Wednesday, September 13

7:30 am – Registration & Breakfast @ W2O Group HQ

8:55 am – PEER 150 Welcome Comments

9:00 am – Relevance Has Become the New Reputation

In today’s social/digital reality, companies increasingly find themselves on the outside looking in around conversations and priorities that matter most to their business. For most companies Relevance has become the new Reputation. In today’s discussion, W2O’s Eric Bacolas and Rob Jekielek will provide an introduction to how Corporate Relevance has emerged as a key business priority, a glimpse into how it can be quantified, and what can be learnt from today’s Relevance leaders.

Eric Bacolas
Chief People Officer
W2O Group

Rob Jekielek
SVP
W2O Group

9:30 am – Andreessen Horowitz Startup Portfolio Presentations

Startup #1, Omada Health: Omada Health and Digital Therapeutics: Next Generation Engagement for Helping those at Risk for Chronic Disease

Omada is a digital health company that inspires and enables people at the tipping point of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease to identify and change the habits that put them most at risk. Working with employers and health plans, Omada provides a scalable, clinically validated, intervention that delivers measureable results. Omada operates on a pay-for-outcomes model that aligns the company’s incentives with the goals of its participants and partners.

Marc Salois
VP, Enterprise Sales
Omada Health

Startup #2, Jopwell: Helping Companies Solve Their Diversity Pipeline Challenges

Ryan Williams
President and Co-Founder
Jopwell

10:30 am – A Modern Framework for Building an Engaging Culture

Gary will share research and insights that challenge beliefs that organizations and leaders can “drive” engagement. He will introduce and explore a new framework for understanding what employees value most in workplace cultures, and how that affects their level of engagement and work outputs.

Key Learning Objectives & Actionable Takeaways:
– Explore a research-based framework for evaluating the influence of workplace culture on employee engagement
– Learn about the six most meaningful dimensions of workplace culture that attract, engage, and retain talent
– Explore practices to build a more engaging culture

Gary Beckstrand
VP
O.C. Tanner Institute

11:30 am – Networking & Load Buses

12:00 pm – Buses depart for Equinox Holdings HQ

12:30 pm – Equinox Holdings HQ Visit

12:45 pm – Lunch

1:00 pm – What We Learned When We Went From Applications to Auditions

Greg Hill
SVP & CHRO
Equinox Holdings Inc.

1:30 pm – Equinox’s Unapologetic Approach

Liz Nolan
Executive Creative Director
Equinox Holdings Inc.

2:00 pm – Equinox Hotels Vision & Hudson Yards

Verena Haller
SVP, Design
Equinox Hotels

2:30 pm – Q & A

2:45 pm – Private Equinox Holdings Office & Club Tour

3:45 pm – Buses depart for Weight Watchers HQ

4:00 pm – Weight Watchers HQ Visit

4:15 pm – Welcome Comments and Executive Panel Presentation

Kimberly Samon
CHRO
Weight Watchers International

Mindy Grossman
President and CEO
Weight Watchers International

Mike Maluccio
GM WW Health Solutions
Weight Watchers International

Michael Lysaght
CTO
Weight Watchers International

Gary Foster
Chief Scientific Officer
Weight Watchers International

5:45 pm – Cocktail Reception on rooftop

6:15 pm – Dinner on rooftop

7:15 pm – Prize Drawing and Adjourn

Eric Bacolas, Chief People Officer, W2O Group

Eric Bacolas is the Chief People Officer at W2O Group. For the past 20 years, Eric has been helping disruptive businesses rethink their People strategies to achieve incredible results. Currently, his focus is on building the companies talent, achieving better clarity around roles, improving internal communication, and providing order and organization to accelerate healthy scaling.

Marrying the tenets of brand-building and CRM with organizational behavior and design, Eric’s approach to People/Talent Practices has been influenced by his earlier career in marketing. His passion and expertise is working with growth-stage companies or more established businesses undergoing change and transformation, with the goal of molding and designing corporate culture, structure, and policy to improve talent engagement, productivity, and optimize business outcomes.

