Senior-Level

Matt Kaiser
director, Recruitment
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
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Matt is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – one of the nation’s leading pediatric healthcare systems and consistently ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine. With the support of a strong team, Matt is working to evolve and optimize the recruitment platform at Children’s.

Prior to working at Children's, Matt helped reshape talent acquisition at Ericsson, the world's leading provider of communications technology and services, operating in 180 countries and employing more than 100,000 people. In his five years with Ericsson, Matt lived in both Australia and Singapore. He drove innovation in the employer branding, sourcing and recruitment strategy for Ericsson regionally and globally.

He has past experience as a senior strategy consultant with a U.S. recruitment communications firm, helping leading organizations implement innovative employer branding and digital strategies to attract top talent. Matt is a graduate of The Florida State University in the USA. He is an author and featured industry speaker on best practices in Talent Management at international HR events.

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 - 11:30am to 12:45pm
Michael VanDervort
executive director
CUE Inc.
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An HR practitioner for over 25 years, Michael VanDervort specializes in creating thriving workplaces driven by positive associate relations.

Michael is the Executive Director of CUE Inc., a non-profit, member run organization dedicated to assisting companies in the creation and maintenance of positive working environments.  Before joining CUE, Michael was the Manager, Labor Relations for Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, Florida.  Michael is also a volunteer leader for the Society of Human Resources Management, currently serving a term on their Special Expertise panel on Labor Relations.

An accomplished social media user, Michael was responsible for implementing the initial social media efforts at one of the largest grocery retailers in North America.  Michael was recently chosen for the 6th time to serve as part of the blogging and social media team for the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition.

SESSIONS:
Phillip B. Wilson
president and general counsel
Labor Relations Institute
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Phillip B. Wilson is President and General Counsel of Labor Relations Institute and is a nationally recognized speaker, author and expert on labor relations, leadership and creating positive workplaces. Prior to joining LRI, Phil practiced labor and employment law in Chicago and was Director of HR for a riverboat casino (really). He graduated magna cum laude from Augustana College (IL) and earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. His book Left of Boom was a top 5 HR book on Amazon.com. His most recent book, The Approachability Playbook, has shipped over 5,500 copies.

SESSIONS:
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 - 9:15am to 10:45am
Tracy Watts
senior partner
Mercer
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Tracy is a Senior Partner and the U.S. Leader for Healthcare Policy at Mercer.  For over 30 years, she has worked with employers on their health benefit strategies.  A spokesperson on healthcare reform and Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, she has been widely quoted.  In 2018, Tracy was named a “Top 25 Consultant” for excellence in healthcare by Consulting® Magazine.  She is currently on the Board of the American Benefits Council and the Alliance to Fight the 40 and frequently represents employer interests to policymakers in Washington DC.  She blogs on the Mercer U.S. Health News site  www.ushealthnews.mercer.com.

SESSIONS:
Chatrane Birbal
Vice President, Public Policy
SHRM
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Chatrane Birbal is Vice President, Public Policy in SHRM national’s Alexandria, Va. office. In this capacity, she is actively involved in solidifying strategic partnerships and research to address policy issues on Capitol Hill that impact the workplace. In her role, Ms. Birbal lobbies Congress and develops policies and positions in support of workplace public policy issues including workplace healthcare, workforce development, workplace equity, workplace flexibly and leave, workplace immigration and employer-sponsored benefits (retirement, education assistance, unemployment insurance, among others).   

Prior to joining SHRM, Ms. Birbal was the director of government relations at the Council on Foundations, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit membership association of some 2,000 grant making foundations and corporations, with assets totaling more than $282 billion. During her tenure at the Council, Ms. Birbal implemented strategies and launches programs in support of the organization’s public policy and government relations work. She lobbied Congress on tax legislation relating to charitable giving, raised the Council’s profile with Congress and other nonprofit organizations, advised members on legislative activities impacting philanthropy and planned and executed the Council’s annual legislative fly-in conference, “Foundations on the Hill.”

Prior to joining the Council, Ms. Birbal was a federal legislative lobbyist at the American Psychiatric Association (APA), an Arlington, Va.-based medical specialty society with over 38,000 U.S. and international member physicians who work together to ensure humane care and effective treatment for all persons with mental disorders, including mental retardation and substance-related disorders. During her tenure at APA, Ms. Birbal lobbied Congress on behalf of psychiatrists, planned and executed the association’s annual advocacy day training session for membership as well as developed the APA’s online advocacy action center to further legislative efforts on behalf of the psychiatry profession.

