Agenda

As Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the USA at the UN Foundation, Rachel Bowen Pittman oversees strategic planning and global programs supporting the United Nations. She will kick off the Summit sharing an update on Youth2030, a system-wide strategy guiding the UN and its partners to work meaningfully with young people around the world. Launched in 2018, Youth2030 seeks to significantly strengthen the UN’s capacity to engage young people and benefit from their views, insights and ideas. Today, the Youth Strategy implementation engages with 55 UN Entities and 132 UN Country Teams – and the UN has encouraged other organizations to follow suit.

Seven years ago, the UN ushered up a call to organizations globally to work with youth. Hear from 3 leaders that are doing just that in varying roles. Each will share the strategies working best and what they’ve learned about the next generation workforce in the process. Natasha Stough has been a campus recruiter and early career strategy consultant for 25+ years, working in roles for EY and Raymond James. Emma McCormick, Senior Director of Engagement at the National Farmers Union, supports young people entering agriculture via camps, training programs, and a youth advisory council. And Khalil Roy is a multi-award-winning teacher, Stand for Children Fellow, and Kappa Delta Pi UN Representative.

It’s not about sales funnels anymore. According to Archrival, a youth culture agency, marketing to Gen Z doesn’t work -- but creating with them does. Chelsea Rice, Archrival’s director of creative strategy, will share the strategies brands are using to win the hearts and minds of young adults. She leads a multidisciplinary team of strategists, designers, and creatives to deliver bold, culturally relevant work for brands like adidas, Spotify, and Tinder. Whether she’s mentoring emerging talent, challenging conventional thinking, or pushing brands toward more youth-powered models, she brings fresh perspective and actionable ideas.

Two association CEOs share why they have prioritized next gen initiatives for their organizations. Peter Tateishi, CEO of Associated General Contractors of California, oversees Build California, a comprehensive workforce development program to engage the next generation of construction workers. Denise LeDuc Froemming, CEO of CalCPA, leads workforce and pipeline initiatives that inspire diverse individuals to become accountants and CPAs — shaping a more inclusive, sustainable accounting workforce. Both lead with a focus on the future and a commitment to creating cultures of belonging. Their efforts have made meaningful, measurable differences to their organizations and industries as a whole.

As a young professional, Katie Mehnert realized the challenges facing the energy industry and decided to take them head on. The predominantly white, male industry was aging out and had a bad reputation. If radical change didn’t happen, it would prove increasingly difficult to recruit the next generation of talent. As founder and CEO of ALLY Energy™ Katie has built a community accelerating connections, jobs, and skills. She’s a relentless advocate for industry-wide change. Katie has authored books and helped produce a film on the energy workforce. She serves as an Ambassador to the US Department of Energy and was appointed to the National Petroleum Council to focus on the workforce of the future.

Carol Gronlund helped create Project GAP (Generational Advisory Perspectives) at Zeno Group, an unprecedented agency initiative that gives younger generations a voice and new leadership opportunities. This global advisory board includes 12 Gen Z and young Millennial employees ready to help close the gap between the people leading today and those who may lead tomorrow. Nick Sobel is a member of Project GAP and an account supervisor of sports and entertainment at Zeno. Carol and Nick will share how Zeno has aligned its business strategy and people strategy to foster a workplace where employees of all ages can thrive.

In a constantly evolving workplace, emotional intelligence (EQ) has been proven to help individuals adapt, build strong relationships, and foster collaboration. As a result, Amazon launched a robust EQ training program to equip team members and customers with the skills to build innovative and adaptable organizations. Cash Ashley has been at the forefront of Amazon's EQ movement since 2021. In addition, he works closely with students as an adjunct professor, high school mentor, and board member for a Boys and Girls Club. He will share EQ strategies and explain the evolving importance of EQ, especially in regards to preparing and planning for the future workforce.

In this era of change, some leaders are doubling-down on initiatives reminiscent of a yester-year workforce. But others are encouraging their organizations to remain focused on the future. Hear from two leaders of notable organizations urging a commitment to change. Jaimie M. Francis, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation vice president of policy and programs, manages the Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) initiative which helps with talent supply chains, workforce development, and career advancement. Erin Fuller, global head of association solutions for MCI Group, is working across 2,000 talents to lead AI adoptions and move associations and nonprofits towards future-proofing.

