About Culturupt
Ritu Pancholy - Founder and CEO
Ritu Pancholy, Esq. (she/her/hers) is the founder of Culturupt, a HR consulting firm. She is an experienced workplace investigator and an attorney barred in New York and New Jersey. Ritu has over 10 years of deep experience in handling employment related matters for organizations including public companies and the government. Most recently, Ritu was in-house global employment counsel at Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (a public company with 5,000 employees) where she was responsible for all employment, compliance and litigation matters. Ritu supervised all global employment and compliance investigations, handled on boarding and performance management questions, advised on employment policies, as well as reductions in force, and championed diversity and inclusion programs. Ritu has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Seton Hall University and has taught Conducting Internal Investigations.
Ritu is a graduate of Duke Law School and received her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University. Prior to working in-house, Ritu was as an attorney at the NYC Department of Education where she advised the agency on employment and education matters, handled investigations and defended the agency against suits with the EEOC or federal/state agencies. Ritu started her career as an associate at Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP in New York City.
Ritu is passionate about providing organizations with the tools necessary to build a respectful culture and empower its employees. Ritu believes that people are the heart of all organizations and that organizations must manage these relationships with care.
Hannah K. Kiernan - Senior Executive Coach
Hannah (she/her/hers) is a Professional Certified executive, leadership, career management, and team coach (PCC level) with over 20-years of experience coaching business professionals. Hannah started as a practicing attorney, and then moved into management roles at global law firms in New York, Boston and Northern New Jersey. She was a highly successful leader with wide-ranging responsibilities that included budgeting, marketing, staffng, client management, business generation, client retention, talent management initiatives, and organizational design.
Hannah’s current coaching practice includes coaching mid-to-C-suite professionals, including lawyers, in developing leadership skills, issues management, career management, personal branding, change management, conflict management, and developing successful business strategies that help improve professional outcomes. Hannah also regularly provides webinars and training sessions on topics focusing on personal branding, communication best practices, conflict management, and conflict resolution. Hannah is certified in Hogan Assessments (Leadership Series, Insight Series, Leader Focus and Team) as well as Team Coaching International’s Team Diagnostic model.
Hannah’s industry experience is highly diversified and includes law firms/legal departments, nonprofit institutions, healthcare/life sciences, startups, financial institutions, media, engineering firms, and advertising
Lisa Schor Babin - Senior Workplace Investigator and Compliance Expert
Lisa Schor Babin (she/her/hers) is a member of the Culturupt team and has extensive experience leading workplace investigations. Prior to joining Culturupt, Lisa spent 17 years at Dun & Bradstreet, most recently in the role of Global Compliance & Ethics Leader reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President for Employment Matters. During her time at Dun & Bradstreet, she conducted many senior-level workplace investigations, and built and branded the Compliance and Ethics program framework, with a Code of Conduct and other policies, training, communications and awareness. Lisa has published many timely articles on the nexus between the state of the world and workplace culture.
Deb Melnick- Senior HR Consultant and Senior Workplace Investigator
Deb Melnick is a seasoned senior HR leader with extensive experience as an internal consultant in organizational development, employee relations, performance management, talent management and compensation management. Deb was previously the Head of Human Resources and a member of the Leadership Team at Red Bulls. In this key role, Deb partnered with both local and global HR leadership to drive initiatives in multiple areas including employee development, performance management and total rewards to achieve an outstanding company culture.
Prior to her role with the Red Bulls, Deb spent 15 years in the luxury cosmetics industry at Chanel and La Prairie.A graduate of the University of Delaware and Fairleigh-Dickinson University, Deb holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and has achieved certification as a SPHR.
Dr. Sumi Raghavan - Senior Content Expert and Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Sumi Raghavan is a clinical psychologist and former tenure track psychology professor who works with adults dealing with a range of issues including chronic stress, burnout, and trauma. Dr. Raghavan has extensive cross-cultural training, has published manuscripts on cultural differences in the traumatic stress response, and enjoys working clinically with clients of all backgrounds. Beyond individual psychotherapy, she offers workshops and training to organizations looking to support the mental health and well-being of their staff. She combines her academic experience with her clinical skills to offer education, tools, and support to people in high-demand professions who are working to build resilience and learn true self-care.
