Cal Al-Dhubaib is a globally recognized data scientist, entrepreneur, and innovator in responsible artificial intelligence, specializing in heavily regulated sectors such as healthcare, energy, and defense. He leads AI and Data Science at Further, a privacy-first data, analytics, and AI company supporting over 100 of the Fortune 500. Cal founded and scaled Pandata, known for responsible AI design and development. Under his guidance, Pandata worked with high-profile clients including Cleveland Clinic, Progressive Insurance, and Parker Hannifin, leading to its acquisition by Further in 2024. Cal frequently speaks on topics including AI ethics, change management, data literacy, and the unique challenges of implementing AI solutions in regulated industries. His insights have been featured in noteworthy publications including Forbes, Nasdaq, VentureBeat, and Open Data Science. Cal has been recognized by Crain’s Cleveland as a Notable Immigrant Leader, Entrepreneur, and Technology Executive.

Scott J. Allen, Ph.D., is an award-winning educator passionate about working with people at all levels and across industries. He serves as an instructor in SMU’s Cox School of Business Executive Education and spent more than 18 years as a professor of management. He also serves as a leadership consultant with Winding River Consulting. Allen’s areas of expertise include leader development, the future of work, and executive communication. Scott has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He’s the co-author of several books, including The Little Book of Leadership Development: 50 Ways to Bring Out the Leader in Every Employee; Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for College Students; Discovering Leadership: Designing Your Success; and Captovation: Online Presentations by Design. Scott hosts Phronesis: Practical Wisdom for Leaders, ranked among the world’s top 2.5% of podcasts. Along with the podcast, he publishes a weekly newsletter. Scott frequently serves as a keynote speaker. In addition, he consults, facilitates workshops, and leads retreats across industries. Recent engagements include Catholic Charities, Progressive, Nestle, Toyota Motor North America, Enbridge (Dominion), and Cleveland Clinic, among others.  Scott served on the board of the International Leadership Association (ILA) and was named an ILA in 2021.

Dr. George Anderson serves as an Adjunct Professor in the EdD program at Trevecca and as a Program Director for Microsoft’s services organization. He is passionate about personal and professional change, including the process of replacing ignorance with knowledge, and the role of GenAI in helping organizations — a person at a time — work more effectively and deliver with greater velocity. He has authored 20+ books spanning personal growth, technology implementation, design-led thinking, project management, and more, and holds Design Thinking credentials from Stanford and PMI alongside an MBA in HR and a PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences.

Catharyn Baird, JD, is the Founder/CEO of EthicsGame, LLC and Professor of Business, Emeritus, Regis University, Denver, CO. Baird created the Ethical Lens Inventory™, a typology used by more than 650,000 people to determine their ethical preference and leadership style. Her current research focuses on the ethics of emerging technologies as together we create communities where humans can thrive.

Erik Bean, Ed.D, a full-time professor in Indiana Tech’s Ph.D. in Global Leadership, is adept in academic publishing, leadership education, and media literacy. As Media Literacy Now Michigan Chapter Leader and Journal of Leadership Studies LP section editor, he champions critical media evaluation. His book, Bias Is All Around You, reflects his commitment to uncovering information biases. Dr. Bean’s work at Scale AI focused on programming AI for objectivity, and his research on impartiality was published in the Journal of Media Literacy and Academic Research. In 2024, he addressed AI’s impact on white-collar jobs at the International Leadership Association Conference.

 Dr. John Banter is the Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Georgia Southern University and an adjunct faculty member with the Department of Leadership Studies at The Citadel. In his full-time role, Dr. Banter directs the university’s strategic planning efforts, the assessment of employee engagement, measures leadership effectiveness, and develops leadership development programs for Georgia Southern employees. He earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University and holds additional graduate degrees in the fields of Leadership and Homeland Security Management. John is also certified in prompt engineering with ChatGPT and GPT development.

Dr. Tricia Berry is the owner of Dynamic Trajectories LLC and has over 30 years of experience in Higher Education and Healthcare. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education with a Specialization in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University, a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning from Kaplan University, and Bachelors’ degrees in both Occupational Therapy and Psychology from St. Ambrose University. Trish is a member of several professional associations and is the President of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education.

