Shawn Banerji, Managing Partner – Caldwell

Shawn Banerji is the managing partner for the Data, Digital & Technology Leaders Practice at Caldwell, co-located in the New York and Stamford offices. He is an expert on change management and specializes in the recruitment and assessment of Catalyst Leaders who are resetting value propositions through the power of technology, data & analytics, accelerated software engineering, IoT, and cloud. As a trusted advisor to organizations seeking cultural and commercial transformation by unlocking the latent value of legacy assets and product portfolios, he advises clients on the convergence of talent and innovation across all facets of the evolving digital enterprise.​​

Industry coverage includes retail & consumer, insurance, investments & banking, professional services, healthcare, process & industrial, technology & media, as well as financial sponsors and their portfolio companies. Roles include CIO, CTO, chief digital officer, chief data officer, CISO and the related leadership suites.​​

Shawn joined Caldwell from Russell Reynolds Associates, where he was a leader in the Technology Officers Practice, and a founding member of both the FinTech and Digital Health practices.​​

He is an ex-officio board member of SIM New York and serves on the board of advisors for The Center for Technology Management at Columbia University. He is a regular contributor at MIT’s annual CIO Symposium and an advocate for increasing technology representation and diversity on corporate boards.​​

Shawn holds a BA in speech communications from the University of Richmond, VA and an MA in communications from the University of Westminster, London. He is certified in a variety of assessment tools and methodologies.

Alex Bates, Chief Executive Officer – HelloSky

Alex spent the last decade bringing artificial intelligence and knowledge management to the forefront of the industrial market. As an undergraduate he authored 5 peer-reviewed publications, performing DARPA-funded research in neural networks, as well as research in memory and computational diagnostics.

Next, he jumped into the private sector, applying analytics on some of the world’s largest data warehouses at Teradata, a pioneer in big data technology. Alex was co-founder and CTO at Mtell, whose machine learning platform is used to monitor global fleets of industrial assets, effectively creating a distributed immune system to protect equipment and personnel. Mtell was acquired in 2016 by AspenTech (NASDAQ: AZPN), the global leader in process optimization software. In the two years following the acquisition of Mtell, AspenTech more than doubled its market cap, adding $4 billion of shareholder value. In June 2018, Barron’s highlighted AspenTech as one of the top three AI investments outside of FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google).

Alex is the lead inventor on three issued patents in machine learning & equipment taxonomies and received degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science, with a concentration in Neuroscience. His bestselling book, “Augmented Mind,” explores how the combination of AI with human intelligence — Augmented Intelligence — has revolutionary potential, and he is passionate about unlocking human capital to solve the world’s biggest problems.

Joseph Blass, CEO – Ezekia

Joseph started his career as an economist in the public sector. He then worked for a global, family-owned business, managing a varied portfolio of investments in manufacturing, real estate, and financial services.

He later held senior executive roles, leading both privately and publicly listed telecommunications and IT companies, with responsibility for growth, operations, and strategic transformation.

In 2015, Joseph founded Ezekia with the ambition of building a modern, purpose-built platform for the executive search industry. Together with his team, Joseph has grown Ezekia into a leading CRM and ATS used by executive search firms, in-house teams, and investors globally.

Joseph also founded Not Actively Looking, a platform connecting executives with search professionals. More recently, Joseph and his team launched Hylark, an intuitive, highly customisable AI-tailored platform for custom workspaces for individuals and teams.

John Brown CEO Consilium360, owned by Zemantics Global Venture

John Brown is a seasoned entrepreneur and senior Human Resources executive with extensive experience serving the healthcare sector. He has built and led high-performing teams that deliver operational excellence through best-in-class HR processes, advanced technology platforms, and expert talent solutions.

Under his leadership, the organization provides:

• Enterprise HR Strategy & Workforce Solutions
• Healthcare Scheduling & Call Center Optimization

In today’s complex healthcare environment, achieving organizational objectives requires intentional, data-driven people systems aligned with clinical and operational goals. John and his team specialize in designing and implementing structured, metric-driven solutions that enable healthcare organizations to streamline operations, improve workforce performance, and focus resources on mission-critical priorities.

John holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Rochester Institute of Technology and completed advanced studies in Strategic Human Resources at the University of Michigan.

He combines strong business acumen with deep functional HR expertise, ensuring that every solution is both strategically aligned and operationally executable.

Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor, Co-Founder, CEO – Artico Search

Mercedes is the trusted search partner for top venture capital and growth equity firms and their portfolio companies. As the co-founder and CEO of Artico Search, she leverages her deep expertise and unparalleled network to build scaleup teams for some of the world’s most successful investors and their portfolio companies. Mercedes’ placements are recognized for driving category creation, market leadership, and generating billions in shareholder value through IPOs and M&A exits.

