Faculty
Conference Chair
Josh Wyatt
Josh Wyatt has recently joined the team in Tucson at the University of Arizona as the director of talent development.
He discovered his passion for training and talent management while working at Envision EMI in the Washington, D.C., area. After seven years, he left Washington, D.C., for the newly created position of training and talent development manager at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of Development. While at UNC-CH he worked to develop a comprehensive talent management strategy involving recruiting, onboarding, training, and developing 350+ frontline fundraisers and support staff. This included the implementation and administration of a Learning Management System, a full e-learning catalog of courses specific to Blackbaud CRM and dedicated moves management cohorts for development officers and aspiring development officers.
Wyatt holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in criminal justice from James Madison University.
Faculty
Sonya Allen
Sonya Allen is the associate director of talent acquisition at UF Advancement. In addition to driving the talent acquisition strategy for the Talent Management department, she serves as a talent management partner to hiring managers, college HR representatives, and central HR by providing advice and support on broad issues related to workforce planning, culture and engagement, and talent development. With more than 11 years of experience in advancement, she has grown the talent acquisition program at UF Advancement and developed tools and resources to aid in the search for top talent.
Allen has been a driving force in the creation of UF Advancement’s diversity initiative. She co-leads the diversity and inclusion group called H.A.N.D. (Helping Advancement Nurture Diversity). This group strives to create an inclusive environment that reflects the UF community and the community it serves.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Central Florida and Professional Human Resources (PHR) Certification from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Steve Filipiak
Steve Filipiak has been in his current role as divisional human resources director for the advancement division at Virginia Tech since December 2017. He provides strategic human resources leadership within development, alumni relations, and university relations.
Prior to Virginia Tech, Filipiak served in several human resources leadership roles at MIT including human resources officer with the School of Science and HR manager supporting Campus Construction, Campus Planning and Information Systems and Technology. He has more than 20 years of experience in providing guidance to managers and executives in leveraging human resources programs to drive results within higher education and the private sector.
Alexis Kanda-Olmstead
Alexis serves as the director of advancement talent management at Dartmouth College where she helps people maximize their potential to achieve organizational priorities. Her responsibilities include shaping the overarching strategy for talent management, coaching leaders and supervisors, and designing training and professional development programs for 250 staff.
Alexis believes people should be engaged by their work and have the opportunity for continuous growth and development. During her more than 20 years of experience in higher education, Alexis has delivered educational experiences to hundreds of staff and students, led award-winning diversity and inclusion initiatives, and started two talent management departments. She is the founder of AKO Collective, a women's leadership development company that offers training to women and girls, and presents nationally on gender-related topics.
Alexis holds a bachelor's degree in organizational studies from the University of Michigan, a master's degree in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University, and a certificate in organization development from Colorado State University. She is a certified StrengthsQuest Educator, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner, and TEDx Speaker.