J. Lenora Bresler, J.D., SHRM-SCP, SPHR
owner
Bresler Training, LLC.
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J. Lenora Bresler, J.D., is a powerhouse of enthusiasm and insight.  In her presentations, you get plenty of substance along with a good helping of “fun.” Graduating from law school at age 20, she is an attorney, a certified senior human resource professional, a professional public speaker in the National Speakers Association, is a GSI, graduate of the Speakers Institute, and holds an advanced speaker certificate.  She operates Bresler Training, a corporate keynoting and training business.  Her specialties are leadership, motivation, change, and conflict resolution.  J. Lenora has given thousands of presentations and keynote addresses to every kind of audience imaginable and is known for her energetic and humorous speaking style.  She was the first executive director of the nationally-acclaimed Polk Works Workforce 2020 project, dedicated to educating employers in workforce trends.  In addition to teaching Law at the University of South Florida and all modules of the Human Resources Certification courses at Valencia Enterprises, J. Lenora was the long-time host of her own law and politics talk radio program for a Fox-affiliate radio station. She is a Bible teacher, formerly with her own religious radio program, an actress, and singer.  She co-authored the books Mission Possible with Steven Covey and Brian Tracy and the Best of the Best.  She is the editor of the motivational book Jump Starts by Tim Richardson.  Her newest book is Instant Insight

SESSIONS:
Andrea P. Howe
founder
The Get Real Project
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Andrea P. Howe is the co-author, with Charles H. Green, of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust. She is the founder of The Get Real Project and an entrepreneur on a mission: to kick conventional business wisdom to the curb and transform how people work together as a result. Andrea is a recovering IT consultant who has spent more than 20 years working with clients, managing projects, and facilitating groups of all kinds and sizes. Her focus for the last decade has been teaching people in consulting roles how to get better results by getting relationships right. She speaks on topics like customer intimacy, client loyalty, the dynamics of influence, speaking hard truths, and developing business with trust. When she’s not working, you can find her in the art studio taking far too long to finish her latest mosaic project. 

SESSIONS:
Gary S. Jones
former chief human resources officer
Grizzard Communications Group (an Omnicom Company)
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Gary Jones, CSP and SPHR, is the Former Chief Human Resources Officer at Grizzard Communications Group (an Omnicom Company) with offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles. He has over 25 years of corporate level human resources experience in a diverse set of industries including marketing services, specialty retail, wholesale, and not-for-profit. He holds graduate degrees in Administration as well as Counseling and served as adjunct professor in Mercer University’s MBA program for nearly 10 years, teaching courses in human resources, organizational behavior and management. In 2010, Gary received the SHAPE Award for Professional Excellence in Human Resources from the Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. His primary hobbies and interests revolve around guitars, classic rock, unsuccessful attempts to lower his golf handicap, and travel.
SESSIONS:
Monday, June 29, 2015 - 10:45am to 12:00pm
Gary B. Kushner, CBP
Chair and President
Kushner & Company
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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.

 

SESSIONS:
Margaret N. Morford
chief executive officer
The HR Edge, Inc.
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Margaret is CEO for The HR Edge, Inc., an international management consulting and training company. Her clients have included Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Time Warner, U.S. Secret Service, Sara Lee Foods, Home and Garden Television, Roche, Nationwide Insurance, NAPA Auto Parts, Homeland Security, New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell & Columbia Medical Centers), U.S. Marine Corps, Deloitte, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Vanderbilt University, Comcast, Intercontinental Hotel Group, National Institutes of Health, McKee Foods, Skanska, Fox Broadcasting, Schwarz BioSciences, Fifth Third Bank, Verizon, SAS (computer software), The Nashville Predators national hockey franchise, Northrop Grumman, Miami University, Wells Fargo, TECO Energy, AmSurg, Quorum Health Resources, the U.S. Naval Nuclear Submarine Group and various local and state governments. Previous to owning her own company, Margaret was Sr. Vice President, Human Resources Consulting for a national consulting firm out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has a BS degree from the University of Alabama and a JD degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. She has worked as an attorney, specializing in employment law as well as been Vice President of Human Resources for three large companies and served on the Board of Directors for Aegis Sciences Corporation. She is often quoted as a business expert in newspapers and magazines across the country including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CBS Money Watch and Entrepreneur and appears regularly on local ABC, CBS and Fox television affiliates. She is the author of the business books, “Management Courage – Having the Heart of a Lion” and “The Hidden Language of Business – Workplace Politics, Power & Influence.”

SESSIONS:
Jennifer McClure
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Job Title – CEO & Chief Excitement Officer
Unbridled Talent LLC & DisruptHR LLC
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Jennifer McClure is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and high-performance coach who works with leaders to leverage their influence, increase their impact, and accelerate results.

Frequently recognized as a global influencer and expert on the future of work, strategic leadership and innovative people strategies, Jennifer has decades of in-the-trenches leadership and executive experience working in and with startups, privately held companies, and Fortune 500 organizations in a variety of industries.

