2025 Speakers

Andrew Bauman is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and Co-Head of U.S. Asset Management. Andrew joined the firm in 2003. Previously, Andrew worked for Lend Lease (predecessor The Yarmouth Group) serving as Principal. Prior to that, Andrew worked for four years with Koeppel Tener Riguardi (KTR), a New York property management and leasing firm. Before entering the real estate field, Andrew was involved in capital markets for over five years, trading U.S. government bonds in San Francisco and New York. Andrew received an M.B.A. and B.S. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

With a hybrid design, strategy, and communications background, Noelle creates award-winning human-centered workplace programs, environments, and experiments.

Based in New York City, she's a key member of Adobe’s Global Workplace Experience team, leading the Workplace Design + Innovation team through projects and programs. She's passionate about leading with Adobe values and data storytelling to drive impact for Adobe’s creative business. Her team is designing the future of work at Adobe and leading with experimentation through Lab82, Adobe’s experimentation engine across how people work, collaborate, and gather with purpose.

Noelle is the Vice Chair of the CoreNet End User Committee in New York, where she's teaming up with the New York Chapter's diverse committees to highlight innovation topics like AI in Real Estate this year. She's a former journalist and interior designer, having worked at Electronic Arts and Gensler, building world-class workplaces worldwide. Her work has won awards from Interior Design Magazine, Fast Company, and IIDA, among other organizations.

Andrew Burdick is an architect and design strategist focused on the transformation of workplaces, civic spaces, and commercial assets for the future. As Global Design Director for Macquarie Group, he oversees strategy and design for the firm’s global portfolio of workplaces, including recent projects in Sydney, Melbourne, NYC, Houston, Brisbane, Paris, Philadelphia and Hong Kong.

Previous to his tenure at Macquarie, Andrew was an Associate Partner at Ennead Architects, where he lead the designs of large scale civic, educational, and commercial projects and was the Director of Ennead Lab, the firm’s research and strategic design think tank.

Andrew’s design work has received numerous commendations. He was named a finalist for the inaugural Philips Livable Cities Award; his research and design for a prototype entrepreneurial incubator in the South Bronx was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, presented at the NYC Municipal Art Society Jane Jacobs Forum, and selected as a finalist in Metropolis Magazine’s Workplace of the Future 2.0 competition; and, Andrew’s designs and writings have been published by Metropolis Magazine and the South China Morning Post. 

At ServiceNow, Maria is part of the outbound product team that looks after market fit and market adoption for ServiceNow’s Workplace Service Delivery solution.

Prior to joining ServiceNow in 2024, Maria was with a ServiceNow partner for nearly five years, where she focused on ServiceNow Workplace Service Delivery implementations, working closely with organizations around the globe on the implementation of their vision for a modern workplace.

Maria is especially keen on workplace experience initiatives, innovations, and breakthroughs, and how those initiatives contribute directly to business outcomes. She started her career and spent many years in the mobile technology space where she served in various product marketing roles, focused on the experience aspect of mobile messaging and networking solutions.

Maria graduated from the University of Tampa with a bachelor’s degree and still resides in Tampa with her four-year-old son and goldendoodle. Outside of work, she enjoys spending weekends with family and friends, being in the mountains or out on the water in Tampa Bay. 

Annie Dean is the Global Head of Team Anywhere at Atlassian, responsible for the 12,000+ person company’s shift to a distributed work model. Annie oversees the Real Estate and Workplace Experience teams and the Teamwork Lab, a dedicated group of behavioral scientists focused on designing and validating evidence-based ways of working. Most recently, Annie was Meta’s first Director of Remote Work, where she created and led a portfolio of future of work strategies. As a globally recognized expert on remote and flexible working, Annie’s work has been featured by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company. 

