Steady in the Storm: Helping Early Talent and Teams Navigate Uncertainty and Change

Dominique Hollins, Founder, WĒ360

Dominique M. Hollins is a strategic business and operations leader with nearly two decades of experience driving inclusive transformation across the tech, SaaS, and Fortune 500 sectors. Her expertise spans executive coaching, process optimization, client success, and scalable program design, delivering impactful results for companies like eBay, Google, and Hone HQ. As the founder and CEO of WĒ360, Hollins has advised more than 30 global organizations, helping them embed equity into HR systems, improve employee experience, and align business operations with inclusive leadership values. She is widely recognized for bridging strategy and execution to create lasting change in complex, fast-paced environments. Hollins is currently pursuing a master’s degree in consciousness, psychology, and transformational studies. Her graduate work deepens her understanding of the human mind, emotional intelligence, and spiritual growth as they manifest in individuals, relationships, and systems. These studies inform her healing-centered, holistic approach to leadership and community empowerment. Hollins brings this integrative perspective to her role as a board member of The T.R.U.T.H. Project in Texas, where she is committed to advancing the emotional and cultural wellness of LGBTQIA+ communities of color through creative arts and transformative dialogue. As a sought-after speaker and facilitator, she is known for her authenticity, vision, and unwavering commitment to equity, belonging, and collective healing.

Matthew Golden, Assistant Vice Provost, Undergraduate & Master Life Design, The Johns Hopkins University

Matthew Golden is the assistant vice provost for undergraduate and masters life design at the Homewood Campus at Johns Hopkins University. He oversees a team of life design educators and operations staff. The Life Design Lab at Homewood engages students and alumni in life design, experiential learning, professional development, and connections with alumni and employers. Under Golden’s leadership, the Life Design Lab team established and redesigned many programs and initiatives, including the Life Design Summer Experience Practicum and summer grants; career treks; Your Turn to Intern program; and Future Fest, the reconceptualized annual career fair into two weeks of highly engaging programs that connect students with alumni, employers, and life design educators. Over his tenure, the Life Design Lab grew from 26 full-time employees to 36 full-time employees, adding critical support for employers, serving students in AAP, and increasing the support for first-generation and limited-income students. Previously, he served as the executive director of communications for the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. He cultivated teams focused on university program development and implementation, and multimedia content creation. He earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and English before acquiring his master’s in communications and marketing, all from Georgetown University.

David Mallon, Managing Director, Deloitte

David Mallon is a managing director at Deloitte Consulting LLP and leader for Deloitte’s Human Capital Research, Eminence, and Market Activation team. With more than 25 years of experience in human capital, he helps clients to sense, analyze, and make higher quality decisions at the ever-shifting intersection of work, workforce, workplace, and industry. Part of Deloitte since 2013, he is the former head of research for Bersin, a lead author for Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends study, and the cohost of the Capital H podcast. He is a sought-after researcher, thought leader, and speaker on organization design and culture, decision making, HR strategy and technology, talent, learning, and performance.  He holds a B.A. in English literature from Emory University and an M.S. in digital media from the Georgia Institute of Technology with focuses on computer-aided distance learning and storytelling in digital environments.

Alia Poonawala, Executive Director, Hire Hopkins, The Johns Hopkins University

Alia Poonawala is the executive director of Hire Hopkins at Johns Hopkins University, leading a comprehensive employer engagement strategy for more than 30K students. Under her leadership, job opportunities from employer partners have grown by 2X, spanning Fortune 500 companies, startups, government entities, and nonprofits. She has launched national, award-winning recruiting programs, led panels on AI in recruiting and Gen Z hiring trends for leaders from organizations like Oliver Wyman and the United Nations, and spoken at major forums including Handshake and SXSW Edu. Before joining Hopkins, she served as the general manager at Ironhack, where she positioned the organization among the top-ranked globally. She built and scaled student-success systems across multiple international campuses, forged hiring partnerships with companies such as Uber and Facebook, and drove enrollment growth of 10X over five years. Innovating at the intersection of education, talent strategy, and career outcomes, she designs programs that are both data-driven and deeply human. She is a trusted partner for organizations looking to elevate their impact.