Communication

Susan W. Brecher, Esq. is on the faculty and a Director at Cornell University, ILR Scheinman Institute. In addition, she is a legal consultant, conducts internal investigations, coaches and facilitates in the fields of employment law, employee relations and conflict resolution. For Cornell, Susan manages, develops instructional design and provides training and online instruction for open enrollment, e-learning and customized programs in Employment Laws, Employee Relations, Internal Investigations, Diversity and Inclusion and Conflict Resolution.

Ms. Brecher also was in-house employment Counsel at ABC and NBC and associated with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom and Epstein Becker Green.

Barbara Trautlein is author of Change Intelligence and originator of the CQ® System for Developing Change Intelligence®. For over 30 years, Barbara has coached executives, trained leaders at all levels, certified change agents, and facilitated mission-critical change initiatives. She is gifted at sharing strategies and tactics that are accessible, actionable, and immediately applicable. Barbara has a unique ability to connect with her audiences in industries across the globe. Clients served include Abbott, BP, Cisco, Deloitte, Northwestern University, and the United Nations.  Barbara holds a doctorate in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan. 

Valerie helps companies improve their bottom line by elevating employees from tactical thinkers to strategic leaders.

She served in senior leadership roles at RollsRoyce Aircraft before helping to found InterActiveCorp, parent company to Expedia, Home Shopping Network and TicketMaster. She then went to work for Oprah Winfrey, helping to found the Oxygen channel which was later sold to NBC Universal.

Valerie obtained her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University and her MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Val’s book, Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality, helps leaders manage multiple generations in the office.

Jacob Goldstein is the founder of The Leadership Laboratory, and leverages his experiences in education, the performing arts, and corporate learning & development to his work.  As a performer, Jacob has sung as a backup vocalist for musical artists such as Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, and Patti LuPone, as a recording artist for Netflix series Sense8, and at venues including The United Center, The Chicago Theater, and Chicago Symphony Center.  In the education space, Jacob has served as an educator for high school, undergraduate and graduate students throughout the Midwest, and has been a Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University since 2016.  As a Learning & Leadership Development Consultant, Jacob has worked as a one-on-one coach and group workshop facilitator to organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries, including technology, healthcare, non-profit, and fashion/apparel.  Jacob holds a Bachelor's degree from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master's of Science in Communication from Northwestern University.

Jason Sheffield is BRPs National Director of Compliance for the Baldwin Regulatory Compliance Collaborative. He oversees the ongoing evolution of our firm's national compliance operations. Jason develops, designs and implements educational programming and compliance assuredness services by creating timely and relevant solutions designed for the benefit of our clients and colleagues, our industry partners, and the general benefits community. Jason has practiced employee benefits law and consulting for nearly two decades, representing individual, corporate, and tribal interests at the local, state, and federal levels. He has advised clients and provided representative services before administrative agencies such as the DOL, the IRS, CMS, OCR, several state-level treasury authorities, and others. He has experience with both qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, executive compensation matters, and extensive experience respecting health and welfare plan matters. Jason received his undergraduate degree from Georgia State University (magna cum laude) and his Juris Doctor from Western New England College School of Law. He is admitted to the State Bar of Georgia.

Rachel Shaw is the President and Principal Consultant of Shaw HR Consulting, Incorporated. With 20 years of executive-level Human Resources experience, Rachel is recognized nationwide as a leader in helping public and private sector employers manage their most challenging personnel issues. Rachel and her team provide comprehensive solutions to employers on how to successfully manage the interconnected roles of human resources, workers’ compensation and disability compliance to successfully reduce litigation, the costs of claims and improve employee-employer relations throughout the process.

Rachel is known nationally as the authority on how to implement and manage the FEHA/ADA Disability Interactive Process for candidates and employees. Her trainings and seminars are highly anticipated by Human Resource and Risk Management professionals as informative, dynamic and packed with real-life practical solutions. She is author of the industry best-selling and award-winning book, “The Disabled Workforce: What the ADA Never Anticipated.”

Rachel served as the Director of Human Resources for the City of Oxnard and prior to that was the Human Resources Director for the Montebello Unified School District. She is a graduate of Brown University and later earned a Master of Business Administration from Colorado State University.