A.J. Greulich serves as the Global Director of Design & Construction for People and Places at Uber, overseeing the delivery of capital workplace projects within a global real estate portfolio of approximately 6 million square feet. Previous roles at Uber included Director of Workplace and Real Estate for the Americas and Director of Real Estate for the US and Canada, where A.J. managed transactions, portfolio, projects, and facilities management. Prior experience includes positions at JLL, leading project management for significant accounts such as SAIC, and contributing as a Mechanical Engineer at BAE Systems on defense-related projects. A.J. holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University and an MBA from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

Suzanne Heidelberger is a strategic partner to leaders and their teams, cultivating environments and results that maximize impact. With over three decades of global leadership experience at Fortune 500 companies, Suzanne combines data-driven analysis with innovative leadership and team development to create unique solutions for business problems. Her companies, Suzanne Heidelberger Advisory and RealEdge Advisors, partner with clients to identify and develop bespoke solutions for real estate investment, workplace experience, org design, and strategy.

Most recently, Suzanne was the President of Fidelity Real Estate Company, the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments. In her role, she oversaw the management of complex projects to create successful outcomes for Fidelity, covering a global real estate portfolio of more than 10 million square feet, including office and call center space in 50+ locations, over 200 retail branches, data centers, solar arrays, and a 428-room hotel in Boston.

She had responsibility for real estate strategy, business partnerships, workplace services, hospitality, facility management, real estate transactions, construction management, real estate technology, and engineering functions, overseeing the physical and virtual spaces and experiences that encourage Fidelity employees, businesses, and customers to thrive. 

Carol Kim is an Executive Director at IBM, a world leader in information technology headquartered in Armonk, New York, with more than 260,000 employees operating in over 170 countries. She leads Technology, Data & AI, Software, and Hardware strategy for IBM Global Real Estate, delivering innovative and inclusive global technology solutions by utilizing technology to enable data-driven decisions throughout IBM's portfolio and operations in partnership with clients and trusted suppliers.

Ms. Kim brings more than 20 years of experience in IBM leadership roles spanning various Finance & Operations disciplines (Global Real Estate, Chief Data Office, Finance & Planning, Pricing, Treasury), geographies (Americas, Asia), and business models (Services, Hardware, Software). She is a data, finance, and business transformation expert. She has consistently and successfully scaled operations, driven growth, and improved profitability by effectively leading teams to adapt new business models rapidly and effectively at key inflection points in the company’s lifecycle.

Ms. Kim is a leader who successfully builds high-trust relationships with both internal and external partners. Her business degree and expertise in technology provide a unique knowledge and skill set that benefits the organization across all aspects of finance and technology. Carol has received numerous recognitions for her ability, most recently the 2023 AI & Data Science Leader of the Year by WomenTech, 2023 Most Influential People in Data by dataiq100, and 2023 Global Data Power Women by CDO Magazine. She is passionate about lifelong learning and making a difference in the world. Carol is an Advisory Board Member to College Board, a sponsor to various DE&I groups, a US Certified Public Accountant, a Harvard Business School and Korea University alum and currently resides in Westchester, New York.  

Grace Lai is a Morgan Stanley Executive Director in the Enterprise Technology Services team. She is the tech lead who is responsible for Global Secure IoT Infrastructure and Smart Building Digital Workplace Transformation program as well as Global Employee Experience platform.  She leads a team including application development and DevOps engineers, IoT Solution Architect and engineers,  project and program delivery leads to manage project delivery, issues, status, and program financials. In addition, Grace is the platform owner of the Morgan Stanley China onshore Domain Corporate Workplace Technology product portfolio. 

Grace has enjoyed a career spanning more than 20 years in technology at several world-class firms. She joined Morgan Stanley in 2010 as a Vice President in Investment Product Solutions as part of the Morgan Stanley and Citi Smith Barney merger and has held  number of technology leadership positions during her 15-year career with the Firm. 

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Grace Lai held technology leadership positions at JetBlue Airways,  Queen public Library and Deloitte Consulting. 

Grace is passionate advocate for gender equality, with strong commitment to empowering woman and elevating Asian voice in professional and community space by serving as the Morgan Stanley Woman in Technology Career Development group Lead, Morgan Stanley/Ascend partnership liaison,  as well as year-long volunteer at Tzu Chi Academy non-for-profit organization. 

She lives in Forest Hills and works in New York City, and is married with a 12-year-old daughter, Abigail.

Paul was the founding chief executive of Philadelphia’s Center City District (CCD) and served from January 1991 to December 2023. He now serves as the chair of the CCD board and as the executive director of the Center City District Foundation, raising funds for special projects. 

