2020 Speakers

Patricia E. Aquaro

Patricia E. Aquaro was Managing Director and Head of Risk & Professional Excellence within Global Talent & Development at BNY Mellon. She was responsible for developing learning solutions to cultivate a strong risk culture and enhance the professional skills of employees across the company.

Previously, Ms. Aquaro was Credit Portfolio Manager for Broker-Dealers, Alternative Funds and Finance Companies in the Global Financial Services Credit Division. In 2007, she concluded a high-priority initiative for the division by establishing a central group to manage affiliate relationships across the institution and ensure compliance with Regulation 23 A & B, which governs transactions between a bank and its affiliates. She was also responsible for the integration of existing portfolios and new credit exposures resulting from the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial.

After completing the Bank’s formal credit training program, she joined Global Client Management and developed a new centralized credit underwriting function for the North American Banks Division. She subsequently implemented this model across all groups within Financial Institutions. Ms. Aquaro joined The Bank of New York Mellon in January 1996 through the acquisition of JP Morgan’s global custody business.

Ms. Aquaro was an active member of WIN, BNY Mellon’s Women’s Initiative Network, and a member of The Women’s Bond club. Previously, Ms. Aquaro served as a member of the Financial Institutions Portfolio Management Committee and as a Steering Committee member for BNY Mellon’s Tri-party Market Practices Reform Initiatives. For three consecutive years she served as the Co-Chair of the Annual Women United in Philanthropy Luncheon committee and also served as Secretary on the Board of Directors for CMCAS – Capital Markets Credit Analyst Society.

Ms. Aquaro earned her B.A. degree in Mathematics from Manhattan College and currently resides in Manhattan, New York.

Kristin Cassino

Kristin Cassino is the Manager of Learning Services for Global Risk Solutions at Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, a business unit with 8.5 billion in sales and 8,500 employees. Learning Services supports technical training including Claims, Underwriting, and Distribution.

Kristin started in the learning field at State Street Bank in Boston by building a small training department from the ground up. She led training departments for several banks in California before returning to Boston to join Liberty Mutual. Today Kristin leads a group of 100+ training professionals. Her recent focus for the team has been on improving consulting capabilities, increasing agility, and using measurement and evaluation to demonstrate business impact.

Jeff Cochran

As a principal of SNI, Jeff has trained and coached teams and delivered high impact presentations in more than 20 countries. Jeff has delivered customized programs for clients across many diverse sectors including Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase, PwC, Bristol Myers Squibb, Nationwide Insurance, Boeing, Verizon, ESPN, and the San Antonio Spurs. Before joining SNI in 2000, Jeff was with Tessco Technologies, the nation’s largest communications infrastructure supplier. He managed a portfolio of over 250 accounts and was responsible for educating new sales professionals and handled new hire training. Jeff’s first career was working in Nepal for three years as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer where he was assigned to the Nepal Bank Ltd. and successfully implemented a micro-lending project targeting poor farmers and small business entrepreneurs to help them form borrowing co-ops.

David Guralnick, PhD

David Guralnick has been a recognized leader in the field of computer-based and online learning for over twenty years, specializing in the design of "user experiences" in e-learning. His contributions to the field of e-learning include the creation of the first online learn-by-doing simulation training course for corporate use (in 1993), and the first e-learning authoring tool to allow trainers and subject matter experts to create rich e-learning products on their own (in 1995). He has since designed numerous online learning methodologies for both training and performance-support goals, and has been the recipient of awards from several national and international organizations, including Brandon-Hall.com, the Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT), and the International Association for the development of an Information Society (IADIS). He is a regular keynote speaker at industry conferences, and holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts in artificial intelligence, education, software usability, and cognitive psychology.

David serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's Teachers College; was the founding chair of the E-learning Group for ASTD-NY, the American Society for Training & Development (2002-2009); was chair of the International Conference on E-Learning (2006 and 2007) and the founding chair of International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace (2008- present); and is president of the International E-Learning Association (2007-present). Further information about David, including lists of his awards, publications, and talks, can be found at www.davidguralnick.com. David was a founder of Kaleidoscope Learning and has been with the company since its inception in 1998.

Kami Hanson

Kristin Johnson

Edward Jones Chief Human Resources Officer Kristin Johnson leads the firm’s efforts to attract, develop and engage a diverse workforce, foster an inclusive culture and grow human capital capabilities to support the firm’s Five-year Plan. As a member of the Edward Jones Executive and Management committees, Kristin provides critical thought leadership to the firm's strategic direction and drives initiatives that enable the firm to progress toward its vision of becoming the first choice of serious, long-term individual investors.

Kristin joined Edward Jones in 1995 as a member of the Internal Audit department and two years later was named the department’s internal audit manager. In 2000, she relocated to the Operations division, where she held leadership roles in several account and trade processing departments. Kristin was named a principal in 2006 and worked in the firm’s Retirement Services and Client Reporting areas over the next six years. In March 2012, she relocated to the firm’s Service division to lead the Service Optimization business unit, which she led until assuming responsibility for BOA Talent Acquisition and Performance in 2013. During her tenure with the BOA area, the role evolved to provide even more proactive contributions to the client experience and became a more integral member of the branch team. She became the interim co-leader of Human Resources in April 2019 and was named the firm’s chief human resources officer the following November.

