Meet the Conference Speakers
Lindsay Aggarwal is a partner in Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s St. Louis office, focusing her law practice on securities litigation. In 2024, she spearheaded the launch of the firm’s Parental Leave Coaching Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed from her own lived experience. The program provides individualized coaching and peer support to help lawyers navigate parental leave transitions and sustain long-term career success.
Lindsay Aggarwal
Sarah Alsaidi, Ph.D., is a coach and consultant helping lawyers improve performance, productivity, and self-efficacy through sustainable systems. She specializes in executive functioning, time management, leadership development, and career advancement, addressing hidden barriers like burnout, anxiety, perfectionism, and ADHD. Sarah designs workshops on topics such as imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and executive functioning. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Columbia's Teachers College, an ACC credential from ICF, and Volta Coach Training certification.
Sarah Alsaidi
Whittney Beard, MCC, is a former BigLaw corporate lawyer who has coached hundreds of partners, associates and business professionals across the AmLaw 200 since 2007. After nearly 20 years coaching individuals within law firms, she is convinced that law firm teams are their own unique kind of client, and that coaching teams in law firms is the next frontier of coaching in the legal industry.
Whittney Beard
Matthias is the Global Director of Partner Development at White & Case, responsible for professional and leadership development of White & Case's partners globally. He works closely with the firm's leaders and their teams in supporting, coaching and advising them on business-, team-, and client-leadership issues. He oversees all partner training, coaching, and developmental assessments, and regularly conducts trainings on a variety of leadership topics to the firm's leadership and clients, as well as facilitates strategic offsites and workshops. Previously he was Head of Coaching at Goldman.
Matthias Birk
Donna Branca is Director of Strategic Leadership and Firm Secretary at Blank Rome, where she serves as a trusted advisor to firm leadership and helps advance the firm’s strategic priorities. Drawing on a career spanning law firm leadership, legal talent development, and executive coaching both inside law firms and as an external consultant and coach, she helps connect strategy, talent, and business objectives to support the firm’s strategic goals and organizational effectiveness. Donna is a certified executive coach through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and graduate of the AI-Powered Coach program.
Donna Branca
Elena Arecco Bridgmon, PCC, is an executive coach and leadership consultant specializing in building strong teams and driving organizational growth. As co-founder and COO of LUMO, she ensures top-tier service quality, yielding a 90% client retention rate. With an HR background at Bank of America and 20+ years of corporate experience, she deeply understands risk, compliance, and people development. Elena has partnered with leaders at Deloitte, Accenture, and Blackstone across banking, insurance, and healthcare. Grounded in an International MBA and a global perspective, she coaches with clarity.
Elena Arecco Bridgmon
Sharon C. Brooks is Founder of Enlighten Leadership and an executive coach, leadership consultant, and former lawyer with over 20 years' experience advising leaders across academia, business, government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector globally. She was the inaugural Global Executive Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at INSEAD and previously served twice on the senior leadership team at Yale Law School. Sharon holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Business Coaching qualification from Meyler Campbell (EMCC).
Sharon C. Brooks
Tina Chandna is the Professional Skills Coach in Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Office of Coaching, where she coaches associates and counsel. Previously, she spent nearly a decade on the firm’s Professional Development team, advising practice leadership on talent and performance and working closely with attorneys throughout their careers. A former O’Melveny litigator, Tina brings nearly two decades in the legal profession and a multidisciplinary background in law, psychology, and neuroscience to her coaching.
Tina Chandna
Jordana Confino is an attorney, certified professional coach, and founder of JC Coaching & Consulting, a company devoted to advancing the well-being of the legal profession by supporting lawyers through coaching and partnering with law firms to build positive workplace cultures where all members feel valued, stimulated, and supported. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham, where she previously served as the Assistant Dean of Professionalism. Jordana co-authored the 2024 Lawyer Perfectionism & Well-Being Report and is widely regarded as an expert on perfectionism and lawyer wellbeing.
Jordana Confino
Lisa Ann Edwards is Founder and CEO of Excelia, a Microsoft Partner and coaching-led AI adoption and workforce transformation company. A former head of talent management, she created the AI-Powered Coach program to equip coaches and talent leaders to guide responsible AI adoption, redesign human + AI workflows, and connect behavior change to measurable business outcomes. With customers in healthcare, defense, financial services, biotech and the legal profession, Excelia focuses on the people side of AI transformation.
Lisa Ann Edwards
Dr. Patrick C. Egbunonu is President and Chief AI Officer of Informanos Analytics & AI and an adjunct lecturer at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. He helps organizations move from AI interest to practical, responsible adoption through strategy, training, analytics, and AI-enabled solutions. A former academic leader and industry executive, Patrick brings experience across education, financial services, consulting, and technology. His doctoral research focused on AI agent-managers and the future of work.
