Ken Patel has been in the Hospitality Business for over 20 years. Previously held senior level positions nationally, and built reputation on leading each market worked in, by building REVPAR Index growth year-over-year and GOP. As he has learned from my experiences in Dubai where he obtained my MBA in hospitality that operations and service are undervalued and can be overachieved. His experience encompasses all Brand-Types of hotels.

Ken has held Executive Positions from 2011 to 2018 before my relocation to Georgia from the NYC area and also has been voted under 40 to exceed expectations and made the cover of a travel magazine on a piece for resorts. The hospitality industry is all about giving and that is what Ken wants to demonstrate. Ken graduated high school in 1999 and have been in Hospitality ever since.

Vincent “Vinnie” Devoe serves as Senior Business Applications Manager at Signature Consultants. With 17+ years at Signature, Vinnie has supported the growth of the company in various capacities, serving as Senior Resource Manager and Manager of Development Programs before moving into his current role 5 years ago. Vinnie played an integral part in building out Signature’s award-winning training and development department. He currently manages the evolution of internal business technologies and solutions and has successfully deployed numerous technologies to improve efficiencies across Signature’s 28 offices including Bullhorn, Daxtra, Herefish, Cornerstone, Broadbean, and UpGlide.

Vinnie holds a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in management from Merrimack College.

As president of the industry’s leading provider of preventive care, Brian’s top priority is creating a high-performing, inclusive culture for Banfield Pet Hospital’s 19,000+ associates at 1,000+ hospitals across the country. Since Brian became president in 2017, Banfield has achieved the lowest turnover in its history while simultaneously averaging double-digit year-over-year growth. Over Brian’s time with Banfield, the multi-billion organization has grown by over 50 percent. He believes that pets, people and society are all connected and is passionate about ensuring Banfield is making a positive impact on the world.

Topics:

Leadership traits that make for a strong leader in moments of crisis

Accelerating innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Effective communication strategies for senior leadership in a remote workforce environment

Ashish Nangla, the CTO of OpenBots, comes from an extensive IT and automation background and is a renowned subject matter expert in User Experience, AI, ML, RPA, and similar topics. Nangla believes that the RPA market was a natural fit for an open source model since, unlike other enterprise software, most commercial RPA software requires extensive implementation, maintenance, and support services on top of license costs. “OpenBots is our attempt to fulfill a promise,” said Nangla. “We want everyone to be able to create enterprise-grade simple to complex automations, very quickly, with little effort, and at very little cost. Our slogan ‘Open Source Automation for All’ explains our initiative very clearly. We want the democratization of automation and the widespread availability of the tools.”

Jomayra Herrera is a principal at Cowboy Ventures, a seed-stage focused venture firm where she focuses on investing in the future of work and edtech companies. Prior to Cowboy, she spent nearly 3 years as an investor at Emerson Collective. As an early hire on the investing team, she played an important role in building key investment theses, creating internal processes, and helping to grow the team. During her time there, she led the firm’s investments in companies like Handshake and Career Karma. Before Emerson Collective, she worked at BloomBoard, an early-stage education technology company, where she focused on customer success and sales.

Robert has established himself as a thought leader on immigration.  He has implemented multiple programs surrounding work authorization, third party process, and international recruitment strategies during his 15 year career in the private sector.  Launching TheH1BGuy.com in June 2020, Robert consults with employers and employees to help maintain compliance and implement automated processes surrounding employment based preferences.  He posts weekly content to his Blog and YouTube channel where he covers News, Education, Advice and Reform discussions on the H1B Visa and other immigration benefits.

Marcus Session is the Vice President of Information Technology Services for Tampa International Airport (TPA). He is responsible for leading and advising on technology initiatives throughout the organization. He has 21 years of experience in Information Technology working in a variety of industries. Previously, he served as Interim CIO for USF Health and Senior Director of IT Operations for the USF System. 

During his tenure at Tampa International Airport the ITS team has undergone significant change; restructuring of the IT project management office, information security team, hosting several local technology events, and strengthened relationships with other technology organizations throughout the country. This has increased visibility, collaboration, security, and efficiency of technology initiatives at TPA. 

He has spoken at national conferences, led transformative initiatives, and promoted innovative ideas to help TPA reach its goals, and maintain its status as “America’s Favorite Airport”. He is also a leadership coach, college instructor, and holds a Master’s of Science in Information Technology, as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Florida. He is also a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and a Cisco Networking Academy alumnus.

Joel Patterson is the founder of The Vested Group, a business and technology consulting firm in the Dallas, Texas area. Joel has worked in the consulting field for over 20 years. He began his consulting career at Arthur Andersen and Capgemini before helping found Lucidity Consulting Group in 2001.

For 15 years Joel specialized in implementing Tier One ERP, software systems designed to service the needs of large, complex corporations with many departments and locations. These systems were too complex and expensive to meet the needs of his smaller customers.

With the small-to-medium market in mind and years of experience under his belt, he founded The Vested Group in 2011. The Vested Group focuses on bringing comprehensive cloud-based business management solutions to start-ups and well-established businesses alike. Joel and his exceptional team at The Vested Group strive to exceed client expectations and deliver solutions and support that allow companies to thrive.

Joel holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Baylor University. When he’s not creating a fun company culture at The Vested Group, Joel enjoys watching baseball with friends, listening to new music, and spending time outside. He attributes his success to his lovely wife and his patience to his children.

Gerald is the Chief Information Security Officer/Vice President for Sprinklr’s products andcorporate assets.In his prior role as Chief Information Security Officer/Vice President for LogMeIn, he was responsible for the security, compliance, and technical privacy of LogMeIn’s products and corporate assets. Before, Gerald was Chief Security Officer for Demandware, a Salesforce Company, responsible for security and acting Chief Privacy Officer and Data Protection Officer for Demandware’s German subsidiary.Previously, he worked for Sun Microsystems, Inc. in various roles, including the BusinessAlliances Group of Sun’s Chief Technologist’s Office. He is a member of the Infragard Member Alliance Boston Chapter Board of Directors and the IT Sector Chief, as well as a National Subject Matter Expert for Infragard, and has served on the board of other national membership organizations.Gerald holds a Master of Science degree in theoretical physics.

Ericka Witkowski founded Witko Group to fill a void in today’s market. With a focus on the ability to be nimble and offer innovative, personalized and technology-based solutions to clients. As a boutique firm, Witko Group is able to curate the best-in-class professionals per project – allowing the firm to become a true extension of the team.

Witkowski has over 9 years of experience in the South Florida real estate sector, having participated in many projects ranging from master planning, design, marketing, lease-up, and sale and purchase of office and mixed-use assets.

Prior to launching Witko Group, Witkowski served in brokerage roles at some of the top commercial real estate firms transacting over 215+ leases and sales. Most recently she served as a Director for Cushman & Wakefield South Florida, where during her two and a half year tenure she was involved in sales and leases totaling $186.5 million encompassing more than 435,000 square feet of transactions. Witkowski holds a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate from Florida State University.