Full Program Schedule

Registration + Breakfast

Registration – Hotel Lower Level (outside Ballroom)

Breakfast – Petite Pre-function and Ballroom (2nd floor)

Conference

Conference Opening Remarks

Nancy Rothbard
David Pottruck Professor, Professor of Management,
Deputy Dean, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The Next Ten Years

As we mark the 10-year anniversary of this conference, it is clear that people analytics continues to be in a state of constant evolution. To help us take stock of where people analytics has been and where it is going, we welcome back two of our very first speakers, Dawn Klinghoffer and Prasad Setty. From their vantage points at Microsoft and Google, respectively, Dawn and Prasad are uniquely positioned to help us consider how people analytics has evolved in the past decade, which new techniques are transforming our understanding of our organizations, and how data-driven insights have been—and will continue to be—used to address an ever-expanding range of organizational challenges.

Dawn Klinghoffer
Vice President, HR Business Insights, Microsoft

Prasad Setty
Former Vice President for People Analytics, Google

Moderated by Matthew Bidwell
Xingmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor, Professor of Management at
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Co-Director, Wharton People Analytics

The New Employee Activism

Labor leader Sara Steffens joins Professor Peter Cappelli to discuss the new landscape of employee activism. Brought on by the pandemic, fundamental shifts in the way work is organized, and a growing commitment to social justice, we are seeing organizing efforts emerge in new organizations and industries, holding employers accountable for much more than wages, hours and working conditions. Where is this going? And what are the implications for employers and employees alike? Steffens joins the conversation as a journalist and seasoned organizer, bringing decades of front-line experience and a strong voice for the worker.

Sara Steffens
Secretary-Treasurer at Communications Workers of America

Peter Cappelli
George W. Taylor Professor, Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania,
Director, Center for Human Resources

The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work
(How dead-end work derails careers and ways to fix that)

All organizations have work that few employees want, low impact assignments like proofing documents, onboarding new staff, screening interns, attending to that time-consuming client, or simply helping others. Women are disproportionately asked and expected to do this “non-promotable work,” which leaves them overcommitted and underutilized as companies forfeit revenue, productivity, and top talent.

Lise Vesterlund, professor of economics and co-author of The No Club, will explain what non-promotable work is, how and why it affects women disproportionately, and what we can do to make smarter decisions about the work we take on. She will also address how organizations and managers can benefit from reassessing how they assign and reward work.

Lise Vesterlund
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh
Co-author of The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work
Director of the Behavioral Economics Design Initiative (BEDI) and of the
Pittsburgh Experimental Economics Laboratory (PEEL)

The Digital First Future of Work

The way we work has fundamentally changed, yet questions persist on the future of remote work, and how to not just determine organizational policy and practice, but also how to assess it. In this session,  Christina Janzer, will share insights from the recent  Future Forum Pulse survey of 10,000+ knowledge workers around the globe. She will then join Martine Haas for a discussion of its implications for making hybrid work work, building for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and measuring success in a digital-first world, while showcasing innovative practices from leaders at the forefront of the future of work.

Christina Janzer
SVP of Research & Analytics at Slack

Martine Haas
The Lauder Chair Professor
Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania,
Anthony L. Davis Director, Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management & International Studies

Break

Home Court Advantage – Promoting Pro-Level DEI

Nzinga “Zing” Shaw’s address will focus on the ways that corporate organizations have proactively addressed forward-facing/public DEI challenges. She will provide the audience with real case studies that explore the problems that can occur when DEI isn’t a core component of an organization’s business model. Additionally, Shaw will help the audience to define and execute tangible actions for leaders to foster greater inclusion.

Nzinga “Zing” Shaw
Chief DEI Officer, The Recording Academy | GRAMMYs

Navigating Uncertainty Through Art, Behavioral Science, and Nudges

Author and head of content at Humu, Liz Fosslien will walk through science-backed (and illustrated!) strategies individuals and leaders can implement to ground themselves when things are up in the air. She’ll also share how she has confronted uncertainty in her own life, and why seemingly small nudges can have a profound impact on how we feel.

Liz Fosslien
Author of the national best-seller Big Feelings and the Wall Street Journal best-seller No Hard Feelings
Head of content and communications at Humu

Algorithmic Bias

Artificial intelligence is resetting the value equation in countless professions, but to what end? In this two-part session, Cathy O’Neil first offers a provocation: As AI replaces bureaucracies in every major industry, we can either take the opportunity to automate the status quo, with all of its historical baggage, or to deliberately true up the machines to our stated values. Which path will we choose? Which values could we even agree on? After challenging us to think deeper about what it would truly take to harness AI for good, Cathy joins University of Pennsylvania Professor of Computer and Information Science, Lyle Ungar for a conversation at the exciting but fraught intersection between AI and people analytics.

