Speaker and Instructor Biographies
Here are some of the key instructors and facilitators or panelists that will be presenting at the Global Summit in Chicago
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Certified Facilitators
David Livermore
David Livermore, PhD co-founded the Cultural Intelligence Center with Linn Van Dyne and served as the President for the first eleven years. He continues to serve as a strategic advisor and board member. Dave has written over a dozen books on cultural intelligence and global leadership and has worked with companies, governments, and non-profits in more than 100 countries. He speaks at several international conferences annually. Dave and his wife have two adult daughters. They love traveling together (fortunately!) and sampling the local delicacies, wherever they go. For a full bio, visit Dave’s website.
Linn Van Dyne
Linn Van Dyne, PhD oversees ongoing research on cultural intelligence and is responsible for developing the long-term strategy for the CQ Center. Linn is also responsible for providing strategic DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) expertise and guidance for our clients, partners, and for the CQ Center. Linn is one of the pioneering researchers on cultural intelligence and worked together with Soon Ang PhD to validate the CQ Scale. She retired as Full Professor at Michigan State University where she taught and conducted research for 26 years. She has also taught at the University of Minnesota and has served as a Visiting Scholar at Indian School of Business and as Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Joel Francis (CF Global Summit Master of Ceremonies)
Joel Francis has 22 years of experience as a Law Enforcement professional. After 20 years of service with the New York Police Department, he served as the Chief of Education and Training for the Baltimore Police Department. He then served as an Assistant Director for Public Safety at Monroe College and Columbia University, respectively. Prior to joining the Cultural Intelligence team, Joel Francis was an Associate Facilitator/National Director for the Verbal Judo Institute, where he presented their tactical communications program to Health and Hospitals Associations, Law Enforcement Agencies, Educational Institutions, Social Services Agencies and other government and private institutions throughout North America.
Joel received his MS in Management from Johns Hopkins University, with an emphasis on Executive Leadership, and has found that his background, education, growth, and experiences in both the public and private sector have enabled him to relate to almost any industry and management level.
Viviane Vicente
Viviane Vicente is a global professional with a legal background and over 20 years of experience in both government and corporate settings. Prior to joining the Cultural Intelligence Center, she operated her own consultancy, specialized in educating businesspeople, military personnel, nonprofit staff, and other professionals on how to communicate, present, and successfully lead in domestic and international environments. When she discovered Cultural Intelligence, Viviane found a language she didn’t know existed but certainly needed. She then decided to get certified in CQ and apply the CQ framework in helping her clients successfully navigate multicultural contexts. Viviane has spoken on organizational behavior topics at various events around the world, and, in addition to overseeing several functions, thoroughly enjoys facilitating programs on behalf of the CQ Center.
Viviane possesses a Law degree and an MBA from Brazilian universities, a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in National Security and U.S. Foreign Relations Law from The George Washington University Law School, and a Certificate degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Georgetown University. She is a speaker of English, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Keyla Waslawski
Keyla Waslawski is CQ Center’s Senior Vice President and Company Secretary. She oversees all of our sales and marketing processes and projects. Keyla also leads our business development, communications, client relations, and technology initiatives. Keyla graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and earned her M.B.A., Financial Accounting at Wayne State University in Detroit. She enjoys applying her analytical skills and eye for numbers to support and lead the Sales & Marketing team at the Cultural Intelligence Center. Keyla’s hobbies include gardening and home improvement projects, but what she enjoys most is spending time with her husband and two children.
Robin R. Shabazz
Robin Shabazz, Principal and Founder of the Eastledge Group, LLC, is a business and human capital consultant with expertise in guiding organizations in developing internal capabilities to become more efficient working in diverse environments. She also uses the Cultural Intelligence model to assist leaders in transforming their cultural awareness into appropriate action.
Robin is a licensed attorney and a trained civil mediator in the State of Ohio, whose career has spanned over 30 years with proven results in cultural transformation, diversity and inclusion, human resource management, and employee relations. As a certified Unconscious Bias, Racial Justice, and Cultural Intelligence professional, Robin capitalizes on her diverse background to deliver simple yet practical tactics, to help organizations understand their “cultural lens” and build the knowledge, strategies, and action plans that enable them to manage and relate to people of all backgrounds and thus foster a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace for employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Her clients range from nonprofits to global Fortune 50 companies to technology start-ups.
