2022 Speakers

Tiffany Abinsay

Tiffany Abinsay is the Head of Learning Technology for Citi, and has been with the company since 2007. She has held many different roles at Citi in the learning and talent space, across Operations, Technology and L&D. Currently, Tiffany leads the team responsible for managing the implementation and strategy of all learning systems across Citi to define the learning eco-system. She has been engaged in multiple enterprise system transitions to SaaS, including Degreed and currently Area 9. Tiffany has a background in Computer Science, which helps to bridge the gap between business and technical knowledge to drive innovative solutions.

Corey Burdette

Corey is the AVP | Corporate Learning & Development Manager at SmartBank based in Knoxville, TN. He is a seasoned human resource professional with nearly 10 years of experience building strategic partnerships with business leaders in the retail, healthcare, and banking industry.

Since SmartBank’s rise to Forbes 100 Fastest Growing Company list, Corey has dedicated his time to empowering leaders to create a culture of learning within their teams. He is passionate about building programs that inspire and elevate people, processes, results, and culture throughout the bank.

Away from the office, you will find Corey with his wife and two young boys listening to music, going to the lake, playing basketball, or serving in their local church ministries.

Jonathan Ellis, MBA

Jonathan is an influential leader who has 18 years of comprehensive experience in talent and organizational development with the majority of that time spent in financial services. He is passionate about using learning and development best practices to help Credit Human achieve its mission of helping people create and maintain financial slack. He infuses creative techniques and gaming technology into his presentations and ignites positive energy. Jonathan earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Management from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Jonathan is a top performer in the talent development field evidenced by his earning of the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) credential from the Association for Talent Development Certification Institute. He devotes most of his free time to his three children, Jonathan Jr., Julianna, and Jeremiah

Wendy Fischer

Wendy is an award-winning instructional designer with 25 years of experience in writing, graphic design and training. She is an expert at taking complex information and turning it into streamlined modules that are both simple and memorable. She believes that a clean and appealing graphic style allows for faster comprehension and better retention. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Houston. She is fluent in Articulate Storyline, Vyond, Camtasia and Adobe Creative Cloud. When she’s not creating training, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She also loves cats and old jeeps. If you see her, be sure to ask her what mischief her cat Romeo has been up to recently.

Dawn Lewis

Dawn Lewis joined Russell Investments in 2019 as a Manager of Training and Development for Russell Investments. Dawn specializes in developing sales process and product training for a global GTM sales team. Dawn creates resources, repeatable processes, and technology best practices to more efficiently and effectively close and win business. Dawn’s success is driven by partnering with the evolving needs of the business to create actionable deliverables that is relevant to Russell Investments’ business goals and market conditions. Prior to joining Russell Investments, Dawn worked at a large broker dealer for over 17 years a Vice President of Talent Development developing training for firm-wide initiatives to support the sales process. In Dawn’s spare time, she enjoys traveling with her family, reading, running, and gardening.

Bernie GOLDSTEIN

Bernie Goldstein founded Goldstein Professional Development in 2016, based on the belief that high impact coaching should be available to everyone. In addition to his focus on GPD, Bernie is also an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., in the asset management business. Immediately prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Bernie was Director and Head of Global Sales Training at Legg Mason.

He is also a regular speaker at industry conferences, presenting on topics such as Coaching & Sales Leadership, Storytelling, Emotional Intelligence, and The Art of Influence. His background in sales and coaching shapes his approach to leadership and business strategy. Bernie earned his Professional Certified Coach designation from the Columbia University Executive Coaching Certification Program. He received his BA in History from Columbia University, BA in Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and MBA from the University of Virtual Event.

