Corporate Leadership Conference

5th Annual Corporate Leadership Conference:

Navigating Your Career Road Map

The 5th Annual Corporate Leadership Conference focusing on various areas that you need to be mindful of while developing your career path. At this conference, you had an opportunity to network with professionals from many organizations, learn from senior leaders on their insightful experiences, and participate in workshops that teach you how to:

• Develop Your Brand Image
• Best manage the Turning Points in Your Career

Utilize the required skills to Take the Driver’s Seat with Your Career

Asian Affinity Group Leaders (AAGL)
AAGL is committed to becoming the role model leadership group for the rest of the USA. We want to create a strong network of Asian affinity groups across the Chicagoland area that benefits our participating members to : help advance our Asian affinity groups to understand the value of diversity, show the profit in the business case for diversity, become better leaders ourselves for our companies and the communities that we choose to serve, help our fellow Asian leaders by sharing experiences, knowledge, insights and best practices, and network with committed leaders to find and create more committed and successful leaders.

This is the 5th year Asian American Group Leaders is organizing a leadership conference like no there! Join us as we explore the theme of Navigating your Career Roadmap.


Lee Henderson
Partner, Assurance Services
Ernst & Young LLP

Lee Henderson is an audit partner with 16 years of experience primarily serving large, multinational public companies, as well as non-public emerging growth companies. He has significant experience including SEC accounting and reporting, mergers and acquisitions, IFRS reporting, revenue recognition, global project leadership and management.

Prior to moving to Chicago in 2010, Lee spent four years in the London Ernst &Young practice. While in London, Lee's responsibilities included serving as the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa Audit Engagement Partner responsible for one of the firm's large multinational accounts. This role included overseeing the services to 32 entities across 26 countries.

Lee also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Ernst & Young 's UK &Ireland Assurance business, a capacity in which he worked in for over 2 years. His primary responsibilities included leading a number of integration activities, working to align our service lines and managing the day-to-day operations of 1,900 professionals.

Lee spent the firs 11 years of his professional career in the Ernst &Young Assurance practice in San Jose, Ca where his clients included several technology companies. He is a CPA, and holds a BS in Business Administration - Accounting from California State University, Hayward.

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Mike Escobar: Vice President
Chief Diversity and Organization Effectiveness Officer
Allstate Insurance Company

Mike Escobar is currently serving as Allstate’s Chief Diversity Officer. In this role, he is responsible for leading diversity and organizational effectiveness for the entire enterprise.

Prior to his current role, he led Allstate’s Technology & Operations organization in executing and delivering on most of Allstate’s key strategic and operational initiatives for more than 8,000 employees. He created a highly effective work environment that enabled employees to leverage their unique skill sets and talents while effectively partnering with Allstate’s internal business clients in order to deliver extraordinary customer service.

Mike also serves as the Executive Sponsor for Allstate’s recruiting efforts at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. He achieved outstanding results by creating a partnership with the University that enabled Allstate to hire and retain a significant number of talented graduates.

Within the Allstate organization, Mike serves as an executive sponsor of the employee and business resource groups. These groups help bring together employees with common interests to focus on enhancing their career development and advancing Allstate’s mission. He also chairs Allstate’s Diversity Leadership Council, which works directly with the CEO in establishing and implementing the company’s key diversity strategies, and the Grant Committee of the Allstate Foundation, which reviews and approves more than $20 million a year in funding to communities and non-profits yearly.

Mike was also the recipient of Allstate’s most prestigious award, “The Chairman’s Quality Award.” This award recognized his continuous high level of commitment to serving the customer.

Outside of Allstate, Mike serves on the board of directors of Casa Central, which is one of largest non-profit social services organizations serving the Hispanic community in the Midwest. It has a budget of more than $11 million and provides a variety of different programs for the Chicago community ranging from child welfare and early learning to senior daycare. He is a member of the executive board and serves as chair of the finance committee.

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Anu Krishnan
Senior Manager, GAAP Reporting
Allstate Investments

Anu Krishnan is a Senior Manager with Investment Finance at Allstate Insurance Company. Anu, who leads the GAAP reporting team at Allstate Investments is responsible for all investment related reporting and some industry specific accounting research. Prior to Allstate, Anu was with Ernst & Young for over 12 years, primarily serving clients in the real estate industry sector, where she led and coordinated the audits of several real estate companies, in addition to nonprofit organizations and governmental entities with a focus on real estate. Anu is an active member of the 3AN employee networking group and the Talent Development Council at Allstate. She has also represented Allstate and Ernst & Young as a speaker at various conferences, as well as a panel member at such diversity events as the 3rd annual Corporate Leadership Conference, the South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum and Working Mother Media’s National Conference for multicultural women, etc.

Anu earned a Bachelors Degree in India and is also a certified Chartered Accountant, a Company Secretary and Cost and Works Accountants in India. In addition, she is a licensed CPA in the state of Illinois.

