Aligning Your Organization to Fuel Innovation (Virtual)

Amy Palladino
EVP, Head of RPG Prism
Racepoint Global

Amy is Executive Vice President, Strategic Services at Racepoint Global where she leads the agency’s employee communications and change management practice, RPG Prism™.  After years working at global agencies, including at Ketchum, where she led integrated and change communications programs for global brands IKEA, Nokia, and Philips, Amy chose to focus exclusively on executive, change, and employee communications. Most recently vice president, executive communications at Gartner, she previously ran her own employee communications and change management consultancy, serving a range of tech-forward brands and those using technology to transform their business, including Activision Blizzard, Estée Lauder, IBM, Pearson Education, Pfizer, and Quest Diagnostics.

Annie Merkle
Senior Advisor
Accordant Advisors

Annie works with executives and leadership teams to support them in achieving their organizational and business goals. She has expertise in organization development, leadership development, change management, and service excellence. Her specializations include organization assessment and strategy, facilitation, program design, and executive coaching.

Annie has twenty years of consulting experience working with diverse organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies within Higher Education, Technology, Pharmaceuticals, and Non-Profit. Annie recently returned to consulting four years after joining a client’s leadership team as Associate Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Engagement in IT at New York University, where she also served as a Global Inclusion Officer.

Annie has a master’s degree in organizational psychology from Columbia University, a bachelor’s from University of Michigan and Leadership Coaching Certification from the acclaimed Newfield Network. She holds US & Swiss citizenship, speaks French, and lives in Connecticut with her family.

Ara Tucker
Chief People Officer
Flatiron Health

Ara Tucker is the Chief People Officer at Flatiron Health. In this role she oversees Flatiron’s employee experience—including attracting, retaining, and developing a diverse and inclusive team; evolving Flatiron's hybrid culture to enhance learning and speed; and guiding its enterprise strategy to amplify employee engagement and impact. Prior to joining Flatiron, Ara was Chief People Officer at Cityblock Health. As Senior Vice President and Head of Talent and Culture at Audible, Ara played a formative role scaling talent, culture, and employee experience. 

Ara also maintains an active practice as an artist and storyteller, focusing on the intersection of race, class, gender, sexual orientation as well as intergenerational memory and trauma with a particular interest in how these intersections warp daily life.

Ara graduated from the New York University School of Law and has her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in Art History and Visual Arts. She currently serves as a member of the MoMA PS1 Board of Directors Executive and Building Committees and as Chair of the Audit Committee. 

Ara is married to the artist Hilary Harkness and they split their time between Bernardsville, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York.