With over 75 high-impact CEO placements and hundreds of fund partner, principal, and other C-suite assignments, Mercedes has earned a reputation for delivering transformative talent to fuel growth and success.

Previously, Mercedes led the venture capital & private equity practice at prominent global firms, including Caldwell Partners and Heidrick & Struggles, and founded boutique search firm iCOM. A graduate of Boston University, Mercedes operates out of San Francisco, with additional offices in Austin and New York.

Surojit Chatterjee, Founder & CEO – Ema

Surojit is the founder and CEO of Ema. Previously, he guided Coinbase through a successful 2021 IPO as its Chief Product Officer and scaled Google Mobile Ads and Google Shopping into multi billion dollar businesses as the VP and Head of Product. Surojit holds 40 US patents and has an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, MS in Computer Science from SUNY at Buffalo, and B. Tech from IIT Kharagpur.

David Chie, Founder – Maple Drive Executive Search

David Chie is the founder of Maple Drive Executive Search and the owner of Palo Alto Staffing, a legacy Silicon Valley search firm that has recruited for much of Sand Hill Road for 45 years. Maple Drive runs retained executive searches for venture and private equity firms, family offices, and the operating companies they back. Palo Alto Staffing places the executive support layer underneath: chiefs of staff, executive assistants, and operations talent across the same client base.

Over the past two years, David has built an AI-native operating model inside both firms, including a proprietary knowledge graph of 8,000+ family-office and asset-management organizations, custom research agents, and a search workflow architected around the assumption that AI handles the mapping and humans run the relationships. The work informs how he thinks about where AI is and is not changing executive search.

Canay Deniz, Co-Founder & CEO – Ren Systems

Canay Deniz is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ren Systems, an AI-powered relationship intelligence platform designed for senior professionals in executive search, consulting, real estate, and financial services. Ren helps dealmakers identify the right moments to engage by surfacing timely, high-signal insights that strengthen relationships and drive revenue. Under Canay’s leadership, Ren has built a differentiated position by prioritizing relevance, context, and human connection over generic automation.

Canay holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Business and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich, one of Europe’s leading technical universities.

Tina Gupta, SVP, Head of Talent Management – New York Life

Tina Gupta is the Senior Vice President and Head of Talent Management at New York Life. She is a transformation-minded talent executive who operates at the intersection of people, technology and AI. In her role, Tina leads enterprise-wide strategies that shape the future of work, from AI-driven talent practices and skills-based design to performance, culture and leadership transformation.

With more than two decades of global experience organizations including WarnerMedia, AT&T’s Xandr, Thomson Reuters and New York Life. Tina has guided leaders and boards through their most pivotal inflection points — from AI adoption and large-scale integrations to operating-model redesigns, IPO preparation and culture reinvention. She brings deep talent expertise and a forward-looking lens on how technology, data and human behavior are reshaping the workforce.

Tina is known for making complex transformations practical. Her work centers around helping organizations reimagine the employee experience and harness AI and data not just to elevate performance and productivity, but to build adaptable, high-performing teams — always with people at the center.

With candid insight and real-world experience, Tina brings a sharp point of view on modern talent leadership and what it takes to build resilience, readiness and a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving world.

Kyle Langworthy, Partner, Head of AI, ML & Data Practice – Riviera Partners

With over 15 years of recruiting experience, former founder Kyle Langworthy is a driving force in innovation and executive talent placement at Riviera Partners. Leading global AI, ML & Data efforts, he shapes the modern era of executive recruiting. Passionate about entrepreneurship, Kyle aligns seamlessly with Riviera’s mission to provide top-tier talent for innovative companies. Through the strategic acquisition of WorthyWorks, he integrates cutting-edge practices, ensuring a perfect match between exceptional talent and transformative companies. Specializing in AI/ML technology, Kyle advises clients, from private equity to Fortune 100 technology leaders, on recruiting executives for lasting impact.

Emanuel Lewis, AI Strategist, AI Center of Excellence Lead – TiER 1 Performance

Emanuel is an AI and technology leader who helps organizations turn AI from pilots into everyday ways of working. His focus is on enablement, adoption, and execution, ensuring AI is usable, trusted, and delivering real value across teams and functions.

With more than 20 years of experience across technology, learning, and organizational enablement, Emanuel specializes in translating AI strategy into practical models that align people, workflows, and platforms. His work spans organization-wide skill redefinitions, capability development, and close partnership with talent and workforce leaders to embed AI into roles, communities of practice, and operating models. He helps teams understand what changes, how AI fits into daily work, and what needs to be built over time.

