Consultation

With over thirty-five years experience in retail management and human resources, Sherry Hollock is currently the Senior Vice President, NYC Headquarters HR and Enterprise Talent and Organization Development at Macy’s Inc.  Sherry maintains offices in both Macy's, Inc., corporate offices in NYC and Cincinnati, Ohio.  Macy’s is one of the nation's premier retailers, with fiscal 2012 sales of $27.7 billion. The company operates more than 840 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's and Bloomingdale's.   

Sherry holds a B.S. in Individual and Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University.  She joined Federated Department Stores in 1986 as the Divisional Vice President, Training and Development for the Lazarus division, after spending over 13 years in stores, merchandising, and human resources at John Wanamaker in Philadelphia.  In 1987, she accepted additional responsibilities for executive recruitment and placement, succession-planning, and other organization development functions.  Assigned to enterprise-wide talent and organization development in 1995, Sherry is responsible for organization development, executive and career development, succession planning, college relations, employment, and executive recruitment and staffing for Macy’s, Inc.  Sherry and her team created the Federated Leadership Institute in 1998, which currently serves as the corporate university for the top 2000 executives in the corporation. In 2010, Sherry accepted additional responsibilities as the Human Resources lead for the merchandising, merchandise planning, marketing and macys.com organizations. 

Sherry has spoken at many conferences in the Human Resource arena including American Society of Training and Development, Training, and the National Retail Federation.  She has written numerous articles in human resource and retail industry publications, including STORES, Training and Development, Training, and HR Magazine.

Curtis Olson is an Inspector with the Calgary Police Service and currently oversees the Community and Youth Services Section. With over twenty years of policing experience he recognizes the strength of diversity and understands the importance of strategic planning to anticipate emerging demographic trends. One of his responsibilities is managing the Diversity Resource Team in which members are responsible for 9 different community portfolios: Aboriginal, African, Caribbean/ Latin America, Sexual and Gender diversity, Hate/Bias crimes, South East Asian, South Asian, Middle East/Europe and Persons with disabilities.

Recently, he guided the development of an integrated, multi-layered organizational framework to advance diversity that includes service provision, human resource practices, community capacity building and strategic communications, within the context of business planning. Curtis has presented at various conferences about topics that have national to international application. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity Western University, a Professional Management Certificate from the University of Calgary and is an alumnus of the 2012 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference.

Mark Butler graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1979.  

He joined Marathon Oil Company in 1981 in the Findlay, Ohio office as an Associate Employee Relations Representative.  During his 25 years with the Company, Mark has held a variety of positions within the human resources function.  In 2002, Mark was assigned to his current position as Manager of Diversity.   In this capacity, he’s responsible for the development and implementation of diversity initiatives that create an environment where the talents and differences of all employees are respected and valued for business success.

Over the last 5 years, he’s spoken to over 3,000 people from both inside and outside of his company.  He continues to speak on a national level and has been a presenter at the national conferences for the American Association for Affirmative Action, The National Conference Board and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Jack H. Cage, Ph.D., is president of Cage Talent (CageTalent.com), an executive recruiting and management consulting firm, and Premier Profiling (PremierProfiling.com), which offers customized, multi-component solutions to talent challenges pre- and post-hire. Jack is the coauthor of HR’s Seat at the Table: How to Lead the Conversations and Deliver the Talent That Drives Strategic Results.

A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Jack served in the US Army for 22 years: as a commander of infantry units; a special assistant to the Army’s senior leadership, advising White House/National Security Council, congressional, and Pentagon staffs; and as a CIO overseeing large-scale technology migrations. He returned to West Point as an associate professor to teach psychology, leadership, and research methods. A recipient of the Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, and three Legions of Merit, Jack was an Airborne/Ranger infantryman who retired as a colonel.

Jack created Antigua Partners, Inc., and Cage Talent with his wife, Laura Larson, in 2007 and Premier Profiling in 2011. Together they conduct talent-centric work (search, pre-hire assessment, individual/team evaluation and development, management consulting) for both business and nonprofit organizations, as well as for high-net-worth families in the United States. They also design and implement customized programs centered on workplace effectiveness, selection and hiring best practices, and leadership, for the City of New York, the US State Department, and Chinese CEOs visiting the United States.

