Get to Know Our Speakers and Facilitators

Our Keynote Speaker

Doug Edgeton, MPH, MBA, President and CEO, NCBiotech

Doug Edgeton became NCBiotech’s president and CEO in September 2014. He brings extensive executive-level experience in health care from major academic medical centers, research park development and business administration, including an emphasis on community service.

Throughout his career, Edgeton has managed both human resources (talent) and facilities, helping them work in concert to create the right ecosystem for organizational growth. This approach led to more efficient organizations, faster technology transfer and better patient care. Edgeton continues this approach at the Biotech Center, targeting state investment and staff expertise to help North Carolina’s life science companies grow, create jobs, and bring life-changing technologies to market.

At Wake Forest University, he held senior executive, administrative and financial roles with the medical school and health system. Early in his tenure, he and his team developed a strategic planning process and implemented business management principles for the medical school. This laid the groundwork for the Piedmont Triad Research Park and eventually the integration of Wake Forest’s medical school and North Carolina Baptist Hospital.

Edgeton then took on broader responsibilities including participation on the team led by Richard Dean, M.D., that recruited Anthony Atala, M.D., and 24 faculty members to establish the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine in 2004. WFIRM is known worldwide for its projects that create engineered human tissue and organs to treat a wide range of ailments, including battlefield wounds.

Edgeton directed development of the 230-acre PTRP, now Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. This included managing, from concept to completion, the renovation of two tobacco production facilities into Wake Forest Biotech Place, completed in 2012. The public-private partnership involving the university, the city of Winston-Salem, the state of North Carolina and the federal government created cutting-edge research space and incubator facilities for startup companies.

Edgeton’s influence was also strong in the evolution of Wake Forest University Health Sciences and North Carolina Baptist Hospital into one organization with a single CEO. Edgeton co-led the two teams that worked out strategic, logistical and operational details of the reorganization. After the reorganization, he worked to combine the executive teams from the two separate entities, hiring key staff to complete the team.

Following those successes at Wake Forest, he joined NCBiotech in 2012 as senior vice president for financial planning and development. He was responsible for the top-to-bottom examination of programs, staffing and finances following a 27 percent cut to the Center’s state appropriation in 2013. The examination was led by a Board of Directors committee, chaired by former GlaxoSmithKline Chairman Bob Ingram, at the request of the General Assembly, and resulted in an addition of $1 million to the Center’s state appropriation.

Prior to joining Wake Forest, Edgeton served in central administration and hospital administration for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He spent the last six years of his tenure with UAB in the School of Medicine, which included terms as assistant dean for resource management and associate dean for administration and finance.

Edgeton received his B.S. degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and MPH and MBA degrees from UAB. Edgeton has extensive involvement in professional, community and civic organizations. He lives in Raleigh with his wife. They have two adult children. 

Follow Doug on LinkedIn.

Our Panelists

Emma Browning, MA, MBA, Director, Paradox Consulting Partners

Emma Browning is a management consultant with almost 20 years of consulting experience in the areas of organization design and talent strategy. She is passionate about creating productive organizations, enabling innovation, and changing systems.

Emma founded Paradox Consulting Partners in 2016. Prior to starting the company, she spent a decade at a large national HR consulting firm. She has consulted to clients in a number of industries including software, technology, bioscience, finance, insurance, manufacturing, education, and healthcare. Specific consulting expertise spans organization design, organization performance, culture change, career paths and strategies, compensation and incentive plan design, systems change, employee experience, sales organization strategy, talent strategy, and equitable process design. Her past clients include a number of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies and household names such as Microsoft, Cisco, Caterpillar, and the National Football League (NFL). 
As the leader of a Certified B Corporation, she is passionate about the capacity for business to create positive impact and change. She serves on the Board for the Wake Education Partnership, a nonprofit that connects the Triangle business community to the Wake County Public School System. She is also an active member of the WFU Center for Private Business, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, and the North Carolina Business Council.

