Eileen Blumenthal, JD is the founder and managing partner of Rocket Science Coaching & Consulting, a firm specializing in executive coaching and organizational development for social justice and health-related non-profits.  She has extensive experience as a consultant, trainer, facilitator and coach, focusing on leadership, development and professional achievement and satisfaction.  Ms. Blumenthal practiced employment law with Morrison and Foerster and worked in the deans’ offices at Harvard University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Union College.  She was board president of New Leaf, which provides mental health and substance abuse services for the LGBT community, and a board member for openhouse, a San Francisco nonprofit dedicated to creating and sustaining a senior residential community allowing LGBT seniors to age safely and with dignity.  She received a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University, Master's of Education from Harvard University, and law degree from Hastings College of the Law, University of California.

Denise Brouillette, MBA  Following a successful career in health education within the Harvard Medical School system at both the Massachusetts General and Cambridge Hospitals, Denise moved west and founded The Innovative Edge, LLC. Since 1994, her San Francisco leadership development company has been offering leadership programs and executive coaching for individuals at the executive, director, and senior manager levels.  In 2006 Denise launched Hairpin Turns ®, a career strategy consultancy for women leaders.  Denise’s clients are among the Fortune 500 and have included leaders from Google, Yahoo!, Genentech, Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, Charles Schwab and Symantec, to name a few.  Denise received her BS with honors from Boston University and her MBA from Simmons School of Management, whose well-regarded programs are exclusively for women.  Denise is authoring her first book, Running in Pumps: Winning the Power Game at Work, to be published in 2008, and authors a blog and podcast by the same name.  When not working Denise enjoys running, hiking and backpacking into the wilderness, has been known to dive off cliffs and out of airplanes and is a tri-athlete.

Rachelle (Shelley) J. Canter, PhD is President of RJC Associates which provides career, leadership and team development services to client organizations.  Shelley has 20+ years of experience in executive search, assessment, development and outplacement, including work with industry leaders such as Korn/Ferry International and Drake Beam Morin.  She is adjunct faculty and lead coach for The Women’s Senior Leadership Program at the Kellogg School of Management.  She has written and spoken widely on career and leadership issues and has authored an action-oriented career guide, Make the Right Career Move, published in 2007 by Wiley.  Shelley earned her PhD in Social-Personality Psychology (where her dissertation was on achievement in women) from the University of Colorado and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University with a BA in Psychology.  Complete information on her firm, services, clients and publications is available on the RJC website.

Susan Christy, PhD, President of Christy Consulting, Inc., appreciates the complexity of University administration and management.  Susan has consulted for over 50 University of California departments over the last 18 years.  Her background as an experienced university consultant, tenured psychology professor, Trustee of The California Institute of Integral Studies, graduate student, business owner, training company VP and TV talk-show host lend depth, flexibility and creativity to her work.  Christy Consulting, Inc. is listed as one of the top 15 Management Consulting firms by the East Bay Business Times.
Susan is passionate about helping academic managers and teams mobilize their individual talents, align toward meaningful goals and create the best in education, research and community service.

Jeanne-Marie Grumet, CEO of Communication Catalysts in Novato, California, is respected nationally and internationally as a dynamic speaker, author, coach and facilitator of leading-edge communications training.  For over 20 years she has engaged participants in powerful programs that produce lasting, positive results.  Backed by effective training in psychology as well as years of experience and proven success working in sales, training and management, she delivers customized speeches and courses.  Her programs include interpersonal communications, presentation skills, team building, customer service, sales, conflict resolution and leadership.
Ms. Grumet is a co-author with John Gray, Jack Canfield and Bob Proctor of the book 101 Ways To Improve Your Life. For more information, please visit her website at www.JMGrumet.com.

Joyce Hammel works in the Work-Life Resource Center as the Administrative Officer in the Office of Sexual Harassment Prevention and Resolution for the campus and medical center at UCSF. She is a certified Investigator, Co-Active Life Coach and Mediator.  She is a certified True Colors Facilitator.  Joyce has owned a successful consulting firm for over 20 years before joining the University 12 years ago.  Her consulting client list includes organizations such as Oracle, Noah’s Bagels, United Jewish Federation, ESPRIT, NASA and a variety of nonprofit organizations.

Jackson Katz, EdM is an educator, author and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in gender violence prevention education with men and boys, especially in the sports culture and the military.  He is the co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, the leading sexual and domestic violence prevention initiative in college and professional athletics, and director of the first gender violence prevention program in the U.S. Marine Corps.  He is the creator of award-winning educational videos including "Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity," and the author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help. For more information visit www.jacksonkatz.com.

