Phyllis Barajas, Barajas & Associates Consulting has extensive experience in organizational, human resources development and diversity consultation.  Prior to launching her consulting practice, Phyllis held positions as National Director of Human Resources for Houghton Mifflin Publishing.  From 1994 to 1999 she served in Washington, D. C. at the US Dept. of Education as the Deputy Assistant Secretary, in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Bilingual Education.  Before her time in Washington, Phyllis served as the first Latina Assistant Dean for Human Resources at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.  She also is the founder and Executive Director of a non-profit organization, Conexi

Audra Bohannon, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion for Global Novations a Boston based Talent Management Company.

Thought Leader
Kelley Chunn is the principal of Kelley Chunn & Associates (KCA), a Boston-based 17 year old state certified* consultancy which specializes in multicultural and cause-related public relations and marketing. The focus is on strategic communications planning, media relations, community outreach, audience development, event management and training.We are located in a HUB Zone at Hibernian Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. KCA hasreceived an award from the Global Diversity Group for contributions to urban and minority entrepreneurship and earned recognition from the Clinton-Gore Administration for excellence in health marketing for the Sisters Together Move More Eat Better obesity prevention campaign. As principal, Chunn speaks widely, has appeared on C-SPAN, and been quoted in a variety of publications including BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, Boston Banner, the Wall Street Journal, PR Week and Boston Women’s Business magazine. KCA’s clients include the Boston Empowerment Zone, Rose Kennedy Greenway Project for the City of Boston, The Arts & Civic Dialogue Project at Harvard University, Staples, Inc., The Gillette Company (now Procter & Gamble), the FleetBank (now Bank of America), the Democratic National Convention 2004, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. Chunn is a graduate of New York University and the Simmons College Graduate School of Communications Management.

 *SOMWBA: State Office of Minority & Women Owned Business Assistance

Carol Evans serves as President of Working Mother Media and CEO of Diversity Best Practices which are part of the Bonnier Corporation. Carol’s involvement with Working Mother magazine dates back to 1978, when she played a critical role in the launch.  She grew Working Mother magazine from $100,000 to $14,000,000 over the next decade, serving first as advertising director and then as VP Publisher.  In 1986 she founded the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, still the most important workplace benchmark in the country.

Between 1989 and 2001, Carol ran two publishing companies. She was President of Stagebill, serving 110 arts organizations nationwide.  In 1996, she became Chief Operating Officer of The Chief Executive Group, where she launched a highly successful conference division, hosting more than 600 leading CEOs per year.

In August 2001, Carol Evans founded Working Mother Media by acquiring Working Mother magazine and the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), becoming the first mom to own Working Mother. She has launched several key initiatives to support the advancement of women including Best Companies for Multicultural Women, Best Law Firms for Women, Best of Congress, and Best Companies for Hourly Workers.

In 2006, Working Mother Media acquired Diversity Best Practices (DBP), the leading membership organization supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  DBP’s sessions, conferences, research, and publications allow companies to leap ahead on their diversity journey.  At DBP, Carol has launched the Network and Affinity Leadership Congress (NALC), CEO Roundtables, the DBP Benchmarking and Assessment Tool and the Global initiative.

A graduate of Empire State College/SUNY, Carol serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the March of Dimes. Carol has won numerous awards including the Admiral Grace Hopper Women’s Diversity Champion Award/ U.S. Navy; Dr. Martin Luther King Visionary Award/ Walmart; Work-Life Legacy Award/ Families and Work Institute; the Highest Leaf Award/ Women’s Venture Fund; Excellence in Women’s Health Award/ Jacobs Institute and the YWCA Hall of Fame.  

She is a highly acclaimed keynote speaker on the advancement of women, work life balance, barriers facing women of color and leadership. She has appeared on every major talk show including Today Show, Oprah, Good Morning America and PBS To the Contrary. Her opinions have been heard on hundreds of radio shows and published in newspapers nationwide.

Carol’s book, the award-winning This is How We Do It: The Working Mother’s Manifesto was published in May 2006 by Penguin Group. She is most proud of being mom to Julia Rose (20) and Robert (23), and wife of Bob Coulombe, a Major in the New York Guard.  

As Vice President of Tishman Construction of New England, Noriko Miyakoda Hall, has been involved with the ground floor of many of the largest projects reshaping Boston.  From the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Logan Airport's Modernization Master Plan, CAT Surface Renovation to plans to redesign Dewey Square after the Big Dig is dug, Hall has been a key player at the earliest stages, ensuring that all challenges and solutions are identified.

Graduating Colby College in 1987, just in time for the stock market crash that preceded the Dot-com boom, Hall took one of the only jobs available, a reception position at a Construction Cost Consulting firm.  She moved quickly up the ladder, and went back to school at Northeastern University to learn more about her industry and took courses on Building and Construction Technology.  For 13 years she worked as an independent cost consultant completing thousands of estimates prior to taking a position with Tishman Construction. She is well known as one of New England's premiere estimators and cost consultants, in a niche area of the construction industry that has historically been dominated by men.

