Candice M. Alfonso is the State’s Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) and Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) in the Department of the Treasury. As CDO, Candice monitors the State's public contracting process for participation by minority, women, veteran, disabled veteran, and LGBTQIA+ -owned business focusing on ways to execute strategies targeted toward greater utilization of XBE business enterprises. As CDO and Director of ODI, Candice also conducts outreach to XBE business enterprises and other entities regarding awareness of public contracting opportunities. Additionally, she is responsible for managing the final phase of the statewide disparity study to completion, reviewing the final report and collaborating with stakeholders to create a strategic plan to increase contracting opportunities based on the study's findings.

Prior to her role as CDO, Candice served as Chief of Staff of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA), overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Agency, information technology systems, operations and facilities management, human capital management, marketing, budgeting and strategic planning along with other duties essential to the efficient administration of the Agency. Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, Candice staffed the Governor's Office of Economic Growth as a Senior Advisor for Economic Development where she helped business and industry navigate through the economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, advising the Governor directly on a number of important policies that impacted industry and all New Jerseyans. She also played a significant role in the Administration's successful effort to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ to the New Jersey/New York region. Central to her duties was the consideration of equity and inclusion presented in the State's winning bid strategy. Candice has remained part of the Administration's World Cup team throughout her tenure with the NJHMFA and in her role as CDO in Treasury.

Candice has over 20 years of multi-disciplinary leadership experience and has served in all three branches of State government, including serving in the Judiciary as the AOC’s Deputy Compact Administrator and Chief of Interstate representing both adult and juvenile Interstate Compacts. Candice holds a BA degree in Sociology from St. Lawrence University, a Master of Public Administration from New York University, and a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. 

 

Dale is a Higher Education Industry Advisor at Salesforce, where he works with college and university leaders to help them understand the value of Salesforce for higher education. Before joining Salesforce, Dale had a 30-year career at the University of Maryland, College Park where he held a number of leadership positions in academic affairs, student affairs, and research administration. In his last role as assistant dean and COO of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, Dale led a comprehensive Salesforce implementation and was also instrumental in getting the campus to adopt Salesforce as its campus-wide CRM.

Paul A. Pavlou is the Dean of the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He is also the Cullen Distinguished Chair Professor of Decision and Information Sciences.

His research has been cited over 85,000 times by Google Scholar, and he was recognized among the ‘World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’ by Thomson Reuters based on an analysis of “Highly Cited” authors for 2002-2012. Paul was ranked #1 in the world in publications in the top Information Systems journals in 2010 - 2016. Paul received his Ph.D. in Information Systems and Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and in Managerial Studies (Magna Cum Laude) from Rice University.

As Dean of the Bauer College, Paul led the development of the 2020-25 Strategic Plan with a bold new vision to be a world-class business school that transform lives, organizations, and society, and a new bold mission to offer a leading-edge, student-centric education that is accessible and affordable, founded on research and grounded in the real world. The new bold brand message for the Bauer College is The Future is Our Business^TM. Under his leadership, the C. T. Bauer College of Business is poised to secure over $85M in fundraising and other commitments in four years.

During his tenure, the Bauer College led all business schools to ascend 23 spots in the Full-Time MBA rankings by Poets&Quants, became a Top 50 business school in the Professional MBA program, climbed 21 spots to become the #33 top undergraduate program by Poets&Quants, and is the #1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program by The Princeton Review four years in a row. The Bauer College grew over 30% to reach 8,000 students, raised the retention rate to 98%, the 6-year graduation rate to 88%, and the placement rate to 98% with an average salary of over $65,000.

As Dean, Paul made diversity, equity, and inclusion a strategic priority for the Bauer College with new initiatives, such as the Center for Economic Inclusion that offers educational, economic, and financial support to residents of the traditionally-disadvantaged Third Ward neighborhood next to the University of Houston. During his tenure, many community outreach programs expanded, such as the Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship program that offers free consulting to more than 1,400 diverse entrepreneurs by Bauer business students, the Texas Gulf Coast Small Business Development Center (SBDC) that offers free training to small businesses, the Women in Entrepreneurship program that helps female entrepreneurs launch new businesses, and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program that has successfully graduated over 750 inmates, among many other societal initiatives.

