2022 EVENT SPEAKERS

Managing Director, Accenture

Wendy is a Managing Director at Accenture, the global professional services company with 700,000 people in 120 countries, serving Fortune 500 clients with human ingenuity and technology to improve the way the world works and lives. Currently leading Future Talent, she is responsible for talent strategies and workforce development initiatives that cultivate diversity, strengthen communities and increase economic opportunity. She has also led Human Resources Northeast, supporting 10,000+ people and advised the CHRO and CEO. Before returning to Accenture Wendy was the Founder and President of Dolphin Lane and previously held leadership positions at Morgan Stanley and Fidelity Investments. 

Wendy holds a BS in Engineering from Cornell University and is a member of the Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Board and the President’s Council of Cornell Women. She and her husband of 29 years live on the Upper West Side of NYC with their rescue animals and their children when they are home from college.

Vice President of Emerging Talent - Business Lead, JPMorgan Chase

Daniel is the Business Program Lead for Emerging Talent at JPMorgan Chase. The Emerging Talent practice provides access to often untapped talent with a focus on cognitive and socio economically diverse talent. In this role, Daniel is the main point of contact for all non-technology engagement across Emerging Talent where he works with senior leaders and key stakeholders across the firm on talent strategy including talent pipelines, program management and other initiatives that support JPMorgan Chase’s business talent needs.

The Applied Apprenticeship, Paul Quinn Corporate Wok Program, Project Mosaic, and Year Up programs are directly managed by Daniel’s team, but Daniel also collaborates with partners on other non-tech Emerging Talent initiatives.

Beginning his career as a part time teller in 2000 at Dime Savings Bank, Daniel worked his way up to Assistant Branch Manager. In 2008,he started with JPMorgan Chase and worked in several retail branches throughout Long Island and Manhattan, New York and was promoted to Branch Manager in 2014. Daniel transitioned into the Corporate Sector business and became the Program Manager for Year Up in 2017 and assumed accountability for Paul Quinn in 2019. In 2022 Daniel became the Business Program Lead for Emerging Talent.

In addition to being the Business Program Lead for Emerging Talent, Daniel is a leader within the firm’s Business Resource Groups (BRGs). He is the Development Co Chair Emeritus for PRIDE North America (NAMR), where he worked with PRIDE chapters across the United States on professional development programming. Daniel is also a member of the firm’s Global Gender Identity and Expression Council (GGIEC).

Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Adelphi University and currently lives in Dallas, Texas. Daniel’s father is from Curacao and his mother is from Montserrat, two small islands in the Caribbean. In his free time, Daniel enjoys dining out, travel, music, and studying meteorology.

Global Head of Tech for Social Good & Firmwide Head of Emerging Talent, JPMorgan Chase

Ali Marano leads a social impact practice at JPMorgan Chase (JPMC). She founded Tech for Social Good, the initial program of the practice, in the summer of 2010 and has led the full practice since that time. The goal of the practice is to design and deliver innovative programming to enable JPMC’s dedication to being a good corporate citizen, while creating value for the firm, engaging experiences for their employees, and supporting the communities where they live and work. This is achieved through key program offerings including Social Good Hackathons, the Force for Good program engaging JPMC staff on social good projects as part of their responsibilities and development, offering alternative talent pipelines, programs, and partnerships, as well as youth initiatives.

The focus of her work is to build community by uniting staff through purpose and skills driven engagements. Her programming provides experiential leadership and empathy development opportunities while staff create innovative solutions to challenges faced by social good organizations in serving their constituents. Additionally, by tapping untapped talent with a focus on cognitive and socio-economic diversity her staff have been able to open doors for high quality talent that are often overlooked by traditional recruiting pipelines and programs. The positive brand lift and industry differentiation resulting from the work of the social impact practice create unique approaches to attraction and retention of clients, customers, and talent for the firm.

