Throughout his 16 years of consulting experience, Cary has helped dozens of commercial and government clients not only plan for the future, but enjoy the process of doing it. He has developed strategic plans, led decision-making off-sites, and created dynamic and exciting facilitated sessions. Clients have included Chevron, Speedway, Siemens, Booz-Allen, and Adventist Healthcare, plus public sector clients such as the Air Force Singing Sergeants, US Navy, Veterans Affairs, and Department of Justice. Cary is a BossaNova’s Chief Improv Officer, and the founder of The Village Circle Company, a consulting firm focused on creating specialized, facilitated experiences. Prior to founding the Village Circle Company, he worked as a Senior Consultant at HuthwaiteGroup, American Management Systems, and Booz-Allen Hamilton. Cary worked as a senior facilitator and engagement/project manager in each of those organizations, delivering expert guidance and support to the teams he served.

The exclusive teacher of improvisational comedy at the DC Improv for more than eight years, Shawn Westfall teaches classes in beginning improv, advanced short-form and long-form improv, as well as improv workshops focusing on character, long form, and non-traditional improv techniques. His classes (and the numerous performances they've generated) have been featured in the pages of The Washington Post, The Washington Post Express, Washingtonian magazine, as well on Washington Post Radio, DC 101, WTOP Radio, Mix 107.3's "The Jack Diamond Morning Show," on The Food Network's "Dinner: Impossible!," as well as on such local media outlets as K Street Kate's video weblog, and other local blogs, including WeLoveDC.com, among many others. Not only has Shawn taught the principles of improv to individual students, he's also taught improv as a strategy for fomenting creativity, teambuilding and organizational development to various private, public and non-governmental organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Discovery Channel, B'nai Brith Youth Organization, Touchstone Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton, and The Washington Post Company, among numerous others.

Follow Shawn on Twitter @shawnwestfall.

Sandy Michelet is the Senior HR Director at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and the current President for Greater Baton Rouge SHRM. She is proficient as a top multi-project manager and team builder in program implementation, requirement identification, performance reviews and executive relationship building. She has experience in the creative design and execution of successful, high-impact training initiatives and performance metrics plans; formation and administration of employee evaluation surveys, infrastructure support and skills assessments. As the Director of HR Corporate Services for the Shaw Group, a global 27,000 employee Fortune 500 Company, she led the HR Operations, Learning and Development, Compliance and Leaves of Absence teams. She led the development and launch of new programs, policies and processes, led the company wide initiative to become I-9/e-verify compliant (she shares your love of the I-9) and launched the Shaw Group’s first orientation program. As a self-professed “paper hater”, she initiated the paperless initiative to transition paper personnel files to OCR electronic files for 28,000 employees and led the effort to create standardized hiring processes and new hire packets across business units.

Follow Sandy on Twitter @SandyMichelet.

In her new role as SHRM’s Senior Speechwriter for the SHRM’s Speaker’s Bureau, Aliah is responsible for managing the speaking program for SHRM executives and Board Members totaling more than 200 presentations annually. In addition, she writes and edits many of the speeches given by SHRM senior executives and vice presidents.

A subject matter expert on social media engagement and social strategy, HR technology and global human resources Aliah, a journalist for more than 15 years, began working in SHRM’s editorial division in March of 2008. She has written for SHRM Online and HR Magazine.

She is the author of the best-selling SHRM-published book, A Necessary Evil: Managing Employees' Activity on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn … and the Hundreds of Other Social Media Sites, which encourages HR professionals to embrace social media as a tool for increased employee engagement. It also shows HR professionals how to effectively promote, protect, and defend their firm’s brands and reputations on social media platforms encouraging them to manage employee activity with legal social media policies.

She has delivered keynote addresses and speeches across the United States, Canada and Europe, where she attended and moderated conferences—including the SHRM Annual Conference on a variety of HR topics, including social media engagement, recruiting and HR technology selection.

After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Temple University in her hometown of Philadelphia, she worked as a Reporter and Editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, The Greenville (S.C) News and as a Political Correspondent for the nation’s largest news organization, The Associated Press. She left there to work at USA Today where, as the Entertainment Editor for Gannett News Service, she managed a team of entertainment reporters nationwide for all of Gannett’s papers, including the nation’s largest daily newspaper — USA Today.

She is a frequent speaker on various social media topics and has been featured in a number of publications, blogs and podcasts, among them The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Forbes, American Express Business Blog, HR Magazine, Small Business Digest, Talent Management Blog, JumpStartHR Blog, and the Business Life & Coffee and National Press Club podcasts.

She is the proud mom of an aspiring psychologist who’s studying abroad in Australia next year. You can follow her tweets @1SHRMScribe and read her articles published on SHRM.org and LinkedIn.

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.

Michelle Ray is a highly sought-after international business keynote speaker, consultant, author and educator who demonstrates a deep understanding of importance of self-leadership in business and in life. Born in Australia, Michelle began her career in the media industry during the recession of the early 80′s. She was once told by management that she “didn’t have what it takes” to succeed in the business world. Despite a lack of mentors, Michelle was inspired to move up the management ladder to self-employment; creating her own successful international business. She believes that leadership is a state of mind and helps individuals at any stage of their career to master personal leadership…the ability to take charge of oneself first in any situation. Michelle speaks passionately about self – actualization, the importance of outstanding leadership in the workplace and the responsibility of positive communication and influence.

Follow Michelle on Twitter @michelleraycsp.

Tom Sonde is a principal with SilverRoad Solutions, a management consulting firm specializing in business process improvement. He began performing process improvement work while at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. He subsequently worked at KPMG Consulting and was vice president of global business transformation at Misys. Tom has extensive experience designing and implementing process improvement initiatives. He has written several articles, including “Finding the Hidden Values in HR Systems” for Human Resources Executive magazine

Jack Gottlieb is a results-driven senior executive with 20 years of experience in transforming and revitalizing organizations. As the CEO of Total Solutions Group, a strategic consulting and results-based training firm, he has a proven track record of aligning culture, strategy, and capability to achieve critical short-term and long-term goals. TSG has generated $3.25 billion in ROI for clients in growth, profitability, innovation, and efficiency, including leading fifteen M&As and ten turnarounds from inception to implementation. 

With extensive experience in the C-Suite and as an HR leader Jack has a deep expertise of how to drive organizational health and performance through an embedded employee experience. Jack has had global roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, & Chief Culture Officer in banking and currently is the Vice President of Global Capability & Transformation in a market leading test lab in the gaming industry. 
Jack has been one of the top rated speakers and thought leaders for SHRM both at annual and state council conferences. Jack also hosts the successful "L&D Transformation Podcast: How To Lead The Future Of Our Organizations Through Talent Development” which is in its third season with over 100 episodes.

Tucker Miller is a Regional Consultant and Facilitator with ELI®. She has extensive experience in the field of labor and employment law and human resources. Prior to joining ELI®, she served in various leadership and legal positions in the dynamic, corporate environment of a Fortune 500 company for nearly 20 years. She has also worked as an independent consultant conducting workplace investigations into complaints of harassment and discrimination and serving as an expert trial witness.

She is licensed to practice law in the state of Washington and is a member of the Washington State Bar Association.

Her clients include Microsoft, AT&T/Cingular, Pfizer, the Seattle Mariners, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Southern California Edison.

Follow Tucker on Twitter @ELI_Training.