Paul is a Distinguished Fellow of the INFORMS Information Systems Society. He won several Best Paper awards for his research, including the Sheth Foundation award for “Long-Term Contributions to Marketing” published in the Journal of Marketing (2019), the Maynard Award for the “Most Significant Contribution to Marketing” in the Journal of Marketing in 2015, the ISR Best Paper award in 2007, and the 2006 IS Publication of the Year award. He won the Best Paper award in 2012, the Runner-Up to the Best Paper of the 2005, the Best Interactive Paper in 2002, and the Best Student Paper award in 2001 from the Academy of Management.

Paul received over $3,500,000 in grants from funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), including a new $1,500,000 NSF grant in 2021 to study energy disruption. His research appeared journals such as Management Science, Information Systems Research (ISR), MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association of Information Systems (JAIS), and Decision Sciences. His research spans several disciplines (information systems, data science, marketing, strategy, operations, management sciences) with emphasis on data science, artificial intelligence, business analytics, digital strategy, and research methods.

Paul also won several Reviewer awards, including the 2009 Management Science Meritorious service award, the ‘Best Reviewer’ award of the 2005 Academy of Management Conference, and the prestigious 2003 MISQ ‘Reviewer of the Year’ award as PhD student. Paul is currently Senior Editor at ISR and earlier at MISQ and JAIS. Paul also won the Best Doctoral Dissertation award of the 2004 International Conference on Information Systems.

Senior executive & leader with a long-term record of success driving business/digital transformations & implementing change to achieve core organizational, operational/ business development targets. Expertise includes understanding business needs & identifying the right tech solutions to address them; creating new business models/capabilities & vendor partner networks; delivering service management solutions & strategic use of digital automation. Passionate about business enablement, people experience, workforce of the future & advancement of D&I (focus on Women’s Leadership & STEM).

Jane is currently SVP and CIO of corporate functions for Verizon. She is commissioned to deliver the enterprise function’s transformation agenda enabling current and future state solutions leveraging cloud and SAAS while re-engineering the business processes and Verizon operating models.

Prior to joining Verizon, Jane was SVP and CIO of corporate functions for State Street Bank in Boston. She was commissioned to deliver the enterprise function’s transformation agenda enabling current and future state solutions leveraging cloud and SAAS while re-engineering the business processes and State Street operating models. The Corporate Chief Information Officer was a newly created position focused on the global enterprise level to create a portfolio of investments that horizontally integrates the bank across lines of businesses and drives simplification and standardization improving quality, cost, reliability and regulatory compliance.

Previous to State Street, Jane had impressive tenure with Johnson & Johnson starting in 1991. She held progressive roles in Supply Chain Operations. Multiple leadership positions and achievement-based tenure culminated with her final role as VP & CIO Corporate. Appointed to serve as Sr Tech Executive on a cross- functional Board commissioned to transform/create a new operating model for J&J’s future competitiveness, provided the required thought leadership & led execution of technology strategies that delivered organizational agility, process automation & virtualization of how work gets done. Transformation included multi-functional shared service centers in all regions, creation of a talent strategy changing the demographics of future workforce strategies & the financial profile to compete globally on cost/talent. Led DI and Women’s Leadership Initiative.

Jane has her BS, Business Admin, Rider University; completed the Smith College Executive Program for Women; certified Process Six Sigma Greenbelt. She has served on the Red Cross of NJ Board and is now currently on the Rutgers University LDSP Advisory Board. Jane has also been nationally recognized by various industry organizations.

Dr. Venkat Mummalaneni serves as the Senior Associate Dean at the Reginald F. Lewis College of Business, Virginia State University. Currently, he is also the Chair of the Department of Management and Marketing. He received his MBA degree from IIM, Calcutta and Ph. D. IN Marketing from The Pennsylvania State University. His research interests lie at the intersection of Relationship Marketing, Business-to-Business Marketing and emerging technologies, areas critical to the understanding and adapting to the rapidly evolving business landscape.

He taught at universities in New York and Singapore earlier in his career. For the last 15 years, he has been deeply involved with the AACSB accreditation efforts of the College of Business at Virginia State University and played a key role in the preparation of self- evaluation reports.

Len is an award-winning Supply Chain/Procurement Executive with 40+ years of experience (25 years at the CSO/CPO level) at global pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare companies Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, AmerisourceBergen and Roche. A subject matter expert in engineering, manufacturing, sourcing and supply chain management. Len is a pioneer and a transformational leader with a stellar record through building high performing teams in driving value and bottom-line impact achieved with advanced strategic practices in innovation sourcing, digital transformation, supplier and customer relationship management, corporate social responsibility and organizational productivity.

