Phyllis Newhouse grew up from humble beginnings as 1 of 11 children. Throughout her career, she would break barriers across various industries – military, cybersecurity and finance – by conditioning a mindset that allowed her to win every day. She would become the first across many categories including the first female to win the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Technology and the first woman of color to take a SPAC public. In addition to her business success, Ms. Newhouse launched a world-renowned non-profit, ShoulderUp, with Academy Award winner, Viola Davis. Whether you're a business owner or leading a team within an organization, Ms. Newhouse's message of how to overcome adversity, break down barriers, and continuously succeed, happens when you choose to operate in your greatness.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways to operate in your greatness
• Recognize how to overcome adversity, break down barriers, and continuously succeed

Inclusive Leadership can be a very illusive and ambiguous term. Yet, as the U.S. population grows more and more diverse and emerging markets strengthen around the globe, it is an emerging leadership capability that will be vital to the success of our workplaces and marketplaces in the very near future. Busy leaders need to know precisely what they can and should do to be inclusive leaders who truly foster a sense of belonging within their teams that results in employee engagement, high performance, and consistent results now and into the future. In this program, Raven breaks inclusive leadership down into 6 straight-forward characteristics, demonstrating what each looks like in everyday leadership. She covers the inner drivers necessary to actualize these characteristics in a way that is seen and felt by team members. Your leaders will leave with a clear understanding of the importance of their inclusive leadership, newfound courage to lean into discomfort, and an awakened curiosity to learn more about themselves and their bias, as well as the lived experiences of others.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the 6 characteristics of highly inclusive leaders as well as their drivers.
• Recognize the quantitative and qualitative value of inclusive leadership.
• Indicate personal areas of opportunity to be a more inclusive leader.
• Identify an action-oriented plan for personal growth.

*Please note that this will be an interactive session for both in-person and online attendees. Attendees will participate in three rounds of speed networking with a partner. Virtual attendees will do this in Zoom breakout rooms. We strongly encourage you to turn your camera on for this exercise.*

Networks are very important to the business development success of accountants, but where do you start? And do you even know the right people to begin with? In this session, you’ll see who should be part of your professional and personal networks, as well as what you need to do to inventory your existing relationships and make needed changes. And once you have the right people in your network, how do you best leverage these valuable assets. Come learn how a network can help you build visibility and find potential clients, and then partake in a live networking exercise to begin building that network.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the seven Ps of networking
• Identify a step-by-step process to inventorying your current network
• Distinguish difference between networks and channels and why you need both
• Recall basics of networking know-how

Between demographic, environmental, and economic changes, innovating is a requirement for all organizations to stay healthy and prosper. Some research has shown women tend to be more prone to challenge the current status. They can also bring a different point of view and purpose for driving change in process improvements, talent development techniques, and services, just to name a few. In this session, hear from a panel of women that are influencing and leading innovation in their organizations and the accounting profession. They will share their perspectives on the need for change and what is takes to be successful.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the attributes of an innovator and what women bring to the table
• Analyze techniques to influence change
• Apply innovation to improve the status quo

Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. And we should all be working together to break the bias in our communities, workplaces, schools, colleges and universities. This panel discussion will focus on breaking bias in the workplace and will explore strategies around how women and men can work together through allyship to build a more gender equitable world.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize and identify biases that exist against women.
• Analyze the need to act as an ally on behalf of someone.
• Apply strategies for both sides of the allyship relationship.

The concept of taking a career break isn’t new, but perhaps we need a new way to approach them. This session dives into the AICPA's recently released toolkit "Leave of Absence as a Retention & Re-Entry Tool, " and focuses on its practical application. The goal is collaboration between employees and employers to create a mutually beneficial path forward using extended leave _as a tool._ This session is meant to catapult organizations forward as you prioritize developing and maintaining your leadership pipelines and is ideal for leaders in firms who are looking for a new approach with practical implementation ideas. Join us to explore how to empower your employees to predictably pause their career for a set period of time in order to prioritize another part of life—but with full expectation of re-entering the workforce with their current employer.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize specific application of leave as a retention and re-entry tool in a Q&A session with the toolkit's author
• Indicate ways to challenge your perspective on tools that help retain female talent
• Identify how this tool could be applied within your own firm for female talent retention

This panel contains industry leaders who will share their best practices at attracting and retaining talent in a post-COVID world. They will share their own stories and help the audience take practical steps in transforming their own leadership and organizational talent management practices.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine best practices to attract and retain talent in a post-COVID world.
• Analyze steps required to transform leadership and organizational talent management practices.

