SHRM PDCs

Gary Ware, the Founder of Breakthrough Play is a corporate facilitator, keynote speaker, certified coach, and self-proclaimed Creative Catalyst. Gary has over 14 years of experience in the corporate word holding various leadership positions. Being a multifaceted individual Gary also comes with nearly a decade of experience as a performer in improv theatre. After experiencing burnout in his pursuit for success and happiness, he realized that what was missing was play. Committing to a life of play is what led Gary to discover his passion for facilitating. Gary uses the power of applied improvisation and other playful methods to assist people in unlocking creativity, confidence, and better communication. Gary was recently featured as one of the Top 100 HR influencers of 2020 by the Engagedly HR software platform. When Gary isn't leading workshops or speaking, you can find him learning magic or off an adventure with his wife Courtney and son Garrett.

Magi The Evolutionist

Catalyst for Positive Change

Personal - Interpersonal - Team - Organizational

Using a unique combination of experiential coaching, science-backed development tools, and actionable strategies, Magi empowers leaders to evolve themselves and their organizational culture to meet the moment. Whether it’s change initiatives, new leadership, or cultural transformation, she partners with teams to catalyze positive change.

Magi has spent her life reinventing herself. From a single mother at 19 working at the first Cable TV company, to leading one of the fastest growing consultancies and becoming a best selling author in her field of expertise, Magi has continually taken challenges and failure as lessons and learned to move beyond her limits (both real and perceived) to live a life that inspires and contributes. Her body of work cuts through the personal, group, and organizational malaise stifling happiness, joy, and fulfillment at work. Her uplifting talks and groundbreaking courses uncover, catalyze, and optimize human potential, unite teams, and raise organizational effectiveness. 

Steve McElfresh is a Principal at, and the Founder of, HR Futures, Inc where he works with scaling organizations to address their people problems of growth. Recently, Steve was also the SVP/People at Duo Security, driving growth and supporting their acquisition and integration with Cisco. He has been the CHRO at three other tech companies, two of which he took public. He was also the President/CEO of Saratoga Institute and taught at the Boston College School of Management.

Steve has a Ph.D is from Boston College and a JD from Santa Clara University. He is also a past-president of BAHREC and has been a member of SHRM and BAHREC for several decades

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is a millennial workplace expert, internationally renowned keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough (Penguin Random House), and The Breakthrough Speaker. Smiley helps companies attract, retain, and empower millennial talent, and he’s inspired thousands of professionals to be more engaged at work, through speaking at companies like Facebook, ASAE, Unilever, IDEO, Salesforce, SAP, Deloitte, Uber, Harvard Business School, and TED. His TEDx talk has been viewed over 1 million times, and he has done hundreds of speaking engagements, reaching over 50,000 people in 15 countries. Smiley’s writing has been published in The Washington Post, Fast Company, Time, and Business Insider, and his work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, CNBC, and the World Economic Forum, among others.

Michelle Kim is a fierce immigrant queer woman of color entrepreneur challenging the status quo in tech.

Michelle is the co-founder and CEO of Awaken (www.visionawaken.com), a leading provider of modern, experiential diversity and inclusion workshops that go beyond just “checking the box.” Awaken creates compassionate and inspiring learning experiences to empower leaders and teams to lead fearlessly and inclusively in today’s dynamic workplace.

Prior to Awaken, Michelle had a successful career in both tech and management consulting, working with C-/VP-level executives to build high performing organizations around the world.

Michelle has been a lifelong social justice activist and has served on a variety of organizations such as the LGBTQ Speakers Bureau, SF Human Rights Commission's Advisory Committee, and LYRIC nonprofit’s Board of Directors.

Michelle graduated from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business with a passion for social entrepreneurship. Michelle is a passionate keynote speaker and writer -- she was named “Top Writer in Diversity” by Medium for her thought leadership and is a contributor to Quartz at Work.

James Wright of JamesWantsToKnowYou.com is a dynamic and compelling leader with a track record of delivering practical roadmaps for increasing Inclusion and Diversity in global corporations such as Apple Inc., LinkedIn, NBCUniversal, and Time Warner (now WarnerMedia). A featured guest on NBC and FOX, Wright’s articles and commentary appear frequently on LinkedIn and his expertise has been included in The Washington Post as well as several SHRM articles. 

In his practice, James offers transformative training solutions on Gender Equality, Unconscious Bias, Improving Race Relations, and Generational Diversity. In addition, James introduced The Language of Inclusion - a free download of over 135 key terms and definitions to help organizations find a common language to Inclusion. With increased focus on gender and LGBTQIA+ equality, James believes it is important to update these terms to signal where we are today in our journey to ensure diverse communities are truly seen, heard, and valued.

James attended Erskine College in SC & The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is a millennial workplace expert, internationally renowned keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough (Penguin Random House), and The Breakthrough Speaker. Smiley helps companies attract, retain, and empower millennial talent, and he’s inspired thousands of professionals to be more engaged at work, through speaking at companies like Facebook, ASAE, Unilever, IDEO, Salesforce, SAP, Deloitte, Uber, Harvard Business School, and TED. His TEDx talk has been viewed over 1 million times, and he has done hundreds of speaking engagements, reaching over 50,000 people in 15 countries. Smiley’s writing has been published in The Washington Post, Fast Company, Time, and Business Insider, and his work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, CNBC, and the World Economic Forum, among others.

Beth B. De Lima, M.B.A., SHRM-SCP is the principal consultant and founder of HRM Consulting, Inc., where she provides expert testimony, FMLA/ADA training, and consulting in various HR areas. She is also CEO and co-founder of Leave Management Solutions LLC where her Integrated Leave and Accommodation Management SystemTM, coaching and online training for HR pros and non-HR managers and supervisors, help governmental and pseudo-governmental clients easily manage federal FMLA and ADA issues, as well as the critical California specific Medical Leaves and Accommodations in compliance with CFRA and FEHA. Ms. De Lima is nationally certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, with a California specific certification (SPHR-CA) by the Society for Human Resource Management  (SHRM) and was appointed to sit on the Employee Health, Safety, and Security Special Expertise Panel. She is a  certified mediator, U.C. Berkeley, Extension Program and has been appointed to the Amador County Superior Court Mediation Panel.

Ms. De Lima will focus her training presentation at the Western Region IPMA - HR Conference services on how to pro-actively manage FMLA leaves and ADA accommodations in your workplace. Strategies, best practices and little known free and paid resources will be covered to help make managing FMLA, ADA, Pregnancy Disability and Baby Bonding as easy as possible for you, including worker’s compensation compliance requirements, if needed.

Ms. De Lima may be reached at 209-728-8905 or bdelima@hrmconsulting.com, or you may visit her websites at: LeaveManagementSolutions.com and HRMconsulting.com

For over 20 years, Allison West has used her employment law background in delivering customized workplace training, conducting investigations, coaching executives/managers, serving as an expert witness, and specializing in conflict resolution and facilitated discussions to create more collaborative work environments. 

Allison is a top-rated speaker at the SHRM Annual Conference as well as other HR/diversity conferences, and is a national expert on harassment, discrimination and investigations. She has appeared on PBS, CBS This Morning and in O Magazine discussing workplace harassment issues. 

She is a member of the State Bar of California and holds her SHRM-SCP certification and AWI-CH (investigation) certificate.