Jim Howard, Yum! Brands

The Yum! portfolio is comprised of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, A&W, and Long John Silver’s, with over 1 million employees working at 34,000 restaurants around the world, spanning over 100 countries.  As Director, Jim is responsible for driving Yum! University’s mission to “advance the Yum! Dynasty and change the way people work”, with an audience that includes all above-restaurant leaders, as well as employees at its 18 Restaurant Support Centers around the world.

Prior to joining Yum! in November 2006, Jim was Director of Leadership Development & Training at the Walt Disney Company for Disney Consumer Products, where he worked for eight years in roles spanning training, organization development, and leadership development.  Jim attended the University of Louisville and graduated with a B.A. in Spanish, and a Master’s in Education Administration, and resides in Louisville, Kentucky

Andrea Sato, Heineken

For the past year, Andrea has been the Senior Director of Training and Development at Heineken USA, one of the largest operating companies of Heineken NV.  Andrea has had many roles during her 12 years at HUSA, in National Accounts—as Marketing Manager and Director—as well as head of Knowledge Management, and currently leading a newly formed Training and Development group.  Prior to Heineken USA, Andrea worked at Pepsi-Cola Co. for 11 years in various Marketing roles.  She received her MBA in Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business.  Key areas of development for her in new role are: Leadership Development, Performance Management, developing an ongoing functional skill training curriculum, and launching a 12-month on-boarding program called HOPS.

Liz Meyers, Sysco

Elizabeth Meyers joined SYSCO Corporation in 1989 and has held numerous positions, including Director, Operations Review, and Sr. Director, IT Operating Company Support Teams – Midwest Region.  Her current role is Director of Client Services and her mission is to manage the numerous deployments of proprietary and 3rd party best-of-breed software that impact over 47,000 employees in more than 170 locations.  Elizabeth is responsible for all facets of implementation, training, marketing/communications and documentation required to support these various IT initiatives. Prior to Sysco, Liz had been senior auditor with Arthur Andersen, LLP and senior accountant with and TME, Inc., a medical management company.  She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Texas A&M University and a M.B.A. from the University of Houston.