Chatrane previously served on the Board of Directors for the ACT for Alexandria community foundation.  ACT for Alexandria brings the community together to elevate local philanthropic giving and engagement to new heights, supports local nonprofits working to aid the most vulnerable and develops solutions for the community’s most pressing challenges. During her tenure on the Board Ms. Birbal supported the foundation’s initiatives including ACTion Alexandria, an online civic engagement platform and Spring2ACTion, 24 hours of online giving to support local nonprofits.

Chatrane obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the State University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y. and received her graduate degree of public administration and public policy from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

 

Ms. Birbal currently serves on the Board of Directors of Women in Government Relations (WGR) - the premier, non-partisan professional society dedicated to advancing and empowering women by fostering professional development and growth opportunities through a community that supports women’s leadership in government relations. She is a member of the Tax Coalition, which provides a forum for the exchange of ideas among professionals in federal tax policymaking to encourage the professional development of women in federal tax policy and Birbal also serves as a Director-at-large on George Mason University’s Alumni Board.

SESSIONS:
Kelly Dobbs Bunting
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
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Kelly Bunting, Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Labor & Employment Practice's Workplace Compliance & Counseling Group, and member of its Artificial Intelligence Law Group, has considerable experience defending class and collective wage and hour litigation and misclassification claims, having defended employers in Title III ADA access litigation and litigation alleging race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She is deeply experienced in virtually all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, labor, Title VII, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, non-competition and non-solicitation, trade secrets, SOX and Dodd Frank whistleblower claims, CEPA, ADEA, FMLA, NJLAD, and failure to accommodate issues. She has identified and managed employment issues in M&A deals and appeared before the EEOC, NLRB, and DOL in many states, as well as state agencies in DE, NY, NJ and PA. Kelly has represented many clients in mediation and settlement negotiations, and created HR and compliance training modules. She is regularly sought after as a workforce trainer for issues related to harassment and discrimination, FCPA compliance, good management techniques, and union awareness.

Kelly focuses much of her practice on international L&E issues, including employment/secondment contracts, data privacy, and global anti-corruption compliance. She advises clients on national and international handbook policies, procedures, and strategic HR issues, and provides day-to-day counsel in hiring, employee relations, employee discipline, and termination. She also conducts and advises on internal investigations.

SESSIONS:
Tammy McCutchen
Senior Affiliate
Resolution Economics
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Tammy D. McCutchen is a senior affiliate with Resolution Economics, providing expert services in the Company’s Wage & Hour and Human Capital Strategy groups.

McCutchen became affiliated with Resolution Economics in 2021. She is a nationally recognized expert in all aspects of wage and hour law. Her experience includes regulation drafting and enforcement, conducting internal compliance audits, defending agency investigations, designing compliance applications using smart technology, and serving as a consulting and testifying expert in wage and hour class and collective actions.

Prior to joining the DOL, she served as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she was the country’s top enforcer of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and wage laws affecting government contractors (the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act). She managed an annual budget of $160 million and 1,400 employees, represented by two unions, in more than 250 offices across the country. She was responsible for the issuance of opinion letters and set enforcement policy. She also was the principal architect of the 2004 revisions to the overtime exemption regulations, the most significant overhaul of the regulations in 50 years. Since leaving DOL, she has been the principal author of numerous comments on proposed changes by DOL to the FLSA regulations, including on overtime and independent contractors. She also has defended dozens of employers facing DOL investigations of FLSA, DBA, and SCA compliance.

After serving at the DOL, she practiced law with Littler Mendelson, PC and was a founding vice president and managing director of ComplianceHR. At CHR, she directed the development of the only on-demand suite of intelligent compliance applications focused on helping employers address the ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements on minimum wage, overtime, independent contracting and more. Her Navigator IC and Navigator OT apps assess the risks of classifying workers as independent contractors and employees as overtime exempt as quickly as it takes to fill out an on-line questionnaire. She remains a Strategic Advisor for the company.

Previously, she was in-house counsel for employment at the Hershey Company, practiced law at Skadden Arps, and clerked for Honorable Daniel A. Manion on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

SESSIONS:
Ilyse Schuman, J.D.
co-chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, and attorney at law
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
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Ilyse Schuman is a shareholder at Littler and Co-Chair of its Workplace Policy Institute, Washington DC’s premier labor and employment legislative and regulatory advocacy group. With a deep understanding of employment and labor policy and the legislative and regulatory process, Ilyse W. Schuman provides strategic counsel and representation to clients on a broad array of workplace issues and developments in Congress and executive branch federal agencies. Ilyse worked on the Senate HELP Committee from 2001 to 2008, serving as minority staff director and chief counsel. She also worked as chief labor counsel on the Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training.