CCD is a business improvement district with a $32 million annual operating budget, which supplements municipal services with programs for security, hospitality, cleaning, placemaking and planning, and business retention and attraction in the central business district of Philadelphia. CCD has financed and implemented $170 million in streetscape, lighting, and façade improvements, including the transformation of four downtown parks that are now managed and programmed by the CCD. He is continuing to manage design and fundraising for the next phase of Philadelphia’s Rail Park, the conversion of a 0.7-mile, elevated section of the defunct Reading rail line into a new park https://www.centercityphila.org/foundation/our-work/the-rail-park-phase-2

Paul has consulted with a broad range of North and South American, European, Australian, and Japanese cities on downtown and town center management and in the fall of 2023 published a report on the recovery from the pandemic of 26 U.S. city centers, Downtowns Rebound: The Data Driven Path to Recovery  https://www.centercityphila.org/research-reports/downtowns-rebound-report-2023

Paul teaches in the graduate City Planning Department of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Melissa Jordan MacIsaac, Global Facilities Leader at Bloomberg, is currently leading a global team with responsibility for delivering an exceptional workplace experience and facilities management across 130 offices, operating in 70 different countries. Before joining Bloomberg in 2021, she was Global Facilities & Real Estate leader for General Electric Co. Starting as an HQ Facilities manager during the transition from Suburban Campus to Agile city life. The transition included site selection, real estate transactions, capital and design management and along with standing up a temporary office space. The site opened in December 2018 and was home to the Management Committee and Board of Directors. Through this project effort Melissa quickly rose to Northeast regional manager with GE and held the position of Global Workplace Services Director before her departure in 2021. Prior to starting her career in Facilities and Real Estate Melissa worked for former Prime Minster Tony Blair as Director of Events and visits. Melissa holds a BA in Communications from Quinnipiac University and obtained her MBA in 2014 from Hult International Business School with a concentration in finance and operations. She is a proud mother to two wonderful boys Brady (4) and Jack (1).

Nuno Marcelino is the Vice President of Global Places and Services at Nike, where he and his team are accountable for managing Nike’s global real estate portfolio of office, commercial, and industrial locations and delivering a wide range of employee services. 

With a background in strategic finance and real asset investments, he has dedicated his career to the user side of corporate real estate for the last 15 years. He is particularly focused on designing and delivering a dynamic, integrated, operative footprint, informed by data and analytics, to enable not only culture and employee experience but, more broadly, every outcome and strategy across all nodes of the enterprise value chain. 

Nuno is inspired by sustainable, long-lasting innovation in all its forms and is a passionate advocate for the unique role and measurable impact of place and placemaking on human, societal, and business activities. 

Marc Norman is the Larry & Klara Silverstein Chair in Real Estate Development & Investment and Associate Dean of the Schack Institute of Real Estate at New York University. A renowned urban planner and a veteran in the field of community development and finance, Norman is also the founder of Ideas and Action, a consulting firm. Before coming to NYU in July 2022, he was an Associate Professor of Practice at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, where he also served as Faculty Director of the Weiser Center for Real Estate at the university’s Ross School of Business. A former Loeb Fellow, Norman also has extensive experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and has worked collaboratively to develop or finance over 2,000 units, totaling more than $400 million in total development costs.

Otto Orr is a Workforce Strategy, Workplace Operations, and Real Estate professional with 20+ years’ experience in all aspects of corporate real estate, sustainability, design, workstyle/hybrid program development, future of work strategy, and facility operations, aligning workforce strategies with company vision and objectives.

He is creative and innovative, intensely appreciating the cultural impact of real estate and workplace strategy and the importance of curating a world-class employee experience. Otto is a customer-focused real estate professional who can establish relationships with business leaders and key organizational stakeholders (HR, IT, Legal) to better understand key business drivers while developing short—and long-term workforce, workplace, and real estate solutions. He is passionate about sustainability and developing ESG programs, with over 1 million square feet of LEED projects. 