Beyond her work with Tishman, Hall finds time to actively participate in several industry groups and organizations.  She was selected to join the Advisory Panel for the Women's Network of the Greater Boston Chamber, where she ensures that Boston's businesswomen are kept informed about key trends and important news in the marketplace. Hall is Co-Chair for Programs and Seminars Committee of New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE).  In her role, Hall organizes speakers and events such as a luncheon with Evelyn Murphy and tours of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for NEWIRE's members. Additionally, Hall stays abreast of cost consulting issues and concerns through her membership in both the American Society of Professional Estimators and the American Association of Cost Engineers.

In 2003 Hall was the recipient of Boston Business Journal's 40 under 40 and in 2004 was awarded Greater Boston Chamber's Pinnacle Award for Emerging Executive.  For the past three years she has run estimating workshops at Build Boston with Daedalus Project's President, Richard Marks, a Construction Consulting Company in downtown Boston.

Marilyn Hausammann assumed the newly created role of vice president for human resources in October 2004. Hausammann leads the University's efforts to attract, develop and retain its workforce of approximately 15,000 people, working with local human resources offices across Harvard. She has overall responsibility for developing and implementing a University-wide human resources strategy and managing the delivery of central human resources services to all employees. Central human resources services include areas such as benefits, compensation, career development, labor and employee relations, human resources information services, employee communications and employment. Hausammann is working with University leadership to establish and implement HR programs key to the University's mission and important to the success and satisfaction of staff.

Hausammann's career in human resources spans more than 25 years. She came to Harvard from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a consulting firm with offices in 37 countries, where she served as the global director of human resources. Before joining BCG, she worked at Thomson Financial as senior vice president for human resources and communications. She has also held senior human resources positions at Putnam Investments and the Bank of New England. She serves on the board of directors of the New England Human Resources Association. Hausammann holds an M.B.A from Northeastern University and an A.B. from Emmanual College.

Thought Leader

As Vice President and Corporate Controller of Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Inc., Shirley Mehta is responsible for all corporate accounting, planning and reporting functions of the company. Prior to Siemens’ acquisition of ENTEX Information Services (ENTEX) in April of 2000, Mehta held the same position.  Mehta was named Controller after a major corporate restructure in 1998 that enabled ENTEX to transition to a services-only organization.   Ms. Mehta joined ENTEX in February 1997 as Assistant Controller and has served as Vice President and Corporate Controller since December 1998. From June 1988 to February 1997, Mehta held a variety of financial management positions at Kraft General Foods, a subsidiary of the Philip Morris Companies, most recently as Financial Director. Prior to joining Kraft, Mehta was a Senior Manager in the Stamford office of KPMG.

Ms. Mehta is a Certified Public Accountant and holds an M.B.A. in Accounting and Finance from the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Fordham University.

Jack Mollen is Executive Vice President for Human Resources at EMC2 Corporation. With 2004 revenues of $8.3 billion, and nearly 23,000 employees worldwide, EMC is the world leader in products, services and solutions for information storage and management that help organizations extract the maximum value from their information, at the lowest total cost, across every point in the information cycle.

Jack leads EMC's global Human Resources practice to assure the availability of world-class talent to drive business success. Responsibilities include executive, leadership and employee development; compensation and benefits; staffing; and all of the people aspects of acquisition integration. He reports to EMC President and CEO Joseph M. Tucci.

Jack joined EMC in September 1999, and has been an innovator in putting EMC at the forefront of influencing the health care marketplace to help control employee and company costs. EMC has pioneered employee health initiatives in partnership with Boston University; introduced online Health Management tools utilizing leading technology in the area of health education; and been a major sponsor of National Health Access, a program designed to provide affordable health insurance options for up to 3 million uninsured Americans. Jack is a board member of the New England Healthcare Institute, a group of business, medical and government leaders dedicated to practical solutions to critical health care issues.

Jack is a director of the Human Resources Policy Association, a leading public policy group of senior HR executives of the largest U.S. employers. He is also an advisory board member for Working Mother Magazine, which promotes opportunity for women in business. Community activities include service on the board of directors of the United Way of Tri-County in Massachusetts and as a trustee of Angel Flight New England which provides free flights for adults and children throughout the northeast United Sates so that they can access medical care.

Jack holds a degree in economics from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York and a master's degree in Labor Relations from St. Francis College in Pennsylvania.

Aida Sabo leads the Corporate Diversity Function at EMC in Hopkinton, MA., and executes Living Inclusion @EMC., a company wide strategy focused on attracting, retaining, and developing top talent globally, advancing multi-cultural competence and providing an innovative/inclusive environment.   Thousands of employees are active in six employee circles that Aida helped to create.  She has also implemented organizational diversity task forces, which work on EMC policy objectives.  For the first time EMC has been on the list with Diversity Inc. as a notable company.