Jack holds a master’s in social psychology and a doctorate in organizational psychology, both from Columbia University. Upon retirement from the US Army in 1997, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a senior client partner for 10 years in executive search at the two largest publically traded search firms, Heidrick & Struggles and Korn/Ferry International. At these firms, he specialized in advanced technology and financial services searches, placing senior executives at, among many others, American Express, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase, McGraw-Hill, Visa, and Wells Fargo.

Jack is on the board of the Pat Tillman Foundation. He also does extensive pro bono coaching to veterans transitioning to civilian life.

As a managing partner and co-founder of n-gen People Performance Inc., Adwoa has dedicated the last 10 years to working with industry leaders across North America, in both the private and public sectors, to build strategies and programs that target, motivate and engage a multigenerational workforce.

With over 15 years of training and performance consulting experience, she has leveraged her expertise to create solutions in five practice areas – sales & customer service; leadership, team building, Gen Y and HR. Adwoa has presented to international audiences, has written numerous whitepapers, and co-authored two books: Loyalty Unplugged: How to Get, Keep & Grow All Four Generations and Upgrade Now: 9 Advanced Leadership Skills.

Dr. Salas is Trustee Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Florida.  He also holds an appointment as Program Director for Human Systems Integration Research Department at the Institute for Simulation & Training.  His expertise includes helping organizations on how to foster teamwork, design and implement team training strategies, facilitate training effectiveness, manage decision making under stress, develop performance measurement tools. And design learning environments.  Dr. Salas has co-authored over 300 journal articles and book chapters and has co-edited 15 books.

Gary Magenta is committed to the development of leaders and managers by helping them recognize that leaders who want to change their businesses must change how they engage their people. As the Senior Vice President of Root, a consulting company that helps organizations execute on strategy through people, he is the architect and leader of the Root CompassSM Manager Development program, and he oversees Root’s business development efforts throughout North America and Europe. 

During his 11 years at Root, Gary has partnered with CEOs and executive teams across all industries to help them gain a holistic view of their businesses, their people, and the customers they serve by helping them focus on practical ways to effectively deploy their strategy, increase employee engagement, and accelerate results by leveraging comprehensive solutions that connect strategy to people and results.

Whatever the challenge, Gary brings a realistic view based on 25 years of business experience, a durable “street sense” for creating results, and a sense of humor that puts things into perspective. He focuses on asking the right questions and exploring what’s below the surface of an opportunity for change. Gary is a certified executive coach specializing in helping leaders connect with the people who have their hands on the levers of change and how they can impact that change.  

Gary is the author of the forthcoming book, I’m Sorry for Yelling. I Didn’t Know Any Better, which outlines 12 Powerful Questions to make YOU the best manager you can be at work and the best person you can be in life. Gary was also recently recognized with a bronze American Business Award (The Stevies) for Executive of the Year – Business Services. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, and has sons in college. He’s a Google fanatic and an apologetic reality show junkie.

Bill Schiemann is founder and CEO of Metrus Group, specializing in performance measurement and organizational change. He has consulted extensively with corporations on the development and implementation of business and people strategies; HR measurement; strategic employee surveys and internal value assessments; and creating high performance cultures. He also founded the Metrus Institute, which supports research and publications, many in the human capital arena.  

Bill is a thought leader in the human resources field, having written scores of articles and six books in the human capital area, most recently the SHRM-published book, Hidden Drivers of Success:  Leveraging Employee Insights for Strategic Advantage (2013). 

He is the Past Chair of the SHRM Foundation Board of Directors and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the HR Certification Institute.  He has been named a Fellow and Scholar by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 

Follow Bill on Twitter @wschiemann.

Matt is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – one of the nation’s leading pediatric healthcare systems and consistently ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine. With the support of a strong team, Matt is working to evolve and optimize the recruitment platform at Children’s.

Prior to working at Children's, Matt helped reshape talent acquisition at Ericsson, the world's leading provider of communications technology and services, operating in 180 countries and employing more than 100,000 people. In his five years with Ericsson, Matt lived in both Australia and Singapore. He drove innovation in the employer branding, sourcing and recruitment strategy for Ericsson regionally and globally.

He has past experience as a senior strategy consultant with a U.S. recruitment communications firm, helping leading organizations implement innovative employer branding and digital strategies to attract top talent. Matt is a graduate of The Florida State University in the USA. He is an author and featured industry speaker on best practices in Talent Management at international HR events.