Elizabeth Kearney, PhD sits on three boards, specializes in strategic planning and effective leadership training and founded Kearney & Associates: The Experts’ Alliance in 1983.  This award-winning author and professor was a John Hopkins Fellow, and three of her books were Fortune Book-of-the-Month Club selections.  Her last book, Women Who Paved the Way, was released in November of 2005, and her new work, The Baby Boomer Exodus and the Generational Fallout is due to be released in 2008.  Liz was selected in 2003 & 2004 as Businesswoman of the Year by the National Business Advisory Council and received the same accolade in 2003 from American Business Women's Association.  She was one of fourteen business owners honored in Washington, D.C. in March of 2005, and in the same year, she was presented with the Ronald Reagan medal for her work with small businesses and their related issues.

Maxine Hong Kingston is Senior Lecturer for Creative Writing at the University of California, Berkeley.  For her memoirs and fiction, The Fifth Book of Peace, The Woman Warrior, China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, and Hawai’i One Summer, she has earned numerous awards, among them the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the PEN West Award for Fiction, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as the title of “Living Treasure of Hawai’i.”

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the 15th President of Bennett College for Women, the President/ CEO of multimedia production company Last Word Productions, Inc. and a native San Franciscan. Recognized for her progressive and insightful observations, she is also an economist, author and commentator.  Her writing appears regularly in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence magazine and The Progressive. Her weekly columns appear in numerous national newspapers and she appears regularly on CNN and BET. She has appeared on PBS’s To The Contrary, ABC’s Politically Incorrect, Fox News Channel’s O’Reilly Factor and stations including C-SPAN, MSNBC and CNBC. She has also hosted talk radio programs in Washington, San Francisco, and New York.
She is the editor of Voices of Vision: African American Women on the Issues (1996), the co-editor of Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women (1986), and recently co-edited The Paradox of Loyalty: An African American Response to the War on Terrorism (2002). She is most recently the co-author of Unfinished Business: A Democrat and A Republican Take On the 10 Most Important Issues Women Face (2002). A committed activist and civic leader, Dr. Malveaux serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute, the Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, DC and the Liberian Education Trust.  Dr. Malveaux received her BA and MA degrees in economics from Boston College and earned a PhD in economics from MIT.

Mercedes Martin, MA is co-CEO/President of InPartnership Consulting Inc., an organizational development and strategic change firm specializing in global diversity and leadership development.  Mercedes has been a pioneer introducing global diversity and leadership development programs in Africa, South and Central America.  She is a member of the California Department of Education’s think tank “Building Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution Models” and an adjunct faculty member at a number of local institutions including San Francisco State University, the University of Santa Cruz and John F. Kennedy University.  A graduate of the University of Miami, Mercedes holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership Development from the University of San Francisco and diversity facilitation certification from Equity Institute, IBM and R. Thomas Consulting.  Mercedes is certified as an advanced facilitator using the conflict resolution model of Powerful Non-Defensive Communication (PNDC).  As a United States Air Force Officer for twelve years Mercedes was certified Master Facilitator in “Total Quality Management.”

Janet Martinez, PhD, MPA, JD is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Gould Negotiation and Mediation Program at Stanford Law School.  Dr. Martinez practiced law in San Francisco for ten years on a wide range of corporate transactions and business operational matters.  She subsequently moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she pursued graduate studies, research and teaching at Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government.  As a Senior Associate with the Consensus Building Institute, Martinez managed a series of facilitated international policy dialogues for the United Nations Group of 77, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the World Trade Organization.  Martinez has conducted extensive negotiation training and curriculum development for senior officials at international and U.S. federal agencies, corporations, law firms and nonprofit organizations.  She holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University, a JD from Golden Gate University and BS in Bacteriology and Public Health from Washington State University.

Laurel Mellin, MA, RD is Associate Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.  At the university over the last 28 years, she developed a method based on developmental skills training (DST) that is applied as The Solution Method for adults and the SHAPEDOWN Program for children and teens.  The method rewires the limbic brain for resilience and a new happiness set point.  It was named one of the top 10 medical advances of the year by Health magazine and is the only weight loss program other than surgery to have shown lasting results.  With the “medicine” of more joy in life, the brain’s drives and cravings for common excesses fades.  New brief programs for weight, mood, stress, relationships and addictions have been launched in the last year.  Mellin is The New York Times bestselling author of The Pathway (ReganBooks), a researcher and has been featured repeatedly in the media, including as a guest on Oprah three times.  She conducts research, professional training and group programs on The Solution Method.

