SHRM PDCs

Phil entered the world of business at the tender age of 14.

With nothing more than a bucket and sponge, he went from single-handedly washing cars on weekends to hiring a fleet of friends working on his behalf, resulting in him earning more than his teachers by the time he was 15.

Soon after, at just 18, Phil was offered the role of Sales Manager at fashion retailer Debenhams – making him the youngest Sales Manager in the company’s history.

His early career went from strength to strength, as he worked with a host of Premier League Football Clubs to help them negotiate sponsorships and licensing agreements, to then being a key part of growing a £240m property business.

But in 2008, after several years of being one of the most in-demand young sales leaders in the UK, Phil decided it was time to dedicate his future to helping others to succeed.

He took everything he learned about selling/sales from his previous roles, and created a one-day workshop, where he trained over 2,500 people in his founding year before eventually licensing his training to the UK, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

But there was a challenge…

As Phil plunged deeper and deeper into the world of training businesses, and worked with more and more organizations to improve their results – he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the style of information that the marketplace was glorifying.

Every body is selling something, be it an idea, a product, a service or an outcome. Yet the term “sales” was often about hype. It was celebrating ruthlessness and was all about unethically persuading and influencing people to get what they wanted.

The only thing that ever seemed to matter was the short term results, with no second-thought for the impact on all people involved.

Since then, Phil has made it his life’s work to completely demystify the sales process, and bring both simplicity and integrity to a world that is often full of big egos and even bigger lies.

With this as Phil’s core mission, he has gone on to deliver over 2,000 presentations in 56 countries across five continents, training more than two million people (both sales and non-sales professionals, leaders and experts) to learn how to have more influence, confidence and control when steering their conversations.

Phil’s unique philosophy of using specific word choices to teach his audiences “Exactly What To Say” in order to influence, persuade and drive outcomes, has made Phil one of the most practical and in-demand business speakers on the planet.

Phil currently lives with his wife Charlotte between their homes in New York City and their retreat in the Buckinghamshire countryside, has two beautiful daughters and a rather surprising passion for yoga.

Olivia Fox Cabane has lectured at Stanford, Yale, Harvard, MIT, the Marine Corps War College and the United Nations. As keynote speaker and executive coach to the leadership of Fortune 500 companies, she helps people become more
persuasive, influential, and inspiring. From a base of thorough behavioral science, Cabane extracts the most practical tools for business, applying the latest in global behavioral science to everyday leadership needs to improve her clients'
productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.

In addition to being a columnist for Forbes and The Huffington Post, Cabane is often featured in media such as The New York Times, Bloomberg or BusinessWeek. She has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal as well as NPR’s
Marketplace show. Her course at Berkeley’s Business School was so popular that university staff had to guard the entrance to ensure that only the students admitted to that course gained entrance. Cabane previously served as director
of Innovative Leadership for Stanford's StartX program. Her first book, The Charisma Myth, published by Penguin/Random House, went into second printing before it even launched.

Cabane has both French and American nationalities and is fluent in 4 languages; her books have been translated into 17 languages and she was the youngest person ever to have been appointed Foreign Trade Advisor to the French
Government. Her upcoming book on the mental side of innovation is representative of her ability to take the complexities of psychological factors and transform them into immediately applicable leadership tools for individuals.

Dr. Karlyn Borysenko is the force behind Zen Workplace. An organizational psychologist and executive/performance coach, she is a leader in integrating mindfulness strategies at work to increase productivity and creativity, reduce stress, and create better work experiences. Her practice is based in the greater Boston area and serves clients all over the world. She holds an MBA and a PhD in Psychology, is an experienced trainer and facilitator, coach, and award-winning speaker. Karlyn is a contributor to Forbes.com and the author of Zen Your Work: Create your ideal work experience through mindful self-mastery.

Heather joined Laner Muchin in 2006 as an associate and has been a partner of the Firm since 2009.  Prior to joining Laner Muchin, Heather was an associate at a large, Chicago-based law firm where her practice focused on labor and employment counseling and litigation and general business litigation. 

