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.

 Joe is a leading thinker in managing and motivating people. He’s passionate about helping organizations achieve their vision through effective performance management.

 He’s a top-rated SHRM speaker and serves as Chief Value Officer for Delphia Consulting, a national HR and Payroll software consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio. Joe is the co-creator of miviva, a continuous performance management application.

 Joe has over 30 years of experience and serves as VP of Professional Development on the Human Resources Association of Central Ohio (HRACO) Board of Directors. Joe is a cited contributor to the SHRM Learning System.

Joe Gerstandt brings greater clarity, action, and impact to organizational diversity and inclusion efforts.

Joe has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, small non-profits, and everything in between. He speaks at numerous conferences and summits, and blogs at joegerstandt.com. He is a featured contributor for the Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum and his insights have been published in Diversity Executive, HR Executive, and numerous other print and on-line journals.

A strong advocate for resetting the diversity and inclusion conversation, Joe sees these issues as poorly understood and often misunderstood.

Conrad is an accomplished and passionate Senior Talent Acquisition strategist and thought leader who possesses over fifteen years of results focused experience in the recruiting arena. He has a demonstrated history of directing, designing and implementing enterprise wide employment branding, recruitment and staffing initiatives for large organizations. Conrad has deep experience collaborating with various levels of corporate and operations lines of businesses to meet hiring objectives. He is adept at executing strategic and operational workforce planning analysis to identify skill gaps and future talent needs. Conrad is a recognized leader in the Talent Acquisition community who has served in leadership roles on boards, professional associations, industry benchmarking groups and task forces.

Follow Conrad on Twitter @ConradSamuels.

Kevin Cope is the #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author of Seeing the Big Picture: Business Acumen to Build Your Credibility, Career, and Company. A renowned trainer and speaker, Kevin has spent the last 25 years working with top organizations including 30 Fortune 50 companies. His 5 Business Drivers model and ideas, shared with millions through his book, articles, and courses, have been praised for being relevant and actionable; they help you come to the table prepared.

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.”

Americus Reed, II is the Whitney M. Young Jr., Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he has served on faculty since 2000. He received a Ph.D. (Consumer Behavior and Social Psychology) from the University of Florid a’s Warrington College of Business after receiving two master’s degrees (Organizational Behavior and Market Research Methods) and a B.B.A (Strategy) from Georgia State University. Professor Reed’s primary research and consulting areas are in brand equity and specifically identity driven marketing – the study of creating and fostering “brand communities” that transcend the utilitarian aspects of products; connect to deep levels of emotional and social affiliation, and cultivate lifelong loyalty with consumers (http://americusreed.com/). 

In 2005, his academic work in this area received honorable mention for the prestigious Robert Ferber Award for academic impact in the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) and in 2009 he received JCR’s Best Paper Award. Professor Reed has authored more than 40 articles and book chapters on the topic. He teaches courses in customer analysis, branding and consumer psychology to undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and executive students.

Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP is the Chief People Officer for LaRosa's, Inc., a regional Pizzeria chain. He has 35+ years working as an HR professional in a variety of industries. He has a globally recognized HR blog and author of three books, HR on Purpose !!, HR Rising !! and HR Unleashed !! He is a past member of the SHRM Board of Directors. Steve also runs a global HR network called the HR Net which reaches 15,000+ HR and business professionals weekly.