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Frank Ng
Tax Controversy and Risk Management Services
Ernst & Young LLP

Frank Y. Ng is a member of Ernst & Young LLP’s Tax Controversy and Risk Management Services group in Washington, DC. Frank assists global and domestic corporations focused on working effectively with the Internal Revenue Service and tax administrators around the world to achieve tax certainty by developing tax audit management strategies to resolve tax disputes and mitigate tax controversy.

From 2007-2009 Frank served as Commissioner of the Large and Mid-size Business (LMSB) Division at the Internal Revenue Service with tax administration responsibility for 235,000 corporate and large business taxpayers. Prior to his appointment as LMSB Commissioner, Frank was appointed as the first Deputy Commissioner (International) in LMSB, serving as the United States Competent Authority administering U.S. tax treaties and oversight of the IRS’ international compliance strategies, international enforcement programs and compliance efforts with foreign treaty partners. He also has served as, acting Deputy Commissioner (LMSB), Industry Director for Communications, Technology and Media, Director of Pre-filing and Technical Guidance and IRS Attaché in Tokyo responsible for IRS matters in the Far East. During his distinguished career at the IRS, Frank was instrumental in leading the Compliance Assurance Process development as well as spearheading the development of other pre-filing and alternative dispute resolution processes. He represented the United States at the OECD Forum on Tax Administration working close with foreign tax executives to enhance global tax administration and has advised other governments on tax administration organizational, operational and compliance program development.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Arizona State University and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of the 2000 IRS Executive Development Program and is a recipient of the 2005 Presidential Rank Award for meritorious service.

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Tamara Page
Diversity Leader
Crowe Horwath LLP

Tamara is Crowe’s Diversity Leaders and is responsible for all diversity related programming for the firm including: firmwide training, personnel networking/affinity groups, external relationship building, branding and coaching. She brings over 15 years of experience in the area of inclusion and began her career at Accenture where Tamara managed, developed, and implemented diversity programs for all of its U.S. employees. Tamara has a B.A. in journalism from Drake University.

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Collin Kebo
Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis
CDW

Collin Kebo is vice president of financial planning and analysis for CDW, a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare.

Kebo is responsible for providing financial leadership recommendations and business decision support for leaders across the company.

Kebo joined CDW in 2008 after holding a series of senior finance positions with PepsiCo. Most recently, he was vice president of sales finance for PepsiCo's Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade warehouse delivered products. Prior to that, Kebo served as vice president of finance for Gatorade North America.

Kebo earned his M.B.A. from Indiana University and a B.A. in economics from DePauw University.

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Gretchen A. Winter
Executive Director, Center for Professional Responsibility in
Business and Society at College of Business
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ms. Winter is the Executive Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (the "Center"). Her office is located at the Illini Center in Chicago, and she is a frequent speaker for a variety of ethics, corporate social responsibility, and legal programs within and outside of the United States.

Ms. Winter chaired the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association Board of Directors and the Conference Board's Council on Global Business Conduct, and she has been on ethics committees for the American Bar Association and DePaul University. She co-authored an article-- "International Business Standards: The Competitive Imperative"-- that appeared in the Thunderbird International Business Review as well as an article-- "Breathing Life into Your Company's Code of Conduct"-- that appeared in the ACCA Docket.

Prior to joining the Center, she worked for 18 years at Baxter International Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois. She served for more than a decade as Vice President and Counsel, Business Practices/Ethics and Compliance and in that role developed the company's global ethics program and provided guidance to those who saw ethical dilemmas in their work. Baxter's business practice program received the Business Ethics Award from DePaul University Institute for Business and Professional Ethics and the Chicago Business Ethics Award, and the company was listed frequently as one of the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Officer (f/k/a Business Ethics) magazine. Earlier in her career at Baxter, Ms. Winter also held legal and management roles in labor and employment, employee relations, training and development, and reengineering; she served on the editorial board of the company's annual sustainability report. Ms. Winter also has worked as an attorney with the firm of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson in Chicago and as a legislative analyst with the State of Illinois.

Ms. Winter received her J.D. from the University of Chicago and her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She serves on the Board of Visitors for the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, chaired the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees, served as a member of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and has been an active member of several other state educational boards. Ms. Winter has chaired boards and committees for community organizations including Leadership Greater Chicago, Pegasus Players, and Lutheran Child and Family Services.

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Ken Lee
National President
Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA)

Ken Lee started as a part-time employee at UPS while still in college in 1971. He retired in 2008 as the Vice-President of Security for the US Operations. Ken was the first Asian Pacific American to attain the title of Vice President and was one of the highest ranking APAs at UPS. During his career, Ken served on UPS corporate diversity committee and was a leading activist for Asian community affairs. Ken was and still is an active mentor and role model for other Asian employees.

Ken is the President of OCA National which is headquartered in Washington, DC. He served in several other OCA capacities prior to his current role. These positions include National OCA Executive Vice President, OCA National VP of Chapter Development, OCA National VP of Economic Development, as well as OCA-Georgia Chapter President from 1999 to 2000 when Atlanta hosted the 2000 OCA National Convention.