Kristin helps the firm work toward its objective of creating a talented and diverse workforce by serving as a senior executive sponsor of the firm’s Black African American and Young Professionals Business Resource groups.

A native of Belleville, Ill., Kristin graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy. She earned a master’s in information management from Webster University and completed Washington University’s executive MBA program. Kristin is active in several organizations and serves on the boards of the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), Webster University and the St. Louis Fashion Fund.

Jon Kaplan

Jon Kaplan is a senior executive and thought leader in learning and development. He is the founder and principal of Corvantus Consulting, a L&D consulting firm with a focus on upskilling frontline employees and reskilling mid-level professionals. Until mid-2019, he was Chief Learning Officer at Discover Financial Services. At Discover, Jon led a company-wide upskilling initiative that received industry-wide acclaim. Jon was profiled in the April 2019 edition of Chief Learning Officer Magazine as the cover story on embedding “humanity and humility” in corporate learning programs. Jon has recently been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and CNN Money. Jon’s professional mission is “to expand economic opportunity through inspired learning.” He has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University, a masters degree in International Policy from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

Matthew Petrilla

Matt Petrilla is a Leadership Performance Consultant in Vanguard’s Talent Management department, where he coaches leaders across the enterprise on a broad range of managerial and performance-related topics. Matt’s prior role was as Divisional Manager in Vanguard University, where he led a team of Instructional Designers and Multimedia Developers responsible for creating innovative learning solutions for Vanguard’s global workforce. Prior to moving into a formal leadership role in 2012, Matt served as a Senior Corporate Trainer in HR, facilitating professional development, feedback & coaching, business-related, and leadership development courses to managers and individual contributors alike. Matt is a member of Vanguard’s select Adjunct Faculty pool, a Vanguard Certified Master Coach, and holds his Series 6, 7, and 63 financial licenses.

Michael Reed

Mike Reed is the Director of Instructional Design and Administration within Global Risk Solutions Learning Services at Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, a business unit with 8.5 billion in sales and 8,500 employees. Learning Services supports technical training including Claims, Underwriting, and Distribution. Mike’s group supports program design and development, content management, internal information systems, and training delivery support on the corporate systems.

Mike has 15 years of experience in information technology where he spent 10 years as a software engineer and 5 years as a technology manager. He also has 15 years of experience in course and program development for adult learners. His recent area of focus has been establishing and using technical platforms to measure the business and talent impacts of training programs developed and delivered by Learning Services.

Michael Rosenberg

Partner to senior executives with results transforming HR products and services, driving sustainable value in human capital and creating innovative solutions to meet complex business challenges. Held leadership roles in a variety of areas of talent development, including leadership development, curriculum design and development, learning management systems, compliance training and training operations. Passionate about business strategy and technology as growth levers. Held leadership roles through major mergers, playing a critical role in integrating Bank of New York and Mellon Financial HR systems and processes, earning recognition and awards for this work. Past member of the advisory board for a leading enterprise Talent Management systems provider, published articles in journals and trade magazines, and was contributing editor with “e-learning” magazine. On advisory board for the annual Financial Services Learning & Development Innovations conference and was a FinTech Innovation Lab Industry Advisor. Received awards from CLO magazine and Brandon Hall for innovative and trailblazing work in Human Resources.

Pete Vigliotti

Pete has spent nearly his entire 30 year career in Sales, Sales Leadership or Sales Training and Effectiveness roles for companies such as UPS, Sony, MetLife, American Express, and most recently Swiss Re. Throughout his career, Pete has worked closely with Senior Leaders to help them, their teams, and the organization maximize performance. His experience has provided him the opportunity to serve as a guest speaker at many Learning and Development and Talent Management conferences through the United States.

Pete holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Marist College. In addition to his formal education, he also holds formal instructor certifications for many programs including:

• Situational Sales Negotiations
• Franklin Covey Time Management
• Making Major Sales (SPIN Selling)
• Selecting Talent
• Emotional Intelligence

In Pete's current role as the Global Lead for Sales Training at Swiss Re, he works closely with senior leaders throughout the organization to design and implement learning interventions and sales enablement initiatives which contribute to the overall growth of Swiss Re. Pete is also currently involved in the Future of Learning initiative at Swiss Re, a project focused on ensuring the design, development and delivery of learning content meets the needs of today's digital savvy learner.

In his previous role at Swiss Re, Pete was responsible for leading a team of learning professionals responsible for the design, development and delivery of the Swiss Re learning portfolio in the Americas regions. The portfolio consists of curriculum in the subject matter areas of Leadership, Sales, Technical, Finance, Professional and external Client Training. In addition to his Learning and Development responsibilities, Pete has contributed to Organizational Development initiatives in the areas of Leadership Development, Talent Management, Diversity and Inclusion, Change Management and Culture.

Most of all, Pete enjoys spending time with his family, preferably at the ocean. He enjoys traveling for pleasure and considers himself a sports and music enthusiast. He and his wife Bernie reside in Brewster, NY where they are active in the local community. They have been married for 27 years and are the proud parents of two grown children, Jennifer 23 and Michael, 21.