Dr. Kevin Bottomley serves as Assistant Professor of the PhD in Global Leadership and Department Chair for Doctoral programs at Indiana Tech. He has obtained the following AI-related training and certifications: AI Governance, PrivacyOps, AI Ethics, ACUE Empowering Students to Use AI Responsibly, ACUE Writing Effective AI Prompts, ACUE Teaching with AI-Centered and AI-Resistant Learning Experiences, and ACUE Leveraging AI to Develop Course Resources. Additionally, he has worked with doctoral students on dissertation committees in the AI/ML and VLE space. Dr. Bottomley was a panelist at the ILA conference in Vancouver, CA, with the topic AI, Leadership, and Ethics; he has published and presented at other national and international conferences.

Dr. Tashieka Burris-Melville is a Faculty and Programme Director for Educational Leadership and Management in the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She received her doctoral degree in Leadership and Professional Practice from Trevecca Nazarene University. Tashieka is the co-author of Empowering Teams in Higher Education: Strategies for Success and has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on team development, leadership, and writing in higher education.

Dr. Janice (Jan) Cardwell is a dynamic force in the field of leadership development. With over four decades of experience across industry sectors, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role as CEO of Conceivers Leadership and Learning Group. Dr. Cardwell is passionate about helping leaders thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, and her innovative program, “Navigating Leadership and Learning in the AI Era©,” (where she is known as “AI-Janice”) provides innovative guidance and training. Her distinguished career includes fourteen years as Vice President/Director of the University of Phoenix-Detroit Campus. As Chair of the Board of the National Entrepreneur Association, she trains aspiring entrepreneurs. As a true scholar-practitioner she applies her academic research to real-world challenges, always exploring “What If and What Else” possibilities. Dr. Cardwell holds a PhD in Education and an MBA in Global Management.

Suzanne Clark is intensely curious and passionate about helping organizations and their leaders make meaningful connections—to strategies, outcomes, and each other. She is the President of Pursuit Advisory Partners and a part-time faculty member within the Master of Management program at Trent University, where she teaches graduate courses in leadership, ethics, and organizational behaviour, and explores the relevance of human leadership skills in AI-driven workplaces. A linguist by training, she holds Master’s degrees in Law (University of Toronto) and English (Western University). Complementing her consulting work, Suzanne is a conceptual artist whose relational art practice focuses on themes of belonging and inquiry.

Brandon Charpied is the Executive Director of the Management & Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) and the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM). He also leads the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC), which challenges undergraduate teams across North America in leadership skills through competitive experiential activities. Brandon’s research and practice interests include self-concept, leadership, media richness, and artificial intelligence. He has presented domestically and internationally on AI ethics and classroom AI implementation, and led professional development workshops guiding faculty in creating AI and GPT-based tools tailored to their educational needs. Currently a doctoral candidate (ABD) at the Davis College of Business & Technology at Jacksonville University, Brandon will publish a SAGE Skills module, AI in the Workplace in January 2025.

Bradley A. Davis, BRMP, is the Director of Training and Content Development for the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training and the Principal and Founder of Arete Ink LLC, a development and design firm that helps organizational talent achieve its highest potential. A cross-functional collaborator and instructional project manager, he has worked in the non-profit association space over the last decade, bringing innovation, intentional data management and usage, and content strategy to shape organizations supporting the Military History, Government Service, Education, and Cross-Enterprise Healthcare spaces. Bradley graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a B.A. in History, earning both a Master of Military History and a Certificate in Teaching and Learning from Norwich University. In 2021, he earned the Business Relationship Management Professional credential from the BRM Institute and is a 2024 – 2026 American Society for Association Executive (ASAE) Diversity in Executive Leadership Scholar and serves on the ASAE Professional Development Professionals Advisory Council. He was recently named a 2024 40 Under 40 Awardee by Association Forum.