In addition to his current responsibilities as the National OCA President, Ken serves on the Diversity Advisory Council for Georgia Power, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity. Ken also serves on the Comcast & NBC Universal Joint Diversity Council established in 2011.

Ken is active with other community organizations in his home town. He was the advisor for "Chopstix for Charity", a fund-raising organization aimed at increasing awareness for Asian human service organizations in the Metro Atlanta area. Ken was an honorary board advisor to the Association of Chinese Professionals and worked closely with the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) in Atlanta. Ken has served on the USPAAC Southeast chapter board and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation board in San Francisco, California.

Ken was selected by UPS to be the recipient of the OCA National Asian Pacific American Corporate Achievement Award in 1997. He was honored by “Who’s Who in Asian American Communities” 2006, Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business 2006 and LEAP’s prestigious Leadership Award in 2009.
Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Ken’s parents and grandparents emigrated from the suburbs of Guangzhou, China in the early 1900s. Ken currently lives in Duluth, Georgia with his wife Ashley and their daughter Vincy.

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Curt Wang
EVP Marketing, Admissions & Corporate Sales
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Curt Wang is the Executive Vice President of Marketing, Admissions and Corporate Sales for Lake Forest Graduate School of Management (LFGSM). Winner of the LFGSM Teaching Excellence award, he is also a Marketing Professor at LFGSM and was Adjunct Marketing Faculty at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Previously he held positions as a Principal at the innovation and brand consulting firm Kuczmarski & Associates and as a Director at the marketing research firm Information Resources, Inc.

He has led brand strategy and new product development consulting engagements for companies such as S.C. Johnson, General Mills, JCAHO, Con Agra and Hewitt Associates. He led a two-week Brand Excellence course for top Whirlpool executives and has conducted seminars at Allstate, IBM, Kraft, General Mills, and S.C. Johnson. Applying the branding principles used by major corporations to personal careers to help individuals be more successful and fulfilled at work, Curt has presented “Building Your Personal Brand” to hundreds of business professionals to rave reviews.

He started his career in brand management positions at the Quaker Oats Company and Miller Brewing Company. He holds an MBA in Marketing, Strategy and Organizational Behavior from Northwestern University and a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also is an Executive Coach to successful, smart and creative business professionals (www.maketheleapcoaching) and is a graduate of Coach U.

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Jim Lew
Diversity Trainer, Speaker, Author

Jim Lew has trained, consulted, and been a presenter to numerous business and civic organizations ranging from the public sector to top corporations. Jim applies skills learned in therapeutic milieus to business situations to deal with difficult organizational problems. He has consulted with Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as the President of Hyatt. Jim has been training and presenting in the area of Diversity since the mid eighties. His clients include a variety of companies and organizations across the nation.

Jim has been self employed since 1982. Prior to that he was a teacher in the Chicago School System, a social worker for the State of Illinois, an employee with the Federal Office of Education as a trainer, system consultant, and presenter. Since becoming an independent, Jim has trained and consulted with the coal industry, Hollywood producers, corrections institutions, police departments, city governments, as well as Fortune 500 corporations.

Jim was raised in the Midwest and received his B.A. from Grinnell College in Iowa (1970), where he was student body president. His family had a Chinese restaurant on Route 66 in Amarillo as a child and later lived in Wichita until he left for Grinnell in 1966. Jim settled in Chicago in 1970 after meeting Saul Alinsky and becoming interested in community organizing.

After Mr. Alinsky died in 1971 Jim decided to become a psychotherapist. He trained in Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, and became certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming. In 1982 he transferred his group skills and learning models to the corporate sector. Mr. Lew has a seventeen year relationship with members of the Lakota Tribe of Pine Ridge, S.D. Jim flies sailplanes, ultralights and gyrocopters.

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September 15th, 2011
AllState Insurance Company, Northbrook, IL


Registration & Networking




















Opening Remarks by Lee Henderson


Welcome Remarks by Mike Escobar
































Greetings during short break
















Panel Discussion


Frank Ng, Tamara Page, Collin Kebo and Gretchen A. Winter


Anu Krishnan (Moderator)
























































Breakout Sessions

Attendees had a choice to attend one of the following breakout sessions:

Utilize the required skills to Take the Driver’s Seat with Your Career – Ken Lee

By developing your leadership, this workshop will teach you how to improve your value to your company. You will also learn strategies on how to find mentors and become a mentor as a development tool.

Building Your Personal Brand – Curt Wang

With a strong brand you and your company both win because you come to mind for the right projects and the right career opportunities in your organization. Come learn how to build your personal brand - leading to increased credibility and career opportunity.

Choosing a Path with Heart: Preparation, Intention and Curiosity – Jim Lew

If you're here today, you are where you are supposed to be. Contrary to popular opinion, life is not about discovery, it's about active creation. Join us to hear how to make the choices that will help guide you to the right path for your career.

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Building Your Personal Brand
- Curt Wang




































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Choosing a Path with Heart: Preparation, Intention and Curiosity
- Jim Lew




























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Utilize the required skills to Take the Driver’s Seat with Your Career
- Ken Lee




















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