2022 Fall Forum

Author and activist Ashton Applewhite has been recognized by the New York Times, the New Yorker, National Public Radio, and the American Society on Aging as an expert on ageism. She blogs at This Chair Rocks, speaks widely at venues that have ranged from the United Nations to the TED mainstage, has written for Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and is the voice of Yo, Is This Ageist?  The author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, Ashton is a leading spokesperson for a movement to mobilize against discrimination on the basis of age.

Lisa Balser is an award-winning Creative Director and a Certified Diversity Executive whose passion is purpose-driven, cause-related,  needle-moving, glass-shattering work that impacts business and the  people in it. 

Lisa’s experience includes two decades as an advertising agency  creative in New York and Atlanta, where she fostered DEI efforts by  developing DEI Committees and engaging clients in the conversation.  

Her lived experiences around DEI and allyship drove her to launch  New & Improved, a diverse collective on a mission to modernize  business culture with a brand new approach to DEIBA+. 

Since 2019, New & Improved has helped thousands identify and  actualize their DEI Call To Action^™ and move their journey forward via  empathy-based, impactful experiences critical to the progress  forward-thinking companies so desperately need. 

In addition to her work as a change agent, Lisa is a featured awards  show judge, podcast guest, speaker, panelist, moderator, and the  former Director of SheSays ATL. She teaches and creates diversity  programming at The Creative Circus, and has served as a mentor for numerous organizations.

Sheila Callaham is the Executive Director and Board Chair for Age Equity Alliance (AEA), a 501(c)(3) partnering with businesses, organizations, government entities, and communities to create workplace age equity across the age spectrum. AEA accomplishes this through training, education, age equity audits, and consultation. AEA serves as a knowledge partner on a collaborative project with AARP, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Economic Forum. The international program “Living, Learning, and Earning Longer” examines the policies and practices needed to support a multigenerational workforce. 

With a MA in International Studies, Sheila is a longtime communications and DEI subject matter expert with experience across private and public sectors in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. Sheila has published more than 100 articles to Forbes’ DEI channel, covering workplace age and aging. She believes employers who proactively build diverse, multigenerational teams are in the best position to succeed in the future of work.

Megan Dean is a dynamic and motivated Senior HR professional with more than 24 years of experience in HR, in a variety of settings including Higher Ed, Healthcare,  and Financial Services. 

She is focused on aligning business strategies with best-in-class human capital strategies, such as Employee Engagement, Employee Relations, Organization Development, Performance Management, Benefits/Compensation and Leave of Absence Administration. Megan is a genuine influencer who believes in taking care of those that take care of our customers, by building collaborative partnerships throughout the organization. 

Megan thrives in challenging environments and can translate vision, ideas and strategies into forward thinking and actionable deliverables.

Steven Frampton founded the Age Diversity Group at 3M.  This employee group was planned in 2021, launched in 2022, and is global with members from 15 countries.  Steven believes diversity, equity, and inclusion is a foundation to business success and is a member of all 9 3M Employee Resource Networks (ERNs): 3M PRIDE, Women’s Leadership Forum, A3CTION (3M Asian employee affinity group), 3M Black Leadership Advancement Coalition, Diverse Ability Network, Latino  Resource Network, Military Support Network, Native American Network, and New Employee Opportunity Network.  Steven posts regularly on the topics of pro-ageing, age discrimination, and ageism in LinkedIn, and he invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn!  

Steven has worked at 3M for 38 years and is a recognized ethics and compliance leader for 3M’s Transportation Safety Division (TSD).  His experience includes privacy,  antitrust, anti-bribery, conflict of interest, FDA computer system validation, US Export Control Technology, Sarbanes-Oxley, and security.  He currently holds the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

Daniel Jolles is a Research Assistant in Behavioural Science at The Inclusion Initiative (TII) at London School of Economics, researching how diverse teams can work better together. Daniel is currently completing his PhD in Psychology at University of Essex and has specific research interests in decision-making in the hiring of older workers and older worker attitudes towards work and retirement. He also holds an MSc and MSD in Psychology and has worked as a Behavioural Scientist in the private sector.

Prior to studying psychology, Daniel spent more than 10 years working as a project management consultant, delivering business change projects for large organisations in Australia, the UK and France. He volunteers as an Academic Advisor and co-facilitator for Age Equity Alliance.

