What is the iRelaunch Return to Work Conference?

Carol Fishman Cohen is the CEO and Co-founder of iRelaunch, a full-service career reentry company focused on bringing professionals back into the workforce after extended leave. iRelaunch works with employers worldwide to build and expand in-house career reentry programs, produces the iRelaunch Return to Work Conferences, and leads a community of more than 120,000 relaunchers looking to return to work. Cohen, a relauncher herself, hosts the 3,2,1 iRelaunch podcast and writes regularly for Harvard Business Review. Her TED talk, "How to get back to work after a career break," has over 3.7 million views. 

Kristi Lamar is a managing director and serves as the Strategic Growth Leader for Monitor Deloitte. She has 20+ years of experience in advising the c-suite and technology executives to create lasting enterprise value and manage the challenges and changes in business, technology, and their executive roles. She has a track record of developing and delivering successful business technology programs for the leaders of global enterprises. In her role as digital leader for Deloitte’s Executive Accelerators team, she leads a team that designs insights and experiences that help executives solve complex business challenges. Kristi is also the US leader for Women in Technology and passionately committed to helping to advance equity for all and is a respected thought leader and vocal advocate on the topic.

Comfortable and confident in building and nurturing relationships with potential and existing partners, Colleen returned to the corporate world with iRelaunch as a Business Development Executive after taking a career break. Her previous roles included President of Globetrotter Properties with Harlem Globetrotters International where she was responsible for all new business development, daily operations, and long-term strategies for this world-renowned sports entertainment brand. 

While on a career break, Colleen led several volunteer community endeavors and consulted on projects, from nonprofit to startup companies, to provide solutions that increased overall productivity and business growth.  A graduate of the University of Illinois with a BS in Biology and Communications, she lives in the Chicagoland area with her family and enjoys travelling, cooking for friends and family and being outdoors with her husband, daughters, and high-energy puppy.

Carol Fishman Cohen is the CEO and Co-founder of iRelaunch, a full-service career reentry company focused on bringing professionals back into the workforce after extended leave. iRelaunch works with employers worldwide to build and expand in-house career reentry programs, produces the iRelaunch Return to Work Conferences, and leads a community of more than 120,000 relaunchers looking to return to work. Cohen, a relauncher herself, hosts the 3,2,1 iRelaunch podcast and writes regularly for Harvard Business Review. Her TED talk, "How to get back to work after a career break," has over 3.7 million views. 

Elizabeth is a career relauncher with over 15 years of experience designing, implementing and managing programs that drive impact at the intersection of diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, corporate social responsibility, and employee engagement. She is recognized for her strategic planning and execution, project and stakeholder management, and recruiting and training skills. As Managing Director at iRelaunch, Elizabeth plays a key role in the company’s pioneering work, advising progressive and innovative employers on career reentry program options to leverage diverse talent pools.

Elizabeth brings a wealth of personal and professional experience in the career reentry space to iRelaunch. After a 15-year career gap, she relaunched at Oracle without the support of a formal career reentry program. With a focus on the Company’s diversity and inclusion goals, she drew on her personal relaunch experience to define, pilot and expand Oracle’s Career Relaunch Program. Elizabeth was also the architect and manager of Oracle’s global, community-based Corporate Social Responsibility program. She expanded the program to over 25 countries, recruiting and training community leaders around the world.

Elizabeth earned an MBA in Finance from Denver University and a BA in History from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She was trained in Design Thinking techniques by Stanford’s dSchool, and has served as an advisor for ReBoot Accel, a recruiting firm that helps companies hire, advance and empower women. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband, Carl, and loves spending time with her two boys, being active outdoors, entertaining friends, and taking road trips.

Mr. Bartley’s career has been effectively characterized as a subject matter expert for Diversity, Inclusion and Talent Acquisition. As an executive, public speaker and influencer, DK Bartley has been very effective inspiring global audiences. With a career that has been exemplifiable through his career versatility and success on many corporate “streets,” Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and Seventh-Fashion Avenue. Mr. Bartley has created a brand emblematic of “Best-in-Class” Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion practices for some of the world’s most influential companies.

He is currently CDO - Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Moody’s, the global integrated risk assessment company. He is keenly responsible for Moody’s acceleration of DE&I as a business imperative and the international Diversity and Inclusion strategy for its internal and external framework. Mr. Bartley’s leadership has arguably disrupted Moody’s day-to-day function as a business to become even more inclusive, more progressive and a leader among its competitors. Moody’s has received numerous DE&I awards and recognition within the past two years under his leadership.