Most recently Eric was the Vice President of People and Performance Conductor, Inc. where he was responsible for leveraging People and Operations to accelerate the growth and business performance at Conductor, a leader in web presence management technology.

Prior to joining Conductor, Eric served as the Chief People Officer for 360i – a digital media agency – helping the company quadruple in size and become Agency of the Year for 2 consecutive years as well as a Crain’s and Ad Age Best-Place-to-Work company. Prior to that, he led the talent function supporting a group of media and marketing companies under the Interpublic Group – among them DraftFCB, ID Media and R/GA.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing Communications from FIT, is a certified SPHR and SHRM-SCP, and is an avid Urban Gardener.

Gary Beckstrand, VP, O.C. Tanner Institute

Gary Beckstrand is the Vice President of the O.C. Tanner Institute. Through the Institute, Gary conducts research and publishes insights that help organizations attract, engage, and retain top talent by becoming great places to work.

With nearly 30 years of research, marketing, and business development experience, Gary has seen what works (and what doesn’t) in thousands of top companies all around the world – from New York City to Sau Paulo, Frankfort to Beijing, Mumbai to Manila. His expertise in developing and measuring successful culture solutions has been sought by numerous Fortune 100 companies, and been featured frequently on inc.com, entrepreneur.com, and Forbes.

Gary is also a co-author of the newly released book Appreciate: Celebrating People, Inspiring Greatness. With insights from many of the largest workplace studies on appreciation and recognition, Gary shares why appreciation and recognition are so powerful at inspiring great effort and results, but also how, when, and where leaders can impact people the most.

Prior to joining O.C. Tanner, Gary managed many well-known brands for global organizations, including Frito-Lay, Kellogg’s, and Franklin Covey. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in business from Northwestern University.

Gary Foster, Chief Scientific Officer, Weight Watchers International

Gary Foster, Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer at Weight Watchers International, Inc. Foster, a psychologist, obesity investigator and behavior change expert, was previously the Founder and Director of the Center of Obesity Research and Education and Laura Carnell Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. Prior to Temple, he served as the Clinical Director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has authored more than 180 scientific publications and three books on the etiology and treatment of obesity. Foster has received numerous honors including President of The Obesity Society, Honorary Member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology from the American Psychological Association, and the George A. Bray Founders Award from The Obesity Society.

Dr. Foster’s research interests include the prevention, behavioral determinants, treatments, and effects of obesity in adults and children. His current focus is on scalable, evidence-based approaches to obesity management. Foster earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Duquesne University, an M.S. in Psychology from University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Temple University.

Mindy Grossman, President and CEO, Weight Watchers International

Mindy Grossman, 59, has served as a director and President and CEO of Weight Watchers (NASDAQ: WTW) since July 2017. Grossman has more than 38 years of experience in building and transforming consumer brands.

Prior to joining Weight Watchers, she served as Chief Executive Officer of HSN, Inc. and a member of the company’s Board of Directors from 2008 to 2017. She oversaw a $4 billion direct to consumer retail portfolio that included HSN and the Cornerstone portfolio of home and family lifestyle brands.

During her tenure, she positioned HSNi as a leader in boundaryless retail, offering customers a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels – television, catalogue, online and mobile. As a result, more than half of the company’s revenue was generated through digital commerce.

A 38-year veteran of the retail and apparel industries, Grossman joined IAC, HSNi’s former parent company, in 2006 as CEO of IAC Retail. In 2008, she took the company public and became the CEO of HSNi. She transformed HSN into a lifestyle network offering an exciting array of products, personalities and experiences designed to engage, inform and entertain. She pioneered visionary, industry-changing innovations, such as Shop by Remote, HSN Arcade and HSN Live, and formed unique partnerships with brands such as Disney, Ford and Universal. She also reshaped the Cornerstone Brands portfolio by spearheading the digital transformation of the catalogue business.