Janet Pogue McLaurin is a global leader of Gensler’s Work Sector practices and research initiatives. As the firm’s Global Director Workplace Research, which is one of the six centers of the Gensler Research Institute, she has been instrumental in leading Gensler’s global Workplace Surveys and Workplace Performance Index® (WPIx) client tool, which measures space effectiveness and workplace experience on projects. She is active in developing workplace strategy and designing innovative workplace environments for a wide variety of clients, including Vanguard, GSA, Capital One, Gallup and The Coca-Cola Company. Janet has spent nearly four decades in Gensler’s Denver and Washington, D.C. offices. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a registered architect, who has served on the Gensler’s Board of Directors for the past two years and currently serves on Gensler’s Practice Area Management Committee.

Sonya serves as CBRE’s Energy and Sustainability (E&S) lead for the Industrial and Logistics Sector and the Government and Defense Services Sector. In this role she provides technical and advisory support to global manufacturing and public enterprise clients as they pursue energy reduction, decarbonization, and other sustainability-related goals. Sonya leads teams of E&S professionals specializing in operational excellence, energy management, carbon reduction, waste reduction, and regulatory compliance. She works with clients across all stages of the decarbonization journey to identify strategies and implement solutions that help clients achieve their net-zero goals.

Prior to her role with CBRE, Sonya was an Associate Director at Guidehouse where she worked with federal agencies to identify and prioritize energy-savings projects, meet reporting requirements, build and implement tools, and test innovative technologies. She worked with clients in both the federal and commercial space to identify opportunities that drive value through sustainability and help portfolio owners and managers mitigate climate risk and adapt to change. 

As the Executive Managing Director of the Digital & Analytics Group, Megan is responsible for delivering operational and integrated insights to our clients across CBRE's Occupier business. Her team works globally to provide business intelligence solutions, support embedded strategists, offer various consulting services, and promote a data-driven culture to help CBRE make informed decisions based on data insights.

Throughout her nearly 20-year career in the commercial real estate industry, she has supported clients in various capacities. Before joining CBRE, Megan gained valuable experience at Ulta Beauty, overseeing facility maintenance, special projects, and store fixtures. She also managed and oversaw CRE teams, including building operations, field management, financial, and technology teams. Additionally, she has been involved in capital project development, new site selection, disaster management, site build-out, and site closures.

In her current role at CBRE, her team is dedicated to supporting clients globally in developing and expanding the use of digital technologies and data at scale.  

Rebecca Rockey is the Deputy Chief Economist and Global Head of Forecasting at Cushman & Wakefield. During her decade at the firm, her responsibilities have undergone significant evolution. Her focus spans economics, demographics, financial markets and commercial real estate—both at the macro and micro levels. She manages the production of national and metro-level commercial real estate forecasts across the Americas, develops predictive econometric and statistical models to enhance the firms’ analytical capabilities, and contributes to numerous white papers, webinars, media requests, and industry/client presentations. In her global role, she extends this expertise to other regions. She is a strategic internal and external advisor across service lines and regions, connecting research themes to actionable and tactical views on the market.

She is certified by the International Institute of Forecasters and is a member of the American Economic Association, the National Association of Business Economics (NABE), and the National Economists Club. In 2014, she was part of the forecast team that won the NABE’s Outlook Award (most accurate forecaster). In 2023, she became Co-Chair of NABE’s Commercial Real Estate Roundtable. Rebecca also joined the National Business Economics Issues Council in 2024.

She previously worked as a consultant at a consulting firm, engineering models to forecast agency subsidy costs and loss reserves for Fannie Mae’s single-family private-label MBS portfolio. Prior to that, she was a junior analyst at the Congressional Budget Office in the Financial Analysis Division (FAD). There, she contributed to numerous analyses related to federal credit programs, accounting treatments of federal credit, and the treatment of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the federal budget. She was particularly focused on fair value estimation of federal direct lending and guarantee credit programs and contributed to FAD’s first comprehensive estimate—of more than 100 credit programs with a portfolio value of $3.1 trillion—for the Congress.