Prior to Moody’s, DK was previously Senior Vice President & Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Dentsu International, where he managed talent solutions for Dentsu’s largest clients, such as Microsoft, American Express, Facebook, and LVMH. He successfully managed and reengineered the Dentsu Americas talent acquisition team and created a Center of Excellence focused on talent, leading Dentsu to become an employer of choice globally. One of his biggest successes was managing the strategic hiring of four hundred-plus diverse advertising professionals for Microsoft. This resulted in a sixty-six-million-dollar growth of Multicultural revenue for Microsoft products.

He has also functioned as a Senior Executive for the global consulting firm Diversity Talent International (DTI), managing a roster of clients that included some of the world’s most influential brands, Polo Ralph Lauren, Mercedes-Benz, Colgate-Palmolive, Huawei Technologies, and WPP. Prior to DTI, Mr. Bartley held other senior level roles including Director of Human Resources at News corporations HarperCollins.

He is a board member of the AAF, The American Advertising Federation, and also Urban Word, home of America’s youngest Black Poet Laureate.

Mr. Bartley is certified in Diversity & Inclusion Management from Cornell University ILR, holds a master’s degree in communications from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from SUNY Stony Brook.

Tace Heuston is an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) where she serves as the Global Head of the Talent Institute. In this role Tace is instrumental in driving AWM’s people development agenda with a focus on Early Careers, New Hires, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Talent Management and Executive & Organisational Development. 

Tace has been with the firm for more than 30 years, serving in a variety of business and HR roles, including in AM Operations and AM Client Service, and as an AM Learning Partner, before moving into HR as an AWM Talent Advisor and leading the International Talent Institute.

Tace has also made a significant impact leading the firmwide ReEntry Program, which hires and supports diverse talent across the firm. Tace’s deep knowledge of the AWM business and her expertise in Talent is critical as she continues to drive change within the organization.

Tace is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and an accredited European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) Executive Coach.

Tace currently lives in Essex, UK with her husband, daughter and son.

Anjali Sinha is a Senior Manager in the Talent Acquisition team at Deloitte and serves as the National Leader for Innovative Recruiting Solutions. She has 21+ years of experience in various talent leadership positions including Talent Acquisition, Talent Advisory, Innovation and Learning. She has experience in supporting global clients across business verticals and geographies. Anjali is passionate about building deep client relationships, translating business strategy into equitable people initiatives and implementing solutions to support critical business imperatives. In her role as the National Acquisition Leader for Innovative Recruiting Solutions, Anjali focuses on creating equity in opportunity through programs like Encore, that focus on bringing professionals back to the workforce.

I’m delighted to be part of the IRelaunch community. Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of coaching dozens of relaunchers and I’m always thrilled to see them step back into the workplace with renewed confidence.

I believe we are all works in progress and that each one of us is meant to continue growing and stretching ourselves, personally and professionally. I founded Bright Evolution Leadership Coaching, LLC with the goal of helping my clients evolve into the next, better version of themselves. In my work with relaunchers, I have guided my clients to be intentional about their return-to-work strategy and to be authentic to who they are – coaching them to own their professional path and their career break.

For the last 20 years, I’ve worked with MBA students and business leaders from all industries and sectors, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. I’ve worked at three graduate schools of business and spent the last 15 years at the MIT Sloan School of Management, most recently serving as the Director of Alumni Career Services. In this role, I coached over 2,000 business students and executives (including relaunchers), helping them successfully navigate leadership challenges and critical transition points in their careers.

In addition to my private coaching practice, I am honored to teach as a Fellow with the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership and coach on career platforms The Muse and Landit. I am a recommended Executive Coach at MIT, Columbia Business School and Stanford GSB.

My Education and Certifications include:

• B.A. in Journalism & Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Ed.M from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education

• Executive Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute

• PCC with the International Coaching Federation

• Assessments: Certification in Gallup Clifton Strengths, MBTI, and Positive Intelligence

You can find out more about me at nextevolutioncoach.com

Welcome, everyone, and I’m so excited to meet you! I’m Sara Dickison Taylor, President and Founder of Celebrate Life by Design, LLC. As a certified Executive and Leadership Coach, I have helped countless individuals maximize their life potential and turn their wildest dreams into reality. Whether it be transitioning to a new job after being out of the workforce for years, building your brand, accentuating your leadership team, or rediscovering that missing piece in your soul, get ready for your next adventure.

