Diversity Fuels Innovation Forum 2019

Jessica Powell is the author of The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional but Essentially True Silicon Valley Story. The first novel ever published by the digital platform Medium, The Big Disruption has surpassed over 100,000 readers and was described by The New York Times as “a zany satire [whose] diagnosis of Silicon Valley’s cultural stagnancy is so spot on that it’s barely contestable.”

Until recently, Jessica was Google’s Vice President of Communications and served on the company’s management team. She is the author of Literary Paris, and her fiction and non-fiction has been published in The Guardian, the New York Times, Time, WIRED, and the Medium magazine. She is also the co-founder and CEO of an early-stage start-up that builds software for musicians.

Therese founded BlackLine in 2001. She designed the first offerings of BlackLine’s products, engineered its transition to the cloud in 2007, and has led the organization in automating the financial close process via the company’s flagship Finance Controls and Automation Platform. Under her direction, BlackLine has experienced strong growth since its inception.

Previously, Therese served as Chief Technology Officer for SunGard Treasury Systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Illinois.

Susan is responsible for building, scaling and elevating BlackLine’s global talent practices and programs as the company continues to expand and add employees around the world.

Susan came to BlackLine with more than 20 years of experience building and leading successful human resources organizations at mid-size and large companies across multiple industries. She most recently was Chief Human Resources Officer at digital automotive marketplace TrueCar. Prior to that, she spent four years as Chief People Officer at ModCloth, a San Francisco-based online retailer of women’s apparel. Previously, Susan held senior human resource leadership positions with Electronic Arts and Medtronic.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing and Management from Saint Mary’s University and a Master of Arts degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Bonnie is one of the founding team members at Tala, and is currently the Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Workplace Culture at Tala. In this role she acts as a strategic consultant to Tala’s business leaders and People team focused on attracting, retaining and developing talent that reflects the company’s D&E values and promoting an inclusive environment where employees at all levels can perform their best. Previously, as Global Operations Director she has worked on a variety of projects to ensure that the wheels are always turning at the company. From people operations and culture to finance, compliance and investor relations, her role continues to evolve as the company evolves. Prior to working at Tala, Bonnie worked as a Bilingual Business Specialist for Empowerment Group, an SBA Women’s Business Center in Philadelphia, as a Program Manager for the NYC Department of Small Businesses Services and a Grants Manager at Good/Corps. Bonnie received a BA in Government from Wesleyan University and an MPA at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She is a StartingBloc Fellow and an Echoing Green Fellow. She serves on the Board of Trustees at De La Salle Academy in New York City and is a member of the Equity and Inclusion committee on Alumni Council at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

Originally from the Netherlands, Arjen is a business leader, people geek, and strengths-based coach, with 12+ years of experience in leading HR strategy and people functions. As the first SVP of People for FabFitFun, a fast-growing lifestyle company based in LA, Arjen oversees the end-to-end employee experience and people operations. As a member of their senior executive team, his mission is to further develop a unique employee experience that engages people to be their best fab self as the company scales, while retaining the foundational elements that have made the company so successful. In 2018 FabFitFun earned a Timmy Award for excellence in diversity. Prior to FabFitFun, Arjen was the People and Operations Director for BCG Digital Ventures, a corporate investment and incubation firm in Manhattan Beach, overseeing the people operations for their North America region. At BCG DV Arjen helped to build their diversity initiatives, inspired by their core company value to “Seek Difference”. Previous experience includes HR roles at LG Electronics and strategic advisory roles at the Boston Consulting Group. Arjen is driven by his passion for inclusion (his number one Clifton Strength is “Includer”) and empowering everyone to contribute to the best of their abilities.