When he's not coaching, you can find him hanging out with his wife and 2 children, volunteering for Food Bank for NYC, cooking and cycling across NYC and beyond.
https://www.gpdcoach.com/

David Guralnick, PhD

Over the past 30 years, David Guralnick has led the design of innovative e-learning scenarios, courses, and simulations, including the first online learn-by-doing simulation training course for corporate use, as well as performance-support systems and authoring tools. His approach to his work synthesizes concepts from the fields of computer science, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. David is the current President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning, and serves an e-learning consultant to a variety of organizations, ranging from multinational and Fortune 500 companies to non-profits and universities. He is also the current president of the International E-Learning Association; a regular keynote speaker at international conferences; founder and chair of The Learning Ideas Conference; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. His work has been featured in Wired magazine, Training magazine (as an Editor’s Choice), and the Wall Street Journal, and he is the recipient of numerous e-learning design awards.

JOY JOSEPH

Joy has extensive experience within the Financial Services Business which spans across several disciplines. During her career, she has held several roles in the industry including as a Financial Advisor, Sales Management, Compliance & Risk Management, and Professional Development. She has several years of experience as the Chief Learning officer and Chief Diversity Officer at a global level, and has led large scale, cross divisional, and global programs supporting the financial services business. In her last role as the President and Head of HR she focused on the recruitment and career counseling of experienced talent. Currently, she is the Director of Training at Liberty Mutual Investments. She is a sought after speaker, member of SHRM, Chair of Womens’ outreach at work (WOW) network, and a board member of Fin Training Innovations. Outside of work, she enjoys hot yoga, reading and spending time with her son.

Kamaria Scott

Kamaria is Employee Experience Senior Manager at Accenture. Previously, she was the Head of Curriculum Strategy and Instructional Design for FIS Global, the world's largest provider of financial technology solutions where she developed, implemented, and communicated the learning strategy for global leadership programs and in support of talent management strategic priorities. Her team developed customized competency-based curriculum and leveraged technology to create impactful learning experiences. Prior to FIS, Kamaria owned a consulting services firm aimed at improving leaders' capabilities to achieve outcomes impacted by employee engagement.

Kamaria holds a M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Central Virtual Event and an Ed.S in Adult Education/Human Resource Development from Virtual Event State University. She has spent the last 15 years marrying strategy, theory and practice into meaningful and impactful ways to help organizations develop highly skilled employees and cultures that enable them to do their best work.

Diane Studzinski

Curtis Twombly

Curtis is a proven performance consultant and a senior learning leader with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Since 1996, Curtis has enabled Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Wachovia Securities and Wells Fargo to achieve results through educating their workforce, implementing change initiatives and driving performance improvement initiatives.

While working for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., he directly supported the transformation of Schwab's workforce from a transactional service provider to an advice driven consultative selling organization. While at Wells Fargo, he led the skill development and change management efforts necessary to establish an integrated wealth model and to install a team-based contact management system. While at Wachovia Securities, which is now Wells Fargo Advisors, Curtis has been involved with the skill development, change management and performance improvements for initiatives that include two large scale mergers, transition of transactional based advice to an advisory-based model and the implementation of a corporate university. After growing up and starting his career in Phoenix, Arizona, Curtis currently lives in St. Louis, MO. Along with his partner Susan and children, Lauren and Christopher, he spends his non- working hours enjoying the outdoors, cooking, movies and hanging out with friends. Curtis is also involved in consulting a local public school district, leading a Boy Scout troop and advising 6th graders at his church.

Kathy Tague

Amy York

Using her background in Change Management and Learning, Amy’s passion for human centered enablement programs has been a driver of the success she and her team have seen in a world of ever-changing technology and product experiences at Silicon Valley Bank. Through building just-in-time learning solutions and designing when-you-need-it content experiences, Amy believes that these approaches are what makes it easier for our learners to obtain the knowledge they need to be successful in their work.

A self-proclaimed people-nerd, Amy’s career progressed from early-childhood education, to serving / bartending, door-to-door sales, and landing in the financial services space where she found her love for teaching, serving, and selling through training, change and enablement work. With a Bachelors in Psychology and Early Childhood Education to a Masters in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco, her unique perspective is what drives the success of all that she designs and delivers. More than anything, Mom and Wife are the two best gigs she’s ever had. You can find Amy on the weekends with her 6 and 3 year old kids, 7 year old Wheaten Terrier and super supportive husband either getting in a hike, going to the beach, or looking for any activity to tire the kids out!