SHRM PDCs

Avish Parashar is the world's only “Motivational Improviser.” He works with groups that want their people to be more flexible and with organizations who want to increase innovation. Avish uses his 20+ years of experience performing, teaching, and studying improv comedy to show organizations and individuals how to improvise, adapt and innovate in an ever-changing world. He specializes in helping professionals access and develop their creativity and apply those skills to think quickly and deal with change.

Avish grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY, and now makes his home in Philadelphia, PA. Though he performed all through high-school, he decided to stop performing when he went to college to “focus on his studies.” That resolve lasted only a few months, as the first time he saw an improv comedy show he fell in love. One week later he auditioned for the campus improv group, got in, and the rest is history. After graduating, he started Polywumpus Improv Comedy, which did regular performances in and around Philadelphia for 7 years. Avish closed up Polywumpus to focus on the speaking and training side of the business – using improv comedy as a tool to teach valuable business skills such as creativity, innovation and adaptability. Avish is the author of “Improvise to Success!” and the Amazon best-selling, “Say 'Yes, And!'”

Mr. Rittof is the President and CEO of Modern Management, Inc. and an employee relations consultant His proactive approach to employee relations has roots in a broad spectrum of activities including organizational re-design studies, employee opinion surveys, communication audits, and labor relations seminars. As President/CEO, he leads a team of dedicated professionals in helping executives, managers, and supervisors face the challenges of the future. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mr. Rittof holds a B.A. and M.A. in Organizational Communication. He has taught at the university level and is co-author of Quality Circles, a textbook utilized by several universities and businesses. Since joining the firm over 33 years ago, he has consulted in virtually all aspects of employee relations. His experience encompasses healthcare, manufacturing, gaming, hospitality, banking, services, insurance, and government. A few of Mr. Rittof’s many accomplishments include successfully assisting numerous organizations in maintaining non-union status; providing preventive management training programs regarding the union campaign process; developing identification and action planning processes for responding to employee morale issues; and implementing communication plans for organizations in transition. He has also provided coaching and guidance for executives wishing to improve their public speaking skills and frequently facilitated executive retreats for strategic planning and team building.

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Data & Insights Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.

Anne Pachciarek helps companies establish and operate their employee benefit plans, such as medical plans, 401(k) plans, pension plans and executive compensation programs.

With more than 20 years of experience, Anne works with public companies and closely held businesses to find solutions to a wide range of ERISA compliance, fiduciary responsibility and plan administration problems. She advises on welfare plans, pension and profit sharing plans, cafeteria plans and deferred compensation programs, as well as on the handling of benefit plans in mergers and acquisitions.

Anne has been a member of the Hiring Committee and the Chair of the summer program for the Chicago office.

David Lee, the founder of HumanNatureAtWork.com, helps employers improve employee engagement, customer service, and morale, though his work as a consultant, trainer, and executive coach. He is an internationally recognized authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize employee performance.

David is the author of Managing Employee Stress and Safety, as well as over sixty articles and book chapters on employee and organizational performance that have been published in North America, Europe, India, Australia, and China.

Much of his work involves taking research into human nature from a wide range of scientific disciplines, and then translating these principles into practical strategies for optimizing individual and organizational performance.

Using the popular TV show The Dog Whisperer as an analogy for the difference understanding human nature makes, David’s work helps leaders and managers become “Employee Whisperers.”

Joe Gerstandt brings greater clarity, action, and impact to organizational diversity and inclusion efforts.

Joe has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, small non-profits, and everything in between. He speaks at numerous conferences and summits, and blogs at joegerstandt.com. He is a featured contributor for the Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum and his insights have been published in Diversity Executive, HR Executive, and numerous other print and on-line journals.

A strong advocate for resetting the diversity and inclusion conversation, Joe sees these issues as poorly understood and often misunderstood.

Morgan L. Hembree, Psy.D., MBA, BCB graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Philosophy in 2009. She knew from an early age that she wanted to study human behavior, and fell in love with the analysis and exploration of philosophy during college. She spent her summers doing Applied Behavior Analysis with children and teens on the Autism spectrum, which helped her gain confidence in her decision to pursue a graduate degree in psychology.

Morgan began her graduate studies at the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology at Widener University in the fall of 2009. Though her interest was initially in clinical applications of psychological theory, she very quickly fell in love with the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. During her second year of graduate school she began pursuing her Master of Business Administration degree simultaneously, and began the process of integrating her understanding of human behavior with her new knowledge of managerial strategy. In addition to her clinical rotations, Morgan completed a practicum with Organizational Development Services, where she conducted individual assessments, led workshops, and engaged undergraduate leaders in leadership development.

After completing her dissertation, “The Mindful Leader: The Interaction of Mindfulness and Attachment in Predicting Transformational Leadership Ratings,” Morgan graduated with her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Master of Business Administration degrees, as well as her Board Certification in Biofeedback, in May of 2014. She hopes to continue to expand her understanding of leadership and management strategy, as well as to explore the utilization of both Mindfulness and Biofeedback techniques in coaching.

Currently, Morgan is working as a Leadership Consultant for Integrated Leadership Systems (ILS) in Columbus, Ohio. Here she assists employees at varying levels of organizations in industries such as health care, energy, law, and construction in optimizing their leadership potential. Morgan provides executive coaching, which incorporates a detailed 360 assessment 

Nick Craig is the President of the Authentic Leadership Institute, a leadership consulting firm committed to creating leaders and organizations with a deeper purpose and the courage to transform their business impact.

Nick’s insights and approach comes from over 25 years working with top teams, senior leadership programs, executive coaching and architecting results focused change initiatives. Nick is the co-author of “From Purpose to Impact” with Scott Snook in the May 2014 Harvard Business Review.  He co-authored “Finding Your True North” with Bill George of Harvard Business School. His work in the area of leadership purpose has been used in corporate and academic settings, including GE, Unilever, and Wharton’s Advanced Management Program. Nick’s work as a Wharton Fellow is documented at Wharton@Work. His article “Confidence is an Inside Job” is one of the most requested articles in the last five years.

Beyond his involvement with Bill George, Nick has worked with Michael Beer, Director Emeritus of Harvard Business School’s Organizational Change practice, helping top teams have honest dialogues that drive strategic implementation. He has also worked with MIT’s Sloan School to develop their Leadership Center and executive coaching program based on the Distributed Leadership Model.

Jonathan A. Siegel is a principal in the Orange County, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has spent more than 27 years at Jackson Lewis representing employers in workplace law matters.  In 2009, Jonathan was recognized as one of the Top 100 Labor Attorneys in America. In 2020 and 2021, Jonathan was recognized in Best Lawyers in America.

Jonathan provides advice and counsel to employers regarding various issues including wage and hour, reduction in force, discipline, leave management, labor, harassment and discrimination issues. 

Jonathan has represented management in NLRB elections, unfair labor practice proceedings, collective bargaining and arbitrations.