Prior to joining IAC, she served as a Global Vice President at Nike, Inc., overseeing its $4 billion apparel business. At Nike, she led the development and growth of the global women’s business and served as co-chair of Nike’s Women’s Leadership Council. Earlier career highlights include serving as President and CEO of Polo Jeans Company, Vice President of New Business Development at Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, President of Chaps Ralph Lauren, and Senior Vice President of Menswear for Warnaco, Inc. She also held senior positions at Tommy Hilfiger and Oxford Industries.

In 2014, Grossman was recognized as one of FastCompany’s Most Creative People in Business and Fortune’s Business Person of the Year. In 2013, Forbes magazine named Grossman one of the world’s 100 most powerful women, an honor she has received four times. In 2011, she was named Corporate Innovator of the Year at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Florida Awards. In both 2010 and 2011, Grossman was ranked by the Financial Times as one of the top 50 women in world business.

Grossman serves as Vice Chairman for UNICEF USA and is a member of the Board of Directors of Bloomin’ Brands and Fanatics, Inc.

Verena Haller, SVP, Design, Equinox Hotels

Bio Coming Soon!

Greg Hill, SVP & CHRO, Equinox Holdings Inc.

Greg has over 25 years of human resources experience primarily within the hospitality industry supporting service and brand centric companies. Greg joined Equinox Holdings Inc. in 2010 to lead human resources and execute the Company’s significant growth strategies in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to leading the Company’s talent and organizational growth plans, he is responsible for benefits, compensation, labor & employee relations, rewards and professional development for 14,000 employees. During his tenure, he has also led all human resources aspects required for the successful growth of Equinox Holding’s Portfolio that includes over 250 locations under Blink Fitness, Equinox, Pure, SoulCycle, and most recently, Equinox Hotels.

Prior to Equinox, Greg joined Frontier Communications, a Fortune 500 Company, to lead the human resources responsibilities for a 10,000-employee acquisition from Verizon. Before Frontier, Greg spent three years with Wyndham Worldwide as Executive Vice President, Global Human Resources where he was responsible for creating a global hospitality division from a newly formed public company that was spun from Cendant Corporation. He opened new offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and London during his tenure there.

Prior to Wyndham Worldwide, he spent eight years at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, where he held several regional and national positions in human resources. Most notably, he served as Vice President, North America Human Resources overseeing the recruiting, compensation, training, labor and employee relation functions for over 55,000 employees across the Country. Before Starwood, Greg worked for Hyatt Hotels Corporation for ten years, where he held various human resources positions in Chicago, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, New York City, New Orleans and Philadelphia.

He was the founder of the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s Labor Relations Council and served as the Council Chairman in 2005 and 2006. The Council consisted of heads of human resources and labor relations for the major hotel companies to provide support to industry CEO’s, owners and operators on various employee and labor relations matters.

Greg is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Youth Basketball Coach and Board Member for two organizations in his home town of Oradell, New Jersey. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management with a focus in Human Resources from Niagara University in New York.

Rob Jekielek, SVP, W2O Group

Rob has over a decade of experience building and leading cutting-edge insights & strategy practices, as well as managing multi-year, multi-million dollar brand and reputation strategy relationships. As an adviser to senior executives at some of the world’s largest and most influential organizations, he brings extensive expertise building relationships across, and implementing solutions for, companies with varied B2B and B2C business models across a number of industries, including Beverage/ Beer, Media, Industrial, Energy, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Goods, Financial Services, Banking, and Insurance.

Rob has worked across North America, Europe, and South Africa in a variety of industries and sectors, including for JP Morgan Chase & Co, Johnson & Johnson, Anheuser Busch InBev, General Electric (GE), Verizon, United Technologies, Boeing, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, De Beers, Allianz Group, the World Economic Forum, U.S. State Department, and Government of South Africa.

