Douglas R. Conant, New York Times bestselling author and keynote speaker founded ConantLeadership, a growing community of people dedicated to improving the quality of leadership in the 21^st century, in 2011. He is also honored to serve as Chairman of Avon Products as well as Chairman of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute (KELI) at Northwestern University. The newly formed KELI initiative is designed to help leaders of today enhance their ability to lead in the “here and now.” This program combines the best insights of the Kellogg academic curriculum with the best practices of “world class” leaders across the landscape at the highest levels of the organization.  

An advocate for ethical practices and corporate responsibility, Conant is the current Chairman of CECP (formerly known as the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy). He is an active member of the boards of the National Organization on Disabilities (NOD), the Partnership for Public Service (PPS), Enactus, the Families and Work Institute (FWI), and the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF). He is also a former chairman of both the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and The Conference Board (TCB), where he remains a Global Counselor, and he is a former board member of Catalyst. 

From 2001 to 2011, Conant served as CEO and President of the Campbell Soup Company. Conant was the 11^th leader of this iconic company’s 141-year history – faced with reversing a precipitous decline in market value. Conant succeeded by dramatically transforming the global leadership team, reconfiguring the portfolio, cutting costs and making strategic investments in Campbell’s products, marketing programs, innovation pipeline and infrastructure. As a result, the company was able to deliver cumulative shareholder returns in the top tier of the global food industry. The key enabler of this performance was Campbell’s march towards achieving world-class employee engagement levels. During the decade of Conant’s leadership, employee engagement went from being among the worst in the Fortune 500 to being consistently among the best. Campbell has been widely recognized for its progress; its many honors range from being recognized by the Gallup organization with its “Great Workplace Award” for four years running to receiving the 2010 Catalyst Award for helping women advance their careers. During his tenure, the company was also recognized as a leader in social responsibility and ethical leadership.

Conant joined Campbell with 25 years of experience from three of the world’s leading food companies: General Mills, Kraft and Nabisco. He began his career in 1976 in marketing at General Mills. After 10 years, he moved to Kraft where he held top management positions in marketing and strategy. Immediately prior to coming to Campbell, he was President of the $3.5 billion Nabisco Foods Company where he led his team to improved marketplace performance and five consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth.

Follow Doug on Twitter @DougConant.

Gordon M. Berger works with employers to resolve complex employment disputes and to reduce litigation risk. He regularly advises businesses in a multitude of employment and corporate law matters, including EEO, wage & hour, restrictive covenants, employment agreements and day-to-day employment and business law issues.  Gordon is especially experienced in advising alternative staffing organizations or administrative services organizations (ASOs), professional employer organizations (PEOs) and staffing companies.

Gordon reviews and drafts employment agreements, covenants not to compete and employee handbooks to ensure compliance with state and federal employment laws.  He is also adept at responding to EEO and DOL inquiries and has more than 20 years of experience in litigation defense.  Gordon routinely assists clients with employment law training needs for their HR personnel and front-line managers, ensuring that common areas of employment law liability are proactively identified and addressed.

Follow Gordon on Twitter @employeratty.

Ms. Walters has more than 30 years’ combined experience in management, HR administration, employment law practice, and teaching.

She has presented at conferences across the country, been engaged as an expert witness, and testified before U.S. Congressional and state legislative committees on employment issues.

Her book, “From Hello to Goodbye: Proactive Tips for Maintaining Positive Employee Relations” is in its 2nd edition and was one of the SHRMStore’s “Great 8” best-sellers for eight consecutive years.

Today, Ms. Walters works as an independent consultant doing business as FiveL Company, “Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law.”SM

A founding member of Andrews • Lagasse • Branch & Bell LLP and specializes in all aspects of employment law.   She provides quality and result-oriented representation for employers who are sued for harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, breach of contract and other related issues.  She also represents employers before administrative agencies, such as the California Labor Commissioner, the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and others. 

Doug Green is currently the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Guaranteed Rate mortgage company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.  He leads the HR efforts for the 2,500 employee company that has a presence in all 50 states, and has mediated countless internal employment disputes.  

Prior to joining Guaranteed Rate, he represented companies in mediations before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

While working for US Congress, he represented the House of Representatives and the Office of House Employment Counsel in mediations before the Office of Compliance.

He works for a sports agent and has negotiated several multi-million dollar coaching contracts with top universities and NFL clubs.

And for the last seven years, Doug has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University College of Law where he teaches a mediation seminar each semester.