Conference Summary
Bringing together almost 200 industry leaders and academic experts, the 7th Annual Culture Connect Conference will be held January 8-9, 2025 at Berkeley Haas. Following the theme “Steering Your Organization Through Transformative Times”, attendees and speakers will share insights, gather new ideas, and discuss the challenges in building high-performing, innovative, and supportive cultures in the age of rapidly evolving AI tools. Attendees and speakers come from more than 70 companies ranging across multiple sectors, such as healthcare, tech, and finance, and from disciplines including HR executives, researchers, and mid-to-senior level professionals interested in the latest insights and practices in organizational culture.
Corporate Day (January 9)
The corporate conference brings together industry and academic perspectives in three key areas:
- Integrating AI in the Workplace: Uncover how cutting-edge AI is reshaping job roles, fostering innovation, and driving operational excellence within organizations.
- Cultivating a culture of innovation and growth: Discover practical insights for boosting employee engagement, fostering creativity and innovation, and elevating productivity.
- Nurturing employee well-being and mental health: Gain actionable insights on building supportive workplace environments where everyone can thrive.
As in previous conferences, there will be featured talks and fireside chats with top leaders across industries, as well as presentations from renowned academic experts. Our academic keynote speakers represent a range of schools.
Corporate Conference Speakers
| Laszlo Bock, Co-founder of Humu, former SVP People Operations, Google |
| Tim Campos, CIO, Apple |
| Mathijs De Vaan, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business |
| Anil Doshi, Assistant Professor, UCL School of Management |
| Peter Fasolo, CHRO, Johnson & Johnson |
| Anastassia Fedyk, Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business |
| Rebecca Hinds, Head of The Work Innovation Lab, Asana |
| David Ko, CEO, Calm |
| Jackie Lane, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School |
| Tracy Layney, former EVP and CHRO, Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Gary Muszynski, CEO & Founder, Orchestrating Excellence |
| Emily Nix, Assistant Professor, USC Marshall |
| Bryan Seegmiller, Assistant Professor, Northwestern-Kellogg |
| Laura Shact, AI Leader for Human Capital Consulting, Deloitte |
| Alexandra Siegel, SVP and Chief Equality Officer, Salesforce |
| Matt Sigelman, Founder, Burning Glass Institute |
Academic Day (January 8)
The academic day explores the latest in organization culture research through presentations from scholars around the world who examine culture through their distinct lens (sociology, social psychology, economics, computer science). The day includes keynote talks for additional insight on evolving trends and tools.
Academic Conference Speakers
| Chris Bail, Professor, Duke University |
| Natalie Bau, Associate Professor, UCLA |
| Michael Morris, Professor, Columbia University |
| Diyi Yang, Assistant Professor, Stanford |
Edgar Schein Best Student Paper Award
The Edgar Schein Best Student Paper Award encourages the next generation of scholars and encourages work that builds connections across disciplines, is theoretically rich, and empirically rigorous. Last year around 708 abstracts were submitted to the Conference and rigorously reviewed by our academic board who then nominated 17 papers for the award. Calls for abstracts for this year’s conference are now closed.