Speakers

Ed Brzychcy is a consultant, executive coach, and speaker specializing in leadership development, organizational design, and strategic implementations, working with middle-market-sized companies across various industries. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2011 as a staff sergeant and infantry squad leader after serving for twelve years, spending three years deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He received his MBA from Babson College in 2016, where he now serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice in Organizational Behavior. He lives in Waltham, MA, and enjoys traveling and flying UAVs.

Dr. Harvey Castro is an accomplished emergency room physician, healthcare entrepreneur, and passionate advocate for proactive medicine. With over 20 years of experience in the medical field, Dr. Castro has dedicated his career to improving patient care by integrating technology and innovation into healthcare. As a physician, author, and keynote speaker, Dr. Castro focuses on how artificial intelligence (AI) and edge technology can transform healthcare delivery. His mission is to empower individuals to take charge of their health through early intervention, personalized insights, and accessible tools.; Dr. Castro’s work has been featured in numerous publications, and he has been recognized for his leadership in pioneering AI solutions in medicine. He combines his clinical expertise with a deep understanding of technology to advocate for a future where prevention is the standard, not the exception. In his spare time, Dr. Castro enjoys mentoring medical professionals, writing, and sharing insights on the intersection of healthcare and technology.

I developed a passion for business early on, which has shaped my journey in meaningful ways. This passion led me to join EY and later as the CEO of Avani Group, where I had the privilege of leading a team of 200 talented individuals. Building on these experiences, I pursued an MBA in Entrepreneurship at Babson College, a decision that transformed my perspective on leadership and innovation. While at Babson, I founded TruLeague, a platform that fosters authentic connections between prospective and current students at colleges and universities, empowering students and higher education. I had the opportunity to participate in the transformative Techstars Boston accelerator program, which honed my skills and expanded my vision. Outside of entrepreneurship, I’ve been a national-level golfer and enjoy traveling to immerse myself in diverse cultures and ideas and embracing challenges that inspire personal and professional growth. I firmly believe that combining vision, discipline, and teamwork is key to achieving remarkable outcomes whether in business, sports, or life.

Ken Frownfelter is a proud U.S. Marine Corps veteran, dedicated husband, father, grandfather, and a man of many pursuits. With nearly 18 years of service as a law enforcement officer, Ken has honed discipline, resilience, and calm under pressure—qualities he now shares through teaching and coaching. A 4th Dan black belt in Saito-Ha Shito-Ryu Karate-Do, Ken has spent years as a sensei, instilling these values in his students. His passion for wellness extends to personal training and his current journey as a certified life coach. As an ordained minister, Ken also finds fulfillment in offering spiritual guidance. Ken is the host of What’s a Hero Podcast, where he celebrates stories of courage and heroism that inspire and uplift. A member of the Man of War Society, he lives by principles of honor, integrity, and leadership. Committed to leaving a legacy of purpose and strength, Ken strives to honor those who came before him while inspiring others to live with gratitude and resolve.

Marie-Elena Gerety kept a big secret for the past 15 years of her life: she’s been dealing with a hair pulling condition called TRICHOTILLOMANIA. This led her to compulsively pull out her eyebrows and eyelashes, often without even realizing she was doing the behavior. Finally, when she graduated from Babson in May 2024, she decided to take action. She needed something that would immediately make her aware of when she was pulling, require a healthy replacement behavior, and provide the rewards and accountability to keep her on track. So, she founded The Pluck App, an AI pulling detector for laptops with built in accountability and tracking metrics. But in marketing this company, it also meant sharing her biggest secret with the world. As her social media presence grew over the summer, she started to connect with people just like her: then one day—SHE WENT VIRAL. Marie-Elena currently has over 9 million views across her social media pages. Her mission is now to become a positive voice for others dealing with this condition and to provide them with the tools to overcome it. She encourages others to live authentically and suggests that your biggest secret could be your purpose!

Educator, author, researcher, and coach, Dr. Beth Goldstein sees learning as a path to transform minds and create agency. She holds a doctorate in entrepreneurial leadership in education from Johns Hopkins University, where she researched the role educators play in increasing their students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, confidence, grit, growth mindset, and resilience. Beth is the Senior Academic Director for the Babson Academy Youth Impact Lab, a member of the entrepreneurship faculty, and a business coach for Babson’s Summer Venture Program. Beth currently teaches entrepreneurship at a women’s prison in Massachusetts and previously taught at Boston University, Brandeis University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, and the Isenberg School at UMass, Amherst. She spent ten years as the Faculty Director for BU’s Online Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and ran their Business Venture Competition. Beth engages adults and youth learners across the globe, helping them see themselves as changemakers and entrepreneurial leaders, to empower them to design the world they want to live in. She has authored three books on entrepreneurship and marketing, including Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Blueprint for Customer Engagement (2020), Lucky By Design (2011), and The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit (2007).

