Robert W. Woodruff Alumni Leadership Summit

Reminisce as you are guided around campus by current Woodruff Scholars and Fellows

Come join Robert W. Woodruff and Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholars, Fellows, and Alumni as we mix and mingle at New Realm Brewing off the Atlanta Beltline.

Turn Uncertainty into Possibility: Lead the Future

Glenda Eoyang

• Win the games you can and keep playing the ones that are never-ending
• Engage with three simple practices to turn turbulence and uncertainty into possibility
• Discover the creative power of dilemmas to drive change for yourself and your organization
• Learn a language that captures your intuitions and motivates a shared future

Apply what you learn directly to one of your most intractable issues. Use the simple, powerful Adaptive Action model to see the patterns in the problems that keep you stuck. Explore unconventional ways to shift those patterns and find freedom of thought and action. Finally, take a single action that can shift the problem into possibility. Practice this and a variety of other pattern-spotting tools throughout the Summit. At the end of the day, we will come together in shared sensemaking and prepare to lead the future, no matter what it brings with it.

Glenda Eoyang works with public and private organizations to help them thrive in the face of overwhelming complexity and uncertainty. She is a pioneer in the applications of complexity science to human systems, and she founded the field of human systems dynamics (HSD) in 2001. Around the world, HSD is applied to wicked problems ranging from early childhood education to violent extremism, public health, and corporate futures and strategy. Her foundational book, Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization is a guide for anyone who is facing Wicked Issues at any scale of human interaction. Her theory and practice provide a roadmap for those who live and work at the intersection of order and chaos.

Les Ottolenghi 94MBA

Surfing the Tsunami: Leading People Through Massive Disruption

Travis Dommert 00MBA

This interactive session will explore how leaders can not only withstand these forces but equip their people to thrive through them. Drawing on history, workforce trends, and the science of human behavior, we’ll examine why resistance to change is natural, why agility is now the most critical leadership competency, and how to “hack” our instincts to reframe disruption into opportunity. Together, we’ll practice tools and frameworks—including the pivotal question “What does this make possible?”—to help leaders across roles and industries guide their teams through uncertainty with courage and clarity.

Travis Dommert is a business leader, consultant, and former president and chief operating officer who helps organizations clarify their strategy and build high-performing cultures. He currently serves as practice leader for OneDigital’s People & Performance practice, part of their larger HR Consulting practice.  In this role, he advises both clients and OneDigital leaders on people and performance practices that drive long-term success.

Travis brings more than 20 years of leadership experience, including executive roles where he guided companies through growth, culture transformation, and recognition as the nation’s “Best Places to Work” by both Glassdoor and Fortune. He has served on executive teams, built leadership pipelines, and led organizations through both strategic expansion and operational challenges.

A dynamic speaker, Travis engages and educates leaders nationally on employee engagement, leadership, and strategic talent practices, and has been featured as a subject matter expert by the Josh Bersin Academy.

Hard Choices, High Stakes: Adaptive Leadership and the Birth of Pandemic Social Distancing Policies

Lisa Koonin 86N 86PH

Dr. Lisa Koonin, DrPH, MN, MPH is the Founder of Health Preparedness Partners, a company she launched after a 30+ year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she served as a national pandemic planning leader. Currently she provides consultation to businesses and public health agencies as they prepare for health emergencies. Dr. Koonin is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications on an array of public health and preparedness topics. She was recently featured by Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health in their Dreamers, Doers, and Disruptors series. Dr. Koonin is a family nurse practitioner and epidemiologist and earned Master of Nursing and Master of Public Health degrees from Emory University (as a Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Woodruff Fellow) and a doctorate degree in public health leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Dr. Koonin is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Adjunct Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Indiana University, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

Resilient Institutions: What the Constitution Teaches (and Doesn't Teach) About Leading Through Uncertainty

Quinn Yeargain 19L

Audience takeaway: A creative framework for evaluating the structural strengths and weaknesses of their own institutions and teams.

Quinn Yeargain is the 1855 Professor of the Law of Democracy and an Associate Professor of Law at the Michigan State University College of Law, specializing in state constitutional law and criminal law. His scholarship is organized around the relationship between democracy and the formation of the law. Quinn is also the author of State Constitutional Law: Institutions, Powers, and Rights, a state constitutional law casebook soon to be published by West Academic Publishing. Outside of the classroom, he is a regular guest on state and national television and radio programs and frequently comments on current events in news outlets, including the Brennan Center’s State Court Report and Bolts. Professor Yeargain regularly files amicus briefs on matters relating to state constitutional law and has served as a consultant in redistricting litigation.