We’ve all heard about mindfulness and meditation, and yet, we may not have created a practice that seems to stick. In this workshop we will go over the landscape of various somatic practices that are able to increase your rest, resilience and help your recharge. We’ll go over the research and try on a few practices in the room to see which can be embedded into your daily life and use a tool called a ‘habit stack’ to support your practice sticking.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the landscape of mind-body practice
• Identify ways to create your own sustainable practice

*Please note that this will be an interactive session for both in-person and online attendees. You will be assigned to roundtables or virtual breakout rooms for a group discussion.* 

Concerns about pay equity have created momentum in the direction of greater transparency in compensation. Employees also crave greater transparency about how their performance is measured. Greater pay transparency without greater performance transparency is likely to create frustration and friction. An over-reliance on metrics like hours and tenure fall short in measuring real impact. Many other factors considered in promotion and compensation decisions tend to lack transparency without discernable metrics. Join us for an interactive session exploring how we might go deeper than inputs and effort and better measure our value and impact. Bring an open mind and your best ideas to share in the conversation.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the limitations of current metrics of performance, especially in a flexible work model.
• Develop a vision for a future state with greater clarity on impact and contribution.
• Model a process for developing new metrics for what your organization values deeply.

Join Amy Vetter on the SkyLawn to kickstart your day with yoga. Towels will be provided. 

This empowering session will focus on the skills and attributes that help women "Lead the Way", overcome barriers and build successful careers. Packed with data, guidance from the professions most successful women and action steps and tools, the session will allow you to consider how best to leverage your strengths. Women will share perspectives, fresh ideas and inspiration, and learn from each other’s challenges, triumphs and career journeys.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess 4 skill-sets & attributes that can help women build successful careers.
• Identify actions to enhance executive presence with teams, leaders and clients.
• Formulate how to best leverage your strengths.

Nadja West’s story is one of grit, perseverance, strength, and breaking boundaries, even when faced with adversity. In this talk, she shares her journey from being adopted as the youngest of twelve in a military family to becoming the first African American woman 3-star General in Army history – showcasing the power of asking the question: Why not me? Taking audiences behind the scenes of her storied career, from taking care of sick and wounded soldiers as a field surgeon in Operation Desert Storm to supporting more than 4 million people globally as Army Surgeon General, she demonstrates the importance of self-belief, bravery, and balance in overcoming challenges. Audiences will walk away empowered to face obstacles head-on, be better leaders, and remove “I can’t” from their vocabulary.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways to become an empowered leader.
• Recognize the importance of self-belief, bravery, and balance in overcoming challenges

Do you view self-promotion as a necessary evil that fills you with dread? You’re not alone. Tooting your own horn isn’t bragging. It’s a powerful leadership tool – IF you know how to do it tastefully and in a way that serves you and your company. You’ll leave this interactive presentation saying, “I can do this!” (Highlighting research from the Center for Creative Leadership). Visit www.newberrysolutions.com for additional resources.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze ways to overcome limiting beliefs that keep you from self-promoting
• Determine strategies that fit today's workplace, your own style and company culture, to build your credibility and visibility
• Identify advocates – and make it easy for them to help you
• Use what's learned to open the door to new assignments and opportunities

Great leaders have very diverse networks because they are inclusive leaders. Inclusive leaders create psychological safety and belonging, a strong sense of caring community, collaboration, and connection. Join us to expand your network with heart-based leaders committed to DEI+Belonging and allyship at work. Learn more ways to be inclusive across many dimensions of diversity. This session will include practical advice on activating your inclusive leadership lens to lead by example and better together.

Learning Objectives:

• Indicate how belonging can accelerate your DEI strategy success and allyship at work
• Recognize five leadership strategies that EACH of us can take to lead by example
• Identify resources and practical tips you can immediately apply and share

ALAYNE WHITE has owned her own business for the last twenty five years. Being a business owner is a wild ride to begin with; life comes at all of us who experience the joy of owning our own. More often it is how we manage the ups and the downs, sometimes in the same day, that can create feelings of success or failure. Things happens that challenge the viability of any successful business and Alayne will entice you into considering the very definition of success. Alayne’s personal mantra, what gets her happily out of bed in the morning, is to live the life you are living while you are living. She will speak about her amazing pivot by trying out many different ideas- almost daily- to see what would stick, especially her resilience during the last two years. What worked, what didn't and how she kept joy as her main driver during the often bumpy ride. Her enthusiastic and frank approach in letting you in on her adventures in the beauty and e commerce business will leave you with an upbeat and positive look at how she turned many negatives into many more positives (and didn't freak out in the meantime).

