Brandon Carson is a strategic and accomplished talent development leader with extensive experience in creating global workforce development strategies, Brandon Carson currently leads global and domestic learning programs at Starbucks. He is a popular speaker, delivering a wide variety of engaging keynotes, presentations, and workshops at industry events.

Brandon has been honored with several industry awards, including the ATD BEST Award, the Learning Guild People's Choice Award, and three Brandon Hall Awards for Best Custom Learning Design. Brandon is the author of Learning In The Age of Immediacy: Five Factors For How We Connect, Communicate, and Get Work Done and L&D's Playbook for the Digital Age, both from ATD Press. He has also served on the board of the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) and the ATD TK conference committee. He is about to acheive his Associate Coaching Certification from the International Coaching Federation and has 10 years experience as an executive, including coaching experience at the Fortune 1. 

Brandon is the Founder of L&D Cares, a non-profit supporting the Talent Management community, and currently lives In Seattle

Over the last 20 years, Michelle Lentz has become a recognized leader in learning strategy within the corporate space and has frequently presented at industry events. Michelle has worked with companies to assess their AI needs and create their AI strategy, focusing on change management and AI education. She has delivered countless webinars and training sessions on AI in the workplace, with specializations in prompting, ethics, and change management. 

She previously modernized the training strategy for UPS global call centers and led the HR Custom Learning team for Oracle. Michelle ran Write Technology consulting focusing on technical writing and instructional design, and helped create and launch the original Lectora development tool at Trivantis. 

She holds certifications in Prompt Engineering, Synchronous Training, Integrated Talent Management, Hogan Assessments, 360 Feedback, and is pursuing her ICF coaching certification. Michelle recently attained a Professional Certification in AI in Business from Arizona State University, which included Python and Machine Learning. Michelle has contributed to several books, including ATD Press’s Ready, Set, Curate: 8 Learning Experts Tell You How and L&D's Playbook for the Digital Age. Michelle is the author of the TD@Work booklet Elevating AI Prompting for Results (February 2025).  

Michelle is a Founding Director of L&D Cares, and currently lives in Seattle, WA, with her nutty dachshund, Ringo.