Speakers

Serge Romero is the Chief of Staff of Bend Health. Bend Health is a national healthcare provider revolutionizing the treatment of mental health conditions for kids and teens through a novel data-driven technology platform and evidence-based collaborative care model that enables the first scalable and integrated care solution.

Serge Romero is an experienced health sector leader who specializes in launching new products, translating strategy to execution, and fielding high performing teams.

Professional background:

• [Current] Chief of Staff at Bend Health leading strategic planning, continuous improvement, and critical initiatives.
• [Recently] Head of M&A Integrations and Strategic Initiatives at a PE-backed contract development and manufacturing startup. Partnered with leadership team to define operating models, build cross-functional roadmaps, and manage execution
• [Previously] 5 years at medical device company, Exact Sciences leading product launches, maturing operation and processes, and building the organization’s change muscle
• [Background] 5 years at Booz Allen and IBM as a management consultant leading engagements across sectors
• Holds a MA from Columbia University in Organizational Psychology, MS from UW-Madison in Biotechnology, and BA from UW-Madison in Economics and East Asian Studies

Sarah Giencke is a Nervous System and Resilience Coach who is Certified in TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises). She is Founder of Riset Resiliency, a wellness consultancy. Through her work, she helps people reclaim power and balance over their nervous systems so that they can live less stressful and more peaceful lives. Having worked in many various organizations, across multiple industries, Sarah understands the deep connection between a body’s physical trauma responses to the environmental impact – such as adverse work cultures. Sarah places an emphasis on helping build resilience and being trauma-informed through mindfulness, meditative practices and the somatic tool: TRE® (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises). Sarah offers these sessions with the goal of empowering individuals to improve their well-being and for organizations, to help drive culture change at scale.

After starting his career at IBM during the Y2K days, Spencer X Smith has always been an early adopter of new technology so he can better teach others what he’s learned. He’s given over 300 in-person speeches, including presentations at the New York Stock Exchange, Gillette Stadium in Boston, and The Superdome in New Orleans. Spencer is a graduate of the Economics of Blockchain & Digital Assets program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He also teaches Digital Asset Forensics for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jamie Perez is a videographer and storyteller at heart. After six years of being a TV News reporter, she decided to leave the career she thought she would be in forever to focus on heartfelt, impactful stories. Her career as a broadcast journalist moved her across the country from California to Iowa and eventually Wisconsin, where she covered tragedy, triumphs, politics, community events, and burdened our blizzards and severe weather on live TV. As a reporter, Jamie did everything as a one-woman band from finding her own stories to setting up interviews, filming everything, editing everything, presenting it in front of the camera, writing up the web story and doing it all over again day after day. Jamie said doing it all prepared her to be able to run her videography and storytelling business as a solopreneur. She is driven by emotional storytelling and has a passion for creating empathy through videos. Jamie’s videos have helped organizations fundraise, hire staff, promote events, generate leads, and brand and market themselves in new ways that make other people care about them. Her business, Beyond Words Productions, is a BBB Accredited business based in the Madison, WI area.

Ben has always loved introducing people to products, information, and experiences that will better their professional or personal lives. Since 2010, he has been helping patients around the world use the internet to find the treatment best suited for them. In addition to his work at RehabPath, Ben is also on the board of StartingBlock Madison and Capital Entrepreneurs.