Ali started her career as a documentary filmmaker focused on social issues and then worked as a strategy and management consultant at Accenture. While at Accenture, she became an Executive on loan to a new nonprofit called NPower, which initially provided technology services to nonprofit organizations, as well as workforce development. Today, NPower creates pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities. In the fall of 2000, she left Accenture and joined NPower full-time, where she focused on finding strategic ways to engage corporations in the work of the nonprofit community. At NPower she co-created an online volunteer matching portal connecting nonprofits’ technology needs with skilled corporate volunteers. Ali graduated from the University of Buffalo with a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Spanish.

Ali lives in Connecticut with her husband, two sons, and supermutt Bruno.

Vice President, Workforce Development, Salesforce

Jennifer Stredler is the Vice President, Workforce Development, at Salesforce. In this role, she leads global programs and partnerships that bring untapped talent into Salesforce and support them as they launch their careers. Previously, Jennifer led Salesforce’s workforce development philanthropy. Jennifer has worked at the intersection of the public and private sectors for nearly 20 years, with roles at Capital One, the General Electric Foundation (at the NYC Department of Education), and Eagles Youth Partnership, the non-profit arm of the Philadelphia Eagles Football Team. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Yale University. She serves on the board of directors of NYC Outward Bound Schools and uAspire, both organizations working at the intersection of equity and education.

Year Up Program Manager, Talent Acquisition, Bank of America

Emily Hughes is part of Bank of America’s Talent Acquisition team and manages the bank’s partnership with Year Up, a nonprofit workforce development organization committed to closing the opportunity divide. Emily has been with Bank of America for 11 years and is fortunate to have held several roles that allowed her to remain connected to important community issues. Before joining Talent Acquisition, Emily managed Bank of America’s philanthropic investments in the Charlotte, NC market and supported nonprofit-partner hiring initiatives as part of the bank’s Pathways program.

Before joining Bank of America, Emily spent five years in the nonprofit sector at organizations in New York City and her hometown of Columbia, SC. She received an undergraduate degree from New York University and an MBA with a focus in international business from the University of South Carolina. She lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband, Adam, and daughter, Georgia.

Managing Director, Bank of America

Christine Kessler is a Managing Director in the Chief Administrative Office of Bank America. She is currently part of the bank’s Leader on Loan program, on assignment as a Program Management Executive with Year Up. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer for the Loan, Lease and Trade Operations organization in Global Banking and Markets Operations, with accountability for strategic business support, operational risk and control, and shared services operations.

Kessler joined Bank of America in 2002 in and has held leadership roles in Consumer Risk Operations, Customer Service and Support, Quality and Productivity, and Global Markets Operations. Prior to joining the bank, Kessler was Manager of Performance Engineering at American Express in Phoenix, Arizona, where she was responsible for process improvement in the organization’s inbound call center operations and supported Six Sigma deployment across the company.

Kessler graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Systems Engineering, and has graduate degrees in Business Administration and Health Services Administration from Arizona State University. She is Master Black Belt certified in Six Sigma, and was previously Series 7 and Series 99 licensed. She serves as an active volunteer for Year Up, Inc. and the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago.

Chief Revenue Officer and President of North America, Elavon

As Chief Revenue Officer and President of North America, Joe Myers stands with a team of more than 1,000 across North America, serving sales, marketing, digital strategy and customer account management with a focus on loyalty, seeking key referral relationships, creating stickiness in recurring revenue opportunities and driving overall new business development.

Prior to joining Elavon in 2011, Myers has held high-profile leadership positions in the payments industry for over 20 years, including his role as the General Manager of the automotive division at Experian.

Myers received a diploma in Marketing and Business Management from Damelin Business School in South Africa and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Georgia.

Chief Information Security Officer, NCR Corporation

Bob Varnadoe is Chief Information Security Officer for NCR Corporation. His duties include overall information security and operational/IT aspects of NCR’s privacy program, IT risk management, and compliance company-wide, training and awareness for information security, and oversight of the deployment of security technologies. Bob works with NCR’s lines of business, Professional Services, Legal, Internal Audit, Customer Services and HW/SW Engineering to develop and build out our company-wide strategy for information security and represents the IT organization in NCR’s Enterprise Risk Management committee.