As a Certified Career and Executive Life Coach with the International Coaching Federation, I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and am a certified graduate of Coach University. Always the consummate student, I also choose to delve further into my coaching craft with Dr. Martha Beck, renowned New York Times bestselling author and Oprah’s favorite life coach.

I formally served as Co-Chair of the Pediatric Patient Family Advisory Council (PPFAC) at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute and have spoken internationally as an advocate of patient and family-centered care for families, caregivers, and patients. Before my exciting coaching career, I spent almost 20 years as a top recruiter and Vice President for a Boston-based staffing agency helping individuals find the jobs of their dreams.

When I’m not coaching, you can find me laughing and dancing with my forever patient husband, trying to slow down the growth of my two amazing teenagers and enjoying walks with our ever-active golden retrievers. Come and join the ride - I promise you’ll be happy you did!

Learn more about Sara.

Matthew Temple is the Senior Director of Alumni Career & Professional Development for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he manages a team of 11 people who deliver career and executive coaching to 65,000 alumni globally. He has coached clients on a range of career issues including self-assessment, networking, resumes, interviewing, negotiating, and starting/buying a business. Matthew has presented hundreds of career workshops in Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, and the Chicago Tribune. Matthew has worked as a Career Coach with Harvard Business School and the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Matthew has coached senior executives as well as emerging leaders in high potential and leadership development programs. His areas of focus include leadership, building and managing high performing teams, onboarding, communications, and executive presence. He earned an Organizational and Leadership Coaching Certification from Northwestern University. He is certified in the Designing Your Life, DISC, Gallup Strengths, Hogan Assessment, Voices 360, Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, and MBTI. Matthew has coached executives on leadership, communications, and management at companies including Amazon, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Facebook, GE, Goldman Sachs, Google, JP Morgan Chase, McKinsey, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever.

Previously, Matthew served as the Director of International Business Development for Ask.com, where he helped establish, manage, and staff joint ventures worth over US$200 million in Asia, Europe and Latin America. He worked in private equity, M&A and corporate finance for Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank. He has lived and worked in Asia and Europe. Matthew holds a BA from Harvard University, an MBA in Finance, Marketing and Organizational Behavior from Kellogg School of Management, and an MS in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University.

Learn more about Matthew.

Hello my fellow relaunchers! Thinking back to 2002 when I first took time off (7 years) after the birth of my second child, I had no idea where I would be 20 years later. Fast forward to now, I am so glad to have zig-zagged my way to career coaching and look forward to sharing some of my experiences with you.

I started out with a fairly linear career path by completing my computer science degree and then working at IBM in sales. After receiving an MBA, I worked for Monsanto developing business in China, and then for a Silicon Valley life science startup opening up channels in major Asian markets. My career path seemed pretty obvious during that phase of my career. When I re-entered the job market after my time off, there were definitely many false starts and career detours that led nowhere. In hindsight, I wish I had the iRelaunch roadmap to make sense of the ambiguity I faced. Upon reflection, I appreciated having had time for some trial and error and for immersing myself in the community building at our local school.

When I did find my way back as a paid professional, I discovered that learning and teaching were my best strengths. First, becoming an adjunct at UCSD led me to coaching and mentoring STEM founders and professionals. Then leveraging that experience in online learning, I became a facilitator for HBS Publishing for their global management training programs.

Even though I have thoroughly enjoyed the many impacts I have had as a teacher and mentor, I realize that the 1:1 interaction from coaching has been the most rewarding. In becoming certified as a “First 90 Days” (the onboarding best-seller) transition coach, I have been helping many Fortune 500 (including Nike, Google and Qualcomm) leaders acclimate to their new roles as they get promoted to enterprise leadership.

From my experiences, I know that building and belonging to a community is the most important lesson I have learned. I look forward to sharing what I have learned from my own journey with you as well as experiences I have picked up along the way from the classroom to the boardroom.

