Communication

Gary Ware, the Founder of Breakthrough Play is a corporate facilitator, keynote speaker, certified coach, and self-proclaimed Creative Catalyst. Gary has over 14 years of experience in the corporate word holding various leadership positions. Being a multifaceted individual Gary also comes with nearly a decade of experience as a performer in improv theatre. After experiencing burnout in his pursuit for success and happiness, he realized that what was missing was play. Committing to a life of play is what led Gary to discover his passion for facilitating. Gary uses the power of applied improvisation and other playful methods to assist people in unlocking creativity, confidence, and better communication. Gary was recently featured as one of the Top 100 HR influencers of 2020 by the Engagedly HR software platform. When Gary isn't leading workshops or speaking, you can find him learning magic or off an adventure with his wife Courtney and son Garrett.

Magi The Evolutionist

Catalyst for Positive Change

Personal - Interpersonal - Team - Organizational

Using a unique combination of experiential coaching, science-backed development tools, and actionable strategies, Magi empowers leaders to evolve themselves and their organizational culture to meet the moment. Whether it’s change initiatives, new leadership, or cultural transformation, she partners with teams to catalyze positive change.

Magi has spent her life reinventing herself. From a single mother at 19 working at the first Cable TV company, to leading one of the fastest growing consultancies and becoming a best selling author in her field of expertise, Magi has continually taken challenges and failure as lessons and learned to move beyond her limits (both real and perceived) to live a life that inspires and contributes. Her body of work cuts through the personal, group, and organizational malaise stifling happiness, joy, and fulfillment at work. Her uplifting talks and groundbreaking courses uncover, catalyze, and optimize human potential, unite teams, and raise organizational effectiveness. 

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is a millennial workplace expert, internationally renowned keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough (Penguin Random House), and The Breakthrough Speaker. Smiley helps companies attract, retain, and empower millennial talent, and he’s inspired thousands of professionals to be more engaged at work, through speaking at companies like Facebook, ASAE, Unilever, IDEO, Salesforce, SAP, Deloitte, Uber, Harvard Business School, and TED. His TEDx talk has been viewed over 1 million times, and he has done hundreds of speaking engagements, reaching over 50,000 people in 15 countries. Smiley’s writing has been published in The Washington Post, Fast Company, Time, and Business Insider, and his work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, CNBC, and the World Economic Forum, among others.

James Wright of JamesWantsToKnowYou.com is a dynamic and compelling leader with a track record of delivering practical roadmaps for increasing Inclusion and Diversity in global corporations such as Apple Inc., LinkedIn, NBCUniversal, and Time Warner (now WarnerMedia). A featured guest on NBC and FOX, Wright’s articles and commentary appear frequently on LinkedIn and his expertise has been included in The Washington Post as well as several SHRM articles. 

In his practice, James offers transformative training solutions on Gender Equality, Unconscious Bias, Improving Race Relations, and Generational Diversity. In addition, James introduced The Language of Inclusion - a free download of over 135 key terms and definitions to help organizations find a common language to Inclusion. With increased focus on gender and LGBTQIA+ equality, James believes it is important to update these terms to signal where we are today in our journey to ensure diverse communities are truly seen, heard, and valued.

James attended Erskine College in SC & The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is a millennial workplace expert, internationally renowned keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough (Penguin Random House), and The Breakthrough Speaker. Smiley helps companies attract, retain, and empower millennial talent, and he’s inspired thousands of professionals to be more engaged at work, through speaking at companies like Facebook, ASAE, Unilever, IDEO, Salesforce, SAP, Deloitte, Uber, Harvard Business School, and TED. His TEDx talk has been viewed over 1 million times, and he has done hundreds of speaking engagements, reaching over 50,000 people in 15 countries. Smiley’s writing has been published in The Washington Post, Fast Company, Time, and Business Insider, and his work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, CNBC, and the World Economic Forum, among others.

Tracy Stock is one of the most in-demand and top-rated female speakers in North America today because of her ability to inspire behavior change and achieve positive outcomes. As a workplace culture expert, an engaging Certified Speaking Professional®, highly skilled live and virtual training expert and a best-selling author with five published titles, her 25 years of experience include clients such as the U.S. Army, Motorola, True Value, US Bank and Subway, to name a few. As a speaker of choice, Tracy is committed to helping energize workplace culture, enhance employee engagement and empower high performance. 

Beth B. De Lima, M.B.A., SHRM-SCP is the principal consultant and founder of HRM Consulting, Inc., where she provides expert testimony, FMLA/ADA training, and consulting in various HR areas. She is also CEO and co-founder of Leave Management Solutions LLC where her Integrated Leave and Accommodation Management SystemTM, coaching and online training for HR pros and non-HR managers and supervisors, help governmental and pseudo-governmental clients easily manage federal FMLA and ADA issues, as well as the critical California specific Medical Leaves and Accommodations in compliance with CFRA and FEHA. Ms. De Lima is nationally certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, with a California specific certification (SPHR-CA) by the Society for Human Resource Management  (SHRM) and was appointed to sit on the Employee Health, Safety, and Security Special Expertise Panel. She is a  certified mediator, U.C. Berkeley, Extension Program and has been appointed to the Amador County Superior Court Mediation Panel.

Ms. De Lima will focus her training presentation at the Western Region IPMA - HR Conference services on how to pro-actively manage FMLA leaves and ADA accommodations in your workplace. Strategies, best practices and little known free and paid resources will be covered to help make managing FMLA, ADA, Pregnancy Disability and Baby Bonding as easy as possible for you, including worker’s compensation compliance requirements, if needed.

Ms. De Lima may be reached at 209-728-8905 or bdelima@hrmconsulting.com, or you may visit her websites at: LeaveManagementSolutions.com and HRMconsulting.com

Howard Ross is lifelong social justice advocate, and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias.  Howard has delivered programs in 47 states and over 40 other countries to audiences including Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and major institutions within healthcare, government, and non-profit sectors. He authored the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias:  Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance. His latest  book, Our Search for Belonging: How the Need for Connection Is Tearing Our Culture Apart, published by Berrett-Koehler in 2018, received the Nautilus Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice. His next book, Building Belonging: 9 Pathways to Creating Inclusive and Joyful Organizational Communities, will be published in 2020.

Kelly Greenwood is the Founder & CEO of Mind Share Partners, a leading workplace mental health nonprofit. Kelly is a Forbes contributor and the editor-at-large for the “Mental Health at Work” section on Thrive Global.

Previously, Kelly served as the Chief Growth & Strategy Officer of Techbridge Girls and was a Principal at the Skoll Foundation. Kelly worked as a management consultant at Accenture, A.T. Kearney, and the Bridgespan Group.

Kelly holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and graduated summa cum laude from Duke University with a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish.

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.