Andrej Juriga
Andrej Juriga is the managing director of the training company Cultural Bridge in Slovakia and Czech Republic. As a Certified Facilitator of EQ and CQ, Andrej delivers workshops and coaching to large corporations, medium-sized businesses, and start-ups across a variety of countries and industries. He has a background in corporate sales and HR at a national and global level. Andrej has lived in six different countries across Europe and Africa, and is currently based in Prague.
Janine Allen
Dr. Janine Allen, EdD, is a CQ Consultant and Master Facilitator
with extensive experience developing diverse work teams across the globe. Included in her experience is over 20 years in higher education leading multicultural teams and developing transnational partnerships in Indonesia, Peru, South Africa, China, Australia, Israel, South Korea and New Zealand. Raised in New Mexico in a multiethnic family and amongst multiple indigenous tribal groups has given Janine a passion for cultural engagement and equity. Always a learner and a connector, Janine’s relational approach is a key element in her facilitation and executive coaching with executive leaders, managers, and with practitioners.
Karima Ramji
Born and raised in East Africa, Karima Ramji traces her roots to the Gujarat region of India. She is blessed to be a visitor on the traditional Coast Salish territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on the Pacific North West Coast of Turtle Island (in Victoria, Canada). She serves as Associate Director, International, Indigenous and Accessibility at University of Victoria’s Co-operative Education Program and Career Services and is a certified advanced Cultural Intelligence (CQ) facilitator. A skilled work-integrated learning (WIL) professional, she brings her passion for CQ and partnership development into her efforts to develop student mobility programs in WIL that enhance students’ cultural intelligence and inspire them to address global issues using their CQ. Karima has championed CQ at University of Victoria and more broadly in the Canadian post secondary education landscape. She is an active researcher and has published multiple articles relating to CQ in WIL.
Karima espouses values of pluralism and servant leadership in all she does, and contributes to international development, poverty alleviation and community development through various community service engagements locally and internationally.
Michael Goh
Michael Goh, PhD is a professor in the department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development and Endowed Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change. Michael recently served as systemwide vice president for Equity and Diversity, chief diversity officer, associate vice provost, and director for the Institute for Diversity, Equity, and Advocacy for the University of Minnesota five-campus system. Before emigrating to the United States, Michael was an international student from Singapore and pursued his studies at Indiana University, Bloomington (BA, Psychology and Sociology & MS, Counseling and Counselor Education) and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (PhD, Counseling Psychology). He is an interdisciplinary intercultural scholar and educator who applies an interculturalist or culturally intelligent framework on multicultural and international counseling psychology, teacher education, international education, internationalizing higher education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work in higher education.
Lauren Dickinson
Lauren Dickinson, M.A. (she/her) is an Associate Program Director for International Education at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. She has a Master’s degree in Comparative International and Development Education and is a doctoral candidate in Leadership for Intercultural and International Education. Her doctoral research focuses on faculty motivation to engage with intercultural learning and she is using CQ Drive as one theoretical framework.
Lauren has been a CQ Certified Facilitator since 2017 and uses it to support faculty with curriculum integration of intercultural learning, student intercultural development, staff and faculty intercultural and diversity, equity, inclusion training, and as a tool for problem solving in her day-to-day role. Lauren became a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) in 2018 but was first introduced to this model in 2004 during her semester abroad in France. Since then, she has taken the assessment seven times as part of her own education and professional development. She has used it with academic staff and faculty, individuals, and religious organizations for intercultural development and to advance efforts in diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice. Lauren also uses the IDI as a foundation for her work with CQ and finds the two models complementary. Lauren identifies as a White, cisgender, straight, woman and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her toddler, an au pair from Colombia, and a cat.
Alice Leong
Alice Leong is the Director, Inclusion & Diversity, for Medline Industries, LLC, a $22B+ global healthcare company headquartered in Northfield, Illinois. Her nearly 20 years in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) includes leadership roles with SAP, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Ernst and Young.
While her experience spans a variety of industries, her consistent focus is to drive cultural transformation through the integration of DEI into business strategies, external partnerships and community to advance long-term cultural change.