As a top-rated keynote speaker, Jennifer has shared her insights with thousands of leaders at conferences and corporate events around the world. Clients include Procter & Gamble, General Electric, IBM, SAP, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab, Stryker, LinkedIn, Notre Dame University, Society for Human Resource Management, Association for Legal Administrators, and Association for Talent Development.

In her informative and entertaining keynote programs and workshops, she shares a blend of research, best practices, case studies and storytelling which leaves audience members inspired and motivated to take action when they return to work.

Jennifer is also the Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR, a global community designed to move the collective thinking forward when it comes to talent in the workplace, and she hosts a weekly podcast – Impact Makers with Jennifer McClure – sharing conversations with practitioners, entrepreneurs, authors and speakers who are changing the world while building careers that they love, and lives that matter.

SESSIONS:
LaFern K. Batie
professional speaker/author, business strategist & executive coach
The Batie Group
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As a Business Strategist and Executive Coach, LaFern Batie leads The Batie Group, LLC, a business consulting and leadership development firm serving organizations around the globe. With extensive Fortune 500 corporate leadership experience and widely recognized expertise, she works with international organizations and leaders across diverse industries to maximize their collective and individual performance. Leaders value her high business acumen, ability to quickly connect with teams, thorough and efficient approach to identifying challenges and commitment to helping them achieve results that exceed their expectations. 

Follow LaFern on Twitter @LaFernBatie.
 

SESSIONS:
Shane Yount
President
Competitive Solutions, Inc.
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Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), an international Business Transformation consulting firm that pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership® - A business transformation methodology designed to create a sustainable culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency through the use of Non-Negotiable Business Processes. Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms,  personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others.

SESSIONS:
Shane Yount
President
Competitive Solutions, Inc.
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Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), an international Business Transformation consulting firm that pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership® - A business transformation methodology designed to create a sustainable culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency through the use of Non-Negotiable Business Processes. Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms,  personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others.

SESSIONS:
Tim Sackett, SHRM-SCP
Personal Pronouns
He/Him/His
CEO
HRUTech.com
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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.

SESSIONS:
Kris Dunn
Chief People Officer
Kinetix
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Kris Dunn is a Partner and CHRO at Kinetix, a national RPO firm for growth companies headquartered in Atlanta. He's also the founder of two industry-leading blogs – Fistful of Talent and The HR Capitalist – and has written over 70 feature columns at Workforce Management magazine. Prior to his investment at Kinetix, Kris served in HR leadership roles at DAXKO, Charter and Cingular. 

Specialties: Belief that the HR function rocks mixed with Business chops. Crossover Dribble. Encyclopedia-like knowledge of the Grunge Era.

Kris is the author of The 9 Faces of HR: A Disruptor’s Guide to Mastering Innovation and Driving Real Change.

SESSIONS:
Monday, June 29, 2015 - 2:00pm to 3:15pm
Barbara Henry, SHRM-SCP
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Barbara Henry, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Fontbonne University and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University.  Barbi has spent the last 25 years working in manufacturing and state/county government human resources leadership. In these environments she has used her auditing skills to assess Human Resources preparedness and objectives for organizational strategic initiatives.  Based on those results, she has written policy, designed training programs, provided extensive employment law and labor relations support to achieve objectives using measurable metrics. This is Barbi’s sixth presentation at the SHRM National Convention as a practicing HR professional.

SESSIONS:
Belinda Tracy Laxton, SHRM-SCP
Senior Vice President or Human Resources
Alpha Packaging
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25+ years of progressive experience in human resource management within manufacturing and service industries. Currently in the role of Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Alpha Packaging, as a member of the Alpha Operating Board with responsibility for eight North American and one European manufacturing operations consisting of approximately 1,000 employees working in operations, supply chain, customer service, sales, and finance.

Tracy is responsible for leading the human resources function at Alpha Packaging, with a focus on developing and executing recruiting, talent acquisition and employee relations strategies that represent the organization’s culture and values. As a member of the Operating Board, she contributes directly to long and short-term strategic objectives of the organization while maximizing organizational effectiveness. She oversees HR programs and initiatives that enhance the employee experience and partners with leaders across the organization.

Prior to joining Alpha, she was the Director of Labor Relations/Human Resources for SunCoke Energy, a primary supplier for the steel industry, with over 1,100 union and non-union employees in 10 facilities. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions in various manufacturing corporations. She has extensive experience in evaluating and improving HR process and efficiencies through technology and has expertise in leading enterprise-wide HR projects; influencing managers and driving organizational initiatives; cost benefit and compensation analysis; HR process improvement and procedure automation; advising on talent development and succession planning; standardizing HR policies and procedures; talent management and performance development; and  training and engagement programs.

Tracy holds a MA in Human Resources Management from Webster University and a senior professional certification, SHRM-SCP.

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