Edith Ng is a Berkeley alumnus and has worked at UCB for over 30 years. She has served as head of Staff Affirmative Action, Equity and Diversity since 1991, developing and institutionalizing the first student and staff diversity programs at UC Berkeley. In 1994, Project DARE (Diversity Awareness through Resources and Education) was one of eight Bay Area programs to receive an “Excellence through Diversity” award for its work; the award was sponsored by the Center for Human Development. With over 20 years of experience in the diversity field, she has implemented multicultural organizational development efforts to enhance organizational productivity and has been strong advocate for staff development. She also currently teaches in the Peace and Conflict Studies program, offering courses in multicultural conflict resolution.

Caterina Rando, MA, MCC Since 1994 Caterina has been coaching women to communicate powerfully to get what they want. She delivers training on public speaking, communication, stress management and personal success to organizations and institutions including Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Clemson University, North Carolina State University, the American Academy of Medical Society Executives, California Foster Parent Association and the Community College Foundation. Caterina holds an undergraduate degree in Organizational Behavior and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology. Caterina is an award-winning speaker, master certified coach, international sought-after speaker and author of the national best-selling book Learn To Power Think now also published abroad in eleven languages including Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Polish and Estonian. Caterina writes monthly for more websites, magazines and newspapers than she can keep track of.  She was recently featured in Redbook, Women’s Day, Balance, Fitness and Latina magazines.

Judy Sakaki, PhD was appointed Vice President for Student Affairs for the University of California System in January 2007.  She is the first woman and the first Asian American to hold this senior cabinet-level position.  She provides leadership to a department that supports, advocates and enhances the academic, social and cultural needs and development of diverse undergraduate and graduate students.  Her units include Undergraduate Admissions, Student Financial Services, Campus Life, Academic Preparation, P-20 Education Alliances and Gender Equity in Athletics.
Previously, Dr. Sakaki worked in a battered women’s shelter and counseled high school students.  She began her higher education career as an academic advisor and rose through the ranks to eventually teach and serve as an administrator.  Most recently, Dr. Sakaki was Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at UC Davis and Vice President and Dean of Students at Fresno State.  She was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow and a trustee on the College Board.  She cares deeply about issues of access, equity, retention and student success.  She earned a BA and MS from California State University, Hayward and a PhD in Education from UC Berkeley.

JoAnne M. Saxe, RN, ANP, MS is a Nurse Practitioner and Health Sciences Clinical Professor at the UCSF School of Nursing.  She is the former Director of the Adult Nurse Practitioner Program that she has taught in since 1985.  She has also been a Visiting Assistant Professor the University of Hong Kong since 1998.  Additionally, she maintains an active faculty practice at Glide Health Services.  Selected areas of special interest include: 1.) Caring for vulnerable populations, 2.) Chronic disease management, 3.) Lifestyle modification for health education and 4.) The importance of forgiveness for heath and well-being.

Tamara Wiggins Steele, Esq.,CEC is president and CEO of New Heights Company, an executive coaching and training company in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Ms. Steele has over 20 years combined business, legal and coaching experience.  Ms. Steele worked as Deputy County Counsel for Alameda County and Monterey County where she provided advice and counsel for various county departments.  Currently, she coaches and trains attorneys, corporate executives and sales professionals in the following areas: effective communication, leadership, self-confidence, work/life balance and diversity.  Ms. Steele received her JD from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her BS from the University of San Francisco in Business Administration.  She received her certification as an empowerment coach from the Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaches (IPEC).  Ms. Steele is a member of the International Coaches Federation, National Bar Association and Business Network International/San Francisco Embarcadero Chapter.

Akaya Windwood, an executive coach and organizational consultant, has spent 40 years working for social justice. She is President of Rockwood Leadership, a national organization committed to promoting social change by providing individuals, organizations and issue sectors with powerful training in leadership and collaboration. She is founder of In Common, a multicultural consultation firm, and co-founder of the Women’s National Leadership Project. Her work has included consultation to nonprofit, school, government and private sector organizations. Akaya has served on the Alameda County Human Relations Commission and the Alameda County Hate Violence Prevention Task Force. She volunteers by sitting on various boards, caring for animals in shelters and providing respite care for hospice families. A long-time resident of the Bay Area, she loves the richness of living and working with diversity and is committed to joy, laughter and healthy, safe communities.