Fresh Perspectives on Key Leadership Challenges   

David Kelly is the executive director of The Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community, and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more. He can be found online at his website, davidkelly.me, or on Twitter @LnDDave.

Dalia Abbas is an instructional designer working on developing career courses for Springboard, an education-based company. Dalia attended the American University in Cairo and worked in academia in Cairo, Istanbul, Guangzhou, and Silicon Valley. She completed a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to Springboard, Dalia created customer-facing learning content for Zendesk. She currently works remotely from Milan, Italy.

Kelsie Bailey is a learning and performance specialist at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida. Kelsie is passionate about using her love of both education and psychology to deliver learning solutions that motivate and inspire learners. Prior to her work at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida she worked as a learning designer at Power Design Inc. and Saint Leo University.
Kelsie has also completed her master’s degree in instructional systems and learning technologies at Florida State University. Professional highlights include streamlining the learning intake process, redesigning outdated learning programs to fit learner needs while utilizing new learning technologies, and creative instructional design.

Jennifer R. Demchar is a senior instructional designer consultant for Kroger’s Product Operations and Organizational Change Management teams. She has previously worked at Morgan & Morgan and Chewy.com as an instructional designer. Jennifer resides in Orlando, Florida. Jennifer graduated from Nova Southeastern University with a bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education with an ESOL endorsement. Jennifer completed her executive certification program for project management at Florida Atlantic University and is scheduled to take the PMP certification exam in November. 

Shantel Dixon is an assistant principal in the Santa Fe, New Mexico Public School district. She completed her undergraduate degree at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and pursed graduate education programs at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands University, where she received a master of arts in educational leadership and a master of science in curriculum and instruction, respectively. Shantel is an active member of AVID, where she has presented at numerous conferences and is a staff developer. She provides professional learning opportunities for teachers throughout the country that focus on helping students gain the tools they need to be successful academically and in life outside of the classroom. Shantel is passionate about education and providing students with every opportunity possible to help them become successful. She is a lifelong learner who continuously strives to better herself, engage in learning, and act as a leader within her school site and her community.

Ian Gwynne is a technology enablement architect at cybersecurity company, Mimecast. His goal is to help global revenue professionals and cross-functional teams optimize technology as a force multiplier through technology training and development. By training internal teams on Mimecast’s tech stack, Ian is able to identify areas of their workflow that can be improved through sales process changes, implementing technology integrations, or providing technology enablement. Ian is passionate about sales enablement, empowering sellers through technology, and applying adult learning principles to learning processes. He identified his passion for enablement after transitioning from a sales role to an onboarding enablement role, which kicked off his career in learning and development. He graduated from Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with a bachelor of business administration, double majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship and minoring in psychology. He is currently based out of Toronto.

Hayley Shust, a learning experience designer at Salesforce, brings a wealth of experience in curriculum design, eLearning design & development, and assessment design. Her past experiences as a teacher and science curriculum developer, along with a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, add novel perspectives to instructional design, development, and LMS implementation. She strives to create learning experiences that are meaningful, measurable, and accessible for all learners.

Jaclyn Taylor has been in the learning and development field for the better part of a decade. Having worked in front-facing, back-of-house, start-up, and corporate environments, she guides her development journey with the idea that authenticity and empathy are the most important values for any professional. She has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Stetson University, and a master’s in organizational leadership from Quinnipiac University. She works in employee relations at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, managing conflict-positive resolution conversations, providing acute and long-term leader support, and creating and facilitating competency-based content for employees at all levels.