SHRM PDCs

Spencer Smith is the founder of spencerXsmith.com and social media marketing company AmpliPhi, and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University. He was formerly a VP of Sales for two Fortune 100 companies.

He's been called a "Social Media Expert" by Forbes, and is the winner of the 2016 & 2017 InBusiness Magazine Executive Choice Award for Social Media Consulting Company. Spencer spoke at 74 events in 2017, including a presentation at the New York Stock Exchange in September. 

His debut book "ROTOMA: The ROI of Social Media Top of Mind" was featured in Forbes in late 2017, and is an Amazon Bestseller.

Spencer Smith is the founder of spencerXsmith.com and social media marketing company AmpliPhi, and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University. He was formerly a VP of Sales for two Fortune 100 companies.

He's been called a "Social Media Expert" by Forbes, and is the winner of the 2016 & 2017 InBusiness Magazine Executive Choice Award for Social Media Consulting Company. Spencer spoke at 74 events in 2017, including a presentation at the New York Stock Exchange in September. 

His debut book "ROTOMA: The ROI of Social Media Top of Mind" was featured in Forbes in late 2017, and is an Amazon Bestseller.

Jeff Korzenik is one of the country's leading experts on the reemployment of people with criminal records. A regular guest on CNBC, Fox Business News and Bloomberg TV, Jeff’s writings on economics and public policy have been published in Barron’s, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune and other periodicals.  He is the author of "Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community" (HarperCollins Leadership, April 2021), which shares the business case and best practices of hiring people with criminal records. Jeff earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Certificate of Proficiency in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.

LaFern Batie, MBA works with leaders to help them maximize their potential through effective leadership, developing compelling strategies, excellent execution and creating the exceptional experience. As CEO of The Batie Group, a boutique management consulting firm, LaFern is committed to creating practical, high-impact organizational solutions.

With a strong corporate and civic leadership track record, the value LaFern provides to leaders – including small business, nonprofit and Fortune 500 executives – helps them deliver what they promise to their customers through people, processes, products and services. Clients value the results her business strategy, leadership consulting, corporate training and professional speaking competencies help them achieve. With accounting, operations and human resources experience, she is a visionary leader with high business acumen and a commitment to excellence.

In addition to extensive professional coach training, LaFern is a published author and professional speaker. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Salisbury University, Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland and a leadership certificate from Harvard University. She holds the SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SCP) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designations.

Keiko Sakurai has expertise in team building, organizational development, executive coaching, management-skills training, and leadership development for multinational companies. She passionately supports individuals and teams to recognize their strengths and expand their abilities to the fullest extent possible. 

Ms. Sakurai holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business from the University of California, Berkeley, with a certificate in global management, as well as a BS in management from Hitotsubashi University in Japan. Ms. Sakurai has also completed coaching and leadership courses at the Coaches Training Institute in California. She maintains her CPA credentials and is Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® certified.

As chief diversity and inclusion officer, Audra is responsible for working with Randstad’s U.S. operating companies to further diversity strategies both internally and externally. With more than 20 years of human resources, diversity and compliance experience, Audra provides clients across the organization with guidance for effective strategies in diversity, inclusion, veterans and compliance. Audra also helps run Randstad’s Hire Hope program to provide career readiness training and job placement services to underserved and at-risk women, including survivors of exploitation and trafficking. Audra holds a Master’s in Business Administration with a Human Resources concentration, and a Bachelor’s in Finance, from the University of North Carolina. A member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); she is also a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and a Six Sigma Green Belt. Audra is known for her speaking engagements at diversity conferences and has published white papers in her area of expertise.

Ruchi Jalla is Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer of BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based, international defense, aerospace, and security company. In her current role, Ruchi provides direction on enterprise diversity and inclusion strategies and ensures alignment of initiatives that bring about sustainable shifts in workplace culture. Ruchi previously held diversity and Affirmative Action/EEO roles in various organizations including BlackBerry, RBC Financial Group and Sodexo. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for designing and developing programs in the areas of talent acquisition, employee engagement, international compliance, communications and social media. Ruchi graduated from the University of Western Ontario.

Tanuja has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources with large multi nationals at leadership roles both India and USA. She held strategic and leadership roles with organisations like NTT Data, Bank of America and GE.

Tanuja is extremely passionate about the gender diversity cause. Currently Tanuja runs her company “Beyond Pinks” which focuses on gender issues and challenges at corporates as well as atuniversity level. She works with corporates to build leadership talent pipeline and on employability and sustainability of women at workplace.

Tanuja holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and an Executive MBA from Cornell University.

Her personal belief in life: Live the day as if it’s your last.

Emily Gregory’s gift is to create for her audience a moment of self-discovery that leads to change.

Clients praise Emily for her nuanced mix of vitality and credibility. Emily’s depth of experience, academic background, and rigorous intellectual reasoning that provides the solid foundation for her message.

For 15 years, Emily led Crucial Learning teams including Product Development, Training and Consulting, Delivery Operations, and Sales.

Emily is also the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and travels the world speaking and presenting on the crucial skills for improving results and relationships.

Claire Shipman is the co-author of two New York Times bestsellers: The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—and What Women Should Know (April, 2014), an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of confidence—and learning how to achieve it—for women of all ages and at all stages of their career and Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success (2009) which addresses how today's women's management style is ideally suited for the 21st century business world as it produces more profitable companies with happier employees.

She wrote the books with her colleague Katty Kay of the BBC. Their groundbreaking take on women and work has kept Shipman in high demand everyplace from corporations and law firms, to women's forums and girls' schools.

Shipman has also hosted many panel programs at the White House, the state department, and around the world on women's issues.

Before turning to writing, Shipman was a regular fixture on network television, most recently a appearing on Good Morning America and other national broadcasts for ABC News. She joined the morning broadcast in May of 2001, based in the network’s Washington, D.C., bureau. Shipman regularly interviewed influential newsmakers for the network. Over the years she has conducted in-depth interviews with Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Al Gore, Queen Rania of Jordan, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and numerous others.

Prior to joining ABC News in 2001, Shipman served as White House correspondent for NBC News where she regularly reported on presidential policy and politics for NBC Nightly News and TODAY.

Before moving to NBC News, Shipman worked at CNN for a decade. During that time she gained widespread recognition for her White House press coverage. Shipman also spent five years at CNN's Moscow bureau, where she won international praise for her coverage of Boris Yeltsin's 1993 assault on the Russian Parliament building.

Shipman's Moscow reporting helped CNN earn a National Headliners Award and her coverage of the aborted Soviet coup and 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union won the network a coveted Peabody Award. She also received a Dupont Award and an Emmy as one of the key contributors to CNN's coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student uprising, as well as a Dupont Award for CNN's coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Jay Carney, who served as White House Press Secretary for the Obama Administration (2011-2014) and their children.