TEDxClaremont Graduate University

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Aaron Robbins

  President and Co-Founder of Intrinsic First, LLC

  Aaron Robbins is a leadership consultant, researcher, and founder of Intrinsic First, where he helps organizations build stronger leaders and healthier workplace cultures using the science of human motivation. With a background spanning engineering, executive leadership, and organizational psychology, he bridges the technical and human sides of performance. Aaron is currently pursuing a PhD in Organizational Behavior Psychology and is the creator of an AI-powered leadership practice platform designed to help people strengthen—not outsource—their critical skills. His work explores how emerging technologies like AI can either erode or elevate the psychological foundations that help us thrive.

• Brian Driscoll

  Partner at McChrystal Group

  Brian Driscoll served for over two decades as a Special Agent with the FBI and the national security community. He held several senior leadership roles, including executive lead of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, where he oversaw special operations and crisis response programs. He led extraterritorial terrorism investigations on the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and managed a squad focused on child exploitation and human trafficking. Brian was appointed interim Director of the FBI in 2025. From 2022 to January 2025, he commanded the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team, leading national tactical operations. Previously, he served eight years as a tactical operator, earning the FBI Medal of Valor and Shield of Bravery. Brian is now a partner at McChrystal Group and a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He holds a BA degree from Villanova University and a MA degree from Pepperdine University.

• Em Cyr

  Doctoral Student in Positive Organizational Psychology at CGU

  Em Cyr is an organizational psychology doctoral candidate and EMS educator focused on resilience, emotional labor, and psychological safety in high-stress professions. With a background in emergency medical services and workforce development, Em studies how systems shape well-being and performance — and how organizations can design cultures that support recovery, not just endurance.

• James Knight

  Customer Innovation Lead @ Google

  James Knight is an innovation strategist who helps organizations unlock the latent creativity within their teams. As a Principal Strategist at Google Cloud’s Sunnyvale innovation center, he partners with Fortune 500 executives to accelerate their adoption of groundbreaking technologies. Previously, James founded No Nerds, No Problem, where he guided early-stage founders to build, launch, and scale over fifty disruptive products. He is also a Doctoral Fellow in the Positive Organizational Psychology program at Claremont Graduate University, researching the science of creativity and innovation. When he isn't exploring the future of work, James can usually be found wrangling his four children, lost in a jazz-induced fugue on the piano, or enjoying a glass of wine with his wife on the patio.

• Jessica Diaz

  Professor, Organizational Psychologist, and Consultant

  Jessica Diaz, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist focused on helping leaders diagnose and reshape the conditions driving employee experience and performance. She is a professor & researcher at Claremont Graduate University, where she directs ExCo: The Employee Experience Collective, a research and practice lab dedicated to advancing authentic and empowered experiences at work. With over two decades of experience leading teams and developing people, she partners with organizations to strengthen leadership, culture, and the underlying systems that shape how work gets done. Jessica’s approach blends rigorous research with practical tools, grounded in data and systems thinking, to help leaders move beyond quick fixes and get to what’s actually driving results. She is known for helping leaders see patterns others miss and for making complex challenges understandable and actionable. Her work helps leaders move beyond surface-level solutions to address the conditions that shape outcomes.

• Julie Dixon

  President at Dixon Resources Unlimited

  Julie Dixon is the President and Founder of Dixon Resources Unlimited, a woman-owned parking and mobility consulting firm serving municipalities across the United States. With more than 35 years of experience, she began her career in parking enforcement and rose to become a nationally recognized leader in curb management, policy, and operations. Julie is a Ph.D. candidate in Executive Management at Claremont Graduate University and an award-winning industry professional. Passionate about equity, access, and community impact, her work helps cities design parking systems that are practical, data-driven, and centered on real human behavior.

• Luciana Simion

  Organizational Behavior Consultant & Business Law Attorney

  Luciana Simion, JD, MBA, is an organizational behavior specialist, business law attorney, and educator, bringing a rare interdisciplinary lens to questions of fairness, emotional labor, and organizational legitimacy in increasingly automated environments. As a Ph.D. candidate at Claremont Graduate University, she studies AI-mediated interactions, with a particular focus on emotions, power, and organizational justice. Her research explores how individuals interpret and respond to perceived injustice, especially when decisions, communication, and relationships are filtered through intelligent systems. She contributes to the AI Hub at Cal State San Marcos and serves on the AI Subcommittee within the SIOP's Committee for the Advancement of Professional Ethics (CAPE). A frequent conference speaker, Luciana challenges organizations to move beyond efficiency-driven adoption of AI and ask a more fundamental question: what does it mean to remain human in systems that are no longer fully human?

• Sydney Lynn Becker

  Biology and Psychology Student at Scripps College

  Sydney Becker is an undergraduate student at Scripps College studying biology and psychology, whose primary interests are caring for animals and the world they inhabit. Sydney’s experiences range from hands-on work with animals in both captive and wild settings to fieldwork in Tanzania, where she assisted with GPS collaring of elephants. Working in these areas has driven her curiosity about how animals adapt, communicate, and behave in different environments. She is especially interested in the parallels and contrasts between wild and captive lives, as well as in the responsibility humans hold in shaping both. Through her work, she hopes to encourage more thoughtful and ethical relationships with both animals and conservation.

• William A. Mundell

  Chairman at Neurosphere Entertainment

  William Mundell has had a career spanning finance, public policy, and entertainment. He has served as CEO and Chairman of multiple companies and currently leads two mission‑driven organizations: Neurosphere Entertainment and Work to Own, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding economic mobility. His film work includes the acclaimed documentary Better Angels and the political feature Gerrymandering, reflecting his long‑standing commitment to civic engagement and cross‑cultural understanding.