Leadership & Navigation

Brigadier General (Ret.) Carol Eggert is SVP, Military and Veteran Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal. She provides strategic leadership to all aspects of Comcast NBCUniversal’s programs and outreach to the military and veteran community. Carol completed her distinguished military career in 2014 as the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Deputy Commandant for the Army War College. She served in a variety of command and staff positions and completed numerous overseas deployments, including a 15-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of the Women’s Initiatives Division and Senior Liaison to the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, and received numerous military awards and commendations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. 

Wellington O. Hepburn is a Senior Human Resources Leader with 24 years of business experience. Mr. Hepburn is the President of Wellington Hepburn International (WHI), which is an international talent management advisory company focused on training and development, talent acquisition, employee development, organizational development, leadership development, succession planning and career pathing. WHI has provided talent management solutions in numerous countries worldwide, some of which include The US, Canada, The Bahamas, Malaysia, Spain, Africa, Turks and Caicos, Europe, The British Virgin Islands and Jamaica.

Mr. Hepburn has earned over twenty awards for his leadership, communication and Human Resources expertise. Wellington is also a Past President of The Bahamas Society for Human Resources Management, a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and a two-time book author.

Wellington is married to his beautiful wife Rose, and they have three children: Sienna, Myles and Caleb.

Passionate Industrial Engineer with a 12+ year career in Human Resources leading strategic multicultural teams. Achieved ambitious results in dynamic international work environments while empowering professionals to help achieve successful career growth. Working first as an HR consultant for Cegos Group, then as an HR Director in the clothing industry (retail and wholesale) for brands such as Gant, Barbour, Belstaff, True Religion, La Martina in the Spanish market areas. And now at Cosentino, leading the Talent Management function facilitating the international business transformation across 5 continents and helping to solidify Cosentino as the global leader in the surface building materials market worldwide.

Erica started her career designing and facilitating training for social impact organizations. She quickly realized her calling: arming organizations with the capability needed to evolve. Since joining SHRM four years ago, Erica has held three roles. She began her career at SHRM in Research, then moved onto the founding SHRMLabs team. SHRMLabs explores the intersection of work and technology. Now, Erica oversees the enterprise client experience as the Manager of Solution Architecture.

Erica holds a master’s degree in industrial/Organizational Psychology, with a focus in instructional systems design. She earned her SHRM-SCP and consistently speaks on behalf of SHRM on workplace tech, the future of work, DEIB, and upskilling. Outside of work, you can find Erica tending to her indoor and outdoor garden, and giving her cat, Suki, more attention than she wants.    

Dr. Bryan Deptula is the CEO of BKD Leaders, a modern-day leadership consulting company, and is the acting chair of the management department at W. Huizenga College of Business at Nova Southeastern University.

He capitalizes on years of industry experience, his own research, and knowledge of leadership to discover and develop leaders that make organizations grow. Deptula believes that the most important people in our lives are those who see the leader within us that we cannot see for ourselves. These people give us the courage and confidence to become the best possible version of ourselves. His motto learn, lead and live reminds himself, and all people that encounter him, to live into their highest potential.

Dr. Deptula is published in leading journals, the Leadership Quarterly, Personality and Individual Differences, and Human Resource Development Quarterly.

Workplace storyteller, ethnographic researcher and IO Psychologist, Abby is Co-Founder of Skill Scout. She spends her days bringing jobs to life on video. Abby geeks out on new media techniques like 360 Video, Virtual Reality, Point-of-View Video, Silent Storytelling and Employee-Generated Video. She's been featured in Crain's Chicago Business, SHRM, and WBEZ Radio. She lives in Chicago with her husband and 2 kids.

Abby holds a BA in Sociology & Psychology from the University of Northern Iowa and MA in Industrial Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Scott Wintrip is the author of High Velocity Hiring: How to Hire Top Talent in an Instant, named a must-read book by HR Magazine. Over the past 20 years, Scott has led the Wintrip Consulting Group, a global consultancy that has helped more than 23,000 organizations build talent-rich companies that have eliminated their hiring delays. For five consecutive years, Staffing Industry Analysts, a Crain Communications company, awarded Scott a place on the “Staffing 100,” a list of the world’s 100 most influential leaders. He’s a member of the Million Dollar Consultant Hall of Fame and Staffing 100 Hall of Fame.

Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, is the president of Crescendo Strategies, a firm committed to reducing unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making leaders more effective in their roles. Workforce Magazine named Cara a “Game Changer” and Recruiter.com named her in their “Top 10 Company Culture Experts to Watch.” Cara is also the author of the 2018 book Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave & How to Keep Them Longer. 

Been there – done that!  With 30 years of HR and business experience – Lori has walked in your shoes.  A recovered HR Generalist, she built a consulting company that she sold to Arthur J Gallagher after 7 years and then reinvented her current business – HR Topics -  training, speaking and developing content for HR professionals.  Lori delivers facts, tips, tricks and best practices in a way that appeals to human resource and business leaders: with a sense of humor, a bias toward actions that improve their operations right away, and practical resources and tools to support their progress.  As an annual speaker at the National SHRM conference, she has leveraged her masters in HR, SPHR and SHRM-SCP background to elevate the position of all HR professionals!

Mary Abbajay, author of the best-selling Managing Up: How to Succeed with Any Type of Boss is the president of Careerstone Group, a full-service organizational development consultancy that delivers leading-edge talent and organizational development solutions to business and government. As a sought-after speaker, consultant, and trainer, Mary helps clients develop the strategies, skills and sensibilities needed for 21st century success. Mary is a frequent expert contributor for national media outlets where she provides practical leadership and career advice. She has appeared in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, Money Magazine, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Monster, and the BBC.