Learning Objectives:

• Identify specific ways to weave more joy into your busy days
• Determine ways to acquire confidence in leading a successful small business
• Recognize a new way of looking at creating your own objective in defining success for you

Team members are walking away from jobs by the millions and that includes CPA firms. Is your "good" culture, good enough? Nothing is off limits in this conversation as we talk about opportunities to win when it comes to attracting and advancing talented individuals in your organization. We'll be talking employee experience vs. client experience, culture by design, achieving a sense of belonging in hybrid workplaces, challenging the traditional thoughts about career ladders/paths, and sharing specific ideas for a leg up on retention and recruiting.

Learning Objectives:

• Indicate the hard questions to be asked about "good" accounting firm culture
• Recall innovative and non-traditional ideas to help retain and advance talent
• Recognize the role of male allies in women's career paths

Negotiation is a skill that can bring significant value for everyone, yet women are far less likely to engage in the practice. With good reason. Studies and anecdotes galore tell us that women are often penalized for negotiating. In 2001, only 7% of women negotiated their first salary compared to 57% of men. Labeled aggressive instead of assertive or attracting the dreaded b-word, they avoid the process for fear of retaliation. Are women terrible negotiators? No. In fact, as expert communicator and negotiator Fotini Iconomopoulos shares, the opposite is true. Women’s superior trust and empathy skills make them ideal negotiators. Often they just need to work on their confidence and employ some subtle communication strategies to get what they want — without that dreaded label. Listen to Fotini share her negotiation war stories and how she overcame gender and age discrimination to go on to be the expert that Fortune 500 executives seek out for their high stakes scenarios. You’ll leave with the motivation and confidence and the knowledge to tackle your next negotiation with ease.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify what may be holding oneself from communicating what they want
• Recognize and apply language tools that will advance one's goals

Energy in this session means the enthusiasm and dedication we have to complete our daily tasks. What if you had more of enthusiasm, more energy? Here you will learn the Energy Leadership Foundational principles, self-development to become the ideal leader; building on what stress triggers keep us from seeing opportunities and solutions. This is the roadmap to work life balance! Energy Blocks, identify and remove inner and outer blocks that keeps us from tapping into our highest potential. Learn tools to apply immediately and begin to gain more energy.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify stress triggers that keep us from identifying solutions and opportunities.
• Identify blocks that keep us from peak performance with practical tools that can be applied immediately.

As a woman in business, you need executive presence to inspire others, establish trust, build credibility, and drive outcomes. Research has shown that women have specific strengths that, when applied in business, result in higher profitability, greater collaboration and create a better work environment. Join Angela Dingle, Author of Discovering Your Girl Powers, to learn more about a woman’s unique ability to use her style, poise and presence to become empowered and successful.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify your unique talents, strengths and abilities.
• Determine why this is important to your success as a leader.
• Use your unique voice to become empowered and drive outcomes.
• Apply 10 strategies to build confidence, charisma and credibility.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the benefits of sponsorship and allyship to your organization, both women and men
• Identify awareness of how others experience the workplace differently
• Identify how to put sponsorship and allyship into action
• Distinguish ways to be a more deliberate advocate and sponsor
• Recognize engaging male leaders to create a culture necessary for successful diversity and sponsorship programs

Being able to develop business is a critical skill for career progression—but the approaches finding new business can vary. No matter at what stage of your career you find yourself, there are behaviors you can begin to incorporate into how you work that become of the foundation of business development. Identifying and building a strong network of relationships is important to finding new opportunities, but like everything it is more effective when it’s intentional and natural. The key is to start by being who you are. During this session participants will evaluate their relationship building style and explore practices that work for them. They’ll explore the spheres of influence they need to cultivate and learn how to work through all the levels to position themselves to identify key people they need to build relationships with and how to approach the process. Finally, we’ll explain how to leverage your relationship ecosystem to find new business both inside and outside the existing client base.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the spheres of influence you need to cultivate to create opportunities inside and outside the firm
• Determine the types of business developers and what type best fits YOU
• Distinguish your relationships based on who you are…not who you think you need to be
• Identify when to continue to invest in relationships, and when to let them go
• Analyze communication practices that will lead to trust, genuine understanding, fulfillment and new business