Dr. Patrick Egbunonu
Toya is a certified transformational leadership coach who helps women and professionals of color become their most fulfilled, authentic selves. She holds space honoring each coachee's vision, helping them navigate internalized oppression while centering joy, personal power, and self-compassion. Toya holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers and a J.D. from George Washington University Law. She's an ACC certified coach (ICF), with certifications in TypeCoach, Breathwork, EFT, and NLP.
Toya Gavin
20 years at J&B. More than 25 years in Big Law. Shannon built the firm's coaching program from two participants to hundreds of attorneys globally and has delivered over 2,500 coaching hours to attorneys at every stage of their careers. Her nine-program coaching architecture has been adopted by Jenner & Block senior leadership as strategic business infrastructure. Her lateral partner integration work spans a decade. Her Georgetown capstone documents her Creative Believer methodology -- the integration of analytical rigor and contemplative depth that is the heart of the Cognitive Refresh model.
Shannon Roberts George
Jarrett Green, Esq., M.A., is an internationally recognized well-being, leadership, and peak performance consultant who works with nearly half of the AmLaw 100 and numerous Fortune 500 companies. A former Skadden litigator, Jarrett holds a Master’s in Psychology and teaches well-being and performance optimization courses at USC and UC Irvine Law Schools. Along with his wife Rebecca Simon Green, he is the co-author of two books on happiness and peak performance. Jarrett blends science, humor, storytelling, and practical tools to help high-performing professionals mentally, emotionally, cognitively, and relationally thrive.
Jarrett Green
Maja D. Hazell is a corporate lawyer, human capital strategist, and accredited executive coach with 25+ years of experience across law firms, financial services, academia, and nonprofit governance. She is CEO of Career Prep Coaching Services LLC, which she founded, providing individual and group coaching, leadership development training, and consulting on talent management and organizational culture. She previously served as Head of Engagement Strategy and Executive Coach at D. E. Shaw & Co. and led diversity and inclusion at White & Case and Fried Frank. She is SHRM-SCP and ICF-accredited.
Maja Hazell
Nankhonde Kasonde-van den Broek is an award-winning Executive Coach and Organizational Change Architect, and Founder & CEO of ZANGA African Metrics. With over 20 years' experience advising governments, multinationals, and international organizations across Africa, she specializes in large-scale transformation and culturally relevant leadership solutions. A Thinkers50 Coaching Legend and 2021 Marshall Goldsmith Coaching & Mentoring Award winner, she holds an Executive MSc in Change Leadership from HEC Paris and Oxford University.
Nankhonde Kasonde-van den Broek
Sang Lee brings two decades in law practice, executive search, training, coaching, consulting and product development to Volta Talent Strategies and Volta Coach Training, advising AmLaw 200 firms on talent management.
A former capital markets lawyer, judicial clerk and recruiter, Sang is CEO of Volta and an ICF-Accredited Coach (PCC). She launched SJL Attorney Search in 2004 and acquired Shannon & Manch in 2013, rebranding it Volta. She founded the only ICF-accredited lawyer coaching academy and the inaugural LCC, plus Thine and Tandem.
Sang J. Lee
Nicole Llorenz is the Manager of Attorney Career Services at Latham & Watkins LLP, where she provides career coaching to support associates in defining and shaping the trajectory of their careers. Before assuming her current role, she was the Manager of Attorney Recruiting at Latham. Prior to that, Nicole served as the Director of Student Life at Georgetown Law and the Director of Career Services at Cornell Law School. Nicole is a graduate of Amherst College and Cornell Law. After law school, Nicole practiced for five years in LA at Paul Hastings LLP and Davis Wright & Tremaine LLP.
Nicole Llorenz
Carrie Marker, Director of Career Counseling & Planning at Akin, established the firm’s program in 2018. She provides individual career counseling and coaching on long and short-term goals to partners and senior attorneys at the firm. Her approach to career counseling combines her social work degree with 25 years in the legal industry counseling attorneys and managing professional development and recruiting programs. Before joining Akin, Carrie was the in-house career counselor at Dechert LLP and a career consultant at Greiner Consulting.
Carrie Marker
Sibo Mabuza is a consultant, board member, entrepreneur, and leadership strategist with over 25 years' experience in digital transformation, organizational change, and human-centred innovation. She helps leaders across the public and private sectors design and implement transformation strategies that improve performance and create lasting impact. Sibo holds an Executive MBA from ESADE Business School, an MSc in Systems Analysis and Design from City University London, and a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Eswatini.
Sibu Mabuza
Kathryn Marquez is a global talent and leadership development executive with extensive experience helping professional services firms build high-performing, future-ready organizations. As Senior Director of Learning and Development at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP), she leads global learning and leadership strategy for lawyers and business professionals, focusing on leadership development, talent readiness, and career progression. Previously, Kathryn led BCLP’s U.S. HR Business Partnering team and managed professional development programs at Sidley Austin.