Alice has studied and worked abroad; and has guest lectured on DEI both in the US and internationally. She has co-authored several DEI thought-leadership pieces with her colleague, Karl Ostroski.
Karl Ostroski
Karl Ostroski is a global IT leader and solution owner with decades of experience in technical operations and product delivery. His work spans multiple continents and multiple industries including Healthcare, Insurance, Finance, Life Sciences, and more. He’s passionate about the intersection of culture, business, and technology.
Mickey Wallace
Pulling from his core values of team building, coaching, mentoring, and community advocacy, Mickey Wallace incorporates both lived experience and evidence-based practices into his role as a DEI and racial equity practitioner. Mickey serves as a certified trainer in Cultural Intelligence and Unconscious Bias, and as Director of Inclusion in the behavioral healthcare field where he impacts policy and procedure through results-oriented DEI-focused strategies.
Mickey’s inclusive position on racial equity is rooted in establishing a shared language to first remove barriers to productive communication. Accountability and Action are staples of the workshops he conducts on all levels of agency leadership. Culturally developing leaders, strategic planning, and process mapping are skill sets he continues to sharpen through the collaborative efforts of diverse partnerships in both the corporate and public sectors.
Since assuming the role of Director of Inclusion in 2020, Mickey has led multi-cultural teams to implement policy and procedure resulting in improved staff retention, psychological safety, and belonging for over 450 staff.
Samara Hakim
Samara Hakim, JD, is the Founder of CulturGrit, LLC. She is an international culture and inclusion thought leader, data strategist, speaker, writer, coach, and facilitator. For over a decade, Samara has equipped leaders with the cultural intelligence to work with those who are different, by mitigating bias and integrating culture into business practices and metrics. She has extensive experience in communication, conflict transformation, diversity, equity, inclusion, implicit bias mitigation, and culture transformation. Samara is a dynamic speaker who engages people to think beyond their comfort zone and to work across differences. She draws on a range of experiences including her work across cultures, acculturation in the U.S., her legal career, and her personal background. Samara grew up in Lebanon. She has traveled extensively and is fluent in French, Arabic, and English, and conversational in Spanish. Samara loves chocolate, biking, and dancing. She currently resides in San Diego, CA.
Carrie LaFerle
Dr. Carrie La Ferle is a certified Cultural Intelligence & Unconscious Bias Trainer and Professor of Ethics & Culture in the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU in Dallas, TX. Her mission is to develop cultural intelligence within individuals and teams across education, religious organizations, and marketing firms to function more effectively. She is currently taking a deep dive into CQ in Advertising as a 2024 CQ Fellow.
Raised in Toronto, Canada; Carrie worked in advertising for Chiat/Day on the Nissan account before working in Tokyo for four years. Formally trained as a sociologist, she brings a broad understanding of culture and interpersonal communication to effective messaging. Having lived in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Costa Rica, many of Dr. La Ferle’s 60+ publications bring a unique cultural lens to the practice of advertising. Much of Carrie’s work focuses on positively influencing society by sharing the importance of building trust and authentic long-term relationships between brands, their consumers, and society through cultural understanding and ethical behavior.
As a 2024 CQ Fellow, Carrie’s latest work explores CQ in Advertising to ensure effective messaging and strong consumer-brand relationships. She sits on the ANA’s Global CMO Growth Council, supporting the need for cultural intelligence and ethical representation in marketing for industry growth. In 2021 she co-authored, Preaching and the Thirty-Second Commercial: Lessons from Advertising for the Pulpit, and was honored with the Rotzoll Career Award for Advertising Ethics & Social Responsibility. Carrie lives in Dallas, TX with her husband of 25 years and they have two children.