Michael Lysaght, CTO, Weight Watchers International

Michael is the Chief Technology Officer at Weight Watchers with global responsibility for all aspects of Technology. Since joining Weight Watchers in 2014, Michael has lead a major digital transformation, first within Engineering and subsequently for all of Technology. Prior to Weight Watchers, Michael joined SecondMarket in 2009 as the Vice President of Engineering where he led the design, development, delivery and quality of SecondMarket’s software products. Prior to SecondMarket, Micahel spent 12 years working as an independent consultant at various institutions around the world building highly scalable web based products for startups, banks and telecoms companies. In his spare time, Michael likes to play guitar, and he loves Rugby.

Mike Maluccio, GM WW Health Solutions, Weight Watchers International

Mike is the General Manager of Weight Watchers Health Solutions. Mike has more than 30 years of health and wellbeing experience. Prior to joining Weight Watchers, Mike was President of the Commercial Health Plans division of Healthways, Inc. Prior to Healthways, Mike was President, Northeast Region National Accounts, for Aetna, where he managed the largest national accounts region with more than 3 million members. Mike also held leadership positions with Nurtur Health, Optum Insight, and Truven Analytics. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Managerial Economics from Union College in Schenectady, NY.

Liz Nolan, Executive Creative Director, Equinox Holdings Inc.

Elizabeth Nolan joined Equinox in 2013 as Creative Director. In this role she is tasked with evolving the cutting edge creative work the business has become renowned for, from Commit to Something to refreshing the iconic 25-year old brand identity.

Prior to Equinox, Elizabeth was Creative Director at the iconic specialty retail brand Victoria’s Secret, a Senior Copywriter at Young & Rubicam and one of a small number of graduates selected for WPP’s prestigious Marketing Fellowship Program.

Born in Liverpool, England, Elizabeth graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.

Marc Salois, VP, Enterprise Sales, Omada Health

Marc Salois is a Vice President with Omada, heading up Enterprise Sales. Marc has spent his entire career in healthcare and technology and has been working with the benefits organization of large employers over the last 12 years. Prior to joining Omada Marc was the VP of Business Development at a digital therapeutics company focused on stress management & resilience, where he quadrupled revenues over his tenure. Prior to this he was the VP of Sales at HighRoads and Global VP of Sales at Akibia where he grew revenue by over 635% and 600% respectively. Marc began his career with Roche Biomedical and CR Bard, selling surgical technologies and medical devices. Outside of Omada Marc is a mentor/advisor at Harvard University’s Innovation Lab.

Kimberly Samon, CHRO, Weight Watchers International

Kimberly is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Weight Watchers International, Inc. where she is responsible for Global Human Resources, Real Estate, Facilities, and is the executive responsible for Weight Watchers Health Solutions, a division of Weight Watchers that brings the Weight Watchers offering and other corporate wellness services to employers of all sizes. Kimberly has over 25 years of broad HR, legal, and business experience in the Retail, Consumer Products, Service, and Consulting industries. She is a dynamic and versatile leader, with a strong combination of business acumen and HR functional excellence. Kimberly has operated in global environments where her outstanding communication skills enabled her to foster collaboration among people and ideas in order to accelerate the rate of transformation in organizations. Kimberly joined Weight Watchers from KSL Advisory Services, a private Corporate Strategy and Human Resources Consulting firm providing expertise to companies on all facets of their business. Before assuming that position, she was Executive Vice President of HR and Corporate Strategy with Simmons Bedding Company where she was responsible for all Human Resources and Strategy initiatives and partnered with the executive team to drive clear alignment between human capital management and strategic planning. Prior to Simmons Bedding, Kimberly held senior leadership positions with Lacerte Technologies and Kinko’s (now FedEx Office), was Chief People Officer and Labor and Employment Counsel for HQ Global Workplaces, as well as HR roles with Frito-Lay and Philip Morris Companies (now Altria). She has also held GM, and interim head of operations and information technology roles as well as practiced law. Kimberly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, a MBA in Management from Mercer University, and a JD with a focus in Labor and Employment Law from Stetson University. She is originally from the NYC area and recently returned to the area with her family.

