Consultation

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.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Tricia is responsible for overall client satisfaction and delivery of Willis Towers Watson’s configurable benefit solutions to meet the unique needs of each organization. As a national leader, she advises our teams on how to deploy a holistic approach to health and benefits design and delivery using our deep market insights to develop cutting edge strategies and solutions that benefit both employers and employees.  As a dynamic speaker, Tricia has been a featured at the Conference Board, Retail Symposium, and the Argentum Senior Living Conference.

Jennifer Currence is a Senior Partner of HR Soul consultancy firm in Tampa, Florida, where she delivers results through strategic HR solutions, customized training, and coaching programs for organizational and HR leaders. She is the creator of The SOTO Approach to Leadership and the content architect for the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) international People Manager Qualification (PMQ).

Jennifer is regularly published and featured in industry magazines, webinars, and podcasts, and is the author of three HR books on behavioral business competencies.

Jennifer was named one of the top 100 Influential HR professionals in Leadership and Development in 2023 and Tampa Bay’s HR Consultant of the Year in 2017.  She is a faculty member for SHRM and a former management professor at the University of Tampa.

Two themes are woven throughout Lauraine Bifulco's diverse career: a passion for a job well done and a zest for continual learning and improvement.  Lauraine infuses Vantaggio HR with these qualities every day. When she founded the firm in 1994, Lauraine combined her rare talent in understanding what a client needs and her gift of business foresight to create a company that can service the HR and management consulting needs of small and large companies equally well.  Today, Vantaggio serves clients across the country from their offices in California, Hawaii, Colorado, and New York. 

Her Career experience helps employers realize their HR goals and adapt to the shifting HR landscape.  Lauraine is a veteran HR executive and entrepreneur with 25 years of international, corporate, and consulting experience. Her bold career has taken her to employment and business opportunities in Europe and multiple U.S. cities. She serves as co-chair of the California Small Business Administration's committee on Labor Issues which reviews and makes recommendations on pending labor/employment laws, keeping her abreast of legal developments.                                                                            

Delivering over 30 presentations and webinars each year, Lauraine is a well-respected, and highly sought after guest lecturer and speaker on a variety of business management and HR-related topics for both state and national organizations including Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA), American Payroll Association (APA), Next Concept HR Association (NCHRA), Paylocity annual Elevate Conference, and HR Star Conference to name a few. She has been invited to review, develop, and deliver certificate programs for SHRM, and has developed and delivered curriculum for businesses throughout the U.S.                                                                   

Lauraine received a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and conducted graduate level studies in linguistics at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Dr. Rich Huebner is currently Director of Data Architecture & Data Science at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he leads data analytics and data science projects. He also regularly blogs and writes articles and white papers about data science and data-related topics. He is also a published author of 15 refereed articles in the areas of data mining, data science, and data architecture. He has 20 years of experience working on database and data projects in different industries including healthcare, manufacturing, and education. He is also an adjunct professor for New England College of Business, where he teaches HR Metrics & Analytics, Strategic Information Technology & Business Analytics, Operations Management, and Statistics. He also has developed and taught numerous courses on database systems, data mining, and analytics.

James J. McDonald, Jr. is a partner in the Irvine, California and Tampa, Florida offices of Fisher & Phillips LLP, where he is a litigator, trial lawyer and strategic advisor to employers regarding labor and employment law matters.  He is author of the SHRM-published book, California Employment Law: An Employer’s Guide, and he is a frequent speaker on employment law issues.  He is a cum laude law graduate of Georgetown University and a member of the California and Florida Bars, and he holds the SHRM-SCP certification.

Internationally recognized as an expert in the field, Mr. Kushner is one of the nation's most sought after speakers on HR strategy and employee benefits. He has advised four U.S. Presidents on health care and has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Small Business Committee on employee benefit issues.

A frequent resource to the media, Mr. Kushner contributes to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, AP, Knight-Ridder, the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter, CNN News, Fortune, MSNBC and Good Morning America among others. More importantly, he and his wife Tamis have five children and four wonderful (and amazing!) grandchildren.

Trent serves as the VP of Research at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM),  the world’s largest HR professional society, representing more than 300,000 members in more than 165 countries.  In this position, Trent leads a comprehensive research program that identifies workplace needs, conducts research, and develops research-based solutions and products to allow HR and business leaders to further the goals of their organization.  Trent also served as a SHRM Certification Commissioner.  In this position, Trent served as a chief technical advisor for the development of the SHRM competency model and certification exams.  Prior to SHRM, Trent spent 15 years at Walmart Stores, Inc. leading global HR Centers of Expertise and has led large, multinational HR projects in China, India, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, the UK, and the US.  Trent holds a BA in Psychology and a MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Akron.   He is also holds the SHRM-SCP certification. 

Dr. Steven Hunt role is focused on guiding the development and application of technology-enabled solutions to create thriving, agile and engaged workforces.  Dr. Hunt has over 25 years of experience working with a variety of human capital management applications including performance management, staffing, employee and leadership development, culture change, workforce analytics, and succession planning.  A recognized expert on strategic human resources, he has played a pivotal role in creating systems that have improved productivity and engagement of millions of employees working for thousands of companies ranging from small start-up organizations to the largest employers in the world.