Stew Friedman, Host

Stew is Wharton’s Practice Professor of Management, having founded both the Wharton Leadership Program and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project. He has been recognized as one of HR's Most Influential International Thinkers, as one of the "world's top 50 business thinkers" by Thinkers50, and as winner of Thinkers50's Distinguished Achievement Award in the talent management field. Working Mother chose him as one of America’s 25 most influential men to have made things better for working parents and the Families and Work Institute honored him with its Work Life Legacy Award. His Leading the Life You Want (Harvard Business) was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. His Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life (Harvard Business), which describes his Total Leadership program, was also a bestseller and is in eight languages. An award-winning teacher, The New York Times cited the “rock star adoration” he inspires in his students. 

Serena Bian, Producer

Serena is a Junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Psychology with a minor in Religious Studies. She is grappling with how, in this rapidly evolving digital age and political climate, we might become better listeners. Her experiences with facilitating civil conversations have inspired her to pursue a PhD in Organizational Psychology. Serena is excited about working to promote cultures of deeper connection, greater inquiry, and stronger community life. She is an avid learner, podcast listener, and enthusiast of slow, expansive conversations.

Zach Hay, Producer

Zach is a Junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Math and Computer Science. He is happy to be a Quaker having recently transferred from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana; his hometown since age 10.  Zach aspires to become a senior software developer at a tech startup. Zach is also learning Chinese at Penn and plans to use his knowledge of Chinese language and culture to develop software for a Chinese demographic. He is a big fan of podcasts and podcasting. LinkedIn

Zoe Ziegler, Producer 

Zoe is a Freshman at the University of Pennsylvania concentrating in Entrepreneurial Management and Business Analytics in the Wharton School and Mechatronics in the School of Engineering as part of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. Her passion lies at the intersection of these two disciplines; in her free time she enjoys investing in seed stage startups as part of the M&T Innovation Fund as well as working on her own startup. After graduation, she plans to move to New York City, not far from her hometown River Vale, NJ, and use her knowledge of business strategy, mechatronic systems and machine learning to start a venture developing cutting edge, sustainable and scalable solutions for 21st century problems. LinkedIn

Gian Zlupko, Producer

Gian is a graduate student at the School of Social Policy & Practice, pursuing a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Non-Profit Leadership. Gian spent his first year of field work facilitating community support groups for refugees. Recently, he’s become interested in the application of big data and machine learning technology for social work and policymaking. Gian is excited to spend his following year with Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy. Currently, he conducts policy research for Philadelphia City Council. In his free time, Gian loves live music, enjoys cooking, and doesn’t mind a grueling hike. If he isn’t listening to podcasts, he’s probably stringing one together! Being a part of the Work and Life Team for Gian means learning to teach his work and play time how to tango, not mosh.