Bert De Coutere is the IP & Innovation Lead and Design Faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). He works on innovation projects around AI and the CCL Labs. With over 20 years of experience in corporate learning and leadership development, Bert specializes in technology-enhanced learning and innovation. Bert is the author of Homo Competens and a frequent speaker at international conferences, and a council member of Online Educa Berlin. He holds degrees in Information Management and an Executive MBA.

Elizabeth Goryunova, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Leadership and Organizational Studies Department at the University of Southern Maine. Elizabeth is a global leadership scholar and expert practitioner. Her scholarship explores DEI, international management, metacognitive strategies for effective cross-cultural leadership, AI-augmented leadership, and AI-enhanced leadership education. Elizabeth’s academic interests are informed by her professional experience as an international business executive and one of ten U.S. Private Sector Liaison Officers to the World Bank Group and IDB. Elizabeth is a co-founder and past president of the Organization of Women in International Trade (Utah Chapter), Women Empowerment Global Outreach, and a member of the International Women’s Forum. She is a contributor to the Utah Women & Leadership Project, Chair of the Leadership Education Member Community of the International Leadership Association, and a member of Eastern Academy of Management.

Christine Haskell, Ph.D., is a collaborative advisor, educator, and author with nearly three decades of experience in the technology industry. She is an adjunct information management and data science faculty at Washington State University and the University of Southern California. Haskell was pivotal in Microsoft’s pivotal shift to Big Data and Cloud Computing in the early 2000s. In 2010, she played a key role in delivering predictive data solutions, laying the groundwork for the strategy supporting AI. Her research focuses on values-based leadership, data governance and ethics, and data skills as a critical lever enabling organizations’ social circuitry.

Emily Herman is a curious creative! While new-ish to higher education and corporate learning and development, her 16-year career with The Walt Disney Company allowed her to assess challenges and address them with data-driven solutions and compassionate leadership. At Disney, Emily managed large entertainment projects and mentored “Cast Members” across lines of business. Upon relocating to Texas in 2020, she pivoted to teaching business and leadership communication at The University of Texas at Dallas and Collin College, recently curating an Open Educational Resources textbook. Emily’s philosophy is that a leader is always learning!

Dan Jenkins, Ph.D., is Professor of Leadership & Organizational Studies at the University of Southern Maine. He received his doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration from the University of South Florida. Dan is co-author of The Role of Leadership Educators: Transforming Learning and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on leadership education, training, and development. As an award-winning international speaker and facilitator, Dan has engaged thousands of leadership educators, students, and professionals on topics such as leadership pedagogy, followership, artificial intelligence, and curriculum and course design. Additionally, Dan is a past Chair of the ILA Leadership Education Member Community, Co-Founder of the ILA Leadership Education Academy, Vice-Chair of the Collegiate Leadership Competition, Co-Lead of the Association of Leadership Educators Teaching & Pedagogy/Andragogy Focus Area Network, Associate Editor of the Journal of Leadership Studies, and co-host of The Leadership Educator Podcast.

Dr. Eric Kaufman is a professor and Extension specialist with Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education. He is also the current chair of the International Leadership Association’s Followership Member Community. Dr. Kaufman researches and promotes best practices for collective leadership, with special emphasis on problem solving and team development. His work advances social science in a variety of contexts, with past projects supporting the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Centers for Instructional Leadership, as well as the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Geosciences Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD) program.

Gaurav Khanna, Senior Manager, Data Science and Digital Journeys, Cisco Systems, has 25 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship. During the past five years, he has led efforts to automate business workflows using machine learning and deep learning techniques. His work focuses on using large language models and generative AI to transform how users interact with sales acceleration platforms. Khanna is passionate about demystifying complex subjects and is a frequent speaker on AI/ML topics. He received a BS in physics from Yale and an MS and a PhD in materials science and engineering from Stanford.

“Dr. Joe” Lasley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Maine and Founder of Gamenamic Leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies and is a certified leadership coach. He specializes in experiential and transformational learning, using role-playing games, focusing on group dynamics, systems thinking, human development, and game-based learning.”Dr. Joe” Lasley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Maine and Founder of Gamenamic Leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies and is a certified leadership coach. He specializes in experiential and transformational learning, using role-playing games, focusing on group dynamics, systems thinking, human development, and game-based learning.

