In Reality: Cultivating Innovation Through Diversity

Sinha is an attorney and entrepreneur with a passion for innovative, impactful approaches to governance and international development. She has over a decade of experience leading diverse, interdisciplinary teams in international law, business, development, and government relations, including at major international law firms, management consulting firms, the World Bank, and think tanks in the Middle East and South Asia. She has independently advised private and sovereign clients on investments, projects, and disputes in frontier markets in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. She has advised governments in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Asia on governance and legal reform, and has counseled multinational and regional clients investing and engaged in disputes in these and other markets on political, economic, and legal risk.

Sinha also served as a foreign policy advisor to the 2008 Presidential campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama. She is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also serves as a member of the National University of Singapore Medicine International Council. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she earned a certificate from the Parker School of Comparative and International Law. She also earned a master's degree in Public Administration / International Development from Harvard's Kennedy School and her Bachelor of Arts (with honors) in Economics and Philosophy from Wellesley College and also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford studying politics, philosophy, and economics.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1994 as a microbiology major, she joined Teach for America and worked as both a science teacher and in their headquarters. She then worked for her family's business, Alcone, which distributes cosmetics to professional makeup artists around the world. She left the company to launch several start-up websites. Gay then took several years at home to raise her three children before being called to lead Alcone as its President in 2010. During this time she, along with her siblings, sought innovative ways to deepen the company's connections to professional makeup artists. In response, they started a direct sales company, which would eventually become LimeLife by Alcone.

In 2017, LimeLife by Alcone partnered with L'Occitane en Province, a French beauty brand, to accelerate their growth and expansion. Gay now serves as the chairwoman and co-CEO of LimeLife by Alcone and manages the company's global development.

Her mission at LimeLife is to help women understand their worth and get paid for it. Rather than focus on standard sales trainings, her company trains Beauty Guides on ways to unfold their inner magic, build up confidence in themselves and others, and keep an abundant mindset. This July, she will be publishing a book about female financial empowerment that focuses on the emotional obstacles rather than the actual process.

Gay believes that if we can increase women's confidence and financial autonomy, we can generate an important cultural shift that will address some of the most long-standing economic, cultural, and social problems around the world—and that is the focus of her company and work each day.

Seeking to expand her professional opportunities, Deborah moved to the United States to complete her education. She received a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and later earned a Master of Business Administration in project management at the New York Institute of Technology, graduating with distinction.

Early in, her career, Deborah encountered a particular challenge that many women in the working world face: advancing her career while raising a family. She found her answer in a reference lab where she accepted a supervisory role in the Microbiology Department at Quest Diagnostics in Tucker, Georgia.

Deborah’s work ethic and impact were soon recognized, and she progressed through a series of roles of increasing scope and responsibilities. Each position brought new opportunities for professional growth and development.

Deborah complemented her on-the-job experience with targeted training, earning change management, Lean Six Sigma and American Society for Quality manager of quality/ organizational excellence certifications. This combination of training and practical application proved effective, as well as personally fulfilling for Deborah.

Most memorable was her time as a program director driving cultural transformation at several Quest laboratories. Her focus was on developing a culture of continuous improvement through employee engagement and empowerment by building lean capabilities at all levels of the organization.

After 20 years at Quest Diagnostics, Deborah transitioned to Abbott in 2020 as the Senior Director, US Toxicology laboratories, just as the United States was locking down in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. She was immediately tasked with leading an Operations workstream to implement COVID-19 PCR and antibody testing in the laboratory.

Deborah has continued to apply her learning and experience to build her leadership team at Abbott, improve performance and create a culture of continuous improvement through capability building, employee engagement and empowerment.

Deborah has 3 sons and lives in the Chicago, Illinois area with her husband of 32 years.

When Rebecchi joined DISC in 1978 as an accountant, the company served as the in-house label producer for Pickwick International, at the time one of the largest U.S. retailers of LP albums, eight-track tapes, and cassettes. Pickwick was sold off in the early 1980s and control of DISC was offered to employees. Rebecchi jumped at the opportunity and partnered with two colleagues to become founding shareholders. Together, they explored new business opportunities in order to leverage DISC’s packaging strengths. His new role as head of a company also motivated him to pursue an M.B.A.

Rebecchi attended NYIT-Long Island where he studied alongside other business professionals. He appreciated the practical, applied learning that his NYIT instructors instilled in every course. After earning his M.B.A., Rebecchi created a business plan to attract investors; it resulted in an additional $5 million in funding. DISC also expanded into videocassettes, a natural extension of its entertainment business. As technology advanced, so did opportunities, which included the DVD and Blu-ray markets but also businesses outside the entertainment industry such as private-label drug manufacturers.

Rebecchi joined the School of Management’s Business Advisory Board to help ensure that the school’s business courses give students the critical thinking, decision-making, and research skills needed for successful careers. He's now the host of the School of Management podcast, In Reality: Lessons from Leaders and Entrepreneurs, conducting interviews with thought leaders, entrepreneurs from startups to multinational companies, and experts in fields shaping the future of business.