Jaiden Bonapart is Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Human Resources Chief of Staff, and a Vice President at Dimensional. As Diversity and Inclusion Manager, she is responsible for establishing the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy, programs, and best practices. Partnering closely with the Global Co-Head of Human Resources, Jaiden works to integrate D&I throughout the entire employee experience, including recruitment, talent management, and employee engagement. She also leads Dimensional’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council and oversees the firm’s Inclusion Networks, or Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which help foster a diverse and inclusive work environment.

As HR Chief of Staff, Jaiden works closely with the Global Co-Heads of Human Resources to identify and drive the execution of HR’s priorities and strategic initiatives. She serves as a liaison and execution partner to the other HR centers of excellence. Jaiden was previously a member of Dimensional’s Human Resources Business Partner team and Campus Recruiting team.

Prior to joining Dimensional, Jaiden was an HR services business delivery specialist for Aon Hewitt, where she consulted on various HR initiatives for Fortune 500 clients and managed HR project implementations.  

Jaiden graduated from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and holds the Professional in Human Resources® (PHR®) certification from HRCI® and the Certified Diversity Executive (CDE®) certification from the Institute for Diversity Certification (IDC®).

Elizabeth Carrigan in the VP of Inclusion and Belonging at Natixis. Elizabeth has over 12 years leading this space. Prior to Natixis Elizabeth was working at Textron, an aerospace and defense company. Her passion is creating systems and cultures that allow for every employee to be fully engaged to bring their best self to work every day.

Gary Casagrande is the Head of US Fund Administration at Northern Trust with oversight of the Financial Reporting, Regulatory Reporting, Expense & Budgeting, and Performance Reporting teams.  In this capacity Gary is responsible for setting and executing strategy across the Fund Administration organization to ensure client satisfaction with team deliverables and to advance the quality of the Fund Administration product that NT delivers to its clients.  

Prior to joining NT in June 2023, Gary spent the prior seven years at Confluence as the Head of Global Market Strategy with responsibility for understanding trends across the front, middle, and back office to help Confluence build and deliver viable solutions to real business problems.  Prior to Confluence, Gary was the Head of Financial Reporting and Expense Administration at BBH and at JPM in a leadership role before that.  Throughout his career, Gary has focused on continuous operational improvements, efficiency, and client service. Gary has a Bachelor’s Degree from Bryant University in Business Administration with a focus on Finance.

Lexi DiGennaro is a Vice President on the National Accounts team at FS Investments, where she is responsible for overseeing the firm’s custodian relationships and select Independent Broker-Dealer and wirehouse partnerships. Lexi plays an integral role in broadening advisor access to FS’s suite of alternative investment solutions.

She has been with FS for four years and brings a strong understanding of the evolving needs of wealth management platforms. Lexi earned her B.A. from Villanova University and resides in Philadelphia, PA.

Richard is a seasoned global banking executive and board member with over 36 years of experience, recognized for driving double-digit growth and returns in leadership roles across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the U.S. He is a motivational leader with a passion for building high-performing teams that collaborate across product lines, geographies, and functions to achieve exceptional results.

With significant expertise in strategic transformation, sales / relationship management, risk management, and growth, Richard has worked extensively with the world’s largest Sovereign Wealth Funds and Global Financial Institutions. He has a proven track record of leading complex and global organizations, delivering operational excellence, and fostering innovation to strengthen business resilience and profitability.

Richard is now focused on supporting boards as a Non-Executive Director, bringing deep financial acumen, governance expertise, and strategic insights into evolving industry dynamics. His experience spans banking, financial services, hedge funds, and the private equity sectors, making him a valuable asset to organizations navigating market complexities, regulatory changes, and digital transformation.

As AI, Cloud, and API-driven delivery continue reshaping financial services and corporate strategy, Richard provides a unique perspective on integrating emerging technologies to enhance efficiency, improve customer experience, and create competitive advantage—all while maintaining strong risk and governance frameworks.

He is currently seeking board opportunities with financial institutions, large corporates, and private equity-backed firms looking for experienced independent directors who can provide strategic oversight, risk governance, and digital innovation insights.

Throughout his career, Richard has earned multiple industry awards and is a sought-after speaker on Finance, DEI, and Sales and Relationship Management.