Carla joins iRelaunch after her second career break in the role of Business Development Executive. She has worked in London, Frankfurt, and the U.S., and her previous roles include positions in equity sales at Morgan Stanley and business controls at Bank of America. During her first career break to raise her family, she participated in Bank of America’s Returning Talent Program and was hired to a full-time role. When her family relocated from London to the New York area, Carla took another career break while actively volunteering at her alma maters and children’s schools.

As a relauncher herself, she is passionate about championing professionals who have taken career breaks and promoting opportunities for them. She holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and a MBA from Columbia Business School.

Alice Avellanet is Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the Depository Trust and Clearing Center (DTCC). DTCC is the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry. As part of the Diverse Talent Management and Advancement team at DTCC, Alice is responsible for leading the development and oversight of the organization’s Employee Resource Groups and our Diverse Targeted Development Programs, each of which play a critical role in the D&I strategy, focusing on workforce engagement, inclusion and belonging.

The Diverse Talent Management and Advancement department is focused solely on recruitment and retention of experienced diverse talent, working in partnership with Human Resources (HR). Both businesses are dedicated to managing DTCC’s human capital initiatives, sustaining a work environment that promotes excellent performance across the organization and developing and retaining a global workforce that contributes to DTCC's strategy and business imperatives.

Prior to joining DTCC in 2019, Alice progressed through multiple positions with S&P Global and McGraw-Hill including Media Relations Associate, Mentoring Program Manager and Senior Lead for Diversity & Inclusion. While working with S&P Global, Alice became a founding member of The Conference Board’s Women’s Leadership Council and served as a member of their D&I Leadership Council as well. During a break between roles in the corporate sector, Alice became a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children in Essex County, NJ.

Alice holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Francisco State University and a Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Certification from Seattle Central College. She also currently serves on the Anti-Violence Project of NYC’s Associate Board of Directors.

Ashley Miller spent the first 19 years of her career working in the NBA and WNBA organizations. After a two-year career break, Ashley pivoted her career by joining Goldman Sachs in private wealth management via Goldman’s Returnship program. She later became Chief of Staff for Diversity Recruiting and leader of the Returnship program. From there, Ashley moved to Yum! Brands, parent of Pizza Hut Global, where she leads equity, inclusion, and belonging. She spearheads initiatives that champion inclusiveness and foster cultures of belonging around the world.

Veronica Villegas is Military Veteran having served in the ARMY for 8 years. Currently she is a Sr. Program Manager leading Amazon’s Returnship Programs. Recognizing the increasing need to support those who have left the workforce for a variety of reasons, Amazon’s paid Returnship program offers a clear path to employment, helping professionals who have been away from their careers for at least one year restart their careers at Amazon. This program has committed to hiring 1,000 returners over the next few years.

I have coached and mentored ambitious professionals my entire career. I have also had the opportunity to recruit, hire and manage countless others. But it wasn’t until the boutique consulting firm, where I was a senior executive and worked for 20+ years, was sold, that I had an opportunity to discover my true calling ... as a career coach with a special focus on relaunchers.

I’ve worked with relaunchers who have taken short (1-3 years) and long (15-20 years) career breaks and have found them to be bright, energetic and highly accomplished. Too often they might lack confidence or have an uncertainty of focus that may derail their search. That’s where I can help. Each client is unique; so we will create a customized plan based entirely on your needs. Whether we’re creating a strategy for your search, preparing for an interview or keeping you accountable and focused, the goal is for you to present your best self in all aspects of the job search. While I won’t sugarcoat things, or let you be unrealistic, I will be your sounding board, advisor and biggest cheerleader.

In addition to decades of “on the job” training, I also have an MBA in Finance from DePaul University, a BA in Business Administration from Augustana College (IL), am a Certified Administrator of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Strong Interest Inventory assessments, a Mock Interview Consultant for Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Volunteer Advisor at the Career Resource Center, as well as a frequent speaker on today’s job search and reentering the Workforce.

Learn more about Mary Beth and 2nd Career Consulting

You’ve decided to return to work. While this is an exciting time, you likely have a few concerns. Are you worried that your skills are outdated? Do you wonder how you will manage your professional growth while keeping your personal life on track? Do you want to pursue a career that differs from the one you had prior to your career break? I dealt with each of these questions as I successfully relaunched my career after a five-year break.

I returned to the work force as a professional development and executive career coach at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. In that role, I leveraged my 20+ year career, a career that was been both fulfilling and challenging. Upon graduation from the University of Michigan, I started working in Accounting and Finance. I built a strong financial acumen by advising clients in a wide range of industries, ranging from banking to hospitality. Eventually, I used that experience to underwrite multi-million dollar commercial real estate deals.

