Senior-Level

Jessica Miller-Merrell is the Founder of Workology, a workplace resource for HR, recruiting professionals and business leaders, and host of the Workology Podcast. The site has been listed twice as a top 75 career resource by Forbes. Jessica is the president and CEO of Xceptional HR, a human capital strategy and consulting agency. Because of her industry expertise and knowledge, Jessica’s expertise is sought after and sourced by publications and media including: The Economist, Forbes, CIO Magazine, CBS, Entrepreneur Magazine, and SHRM’s HR Magazine. Her new book, Digitizing Talent: Creative Strategies for the Digital Recruiting Age was published in 2023 by SHRM.

Skip Weisman, The Workplace Communication Expert, works with small business owners and non-profit organization leaders, plus their employees, providing practical tools to transform workplace communication that create more positive, productive and profitable organizations.

Skip, a former professional baseball executive, served as CEO of 5 baseball franchises over a 20-year career beginning at age 26. Skip’s hard learned lessons form the foundation for the engaging, inspiring, and practical presentations leaders can apply to their work environments.

Since 2012 over 20,000 international business professionals have experienced Skip’s interactive, inspiring, and practical keynote addresses, breakout session seminars, and webinars on his signature topics of The 7 Deadliest Workplace Communication Sins, 5 Steps to Creating the I.D.E.A.L. Work Environment, The 3 Stories Leaders Must Consistently Communicate to Inspire & Motivate, and Mastering the 3 Levels of Communication Influence. 

Heather began her career in the Agency world and quickly sold herself to a Start-Up Client in Silicon Valley as their Corporate Recruiter. Two years later she was recruited away by Cisco’s Talent organization who hired Heather to satisfy a frustrated VP of Information Technology. This new role was funded by the Cisco IT executive team, and during her tenure, she not only reported to the IT executive team, but became a participating member of Sr. Staff. During her tenure, Heather developed a passion and a knack for tying the organizations overall business strategy to their hiring needs..  She was asked to move to Research Triangle Park, NC to continue to execute her hiring strategy and help grow what would become their second largest facility outside of the Silicon Valley . In 2001 after the birth of her first child she left Cisco to raise her son, yet during this time Heather, received her PHR and consulted with a small federal contractor.  That role eventually resulted in Heather becoming their VP of Operations and HR. In 2012 she returned to her passion, High Tech hiring, and was selected as Dimension Data’s America’s region Sales and Pre-Sales Talent Partner. In 2015 she was the only Talent Partner asked to participate as a founding member of a new Global Cloud Talent team. With the empowerment of leadership, the team was trusted to engage clients consultatively. She’s been asked to speak on the strategies Dimension Data implemented to create a consultative approach, what benefits it provides and how it can be implemented into your organization to develop a deeper sense of ownership in the hiring process. She’s a single mom with two boys, 13 and soon to be 15, and a runner who walks faster than she runs.   

David Lewis is the founder, president, and CEO of OperationsInc, one of the nation’s largest human resources consulting firms. OperationsInc has grown steadily since its inception in 2001, and now engages a team of over 90 professionals providing HR, Payroll, Training, and Recruiting support to a base of over 1,600 clients. David is leveraging a 30-plus year career in human resources and operational management for leading firms including Merck/Medco and Computer Associates. He serves as an on-air subject matter expert in the areas of human resources, workplace management, and small business issues for MSNBC, FOX, CBS Radio and NPR, and regularly appears in national publications like The New York Times, Inc., and The Wall Street Journal.

Carol Quinn is the world’s leading expert on interviewing and hiring effectiveness. She is the creator of motivation-based interviewing, an interviewing method specifically developed for hiring “High Performers.” She is the author of the #1 SHRM-published book on hiring – and it’s been their #1 best-seller on hiring for the past five years straight. She is passionate about making sure organizations and their interviewers know how to single out those job candidates who will go above and beyond from those merely pretending. But there is one thing that Carol is even more passionate about… and that’s sharing her wisdom with others.

Tim Sackett, SCP, is the CEO of HRUTech.com, a leading technical recruiting firm. Tim has over 20 years of combined executive HR and talent acquisition experience working for Fortune 500 companies. Tim is a highly sought-after international speaker on leadership, HR &TA Tech, talent acquisition, and HR execution. Tim is currently a Senior Faculty member with the Josh Bersin Academy. He is also an Angel investor and advisor and sits on multiple HR Technology corporate boards.

Tim is the author of the newly released book The Talent Fix, Vol. 2. He also writes daily on his blog, the Tim Sackett Project. Tim is married to a hall-of-fame wife, has three sons, and his dog Tucker. In 2023, he was named a Top Global HR & Recruitment Influencer by HR Executive. He has more Twitter (X) followers than his 3 Gen Z sons and is sponsored on stage by diet Mt. Dew.

Steve Donahue is one of the world’s leading authorities on business applications of Narrative Intelligence. He combines brain science, case studies, mythology and psychology to give leaders powerful tools to drive change, attract talent and engage staff. As a young man Steve crossed the Sahara Desert.  His first book, Shifting Sands: A Guidebook for Crossing the Deserts of Change, which chronicles that epic adventure, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. His second book, Follow Your Compass, was an instant bestseller in Asia.  Steve’s programs are known for their humor, interactivity and immediately applicable content.

Dr. Lepora is a well sought-after keynote speaker on People and Process topics worldwide. She is the CEO and Executive Coach of Nextgen People, a cutting- edge firm that specializes in Executive Coaching and Talent Management Next Practices in a global and multi-generational environment.

Dr. Lepora has partnered with many global business leaders and organizations to help them be more effective in their transformational efforts. She is especially passionate about elevating leader performance and seeing individual and organizational potential realized. She also has a special focus on Intentional Culture and the Globalization of work.

Dr. Lepora has worked and led teams as an internal executive leader and consultant in Fortune 500 companies to achieve positive transformational change in people and processes. Some companies, with which Dr. Lepora Flournoy has partnered include Delta Airlines, ManpowerGroup, Randstad, Capital Blue Cross, Deloitte, and Coca- Cola.

Dr. Flournoy is dedicated to innovative people practices and creative ways to help leaders better perform. She is the author of Journey to Authentic Joy and is currently working on a second book.  Aside from writing, she also enjoys hiking, traveling and photography.

While you can find her on most social media vehicles, feel free to follow Dr. Lepora on Twitter @drlepora and connect with her on linkedin/in/drlepora

www.nextgenpeople.com