Joanna Barsh Director McKinsey & Company, Inc.

Since joining McKinsey in 1980, Joanna has served a broad range of consumer-facing clients. She also serves as a leader of McKinsey's Private Equity, Consumer, and Retail Practices. Her client experience spans mergers and acquisitions, development of corporate growth strategy, and performance and operations transformation.

A dedicated contributor to the New York community, Joanna has served the Partnership for New York City, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Manhattan Theatre Club, as well as St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. She has been a trustee of Sesame Workshop, the educational organization responsible for Sesame Street, for more than 14 years.

Joanna is a strong advocate for women at McKinsey and beyond. In 2002, she was appointed to the New York City Commission on Women's Issues by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She also started the McKinsey Leadership Project, an initiative to accelerate development of women with business leadership aspirations. She is the recipient of the Girl Scouts Council Woman of Distinction Award, the National Council for Research on Women Achievement Award, and the New York Women's Agenda STAR Award.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Joanna held positions at Macy's and at Bloomingdale's. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.

Michael Cohrs Head of Global Banking & Member of the Management Board Deutsche Bank

Michael Cohrs is a member of Deutsche Bank's Management Board since 2009 and of the Group Executive Committee since 2002, Head of Global Banking and Joint Head of Deutsche Bank's Corporate and Investment Bank.

He joined Deutsche Bank in 1995 from S.G. Warburg in London where he was Joint Head of Global Equity Capital Markets. From 1989 to 1991 he worked for Goldman Sachs in London, where he was Head of Equity Capital Markets. From 1981 to 1989 he worked in various positions at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York.

Michael Cohrs holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett President Center for Work-Life Policy

Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an economist and the founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy (a nonprofit think tank) where she leads the "Hidden Brain Drain" Task Force, a group of 50 global companies and organizations committed to fully realizing female and multicultural talent. In addition, she directs the Gender and Policy Program at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Gender Gap.

She is the author of eight critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including When the Bough Breaks (winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Prize), The War Against Parents (co-authored with Cornel West), Creating a Life (named as one of the best books of 2002 by Business Week), and Off-Ramps and On-Ramps (Harvard Business Press, named as one of the best business books of 2007 by Amazon.com). Her new book, Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down, will be published by Harvard Business Press in October 2009. She is the author of six Harvard Business Review articles including "Leadership in Your Midst: Tapping the Hidden Strengths of Minority Executives," "Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek" and "Stopping the Exodus of Women in Science" and "How Gen Ys & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda." Her articles have also appeared in the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the International Herald Tribune. She is a featured blogger, appearing monthly on Harvard Business Online and ForbesWoman.com.

Dr. Hewlett has taught at Cambridge, Columbia and Princeton universities and held fellowships at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London and the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard. In the 1980s she become the first woman to head up the Economic Policy Council-a think tank composed of 125 business and labor leaders.

She has appeared on 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, ABC World News, Oprah, The View, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, BBC World News -and has been lampooned on Saturday Night Live. A Kennedy Scholar and graduate of Cambridge University, she earned her Ph.D. degree in economics at London University.

Denise Incandela President, Saks Direct and Group Senior Vice President Saks Fifth Avenue

Denise Incandela built, and now runs, Saks Fifth Avenue's Direct business (Saks Fifth Avenue's online business) which ranks as Saks Fifth Avenue's #2 store. Her responsibilities include merchandising, marketing, creative, operations, information technology, fulfillment, and customer service.

Incandela joined Saks Fifth Avenue in August of 1999. Previously, Incandela worked at McKinsey & Company's New York office, where she was a leader of their Retail practice and served Saks Fifth Avenue as a consultant for five years. Incandela began her career as the Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer at Shearson Lehman Brothers.

Incandela received an M.B.A. from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. degree in Finance from Boston College.

Roelfien Kuijpers Managing Director and Global Head of DB Advisors Deutsche Bank

Roelfien Kuijpers is a Managing Director and Global Head of DB Advisors, the institutional asset management business of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM). Based in New York, she is also a member of DeAM's Global Operating Committee.

Roelfien leads a global business that manages assets for institutional investors worldwide, including pension funds, corporations, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions. DB Advisors' range of investment solutions include equity, fixed income and alternative strategies.

Before taking her current role in February 2006, Roelfien was Global Head of Strategic Planning, Communications & Marketing for DeAM, a role she earlier held in Global Equities. She joined Deutsche Bank in 1995 as Head of European Equities Sales in North America. Before joining Deutsche Bank, she was a Managing Director and Head of European Equities at SG Warburg Inc.

Roelfien is a member of the Board of Directors of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the Board of the Metropolitan Opera, and the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. A Dutch native, Roelfien received a Master's degree in history from Leiden University in The Netherlands.

