The conversations leaders rarely get to have.

Bonnie De Smet-Bacon is an executive leader, strategic advisor, and community builder whose career spans healthcare, academic medicine, technology, and cybersecurity, including leadership roles with Stanford Health Care, Keck Medicine of USC, Creighton University Health Sciences, and HEAL Security. Founder of OPTIFY and Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, she brings together organizational transformation and community engagement with a longstanding interest in trust, influence, and meaningful human connection.

Bonnie De Smet-Bacon is an executive leader, strategic advisor, and community builder whose career spans healthcare, academic medicine, technology, and cybersecurity. Her professional journey includes leadership roles with Stanford Health Care, Keck Medicine of USC, Creighton University Health Sciences, and HEAL Security, where she has navigated complex organizational environments, led transformative initiatives, and brought people, strategy, and execution into alignment.

Her commitment to leadership extends beyond traditional corporate environments. As the founder of Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, Bonnie has worked to strengthen community engagement and create opportunities for meaningful civic connection. She is also the founder of OPTIFY, a strategic advisory firm focused on helping organizations navigate complexity, strengthen leadership, and move meaningful work forward.

Bonnie holds a Master of Science in Urban Studies/Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Throughout her career, Bonnie has remained deeply interested in the human dimensions of leadership: how trust is established, how influence is developed, how opportunity is created, and how people come together to navigate change. As co-curator and host of Women in Leadership, she brings that experience and curiosity to conversations that challenge conventional thinking, explore emerging possibilities, and foster authentic connections among women navigating their own leadership journeys.

Carla A. Fleming is a business leader, strategic advisor, and educator whose career spans global technology, financial services, and AI-enabled innovation. At IBM, she held global marketing roles and helped grow the Linux business serving small and midsize businesses worldwide from $200 million to $1 billion. Through Pivoting Strategies, she helps enterprise and mid-market organizations position and grow technology and AI solutions by speaking in the customer’s language and connecting innovation to real business outcomes.

Carla A. Fleming is a business leader, strategic advisor, and educator whose career spans global technology, financial services, business transformation, and emerging AI innovation. During her career at IBM, she held global marketing roles and helped grow the Linux business serving small and midsize businesses worldwide from $200 million to $1 billion. Her experience reflects a deep understanding of how organizations translate complex technologies into market opportunities, meaningful customer experiences, and sustainable business growth.

As founder of Pivoting Strategies, Carla works with enterprise and mid-market businesses to position, cultivate, and grow technology and AI solutions. Central to her approach is the ability to translate technical complexity into the customer’s language, connecting innovation with the real challenges, aspirations, and outcomes that matter to the people businesses serve. Her work emphasizes the intersection of business strategy, emerging technologies, organizational alignment, and human connection.

Carla holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Management, with a concentration in Journalism and Mass Media, from Rutgers University. She also holds a No-Code AI/ML Certificate from MIT Professional Education and previously served as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University.

Throughout her career, Carla has championed the importance of understanding people, building relationships, and creating opportunities for meaningful growth. As co-curator and host of Women in Leadership, she brings her enterprise experience, strategic perspective, and curiosity about the evolving relationship between leadership, technology, and human potential to conversations that challenge assumptions and encourage genuine exchange.

Noreen Hansen is a Fractional CXO, Strategic Advisor, and Executive Coach. Noreen built her career the way most executives don’t: starting in small, fast-moving organizations where she had to prove impact immediately, then spending more than a decade validating that instinct at enterprise scale. For Noreen, finance, operations, and technology aren’t three separate lanes: they’re one discipline.

Noreen is a Fractional CXO, Strategic Advisor, and Executive Coach. Noreen built her career the way most executives don’t: starting in small, fast-moving organizations where she had to prove impact immediately, then spending more than a decade validating that instinct at enterprise scale. For Noreen, finance, operations, and technology aren’t three separate lanes: they’re one discipline.

Noreen sees the gaps others miss and either resolves issues quickly or rebuilds underperforming practices to drive double-digit growth. Noreen has a near-clairvoyant ability to anticipate future needs, often two to three steps ahead of others. Noreen translates that vision into well-defined, clearly articulated goals, supported by incremental, accelerated execution.

Noreen is an operator who ensures IT, technical depth, and the business are tightly aligned, resulting in stronger governance, delighted customers, and accelerated growth.