Deciding to build upon my skills and grow my career, I returned to school and earned my MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. After business school, I started working in brand management at a variety of consumer packaged goods companies, including Colgate, Kraft and Heinz.

Due to my extensive corporate experience, I know what employers want in new hires and I understand the expectations they have for high-caliber career performance. I used this knowledge to launch Ascension Careers, a coaching consultancy that works with motivated clients to achieve their job search, career and career development goals. It is my privilege to coach my clients to manage and grow careers that ignite their passions, honor their values and provide continued growth.

As a relauncher myself, I am thrilled to partner with iRelaunch and work with clients embarking on a new career adventure.

Janet is a strong advocate for Relaunchers interested in returning to the workplace. The Business Development team helps employers develop unique strategies to increase diversity and value all talent.

Prior to joining iRelaunch and a five year career break, Janet held leadership roles in sales, marketing, and training and advocacy at Johnson & Johnson and Xerox Corporation. She served as a five year Leadership Board Member for The American Diabetes Association and was a liaison for The National Urban League, NAACP and LaRaza. Janet also enjoys serving her community through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Women’s Ministries. She lives in Alpharetta, GA with husband George, Toma (Mom) and is mother to Devin and Paige.

Rochna Pant has joined the iRelaunch team as Manager, Digital Marketing.

As a fresh postgraduate from one of India's top public schools, Rochna began her career journey infused with Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals, especially his quote- Be the change you want to see in the world. However, over the years she has evolved her mantra into- Accept the things you cannot change and have the courage to change the things you can.

Rochna started her career in the nonprofit industry advocating for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them be the best version of themselves. When some of her students had substance abuse issues, she championed and created a de-addiction program for them despite strong resistance from senior colleagues. That experience helped her channel her innate grit and become a mature, assertive, and compassionate educator. She moved on to further her impact by becoming a teacher educator and then a consultant on a life skills toolkit framework to be adapted in 6 countries.

She was able to double down on causes finding her-when within 2 months of moving to the US, she got an opportunity to lead digital marketing initiatives, conduct workshops, and dive into analytics to build business focus for an organization committed to making women current, connected and confident after a career pause.

To always use her voice for a cause and advocate for the underdog matters to her. Armed with digital marketing in her quiver now, she feels emboldened to make a far-reaching impact and make a difference in the true sense. From being told that her voice does not matter to amplifying voices through Digital Marketing now, she has come a long way.

Yogita relaunched as a Senior Data Analytics Engineer after an 8 year career break. Her story is a Masterclass in relaunching your career and reiterates the point that -You are your own advocate!

When she started applying for jobs on Linked in and submitted her resume on various platforms, most offered contract positions and/or were diminishing her 10 years of IT experience and 8 months of Data Engineering experience (returnship). Yogita did not want to manipulate her break or join at designation less than she deserved. She came up with plan B- to use LinkedIn Premium to her advantage . She reached out to more recruiters and posted for 56 days continuously on LinkedIn to increase her visibility. She posted about what she knew about data engineering, her life experiences and her relaunch journey. She started getting messages from at least 5 recruiters every day, some for full-time and some for contract. Finally, she joined a company that respected her break, gave her the compensation, and designation she wanted.

Wendy relaunched in a Strategy role at a large insurance company after a 10yr break.

She is leading a new complex project that involves many high profile stakeholders across the organisation. While she is enjoying the challenge and the mental stimulation, she is also navigating age gaps and the decade long career gap. She has a supportive boss who has extended his support to help her succeed in her new role. Wendy also went through a returnship program in Bavaria that helped her build confidence in her job search and interview process. 

Vada relaunched in a full time position as an Environmental Scientist after 10 years.

After selling her part of the business she owned with her then husband, she was clueless on her next steps. She decided to get back to engineering support that led her to pursuing a Masters in Environmental Science. Simultaneously, she found the Project Management Institute and volunteered with her local chapter. She joined Toastmasters to work on her public speaking and leadership skills. She even took a part time position in food sales. Most importantly she made a friend with someone within the hazardous waste management industry. This friend helped her get her current position.

Her advice is to think of networking as making friends. One does not need a huge network, but a network of high quality people who will support you on your journey.