Keri McConnell

Keri McConnell is the Organizational Development Leader at MetalTek, bringing over 20 years of experience in technology learning and development, with a deep focus on leadership development and talent management. Prior to her current role, Keri served as the Director of the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute and Data Literacy at Northwestern Mutual, where she spearheaded initiatives that integrated data-driven strategies to enhance business outcomes. Her professional expertise encompasses leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and strategic talent development, making her a pivotal figure in driving business growth through people-centric strategies.

Keri is a contributing author to “97 Things You Need to Know About Data Ethics” (O’Reilly Press, 2020), serves as a Director on the UWM Foundation board, and holds a Master of Education in Adult and Organizational Learning from Northeastern University. Her commitment to continuous learning and development underscores her belief that there are multiple paths to a successful career, and societal norms should not dictate the right path for individuals.

As a Waukesha native and a creative soul, Keri spends her free time exploring various art mediums, from drawing to painting to crochet. She has been a dedicated dancer at Liberty Dance Center (LDC) in Waukesha for over 16 years and is an inaugural member of the Next Generation Dancers at LDC.

Denise Domian

Denise Domian is a human resources professional with more than 20 years of repeated success in designing and delivering human capital strategies and HR programs that drive organizational change and operational excellence. For the past three years, she has been the chief human resource officer at Johnson Financial Group (JFG). She spent the bulk of her human resources career leading HR for The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. prior to joining JFG.

Her philosophy is that human resources should be the light not the lampshade, shining a light on opportunities to always do better. Denise is passionate about culture and DEI, establishing DEI programs at Bon-Ton Stores and Johnson Financial Group. She identified the Corporate Equality Index and the Disability Index as opportunities at JFG, achieving a 100% rating on both indexes in 2022.

Denise loves food, and therefore, married a professional baker. She, her husband and daughter enjoy the outdoors and spend a fair amount of time climbing outside and at the local gym.

Tara Schuster

Former VP of Talent and Development at Comedy Central, Best-Selling Author & Accomplished Entertainment Executive

After overcoming a childhood of adversity, Tara Schuster quickly rose up the ranks of Comedy Central where she rocketed upwards to become the youngest Vice President of Talent and Development at the network, overseeing all production and creative aspects of shows, such as the Peabody and Emmy award-winning Key & Peele.

What no one knew at work, however, was that, privately, she was battling crippling anxiety and depression. She was good at work but bad at life. After dealing with a particularly dark experience, Tara decided enough was enough and that she needed to take care and control of her mental health. She called upon the same talents she had used to launch hit television shows to begin a life-changing journey of self-healing and self-care. For five years, she researched how to both “be her own parent” and nurture her own wounded well-being—creating a 600-page Google Doc of her findings.

Tara studied and tested practical, easy-to-use, self-care tools that allowed her to create radically better mental health for herself while also thriving in the career she worked so hard to accomplish. She didn’t have to choose between her career and sound mental health and neither should anyone else.

Tara turned her struggle with chronic anxiety and depression into two bestselling books on self-care. Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies has sold over an astounding 250,000 copies and has been translated into five languages. It was selected as one of the Best Non-Fiction Books of 2020 by Goodreads and was selected by Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, Goop, Publishers Weekly and many more as one of the best books of 2020. Glow in the F*cking Dark was released in 2023.

Her humorous take on taking charge of one’s mental health—always backed by empowering action steps—has won praise from readers ranging from Wharton professor Adam Grant to Academy Award-winner Anjelica Huston and bestselling author Glennon Doyle who has said, “You’re going to want Tara Schuster to be your new best friend.” Tara has taught hundreds of thousands of readers about self-care and now hosts the wildly popular “Glow On” journaling club on Substack. Now, Tara has re-entered the corporate world to offer the help she so badly needed.

Tara understands the realities of working in a corporate environment and seeks to help individual contributors, managers and executives prevent and heal burn-out, have better inter-generational dialog, and create a culture where self-care leads to more self-esteem, innovation, productivity and less friction.

As an in-demand speaker, Tara has received invitations from the Fortune 100 and spoken to audiences ranging from Civic Nation to women’s and young professional groups. Bringing a winning combination of humor, vulnerability and hard-won wisdom to the stage, she does more than inspire and motivate audiences to create lasting change in their lives. She provides easy-to-implement tools to take better care of one’s spirit, mental and physical health, and relationships—as both an individual and a member of a workplace team.

Patricia Cabral

Patricia Cabral-Mercado is a powerhouse in the tech industry, serving as Senior Director of Software Engineering in Enterprise Architecture, where she leads a top-tier engineering team dedicated to advancing the organization’s technology strategy. An entrepreneur, cancer survivor, and triathlete, Patricia believes in empowering individuals to unleash their potential, embrace authenticity, and drive meaningful change. Throughout her career, she has championed diversity in technology, playing a pivotal role in community-building as a founding member of Women in Tech and a key contributor to bringing the Hispanics in Technology Executive Council to NM. Patricia’s journey exemplifies resilience and leadership, making a lasting impact on both her professional field and beyond.