The Final Reveal: 10 Up-and-Coming L&D Leaders

The Learning Leadership Conference has selected the 30 rising stars who will participate in this year’s Thirty Under 30 program! If you missed the previous reveals, you can still see the first 10 profiles and the second group of 10 profiles.  

Our final group of 10 Thirty Under 30 honorees have a wide variety of accomplishments, from creating patient care training to implementing an organization-wide goal-setting framework and everything in between: 

Angela Parra, Nurse Educator, AdventHealth Littleton  

This past fall, Angela collaborated with an interprofessional team to train staff to take care of intermediate care (IMC) status open heart surgery patients. To train staff, she helped lead a 4-hour class about cardiovascular surgery as well as coordinated orientation shifts in the CVICU for our nurses to get familiar with the nursing care of an open-heart surgery patient. The team has now successfully been caring for IMC status patients for a few months.   

Tyler Snyder, Senior Instructional Designer, PECO, an Exelon Company 

Tyler has experience in the learning and design space across various industries, including healthcare, marketing, technology, and utilities. His work with companies and clients worldwide has allowed him to create trainings that cater to diverse needs for both internal employees and customer learners. Since beginning his professional career in 2015, Tyler has taken on multiple responsibilities throughout the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of numerous projects. This includes developing new employee orientation, curriculum mapping, and simulation implementation, all intended to continuously enhance business functions in alignment with strategic goals and core competencies. 

Jenny Sun, Information Designer II, Intuit 

Jenny first entered the L&D space in 2019 as a contractor intern at Intuit, where her manager recognized her strengths and brought her onto the team to support process visualization. Beyond that, she leveraged her survey writing skills to lead learner feedback loops and design end-of-training surveys, ensuring a data-driven approach to improvement. Within three months, Jenny transitioned into Instructional Design, leading the visual styling, gamification, and overall theme of a high-impact project. Her contributions helped the project exceed its projected NPS score by 120%, demonstrating the power of thoughtful design in enhancing learner engagement and satisfaction. 

Qianhui (Gabrielle) Sun, Instructional Designer, EY 

Qianhui set out to become a product manager in the EdTech space, but without prior industry experience, she stumbled into instructional design instead, which turned out to be a perfect fit. For the past five years, she’s worked as an instructional designer at a Fortune 50 firm, designing global compliance training and upskilling programs that reach over 400,000 employees across service lines such as Tax, Assurance, Strategy and Transactions (SaT), and Go-to-Market. She’s also contributed to internal research initiatives on virtualizing in-person programs, designing for accessibility, and leveraging AI-powered role-play simulations to replicate real-world decision-making in a safe learning environment.  

Michael Therrell, General Adjuster, PURE Insurance 

As a property adjuster, Michael has actively incorporated learning and development by volunteering for several onboarding projects and initiatives designed for new hires. This hands-on experience complements his studies as he is currently in his second year of a master’s program at the University of Georgia, majoring in Learning, Leadership, and Organizational Development. By participating in these onboarding projects, he helps shape the training experience and ensure new team members feel supported from the start. Additionally, he engages in ongoing training sessions with cohorts, facilitating knowledge sharing and skill-building exercises. 

Harry Tong, Training Content Developer, Brivo 

Harry’s interest in ID became a reality at an immersive English school for adults. There, he saw the need for a teacher onboarding program and created their first digital onboarding course using Storyline, Camtasia, and Vyond. Since starting his first L&D role early last year, he’s spearheaded the development and ongoing management of Brivo’s flagship certification program, which helped increase the company’s revenue by upwards of $4 million year over year. He’s also helped translate the program into five languages, since having a training offering along with our products has made expansion into other regions of the world much smoother. 

Carlos Vazquez, Talent & Academy Facilitator, SoftwareONE 

Carlos has worked in Learning and Development for the past six years, collaborating with internal and external clients. As a trainer and facilitator, he takes pride in his work’s impact on learners and new hires. His expertise lies in supporting new joiners and young talent, ensuring they have a smooth transition during their initial days in a new role or company. This role brings him immense satisfaction and fulfillment. He believes that knowledge is invaluable, and the opportunity to share it should always be celebrated. 

Sundiata Washington, Space and Defense Industrial Engineer, The Boeing Company 

Sundiata served as NAACP president at Tuskegee University and also worked in his hometown of Conyers, GA. He collaborated with the mayor of Tuskegee, AL, to organize an event emphasizing the importance of child literacy. His passion for L&D was also demonstrated during the pandemic when he organized and participated in virtual workshops related to social justice. By collaborating with city leaders, he was able to nonviolently remove a Confederate statue. These experiences taught him how to develop impactful initiatives and measure their success. His goal is to continue to educate my community and aid in the creation of a community of self-liberating people.  

Raluca Weber, Talent Enablement Consultant II, BHG Financial 

Two years ago, Raluca formally transitioned to talent management and spearheaded initiatives that expanded her organization’s development focus beyond leadership to include all employees. Her proudest achievement is launching the company’s first professional development program to help employees assess their current position and map their career aspirations. She also established a structured monthly 1:1 system focusing on performance and growth conversations, created a Performance and Development Hub, and implemented an organization-wide goal-setting framework. These initiatives have provided remote employees with accessible development resources and sustainable systems that deliver learning content in digestible formats suited to our fast-paced environment. 

Faye Xiao, Founder and CEO, Skilt 

Faye’s worked across a wide range of learning environments, from art studios to tech workshops, and taught students from age 5 to adults. What ties all her experiences together is a commitment to making learning approachable and engaging. She often built custom curriculum based on student needs. Her proudest achievement is Skilt, an education startup she founded to help people create structured, day-by-day learning paths using curated resources. Skilt is built for learners who are motivated but overwhelmed, those who don’t know where to start. By turning vague goals into achievable steps, she’s made self-directed learning less paralyzing and more empowering.  

Congratulations to these 10 winners! And a special thanks to all of the 2025 Thirty Under 30 program honorees for inspiring us with your talent.