Nishant Nishant is the Managing Director of Customer Success at Microsoft. He leads executive-level engagements for some of Microsoft’s most strategic customers, where he is entrusted with hundreds of million in investment to realize customer success, by bringing the best of Microsoft technologies and talent across the globe. 

Prior to joining Microsoft, Nishant was a Client Partner at Salesforce, where he led global sales and marketing transformation engagements at Randstad, GEICO, Apple, and Amazon. 

Nishant’s move to tech companies was inspired by his work at Avnet as the Chief Digital Officer, where he led the transformation of a 100-year-old $20B+ organization’s traditional business into a world-class technology solutions company.

Nishant is an alumnus of Accenture Strategy and has previously co-founded a technology start-up in the UK.

Nishant holds an Executive MBA from the University of Leeds, UK and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Derby, UK. Nishant holds a coveted AI patent with the USPTO.

Nishant prides himself in being a global citizen having lived in India, UK and now the USA. He currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and two sons.

Originally from Spain, Dr Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez manages the Global Campaign to Combat Ageism at the World Health Organization and is a lead author of the first UN Global report on ageism. Vânia also drives capacity building efforts on ageing in countries and regions. In this capacity, she has led the creation and is responsible for the ongoing delivery of the first ever leaders programme on Healthy Ageing. Vânia is a physician who first joined WHO in 2014 and who has worked with different NGOs and research institutes in both high and low-income countries, including Switzerland, Spain, Senegal, and the Gambia.

Vânia holds an MD from the University of Santiago de Compostela; an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics of Health from University College London; and is completing a BA in Social and Cultural Anthropology.

Barb joined BAE Systems as a hardware design engineer for flight and engine controls in 1993.  She worked at the Johnson City facility for eight years and held a variety of positions that included project engineering and business development for the hybrid electric product line.

In 2000, she left BAE Systems to take a position with IBM as a program manager in their digital video products group.  She returned to BAE Systems working in the communications function and eventually became the Director for Federal Installations for Energy.  After leaving in 2010 Barb worked as a program manager and global account manager for Emerson Network Power and Anixter.  She returned to BAE Systems in 2017 and since then has worked as the Information Technology Business Partner for US Controls, the Director of Business Systems for the ES Sector, Director of IT Assets for BAE Systems Inc, and most recently as the Director of Modernization for BAE Systems.  She also serves as the President of the BAE Systems GENerations Employee Resource Group which is focused on building bridges across generations and strengthening our community by providing a network and open forum that promotes collaboration.  She has been involved in the ERGs since her return to BAE Systems in 2017.

Barb holds a bachelor degree in aerospace engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and lives in Endicott, NY with her husband, parents and two children.

Senior Director, Product Strategy, Moody’s Analytics.

Former co-chair for EMEA Generational Business Resource Group. Promoted, and advocated for, age equity in the workplace across Moody’s UK and continental European offices.

Dr. Nicole Washington is a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in caring for and being an advocate for those who are not typically consumers of mental health services, namely underserved communities, those with severe mental illness and high performing professionals. Through her private practice, podcast, speaking and writing, she seeks to provide education in efforts to decrease the stigma associated with psychiatric illness.  

Elizabeth White, author of 55, Underemployed and Faking Normal (Simon and Schuster), is an age solutions advocate for older adults facing uncertain work and financial insecurity.  When she could not find a book that met her needs during her own bout of long-term unemployment, she wrote it herself. She wrote it as a 62-year-old woman who has lived the stories she describes, and as a Harvard MBA, former retail entrepreneur, and C-suite executive who never expected to land here.  

Ms. White is a frequent guest blogger, and speaker at conferences and workshops, and has been named one of the top 50 influencers on aging in the country. Her essays and work have appeared in publications like Barron’s, Forbes, The Huffington Post, MarketWatch, Next Avenue, and The Washington Post. She has been featured prominently in three segments on the PBS NewsHour. And her TEDx Talk has been elevated to the main TED stage where it has garnered over 2 million views. Ms. White has been featured on the TED Radio Hour. She is Board Member of the International Federation on Ageing and was recently invited to testify before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.  In March 2022, Ms. White joined the Ideas42 Venture Studio as an entrepreneur.