Emma holds a BA from Wake Forest University and MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She has a Compensation Management Specialist (CMS) certification from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP).  In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her kids and family and exploring the dynamic business and arts scene in the Triangle.

Andrea Derler, Ph.D., Visier

Andrea Derler, PhD., is Visier's Principal of Research and Value, where she collaborates with Visier’s team of data scientists, People Analytics experts as well as HR professionals to help produce data-based and practical insights for organizations.

As a previous human capital analyst and organizational researcher, Andrea brings a research, science and consulting background to her role. In the past 15 years, she studied a variety of topics including leadership strategy and development, talent and performance management, DEI, organizational change and transformation, and organizational growth mindset in organizations.

Her work is widely publicized in the US and Europe, and her contributions have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Manager Magazine, Wirtschaftswoche, FastCompany, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Chief Learning OfficerFORMAT, the Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, and more. 

M. Jayne Fleener, Ph.D., Dean and Professor Emerita, North Carolina State University

Jayne Fleener is an educational futurist. She was recently appointed to the international board of The Centre for Postnormal Policy and Future Studies and is an active member of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) and the World Federation of Futures Studies (WFFS). Her current research and engagement activities extend her work in K-12 and adult and higher education to consider the future of education and work. She is the chief editor of the book series “Living in an Age of Transformation” and recently co-authored the book Learning and Leading in an Age of Transformation (https://www.diopress.com/product-page/learning-and-leading-in-an-age-of-transformation ).

Dr. Fleener has served as a faculty member and senior academic leader at North Carolina State University (NC State), Louisiana State University (LSU), and the University of Oklahoma (OU). Her leadership roles have included dean (LSU and NC State), associate dean (OU), and program coordinator (OU and NC State) in the respective colleges of education. 

Our Facilitators

Joseph Henderson, MHR, PHR, Vice President, Talent & Culture Development, NCBiotech

Joseph Henderson joined NCBiotech in November 2020 as the manager of talent and culture development. As vice president of talent & culture development, he leads the team that performs the full spectrum of operational human resources functions—benefits, payroll, recruitment, and more—in support of NCBiotech’s staff. He also leads culture development initiatives with the input of NCBiotech’s senior leadership team.  

Joseph attended Columbus State University and received a bachelor’s degree in communication. He also holds master’s degrees in both human relations and international relations from the University of Oklahoma. He also holds a Professional of Human Resources (PHR) Certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute.  

Joseph has 15+ years of professional experience in various human resource specializations. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and the NC National Guard. Joseph continues to interact with the veteran community by volunteering as a career counselor for veterans and their spouses through a local nonprofit. 

Before joining NCBiotech, Joseph held human resource roles such as senior human resource analyst, human resource manager, recruitment associate and human resource generalist. He has worked in industries such as retail, higher education, nonprofits and government. Joseph enjoys being an active member in local professional development organizations, coaching and consulting. 

Joe is also Vice President of the TODN Board of Directors.

Follow Joe on LinkedIn.

Kara Kirby, CEO and Founder, Insights Leadership Group

Kara Kirby is an experienced leadership consultant and CEO of Insights Leadership Group. With a passion for understanding human interactions in the workplace, she has spent the last 16 years developing programs that have propelled businesses and cultures to award-winning levels. Today, she works with organizations all over the world to achieve the same success. Based in North Carolina, Kara is a Texas native who enjoys spending time with her husband and two energetic boys. In her free time, she loves reading, hiking, and embarking on new adventures. She also hosts the podcast "Pop! On Leadership" which discusses organizational development themes through the lens of popular television.

Kara is also the Secretary of the TODN Board of Directors

Follow Kara on LinkedIn, IG and the Pop! On Leadership podcast

Thank you to our 2024 TODN Conference Sponsors!

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Want to be a sponsor?  Please complete the sponsorship form at https://forms.gle/oq9q71TZYgsCTjut7

Questions about the conference? Need accommodations?

Contact Conference Chair Kara Kirby.