Dr. Towanna Burrous, is a best-selling author, trainer, and an ICF professional certified coach (PCC) based in Washington, DC. As a much sought after executive coach, Towanna’s mission is to empower diverse communities through executive coaching. Towanna has spent the past 28 years in both federal government and the private sector that has led to her serving a broad range of business executives, sales, and IT (information technology) professionals.

As founder of the Black Life Coaches network, she has helped over 600 life coaches, counselors and therapists from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and South Africa. Towanna is currently in the process of earning a Doctorate of Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She has a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, a Doctorate of Divinity from Elbon-Solutions College of Ministry and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Howard University.

Aprille Ericsson is the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in Engineering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

Aprille Ericsson has been acknowledged by the National Technical Association, for being amongst the Top 50 minority women in Science and Engineering. She received the NASA Goddard Honor Award for Excellence in Outreach (individual) and Center of Excellence Award for the TRMM Project (Group). Dr. Aprille Ericsson was elected to the Howard University Board of Trustees in September 2004. In February 2010, she received a Science Trailblazers award from the Black Engineers of the Year Award Conference. And in May 2011, she was awarded the Presidents Medal from York College. Also, she is a member of the NASA GSFC Speakers Bureau and the Women of NASA Group.

Born and raised in Detroit, MI, Niles Heron is a co-founder of Popdog, a gaming-centric services and technology company. Day-to-day he works as Chief Strategy Officer in the Popdog subsidiary management company Loaded (he spends most of his time focusing on content development strategy, innovative commercial engagements, and brand consultation). Loaded manages top-tier gaming live-streaming content creators, through which Niles has supported growing the careers of Ninja, TimTheTatman, DrLupo, Courage, Shroud, Cloakzy, Jordan Fisher, and 30 or so others. Loaded, on behalf of it’s clients, has done deals with Adidas, Epic Games, Activision, Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Red Bull, Pepsi, Chipotle, Postmates, and more.

He’s been a part of a number of startups - a few exits, a few exciting failures. He’s taught and mentored at incubators and accelerators (TechStars, Gener8tor, Detroit’s TechTown), and spoken across the country about the exchanged value of entrepreneurship and startups to and from founders of color and the communities they live in. He was honored by Crain’s Detroit Business as a 20 in their 20s award recipient in 2015.

Darryl E. Peek II currently serves as the Head of Federal Strategic Partnerships for Google and has been in executive leadership, acquisitions, digital transformation, cybersecurity, workforce, and business operations roles for more than 15 years.

Prior to joining Google, Mr. Peek was Senior Manager for Global Government Solutions at Salesforce and served for several years as the Director of Digital Innovation and Solutions at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer.

Mr. Peek received his Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and Master’s in Systems Engineering from Penn State University. He is also a Board Member of ACT-IAC, ATARC, and AFCEA Bethesda, continually working to further the partnership between the public and private sectors.

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Sarah Franklin is EVP & GM Platform, Trailhead & Developers at Salesforce. 

Sarah is a leader with a blend of technical knowledge, business acumen, and marketing expertise in emerging technologies and trends. She's currently determined to democratize technology, make learning accessible to everyone, and advocate for equality in the enterprise.

Sarah thinks big, outside the box, and has the tenacity to make dreams come true.