Nicole is Head of Global Investor and Distribution Solutions for the US market. Servicing over 200 clients on the buy and sell side, our asset manager and brokerage solutions team services some of the largest and most complex financial institutions in the US. Nicole’s leadership responsibilities include revenue growth, strategic client relationship management, service delivery and satisfaction, product offerings and future vision, risk management, along with talent management and development for a team of over 2,000 associates. In this role, Nicole will lead the organization into the next generation of our service model and portfolio offering demonstrating to the marketplace how meaningful it is to partner with an organization focused on exceeding commitment expectations while continuously expanding platform capabilities to meet client’s evolving needs.

With almost 20 years of financial services experience, Nicole has strategically managed and grown relationships across SS&C with our largest global clients by building trusted partnerships and focusing on our technology suite and talent to solve the complex challenges of today’s dynamic marketplace. In her sales, business development and executive leadership roles servicing the regulated investment industry, Nicole has extensive experience partnering with the industry’s premier asset and retail alternative managers. Her responsibilities and areas of expertise include executive and board engagement, organizational development, business transformation, developing and leading high-performing teams, strategic relationship management and partnership development.

Nicole is a graduate of Boston College, where she earned a B.A. in Economics. As a previous member of the Division 1 Women’s ice hockey team at Boston College and long-distance endurance athlete, Nicole is passionate about developing the next generation of leaders and athletes. Her volunteerism also includes inaugural chair of the Neenan Society, Executive Committee for the Council for Women of Boston College, Hall of Fame Committee and Alumni Board for both Boston College and Tabor Academy. Nicole is most passionate about her young, blended family and being a mom to four energetic, adventurous, curious and adorable kids.

Deidra Jenkins is a Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer-Americas at Northern Trust. She is responsible for the development, execution and leadership of the regional strategy for the Americas and collaboration with the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer – APAC and EMEA.  Her primary areas of focus includes collaboration on people representation, talent acquisition, retention, and development;  creating, deploying and managing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for employees throughout the Americas region; and ensuring all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are directly aligned with the core strategic imperatives of the organization.

Prior to becoming Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer-Americas, Deidra was the Director of Supplier Diversity in the Global Procurement Group.  She was responsible for expanding the company’s business opportunities and strengthening corporate partnerships with diverse businesses.  Deidra began her career with Northern Trust in 1989 and has over 32 years of experience as a banking professional with expertise in global operations, client servicing, product management, and change management.   

Ms. Jenkins serves on a number of diversity, equity and inclusion advisory committees and industry groups including the Women Investment Professionals (WIP) Advisory Council, The Bank Administration Institute DEI Roundtable, This Can Happen Editorial Advisory Board,  Chicago United, and a panelist regularly on the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Sharyn Jones joined the firm in December 2021 leading our Global Talent function, which consists of talent acquisition, talent practices, change & enablement and learning & leadership development. She is focused on helping the firm attract, develop and retain talent of the future while strengthening our talent profile internally and externally. From October 2023 through end of May 2024, also led the HR function as the interim co-head of The People Team.

Sharyn joined us from MassMutual, where she led the talent development, learning & development, and change management teams. Prior to joining MassMutual, Sharyn was in a dual role as U.S. Head of Talent Management and global integration selection lead at Bayer Corporation. She led a team responsible for talent management processes, learning, change and organizational development, talent acquisition as well as diversity, equity & inclusion. Prior to joining Bayer, Sharyn supported talent management, organizational development and staffing at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation; and she held several positions at Bank of America in executive / leadership development, talent development, enterprise learning and organizational effectiveness.

Earlier in her career, she worked as a psychotherapist at The Yale University Child Study Center, where she also consulted with the local school district and was a diversity trainer.

Sharyn earned a bachelor’s (of arts with a minor in Spanish) and master’s (psychiatric social work) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an additional master’s in organizational development, as well as her doctorate in Education/Leadership Studies, from Bowling Green State University. She also held a post graduate clinical fellowship at Yale University.

Sharyn grew up across the US in her early years, as part of a military family. She considers herself a hodophile and her passport is well used. She is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers football fan, looks forward to any activity involving family/friends and is currently learning more about her family lineage.

Byron Pitts was named co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” in 2014. He has covered national news stories and in-depth features for the network, reporting across the news division, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight with David Muir," “This Week” and “20/20.”

Pitts is a multiple Emmy award winning journalist and news veteran with over 20 years of experience known for his thoughtful storytelling, on-the-ground reporting and in-depth interviews. After less than 24 hours at ABC News, Pitts immediately joined the network’s live special coverage of the Boston marathon bombing investigation. Since then, Pitts has gone on to report live from Baltimore, Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., during each cities’ recent riots and protests. He also co-anchored a special edition of “Nightline” with Juju Chang from Los Angeles looking back on the city 25 years after the riots that broke out following the Rodney King verdict.