Ryan Williams, President and Co-Founder, Jopwell

Ryan Williams is the president and cofounder of Jopwell. Prior to founding Jopwell, Ryan worked as an analyst in foreign exchange sales at Goldman Sachs, on the same trading floor as cofounder Porter Braswell. During his time on Wall Street, he developed a passion for both broadening the conversation around diversity in the workplace and increasing opportunities available to underrepresented groups. In 2014, Ryan left Wall Street to create a measurable solution and provide connections and resources for Black, Latino/Hispanic and Native American talent to unlock opportunities for career advancement.

Together, Ryan and Porter have led Jopwell from an online platform with dozens of America’s leading companies as partners, to an essential resource that facilitates thousands of connections between its community and partner employers. Spanning finance, technology, healthcare, sports and publishing, among other industries, Jopwell counts The New York Times, Airbnb, BlackRock, Pinterest, The San Francisco 49ers, Bloomberg and Northwell Health among its many partner companies.

Jopwell participated in Y Combinator’s summer 2015 class, garnering support and funding from notable investors like Magic Johnson Enterprises, Andreessen Horowitz, Kapor Capital, Omidyar Network, Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.

In 2017, Jopwell was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” in the enterprise category and one of Entrepreneur’s “100 Most Brilliant Companies.” Ryan was also featured on Fast Company’s 2017 list of “100 Most Creative People in Business” (#53), and Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list in 2016, which highlight creative minds and rising entrepreneurs across industries. He has been a featured speaker at NABA Inc. events and the 2016 Next Gen Summit, among others.

Ryan earned his degree in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

For more information about sponsorship, please contact [email protected].

Andreessen Horowitz backs bold entrepreneurs who move fast, think big and are committed to building the next major franchises in technology. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, we provide entrepreneurs with access to our deep expertise and insights in innovation, business development, market intelligence, executive and technical talent, and marketing and brand-building. Find us in Menlo Park, Calif., and at www.a16z.com.



Collective Health is rebuilding everything about how health benefits work. From administering better health plans, to connecting you to the right networks across medical, dental, vision and pharmacy, to introducing an entirely new way to engage with health benefits – our platform creates an all-in-one experience you and your people deserve. We bring together technology + design + humans to redefine how you and your people experience benefits. The impact? Benefits that you are proud to give your people and control over what matters to your company. We’re here to help you support your people. Simple as that.



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HealthKick (www.health-kick.com) is a corporate perks and rewards platform that provides employees with exclusive discounts and experiences for 100+ leading consumer health, fitness and wellness brands that support employees’​ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing through a branded experience.



Logical Design Solutions (LDS) help organizations and their people succeed in the new digital economy. We partner with market leaders to create digital strategy and design inside global organizations. Our experiences drive transformational change by empowering people to work better. Fueling our clients’ most important relationships – with employees, candidates, alums, and customers – elevates business performance and realizes breakthrough innovation value.

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At LLoyd, we are not just agents of talent, but agents of change.

Workforce innovations, new technology, different skills all create a need for a reliable resource with expertise in talent acquisition and placement. That’s what LLoyd is all about. We advise and guide job candidates through impactful career moves and we help employers build agile and effective workforces that will serve them well through all economies and business challenges.

At Mercer, we make a difference in the lives of more than 110 million people every day by advancing their health, wealth and careers. We’re in the business of creating more secure and rewarding futures for our clients and their employees — whether we’re designing affordable health plans, assuring income for retirement, or aligning workers with workforce needs. Using analysis and insights as catalysts for change, we anticipate and understand the individual impact of business decisions, now and in the future. We see people’s current and future needs through a lens of innovation, and our holistic view, specialized expertise, and deep analytical rigor underpin each and every idea and solution we offer. For more than 70 years, we’ve turned our insights into actions, enabling people around the globe to live, work, and retire well. At Mercer, we say we Make Tomorrow, Today.



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W2O Group Headquarters

199 Water Street, 14th Floor

New York, NY 10038

Equinox Holdings

895 Broadway (btw 19th and 20th, 5th floor)

New York, NY 10003

Weight Watchers Headquarters

675 Avenue of the Americas, 6th floor

New York, NY 10010