Kathryn Marquez
Julia Mercier is the Principal of Mercier Talent Solutions LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to the development of lawyers and law firm leaders. A former litigator with more than a decade leading professional development in global law firms, she coaches partners, practice group leaders, and senior legal professionals. She is the creator of the D.R.I.V.E.™ Framework, the J.U.D.G.E. Model™, and a suite of leadership development programs for law firms. Julia is an NYU-certified executive coach and a frequent speaker on lawyer development.
Julia Mercier
Michelle Nash is Director of Partner & Leadership Development at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, where she leads the design and delivery of partner and leadership development programs, facilitates retreats, and oversees the firm’s coaching strategy. With more than 30 years of legal industry experience, she brings a creative, practical approach to helping lawyers strengthen leadership skills, navigate complexity, and drive lasting behavior change. She is known for blending innovation, structure, and practical application to create engaging learning experiences for law firm leaders.
Michelle Nash
Sarah Olin, PCC is a leading voice in coaching and organizational transformation for working parents and caregivers. With 10,000+ hours of coaching experience, ICF credentials, and training from Dr. Brené Brown, she brings deep expertise to her work. As co-founder of LUMO, she helps progressive companies support employees through working parenthood. Over her13-year career, she has coached executives at the United Nations, Verizon, NBA, Google, Calvin Klein, and AmLaw 100 law firms. Sarah writes for Fast Company, Nasdaq, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
Sarah Olin
Jennifer Rakstad is Associate Director, Learning & Development, Americas at White & Case, where she leads professional skills training for lawyers and business services professionals and heads the firm's global Coaching Office of 23 coaches, recipient of a 2023 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers award. She led the development of Momentum, the firm's global associate skills curriculum, which received a 2025 FT Innovative Lawyers commendation. A Hudson-certified coach, former AmLaw 100 attorney, and judicial clerk, she presents frequently at PDC, NALP, and PDI conferences.
Jennifer Rakstad
Julie has been part of the California legal community since 1998, beginning her career as a litigator at several respected law firms before transitioning to professional coaching. She completed her legal education at UCLA School of Law and later trained as a coach with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). Julie also received specialized training in ADHD and neurodiversity coaching from Carol Gignoux, author of 'Your Innovator Brain.' Julie works with attorneys at all levels on leadership, management, and professional development, with particular focus on thriving with neurodivergence.
Julie Remer
Alvin Rosser, Ed.D., Director of Learning, Business Services at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and an International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach, brings more than 25 years of experience in learning and development, leadership development, organizational development, and executive coaching. Drawing on his experience coaching Business Services professionals in a global law firm, he offers practical insights into how coaching can elevate their growth, leadership, resilience, and impact. He advocates for inclusive coaching strategies that recognize Business Services professionals as essential contributors to law firm success and provide meaningful access to development opportunities.
Alvin Rosser
Rich Smith is an executive coach and former operator. He spent twelve years as a finance director at Amazon, leading a 40-person team, and served as CFO of a venture-backed company through restructuring. A West Point graduate and Wharton MBA, he is now an ontological coach for senior leaders. For years he was the leader responsible for his own team's culture, and he saw firsthand why a team needs coaching of its own and not just coaching for the people on it.
Rich Smith
Greg Starner is the Office Executive Partner of White & Case's New York office. He handles disputes in cases involving complex contracts, business torts, securities, intellectual property, award and judgment enforcement, and class actions in courts throughout the US. He also has significant arbitration experience, including in proceedings conducted according to ICDR, AAA, JAMS, and FINRA rules. He was also the Chair of the Partner Development Committee.
Greg Starner
Jennifer Tsang is the Senior Manager of Americas Learning & Development and an internal ICF Associate Certified Coach at White & Case, where she is dedicated to driving effective change through impactful learning experiences for attorneys and legal professionals. With over a decade of experience in the legal industry, Jennifer has cultivated a wealth of expertise in developing curricula and program design, and leading training for law firms. Her facilitation experience and coach approach enables participants to hone their skills and depart with increased confidence. She is also a Hogan and DISC certified practitioner.
Jennifer Tsang
Andrea helps lawyers with professional development, career satisfaction, and work/life transitions through coaching and mindfulness practices at Mayer Brown. Previously, she counseled law students, litigated at two law firms, and clerked for the federal judiciary. Andrea is professionally certified through the International Coach Federation (PCC), the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (CPC, ELI-MP), and the Center for Internal Change (DiSC). She is further qualified as a mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher (Level 1) through Brown University.
Andrea Yang
As Dechert's executive coach, Sheri partners with lawyers and business service professionals across the firm through coaching and talent development initiatives that support high performance, resilience, and professional growth. A recovering lawyer and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Sheri has spent 20 years at the intersection of law firm talent development, engagement, inclusion, well-being, and coaching, bringing that experience to help legal professionals strengthen leadership effectiveness and emotional intelligence. A graduate of the AI-Powered Coach program, she brings an internal law firm perspective to the evolving demands of legal practice.
Sheri Zachary