2023 Ascend with ELEVATE Forum

IPR Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Anetra Henry will lead introductions and welcome everyone to Ascend with ELEVATE! 

Anetra Henry
With over 20 years of experience, Anetra Henry is a seasoned professional known for developing successful campaigns across various industries, employing traditional and digital tactics. Anetra’s expertise shines brightest in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, where she excels in evaluating branding and communication diversity, advocating for equity with senior leadership, and sourcing and developing DEI content. She is adept at conducting interviews and making strategic recommendations based on her findings and specializes in developing sponsorship strategies for affinity groups.

IPR ELEVATE Chair Katherine Burns will lead an Interactive session for IPR ELEVATE members to get to know one another.

Katherine Burns
Katherine Burns works in Corporate Affairs and Engagement at L’Oréal USA, the largest subsidiary of the global beauty leader with a portfolio of more than 35 iconic brands, focused on media relations, events/stages, executive visibility and awards strategy. In this role, she creates and implements external communications strategies that increase the visibility of the company’s key business initiatives, leadership, values, expertise, and societal contributions among external stakeholders.

Prior to joining L’Oréal USA, Katherine led external communications for Deloitte US’s Office of the CEO overseeing key strategy for the firm and its top leaders. She also previously worked in Edelman’s Corporate and Public Affairs practice and in Weber Shandwick’s Corporate and Financial Services practices where she led and supported work for a variety of top US and global companies spanning industries including financial services, consumer products, technology, education, and healthcare, among others.

Sarah Crawshaw, IPR Trustee and Partner at FGS Global, will lead this session.

Sarah Crawshaw
Sarah is a Partner at FGS Global in Hong Kong having joined the firm in April 2022. She is responsible for the firm’s People Strategy in Asia and is a member of the Transformation and Change Practice, consulting to clients on future proofing strategic communications functions, advising and designing structures and operational practices. 

She has over 14 years of consultancy experience, gained primarily in human capital consulting and executive recruitment for corporate communications, government affairs and investor relations functions.

She has worked for clients in almost every industry, including but not limited to financial institutions, healthcare, FMCG, automotive, technology. Her consulting expertise includes leadership development; succession planning; organisational design and developing best-practice corporate structures for optimal performance; competency frameworks; diversity, equity and inclusion, with hands-on experience developing initiatives to enable and enhance workforce diversity.

Before joining FGS Global, Sarah worked for the CEO Advisory firm, Teneo as Asia Managing Director for their People Advisory business and for Leathwaite International as the global lead for their corporate affairs executive search practice. She spent 12 years with Taylor Bennett and Heyman Associates, where she built and oversaw their pan-Asian executive recruitment business for the corporate communications industry.Sarah is a long serving Board Trustee of the Institute for Public Relations’ and holds a Master’s in Politics from the University of Edinburgh.

Time for a quick break! 

 Gillian Williams, President & Founder of Monday Talent will lead this session.

Gillian Williams
Gillian Williams is a President and Founder of Monday Talent. With over seven years of recruitment experience and an inherent understanding of people, Gillian has become a trusted thought leader in the talent acquisition space. Her expertise and insights have been featured in several iconic publications, including Forbes, Marie Claire, Business Insider, and BuzzFeed. Raised in a multi-racial family in the heart of New York City, Gillian is a fierce social activist who sits on the Board of Directors of Ardea Arts and can often be found rallying for change.

This session will feature a panel of communication leaders including Emily Garbaccio formerly of AIG, Mike Kuczkowski of Orangefiery, and Jamie McLaughlin of Monday Talent. 

Emily Garbaccio
Emily Garbaccio has more than 20 years of experience in in-house and agency leadership roles for companies including AIG, Kate Spade, J.C. Penney, LaForce + Stevens and Burson-Marsteller. She is a New York-based communications and marketing strategist who specializes in coaching leadership teams as their companies transition from adolescence to adulthood. She has counseled clients in a range of industries including retail, fitness, beauty, technology and consumer packaged goods. Her background includes in-house and agency leadership roles for both publicly traded and privately held companies working directly with CEOs and Executive Leadership teams during significant transformative change.

 

Mike Kuczkowski

Time for a quick break! 🙂 

This session will feature tips and tools to work through the pieces of life that impact us at work. IPR Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Anetra Henry will lead this session.

Anetra Henry
With over 20 years of experience, Anetra Henry is a seasoned professional known for developing successful campaigns across various industries, employing traditional and digital tactics. Anetra’s expertise shines brightest in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, where she excels in evaluating branding and communication diversity, advocating for equity with senior leadership, and sourcing and developing DEI content. She is adept at conducting interviews and making strategic recommendations based on her findings and specializes in developing sponsorship strategies for affinity groups.

IPR ELEVATE’s Vice Chair Jenn Francis will interview Patrice Tanaka, Chief Joy Officer of Joyful Planet LLC in this session.

Patrice Tanaka
Patrice Tanaka is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded three award-winning, PR & marketing firms and, most recently, Joyful Planet, a Business & Life Strategy Consultancy to help people discover and live their life’s purpose and, in so doing, unleash their greatest success, fulfillment and joy. Her consultancy, Joyful Planet, is the culmination of Patrice’s personal and professional journey of finding her way to joy in the wake of 9/11 when she was depressed, in a malaise and exhausted from building a business with 12 other partners and caring for a sick husband who died of a brain tumor after a long and valiant fight. An executive coach Patrice sought out during that time challenged her to rethink her purpose in life, which after some reflection led Patrice to say: “My purpose in life is to choose joy in my life every single day; to be mindful of that joy, and to share that joy with others.” 

Short Bio: Jenn Francis
With two decades of experience, Jenn Francis is a senior communications leader in Accenture’s corporate communications function. She oversees the public relations programs for Accenture Operations, one of the company’s four service groups, its newly formed metaverse business group and marketing communications for Accenture’s own metaverse, the Nth floor.

Since joining Accenture, in 2010, Jenn has a built a reputation as a strategic business partner and a high-performing innovator with a strong ability to cultivate newsworthy research, results-driven programs and successful outcomes in dynamic environments.

Prior to her current role, Jenn spent several years in the health industry where she led media and analyst relations for Accenture’s health practice and within GE Healthcare. She also worked on the agency side at Burson-Marsteller (now BCW) and as a journalist for a number of small papers in the Midwest. She has a MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Jenn lives in the greater Chicago area with her husband and dog.

This will be a fun and interactive activity to wrap up “Ascend with ELEVATE!”

Join us for delicious drinks and tasty eats!