During the 2016 election, Pitts was a key part of the network’s coverage, from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and the first presidential debates to seven hours of live election night coverage. In the 30 days leading up to the election, Pitts traveled around the country for “Inside the Final 30,” a daily docu-series produced by “Nightline,” to speak with voters as they were coming to their final decisions about who should be the nation’s next President. It took viewers behind the scenes on the campaign trail and focused on the issues that matter most to Americans as well as revisited key moments that shaped the direction of the race.

Prior to joining ABC News, Pitts spent 15 years at CBS News where he served as Chief National Correspondent for The CBS Evening News, filed regularly for 60 Minutes, and won an Emmy for his coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was named the National Association of Black Journalists Journalist of the Year in 2002. His 2009 memoir, “Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges” chronicled his journey overcoming illiteracy and a stutter to become a journalist. In 2017, Pitts profiled six young adults that overcame hardship with hope in his book “Be the One.”

Pitts began his career at WNCT-TV in Greenville, N.C., where he covered local news and served as weekend sports anchor. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1982, where he studied journalism and speech communication. Pitts is a native of Baltimore and currently lives in New York City.

Anna Schell is a Co-chair of the Pride @ MFS Employee Resource Group, and has worked with leaders of the LGBTQ+ community in Boston to promote the advocacy and support of community members for the last ten years. An out and open transgender woman, she brings a wide range of experiences to the financial space beyond DEI work – from Army Intelligence Analyst to Retail Sales Manager, to B2B HR Marketing. 

Her passion is helping to create sustainable, accepting and inclusive workspaces for those of the LGBTQ+ community to bring their best selves, find mentorship and visibility, and create successful careers in historically-unpopulated industries.

Kendall Seketa currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Advisory Services at Gravity Research. In this role, Kendall leads Gravity Research's evolving support for corporations managing reputation concerns associated with a wide range of societal issues. Kendall has supported the launch and operations of multiple product lines, collaborating closely with executives of Fortune 500 companies to understand both their reputational risk and policy challenges and creating strategic products to solve them. This has included the launch of Gravity Research's Societal and Reputational Intelligence work, Corporate Insider Survey, Stakeholder Influence Analysis, Political and Reputational Vetting, and business development support for federal contractors.

Prior to joining National Journal, Kendall served as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting clients in the federal healthcare market. Originally from Virginia, Kendall graduated from the College of William and Mary and currently lives in Washington, DC.

Zahra is a Partner within EY’s People Consulting practice, and has been serving Financial Services clients for nearly 20 years across the Americas and EMEIA.  
She covers the whole gamut of Talent, but specializes in Change Management, Communications and Workforce Planning.  She focuses on building impactful employee experiences that accelerate successful change and her passion for understanding the human influence in organizations has led her to the forefront of human-led transformations. From navigating the impact of Brexit to rethinking work during the pandemic, Zahra's expertise and curiosity drive her to support clients in creating sustainable and meaningful change, embodying her commitment to building a better working world.

Zahra’s career began in London, UK in Risk, where she served as an internal auditor for financial institutions, later aiding in their recovery & resolution plans. In 2018 she moved to NY, where she supported financial services organizations in guiding their workforce through transformations driven by regulatory and technology change.  Most recently she has been instrumental in helping clients redefine their future work strategies to support AI strategies and implementations, ensuring impactful and meaningful design and experiences. Zahra holds a BA in Economics and Spanish from the University of Leeds, graduating with honors. She is a certified chartered accountant in the UK and PROSCI certified in the US.

Eugene Smith is a Vice President and Chief of Staff to the Global Head of Talent Management and Engagement at Citi. In this role, he supports the advancement of Citi’s Global Talent Management and Engagement strategy with a focus on operational excellence, client engagement, and colleague experience. Eugene plays a central role in leading firmwide Talent Management, Engagement and Inclusion initiatives, including the activation of Citi’s Allyship strategies, and execution of high impact projects and crisis response efforts.

As Chief of Staff, Eugene also manages strategic communications, engagement planning, and executive reporting for the Head of Talent Management and Engagement. His work spans across colleague-facing initiatives, external engagements, media opportunities, and key interactions with Citi’s Executive Management Team and Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Citi, Eugene was a member of the Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team at Goldman Sachs, where he began his career as an intern. Eugene earned his Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University and has been recognized as a 2023 NICSA Rising Star and 2024 LGBT Great Gamechanger.

