CHRISTIE SMITH

Dr. Christie Smith has over 35 years of experience advising the C-Suite of Fortune 500 companies. She has held global leadership positions at Deloitte, Apple, and Accenture as a highly respected expert in leadership, talent management, organizational design, workforce management, change management, and executive team performance. She is the founder of The Humanity Studio™, a research and advisory institute dedicated to improving the way we live by revolutionizing the way we work.

Christie led the Global Talent & Organization consulting practice at Accenture. As Managing Principle of Deloitte Consulting, she was responsible for the West Region Consulting practice and the development of the Deloitte University Centers for Inclusion and Community Impact. Her leadership in Inclusion and Diversity at Apple was integral to the growth, development, and representation of female and underrepresented groups internally as well as in product and retail solutions.

She is a highly sought-after speaker on business strategy, leadership and culture, DEI, people analytics, and the impact of workforce technologies and AI. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Forbes, and CNN. Christie has been recognized as a Top 50 Diversity Leader and in Fast Company’s Queer 50 list. 

Christie received her doctorate in Clinical Social Work with a focus on leadership and culture from New York University.

KELLY MONAHAN, PH.D

Dr. Kelly Monahan is a Managing Director at Upwork, leading their future of work research program. She built and leads the Upwork Research Institute, whose mission is to change work, one insight at a time. The Institute’s current focus is on unlocking greater productivity and connection in distributed work models, AI’s impact on the workforce, and organizational culture change. Her research has been recognized and published in both applied and academic journals, including MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, and the Journal of Strategic Management. In 2018, Kelly released her first book, How Behavioral Economics Influences Management Decision-Making: A New Paradigm (Academic Press/Elsevier Publishers). In 2019 Kelly gave her first TedX talk on the future of work.

Dr. Monahan is frequently quoted in the media on talent decision-making and the future of work. In 2023, her research appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Business Insider, Axios and FOX News. She also has written over two dozen publications and is a sought-after speaker on how to apply new management and talent models in knowledge based organizations. In 2023, Dr. Monahan signed with Leading Authorities speaking agency to help bring these insights through keynotes at top-tier conferences. This has included keynotes at Zoomtopia, the Customer Electronic Show (CES), Work Without Limits, and AICPA annual conference, reaching well over 3,000 leaders in 2023 with her speaking engagements.

Kelly holds a B.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology, M.S. from Roberts Wesleyan College, and Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.