During Len’s most recent assignment as Global Chief Procurement Officer at Johnson & Johnson, the Procurement Team improved P&L contribution productivity by 70%. Additionally, the J&J social impact and diverse supplier spending more than doubled during Len’s tenure achieving over $5B by year end 2022. These accomplishments were recognized three years in a row (2020 to 2022) by Global Procurement Leaders as the winners of the top Procurement Team in Supplier Diversity practices.

Len is a thought leader at the vanguard of innovative, next-generation supply chain theory. He is the founding chair of the Center for Supply Chain Management at Rutgers University and also serves as the Vice Chair of the Rutgers Business School Advisory Board. He is on the Saint Peter’s Health Systems Board of Trustees (New Brunswick, NJ). Len was recognized as the global CPO of the year in 2021 and honored with the Global Procurement Leaders Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rutgers Business School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022. He currently is an advisor to companies seeking to transform their procurement and broader supply chain management processes for productivity, governance and digitization, particularly in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and adjacent industries.

Thomas A. Bartlett is the President and Chief Executive Officer of American Tower Corporation. Mr. Bartlett joined American Tower in April 2009 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During his prior 25-year career with Verizon Communications and its predecessor companies and affiliates, he served in numerous corporate, operations and business development roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic International Wireless, where he was responsible for wireless activities in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In addition, Mr. Bartlett served as CEO of Iusacell, a publicly traded, nationwide cellular company in Mexico; CEO of Verizon's Global Solutions Inc., a global connectivity business providing lit and dark fiber services primarily to global enterprises; and as an Area President for Verizon’s U.S. wireless business, responsible for all operational aspects of the business in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Mr. Bartlett also served as the Corporate Treasurer and Controller with Verizon Communications, Inc. He began his career at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. Mr. Bartlett is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Board of Governors, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trust (NAREIT) Executive Committee and the Business Roundtable. He served on the Board of Directors of Equinix, Inc. from April, 2013 to August, 2021 where he served on the audit committee and was chair of the finance committee. He currently sits on the Samaritans advisory council, is on the Board of Advisors of the Rutgers Business School and is on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presidential CEO Advisory Board. Mr. Bartlett is also an ordained Deacon in the NJ Diocese of the Episcopal church. He earned an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.

Sandy Balkin is SVP Strategy and Analytics at Royalty Pharma where he is responsible for building and managing a cross-functional team charged with leveraging data to identify and support investment identification and valuation. Prior to joining Royalty Pharma, Sandy was Managing Director and Leader of the Truist Securities’ Data Science and Engineering research team developing capabilities in data science, machine learning and alternative data and integrating them into quantamental investment research. Over his career, he has built and led advanced business analytics functions at top pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Sanofi.

Sandy has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Penn State University, a Master of Arts in Statistics from Penn State University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics and Economics and Music from Lafayette College, where he graduated with honors. Sandy currently holds adjunct faculty positions at New York University and Columbia University.

Anthony R. Wheeler serves as a professor of management and Dean of the School of Business Administration at Widener University in Chester, PA. He has previously held professor and administrative positions at West Chester University, Bryant University, and the University of Rhode Island. Professor Wheeler began his academic career as a human resources professor at California State University, Sacramento before assuming a similar position at Bradley University. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park and earned both his masters and doctoral degrees at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Wheeler has extensive HRM and change management consulting experiences for non- and for-profit organizations, including government agencies, small manufacturing companies, high tech companies, and Fortune 500 companies. His research focuses on employee turnover and retention, employee stress, burnout, and engagement, and leadership. He recently authored the book entitled “HR without people? Industrial evolution in the age of automation, AI, and machine learning.”

Dr. Wheeler has made several appearances in international, national, and local media, including the Washington Post, the Financial Times, Inside Higher Education, and BBC Radio. Dr. Wheeler also serves on the Curriculum Innovation advisory board for the Future Talent Council in Stockholm, Sweden.

Deborah joined Kent State University as dean in 2013. Prior to her academic career, she was the marketing research director of a publishing company and, later, worked for consulting firms specializing in marketing research and strategic planning. She has served on the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) of AACSB, as President of the MidAmerican Business Deans Association, and as Executive Director of the Society for Marketing Advances. She is a 2021 recipient of the American Marketing Association - Higher Education SIG – Lifetime Achievement Award. She completed the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management (IEM) program and earned her PhD in marketing from the University of Alabama.