SESSIONS:
Maury Baskin
Shareholder
Littler Mendelson P.C.
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Maury Baskin focuses his Washington, DC-based practice on national labor policy, challenging excessive government regulation on behalf of small and large businesses, while advising employers in compliance issues. He has extensive experience in dealing with labor relations and union pressure tactics, employment discrimination and wage and hour law. He has represented a variety of industry sectors, advising clients involved in construction, government contracting, higher education, telecommunications, hospitality, security, and nonprofits.

Maury has served as lead appellate counsel at all levels of the federal and state courts and before the U. S. Supreme Court, and has led successful challenges against federal agencies including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He has long represented the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) national trade association and many of its construction industry members. On their behalf, he has been one of the leading advocates against government-mandated project labor agreements, prevailing wage expansion, and union corporate campaigns.

SESSIONS:
Zev Eigen
global director, Data Analytics
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
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As Littler’s global director of data analytics, Dr. Zev J. Eigen guides HR departments to strategically tap employee and applicant information when making business-critical decisions. He combines a data scientist’s mindset with a shrewd knowledge of labor and employment law in the delivery of precise and practical workplace-related counseling. A frequent speaker on machine learning algorithms and statistical analysis, Zev has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Forbes and by NBC, CBS and Fox, among others. He has taught at a number of universities, including Northwestern School of Law, Yale Law School and Kellogg School of Management.      

SESSIONS:
Marko Mrkonich
shareholder
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
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Marko Mrkonich is a Shareholder in Littler’s Minneapolis office. He focuses his practice on discrimination and other employment litigation, client counseling, and traditional labor law issues. Marko routinely counsels clients on the proper handling of terminations, discipline decisions, leaves of absence and all aspects of personnel management. He devotes extensive efforts to training and education and frequently speaks on a wide variety of employment topics, including the topic of big data and how it is changing the employment landscape. Previously Littler's president and managing director, Marko is a founding member of the Minneapolis office where he formerly held the position of office managing shareholder.

SESSIONS:
Corinn Jackson, J.D.
knowledge management counsel
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
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Corinn Jackson is a Knowledge Management Counsel in the Los Angeles office of Littler Mendelson P.C, where she creates and manages legal and electronic resources to assist in counseling employers in all areas of labor and employment law. Corinn is particularly focused on the use of Big Data in employment practices, and she is currently a member of Littler’s Big Data initiative and its efforts to help develop policies around the use of Big Data.  She is a primary co-author of the Littler Report on Big Data, The Big Move Toward Big Data in Employment (August 2015).

SESSIONS:
Monday, March 13, 2017 - 10:15am to 11:45am
Todd Averett
president
Leading People Partners, LLC
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SESSIONS:
David W. Ellis
partner
Baker &McKenzie, LLP
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David W. Ellis is internationally recognized in the area of executive compensation, employee benefits and pension funds. He is exceptionally fluent in international executive mobility, particularly in the design and taxation of compensation payable to expatriates, inpatriates and globally mobile employees. Mr. Ellis is immediate past chair of Baker & McKenzie, LLP’s Global Employment Practice Group.

Mr. Ellis represents and advises management on all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation locally and internationally. He advises multinational companies on tax, labor, securities and data privacy aspects of equity compensation programs and management participation programs. He also advises both buyers and sellers on US and non-US labor and pension funding issues that arise in cross-border transaction.

SESSIONS:
Kerry Weinger
partner
Baker & McKenzie LLP,
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Kerry Weinger, a Partner with Baker McKenzie, is based in Chicago and chairs the Chicago Employment & Compensation Practice Group.  He advises on the multinational employment, tax, social security, employee benefits, compensation law and other legal issues concerning the cross-border movement of employees as well as assisting clients entering new territories.  Kerry is a member of several Human Resources, Bar and CPA associations and practiced abroad for two and a half years in Brussels, Belgium.

SESSIONS:
Jun Kabigting, MBA/MSIE
chief community officer/managing director
The Japan HR Society
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Jun is an HR professional with nearly 20 years of deep HR body of knowledge and experience (10+ years of which are Japan-focused) across the entire HR value chain gained from both the public and private sectors and various industries such as manufacturing, academe, training, recruitment, and HR consulting. He is not only considered as Japan's premier HR-focused search consultant but also a practicing HR consultant providing services and solutions in various HR areas like performance management, compensation & benefits design, organizational design and development, change management, coaching, and career counseling. He holds a Japan-focused MBA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an MS Industrial Engineering degree from the University of the Philippines. He also completed his HR Studies Certificate from Cornell University.

SESSIONS: