Karuna Thomas is the Founder and CEO of Karuna Thomas Coaching and Consulting, LLC. As a dynamic leader with an extensive global portfolio, she specializes in Supply Chain, International Business, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), Training and Development, and Professional Coaching. She holds a two-decade successful stint in the Foodservice industry, which includes the launch, development, and expansion of a US global restaurant brand in 35+ countries. She mobilized supplier operations in all five inhabited continents while orchestrating sustainable supply chain networks to scale. Karuna’s work earned her global recognition from the various stakeholders. Her journey into DE&I was organically embedded in her international role and ambassadorship, plus she holds multiple certifications in this domain. She has since been dedicating her global intelligence and cultural competence to conduct talks and workshops in various forums from Lean In, Power To Fly, Connect4Women, Returnships.org etc. on empowering women in the workplace, #IamRemarkable, volunteerism, and DE&I initiatives. In 2021, she officially stepped into the world of Consulting and Coaching, bringing a distinctive mix of real-life experiences, research, and practitioner expertise. She helps clients develop diversity,  inclusion, and equity dialogue starters, strategize proactive and inclusive workplace practices, foster culturally responsive organizational change, create employee resource groups, and more. Karuna also graduated from the distinctive ICF accredited coaching program as a Senior Certified Professional Coach and is incredibly passionate about coaching professional leaders and executives realize their goals. Her approach equips leaders develop a growth mindset, capitalize on their strengths, cultivate emotional and cultural intelligence, and uncover their ‘Thrive- Version’. She advocates that BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) are not just for organizations but also for leaders striving to make a difference. Karuna is a serial community builder, catalyzing societal change that supports children and women. She is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer advocating for the best interest of foster children. She also leads women-empowerment initiatives at Lean In North Dallas, is a certified #IamRemarkable Facilitator and an active member of Junior League of Collin County.

Nickoria Johnson is a strategic, results-oriented professional with 25+ years of experience in Technology Leadership, Management Consulting and Portfolio Management. She has a proven track record for leading digital and cloud transformation efforts, optimizing multi-million dollar technology portfolios, defining and implementing change management initiatives, and establishing deep partnerships with business teams and vendor partners. Nickoria brings to the table a “people first” approach to leading teams, investing in culture and diversity, and building collaborative environments. In her current role as Chief Diversity Officer at Credera, she is responsible for accelerating the mission of amplifying voices of underrepresented groups and synergizing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts toward unified goals to ensure accessibility, focus, and visibility of DE&I for the firm. 

Nickoria is a respected speaker on both DE&I issues and in the technology strategy space, speaking on the topics of leadership, business transformation, and career development across the country. Johnson is a national board member for High Tech High Heels, on the advisory board for Tomorrow's Scientists, Technicians, and Managers (TSTM), and an advisor for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. Johnson attended Howard University and completed her bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in management and organizational behavior from Benedictine University.

Charita McClellan’s career has been primarily centered in the finance/accounting world. It was through her volunteer work within employee resource groups while working at Bank of America that she found her passion for DEI. In the past Charita has served as the Professional Development Chair for the Black Professionals Group as well as the Community Engagement Chair and Richardson and Dallas site leads for North Texas LGBT+ Pride. Additionally, Charita had the privilege of presenting a product, “Bi, POC and Womxn – 3 Strikes” at the 2020 Out and Equal Workplace Summit.

Charita has the privilege of being the first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion manager at Alteryx, a data analytics software company. She is responsible for creating and implementing plans as well as leading efforts to promote DEI within all areas of the organization. This includes collaborating with Talent Acquisition to ensure the talent pool is diverse and the organization maintains equitable hiring practices, working with leaders to create an inclusive workspace and assisting learning and development to incorporate DEI elements into the fabric of the training modules. Additionally, Charita leads the ERG efforts ensuring all associates have a place to belong.

Charita has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of North Texas, a Masters of Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology and a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University.