Prior to joining EMC, Aida was Diversity Director at Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto, California.  Before beginning her diversity career six years ago, she worked in engineering at Hewlett-Packard. Her first formal diversity role came when she served as the President of HP's first Latino Employee Network.  Aida has been an active member in many associations and has held numerous board positions: she chaired the Silicon Valley Antennas and Propagation Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) for six years, is on the Advisory Board for Working Mother Magazine, Women of Color Initiative, and a Legislative Liaison for the New England Minority Development Counsel.

Aida was born in Michoac

Thought Leader

Gail Snowden became Vice President, Administrative Services May 1, 2007.  Her administrative oversight includes the areas of personnel policies and other human resource activities, the Foundation's facilities and MIS,  support for the Foundation Board committees and she is a key member of the senior management team.  Previously, Snowden was Vice President for Finance and Operations of the Boston Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the United States.  As the Chief Financial Officer of the foundation, she oversaw the finances and administrative operations of the $830 million community foundation.

Ms. Snowden, a veteran of the banking industry and a nationally recognized leader in urban community development, retired from banking after a successful 36-year career, June 2004.  Most recently, she was Executive Vice President for Bank of America, where she was responsible for strategy development and oversight of 60 plus strategic alliances and partnerships.  Prior to that, she was President of FleetBoston Financial Foundation, where she managed the distribution of $25 million in grants, and earlier served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of FleetBoston Financial's Community Investment Group, where she was responsible for directing and investing the bank's resources into low- and moderate-income communities.

Ms. Snowden joined Bank of Boston in 1968 and served in many capacities through the bank's numerous mergers, including her membership on Fleet's Leadership Advisory Group.  Under her leadership, innovative financial services were brought to those most in need, and nationally recognized community investment efforts were developed.  Her contributions resulted in the awarding of "Outstanding" Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) ratings at the banks, and the White House Ron Brown Award for Advocating for the Needs of Minority and Low-Income Constituents. 

Ms. Snowden is a member of the board of Simmons College, the national board of Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, the Massachusetts General Physicians' Organization and the board of Year Up.  She has received numerous awards, including the Rosoff Diversity Award, honorary doctorates from her alma mater, Simmons College, and several other colleges.  She was named one of the nation's Top Business and Professional Women by Dollars and Sense magazine, one of 50 African-American Women at the top in corporate America by Ebony magazine, and one of Boston magazine's 100 most influential women.

Ms. Snowden is the daughter of a long line of community advocates in the Boston area.  Her parents, Otto and Muriel Snowden, were the founders in 1949 of Freedom House, a community center known for its mission of advancing cultural and racial interaction.  Freedom House continues to play a significant role in improving the educational, economic and social climate of Roxbury. Ms. Snowden serves as an Emeritus Chair of the Freedom House Board of Directors. 

Ms. Snowden is a 1967 graduate of Harvard/Radcliffe College and earned an MBA from Simmons Graduate School of Management in 1978.  She currently resides in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Reverend Cheng Imm Tan was appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino as the Director of the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians with the mandate to strengthen the ability of residents from diverse cultural and linguistic communities to fully participate in the social, economic, cultural and civic life of the city.

Under her leadership, the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians has become a national model and was awarded the 2000 City Livability Outstanding Achievement Award from the United States Conference of Mayors 2001 Cultural Diversity Award from the National Black Caucus of local elected officials. Reverend Cheng Imm Tan is currently the Director of the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians.  For the past 20 years, her work has focussed on some of the city's most vulnerable - victims of domestic violence and refugee immigrant women and children. 

She is a founding member of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, a grassroots movement that addressed the hidden issue of domestic violence in Asian communities.  She is also the founder of the Asian shelter and Advocacy Project, the only battered women shelter with multilingual and multicultural resources that serves Asian battered families in New England, "Rice Sticks and Tea," the only Asian food pantry program as well as "Arise" a refugee-immigrant women's empowerment program.  She also founded and leads Gund Kwok, the only Asian Women's Lion Dance Troupe in New England that performs all over the region.  In addition, she is active with many refugee and immigrant community groups and she served on the Governor's Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, the Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence and the Governor's Asian American Commission. 

She has received many awards for her leadership and has published several articles and talks related to the work she does.  She has led numerous workshops on domestic violence, women's empowerment and Asian empowerment in the United States, India, Cambodia, Malaysia and Japan.  She also led workshops at the Third and Fourth World Conference on Women in Nairobi and Beijing. 

Jan Wyant is the HR Leader for the New England Practice of Deloitte.  In this capacity she provides cross-business unit support for HR programs for close to 1500 partners/principals, firm directors and staff across the four New England offices. 

Her career in Human Resources spans over 35 years and includes HR Management positions with Mercer HR Consulting, Fleet Financial Group, Putnam Investments, the University of California and The Salk Institute of Biological Research.