Trista Harris once negotiated her way into an interview with Sir Richard Branson and was later invited to his home on Necker Island. During this adventure, she gave a speech on the future of doing good which is her area of expertise. Harris has worked in nonprofits since she was 13 years old. Her last job was the president of a community of grantmakers that gave away $1.5 billion a year. She is now the President of FutureGood, a consultancy focused on growing a movement of visionaries dedicated to building a better future. She explains her approach to future thinking and why she believes these skills need to be the number one strategic priority for everyone trying to make positive change.

Meet three thought leaders in the education space and glean insights from their unique experiences working with, and advocating for, today’s students. At Civic Builders, Amber Roussel Cavallo orchestrates targeted marketing initiatives and partnerships in the public charter school sector nationwide. Christopher Williams is the founder of STEM U Education Solutions and LYNK-ED Software, created to address educational disparities, particularly in rural and underserved communities. And Lucijan Jović is a high school teacher pursuing his doctorate in education, in addition to being a research collaborator at Molloy University and a Kappa Delta Pi representative to the UN.

Antonio Moore, 25, will share his inspiring journey of growing up on the streets of Baltimore to serving on the Youth Advisory Board for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and launching a business which prides itself on breaking corporate cultural barriers. Moore’s firm, The Flip Project, gathers data from under-surveyed populations that influence culture and economic activity in inner cities. The company develops digital landscape navigation strategies, brand strategy innovations, brand curation activations, and customized marketing campaigns, delivering Gen Z audiences to brands like YouTube Music, Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and Everytown for Gun Safety.

Some organizations say they want change—but struggle to move beyond the status quo. In this dual-format session, you’ll hear from two visionary leaders shaking up their industries. Carly Silberstein shares her journey from founding a multi-seven-figure agency to launching Cielle Group, where she now invests in and builds modern event businesses. You’ll also hear from Terri Herrmann, who has led three major brands to market. Together, they offer powerful lessons in what modernization really takes—and how to lead with purpose, agility, and impact.

Justin Leusner, founder of TDAY Sports, dubbed Gen Z’s ESPN and reaching 30+ million views each month, has spent the last decade building platforms where millions of young people gather online. Along the way, he’s seen both the promise and the pitfalls of digital culture. In this talk, Justin introduces his vision for the Beautiful Internet: a future where technology is designed to inspire, redeem, and nurture human connection. Speaking from a Gen Z lens, he challenges entrepreneurs, leaders, and creators to rethink how we build digital spaces and offers a call to action: what if the internet wasn’t just addictive, but restorative?

How does youth and digital culture actually work and how can brands avoid riptides and stay afloat? This is Kaley Mullin’s area of expertise as founder and Lead Culture Maven at Cool Shiny Insights. Before launching Cool Shiny, she led Youth & Trends Insights for YouTube at Google, helping steer the brand through a pandemic, the launch of Shorts, and a pivot to focusing on Generations Z and Alpha. Pre-YouTube, she worked for Disney.

Jahnavi Rao made the Forbes 30 Under 30 List as a renowned thought leader and advocates for her generation. She is the founder of New Voters, a youth-led nonprofit that empowers high school students to be heard and prioritized in politics. In the past 8 years, nearly 1,000 registration drives at 500 schools have occurred. Jenk Oz is founder & CEO of Thred Media, a social enterprise focused on media, consulting, and production for Gen Z, reaching 350k+ young people monthly across 220+ countries. Hear her perspectives on what future generations need to succeed and the critical next steps every leader needs to take.

Throughout the Summit, attendees have discovered strategies and trends and identified a number of viable ideas and solutions. Now what? How best to organize all of these ideas, leverage, and implement them? Kelli Amerine is an expert in human-centered design and will download the day's learnings into a useful, easy-to-implement action plan. Leave the Summit ready to take action and immediately start engaging the next gen now!