She is frequently cited in the media and is an advisor to the NYC Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the New York State Budget Division, and the DC Policy Center. She is also a participant in the Beige Book for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

John Saraceno, Jr. is Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Onyx Equities, LLC, one of the most active commercial property investment, management, and development firms in the New York Metro Market. Since its founding in 2004 with partner Jonathan Schultz, Onyx has acquired over $4 billion of real estate assets throughout the New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut marketplaces and executed over $350 million in asset repositioning projects across all property types.  Serving as the firm's primary Investment Strategist, John directs the firm's approach to investment and portfolio management. Since Onyx's inception, he has successfully led its mission to partner with some of the country's most significant institutional investment firms. In addition, John leads the management of the top in-class operating team of professionals who have established Onyx as the leading re-development platform in the NY /NJ market area.  John is an alum of Fordham University and holds a Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School. With children's health and welfare as a primary concern, he is an annual supporter of the March of Dimes of New Jersey, the United Way of Bergen County, and the Project All Stars. He served on the Ridgewood Public Library Board of Trustees and on Governor Murphy's Real Estate Restart and Recovery Board. He is a Board Member for Project All Stars and Choose NJ. John is married and has three sons: Matthew, Alex, and Sam. 

Katie Scallon serves as Regional Director for the Northeast on Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services (REWS) team. In this role, Katie drives the evolution and execution of real estate strategies across Google’s Cambridge, New York City, and National Capital Region sites and is responsible for delivering an extraordinary workplace experience that upholds the founders’ original vision and supports Google’s business.

Prior to accepting her current post, Katie oversaw the design and delivery of St. John’s Terminal, Google’s newest office in New York City and the North American headquarters for its Global Business Organization. Katie holds degrees in Architecture and Real Estate Development and has nearly 20 years of experience in real estate and related industries, including transdisciplinary roles at several commercial real estate development firms, a nonprofit community development financial institution, New York City’s economic development agency, and a prominent architecture office.

Larry A. Silverstein is the founder and Chairman of Silverstein Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate development, and investment firm that has developed, owned and managed over 40 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space.  The firm currently has $10 billion worth of development activity underway. It has been recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in New York City” by Crain’s New York Business for eight consecutive years.

In July 2001, Mr. Silverstein completed the largest real estate transaction in New York history when he signed a 99-year lease on the 10.6 million-square-foot World Trade Center for $3.2 billion, only to see it destroyed in terrorist attacks seven weeks later, on September 11, 2001. He has spent the last 23 years rebuilding the office component of the World Trade Center site, a $26 billion project that will consume the balance of his working life.

In May 2006, Silverstein Properties opened 7 World Trade Center, the first office tower to be rebuilt at the site and the first LEED-certified office building in New York City.  The 52-story, 1.7 million square foot building is fully leased to an eclectic group of tenants.  In November 2013, the company opened 4 World Trade Center, a 72-story, 2.3 million square foot building designed by Fumihiko Maki.  In June 2018, the company opened 3 World Trade Center, an 80-story, 2.5 million square foot building designed by Richard Rogers.  The company will develop one other office tower on the WTC site – 2 World Trade Center, designed by Norman Foster, and one residential building – 5 World Trade Center, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

Silverstein Properties recently completed and opened a Four Seasons hotel and private residences designed by Robert A. M. Stern in Lower Manhattan. At 82 stories, it is one of the tallest residential towers in New York. The company also completed and opened the largest Four Seasons resort in the world at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Read the complete bio of Larry Silverstein.

Lisette Smyrnios leads Global Workplace at Accenture, responsible for how Accenture operates its offices around the globe. In her role, she’s responsible for the strategy around experience, innovation and technology, space management, the Workplace health and safety program and supporting Accenture’s sustainability and inclusion initiatives. These services are fundamental to keeping Accenture’s workplaces operating with excellence and supporting connection, employee engagement, while ensuring accessibility for all.

With 25 years of experience at Accenture, Lisette held many leadership roles in the organization’s corporate functions, focused on operations and commercial management. She has deep experience in procurement, supply chain and contract management with the last 5 years focused on Workplace.

Lisette has a passion for both sustainability and inclusion and champions Accenture programs supporting people with disabilities to create inclusive workplaces and participates as a proud member of the Latinx community at Accenture.

She resides in Austin, Texas with her husband, and together they enjoy spending time traveling and in the outdoors hiking, skiing, fishing, scuba diving while ideally joined by their two grown children.

Jim Somoza is a Partner and Managing Director of Industry City, where he leads the day-to-day development of the six million-square-foot mixed-use complex in Brooklyn. He has spent nearly a decade championing the campus’ vision as a creative hub and cultural epicenter. Jim also leads retail and ground-floor curation, which has received global recognition.