Vicki Harris
Vicki is the Chief People and Culture Officer overseeing Global Human Resources and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts for Our Daily Bread Ministries since 2013. Vicki travels around the world, teaching, training on DEI, Cultural Intelligence, Business, Human Resource Disciplines, and Organizational and Leadership Development. She serves on the Global Executive Leadership Team (GET) for ODBM and is the leader of the Global Women Who Lead (GWWL), Leadership Development programs (LDP) and oversees the Woman 2 Woman Mentoring programs. In addition to her role at ODBM, Vicki is the Executive Leadership Liaison at her local church. Vicki has served her local community on the Executive Boards of Directors for:
Pine Rest Mental Health Services, Progression (school to career programs for at-risk students), Dwelling Place, Liz’s Transitional Home, Jubilee Jobs, Methodist House and Omega Life Alternatives.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Management and Human Resources degree, a dual Master of Science degree in Business and Human Resources, Two Honorary Doctorate degrees in Humanities, has also received the International Golden Rule Award, and serves as a Goodwill Ambassador to nations. Vicki is a recipient of the Top 100 Global Human Resource Professional in the World award for her work done domestically and abroad, and of the “50 Most Influential Women Award” from the Grand Rapids Business Journal. She is very passionate about Cultural Intelligence, Diversity, Leadership Training and Development. Her desire is to help as many people and leaders as possible, to grow and fulfill their God given purpose! She has been married for 36 years and is a mother of three adult children.
Rahn Franklin
Dr. Rahn Franklin Jr. leads institutional diversity and Inclusive Excellence initiatives at Bethel University. He provides strategy and development to enhance the climate, composition, and character toward missional fulfillment for Bethel.
Rahn is a Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) Diversity Commission member and Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Fellow. These leadership positions help to cultivate learning communities in higher education that foster flourishing for all.
Completing his Ph.D. at Northcentral University in the School of Education, Rahn specialized in organizational leadership. The research emphasis of Rahn’s dissertation explored the impact of an urban teacher residency program on the development of teachers’ cultural intelligence. He has a master’s degree in school counseling and a bachelor’s in exercise science from Buena Vista University.
Originally from Kansas City, Rahn came to Bethel University from Northwestern College, where he served as the Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives. Previously, Rahn led and studied at Buena Vista University as a residence hall director and assistant director of student activities.
Kristin Ekkens
Kristin Joy Ekkens is on a mission to spread human kindness. Kristin is a TEDx speaker, 2x founder, executive coach, award-winning entrepreneur and consultant, master facilitator, and community convener. Kristin is the Founder & CEO of Exponential Inclusion, a global impact company that specializes in building inclusive, innovative, and high-performing cultures. EXI brings together leaders and teams from around the world with the purpose of tackling tough inclusion challenges that face humanity. She partners with global leaders and organizations who are Cultural Edgewalkers, leading into the future, and creating more inclusive cultures for all to thrive. Recent projects include empowering women leaders in Saudi Arabia, uplifting Latinx leaders in the US, and cultivating connections within teams who are generating positive impact in the Caribbean.
Kristin thrives when she is collaborating with people from all over the world, learning from various perspectives, and partnering with leaders, teams, and organizations to create lasting positive change. Kristin’s career journey started while teaching English to migrant workers in Michigan, USA. Over the last 20+ years, her experience spans from a DEIB corporate leader, cultural intelligence thought leader, and global consultant for Fortune 20-1000 companies, and a 2x business owner in global leadership development. Her approach to culture transformation is forward-thinking and rooted in inclusion, innovation, high performance, and humanity-centered learning.
Charles A. Calahan
After serving a diversity of individuals as a senior faith-based human services administrator for over 25 years, Dr. Calahan restationed to a teaching professor, first at Wichita State University in 1997 and then to Purdue University in 2000. He taught graduate and undergraduate courses in lifespan human development, multiculturalism & diversity in counseling, family processes, marriage & family, abnormal behavior, human sexuality, and family life cycle. In addition, he supervised the on-site training experience & practicum for residential counselors and school counselors in diverse settings. His Ph.D. dissertation research at Kansas State University focused on the predictors for conflict and marital satisfaction based on the biosocial diversity of the spouses. Dr. Calahan is a Purdue University Teaching Academy Fellow, a Diversity Fellow, and a Service-Learning Fellow. He is an Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator and is certified in Global Competence, Cultural Intelligence, and Unconscious Bias. Chuck is the father or stepfather to five children. His wife, Nancy, and he have seven grandchildren, ages 7 to 22.
Olga Moskaleva
Olga Moskaleva (she/her), Regional Global Engagement Coordinator, represents Penn State Global in Southeast Region. Olga has a diverse experience of working outside (Russia) and inside the USA as a program and project manager with focus on international education, global learning, and intercultural competence.
