Uncaged Show

Jorge Alderete is the President of ALK Americas and Sr. VP, Commercial Operations, the American division of Denmark-based ALK. ALK is a global, research-driven pharmaceutical company that focuses on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of allergies. 

The company is a proven pioneer in allergy immunotherapy, working to desensitize patients’ immune system and may completely remove one’s allergy symptoms and the need for traditional, symptom-relieving medication.

Kenneth Alston is a partner at CircularityEdge. He is also recognized as an experienced problem solver who knows how to implement the concept of a sustainable, circular economy in the real world to make and save money. Kenneth adds financial, social, and environmental value.  

Ken works with small, medium-sized & multinational companies, governments & organizations on how to design for a sustainable, circular economy. He's been consulting on sustainable development, cradle to cradle design, and implementing strategies for what we now call the circular economy for over 21 years.

As the President at Alma Lasers, Inc., Keith Adams is not simply a leader, but he also prides himself on being a teacher that focuses on professional development for his team in addition to developing processes that drive sustainable growth and real results. This has been accomplished by creating an environment that promotes transparency and professional vulnerability.

John Bertrand is the CEO of Digital Diagnostics, a pioneering AI diagnostics company on a mission to transform the accessibility, affordability, equity, and quality of healthcare. Bertrand is an experienced business leader at the cross-section of healthcare and technology. Through his 15+ years in the healthcare technology industry, he has developed expertise in identifying market opportunities, creating new products, pivoting existing businesses, and building strong teams.

Steve Brothers’ career has evolved under the philosophy that the cornerstone of his success is built upon having personally experienced every position that he manages. He has been afforded this opportunity by having been involved in numerous technology startups at varying stages of growth. This diversity of experience allows Steve to provide solid insight into both tactical implementation and strategic planning, across ordinary boundaries of business function. He was an early employee in a technical leadership role at Health Language, which pioneered technology around terminology management and educated the healthcare industry about its value. After moving away from technology leadership and into sales, Steve was an early employee at Ajubeo, a high-end cloud company that focused on enterprise delivery, where he was responsible for generating a significant portion of the company’s revenue. He later became its CEO and prepared the company for sale. Presently, Steve is responsible for operations, including planning, financials, business development, product management, and software development processes, for Phase Change Software, where they are developing revolutionary technology that will democratize software development.

Keith is the Co-Founder of The Power Hive, a network – or Hive – where members can collaborate to expand horizons, develop through peer-to-peer learning, grow businesses and drive improvements all whilst socializing with like-minded individuals.  

As Co-Founder of The Power Hive, Keith works with recruitment business leaders as a Non-Executive Director and Marketing Automation expert. 

He shares his knowledge with ambitious agency owners looking to grow, innovate and implement recruitment technology in their business strategy.  With over 28 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Keith has extensive knowledge in recruiting, recruitment technology, and marketing strategy in the recruitment business.

As strategic business leader and business development executive, Josh Stern brings a record of success in transforming operations to drive employee engagement, client satisfaction, and revenue growth. He excels at creating and executing a vision of change to maximize results enterprise-wide; developing trusted consultative relationships within C-suite leaders; and maximizing portfolio growth and new product development, regardless of the internal or market challenge. With a collaborative leadership style and a people-first approach-I build high-performance teams based on a culture of accountability, recognition, talent development, and intellectual diversity.

Michel L’Heureux is the current President and CEO of ILF Canada. A driven engineering and business development leader with progressive experience growing organizations and executing projects, Mike leverages over 15 years of experience in engineering and consulting in leading cross-functional teams to overcome project and organizational challenges. As a highly engaged analytical and strategic thinker, Mike thrives in a global work environment and crafting fit-for-purpose solutions to clients and stakeholders in the energy industry. By developing strong client relations and driving the passion, strengths, talent, and skills of his teams, Mike continues to elevate ILF Canada as a leader in oil & gas and the energy transition.

Melisa Buie makes lasers and solves problems. She is the Corporate Director for Lean Operational Excellence at Coherent, Inc., a $2B global photonics solutions company, where she works on both engineering and business problems. She has extensive experience in operations and engineering, lean manufacturing, and global implementation.  

Prior to joining Coherent, Melisa was a Member of the Technical Staff and an Engineering Manager at Applied Materials, Inc. and Advanced Energy. She also worked as a Research Scientist for Science Applications International Corporation working at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. where she made theoretical lasers.

BJ Schaknowski is a seasoned software industry executive, with over 20 years of experience in leadership roles across a wide variety of operating functions. Before joining symplr, BJ served as the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Vertafore, the world's leading provider of insurance technology. Prior to that, BJ spent four years at LexisNexis Software Solutions in progressively ascending roles, culminating as its SVP Marketing, Sales & Services. He held numerous senior and global leadership roles earlier in his career at CA Technologies, Intuit, and Sage Software.  

BJ brings his dedication to creating balanced value and outcomes for employees, customers, and shareholders to the symplr community. He earned a BA in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo and his MBA at the University of Georgia – Terry College of Business. BJ served in the United States Marine Corps infantry as an enlisted reservist for 8 years.