June Jenkins, has been in the promotional products industry since 1997. She is owner and chief idea officer at CFJ Legacy Group, a promotional marketing agency based in Plano, Texas. Jenkins enjoys working with clients on identifying the best solutions for their branding strategy. She thrives on creating connections and building strong relationships in the community and with her customers. 

Jenkins has a degree in math and computer science, and many consider her a nerd, but she begs to differ. Prior to starting her business, Jenkins spent more than 19 years in the IT industry as an engineer. She is currently president of the Collin County NAACP, a member of the Junior League of Collin County and the Plano Metro Rotary Club. 

She is a mom, friend and community advocate. When she’s not closing a deal, you may find her advocating at City Hall for businesses in the community or mixing up a new cocktail at home with her friends.

Cindy Tsuji is a senior account executive with Image Source in Kirkland, Washington, who discovered the promo industry after 20 years in corporate sales. She has a passion and love for hospitality, health care, being of service to others and spreading joy through thoughtfully crafted merchandise experiences. Committed to seeing a more diverse and inclusive promo industry in the future, she is a PromoKitchen volunteer, PPAI DEI Task Force member, and she leads Image Source’s DEI Council. A passionate global traveler and endurance athlete, she has completed a half marathon on all seven continents. If not traveling, running or in a hot yoga studio, she enjoys time with her dog Emi and supporting causes dear to her heart.

Bob McLean, CPA, is PPAI's executive vice president. He was hired in June 2008 as chief financial officer and is responsible for finance and administration, information technology and the Promotional Products Education Foundation. In October 2011, Bob was promoted to EVP and assumed responsibility for all revenue-producing products and services at PPAI. These include the business development, membership sales, trade shows, publications, and education and certification departments. Bob has an MBA in finance from the University of Miami in Florida and a bachelor's degree in accounting from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events and serves on its budget and finance committee. He is also a member of the American and Florida Institutes of Certified Public Accountants.

Lamont Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania through the A Better Chance college preparatory program. He then returned to Illinois to attend Lake Forest College, in Lake Forest, Illinois. After graduating from LFC, he went on to work for the Lake County Forest Preserves while obtaining his MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. After receiving his MBA, he moved on to work for Abbott Laboratories in 2000 as a Senior Purchasing Agent. In 2004, Lamont was part of Abbott’s spin-off, Hospira, as a
Senior Purchasing Agent and Small Business Liaison Officer.

In September 2004, Lamont joined Cardinal Health as the Corporate Director of Supplier Diversity where he was responsible for assisting Group Purchasing Organizations with their supplier diversity programs. He then relocated from Illinois to Texas in 2007 to join VHA, Inc. (a national healthcare alliance), to create its supplier diversity program as their Director of Business Development and Supplier Diversity. In 2009, he was promoted as the Senior Director of Supplier Diversity for Novation. At Novation, Lamont directly oversaw the supplier diversity programs for Novation, VHA, and Provista (Novation’s sister company), as well as provided support to UHC. Lamont was then recruited and accepted the position as Vice President of Supplier Diversity for Nielsen, where he served from 2012 to 2018.

Lamont has been a leader in supplier diversity for the past 14 years after receiving a plethora of national awards and acknowledgments for every supplier diversity program he oversaw. His most treasured achievement is receiving the 2010 Corris Boyd Leadership and Diversity award from the Federation of American Hospitals, which recognizes an individual or company that has made an outstanding contribution in fostering leadership and workplace diversity in the health care industry. 

Lamont initially launched RLC in 2012 but focused more on its growth in 2017 when he was awarded a subcontracting opportunity to launch the supplier diversity program for a large New Jersey-based health system. RLC is a minority-owned and certified diverse firm that specializes in launching exemplary supplier diversity programs, connecting diverse suppliers to procurement opportunities while developing those organizations, assisting professional athletes and entertainers with transitioning into business ownership through the usage of diversity, and assisting clients with responding to community pressures pertaining to diversity.

In 2014, Lamont authored his autobiography “TransformNational: Journey of a Bastard” which details his personal experiences in overcoming challenges on Chicago’s violent West Side to achieve success.