Senior-Level

Jennifer Lee is an experienced keynote speaker, engaging educator, and talented facilitator. Jennifer has over 15 years of learning and development experience with a robust background in luxury hospitality, human resources, and training. As the former Learning and Development Director at the AAA Five Diamond-rated Waldorf Astoria Chicago and the former Learning Manager at The Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, Jennifer brings a rich perspective in leadership, management, service, hospitality and presentation skills training. When she’s not presenting, Jennifer can be found checking items off her bucket list, which still includes attending the Oscars at least once in her lifetime.

As President of DFA, Dean Foster conducts cross-cultural training worldwide and consults on intercultural business issues with most Fortune 500 companies in the United States and around the globe. For over twenty-five years, Dean has played a major role in the development of the intercultural training field. Formerly, he was founder and Managing Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural Worldwide, Vice President GMAC/Windham Intercultural, and founder of Cross-Cultural Consulting Associates, New York. Dean is a frequent guest on CNN, CNBC and other TV and radio shows, and keynotes at major international professional conferences.

Dean has written many articles, the four-part Global Etiquette Guide book series, as well as Bargaining Across Borders, which the American Library Association voted as one of the top ten business books of 1994.

He is a Contributing Editor for National Geographic Traveler, writing the CultureWise monthly column, and Senior Contributing Editor for the International webpage of Monster.com. Dean presents at many educational institutions such as Harvard and is on faculty at the Intercultural Management Institute at American University. Dean has a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Mike Aitken has worked at SHRM since 2003 and currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. Prior to joining SHRM, he served for 14 years as associate director for Governmental and External Relations at the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). Previously, Aitken worked on state public policy issues at Bonner & Associates, a public affairs firm in Washington, DC. Currently, he is based in Alexandria, VA.

 

Jathan Janove, a former state bar Employment Lawyer of the Year and now Executive Coach and Organization Development consultant, writes SHRM’s “Putting Humanity into HR Compliance” column, and is a Master Coach and Practice Leader with the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching organization, including writing its Ask the Coach column. He’s the author, most recently, of “Hard-Won Wisdom: True Stories From The Management Trenches” (HarperCollins 2017). He’s currently working on his next book, “From Compliance Cop to Culture Coach: Transforming the HR Profession.”

Ryan Estis is the former Chief Strategy Officer for the $100 million People Marketing division of McCann-Erickson World Group Advertising and now serves at the Chief Experience Officer in a growing speaking and consulting practice. Recently recognized as one of the Top 100 keynote speakers in America alongside Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, Al Gore and Marcus Buckingham, Ryan is a leading expert on Leadership & Culture, Workforce Trends and Communication. He serves as the USA Sr. Associate with Employer Brand International, an advisory member on the SmartBrief Workforce Council, is a certified Human Capital Strategist and professional member of the National Speakers Association.

His consultancy develops strategy and communication design to help companies more effectively connect to their two most important audiences: employees and customers. He shares his thoughts on culture, engagement and leadership on his blog passiononpurposeblog.com.

Internationally recognized as an expert in the field, Mr. Kushner is one of the nation's most sought after speakers on HR strategy and employee benefits. He has advised four U.S. Presidents on health care and has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Small Business Committee on employee benefit issues.

A frequent resource to the media, Mr. Kushner contributes to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, AP, Knight-Ridder, the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter, CNN News, Fortune, MSNBC and Good Morning America among others. More importantly, he and his wife Tamis have five children and four wonderful (and amazing!) grandchildren.

 

Jeff Tulloch is vice president of MetLife’s PlanSmart®, Workplace Benefits, and Business Advantage organization.  

In this role he is responsible for overseeing PlanSmart, MetLife’s financial education platform which provides education and assistance to meet the diverse financial needs of employees.  More than 170 of the Fortune 500 companies currently rely on PlanSmart to support their financial wellness efforts.

 Jeff is passionate about helping employees improve their financial wellness through education and is committed to empowering them to take action to achieve their financial goals.  He speaks at various seminars on the topic and also works with MetLife leaders globally to bring financial education to international employees of companies located in countries such as India, Japan, and Mexico. 

In addition to PlanSmart, Jeff oversees MetLife’s Business Advantage organization, leading a cross-channel initiative that provides coordinated resources and support to help MetLife firms succeed in the small business owner market. 

Through the Workplace Benefits arm of his organization, Jeff manages a team that provides voluntary benefits to companies. 

Jeff has served in a number of roles with MetLife since joining the company in 1996.  Prior to his current role, he had responsibility for MetLife’s Strategic Alliance group, focused on establishing and managing distribution relationships with associations, affinity groups, and a variety of other distribution organizations. 

Jeff and his wife, Karen, live in Ridgefield, CT, and have two college-aged sons.  When he’s not promoting financial wellness, you can find Jeff on a ski slope, racing slalom, giant slalom, and super-G in the United States Masters division.

Jay has more than 30 years of experience as a tax attorney specializing in employee benefits.  Prior to joining World, Jay was a Sr. VP and Senior ERISA Attorney with Lockton was previously the national practice leader for the legal and research team at WT.W

Jay served as a Peace Corps volunteer and business consultant from 1979 to 1982. 

He has an LL.M.  in taxation from New York University School of Law, J.D. with distinction from the University of Arizona College of Law and a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis.  Jay is the former Chair of the American Benefits Council, an adjunct professor of employee benefits in the LL.M. program at Washington University School of Law.

 

 

 

 

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.”

As vice president of human resources, David Almeda is responsible for overseeing the global human resources function at Kronos.  He serves as a strategic business partner to Kronos’ senior leadership team and drives the human capital management strategy, programs, and initiatives to support Kronos’ continued growth and profitability. Prior to his work at Kronos, Almeda spent 16 years in various human resources functions at Staples, most recently as vice president of global human resources.

Almeda holds a master’s degree in HR management, and a doctoral degree from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School/Graduate School of Education. He is an active member of SHRM; serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Human Resources Association; and is an advisory board member of the Executive Program in Work-based Learning Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania/Wharton. He is a sought-after speaker and expert on HR issues, and has presented at or been published by The Conference Board, Harvard Business School, and CMO Magazine.