Nicola Pye

Nicola has over 25 years’ experience as a learning and leadership development professional, executive coach, and until recently was Global Talent Director for EY, who she worked at for 22 years. She is passionate about all things talent, particularly developing business and people so that everyone can live their best lives.

Through her business The Leadership Coach & People Person, she’s now on a mission to help CEOs and Senior Management teams create positive impact
by making work better for themselves, their workforce and society.

Having experienced chronic illness as a teenager and on and off throughout her career she refuses to be defined by it but is relentless about ensuring it determines how she shows up as a leader.

BJ Miller

Dr. BJ Miller is a longtime hospice and palliative medicine physician and educator. 

BJ co-founded Mettle Health which provides personalized, holistic consultations for any patient or caregiver who needs help navigating the practical, emotional and existential issues that come with serious illness and disability.

Led by his own experiences as a patient, BJ advocates for the roles of our senses, community and presence in designing a better ending. His TED Talk has been viewed over 15 Million times and he speaks internationally on themes of illness, death and loss.

BJ will be sharing his experience of navigating his career while living with disability.

Amina Altai

Amina AItai (pronounced AH-MIN-UH) is a holistic business and career coach, proud immigrant and chronic illness advocate. A leading coach to notable leaders, executives and founders—Amina's mastery is in connecting us to our brilliance and teaching us to live and lead from it each day.

Amina is the author of the forthcoming book, The Ambition Trap, with Penguin/The Open Field. She has partnered with progressive companies such as google, Roku, Deloitte, Snap, Outdoor Voices, NYU and HUGE.

Amina's an Entrepreneur Magazine expert-in-residence, a Forbes contributor and was named one of Success Magazine’s Women of Influence. Additionally, she's been featured in goop, Well+Good, The New York Times, Yahoo, NBC, and more.

Hannah Olson

Hannah Olson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Disclo, an innovative HR software helping employees to safely disclose and ask for accommodations at work.

Hannah’s own experience navigating her early career while undergoing intensive treatment for Lyme disease sparked the idea for her first venture, Chronically Capable, now one of the largest and most-used disability recruiting platforms in North America. Today, she is known globally for her disability advocacy, with recent features in The NYT, Forbes, Inc Magazine, and more.

Peter Ghin

Dr Peter Ghin is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His expertise is in the future of work, chronic illness employment, leadership, and organisational behaviour. His recently released report Disclosing Illness at Work found that 38% of people living with chronic illness are in professional, leadership roles.

Peter lives with ME/CFS and will share both his personal experience of chronic illness and career as well as the research findings in this area.

Antara Mascarenhas

Antara Mascarenhas is an Executive in the energy and climate sectors and is currently a General Manager at Australian Energy Market Operator. She specialises in building and leading teams to deliver strategic outcomes and implementing national energy reforms. She has a Masters in Political Science at the University of Cambridge, England and undergraduate degrees from the University of Melbourne and Victoria University of Wellington.

Antara is an Endometriosis Australia Ambassador and a Board Director of Cambridge Australia Scholarships. 

Jenn Sharp

Jenn was accelerating her career as a Human Capital and Talent Management specialist at one of the world's largest firms in the heart of D.C. Then a diagnosis of Lyme disease threw her into a world of disability policies and navigating the unknown. And then everything stopped.

Over 6 years of many twists and turns including being bed-bound, working part-time and managing treatment Jenn found a new way forward. In 2022, she returned to full-time work in the heart of D.C. consulting world and uses her Authentic Leadership skills that come directly out of the depth of her chronic illness experience.

Julia Stephanides

Julia is an employment lawyer at RED Law, where she represents workers facing discrimination and harassment and advises executives on offer letters, equity packages, and separations. Previously, she worked for the Writers Guild of America West, where she represented writers in disputes with studios at arbitration.

Through her work and her personal experience navigating major health issues, Julia realized the extent to which American systems and norms like hyper-capitalism, rugged individualism, and patriarchy cause and perpetuate health issues. She believes that in order to find true health and happiness within these systems, we need to advocate for ourselves--at home, in the workplace, at the doctor's office, and with our loved ones. She started her company, Legally Holistic, to teach people how to do that.

Lilly Stairs

Lilly Stairs is an internationally recognized patient advocate, serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and sought after speaker. Her truest self was unearthed in a hospital bed after being diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases.

Lilly is the Founder of the Chronic Boss Collective, a networking membership for ambitious business women living with chronic conditions designed to help them dream big in their career and maintain health with no trade-offs.

She is also the Founder of Patient Authentic, a consultancy that helps healthcare organizations builds events and experiences for patient advocates, and is Board Chair of the Autoimmune Association, the world's foremost non-profit leading the fight against autoimmunity

Anessa Powell

Since being diagnosed in 2013 with Addison’s Disease (Primary Adrenal Insufficiency), a rare Autoimmune Disease, Anessa Powell has been dedicated to raising awareness that disabilities come in many forms.

In 2019, she began her work at the state and national levels as a patient advocate, speaking out for voices that have been traditionally overlooked in disability employment. As the pandemic changed lives in so many ways and employers began to recognize jobs can be done from home (and done well!), Anessa along with her husband, Bill, created AllAbility Recruiting where they strive to Leave No Ability Behind through disability employment, training, and consulting.