Interpersonal (Behavioral)

Dawn Kelley is a certified HR Professional with 25+ years of experience, she is highly skilled in human resources management, employee relations, leadership development, coaching/ supervision, and agency operations.  Dawn has a reputation for being a strong, empathetic leader.  She has volunteered for the Society for Human Resources Management including creating test questions for the SHRM-CP exam, serving as a judge in the college games and spent several years serving on the Executive Board for Central Valley Human Resources Management Association, the local SHRM affiliate chapter.  She is the Human Resources Manager for City of Modesto.  

In 2021, Dawn spoke at SHRM 2021 in Las Vegas bringing forward a thoughtful intro to transgender in the workplace, “Coming of Gender”. Reviews of this session included, “Dawn was an engaging speaker! Very passionate about the subject. Dawn was funny too! Loved that she was transparent enough to share her story with the group! Great presentation!”

Most recently she provided sidebar insights on transgenderism in Chapter 11 Diversity and Inclusion for the SHRM Complete Study Guide authored by Sandra M. Reed and was a speaker on PCTY Talks podcast- https://pctytalks.podbean.com/e/championing-gender-equity-with-dawn-kelley/ with Shari Simpson.

In September 2018, Dawn was a featured TEDx speaker in the Central Valley presenting on Parental Resiliency. She was a guest on two (2) episodes the Therapists Uncut Podcast in 2020 and most recently took part in the My HR Journey Podcast (2021) with Steve Watson.

With a determination to meet people where they are, to help people be heard and to celebrate their accomplishments, she uses her power of persuasion to teach leaders that every voice matters.  Seeing that light bulb go off, that realization in their eyes…means the world.

“We are the voice of those unable to speak, the confidant to lighten the load and the professional to hold people accountable when their bias and judgement get in the way of respect in our workplaces.”

Francine Parham is a career expert and practitioner focused on female leadership and the advancement of women and women of color in the workplace. Having spent two decades in the corporate sector advancing to the position of a global vice-president at General Electric and Johnson and Johnson, she understands the importance of this work.

She is currently the Founder and CEO of FrancineParham & Co., a professional development company focused helping organizations and their female talent with career advancement. Francine is the creator of the Sharpen Your Skills Professional™, a series of career development learning programs focused on the right skills (explicit and implicit) women and women of color need for their professional success and advancement. Her company also works with organizations to provide quantitative and qualitative assessments with recommended approaches and solutions to advance their professional women and women of color in the workplace.

Francine is a keynote and public speaker. She has written for various online platforms and has been cited or recognized as a career expert in various published books. Her most recently published book, Please Sit Over There: How to Manage Power, Overcome Exclusion and Succeed as a Black Woman at Work (Berrett-Koehler Publishers I Penguin Random House Distributors) will be available globally, August, 2022. Francine is a Senior Fellow at The Conference Board, a business memberdriven global think tank and is cited as a Women’s Media Center expert.

Francine holds two master's degrees. She graduated from Columbia University with her Masters of Science degree in Journalism as a Stabile Investigative Fellow. Her second degree is from the University of Illinois where she obtained her Masters of Arts degree in Labor and Industrial Relations. Her undergraduate degree is from Purdue University where she double-majored in Business Communications and Psychology.

Mary V. L. Wright leads one of the SHRM Foundation’s four pillars of work: Skill Building - Preparing People for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Workplaces.  A critical part of that effort is leading the implementation of the US DOL funded HR Registered Apprenticeship Program, the first national HR apprenticeship program. As such, she is responsible for all parts of the program – development, marketing, sales, budget and evaluation.  In addition, she leads the Foundation’s work on the role of credentials in achieving an organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals and is an integral part of the team in promoting the inclusion of untapped talent in the workforce.

Ms. Wright has many years of experience connecting the public and private sectors in municipal finance, government affairs, and workforce development as a project leader, facilitator and subject matter expert.

Previously, Ms. Wright was a director at Jobs for the Future (JFF) where she designed and supervised the completion of foundation, government and employer-funded projects on topics including: expanding employability skills, developing apprenticeship and work-based learning strategies, utilizing labor market information to determine educational focus, better hiring and training practices for people with disabilities, improving entry level jobs for the retail sector, determining the correct educational focus for specific geographic areas including the state of Florida and Columbus Ohio, and an in-depth analysis of green infrastructure jobs.

Prior to joining JFF, she served as director at The Conference Board in New York City, driving its work in workforce readiness, business, and education partnerships. She also focused on improving the employment outcomes for people with disabilities through research and convenings. Ms. Wright co-authored or acted as project director on several key Conference Board reports regarding workforce readiness skills, including Are They Really Ready to Work? and The Ill-Prepared Workforce.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Work & the Economy and the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation.

Ms. Wright received a Master of Business Administration in public/nonprofit management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Affairs from Connecticut College.

Cassie currently leads Workforce Development Partnerships for the Google Career Certificates. This program helps job seekers -- regardless of their educational background and work experience - learn the skills they need to enter in-demand high-growth career fields that pay well. Prior to this role, Cassie served as the Product Lead for the second most popular certificate on Coursera: The Google Project Management Certificate. 