Prior to NCR, Bob was with Fiserv Corporation where he was responsible for information security within Fiserv’s corporate risk organization. His team was responsible for information security oversight, governance, and strategy across Fiserv’s business units. The team also provided consulting to Fiserv’s divisions and operating units for information security matters. Over his tenure at Fiserv Bob has led teams focused on information security engineering and operations for network infrastructure, distributed systems, and mainframe systems. He has also led teams focused on application security testing and consulting, information security strategy, and built Fiserv’s security operations center.

Bob joined Fiserv through the acquisition of CheckFree Corporation where he was responsible for information security strategy within CheckFree’s corporate function. Prior to joining CheckFree, Bob was IT Director for an architecture and engineering firm in Atlanta. He has over 20 years of experience in data networking and information systems. 15 years of which were spent exclusively in the security field. Bob holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Global Leader of AWS re/Start, AWS Training and Certification

Tejas Vashi is an advocate for learning and its critical impact on business transformation. As a 30-year technology industry veteran and innovator, he has seen firsthand the effect that technology can have in driving business growth and is considered a thought leader in skills development and talent as they apply to business transformation. He believes education is essential to activate new technologies and has built digital learning portfolios, virtual lab delivery businesses, certification programs and skills campaigns that generate recurring success in today’s digitized world.

In his current role as the Global Leader of the AWS re/Start program, Tejas is responsible for launching, scaling and managing a global effort focused on developing future cloud talent, building AWS skills in traditionally under-represented populations, and connecting them to opportunities. This includes driving city/region/country transformation via innovative approaches aimed at addressing today's talent gap for critical, in-demand cloud computing roles, while proactively helping our customers build their workforce of tomorrow.

Tejas holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a Master of Business Administration from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Managing Director; Leader on Loan Executive, Bank of America

Debra is an accomplished executive leader with proven success orchestrating change management, strategic process improvements and improving performance within the Financial Services organizations and support businesses. Debra joined Bank of America in 2013 as the Head of Merrill Client Service in Consumer Investments. The teams she lead provided an industry-leading client experience by assisting clients through their various financial life experiences, building and deepening relationships and operational excellence. Key areas of focus include multiple channel support, market trading expertise, advanced associate development, strong risk management and providing a voice for our associates.

Debra graduated from Weber State University with a BS in Finance and brings 30 years of experience in the brokerage industry having worked at E-Trade and Fidelity Investments. She has held various leadership roles focused on sales, service, customer experience, operations and quality management. She holds Security Licenses: Series 6, 7, 63, 24, 8.

Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Pluralsight

Chris Oliver is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Pluralsight, Inc., the leading technology workforce development company that helps companies and people around the world transform with technology. Chris joined Pluralsight in August 2020, overseeing corporate strategy

Chris is a forward-thinking executive who maximizes innovation, growth and profitability by driving transformational change and improvement across teams and companies. He brings wide-ranging strategic and operational experience at global technology corporations to Pluralsight, and is known for envisioning and implementing game-changing enterprise-wide strategies and initiatives.

With a background in strategy, business development and corporate development, Chris possesses a unique leadership perspective and breadth of expertise. His expertise includes optimizing sales teams, enabling emerging markets expansion, driving business operations improvement, restructuring organizations, conducting M&A and orchestrating post-merger integrations. Prior to joining Pluralsight, he was Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for IBM’s Partner Ecosystem organization. Chris has also held senior leadership roles at Presidio Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NTT (formerly Dimension Data).

Chris holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brown University. He currently serves as Board Chair of Community of Unity, a New York based non-profit and sits on the Advisory Board at EYP Mission Critical Facilities.