Sadie Higgins is a writer, public speaker, and wellness advocate who helps others harness the transformative power of music to navigate life's challenges. As an entrepreneur Certified in Music and Wellness from Berklee College of Music, Sadie combines personal experience with research to inspire audiences to use music and sound as a tool for emotional regulation, healing, and connection. Featured recently in HuffPost, her story highlighted the discovery of music as a lifeline during her husband’s battle with brain cancer, helping her find resilience and joy as a caregiver. A mother of three, she is passionate about fostering connection and emotional growth through the magic of music and sound. Through her talks, courses, and writing, Sadie empowers caregivers, women, and anyone on a journey of self-discovery to process their emotions and reclaim their inner strength. When she’s not speaking or writing, she’s creating playlists for every mood, dancing, or working on her transformational memoir, Newly Released, which explores healing and finding your true voice in the midst of life’s noise. Visit her online at: www.sadiesadiemusiclady.com.

Martha Nino’s journey began in the humblest of circumstances, born into poverty in Mexico. She crossed into the United States as an undocumented child, passing as a stranger's child. Struggling through a lack of educational guidance and even being expelled from high school, the odds seemed insurmountable. Yet, Martha’s spirit was unbreakable. Over the next 25 years, she forged an incredible career in Silicon Valley, breaking barriers in hardware, software, and mobile. Today, as a senior leader at Adobe (the Photoshop company) for nearly two decades, she stands among the rare 2% of Latinas in tech. Her success is not just her own; it is the result of mentors, supporters, and those who saw the potential within her she calls these amazing people BELIEVERS. A published author, speaker, and advocate, Martha now shares her story “The Other Side: From a Shack to Silicon Valley” inspiring others with the proof that the impossible is possible. She didn't just overcome—she thrived. Her journey is a beacon that dreams can rise from the most unlikely places. Martha Nino is living proof that nothing is impossible.  Martha has started a non-profit The Martha Nino Foundation which gifts FREE books to K-12 students in hope that they too will cycle-breaking career paths; www.marthanino.com.

Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernandez is the president of Urban College of Boston. In 2024, the Boston Business Journal named Yves one of the city’s Power 50 leaders influencing their local communities for good. In March 2018, Diverse Issues in Higher Education named Salomon-Fernandez one of the Top 25 Women in Higher Education. Beyond credentials and accomplishments, Yves believes in the power of human connection and in challenging stereotypes, norms, and expectations that limit people’s ability to achieve their full human potential. As an educator, Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernandez believes her role is to help others unlock the power of their own agency and build community. Yves uses her personal narrative to uplift others and to demonstrate that leaders are ordinary people who take risks. She took her first big risk as a teenager, and it changed the course of her life’s trajectory. She has failed, learned, grown, and succeeded with the help of the community. Yves is an immigrant and mom of two who learned how to ride a bike at the age of 35. In her spare time, she enjoys road trips with her daughter and underwater adventures with her son. Her TEDx talk focuses on taking risks, failure, and community.

With a vision to redefine how technology and well-being intersect, Alexander Sica is forging innovative paths at Babson College, where he concentrates in Tech Entrepreneurship. As a student lead for The Generator—Babson’s interdisciplinary AI lab—he aids in transformative initiatives, including a Buildathon that drew over 150 participants. In tandem, as a member of ONE Tower, he hosted Racial and Gender Bias in Algorithms, an AI ethics forum that challenged assumptions and catalyzed vital dialogue on technology’s societal influence. In his academic work with Professor Jason Mohaghegh, PhD, on Republic 2.0, Alexander explores conceptual frameworks designed to help us anticipate and shape the future of human-machine interactions. Professionally, he channels this forward-thinking ethos into GeneticFit Lab—a biotech venture merging wellness, fitness, genetics, and AI to create personalized, data-driven health solutions. Managing six health and fitness studios further enriches his industry experience, refining the operational and leadership skills essential for turning these innovations into reality. Once a competitive CrossFit athlete, Alexander continues rigorous training to embody the holistic growth he advocates. By uniting ethical innovation, entrepreneurial action, and human optimization, he offers a compelling model for how technology can catalyze positive change—transforming industries, improving individual lives, and inspiring us to realize our full potential.

Vitor Ungari is a dynamic leader and passionate advocate for sustainability and innovation, focused on empowering changemakers through education, entrepreneurship, and technology. A former professional soccer player turned engineer, Vitor transitioned into social entrepreneurship, co-founding Aurica to deliver cutting-edge sustainability consulting and SaaS solutions that drive measurable impact. Currently pursuing an MBA at Babson College with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Business Analytics/Machine Learning, he leverages his diverse expertise to tackle global challenges. Vitor’s transformative leadership has scaled initiatives at Enactus Brazil and different organizations, empowering over 3,000 students and positively impacting more than 100,000 lives. His journey showcases the power of adaptability, purpose, and green talent to build a more sustainable and equitable future.

Originally from Baltimore, Nick Wood moved to Vermont in 2013 to lead school climate improvement and leadership development programming in Vermont. For the next 10 years he worked with schools, non-profits, and small businesses to improve each organization's culture. In 2022, Nick left the Aloha Foundation and the Hulbert Outdoor Center to pursue his MBA at Babson.