Liji began her career lobbying on Capitol Hill for an increase in housing for low income women and children. In 2005, Liji joined Countrywide as a Project Manager and quickly rose through the ranks to become Assistant Vice President of Compliance and Risk Management. In this role, she oversaw compliance and risk assessment in Countrywide’s offshore operations and authored Countrywide’s Model for Offshore Compliance, a cross functional, global, risk-based approach to the company’s compliance efforts. In 2008, Liji joined the Internal Audit Department of Southwest Airlines. During her time in Internal Audit, Liji led the company’s first Capitalization of Labor Audit and published an article advancing thought leadership in the space in the 2010 issue of Internal Auditor magazine. She then assumed a role as Manager of Business Strategy, implementing new business initiatives impacting over 3,600 individuals. These initiatives included strategies to increase revenue, improve customer experience and realize process efficiencies. In the first six months of 2012, Liji impacted revenue generation in excess of $40 million. In late 2012, Liji Thomas was shoulder-tapped to help build diversity and inclusion efforts for Southwest Airlines. In this role, she informed all aspects of diversity and inclusion for the nations’ largest domestic airline and helped align Southwest Airlines culture with an award-winning diversity and inclusion strategy. After consulting with several Fortune 500 clients, Liji now leads the diversity and inclusion journey at Southern California Edison, a Fortune 250 company at the forefront of creating the clean energy future.

Liji is married and is the proud mom of two girls. In her spare time, Liji contributes to various charitable and civic causes. She is a Former Jesuit Volunteer and a 1998 graduate of Vanderbilt University. She has an MBA in Finance, a Master’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Information Technology Management and Consulting and holds CPA, CIA, CRMA and SHRMCP designations. She was chosen to deliver her graduate school commencement address and is a graduate of the Leadership Dallas Class of 2017.

Anthony is a software engineer at Google. Raised in Compton as a foster kid after suffering physical and sexual abuse, he taught himself how to program computers at age 8 and started his career as an INROADS intern.

Perhaps best known for the short BuzzFeed documentary about his journey from Compton to Google, he is a frequent public speaker at schools and other student organizations. He was awarded the 2016 INROADS Trendsetter Award for his work promoting diversity in tech.

Anthony graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. His GPA was horrible, so don’t ask.

Danny Acosta, currently Partner and Managing Director with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has built a career that brings together global public and private sector experience, working on policy and strategic growth initiatives, and organizational transformations, with corporate and government leaders across a range of industries. Now based in his hometown of Los Angeles, Danny has worked heavily in industries ranging from Media & Entertainment to Infrastructure and Economic Development. Building on his background in international development – and having worked across the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia – Danny also works with BCG’s Social Impact and Global Advantage Practices, helping companies and governments bridge the gaps between developing and developed markets.

Born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles, Danny was fortunate to be one of those “first in the family” to go to college, building on the support and mentorship of many along the way. He carries that privilege forward by investing actively to create additional opportunity for an inclusive US community and economy. He is the co-lead of BCG’s Black+Latinx network, which brings together both Black/African-American and Hispanic/Latino colleagues; he has actively supported the activities and mission of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, where he serves as a Board Member; he is a Board member of the Univision Foundation and the Latino Donor Collaborative.

Prior to his work with BCG, Danny served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, spending time as an Economics Officer in Washington, D.C. and overseas. He earned his Juris Doctorate and Master’s in Business Administration, both with honors, from Georgetown University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science, with honors, at Yale, and has participated in programs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and Oxford University.

Diana Mogollón is a senior entertainment executive who has impacted and fueled critically-acclaimed, award-winning, multi-platform content. A leader in creating cross-cultural, tastemaker audiences for studios, networks and talent, she is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Stage 13, a distinctive brand in the Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group. With a curated team of creative executives, Stage 13 is the leader in creating award-winning premium scripted and unscripted programming for highly-coveted, multi-dimensional audiences.

Focusing on fearless original digital storytelling, Stage 13 showcases a new generation of talent and fresh creative voices, creating dynamic and unapologetic scripted and unscripted series, features and short-form content. Mogollón helped develop and incubate the brand, transitioning to Stage 13 after serving in Business Strategy and Development at the Warner Bros. Television Group, where she led a core business team as part of broader strategic initiatives for Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Previously, she served as a corporate executive at NBCUniversal as Executive Vice President and General Manager for the award-winning mun2 cable network, the leading lifestyle entertainment cable network targeting Latino millenials. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing and executing overall operational and P&L leadership for the business. She spearheaded the brand’s unparalleled growth strategy across all business units, providing astute leadership within the Telemundo, NBCUniversal, and Comcast divisional portfolio, yielding major achievements with all stakeholders.