What happens when you find yourself at a place in your life where all your priorities are competing, sometimes even colliding? For a large percentage of women, leaving the workforce has been the only option. This exodus of talent is crippling to the employers who need their skillsets and a major obstacle in our collective pursuit toward gender equity. Unfortunately, women, in particular, are also losing, often giving up personal long-term career aspirations to meet the very real personal responsibilities of _right now. _ What if staying or leaving wasn’t the employee’s only option? What if there is a better way? If navigating conversations to explore the option of a personal career break seem overwhelming, this session is for you.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize practical tips and tools to navigate conversations with your employer for alternate career paths - specifically, a career break
• Guide you through preparing for a conversation to request a career break and owning your part in a non-traditional career pause

We all grow up with certain beliefs - assumptions and convictions that we hold to be true, regarding concepts, events, people, and things. Sometimes these beliefs are so deeply ingrained in who we are that we never even consider questioning them. But what if these beliefs don't actually align with who we are? Sometimes we have to break free of the messages in our heads so we can then start the journey to Business, Balance & Bliss. Amy Vetter, from The B³ Method Institute, will share insights to help you to uncover what message is ingrained from someone else versus what you truly believe or how you want to show up in the world. Get ready to be courageous, aware, and inquisitive to get to your inner truth.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine how to embrace your real personality
• Identify how to connect with others on a more human level

“Male Allies” is a frequently used term when advancing gender equity in male-dominant workplaces, but does it actually capture what it is that we need from men? Hear how to move from benevolent sexism to buy-in to a form of allyship that is active, not passive – a commitment to transforming a system and incurring the necessary costs.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify what is implied by the term "Male Allies", both good and unexamined
• Recognize shortcomings in initiatives championing Male Allies
• Select a pathway to inviting and engaging men as stakeholders for gender equity

Whether working in industry, education, government, or a firm being able to set yourself apart from your peers can provide career success as happiness, as well as (believe it or not) work/life balance. Hear how three successful women discovered niches, solved problems, and impacted the culture in their organizations which also created benefits for themselves.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize opportunities to create a niche.
• Identify how to turn needs into chances for you to be the problem solver.
• Utilize questions to uncover critical issues and develop organizational/team culture.

There is no shortage of qualified women to fill leadership roles: Women make up almost half of the U.S. labor force. They outnumber men in earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees and are nearly on par in getting medical and legal degrees. Yet from corporate boardrooms to Congress, from health-care companies to the courts, from non-profit organizations to universities, men are far more likely than women to rise to the highest paying and most prestigious leadership roles. Our current workplaces don’t always foster the kind of open, inclusive and trusting environment where all voices be heard. It’s a well-known fact that the more voices we have at the table, the richer and more meaningful the dialogue and outcomes. Women’s voices (among others) are often stifled in the workplace hindering their ability to rise in the ranks. Finding your place in the “boys club” of business can be an intimidating endeavor. Whether you’re a seasoned businesswoman, a rookie entrepreneur, or a female leader of any sort, you’re guaranteed to benefit from the support of other women. Join Shaara Roman, founder of The Silverene Group, and author of “The Conscious Workplace” as she shares 10 key strategies for elevating women in the workplace, and how her personal and professional background prepared her for establishing herself and thriving in a male-dominated world.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess the women’s leadership gap
• Evaluate what is holding you back personally and how to overcome it
• Formulate key strategies to take charge of your career and crush it

Join this panel discussion to learn what you can do as individuals as well as what your companies and even countries can do to build an economy that supports and empowers women to ultimately close the wealth gap.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify what the gender wealth gap is and what perpetuates it
• Identify how we can build a global economy that supports women - and why it's important.

Does your perception of readiness stop you from taking on bigger opportunities for greater exposure? Are you playing it safe because you are afraid of potential failure? What have you missed out on by playing it safe and not taking a chance on your current readiness. The workshop, Make Boss Moves: Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable take a unique approach to address what's holding women back from taking on bigger roles within their organization. We'll discuss how the misconception of readiness stops women from applying for bigger roles, taking on new opportunities, and how fear of failure is a barrier to achieving more.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize what's holding women back from taking on bigger roles within their organization.
• Analyze how the misconception of readiness stops women from applying for bigger roles and taking on new opportunities.

