Past Keynote Speakers

Dr. Aviva Abramovsky received her JD from the University of Pennsylvania and BS degree in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University. She served the School of Law as dean from 2017 to 2023, making her the 19th permanent dean and the first woman to hold the position. An expert in insurance law, commercial law, regulation of financial entities and legal ethics, she has written numerous articles and legal treatises. Currently she serves as editor of the journal, LSN Insurance Law, Legislation, & Policy. Among her professional leadership positions, she has acted as chair and later executive board member of the insurance law section of the American Association of Law Schools, and as chair of its Committee on Sections. She also has served on the American Association of University Women’s International Fellowships Selection Panel. 

Dr. Katerina Bezrukova received her BS and MS in Psychology and her PhD in Social and Organizational Psychology from Moscow State University, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She was an Assistant Professor within the Department of Psychology at Santa Clara University and Rutgers University before joining the faculty of the School of Management at UB, where she teaches courses on negotiations, organizational behavior, managing a diverse workforce, and statistics and research methods. Her research has appeared in Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Personnel Psychology. In addition, she chairs the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management and is an Associate Editor of Small Group Research Journal.

Dr. Imogen Coe holds a PhD and Masters’ degree in Biology from the University of Victoria, B.C., and a Bachelor’s degree from Exeter University in the U.K. She is a Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. Previously, she served as the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University, where she was a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology as well as an affiliate scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Keenan Research Centre, at St. Michael’s Hospital, where her research group studied the biology of drug transport proteins. In addition, she is an internationally recognized Canadian thought leader in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in STEM, particularly in education, advising academia, government and industry on best practices and approaches to improving EDI in the sciences. She was recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the TrailBlazer category by Women's Executive Network in 2016

Dr. Saejin Kwak Tanguay received her MEd and PhD in Multicultural Education from the University of Washington. Currently she serves as program manager for the Riverways Education Partnerships, an outreach program through which UW undergraduates tutor, mentor and support K-12 students in Seattle schools, as well as in rural and tribal communities across the state. Her research has focused on how educational contexts impact cross-racial and cross-ethnic relations among students and how these peer relations impact the educational experiences and trajectories of historically marginalized populations. She is particularly interested in how policies, curricula and pedagogical practices can create contexts that encourage cross-group friendships.

Dr. Elizabeth Mannix holds a PhD in Social and Organizational Psychology from the University of Chicago and a BA in Psychology from Roosevelt University. She served as Associate Dean for Executive MBA programs at Cornell University from 2012-2017, and has also served as the Director of the Institute for the Social Sciences and the Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion. Her research and teaching focus on effective team performance, power and influence, negotiation, principled leadership, organizational change and diversity. She is the author of over 50 peer reviewed articles as well as the 15-volume book series, Research on Managing Groups and Teams. She has served twice as an Associate Editor of Academy of Management Review, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society, the Society for Organizational Behavior, and the Academy of Management.

Dr. Nancy Wayne received her BA in Biology from Northwestern University, PhD in Physiology from the University of Michigan, and postdoctoral training from the University of Virginia. She joined the UCLA faculty in 1992, where she was the principal investigator of a research laboratory for over 25 years studying the biology of brain cells that control reproductive development and fertility. Her current research has shifted from physiology to the social sciences, investigating diverse areas such as gender bias and laboratory safety issues. As the founder and president of Women Advancing Together®, she leads workshops and provides consultations on issues of interest to women working in a man’s world across multiple disciplines.