Deadlines
2018 Women in Leadership Conference
Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett serves as President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, established in 2008 to continue the legacy of her father, the late Congressman Tom Lantos. Under her leadership, The Lantos Foundation has rapidly become a distinguished and respected voice on key human rights concerns.
Dr. Lantos Swett is the former Chair and Vice-Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and teaches Human Rights and American Foreign Policy at Tufts University. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and the Budapest based Tom Lantos Institute. Dr. Lantos Swett also serves on the Advisory Board of UN Watch, the annual Anne Frank Award and Lecture, and The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Policy.
Lantos Swett earned a Political Science degree from Yale University at the age of 18, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a PhD in History from The University of Southern Denmark.
Swett is married to former Congressman and Ambassador Richard Swett. They are parents of seven children and 2 grandchildren. They live in New Hampshire.
Breakout Speakers
Candace currently serves on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and began her first term in June 2012. In 2016 she ran unopposed and was re-elected to another four-year term. Previously, Candace was on the Danville Town Council from 2003 through June 2012, serving two terms as Mayor. In her role as County Supervisor, Candace sits on 24 local and regional boards and commissions addressing planning and land use, transportation, pensions, mental health, healthcare, reuse and recycling, economic development, and public safety.
Candace also served on the Morgan Hill City Council in the early 1990's. She is licensed to practice law in California and Hawaii, and began her legal career as a Prosecuting Attorney in her hometown of Honolulu. She put her legal career on hold to serve the community and raise her family.
Candace received both her B.A. in Public Policy (1982) and Juris Doctorate (1985) from Brigham Young University. She attended Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii from K-12.
Along with her responsibilities on the Board of Supervisors, Candace remains an active volunteer in the community, working with the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, on the Guyette Leadership Fellows Mentoring Board at St. Mary’s College, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she teaches a Gospel Doctrine class and has served in Public Affairs for the past 21 years. Previous callings have included serving in presidencies of the Young Women and Primary, as a pianist, teacher, and a Ward Missionary.
She and her husband, attorney Philip M. Andersen (JRCLS, 1984), have been married for 34 years and are the parents of six children ranging in age from 20 to 32, have three daughters-in-law, a son-in-law, and five grandchildren.
Bonnie Brinton Anderson is the Douglas and Effie Driggs Professor of Information Systems at Brigham Young University. She also serves as the department chair of the Information Systems Department. She has been at BYU since receiving her PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001.
In addition to teaching classes on user experience design and technical LEADERSHIP, Dr. Anderson is currently engaged in research in the intersection of neuroscience (fMRI, EEG, eye-tracking) and behavioral information systems security. Dr. Anderson and her colleagues use these neurophysiological tools to examine not only how computer users respond to computer security messages, but also why users respond the way they do. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation and the White House Brain Initiative as well as a Google Faculty Research Grant. She has presented her work internationally.
Dr. Anderson enjoys learning as she researches. Her first passion is her husband and four daughters. Her hobbies include traveling, playing the harp, family activities and the occasional shark encounter.
Jennifer Anderson has nearly 20 years as a career strategist. Jennifer consults with national and international companies to improve careers for employees, improving team morale and helping companies to retain their top talent. Jennifer is the Chief Inspiration Officer and creator of the 3am With God journal. She seeks to help people with leveraging inspiration from God to make a difference in their homes, communities and at work.
She is sought after as a speaker about career management and has addressed groups such as Public Relations Society of America, American Marketing Association, American Women’s Society of CPAs, the Structural Engineering Association, and more.
Jennifer is a regular contributor to media with guest appearances on KSL News, The Matt Townsend Show, various podcasts and Deseret News. Jennifer is published in Forbes and is ranked as a “Top 40 to Follow” on Twitter. For more information and to get in touch with Jennifer, you can find her at: www.CareerCoachJen.com or www.3amWithGod.com.
Elizabeth A. Clark is Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University. Professor Clark has written and edited numerous books and articles on comparative and U.S. law and religion issues. In her work with the Center, she has taken part in drafting commentaries and legal analyses of pending legislation affecting religious freedom around the world and has written amicus briefs on religious freedom issues for the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Clark has taught Professional Responsibility and co-taught classes on Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, International Human Rights, and European Union law at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University. Professor Clark has also testified before the U.S. Congress on religious freedom issues.
Prior to joining the BYU Law School, Professor Clark was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Mayer, Brown & Platt, where she was a member of the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Group. Professor Clark also clerked for Judge J. Clifford Wallace on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated summa cum laude from BYU’s law school, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the BYU Law Review.
Gayla Moss Sorenson graduated from BYU magna cum laude with a B.S. in Accounting and then earned her J.D. cum laude from BYU Law School. At the law school, she participated in Moot Court, represented the school at a national level, and was a member of the Order of Barristers. Beginning her legal career at the law firm Lewis & Roca in Phoenix, she moved to Motorola as in-house counsel working as a litigator, then a commercial attorney supporting global transactions, and finally ending her twenty years there as a Vice President and senior legal advisor.
Following her marriage, she left Motorola, moved to Indiana, and became the Director of Global Compliance Operations for Biomet, Inc., a medical device company. Here she focused on promoting compliance with anti-corruption laws and on implementing recently issued regulations associated with the Affordable Care Act. Three years ago her career took an unexpected turn when she accepted a position as Dean of Admissions for BYU Law School, combining her passion for legal education, her love of BYU, and the opportunity to meet amazing potential law students while associating with dedicated, talented colleagues. In 2016 the students of BYU Law honored her with the Student Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award. In January of 2018 she moved into the role of Dean of External Relations where she enjoys working more closely with the engaged community of BYU Law alumni and Clark Law Society members.
Sorenson’s legal training has empowered her to serve in numerous settings. For many years, her volunteer work focused on children as she served on a local Big Brothers/Big Sisters Board of Directors and acted as a guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children. She actively participates in the J. Reuben Clark Law Society and has served as a Senior Fellow with the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. She has spoken in venues ranging from Clark Law Society conferences to BYU Education Week on topics ranging from the importance of religious freedom for people of all faiths, the value of advocacy, and other substantive legal areas.
As a member of a large, close-knit family, she cherishes her relationships with parents, six siblings, their spouses, and twenty-one nieces and nephews. In her mid-forties, mutual friends set her up with Ferril Sorenson whose wife had died from cancer a year earlier. Following a long-distance courtship (she lived in Philadelphia, and he lived in San Francisco), they were married. Sorenson became a wife, mother, and grandmother all on the same day. In the decade since, this large, close-knit family has expanded to include additional in-laws and twelve, soon to be thirteen, grandchildren.
Lori L. Wadsworth is the MPA program director and department chair of the Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University. She received her MPA from BYU and then went on to pursue a PhD in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at the University of Utah.
Professor Wadsworth’s research focuses on work-family interaction, particularly how organizations can assist employees in managing their work-life integration. Within this general theme, her research interests include social support, flexible benefits, alternative work schedules, and mentoring. Her research has been published in Public Administration Review, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Public Personnel Management, and Journal of Managerial Psychology. She teaches the MPA Capstone course and Ethics in Management. She and her husband, Kim, have eight children and live in Provo, Utah.