Leadership (Behavioral)

Wendi Safstrom is a senior non-profit leader committed to serving the public through philanthropic program management, cultivating strategic partnerships and managing and developing high performing teams. She has both association and nonprofit management experience including; national program development and administration, membership strategy, marketing and product development, grant management, development and donor stewardship, and leading cross functional teams. Safstrom currently serves as President for the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation (SHRM Foundation), where she leads the development and implementation of SHRM Foundation's programmatic, development, and marketing and communication strategies in support of SHRM Foundation's new mission and vision, creating growth plans and ensuring alignment with SHRM goals.  

Prior to assuming the role at SHRM Foundation, Safstrom served as Vice President at the National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, where she led the development and implementation of their Foundation's most recent five-year strategic plan, and was responsible for all Foundation programming, including workforce development initiatives, scholarship and event management, community relations and engagement initiatives. The NRAEF's philanthropic programming supported a number of audiences including high school youth, veterans transitioning from service to civilian work and life, opportunity youth and incumbent workers. Of particular note, she led the implementation of the restaurant industry's premier high school career and technical education program, growing the program to over 2,000 public high schools, engaging over 150,000 students annually, nationwide. In 2016, she served as lead project director for the development of a $10 million contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to develop the hospitality industry's first apprenticeship program, and was instrumental in the Foundation's reorganization and relocation of operations from Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C., transforming the staff and culture.  

Safstrom has also held human resource management roles with the Leo Burnett Company and Hyatt Hotels Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. She has a BS in Business Administration from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University and was recognized as a member of the 2014 "Power 20" by Restaurant Business Magazine as a leader in philanthropy within the restaurant industry.  

Shari Harley, author of How to Say Anything to Anyone, is known globally as an engaging, funny, content-rich business speaker. Her international training firm, Candid Culture, is making it easier to tell the truth at work. Shari is bringing candor back to the workplace. A former HR practitioner and operations leader, Shari’s practical approach has led her to speak and train in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Dubai and Australia. From “Making Meetings Work” and “Delegating Better” to “Managing Your Career” and “Saying Anything to Anyone,” Shari’s tips are sure to delight and inform in a real, direct and very funny way. Watch videos and learn more about Shari at www.candidculture.com.

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. 

Nicole Butts is an accomplished Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive, strategist, and coach who specializes in transforming executives into inclusive and equitable organizational leaders.

During her 20-year career, she has built multiple inaugural DEI offices; served as a chief diversity officer; a director of employee diversity, inclusion, and climate; and a director of equal employment.

Nicole is the founder of NLYB Solutions, a DEI consulting firm helping executives, executive teams, and organizations courageously and effectively navigate personal, professional, and organizational DEI journeys. She is the creator of SHIFT, a transformational five-step framework for creating systemic, effective, measurable, and sustainable DEI cultures.

Nicole Butts is an accomplished Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive, strategist, and coach who specializes in transforming executives into inclusive and equitable organizational leaders.

During her 20-year career, she has built multiple inaugural DEI offices; served as a chief diversity officer; a director of employee diversity, inclusion, and climate; and a director of equal employment.

Nicole is the founder of NLYB Solutions, a DEI consulting firm helping executives, executive teams, and organizations courageously and effectively navigate personal, professional, and organizational DEI journeys. She is the creator of SHIFT, a transformational five-step framework for creating systemic, effective, measurable, and sustainable DEI cultures.

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.

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.