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.

Kelly is responsible for SHRM legislative activities on employment and labor issues, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal employment issues as they affect the management of human capital.

Prior to joining SHRM, Kelly worked as the legislative director for Congressman Lou Barletta (PA), a member on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. In this role, Kelly developed an overall legislative strategy for the office and managed the Congressman's legislative team. She specifically focused on Congressman Barletta's Committee portfolio of issues including, labor, health, and education policy

Erika Tedesco describes herself as culture champion in her role as Vice President of (HR) People & Culture at Diversified Automation, responsible for the culture, engagement, retention, and recruitment of professional talent at the company. Erika also teaches at the Gordon Ford School of Business at Western Kentucky University on International HR Business, leveraging her practical experiences with multinational entities to train the HR professionals of the future. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Louisville and a Master’s degree in Communication from the University of Illinois.

Gerry Crispin, SPHR is a former practitioner, Co-author of eight books and over 100 articles, and a Life-long student of Staffing. Gerry facilitates the CareerXroads Colloquium – a series of intense, small-group meetings for staffing leaders from some of the world’s largest firms to share staffing best practices.

A long time SHRM volunteer, Gerry currently leads a national standards task force of more than 100 volunteers working to establish standards for recruiting that meet American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

One indicator that Gerry still sees himself as a student and keeps his perspective fresh is his travels around the world to watch, interview and observe recruiters, job seekers and employers. He has been to more than 20 countries in the last decade including China, Japan, Australia, Russia and India.

Follow Gerry on Twitter @GerryCrispin.

Ken Perluss is the Head of Talent Acquisition at Coupons.com, Inc. He manages all the day to day activity for Coupons.com’s Talent Acquisition organization in the US and in India. Ken has over 30 years of experience building and growing teams and recruiting top talent in Silicon Valley. Prior to Coupons.com, Ken led the technical recruiting function at Yahoo for over 11 years where, under his leadership, the engineering function grew from 40 people to over 7,000 globally. He also led recruiting teams at Silicon Graphics and owned Perluss Consulting, an executive search and talent acquisition consulting company.

Marlene Chism is a consultant, speaker and author of Stop Workplace Drama, (Wiley 2011.) Marlene is a seasoned national speaker who has the unique ability to speak across the boundaries of many types of audiences: from the fortune 500 executives to managers dealing with workplace drama to franchise owners, small business owners and nonprofit CEOs.

On stage, Marlene is an engaging story-teller with the ability to take complex subjects and universal principles and make them immediately applicable to her audience. She is known for her thought-provoking yet down to earth practicality, her sharp wit, balanced by a sense of humor and her ability to create an intellectually stimulating and transformational experience.

Marlene brings her experience in manufacturing, business, entrepreneurialism, and story of reinvention to engage and inspire her audiences to discover, develop and deliver their unique gifts to the workplace and to the world.

Attorney James P. (“Jim”) Reidy is a management-side labor and employment lawyer. He is a partner in the New England based law firm, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, PA, where he is the Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment group. His practice focuses on prevention, training and compliance but he also handles matters when claims arise.

He has more than 35 years of experience in the field and been a media resource on workplace law for media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Business Magazine, Bloomberg, NPR, The Associated Press, NPR Market Place, Buzz Feed, Law 360, Inc. Magazine, The HR Power Hour, HR Breakroom, SKI Magazine and HR Magazine as well as several local/regional publications.

In 2020 Jim was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. 

Chambers USA and New England Super Lawyers have ranked Jim in the Top Tier of management-side employment lawyers for each year of the last 15 years. Best Lawyers USA named Jim the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Labor and Employment Law (Manchester, NH) and the NH Business Review named him one of the top 200 most influential business leaders in New Hampshire.

Jim has been a presenter regularly at SHRM’s Legal and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC as well as SHRM’s annual conferences.