Heather now concentrates her practice on representing public and private sector employers before federal and state courts and administrative agencies in all types of employment litigation, including discrimination, harassment and retaliation litigation, wage and hour and wage payment claims, civil rights and constitutional claims, whistleblower claims, and employment contracts disputes involving trade secrets, non-competes and restrictive covenants.  

Heather also provides counseling services to her clients on a day-to-day basis to help them develop policies and procedures to minimize risk, train employers on best practices to improve employee relations, and develop practical solutions to resolve complex employment disputes before they mushroom into litigation matters. 

Dave joined Laner Muchin in 2008 as an associate and has been a partner at the Firm since 2013. He regularly litigates substantial-exposure employment litigation matters, including wage and hour class actions as well as discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. 

He also represents and counsels employers in labor relations, including union avoidance strategies, responding to union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, grievance arbitrations, and labor board hearings.  He also provides, on a nearly daily basis, compliance-related and strategic advice on a broad range of employment issues. 

Dave is also active in the Chicago chapter of the Society of Human Resources Managers (SHRM), including hosting monthly roundtables of human resources professionals and speaking regularly at Chicago SHRM conferences and legal updates.

The entirety of Brian’s legal practice has concentrated on representing management in labor and employment matters. 

He regularly services clients on a wide range of employment/labor matters, including, but not limited to: individual, class and collective wage and hour cases; discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims; leaves of absence; domestic violence issues impacting the workplace; disability accommodation; whistleblower claims; unfair competition matters; public and private sector arbitration; employment counseling; drafting and reviewing employment policies, employment agreements, separation agreements, settlement agreements, restrictive covenants, and consulting agreements; and preparing severance plans and related exit program documents for reorganizations.

Randy Anderson has a true passion for teaching the “how’s” and “why’s” of engaging, equipping, and empowering people in work and life. He teaches ideas and strategies that he learned from working for and managing in organizations ranging from 5 to 35,000 employees. Over the last 25 years, he has developed and taught these principles to tens of thousands of people in all sizes of organizations from front line to back office to upper management. Whether learning to improve your performance, or so you can train others to improve theirs, Randy will transform your thinking, your productivity, and your influence. 

Amy joined Microsoft in 1996 having completed her Master’s Degree in Human Resources and Development / Organizational Psychology. For the first 9 years of her career, she held various HR leadership roles in compensation, performance and talent management. Amy has led various HR teams and has been accountable for the successful planning and delivery of HR Programs and processes across multiple markets and geographies, demonstrating success in managing HR Programs in a complex, matrix, and global business environment. Today, she is the HR leader for a portfolio of complex global businesses that span across over 80 countries and ~5,000 employees.

Wayne Connell is vice president of Human Resources for The Washington Post, where he leads the HR function in workforce planning, talent acquisition, total rewards, organizational development, retention and HR policy. He has more than 20 years of HR experience, spanning the hospitality, aviation and media industries.

Wayne has guided organizations – including The Post since 2005 – in creating long-term HR strategies that enable the most effective use of their talent. His areas of focus include performance management, succession planning, culture change, leadership development, coaching, employer branding, onboarding, recruiting and employee relations.

He earned his Professional in Human Resources certification in 2001. He also holds a BA from the University of South Florida and an MA in human resource development from the George Washington University. He served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s graduate program in HR studies for three years. He is published by the Academy of Human Resource Development on the topics of organizational learning and culture and speaks at leading HR conferences on topics of leadership, action learning, and other innovative HR topics.

Wayne lives in Washington, D.C.

Valerie helps companies improve their bottom line by elevating employees from tactical thinkers to strategic leaders.

She served in senior leadership roles at RollsRoyce Aircraft before helping to found InterActiveCorp, parent company to Expedia, Home Shopping Network and TicketMaster. She then went to work for Oprah Winfrey, helping to found the Oxygen channel which was later sold to NBC Universal.

Valerie obtained her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University and her MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Val’s book, Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality, helps leaders manage multiple generations in the office.