SVP, External Community Partnerships and Regional Banking Talent Acquisition Executive, Bank of America

Christie Gragnani-Woods is a senior vice president for Bank of America’s External Community Partnerships(including Pathways)and the Regional Banking Talent Acquisition Executive. As the leader for External Community Partnerships, including Pathways, she is responsible for strategic efforts to hire a total of 20,000 people by 2025 from low-to-moderate income communities we serve.

In her Regional Banking leadership role, Christie is responsible for leading the design, development, implementation and execution of the strategic direction for global recruitment solutions that align with Bank of America’s culture and growth objectives. The Regional Banking Organization includes: Retail, Preferred, Small Business, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking, Global Products, Global Digital and Marketing, Client Care Solutions and Lending. She manages a team ~200 employees.

Christie has a combined tenure of over 10years with the bank. Her prior roles include Human Resources Executive for Global Treasury, Global Finance, and Global Strategy and Planning. She graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in English and Education. Christie serves as a board member for the YWCA of Central Carolinas and has been a volunteer for over nine years. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.

Head of Home Lending Customer Operations and Customer Experience, JPMorgan Chase

Kudzi Mugara joined JPMorgan Chase in 2017 and is the Head of Home Lending Customer Operations and Customer Experience teams supporting servicing, originations, and the correspondent lending business. He's spent his 20 year career in the financial services industry, in both Home Lending and Auto finance. Kudzi specializes in business process design and management, business analytics and building strong, effective teams with a focus on customer experience.

Prior to joining Chase, Kudzi held progressive leadership roles at Capital One Home Lending leading customer service, escrow administration & bankruptcy services. He has also held roles in Auto finance at Capital One Auto Finance and Santander Consumer USA before that.

Kudzi currently serves on the Board of Directors for Pathfinders; a non-profit organization in Dallas Fort Worth, focused on bridging the gap from poverty to self-sufficiency. Kudzi, his wife Raina and son Zane live in The Colony TX. In his spare time, Kudzi and family enjoy traveling and visiting with family across the globe.

GT&O Year Up Program Manager Bank of America

Will Nova is a Director at Bank of America in The Academy organization, and currently is the Program Manager in the Horizontal Workforce Development Programs team support Global Technology & Global Operations. He supports the Bank of America Program Management Office, focused primarily on the partnership with Year Up and Global Technology and Global Operations, delivering on a vision to source and support Year Up talent during and post internship.

Will has been with the bank for ~14 years, starting his career at Bank of America as an operations analyst in Reconciliation Operations supporting the Global Markets business. He has previous held management roles in Accounting and Change Management at Bank of America. He was first introduced to Year Up in 2019 when he helped developed the Project Management track in with CPCC & Year Up Charlotte, and hosted interns from the inaugural the Charlotte Cohort.

Will resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Michael Lindsey and their 3 children (Jameson 8, Max 5, Georgia 3). Will graduated from Winthrop University with a double major in Finance and Marketing, and was captain of the Winthrop University Soccer team.

Head of Consumer Technology Engineering & Architecture and Interim CIO of Consumer Data & Engagement Platforms, Wells Fargo Consumer Technology

Head of Diverse Talent Pipelines, Technology Diverse Segments, Representation & Inclusion (TDSRI) at Wells Fargo

Cathy Culbertson is the Head of Diverse Talent Pipelines within Technology Diverse Segments, Representation & Inclusion (TDSRI) at Wells Fargo. TDSRI embeds representation and inclusion principles into the business of technology to drive meaningful workforce and marketplace outcomes: building and defining an inclusive culture that leverages all talent, recruiting and developing underrepresented talent, and investing in community and supplier partnerships that support the communities we serve.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has remained a constant thread throughout Cathy’s 20 years of experience in Strategy and Execution, Human Resources Consulting, and Workforce Management.

Senior IT Manager, Amazon

Marcus is a Senior Regional IT Manager at Amazon. He oversees IT Support in the NW US and Canada. Marcus has worked at Amazon for 4-years. Marcus is also dual hatted as the Program Manager for Amazon’s OpsTech IT Year Program.

Prior to Amazon, Marcus led the Enterprise Support Systems Team as Senior IT Manager at the City of Dallas. Marcus is also a retired Air Force Veteran with 23+ years of honorable service. His military service took him around the global as he led IT Teams who executed various missions for National Defense initiatives. Marcus is an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veteran. His other deployments include Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Provide Comfort, Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch.

Marcus resides in Dallas, TX but is a native Floridian. Marcus is married to Lillian and they have 3 kids: Breonna (23), Marcus II (10), and Lydia (7).

Chief Diversity Officer, Vistra Corporation

Executive Director at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Jim is an Executive Director at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, with responsibility for Customer Service New Hire Onboarding, General Customer Service, and New Accounts. Jim joined the E*TRADE family by way of acquisition. He originally helped establish the contact center in Sandy, Utah for DLJ Direct in June of 2000, E*TRADE purchased the company in 2005.For the past 22 years, he has been instrumental in building the culture of the Utah office while expanding his role to include responsibility for teams in Alpharetta, GA, Chicago, IL, and Tampa, FL. Jim also supports various philanthropic efforts and previously served on the Board of Trustees for a local charity that provides temporary housing for victims of domestic violence and their children.

Jim graduated from the University of Phoenix with a BS is Business Administration and has worked in the Finance Industry for the past 29 years. Prior to working at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, Jim also worked at Morgan Stanley Online and Fidelity Investments. He currently holds the Series 4, 7, 9, 10, 24, 53, and 63 securities licenses.

Relationship Banker, Bank of America

Year Up Alumni

Talent Leader, New Collar Initiatives

CEO, OneTen

Maurice A. Jones was appointed CEO of OneTen in March of 2021. OneTen is a coalition of leading chief executives and their companies who are coming together to upskill, hire and promote one million Black Americans over the next 10 years who do not yet have a four-year degree into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. Prior to joining OneTen, Maurice was the President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), one of the country's largest organizations supporting projects to revitalize communities and catalyze economic opportunity for residents.

He previously served as Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia where his primary job was to utilize Virginia’s assets to solidify its position as the preeminent place to live, work and conduct business.

Maurice also served as Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from April 2012 through January 2014. Before his appointment at HUD, Maurice was President of Pilot Media, the largest print and digital organization in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Maurice was also the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner. Other positions include: Special Assistant to the General Counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department, Legal Counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and Director of the Fund during the Clinton Administration, Associate Attorney at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia, and Partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners.

Maurice received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Hampden-Sydney College and attended Oxford University in England on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he received a Master of Philosophy in International Relations. He later received a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia.

Director, Global Technology at Bank of New York Mellon

Denise is currently responsible for driving the adoption of public cloud and artificial intelligence/machine learning technologies at Bank of New York Mellon.

She has spent her career delivering operating model transformation across the front-, middle- and back-office of the financial services industry, with a focus on the application of emerging technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence and the internet of things (IoT).

In her current role, Denise is also responsible for Global Technology’s early career talent programs – including the Year Up Partnership – helping acclimate diverse talent into the firm.

Vice President, Bank of America

Steve Shore has extensive experience in business risk, process management, and business analysis across banking, manufacturing, consulting, and IT Services. He joined Bank of America in 2010, leading a team of 25 project managers and process designers. He led the development and implementation efforts for a staffing forecasting and capacity planning system that impacted more than 3,000 people. After moving to Global Technology in 2014, Steve provided financial oversight, analyses of business operations, and capacity management for a $60 million budget, 400 employees, 50+ enterprise applications, and 100+ projects. In 2016, Steve transferred to Global Business Services with a focus on data analysis to drive strategic decision making.

In 2019, Steve was assigned to lead the NextGen Talent Development Programs which include College Summer Interns, College Hires, and Year Up Apprentices within Global Business Services. Recently, Steve was awarded the 2022 Cornerstone Award by Year Up for his efforts.