Today, Emanuel concentrates on enterprise AI readiness and scale, supporting change management, defining operating standards, working through data and integration challenges, and partnering with leaders to measure impact beyond simple tool adoption.

Known for his pragmatic, operator-led perspective, Emanuel brings clarity to conversations about AI acceleration. He focuses on what truly changes, where friction shows up, and how organizations build lasting capability, prioritizing execution over hype.

Patrick Martin, Chief Talent Officer – Moody's Corporation

Patrick Martin is the Chief Talent Officer for Moody’s Corporation. In this role, Mr. Martin is responsible for the development and implementation of talent strategies to support the organization’s vision and goals. He oversees recruitment, hiring, and onboarding processes to ensure quality talent attraction. He designs and execute programs for leadership development and succession planning for the business.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2021, Patrick was Senior Vice President of Talent at XPO Logistics. He was hired to build out the learning and development function and during his tenure he also led Talent Management, Performance Management and Diversity and Inclusion for all 100K+ employees globally and Talent Acquisition in the Americas.

Before joining XPO Logistics, Patrick was the Chief Learning Officer at Bechtel corporation responsible for Learning and Development and Performance Management globally. In this role Patrick stood up the central learning function and overarching strategy which was new for the business.
Patrick’s other experience includes holding several roles at Booz Allen Hamilton in learning, and consulting. He focused on functional learning, ethics and compliance, leadership, finance, and onboarding. He was a consultant for the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security where he oversaw CBRNE weapons of mass destruction preparedness training and exercises.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Tennessee Technological University and holds CTD and SHRM-SPHR certifications for learning and human resources.

Patrick McAdams, Co-founder – Andiamo Partners

Patrick McAdams co-founded Andiamo with his twin brother in 2003 and spent the next two decades building it into a $50M globally recognised firm placing elite technology and go-to-market professionals with the world’s largest companies like Palantir, Amazon, Pinterest, Duolingo, and VISA. Patrick has spent over 22 years leading through every market shift the industry has seen and is now one of the most active voices in executive search on what AI actually looks like inside a high-performance search firm.

Andiamo didn’t just talk about AI. They built an operating model around it and the results are measurable. Client submissions doubled. Time-to-fill dropped 76%. Revenue grew 4X. Not by replacing consultant judgment, but by building AI around it.

Today, Andiamo is partnering with the fastest-growing companies in AI, nuclear energy, and digital banking, with a firm that has proven it can scale without sacrificing the quality its clients expect.

Umesh Ramakrishnan, Chief Strategy Officer – Kingsley Gate

Umesh Ramakrishnan is Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Kingsley Gate, where he continues to pioneer AI-driven executive search methodologies. Previously serving as co-CEO and CEO during the firm’s first decade, he now integrates cutting-edge AI and scientific approaches with 30 years of global leadership experience to redefine talent acquisition. He truly believes that disruption is less than twenty-four four months away.

His expertise spans successful C-suite placements across continents, with particular focus on leveraging AI to identify and assess executive talent. A published author with Penguin (“There’s No Elevator to the Top”) and frequent media contributor to CNBC, Bloomberg, HBR and major publications, Umesh holds degrees in industrial engineering from Bangalore University and the University of Texas.

Will Rowlands-Rees, Chief AI Officer – Lionbridge

As Chief AI Officer, Will Rowlands-Rees leads Lionbridge’s AI training business, integrating its network of curated global experts with innovative technology solutions to empower customers in maximizing their data for significant revenue growth. Previously, he held the position of Chief Product Officer, where he directed the visionary development of Lionbridge’s product offerings.

Prior to joining Lionbridge, Will served as Managing Director of Institutional Investor, the leading independent provider of investment research performance, where he drove a significant reimagination and turnaround of the group. He previously spent over 13 years at Thomson Reuters, where he led non-integrated business lines and served in proposition, product, operational, commercial, and strategic leadership roles.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Will has lived in the United States since 2006 and currently resides in New Canaan, CT. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Manan Shah, Founder & CEO – Recruiterflow

Manan Shah is the Founder and CEO of Recruiterflow, the AI-Native software for executive search firms. Under his leadership, Recruiterflow has become a globally recognised platform helping search firms streamline operations, strengthen client and candidate relationships, and scale more effectively.

A pioneer in applying AI to executive search, Manan is widely recognized as an AI thought leader within the industry. He has been at the forefront of developing practical AI solutions designed to enhance productivity, improve decision-making, and elevate the strategic impact of consultants.

With a background in building and scaling AI companies over two decades, Manan brings a deep product and operator perspective to the challenges modern search firms face. He is passionate about the future of work and frequently shares insights on AI adoption, automation, and the evolving role of AI in executive search.

