Meet Your Keynote and Subject Matter Experts for the Day

Roger Osorio- Keynote Speaker and Facilitator

Roger Osorio is a leadership engagement coach and speaker who is passionate about the intersection of leadership and innovation.  He believes that to drive innovative solutions and disrupt the market, leaders need to understand how to design the right environment, inspire their team with a vision, and guide them through failure and success.

Roger is also a Startup Weekend organizer and facilitator, math coach, and educational leadership consultant.

Roger looks forward to sharing a few perspectives of innovation and the role leadership plays in driving success.

Subject Matter Expert in Communications

Kari Clevenger

Kari Clevenger has been with the Avila Advantage program for the last 14 years.  Now serving as Assistant Dean, she works closely with student advisement and overall program management. 
Utilizing her Organizational Development background, Kari also enjoys teaching for the School of Professional Studies.

Subject Matter Expert in Instructional Design, Curriculum Development 

Mark Eaton, Ph. D.

Dr. Eaton is an Associate Professor with the School of Professional Studies and a Senior Instructional Systems Designer within Information Services. Courses that Dr. Eaton teaches or designed are listed here. Within Information Services, he and the Instructional Resources team manage the online learning environment and provide educational technology support to Avila faculty. Dr. Eaton also supports faculty with instructional design services through the Center for Transformational Learning. His professional experience includes leadership positions in communications and computer systems maintenance support organizations as well as training organizations within the healthcare information technology industry. He is a retired Air Force officer with 24 years of active duty service.

Subject Matter Expert in Diversity and Inclusion and Human Resources

Michael A. Gonzales

Leader, Corporate Diversity & Inclusion; Human Resource Professional.  Responsible for Corporate Diversity & Inclusion’s strategies and direction, Diversity & Inclusion’s internal and external collaborations, partnerships, support and compliance.

Leads the collaboration and is responsible for the execution of the Corporate Diversity & Inclusion’s efforts regarding, workforce, workplace, marketplace and community priorities.  Michael sustains the relevance of the company’s Diversity & Inclusion business case while overseeing the company’s six Employee Resource Groups.  He’s skilled in the areas of building critical relations, innovation and resourcing, business collaboration, employee relations, diverse and cultural understandings, compliance metrics and program management

History and portfolio includes;  board positions that reflect progress against an aggressive and iterative scorecard, a partner in creating the KC D&I Forum, partnered in creating a Hispanic college student mentoring program involving education and business leaders. He is a frequent resource to fellow Diversity & Inclusion and Human Resource colleagues from the business and higher education communities on topics of Diversity & Inclusion and ERG’s.

Subject Matter Expert in Recruiting 

Charity Horina 

Charity Horina has been writing resumes, coaching candidates, and advising hiring managers throughout her career in recruiting and sales. She specializes in finding the right candidates and guiding both interviewer and interviewees through often-complex hiring processes to a fruitful end.

She currently leads recruiting for all sales, analytical, legal, and support roles for American Express's Global Corporate Payments division.  Previously she brought on new clientele, including Fortune 1000 companies, and conducted recruitment at Shelgin Partners, an independent  recruiting agency, and was in outside sales at the Cintas Corporation. 

Charity holds a Bachelor of Science in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois University and is a United States Air Force veteran. She resides near St. Louis, MO.

Subject Matter Expert in Marketing and Advertising

J. ANTHONY SNORGRASS, Ph. D., MCRP, AICP
 

J. Anthony Snorgrass possesses outstanding credentials in advertising, management, administration, and brand development. He received his Ph.D. from Walden University's School of Public Policy and Administration focusing on new media communications in public policy environments and non-profit management. He also holds two Master's degrees from the Ohio State University and a B.A. from the University of Kansas. He is certified as an Economic Development Specialist (EDS) by the National Development Council and has national certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Snorgrass specializes in new media, augmented reality applications, accessibility, universal design strategies, brand cultivation, and diversity marketing.

Subject Matter Expert in Tranformational Learning and Metacognition 

Andria Hilvitz-Stokes Ed. D.

Dr. Stokes' specialty is cognitive education. Her commitment to life-long learning of P-20 students can be seen in the diverse positions she has held and organizations she has worked for. From authorship of publications such as Moving Toward Cognitive Excellence, Finding Out Real Knowledge, Powerful Learning Communities: Design and Implementation for the Changing World of Higher Education, and Decision Making Behind the Use of Metacognitive Pedagogy within Education Methodology Coursework: An exploratory case study to creation of the Avila Center for Transformational learning facilitating deep understanding and conceptual thinking systems has always been a goal.

Dr. Stokes' current work is to create opportunities for faculty, students, and the community to create learning legacies based on the following four principles:

• using critique to evoke change
• problem-solving by taking action
• using inquiring during interdisciplinary reflection
• using experience as a capacity to lead