Panel | Leading from the Edge: How Woodruff Alumni Turn Setbacks into Successful Comebacks

Daniela Farchi 18Ox 20C 26M 31PhD

Shveta Raju 02C 07MBA 07M

Stephanie Fang 15C

Brandon Stewart 10T, Moderator

Daniela Farchi is a Guatemalan MD/PhD student at Emory University, where she is a PhD candidate in the Global Health and Development program. After formative years at Oxford and Emory College, she earned her undergraduate degree in Biology with a minor in Science, Culture, and Society and spent two years conducting radiation oncology research at the Winship Cancer Institute. She is passionate about health equity, global medical collaboration, and the intersection of medicine and social systems. Daniela leads a team of Emory and Guatemalan healthcare professionals and students in Guatemala in collaboration with HELPS International, supporting both clinical care and educational exchanges. She enjoys playing with her dog papaya, spending time outdoors, and indulging in delicious food. 

Dr. Shveta Raju, MD, MBA is a Double Board-Certified Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine primary care physician at the multi-specialty group medical practice Gwinnett Clinic, northeast of Atlanta. After earning her MD and MBA at Emory, Dr. Raju completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School). In addition to her clinical practice, she teaches medical students and is responsible for recruiting, hiring and training staff and physicians. She is also a level 3 CrossFit trainer and understands the health benefits of this methodology. She is passionate about improving the mental, physical and metabolic health of her patients and community and is the co-founder of GC Healthy Living.

Complex Adaptive Leadership: Leading Change in Healthcare

Mark Lee 19N & Joseph John

Healthcare is a complex adaptive system. Leaders create adaptive spaces for teams to innovate and drive change through complex adaptive leadership. In complex adaptive leadership, the focus shifts away from traditional, hierarchical structures of leadership and centers the role of the leader in shaping an environment where teams own their work and can adapt to new challenges in real time. The session explores leading change in the dynamic environment of healthcare with examples from an academic medical center. Discussion will focus on how leaders at all levels can empower their teams in times of complexity and change.

Surfing the Tsunami: Leading People Through Massive Disruption

Travis Dommert 00MBA

This interactive session will explore how leaders can not only withstand these forces but equip their people to thrive through them. Drawing on history, workforce trends, and the science of human behavior, we’ll examine why resistance to change is natural, why agility is now the most critical leadership competency, and how to “hack” our instincts to reframe disruption into opportunity. Together, we’ll practice tools and frameworks—including the pivotal question “What does this make possible?”—to help leaders across roles and industries guide their teams through uncertainty with courage and clarity.

Travis Dommert is a business leader, consultant, and former president and chief operating officer who helps organizations clarify their strategy and build high-performing cultures. He currently serves as practice leader for OneDigital’s People & Performance practice, part of their larger HR Consulting practice.  In this role, he advises both clients and OneDigital leaders on people and performance practices that drive long-term success. Travis brings more than 20 years of leadership experience, including executive roles where he guided companies through growth, culture transformation, and recognition as the nation’s “Best Places to Work” by both Glassdoor and Fortune. He has served on executive teams, built leadership pipelines, and led organizations through both strategic expansion and operational challenges. A dynamic speaker, Travis engages and educates leaders nationally on employee engagement, leadership, and strategic talent practices, and has been featured as a subject matter expert by the Josh Bersin Academy.

Hard Choices, High Stakes: Adaptive Leadership and the Birth of Pandemic Social Distancing Policies

Lisa Koonin 86N 86PH

Dr. Lisa Koonin, DrPH, MN, MPH is the Founder of Health Preparedness Partners, a company she launched after a 30+ year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she served as a national pandemic planning leader. Currently she provides consultation to businesses and public health agencies as they prepare for health emergencies. Dr. Koonin is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications on an array of public health and preparedness topics. She was recently featured by Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health in their Dreamers, Doers, and Disruptors series. Dr. Koonin is a family nurse practitioner and epidemiologist and earned Master of Nursing and Master of Public Health degrees from Emory University (as a Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Woodruff Fellow) and a doctorate degree in public health leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Dr. Koonin is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Adjunct Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Indiana University, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

Resilient Institutions: What the Constitution Teaches (and Doesn't Teach) About Leading Through Uncertainty

Quinn Yeargain 19L

Audience takeaway: A creative framework for evaluating the structural strengths and weaknesses of their own institutions and teams.

Quinn Yeargain is the 1855 Professor of the Law of Democracy and an Associate Professor of Law at the Michigan State University College of Law, specializing in state constitutional law and criminal law. His scholarship is organized around the relationship between democracy and the formation of the law. Quinn is also the author of State Constitutional Law: Institutions, Powers, and Rights, a state constitutional law casebook soon to be published by West Academic Publishing. Outside of the classroom, he is a regular guest on state and national television and radio programs and frequently comments on current events in news outlets, including the Brennan Center’s State Court Report and Bolts. Professor Yeargain regularly files amicus briefs on matters relating to state constitutional law and has served as a consultant in redistricting litigation.