Matt Stansky, Head of Finance – Oxeon

Matt is a Principal on Oxeon’s Platform team. He leads the company’s Finance, Accounting, Investments, and Technology functions. Throughout his career, Matt has built teams and improved processes to drive better business outcomes.

Before joining Oxeon, Matt was Chief Operating Officer of CompTrain, a fitness company focused on improving health through strength training, conditioning, mobility, and community. Prior to CompTrain, he was a Strategic Finance Manager at Iora Health, which was acquired by One Medical and then again by Amazon. He began his career as a High Yield and Equity Research Analyst at Fidelity Investments.

Matt earned his BA in History from Duke University and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Alysia Steinmann, Managing Partner – EY

Alysia is the Metro New York City Office Managing Partner of Ernst & Young LLP (EY US). In this role, she is responsible for the overall client service and internal management of the EY US member firm’s headquarters and largest office in New York City, as well as the office in Hoboken, New Jersey and two wavespace™ locations in Manhattan. Alysia leads over 13,000 New York City-area professionals in fostering a culture of belonging while providing quality service to clients throughout the tri-state area.

Previously, Alysia served as an Assurance partner focusing on the wealth and asset management sector. She has more than 20 years’ experience advising public and private clients, largely in the financial services industry. Alysia has led a range of complex accounting and valuation projects, including on governance, regulatory matters, initial public offerings and business combinations, and has also provided counsel on products and infrastructure for both domestic and global organizations.

A long-time city resident, Alysia is deeply committed to New York’s continued growth and revitalization. She serves on the boards of NYC Autism Charter Schools in Harlem and the South Bronx, as well as WhyHunger, Achilles International and the United Way of New York. She also represents EY on the New York Jobs CEO Council, which seeks to train, empower and hire 100,000 underserved New Yorkers, in addition to serving on the New York City Future of Work Task Force.

Lorraine “Lo” Stomski, Chief Talent Officer – Walmart

Lorraine “Lo” Stomski is the Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Officer for Walmart. Lo has over 30 years of experience in talent strategy. She joined Walmart 10 years ago and is responsible for end-to-end talent, including acquisition, selection, onboarding, performance management, learning, leadership, talent planning and succession for the Enterprise – 2.1 million associates.

Prior to joining Walmart, she was the Global Practice Leader for Assessment and Leadership at Aon Hewitt. In that role, she worked with large employers in the Fortune 500. Lo’s experience includes the development of global high potential programs, talent strategy, executive assessment and succession planning.

Lo received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology and (SIOP) and the American Psychological Association (APA). She was awarded the distinction of Fellow for her outstanding contributions in the field. She is one of the authors in the books Strategy Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative (2010), Advancing Executive Coaching: Setting the Course for Successful Leadership Coaching (2011), Advancing Human Resource Project Management (2014), The Handbook of Strategic 360 Feedback (2019) and Learning Agility (2021).

Lorraine has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, The New York Times, HR Executive, BBC, Fox News and Women 2.0. In 2024, she was listed on Forbes Future of Work 50 for the work she and the team have done on driving skills-based hiring. She also serves on the NRF Foundation Board.

Josh Withers, Co-Founder – True

Josh is a co-founder of True, and passionate advocate for revolutionizing the executive search industry with data- and tech-driven strategies. He is committed to delivering superior results by building a strong internal culture and fostering lasting relationships, both within the company and with a network of loyal clients and partners.

Over the years, Josh has held various leadership roles at True including General Manager of North America search, leader of the CEO and Board practice, and initiator of the client services program. He also played a key role in shaping the platform strategy and product development.

Prior to founding True, Josh gained experience at both global and boutique executive search firms. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication from San Diego State University.

Christoph Wollersheim, Consultant – Egon Zehnder

Christoph Wollersheim, based in Washington, D.C., supports clients as the co-leader of the Data & Artificial Intelligence practice. He draws on extensive experience as an AI and data analytics executive leading impactful teams to help US Federal Government clients and companies drive cultural shifts and attract and retain data and AI talents and leaders.​

Before joining Egon Zehnder, Christoph led the Division for Advanced Analytics & Digital Solutions at Noblis in Washington, DC, where his team brought AI and Data Science capabilities to the US Federal Government. Prior to this, he was the Global Head of Data Analytics & Insights at Arcadis, where Christoph also served on the Boards of two of Arcadis’s AI subsidiaries (SEAMS and Arcadis Gen). Christoph was an Advanced Analytics Expert at McKinsey Co. and a Senior Lead Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton.​

Christoph earned a PhD in Economics from Muenster U and an MBA from Cologne U. Christoph holds the rank of Major (res) in the German Air Force and is the Deputy Chair of the Board of the German International School in Washington, D.C.