior to joining LS&Co., she served as senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Shutterfly, Inc., the leading retailer of personalized photo-based products. Before Shutterfly, Tracy spent 10 years at Gap Inc., where she held numerous senior leadership roles in HR, most recently serving as the senior vice president of Global Human Resources and Communications for Old Navy. Prior to Gap Inc., Tracy held positions at LS&Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers/IBM Business Consulting Services where she worked with Fortune 500 clients in the high tech, financial services, retail, and healthcare industries on projects ranging from organization design and development to strategic change management.

Tracy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated magna cum laude. She is active in the HR thought leader community and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Foundation. In her free time, Tracy loves to cook and share great food and wine with family and friends. She has a life-long love of dance, theater, and art, and is passionate about travel, visiting destinations near and far with her husband and son.

Courtney Peterson is Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Courtney joined EEI in 2021. She provides executive leadership to EEI’s industry-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) strategy and practice area, also overseeing EEI’s 40-year-old business/supplier diversity program. She also drives engagement with EEI’s member company chief human resources officers. Courtney leads EEI’s internal human resources / DE&I strategy and operations for its DC-based staff and internal facility operations. Courtney also serves as Chief Administrative Officer for the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD).

Prior to joining EEI, Courtney served as Chief People and Culture Officer at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. and served in various HR leadership roles for the Fannie Mae Foundation and the American Diabetes Association. She has earned senior-level human resources certifications from the Society for Human Resources Management and the Human Resources Certification Institute. Courtney is on the board of directors of the SHRM Foundation and is on the faculty at Georgetown University in the School of Continuing Studies, teaching in the master's degree program in human resources management.

Courtney is certified as a leadership/executive coach at the professional certified coach (PCC) level through the International Coaching Federation and a certified workplace mediator. Courtney has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in adult education and leadership from Robert Morris University. She also holds an executive certificate in leadership coaching from Georgetown University.

Courtney has been named one of the Most Influential Executives in Diversity & Inclusion by Savoy Magazine, as well as a Top 100 Diversity Officer™. She has also been named a Gamechanger: Introvert to Watch by Hushloudly Media Group. Courtney is a member of the Top Ladies of Distinction as well as Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Karen Bennett is the executive vice president and chief people officer for Cox Enterprises, a private, family-owned company based in Atlanta, Georgia, with more than $20 billion in annual revenues. In her role, she leads the people solutions, corporate affairs, inclusion & diversity, HR technology services, benefits, compensation, talent acquisition, and the brand, marketing, and creative departments.

Bennett brings more than 30 years of experience in leading teams that focus on maximizing talent potential and the total employee experience while addressing the needs of the business.

Before joining Cox Enterprises, Karen was EVP and chief people officer for Cox Communications. There she developed and executed talent strategies to align with Cox's operating principles and worked through the challenges of driving continual growth in the business.

Prior to that role, Karen was chief human resources officer for Cox Media Group. Before her time with Cox, Bennett was chief human resources officer for YP (formerly AT&T Ad Solutions). She is a cable veteran as well, having served as senior vice president of human resources for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. for nearly 14 years.

Bennett currently serves on the board of directors of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) Foundation, the board of directors for the Human Resources Leadership Forum of Atlanta, and the Georgia State University's HR Roundtable consortium.

Bennett is a graduate of Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia where she earned both her bachelor's and executive MBA degrees. Terry College recognized Bennett as a Distinguished Alumni in April 2023. She is also an ICF-certified executive coach.

Christina McCarthy is VP for Member Engagement & Operations at One Mind at Work, a global nonprofit that brings together leading global employers committed to the mental health and wellbeing of their workforce. Christina partners directly with One Mind at Work’s member organizations to assess current workplace mental health efforts and identify opportunities to improve existing programs and increase access and utilization.

Christina holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Bay Head, New Jersey with her husband and two children.

Rob Shriver serves as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). His portfolio includes recruiting and hiring, pay and leave, labor relations, performance management, the Senior Executive Service, work-life, telework, and supporting governmentwide diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Rob previously served at OPM during President Obama’s Administration. From 2009-2012, Rob was OPM’s Deputy General Counsel for Policy, leading development and implementation of a number of government-wide initiatives, including expanding equality for LGBTQ+ Federal employees, improving Federal sector labor relations, and reforming the hiring process. From 2012-2014, Rob served as OPM’s Assistant Director for National Healthcare Operations, where he led the creation of a new program under the ACA called the Multi-State Plan program.

In the years between his OPM stints, Rob continued to work on the ACA, first in state government, serving from 2014-2018 as the Director of Marketplace Innovation, Policy, and Operations at the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority. He then worked for a private sector IT company—IdeaCrew, Inc.—as the Vice President for Business Development, working with states to improve their health benefit exchange IT platforms.

Rob began his career as an Assistant Counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union, litigating cases on behalf of federal employees at all levels of the Federal judiciary from 1996-2009.

Rob earned his B.A. in International Studies from Virginia Tech and his J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife JoAnn and three children Robby, Mitch, and Justine.

Heather Bussing is a California employment attorney with over 30 years’ experience providing sensible and strategic advice to employers. Her deep experience with business, humans, technology, and work gives her a unique perspective focused on preventing and solving problems rather than fighting about them. 

 Heather has been interviewed and quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Business Insider, and NPR. She writes a daily column on the latest in employment laws, covering pay equity and transparency, AI in HR Tech, and why compliance, diversity, and fairness are good business. 

Kent is as passionate about compensation and pay equity as he was in 1999 when he co-founded Salary.com with a goal of reinventing how employers and employees access compensation data. Kent has always believed pay equity is a two-sided coin and designed the business to support that belief. The company’s groundbreaking Salary Wizard was the first tool employees could access to understand their worth, effectively lifting the veil on salary information for millions of employees annually. On the B2B side, Salary.com has become the preeminent provider of compensation market data, software, and analytics, serving over 30,000 survey participant organizations, 8,000 business-to-business software subscribers, and 45+ million employees globally. 

Kent holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and A.B. in Economics and Government from Georgetown University. He is a three-time Inc. 500 CEO, a six-time Deloitte Fast 50 awardee and recipient of the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year Award for business services. Kent is accredited by WorldatWork as a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP®)