During her tenure at Google, Cassie has led Strategy and Operations for Grow with Google & Waze. She also served as an Account Strategist for small businesses using Google AdWords and Analytics to grow their presence. 

She is currently pursuing her Executive MBA at NYU Stern School of Business.

Karen Worthy enjoys solving the most challenging problems in the industry and is known for her ability to make difficult problems seem simple. As VP of Talent Acquisition and Employee Experience at Booster, she leads a team that is revolutionizing how the industry hires for both field workers and corporate employees. With Booster’s accelerated growth trajectory, her team has mastered high volume recruiting in hard-to-fill roles such as CDL truck drivers. 

Karen is a self-proclaimed data geek, an engineering and business graduate, and a mom of three amazing boys. Her resume boasts companies such as Amazon and Procter & Gamble, which have prepared her for her role leading change and growth within the startup world of Booster.

Nancy Woolever, SHRM-SCP, joined SHRM in 1997 to plan SHRM’s conference, seminar, e-learning and executive education programs. In 2006, she began leading SHRM’s academic initiative to raise HR educational standards and led the test development and administration of SHRM’s student capstone exam before joining the certification team as director of exam development in 2017. In 2019, Ms. Woolever became the vice president of certification operations as overall product and project owner with responsibility for exam development, certificant care and testing administration. Before joining SHRM, Ms. Woolever held various management positions in industry and academia. Her specialty areas are test development, training and development.  Ms. Woolever holds a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in HR both from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

On a mission to spend 1 hour, 1 on 1, with 10,000 different people, Rob Lawless sees the world from an incredibly unique perspective. Over the last 8 years, he’s met over 6,000 people across 90+ countries, sharing their stories on his Instagram, @robs10kfriends. Rob has been featured on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest," the TODAY Show, and even the Kelly Clarkson Show. Rob's inspiring project showcases the value of intentional human connection and how every human interaction holds the potential to change your life.

On a mission to spend 1 hour, 1 on 1, with 10,000 different people, Rob Lawless sees the world from an incredibly unique perspective. Over the last 8 years, he’s met over 6,000 people across 90+ countries, sharing their stories on his Instagram, @robs10kfriends. Rob has been featured on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest," the TODAY Show, and even the Kelly Clarkson Show. Rob's inspiring project showcases the value of intentional human connection and how every human interaction holds the potential to change your life.

Chris Dyer inspires audiences with a straightforward delivery, insightful candor, and engaging humor. His talks leave audiences permanently transformed, offering innovative perspectives on leadership to improve company culture, and empower organizations to create a people centric approach.

As a highly sought-after keynote speaker, consultant, and advisor he brings a unique perspective from his expertise in building, leading, and exiting successful organizations. Through his research from two best-selling books, he is always engaged with leading companies to help transform their culture, leadership, and flexible work strategies. He is also the host of a popular radio show TalentTalk where he has had hundreds of conversations with the world’s best leaders for his audience of over 3 million annual listeners. Currently he is the Founder of PeopleG2, an Accusource company, with a fully remote organization. PeopleG2 is routinely ranked one of the best places to work and has been listed as one of Inc.'s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies five times.

Chris enjoys contributing to the leadership conversation and has been featured by leading media outlets such as the BBC, Fox Business, NBC, Telegraph, The Sun, INC, and Forbes. He has also delivered keynotes and worked as a consultant for top brands like Johnson & Johnson, Citi, IKEA, Kelly Services, the United States Patent Office, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and their Ministry of Defense, as well other top firms like Farmer’s Insurance and Cornerstone OnDemand. He is listed a Top 50 Global Thought Leader by PeopleHum, and as a top leadership voice on LeaderHum. Most importantly he married his high school sweetheart and has three adopted children who have finally left the house, and one grandson.

Jeremy York, SHRM-SCP, SPHR is the Lead Consultant and President of InvigorateHR and coauthor of the “JoyPowered Organization.” He has over 20 years' experience in human resource strategy and business operations where he has worked with and advised all levels of management on critical business and people-related issues. Jeremy's expertise in defining and understanding the "big picture" enables him to translate business needs into tangible solutions. With his guidance, organizations have improved employee relations, increased performance, and developed cultures based on mutual trust and respect. Jeremy holds a master’s degree in management from Indiana Wesleyan University and a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Purdue University. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for Purdue University Indianapolis for over 15 years teaching various leadership and human resources curriculums. Jeremy is a national speaker and currently serves as an advisor on the Society for Human Resource Management’s Diversity Taskforce.

Stephen Paskoff is president and CEO of ELI®, which helps organizations activate and align their values with core organizational behaviors to build respectful, welcoming and inclusive cultures, maximize results and reduce legal and operational risks.

Paskoff has been named the highest-ranking speaker at SHRM’s national conference. The EEOC recognized ELI’s impact and quoted Paskoff in its Harassment Study. He is a nationally recognized speaker, commentator and author on workplace issues.

Before founding ELI® in 1986, Paskoff was an EEOC trial attorney and partner in a management law firm. He authored Teaching Big Shots to Behave and Civility Rules!