Before his time at Industry City, Jim was a Partner and Chief Development Officer for Crunch Fitness, directing all real estate and development activities. Jim has overseen some of New York City’s most prominent real estate assets, having worked on planning and executing the leasing, design, and construction for Chelsea Market and 85 10th Ave while president of ATC Management. 

Jim started his career at Cushman and Wakefield, where, as Director of Commercial Brokerage, he represented developers and landlords in the acquisition, repositioning, marketing, and leasing of 1.8 million square feet of office and data center space for 85 Tenth Avenue, 650 Fifth Avenue, 325 Hudson Street, and 636 Eleventh Avenue in NYC. 

Jim graduated from Syracuse University with a JD from the New York School of Law.

Jennifer Stewart is a performance-driven, award-winning Global Real Estate Executive with +25 years of transferable experience in delivering world-class consultancy􀆟and advisory services to valued clientele on a global basis regarding innovative and holistic real estate solutions. Stewart currently manages IBM's real estate portfolio in the U.S., Canada, Latin America - at 22+ million square feet in a mix of leased commercial, labs, mission-critical and owned spaces.

She is responsible for directing all Corporate Real Estate activities, transactions, and operations across the region, including ownership assets, facilities, leases, and project management, as well as finance, energy, food and beverage, and transportation, while partnering with Global Real Estate (GRE) Corporate Centers of Excellence. She is uber-focused on client and employee experience and driving transformation and productivity at the tech company.

Prior to IBM, Stewart was the Managing Director and global Head of Real Estate at BNY Mellon, responsible for a global portfolio of 10 million square feet with an annual operating budget of $535 million. She is a career commercial real estate professional and trained architect. Before joining BNY Mellon, Stewart was JPMorgan's Global Head of Client Management at Chase & Co., where she worked for over 10 years in both the London and New York offices and was responsible for delivering cost-effective real estate solutions that aligned with the needs of the business and the firm's overall real estate initiatives.

She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from The Catholic University of America, studied at the Architectural Association in London, and Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. Stewart earned a Master of Science in Real Estate Finance and Investment from New York University - Schack Ins􀆟tute of Real Estate and served on the NYUAA Executive Board and NYU Schack Alumni Board. 

In addition to being honored as Bisnow's 2014 "New York Power Women" in commercial real estate, Stewart is a certified LEED Green Associate and resides in Westchester, NY, with her family.

Dr. Anna Tavis is Clinical Professor and Chair of the Human Capital Management Department at NYU’s School of Professional Studies. As Department Chair, she leads three MS degree programs in the Human Capital Management Portfolio: Human Capital Management, Human Capital Analytics and Technology, and Executive Coaching and Organizational Consulting. Additionally, Dr. Tavis manages five HCM certificate programs. She is the co-author of Humans at Work. The art and practice of creating the hybrid workplace. (Kogan Page, 2022). Her upcoming book, The Digital Coaching Revolution (Kogan Page, 2024), is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2024.

Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Dr. Tavis navigated a diverse global career in business, consulting, and academia. In business, Dr. Tavis was the Head of Motorola’s EMEA OD function based in London, Nokia’s Global Head of Talent Management based in Helsinki, United Technologies Corporation’s Chief Learning Officer, and she was the Global Head of Talent and Organizational Development with AIG Investments. In academia, Dr. Travis was on the faculty at Columbia University, Williams College, and Fairfield University.

Two of Dr. Tavis’ Harvard Business Review articles in collaboration with Dr. Peter Cappelli : “HR Goes Agile” (2018) and “The Performance Management Revolution” (2016) were published in HBR’s “Must Reads” (2016 and 2018), and “Definitive Management Ideas of the Year” (2016 and 2018) and in “Agile: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review” (2020).

Dr. Tavis is a frequent presenter at international conferences on the Future of Work, People Analytics and Technology, Employee Experience, and Intelligent Automation in the Workplace. She is a Senior Fellow with the Conference Board and Academic in Residence with Executive Networks. She is the former Executive Editor of People+Strategy Journal, a SHRM’s Executive Network publication. She is currently an Associate Editor of Workforce Solutions Review, a publication of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management.