Cathy O’Neil
CEO of ORCAA, Author of the New York Times best-seller
Weapons of Math Destruction and The Shame Machine

Tom Adams
Chief Operating Officer/General Counsel, ORCAA

Lyle Ungar
Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania

Curated Connections Networking Lunch

Curated Connections are carefully-crafted small-group discussions held over lunch and are a key highlight of our conference! These discussions enable you to create meaningful connections while exploring a topic of shared interest with our audience of industry experts, cutting edge researchers, and highly motivated students. All registered attendees are invited to select the topics that are of most interest to them.

Topics include:

• Bringing your Full Self to Work
• Employee Activism
• Remote/Hybrid Work
• ChatGPT: Boundaries and Best Uses
• Context for Successful PA Practice
• Debriefing the Morning Sessions

Data Visualization

Data can help us make sense of reality—but first we need to make sense of the data. And for that purpose, nothing beats what one historical government leader called “the magic of graphs.” From a chart that helps students master the periodic table of elements to a curve that traces the rise and fall of pandemic waves, a well-designed graphic “informs the mind, awakens the imagination, convinces.” Few people today understand that better than Amanda Cox, the Head of Special Data Projects at USAFacts and former editor of the New York Times data journalism section The Upshot. In this session, Amanda draws on examples and her experience to illustrate the art of effective data visualization.

Amanda Cox
Head of Special Data Projects, USAFacts

Good Power

In this two-part session, we explore the cultivation and use of power from the leadership seat. Beginning with an excerpt from Adam Grant’s upcoming interview with longtime IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, we consider her framing of Good Power and how it can be leveraged to advance people and organizations. Following that, ASU Professor Ned Wellman and Wharton Professor Samir Nurmohamed explore together how Good Power is successfully cultivated and harnessed.

Pre-recorded conversation between:
Adam Grant
Organizational psychologist at Wharton, #1 NYT bestselling author of THINK AGAIN, and host of the
TED podcast WorkLife

Ginni Rometty
Former Chairman and CEO of IBM, Co-Chair at OneTen,
Author of Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World

Followed by a live talk with:
Ned Wellman
Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University

Samir Nurmohamed
Associate Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Break

Generative AI and the Disruption of Work

Join Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor of Management at Wharton and Co-Founder of Wharton Interactive, as he shows you how GPT-4 and Bing AI can revolutionize human resources and empower your workforce. Learn how these cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools can help you automate tasks, generate insights, enhance creativity, and improve communication. Mollick will also demonstrate how GPT-4 and Bing AI work in real-world scenarios and how they can transform work in many unexpected ways.

Ethan Mollick
Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar
Associate Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Academic Director, Wharton Interactive

We thank Pluralsight for their support of this session.

Supporting Mental Health at Work

Employers are inextricably linked to the mental health of their people, yet the social stigma and misunderstanding of mental disorders has traditionally hindered the mission to create healthier and more successful organizations. Drawing on recent advances in data-driven research, Lamar will explore the norms, policies, and practices that can help organizations navigate this precarious yet crucial domain. He will also explain how the personal journeys of many like him reflect a bright horizon for finding solutions that both strengthen organizations and improve human lives.

Lamar Pierce
Beverly & James Hance Professor of Strategy, Olin Business School,
Washington University in St. Louis

Making Big Decisions for the Long Run

In this fireside chat with author, speaker, decision strategist Annie Duke, Vanguard’s former Chairman and CEO Bill McNabb helps us all better understand the dynamic tension between short-term and long-term choices in leadership.

Bill McNabb
Retired Chairman and CEO of Vanguard

Annie Duke
Author. Speaker. Decision Strategist.

Analytics & Leadership

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is celebrated as the first “analytics” GM in the not-always-so-forward-thinking NFL. How does a new leader blend the potential of analytics with the wisdom of traditional decision-makers? Is it possible to build a culture that is both “tough” and “smart”? And what are the key challenges as one moves from being the analyst to the boss? While Adofo-Mensah is navigating these issues on the very public stage of professional sports, they are relevant for all of us. In this conversation with Professor Cade Massey, Adofo-Mensah will reflect on his experience from what many consider the frontier of people analytics.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
General Manager of the Minnesota Vikings

Cade Massey
Practice Professor, Faculty Co-Director, Wharton People Analytics,
Faculty Co-Lead, Wharton Sports Analytics and Business 

Post-Conference Networking