Additionally, Steve has been an adjunct professor of management in a local MBA program since 2003, where he teaches “Managerial Decision Analysis”. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Steve currently lives in McKinney, Texas with his wife, who also works for Bank of America, and their 2 rescue dogs and 2 rescue cats.

Senior Pricing Analyst, United Airlines

Year Up Alumni

Project Coordinator, JPMorgan Chase

Year Up Alumni

Sydni started her Year Up journey in January 2020, where she learned how to tap into her strengths and become adaptable, becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. She graduated from the Year Up program in January 2021 in Dallas, TX, and was also awarded the Chris Mellow Award for Leadership by her peers and staff. During her internship through the program, she earned an internship opportunity on the Emerging Talent team at JPMorgan Chase. While interning at the firm, she focused on implementing and executing program initiatives for Year Up participants and coordinating programmatic events for Year Up interns and managers. Sydni leans in giving support towards managing day-to-day needs and implementing feedback to support and improve the JPMC internship experience.

Sydni is from a small town just south of Dallas and is the oldest of three daughters. In her spare time, she creates art and spends time in the Dallas Underground art and music scene.

Executive Director, NY Jobs CEO Council

Kiersten Barnet is Executive Director of the NY Jobs CEO Council, leading efforts to advance the organization’s mission to hire 100,000 low-income New Yorkers into family-sustaining jobs by 2030.

Previously, Kiersten spent 14 years at Bloomberg in senior leadership roles including Deputy Chief of Staff and Global Head of Bloomberg's Gender-Equality Index, a first-of-its-kind performance barometer for gender equality at publicly held organizations.

Kiersten is the co-founder and steering chair of the U.S. 30% Club, a member of the Women's Forum of NY and the Executive Women's Council, and a former strategy officer to the World Economic Forum.

Kiersten holds a B.S. in Business Management from Washington and Lee University and is a recipient of the University’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award, the highest honor given to alumni under the age of 40.

Enterprise Lead, Skills-First Diversity Initiatives at Merck

Ngozi is a self-proclaimed transformation enthusiast who is passionate about creating bold visions and bringing them to fruition.   Her career goal is simple: to create spaces where all individuals can be their best selves and do the most meaningful work of their lives. 

In her current role at Merck, Ngozi serves as enterprise lead for the company’s skills-first transformation efforts – a shift to skills-based talent practices intended to help close the opportunity divide, create a more diverse talent pipeline, and improve business outcomes. Ngozi’s team is responsible for two key strategic partnerships aligned to this mission: Year Up and OneTen.

Ngozi brings a diverse background to her HR role with over 15 years of experience immersed in various complex business functions including marketing, sales, business development, procurement, supply chain management, and engineering, This unique perspective allows her to shape and execute talent strategies that are truly business owned and HR enabled.

On a personal note, Ngozi lives in the Philly area with her son (Jahmore) and her border collie (Stryker). In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, practicing yoga, and travelling.

Founder & CEO, Year Up

Gerald Chertavian is the Founder and CEO of Year Up, a national program that empowers underserved young adults to enter the economic mainstream. With an annual operating budget in excess of $160M, Year Up is one of the fastest growing non-profits in the nation and has been recognized by Fast Company and The Monitor Group as one of the top 25 organizations using business excellence to engineer social change.

In 2013, Gerald was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to serve as Chairman of the Roxbury Community College Board of Trustees and reappointed in 2016 to that role by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. Gerald earned a B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from Bowdoin College and in 2016 received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise initiative, and is a former member of the World Economic Forum’s Youth Unemployment Council. He is also an Emeritus Trustee of Bowdoin College and The Boston Foundation. His 2012 book, A Year Up, is a New York Times best seller.

