Allan H. Weitzman is the head of the Labor and Employment Law Department in the Boca Raton office of Proskauer Rose LLP, and is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law with over forty-one years’ experience – all at Proskauer. 

Based on a peer-review study, Allan has been named in the 2005 through 2015 editions of Best Lawyers in America, the nation’s definitive guide to legal excellence.  He is particularly proud that he was named by Best Lawyers as the 2013 Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law in South Florida.  From 2007 through 2015, Allan has earned a first tier Chambers ranking for his outstanding employment law work.  In 2009 and 2011 through 2015, Allan was named by Human Resource Executive magazine as one of the nation’s top 100 corporate employment attorneys. He is also a fellow in the prestigious College of Labor Employment Law Attorneys. 

Among his notable achievements, Allan submitted the amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Society for Human Resources Management in the Faragher case.  The employer’s “affirmative defense” that was adopted by the Supreme Court in Faragher was based on an argument made by Allan and his firm. 

Allan is graduate of the Cornell Law School where he was an Editor of the Cornell Law Review, graduating with distinction and was a member of “The Order of the Coif.”

Robert A. Boonin is a member of the national law firm of Dykema Gossett and is based in its Ann Arbor office. Rob is an honors graduate from The University of Michigan Law School, holds a Masters in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University, and a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.  Practicing law for nearly 40 years, Rob has litigated employment law matters before federal and state courts across the nation, handles all forms of union matters for employers, and regularly counsels clients on such issues as discrimination, FMLA compliance, and wage and hour law. 

Rob is a recognized leader in his field.  For instance, he is: on the Chambers USA list of top employment law attorneys; listed as a Best Lawyer in Employment Law; repeatedly recognized as one of Michigan’s “Super Lawyers”; a Fellow and a Past-President of the Litigation Counsel of America; a Past Chair of  the national Wage and Hour Defense Institute; a Past Chair of the Michigan Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section; and a Fellow of the distinguished American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.  Rob also in an immediate past-chair of the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee (which covers FLSA matters), and serves as an Editor of the most recognized authority on the FLSA, the Bloomberg BNA legal treatise – The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Whitney Warner, SPHR is a Partner with the labor and employment law firm of Moody & Warner, P.C. Her practice includes representation of both employers and employees. Ms. Warner was named one of the Best of the Bar 2010 by New Mexico Business Weekly. She was awarded the 2009 Professional Excellence Award by SHRM of NM, the state’s top honor in the HR field. Ms. Warner and the firm are recognized by “Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” as leaders in employment law in New Mexico. She has been recognized in "Southwest Super Lawyers," a listing of the top 5% of lawyers based on peer nominations. She has been active volunteer leader in local, state and national SHRM activities.

Mindy Chapman is President of Mindy Chapman & Associates LLC and the founder of the acclaimed “Workplace Training that Clicks & Sticks™.” She has been hailed by the nation’s top professional associations including the SHRM, the American Bar Association, and the Ethics & Compliance Officers Association as a top ten national speaker and authority on civil rights compliance training and employment law issues. Federal and state compliance agencies, including the U.S. EEOC and the Department of Justice, have recognized and approved Ms. Chapman’s compliance training because of its unique ability to take complex legal and business concepts and distill them into practical business tools. This memorable approach helps organizations to avoid liability, minimize risk and create a culture of respect and retention of talent.

Mindy is in constant demand for on-site employment law training and risk management. She is also a co-author of one of the best-selling books published by the American Bar Association titled, Case Dismissed: Taking Your Harassment Prevention Training to Trial. Ms. Chapman also writes one of the top-rated national employment law blogs for The National Institute of Business Management called, “Case-in-Point” where she reports on critical cases and the practical lessons that will “click and stick” with us so we don’t end up in court to personally learn the lessons first hand. Mindy is a graduate from Northwestern University School of Law where she was a published member of the Journal of International Law and Business and earned the Lowden-Wigmore Prize for legal scholarship.
 

Follow Mindy on Twitter @mindychapman.

Dr. Don R. Powell is the President and CEO of the American Institute for Preventive Medicine located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The Institute is a leading developer and provider of health management programs and self-care publications.

Dr. Powell is a licensed psychologist who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He also taught in the University's Psychology Department for eight years where he was nominated for the "Distinguished Teaching Award" and presently serves as a guest lecturer. Dr. Powell is considered to be one of the country's foremost authorities on the design and implementation of community and corporate health education programs. He is the author of fourteen best-selling self-care books including Healthier at Home®, the HealthyLife® Self-Care Guide, which was the winner of the National Health Information’s “Excellence in Health Education Award” and A Year of Health Hints. He gave 110% in writing his latest book Best Sports Clichés Ever which Sports Illustrated called “a home run." He also wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column and has published many professional articles.

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.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Lance J. Richards, SHRM-SCP, GPHR, SPHR, HRMP is a work force futurist and global HR strategist.  Most recently, he was vice president of Innovation for Kelly Services. Based in Detroit, Lance is one of SHRM's top rated speakers. He is a frequent speaker and writer on workplace issues, having presented at HR conferences around the globe. He is co-author of the Amazon-published book Gen Now (which is available in the SHRM Bookstore). Lance brings almost 25 years of cross-border expertise, with companies like British Telecom, Verizon, Bell Canada and Kelly Services. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Sasin Business School in Bangkok, where he teaches a graduate course in Global Human Capital.
Follow Lance on Twitter @LanceJRichards.
 

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.