Eric Termuende is an award-winning speaker on leadership, culture, and the future of work, the author of Rethink Work, and a trusted advisor to numerous companies and associations. His research into the DNA of top-performing workplaces reveals the secrets of exceptional leadership and building resilient, forward-thinking teams. 

Eric has worked with leading brands like Amazon, Coca-Cola, IBM, Zoom, and Toyota, helping them embrace the future with confidence and optimism. His expertise has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc., cementing his reputation as a global thought leader shaping the future of work.

As Co-Founder of NoW of Work, a leading innovation and leadership consulting organization, Eric drives workplace innovation and has been recognized as one of American Express’s Top 100 Emerging Innovators. His influence extends beyond the stage, helping organizations navigate change and build thriving cultures.

Eric’s keynotes combine entertainment, actionable insights, and practical strategies. Audiences consistently praise his talks as inspiring and immediately impactful, leaving them equipped to create and excel in the workplaces of tomorrow.

Cameron Thomson is a sustainability leader with over 19 years of experience in the built environment. He has led teams and projects ranging from City Sustainability Plans to Net Zero buildings and Corporate Sustainability Strategies. He has led complex projects to deliver demonstrable performance improvements and push sustainable design boundaries. Cameron develops the team’s ability and skills to provide technical excellence to respond to regulatory and corporate requirements.

Currently, he is responsible for regional sustainability skills within Arup and managing teams in North and South America at Citigroup. He has excellent working knowledge of Sustainability Standards across North America. Cameron is a certified planner (AICP), accredited LEED AP (BD+C and ND), and Chartered in the UK. He is also an active member of the advisory committee for Eco districts, ISI, and a member of local ULI, APA, and USGBC chapters.

Peter Van Emburgh is Senior Managing Director and Executive Account Director for Cushman & Wakefield's global enterprise clients in the East Region. He provides strategic and operational leadership for over 500 employees across nearly 100 million square feet of outsourced occupier portfolios. Peter leads all aspects of global account management, facilities management, project management, transactions, space and occupancy strategy, with accountability for P&L, people management, growth initiatives, continuous improvement, and executive client relationship management.

Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield in 2024, Peter was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Real Estate for CBRE, the world's largest commercial real estate services firm.  He was responsible for managing a 550 office portfolio spanning 7m square feet; delivering global real estate strategy, transactions, lease administration, construction, design and project management, occupancy planning, and facilities management. In 2023, Peter was recognized for his work by being named Global Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year by CoreNet Global. Throughout his 13-year tenure at CBRE, Peter also held various senior positions in Global Workplace Solutions, including global account management and delivering strategic advisory solutions to an array of private and public clients.

Previously president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, Peter is chair of the Learning Board and sits on the Executive Committee of the CoreNet Global Eastern Regional Symposium (ERS).

Tony Vargas is a creative problem solver who aims to deliver joy at scale through workplace services and culture. He is an innovative thinker and collaborator focused on shaping communities by including all its members to engage intentionally and recognize moments of happiness in their daily lives. He is the Global Head of Workplace at Sprinklr, a provider of enterprise software for unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM).

Before Sprinklr, Tony worked in the entertainment, education, and hospitality industries. His background influences how he creates physical and digital spaces that tell the organization’s story, empower people to participate in its culture, and make everyone feel at home.

He advocates for individuality within a collective and understands that an individual’s particularities are the building blocks of a stronger group. In every organization, role, and project, his vision has been that people leave feeling better than they arrived.

Don Watson joined Oracle in January of 2021 and is responsible for Global Real Estate, Facilities, and EHS&S.  Prior to joining Oracle, Don spent 13 years with Merck where he led the Global Workplace and Enterprise Services Organization and spent 12 years at Stepan where he was the Plant Manager at their Maywood, NJ facility.  Don holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University and an MBA from Seton Hall University.  He has a passion for disability inclusion in the facility-built environment.  Don has served as the Executive sponsor to Merck’s disability inclusion employee resource group and currently serves as a Co-Executive sponsor to Oracle’s Diverse Abilities Network.  Don is a past president for the New Jersey CoreNet chapter and served on the board of directors of the New Jersey Chemistry Council.