Senior Director of National Corporate Partnerships, Year Up

Ramon Velarde is Senior Director of National Corporate Partnerships with Year Up. During his 6 ½ years with the organization, Ramon has focused on building scalable emerging talent solutions with industry leading Financial Services companies. Ramon’s deep belief that emerging talent can be the engine that powers corporate America has led to meaningful work-based learning experiences for hundreds of program participants, and sustainable career outcomes.

Prior to joining Year Up, Ramon spent over 15 years working with small and regional businesses providing talent solutions, and human resources consulting. Ramon culminated this work into his own business in 2006 thereby providing the flexibility and opportunity to realize a client centered approach. This entrepreneurial work resulted in providing critical advisory and staffing solutions for businesses looking to grow.

Ramon holds baccalaureate degrees in English and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Ramon also attended the UCLA School of Law where he was a founding staff editor of the Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs. Since 2015, Ramon has resided in West Phoenix where he enjoys the great outdoors and is an avid hiker and trail blazer!

National Head of Corporate Engagement, Year Up

A senior executive with over 25 years of general management experience leading global business service organizations for multi-billion dollar companies, Morris Applewhite currently serves as Year Up’s National Head of Corporate Engagement and a member of the organization’s Executive Leadership Team.

Morris also serves on the Board of Directors for Credit Suisse Holdings, USA; on the Advisory Board of North Carolina A&T’s College of Science and Technology; and as a member of Zurich Insurance USA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Council.

Morris received his Bachelor of Science from North Carolina A&T State University and his Master of Management from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Senior Advisor, Year Up

In his role as Senior Advisor, John leads the Office of the CEO, including internal communications, Year Up’s work in the policy space, and engagement with the National Board of Directors. John joined Year Up as Chief Operating Officer in July 2015, after serving as a member of the National Board of Directors and chair of its Human Capital Committee for six years. Before joining Year Up, John served as the Global Head of Human Resources at UBS AG, and as Chief Human Resources Officer at JPMorgan Chase.

Founder & Manager Director, Grads of Life

Elyse Rosenblum is the Founder and Managing Director, Grads of Life. She co-founded Grads of Life, an initiative of Year Up, to leverage the power of the private sector to close the Opportunity Divide in America. She is a thought leader who has extensive experience working with private sector leaders, nonprofits, and foundations to develop strategies, drive research and build tools that support the adoption of inclusive hiring practices that provide economic opportunity and mobility for all. As Managing Director, she sits on Year Up’s Executive Team and helps to shape the organization’s approach to systems change and other efforts that complement the direct service program. Prior to founding Grads of Life, she was a consultant to Corporate Voices for Working Families and worked at Bass & Howes, and Hogan & Hartson. Elyse holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law and is a graduate of Williams College.

Managing Director, Year Up

John Galante serves as Managing Director for Year Up. John joined Year Up in 2017 as a senior advisor for our Corporate Engagement teams across the country and stirred up some exciting opportunities in the financial services industry for our young people. He assumed the role of Managing Director for Financial Services in 2020.

Prior to joining Year Up, John was Chief Information Officer for the Consumer and Business Banking Divisions of JPMorgan Chase. John was responsible for setting and implementing the technology strategy that transformed Chase Branches to a client focused self-directed digital environment. Prior to being the CIO for Consumer and Business Banking, John was CIO for the Chase Wealth Management business where he led the implementation of the Chase Private Client Platform. Throughout his 13-year career at JPMorgan Chase, John led the development and implementation of new, innovative technology for a number of successful businesses including the Custody, Clearing, Fund Administration and Hedge Fund Services.

During his tenure at JPMorgan Chase, John was also the Executive Sponsor of the JPMorgan Chase/Year Up partnership. Through this partnership, JPMorgan Chase hosted thousands of Year Up interns and converted many of the interns to JPMorgan Chase employees.

Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase in 2004, John was the CIO of Worldwide Securities Services at Citigroup. Before joining Citigroup in 1997, John held a number of senior management positions at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers where he started his career.

John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Long Island University. John has been happily married to his wife Fran for over 40 years and they have four daughters and nine grandchildren.