The Company of Dads provides future of work and parenting content for Lead Dads - those men who are the go-to parents whether they work full time, part time, or devote all their time to their families while in most cases supporting their spouses in their careers. (We say ‘most’ because 18 percent of fathers in the U.S. are divorced, widowed or otherwise single.) At work, they are always allies to Working Moms and caregivers more broadly. Our goal at The Company of Dads is to help the entire family fulfill its potential at home, at work, and in the community. We use our media and community platforms to normalize the role of men being Lead Dads at home; we use our corporate education platform to affect change in the workplace and help companies retain their top employees.  

For companies, we provide actionable advice to employees and managers through key-note talks, seminars and manager training sessions. Our goal in the workplace is to help companies retain more workers through programs aimed at Lead Dads, Working Moms and caregivers. The small changes we encourage workers and managers to make have a big impact on a company’s bottom line, through employee retention and engagement. We deliver this through key-note talks and workplace seminars. Here is a link to our Corporate Speaking page. Recent talks have been a mix of in-person, in-person plus streaming and streaming only. Companies that have talked publicly about what we’ve done for them include BMO, Teladoc, and Deloitte. Among the conferences where I’ve spoken, one that stands out is Seramount’s WorkBeyond Summit that brings together the 100 best companies for working parents.
 
Some background on me: For two decades, I was a journalist, mostly at The New York Times where I was a weekly business columnist, feature writer and author of two books. I gave scores of key-not talks to companies, universities and trade organizations. In 2021, I ended my column - final piece here - to start The Company of Dads. I had been an Undercover Lead Dad since 2013 - taking on the role I now champion in the shadows of my community and commute. Covid ended my ability and - more importantly - desire to inhabit this role silently. My wife, who runs her own asset management firm, and I have three daughters. I saw the opportunity to lead on supporting families through engaging Lead Dads. Our research shows 25 million men in the U.S. are openly or could be Lead Dads - that’s a third of all fathers.

What The Company of Dads is doing for families and companies was featured in The Wall Street Journal! Here’s a link to story, where several of the Lead Dads in our community are featured and I’m quoted as the expert toward the bottom. (Yes, that’s me in the photo!) ABC News has shot a segment on our work that is set to air on Nightline this spring. 

Cierra Taylor is a Vice President at Cerberus Capital Management where she focuses on investments in the real estate private credit sector across all geographies, asset classes, and positions in the capital stack. Prior to joining Cerberus, Cierra was a member of the investments team at PCCP in a dual acquisitions and originations role where she was responsible for underwriting and execution of transactions across the United States.

Cierra graduated with B.S. in Engineering from Yale University.

Fereshtah is an Executive Vice President and the North American Head of Sales. She is responsible for the business development teams across four segments: asset managers, asset owners, insurance and alternatives. These teams drive client engagement, strategy & alignment, revenue retention & growth, thought leadership, product delivery oversight spanning all of State Street’s business lines.

Fereshtah has more than 30 years of experience in sales, corporate banking, relationship management, treasury, finance, global markets, marketing and risk. Prior to joining State Street, she spent 13 years at JPMorgan Chase in a variety of roles including Corporate Banking, Global Sales & Relationship Management, Derivatives Sales, and Corporate Treasury. Her experience also includes positions as a Global Relationship Manager at HSBC; as a Foreign Exchange Controller at Deutsche Bank; and roles in risk and trade finance.

Fereshtah earned a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from St. John’s University. She is currently enrolled in Chief Revenue Officer Executive Training program at University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. She has also completed Executive Women’s Leadership training hosted by Smith College/ Tuck School of Business.

Nick Wright is Head of Global Investor and Distribution Solutions (GIDS), which brings together US Asset Manager Solutions based in the US, and international Transfer Agency teams in Europe, including the IFDS Joint Ventures. Leveraging the latest technology, therefore creating a unique, globally consistent offering focusing on digital first, data insights and intelligent automation. Mr. Wright is also responsible for SS&C’s Development and Technology teams in the US and UK, as well as the Investor Servicing businesses outside of the U.S, which provides servicing and technology to Asset Managers, Wealth Managers and Insurance Companies, their Distributors and their Investors. Mr. Wright has been in the industry for 33 years, having previously held roles at State Street, Investors Trust Europe, Northern Trust, AXA Investment Managers and National Mutual.