Studies show that women enjoy and are exceptional self-developers. In this session, keynote speaker and leadership coach Jennifer DiMotta will engage the audience with her proven six-step methodology where she has proven great success in helping women and young professionals develop their leadership skills. Jennifer will show you the steps, how to execute them, why they are so important with statistics, and what to do after you learn all six steps. You'll gain an understanding of the highly rated Uprisors 6-step methodology to develop your leadership skills and the proven results around its effectiveness. Prepare to take home a ready-to-use development playbook to sustain and optimize your leadership growth. Jennifer will also spend time showing you the science and data behind what holds women back from their highest potential and how we can overcome those challenges.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways to develop leadership skills using a proven six-step methodology.
• Distinguish key contributors that keep you from reaching your highest potential and how to overcome those challenges.

People are essential to the critical services businesses provide across industries and sectors. Amidst the challenges brought on by COVID-19 and the Great Resignation, organizations must think critically about how to attract, hire, retain and develop talent across a variety of backgrounds and experiences. In this session, leaders will explore concepts of diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB) and how they can be leveraged to not only help tackle the challenges of the unique environment we face today but also increase innovation, enhance performance, and strengthen retention efforts. This session will draw on the latest research in organizational behavior and social science to explore strategies and tactics leaders can use to evolve DIB in their areas (individuals, teams, and organizations) of influence.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss research on the value of diversity, inclusion and belonging in today’s workplace
• Introduce tools and tactics to help leaders foster and maintain an inclusive culture within teams
• Learn how to apply DEI initiatives to your organization

In a recent survey by Fortune & Deloitte, nearly 60% of senior leaders said that attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent is among their organization’s biggest challenges. Beginning in mid-2021, "The Great Resignation" continues to the present day (with no sign of letting up); the pandemic led millions worldwide to a desire for more meaningful, more impactful, and purpose-driven work. Today's employees have a new "worth it" equation that values time, health, family, and purpose over work. And leaders relying on the old management playbook are increasingly hard-pressed to attract, engage, and retain top talent. In this dynamic keynote, Hamza Khan—the best-selling author of "The Burnout Gamble" and "Leadership, Reinvented"—will make the case that an organization's ability to thrive in the future of work depends on how its leaders treat their employees in the present. For how they treat their employees is how their employees will treat their clients. Leaders in attendance will be challenged to unlearn any counterproductive management practices acquired earlier in their careers. And they'll be encouraged to nurture a seemingly counterintuitive alternative: "modern leadership"—a human-centric, empathetic, self-disrupting, change-friendly, and values-driven approach to leading. It's the very same approach that enables leading companies to thrive even in chaos.

Learning Objectives:

• Indicate the pitfalls of fear-based (punitive, avoidant, and maladaptive) leadership.
• Recognize the business case for adopting a more human-centric approach to leading through change.
• Identify how to operationalize & maximize four human-centric and change-friendly values: Servitude, Innovation, Diversity (& Inclusion), and Empathy.

Digital technologies have strongly influenced how we go about our daily life. Yet we aren’t fully conscious of the impact technology has had on our wellbeing. This session provides an opportunity to identify where you are at and uncover what you want instead. You will leave with practical behavioral changes designed to unleash your leadership potential.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify your current self-care activities and identify what you would like to change
• Recall how technology has shaped your behaviors
• Recognize the value of managing your energy instead of your time

Lacking confidence as a woman is something keynote speaker Heather Monahan knows quite a bit about. Feeling less than others, feeling scared to put yourself out there, or just feeling lost are all signs that it’s time for you to create your confidence. Beginning as young as 8 years old, females statistically report having less confidence than their male peers. Realizing that the gender pay gap isn’t closing anytime soon, it is time to take charge and create your own confidence so you don’t have to wait for the invite and instead will create it for yourself. The majority of women today are struggling with self-doubt. Most women fail to put themselves first. Many women are bullied and don’t know how to stand up for themselves. The current culture we live in applauds when men win awards and shares the news, yet a woman would feel petrified to share the news of her accomplishment. Women are afraid to appear “mean” or “full of themselves” and most women accept the blame for things they are not responsible for. Ending the constant apologies and putting ourselves on equal footing with others will create confidence and set women up for opportunities they currently don’t see as possible. There is one opinion in this world that matters, and it is yours. It is about time for you to own it and shine your light so the rest of the world can see.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways to create your own confidence.
• Recognize the obstacles that deter your self-confidence.