Dr. Xi Lin is an associate professor at East Carolina University, USA. Her research focuses on seeking best practices, such as meme and emoji, video timeline-anchored comments, games, and artificial intelligence, to enhance student engagement and interaction in online learning environments. More information can be found at http://whoisxilin.weebly.com/

Gary Lloyd is a Change Leadership Expert and author of Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to Cultivate Change at Work. He created leadershipskillslab.ai, a platform designed to help users practice leadership skills such as coaching, feedback, and conflict management in a supportive environment, complemented by Socratic tutorials. Originally developed for Warwick Business School’s mentoring programme, the platform now supports a broader range of leadership skills. With over 20 years of experience leading change in financial services, Gary is dedicated to fostering adaptive leadership to meet the challenges of an AI-driven world.

Dr. Ray Luechtefeld is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Central Missouri where he teaches Strategy, Organizational Behavior, and Organization Development. His courses speak to the intersection of leadership, teamwork, personal and organizational change, and group learning. His research considers approaches to improve individual and team outcomes through transformational dialogue. Ray’s experience includes nine years at IBM. He received his PhD from Boston College, an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a BSEE from the University of Missouri-Rolla and has several patents involving AI and dialogic learning. He is a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee.Ray Luechtefeld is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Central Missouri where he teaches Strategy, Organizational Behavior, and Organization Development. His courses speak to the intersection of leadership, teamwork, personal and organizational change, and group learning. His research considers approaches to improve individual and team outcomes through transformational dialogue. Ray’s experience includes nine years at IBM. He received his PhD from Boston College, an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a BSEE from the University of Missouri-Rolla and has several patents involving AI and dialogic learning. He is a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee.

Dr. Nikolas McGehee is a dedicated husband, father of three, and a passionate educator and researcher. With a PhD in STEM education and a specialization in data science, he focuses on leveraging AI and Machine Learning to advance educational practices. His work integrates cutting-edge technology with data-driven decision-making to enhance teaching, learning, and research. Additionally, as a professional MMA athlete and trainer, he prioritizes both physical and mental growth. Dr. McGehee brings a unique perspective to AI leadership, blending academic rigor with practical experience in data science, education, and fitness.

Maureen Metcalf, CEO of the Innovative Leadership Institute, is a renowned executive advisor and visionary founder. She leads a consulting team dedicated to elevating leadership and evolving organizations through structured processes. Recognized as a Fellow at the International Leadership Association, Maureen is also an acclaimed author of an eleven-book series on innovative leadership, including “Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI.” Her work amplifies impact and fosters thriving organizations globally.

Jimmy Payne, CNP, PhD is an adjunct instructor at Carolina University, William Woods University and the Navy Community College. He coaches dissertation learners and is an Ethics and Leadership Instructor, as well as conducting research on the “dark “ side of leadership. 

Sonya Sharififard, PhD (she/her) is faculty at Pepperdine University. Her current research explores leadership development and global food systems with an emphasis on ethics in pedagogy. Previously, Dr. Sharififard served as a postdoctoral research fellow and Managing Editor of The Scholarship without Borders Journal at Pepperdine University, Lecturer at California State University, Sacramento, and an AMPLIFY fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. Dr. Sharififard has co-authored book chapters in New Horizons in Positive Leadership and Change (Springer 2020) and Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment (Palgrave 2018). She has presented at major international conferences and serves on the review panel of global institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Academy of Management (AOM), and the International Leadership Association (ILA).

Mary Tabata, MBA, PhD is a teaching academic and transformational coach. She holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University and an MBA with a concentration in Leadership and Change Management from Pepperdine University. Her interest in AI and ethics originate from many years working around technology innovation and ethics, including AI in education and its applications to healthcare and human-machine interaction, and AI’s influence on coaching, leadership training, leader development, and AI and spirituality.