Preethi Nair Entrepreneurial author, speaker and corporate storyteller

Preethi Nair left her job as a management consultant to set up her own publishing and PR company after her manuscript, Gypsy Masala, was rejected by most publishers. Not having the resources to rent an office and publish her book, she established a multinational in her bedroom and appointed feisty director, Pru Menon (an alter ego) to energetically hype her work. Nobody else knew of her plan. Working as several different people and with a frenetic double life, Preethi gained substantial press coverage. After two years and an amazing journey, her faith in her own talents and her perseverance in the face of consistent rejection were rewarded; she signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins.

Preethi Nair won the Asian Woman of Achievement award for her endeavors. 'Pru Menon' (the alter ego) was short-listed for PPC Publicist of the Year. Preethi has completed her third novel and writes for BBC Radio 4 and a number of broadsheets. She is an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, promoting creativity. Preethi also runs Kiss the Frog, a story telling company.

Lisa Pickrum Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer The RLJ Companies

Lisa Pickrum is chief operating officer of The RLJ Companies, a diversified holding company with portfolio companies in the financial services, asset management, real estate, hospitality, professional sports, film production, and gaming industries.

As COO, Ms. Pickrum is responsible for operations, infrastructure, and business development of The RLJ Companies portfolio, including financial operations and functions, strategic partnerships and new business development.

With significant experience in structuring and negotiating private equity deals, mergers and acquisitions, Ms. Pickrum was a key member of the team that led the formation of RLJ McLarty Landers Automotive and Harley-Davidson dealerships. Ms. Pickrum led a team that developed RLJ Kendeja Resort, a 78-room villa style, five star hotel in Liberia, West Africa, which opened in March, 2009. Ms. Pickrum played a key role in the creation of RLJ Equity Partners, LLC, a private equity fund formed in association with The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with $60 billion under management.

Prior to joining The RLJ Companies, Ms. Pickrum was a Principal at Katalyst Venture Partners, a private equity firm that invested in start-up technology companies in the media and communications industries from 1999 to 2003. Ms. Pickrum conducted deal sourcing, negotiations and executions, as well as served as interim management in several early stage ventures. From 1998 to 1999, Ms. Pickrum worked as a senior consultant for Accenture, a global management consulting company in the company's communications and technology strategic services practice.

Ms. Pickrum earned her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her law degree from Stanford Law School. She earned her master's degree in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Pickrum was recently named by ESSENCE Magazine to the 2008 Power List; named as Black Enterprise magazine's "Most Powerful Players under 40" in December 2007 and Black Enterprise's "Top 50 Women of Power in Business" in February 2006. Ms. Pickrum has been featured as a speaker at events including the Opportunity Funding Corporation's 2008 Bermuda Forum and KPMG's 2009 diversity forum.

Currently, Ms. Pickrum serves on the following boards: DeVry, Inc.; RolloverSystems, Inc.; Bright Beginnings, Inc.; Liberia Women's Advisory Council; the McLarty Group; and Urban Trust Holdings and Urban Trust Bank. Ms. Pickrum also serves on the Federal Communications Commission Diversity Committee.

Stephanie Ruhle Managing Director, Global Markets, Deutsche Bank

A managing director in structured credit sales, Stephanie has been a top producing salesperson since joining Deutsche Bank in April 2003. Covering some of the largest multi-strategy hedge funds for a spectrum of products ranging from single name credit to highly structured illiquid assets, Stephanie also serves as debt relationship manager for several of these top funds.

Stephanie spearheads women's networking efforts for Global Markets, participates in the WOWS (Women on Wall Street) steering committee and serves as the co-captain for University of Michigan recruiting (with a concentration on diversity recruiting). Stephanie is a board member of the Deutsche Fellows Award Program and a recipient of DB's 2008 Leaders in Diversity Award. Most recently Stephanie has been named a DB Ambassador, a program aimed to promote and build Deutsche Bank's brand.

Stephanie is an active participant in the corporate council of the White House Project, a not-for-profit organization working to advance women in business, government and media. She also works closely with Baby Buggy, a New York based non-profit which provides families in need with services and support essential for the care of infants and young children.

Stephanie started her career in 1997 at Credit Suisse where she stayed until joining Deutsche Bank. She has a BA in International Business from Lehigh University.

Eileen Taylor Global Head of Diversity, Deutsche Bank

Eileen is the Global Head of Diversity for Deutsche Bank based in London.

Prior to assuming the Diversity role in March of this year, Eileen was a Managing Director in Global Markets where she was over the past 10 years Chief Operating Officer for Global Markets in Europe, Chief Operating Officer for the Institutional Client Group and Chief Operating Officer for Global Foreign Exchange. Eileen started the Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage Business within Deutsche Bank in 1999..

Eileen joined the firm with the acquisition of Bankers Trust where over 11 years she held numerous positions in the front office, operations and the credit department and at various times was based in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and London.

Eileen holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics and Political Science from Manhattanville College and a MBA in Finance from Fordham University.

Eileen is a trustee of the East London Business Alliance Charity, Chairs the ELBA Hackney Forum and the London Legacy 2020 Youth and Sports Board both targeted at economic regeneration of East London. She serves on the Events Sub-Committee for Opera Holland Park Friends and is the Treasurer of Democrats Abroad UK.