Business Acumen

Jennifer McClure is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and high-performance coach who works with leaders to leverage their influence, increase their impact, and accelerate results.

Frequently recognized as a global influencer and expert on the future of work, strategic leadership and innovative people strategies, Jennifer has decades of in-the-trenches leadership and executive experience working in and with startups, privately held companies, and Fortune 500 organizations in a variety of industries.

As a top-rated keynote speaker, Jennifer has shared her insights with thousands of leaders at conferences and corporate events around the world. Clients include Procter & Gamble, General Electric, IBM, SAP, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab, Stryker, LinkedIn, Notre Dame University, Society for Human Resource Management, Association for Legal Administrators, and Association for Talent Development.

In her informative and entertaining keynote programs and workshops, she shares a blend of research, best practices, case studies and storytelling which leaves audience members inspired and motivated to take action when they return to work.

Jennifer is also the Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR, a global community designed to move the collective thinking forward when it comes to talent in the workplace, and she hosts a weekly podcast – Impact Makers with Jennifer McClure – sharing conversations with practitioners, entrepreneurs, authors and speakers who are changing the world while building careers that they love, and lives that matter.

Chuck Blakeman is a Best-Selling Business Author and World-Renowned Business Advisor who has built eight businesses in seven industries on four continents, and now uses his leadership experience to advise others. His company, Crankset Group, provides outcome-based mentoring and peer advisory for business leaders worldwide in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Chuck sold one of his businesses to the largest consumer fulfillment company in America and led three other $10-$100 million companies through repositioning in the Marketing Support Services industry. He presently leads the Crankset Group and a for-profit business based in Africa, focused on developing local economies to solve poverty.

Mr. Blakeman is a results leader, and has decades of sales, marketing and operations experience leading companies in marketing, import/export, fulfillment, call centers, website development, printing and direct mail processing.

He is a convention speaker, writer, and non-profit board member. His first book, “Making Money is Killing Your Business”, was named #1 Business Book of the Year by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the largest business owner association in America. His newest book, Why Employees are ALWAYS a Bad Idea, has already been named a Top Ten Business Book of the Year and is required reading at the University of Georgia’s MBA Program.
 

Tom Cielak is the Director, HR Operations for ACCO Brands. He is responsible for managing US payroll, HRIS, time and attendance and the employee call center. He holds a BBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Iowa.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Mike Psenka is the senior vice president of Workforce Analytics for Equifax Workforce Solutions and the founder of eThority, a provider of world-class analytics to the human capital, higher education, commercial, and government markets. In 2011, Equifax Workforce Solutions acquired eThority to offer an unparalleled analytics tool to its customers. Earlier in his career, Psenka worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers within their Open Systems Technology group implementing financial and manufacturing systems. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Psenka has focused a great deal of passion toward the creation of 'user-obvious' platforms. When not executing day-to-day business operations, he dedicates himself to the development of innovative solutions that provide vital answers to the marketplace.

Randy Pennington helps leaders deliver positive results in a world of accelerating uncertainty and change. His clients include many of world’s best-managed companies, associations, government agencies, and universities. Additionally, Randy serves as an adjunct instructor in the Cox Business Leadership Center at Southern Methodist University.

Randy is author of three books: Make Change Work, Results Rule!; and On My Honor, I Will . His ideas have been featured in leading media outlets including CNN, PBS, Fox News, ABC Radio Network, the BBC, Fast Company, and The New York Times. He is a contributor to CIO.com and the Huffington Post.

David Henderson is a passionate advocate of the role talent can play in business success. He joined MetLife in 2012, when he recognized the opportunity to join a company with significant global ambitions and a shared belief in the central role that effective people management is essential in

delivering world-class performance. Prior to joining MetLife, Henderson played a similar role as Chief Talent Officer at PepsiCo, helping guide the company through a period of significant change in its people management philosophy. In both cases, he was one of the chief architects and advocates of employer brand management thinking, establishing an Employee Value Proposition that clearly defines the deal between the company and its employees, and delivers a clear and compelling brand promise to high caliber talent seeking a world class employer.

JoAnn Corley is an experienced human resource professional and a dynamic, inspiring speaker-trainer, author & coach. She has a contagious passion and energy for the topics she teaches and has shared that passion with thousands through-out North America specializing in seminars on Effective Management and Leadership, Time & Organizational Management, Personal Empowerment, Emotional Intelligence, Creative and Innovative Thinking,  Team Productivity & Collaboration. She has the unique distinction of having conducted seminars in every state in the U.S. and every major city.

She is author of the newly released book, Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed, How to Manage Your Time, Space, & Priorities to Work Smart, Get Results, & Be Happy, Wisdom@Work and The 1% Edge – Power Strategies to Increase Your Management Effectiveness. She is also contributing author to the book, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Success, a collaborative effort with some of the top female motivational speakers in North American and hailed by Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame as a must read.

Jack Gottlieb is a results-driven senior executive with 20 years of experience in transforming and revitalizing organizations. As the CEO of Total Solutions Group, a strategic consulting and results-based training firm, he has a proven track record of aligning culture, strategy, and capability to achieve critical short-term and long-term goals. TSG has generated $3.25 billion in ROI for clients in growth, profitability, innovation, and efficiency, including leading fifteen M&As and ten turnarounds from inception to implementation. 

With extensive experience in the C-Suite and as an HR leader Jack has a deep expertise of how to drive organizational health and performance through an embedded employee experience. Jack has had global roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, & Chief Culture Officer in banking and currently is the Vice President of Global Capability & Transformation in a market leading test lab in the gaming industry. 
Jack has been one of the top rated speakers and thought leaders for SHRM both at annual and state council conferences. Jack also hosts the successful "L&D Transformation Podcast: How To Lead The Future Of Our Organizations Through Talent Development” which is in its third season with over 100 episodes.