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.

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

 

 

Josephine Zamora has more than 20 years of healthcare experience in labor and employee relations, leadership development and coaching strategy development, deployment and training.  Her professional background includes managing organizational improvement initiatives and providing solutions for management in healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality/entertainment and government.  

Jo has held various senior executive positions in healthcare administration, including chief executive officer and chief financial officer.  As a hospital CEO, Jo managed an aggressive counter-campaign in response to an SEIU organizing attempt.  Her hospital prevailed and won the NLRB representation election, thereby staying union-free.  

As a labor consultant, Jo has helped many health care organizations prevail in union organizing campaigns.  Her health care leadership and labor relations experience have helped organizations identify vulnerability to union organizing, pinpoint employee engagement challenges and opportunities, as well as implement strategies to remain union-free.  

Jo and the IRI team have worked with some of the nation’s largest and most-respected hospitals, including Tenet Healthcare, Cedars-Sinai Health System, St. Joseph Health System, MedStar Health and The John Hopkins Hospital to implement customized solutions for organizational and labor and employee relations challenges.  

Jo has been a guest speaker at many professional organizations including The Council on Union-Free Environment (CUE), American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), National Association of Adventist Healthcare Human Resources (NAAHHR), New Mexico Healthcare Association (NMHCA), The Texas Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration and Education (TSHHRAE), numerous state Healthcare Round Tables and the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) series at Presbyterian Healthcare Services.  

Through IRI’s Labor & Employee Relations, Organization Development and Communications practice areas, the firm has helped organizations implement best practices to improve employee job satisfaction, enhance the employer-employee relationship and effectively communicate.  

Prior to partnering with IRI, Jo owned and operated her own consulting firm and teamed with IRI for more than eight years on various projects. 

Alice Kilborn, JD PHR, is an Associate Attorney at Moody & Warner, P.C., where her practice is  devoted to employment and labor law including advice and litigation in the areas of labor relations, wage and hour issues, class actions, discrimination, harassment, EEOC charges, wrongful termination, employment agreements, and other employment-related matters.  Prior to entering the legal field, Ms. Kilborn worked in Human Resources specializing in the areas of state and federal regulatory compliance and corporate training.  She has served as the State Legislative Director for the Society for Human Resource Management of New Mexico (SHRM NM) since 2009 and is a frequent, enthusiastic speaker regarding legislative activity affecting the workplace.

Follow Alice on Twitter @alicekilborn.

For over 20 years, Allison West has used her employment law background in delivering customized workplace training, conducting investigations, coaching executives/managers, serving as an expert witness, and specializing in conflict resolution and facilitated discussions to create more collaborative work environments. 

Allison is a top-rated speaker at the SHRM Annual Conference as well as other HR/diversity conferences, and is a national expert on harassment, discrimination and investigations. She has appeared on PBS, CBS This Morning and in O Magazine discussing workplace harassment issues. 

She is a member of the State Bar of California and holds her SHRM-SCP certification and AWI-CH (investigation) certificate.

 

 

Elaine Orler president and founder of Talent Function Group and chairman of the Talent Board, founding organization of the Candidate Experience Awards, has been involved in developing and implementing HR solutions since 1993. Well regarded as a leading industry expert, many companies have depended on her knowledge in talent management and recruitment strategy, process and technology to further their organizations. She has also worked with countless clients on dozens of global talent acquisition and management implementations, to help them embrace new technologies aimed at improving internal processes and the candidate experience, a topic on which she’s regularly quoted in Wall Street Journal. Always tuned into the latest trends, Orler guides clients through many global talent acquisition and talent management technology developments, and has worked with both practitioners and solution providers to shape the way talent management and recruiting solutions are delivered. Orler is respected as a talent acquisition and talent management expert and she takes an active role in industry events and associations.

Denise Pirrotti Hummel, J.D., is a Human Capital Principal at EY, where she leads national culture integration and optimization across the globe. She is the former CEO and Founder of Universal Consensus, LLC, a culture transformation firm. Her team helps clients improve global business results and build lasting performance by enhancing corporate, national, gender and generational culture, key components of enterprise financial success. In addition to serving clients, she leads a team of 40 engineers, computer scientists, curriculum specialists and researchers that operationalize EY’s global culture tools used for H.R. transformation and M&A culture integration. Hummel is a member of the prestigious U.S. State Department Worldwide Speaker and Specialist Program and a speaker on culture and change management at SHRM 2013 and SHRM 2014. She has consulted for a myriad of Fortune 100 companies in every sector, as well as the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. Prior to founding Universal Consensus, Hummel was an attorney practicing commercial and employment law, and D&I internationally. That experience has enabled her to effectively link a client’s HR and cultural considerations with the overall enterprise risk management impacts. Denise was recognized by the American Bar Association as one of the top twenty young attorneys in the United States in 1992. She is a published author and speaks multiple languages.

John A. Rubino, SHRM-SCP, CCP, CBP, GRP, WLCP, is founder and president of Rubino Consulting Services, a global human resources consulting company based in Pound Ridge, New York. His areas of expertise cover all areas of Human Resources program design. An internationally acclaimed speaker for SHRM and WorldatWork, John is the author of numerous human resources articles, and is frequently quoted in professional publications. He holds BA and MBA degrees, as well as a lifetime Achievement Award from WorldatWork. John works with a wide variety of organizations and his consulting practice takes him all around the world; in fact, he has visited one hundred and nine countries!

Dr. Neal Goodman, CEO, Global Dynamics Inc, is an internationally recognized authority on Cross-Cultural Competence, Global Mindset, Talent Development, Teams, DE&I, and Virtual Workplace Excellence. Through GDI, Dr. Goodman provides training, strategy and consulting to top-tier Global 1000 corporations and organizations seeking to succeed in the global arena. A frequent speaker, he is often quoted in media as diverse as People’s Daily, BBC, Financial Times and Christian Science Monitor. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Interculturalist Lifetime Achievement Award, a four- time Senior Fellow at the East-West Center and a member of SHRM’s Global Panel and Thought Leader at SHRM’s Leadership Retreats.