She came to the US in 2011 as an international student to pursue a Business Administration degree at Delaware Valley University in addition to her MA in Education degree. After working at private companies, Olga was inspired to return to the higher education field to advocate for the international and multicultural community and provide it with more equitable services while bridging the cultural differences and contributing to the intercultural learning and development. She started her current role at Penn State in 2018.
Olga has been a Qualified Administrator of Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) since 2020, and Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Certified Facilitator since 2022 and is also certified in CQ Train-the-Trainer and CQ Unconscious Bias Train-the-Trainer. She is co-leading an Intercultural Assessment and Development efforts for Pennsylvania State University on behalf of Penn State Global. In this leadership role Olga is both an active administrator of IDI and CQ and a project manager facilitating the integration of the tools within and outside the classroom, and collaborating with students, faculty, and staff. Olga believes the two models complement each other when used together and directed towards consistent and continuous global learning and intercultural development. She has incorporated both measurement tools in the student-leadership program training she has founded on one of the PSU campuses.
Olga is passionate about leadership training and development. She lives in Philadelphia suburbs with her multicultural family and rescued cats and dogs.
Riki Hay
Riki (she/her) holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Gannon University and has worked in International Higher Education for ten years. She is the Northwest Regional Global Engagement Coordinator for Penn State Global Learning.
Early in her career, she had the rare opportunity to advise student groups traveling abroad for cross-cultural learning in non-credit-bearing international experiences. This experience opened a passion for intercultural learning outside of the classroom. Since joining Penn State in 2018, Riki has served in leadership roles for several co-curricular intercultural learning opportunities provided by Penn State Global. Beginning in 2020, Riki has been a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and trained as a Certified CQ Facilitator in 2022. For the last three years, Riki has co-led the intercultural assessment efforts at Penn State Global. She serves as both an administrator of the tools and a project manager supporting faculty, staff, and student groups that want to engage with the tools. Additionally, she has done the CQ Train-the-Trainer and Unconscious Bias Train-the-Trainer certifications.
Riki continues to be passionate about integrating intercultural learning opportunities towards the advancement of cross-cultural learning, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts of higher education institutions. Riki considers herself an outdoor enthusiast and loves to hike, kayak, garden, and cross-country ski. She lives with her husband and toddler in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Bernadette Thompson
Bernadette Thompson OBE is Director of EDI at Kings College Hospital NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust. With an illustrious career spanning 23 years in the UK Civil Service, she has significantly influenced the inclusion landscape across various UK Government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, HM Treasury, Legal Aid Agency, Cabinet Office, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
As a highly sought-after speaker and facilitator, Bernadette delivers keynote speeches and facilitates discussions on various topics, including Diversity, Inclusion, organizational culture change, leadership, employee engagement, and wellbeing. Her contributions were acknowledged through accolades such as winning the Workplace Hero category in the UK national Investing in Ethnicity Awards in 2020 and securing the prestigious “We are the City” Rising Star Champion award in 2021. Furthermore, her dedication to Diversity and Inclusion was honored with an OBE in 2021.
In 2023, Bernadette was recognized as a winner in the Women in Diversity and Inclusion category for the Women4Africa awards and was named one of the top 100 D&I inspirational leaders in the UK, as well as featuring on the Top 50 Diversity Powerlist, underscoring her enduring impact in the field.
Kelly Pinar Goodwin
Growing up as an expatriate in Türkiye meant Kelly frequently found herself helping people from different backgrounds make sense of each other’s cultural and linguistic differences. This kindled her passion to pursue Anthropology and Intercultural Studies, and then live in other countries and learn a third language.
In 2013-15 she collaborated with the University of Basrah, conducting anthropological research among Marsh Arab women and publishing their findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
Since 2015, Kelly has shared her cultural expertise as a speaker and workshop facilitator for global corporations, SMEs, conferences, and non-profits. In 2020 she launched Culture Savvy, where she both leads CQ® workshops and develops bespoke intercultural training.
As someone who always looks for opportunities to grow and improve herself, Kelly also invests in developing in others the skills they need to understand cultural differences and strategize how to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. Kelly and her family live in Türkiye as world citizens who navigate between cultures every day as part of their interactions in family, life, and work.