Mogollón has been recognized as an one of the “Industry Leaders, Top Women in Digital” by Cynopsis, a “Woman of Impact” by Variety Magazine, one of the “Most Powerful Women in Cable” by CableFAX magazine, a “Wonder Woman to Watch” by Multichannel News, one of the “Most Influential Minorities in Cable” by CableFAX magazine, one of the “Most Powerful and Influential Latinos in Entertainment” by the Imagen Foundation, a “Top Woman in Music & Entertainment” by Billboard Magazine and a CableFAX Diversity Award nominee.

Eva is a General Partner at Fika Ventures, an early stage technology fund investing in companies that leverage the power of data as a core component of their business model. Prior to Fika, Eva was a founding GP at Susa Ventures. She is a serial entrepreneur and founder, with a company experience portfolio including Applied Semantics (AdSense), Factual, Google, Youtube and Navigating Cancer. She also serves on the board of California Community Foundation and is a founding member of All Raise, an organization committed to diversity in venture funders and founders. She was recently the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the city of Los Angeles working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and his team. Eva holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA from Harvard.

Hamet Watt is a Board Partner at Upfront. He is also co-founder and former Chairman of MoviePass, a subscription service for movies in theaters, and co-founder and former Chairman of bLife, a wellness innovation company acquired by Canary Health.

Previously, Hamet was an EIR at True Ventures, after exiting another company that he founded called NextMedium (acquired by Brand Affinity Technologies). Prior to NextMedium, Hamet advised Nielsen Media Research in the development of the first product placement measurement service for network and cable TV. Hamet was also a General Partner in the New Africa Opportunity Fund, the first US-backed venture fund investing in post-apartheid South Africa. Hamet received a BS from Florida A&M.

Renée LaBran is an active investor, advisor and board director with more than 25 years of operating, strategic and financial experience. She currently advises a number of early stage companies and serves on the boards of Sambazon, Inc, Idealab, and TomboyX. Additionally, she is Governor Brown’s appointee to the Board of the California State Bar as a non-attorney public member, and a faculty member at UCLA Anderson School of Business. Renée is also a co-founder of Women Founders Network, which provides access to capital, visibility and mentorship to female entrepreneurs. Renée was a founding partner of Rustic Canyon Partners, an early stage technology investment firm, and RC / Fontis, which focused on investments in businesses targeting underserved markets. Prior to the funds, Renée was an operating executive at the Los Angeles Times, where she was also co-founder and CEO of CareerPath (now CareerBuilder), and a management consultant with Monitor Company. Renée graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics from UC Berkeley, and received her MBA with honors from the Harvard Business School.

Ms. Gray is the Founder & Managing Partner of The 22 Fund, an impact, growth firm with a mission to great the quality jobs of the future by increasing the export capacity of Southern California manufacturing companies, targeting women- and minority-owned businesses. She is also an Executive in Residence at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and chairs LACI’s Diversity in Entrepreneurship Advisory Council.

In addition, Ms. Gray is the founder of the non-profit We Are Enough (WAE). WAE’s only mission is to educate ALL women on how and why to invest in women-owned, for-profit businesses or with a “gender lens.” WAE recently released the study Creating LAIA:The Feasibility of a Women-Focused Incubator and Accelerator in Los Angeles. Ms. Gray was named one of the 50 “Women of Influence” in business in Los Angeles and is featured in the recently released book “200 Hundred Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World”.

Ms. Gray was formerly senior advisor for international business to the LA Mayor, an investment professional at a venture capital fund and a systems engineer on the Space Shuttle program. Ms. Gray holds a B.S. in Mathematical Science with an aeronautics emphasis from the UC Santa Barbara and dual MBAs from Columbia University and UC, Berkeley.

Darya is passionate about the advancement of women. In 2013, she co-founded Women Founders Network (WFN), a virtual accelerator whose goal is to connect women founders not only with the required capital but also with the resources, connections, mentorship and sponsorship they need to grow scalable, successful businesses. Since 2013, WFN and its members have awarded and invested over $1.3M in cash and services to women founders and alumni have raised over $68M in funding. Subsequently, Darya founded the nonprofit Women Founders Foundation (WFF) in 2017, with a mission of educating women and girls about entrepreneurship to inspire the next generation of women founders and investors. In 2008, Darya founded Broads Circle, an executive level women’s networking group with a focus on money and power for women. Darya has been recognized for her community work and the advancement of women by the LABJ and California Women Lead. Darya serves on several nonprofit boards.