For the last three decades, Jack Smalley has devoted his career to the field of human resources. His experience includes executive-level management in a number of different industries such as oil, chemical and packaging with an emphasis in manufacturing, engineering, sales, logistics and corporate management.

Jack serves as the director of HR learning and development for Express Employment Professionals. He provides human resource training and consulting for nearly 600 Express offices and clients in the U.S. and Canada. Jack offers clients preventive measures that minimize the threat of allegations emanating from workplace problems and employee relations issues.

Todd Solomon is a partner in and Chicago local practice group leader of the employee benefits practice group of McDermott Will & Emery LLP in its Chicago office.  Todd focuses his practice primarily on designing, amending, and administering pension plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans, 403(b) plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.  He also counsels corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary and plan investment issues under ERISA, employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions, executive compensation and Code Section 409A compliance and correction matters, and the implementation of benefit programs for domestic partners.  

Laura Stack is America's Premier Expert in Productivity™. In 1992, Laura founded her company, The Productivity Pro, Inc., which specializes in business performance, strategy execution, and employee productivity. As a highly-regarded speaker and author, Laura shares her vision and methodologies around the globe on creating Maximum Results in Minimum Time®. A sought-after thought leader, Laura writes on high-performance cultures, human potential, and peak performance in her columns in The Business Journal, Success, Training, Productive, and Time Management Magazines. Widely regarded as one of the leading experts in the field of human performance and workplace issues, Laura has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and Forbes magazine. Laura is bestselling author of six books by major publishers including Random House, Wiley, and Berrett-Koehler, most recently Execution IS the Strategy.

Follow Laura on Twitter @laurastack.

Larry is an experienced counselor and trial lawyer. He is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and represents clients in all types of labor and employment matters, including wrongful termination and employee disloyalty litigation, development of personnel policies, implementation of workforce reductions, negotiation and drafting of employment agreements and compensation packages, union avoidance and collective bargaining, and investigations and administrative proceedings. Larry has tried cases to verdict, judgment and decision in state and federal court, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration.

Larry was named a Texas “Super Lawyer” seven times in Texas Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters (2003-2005 and 2008-2011) and was recognized as a “Leading Labour Lawyer of the World” by Euromoney in 2003. Larry served as President and General Counsel of HR Houston, as an instructor for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Technical Assistance Program, and is an Adjunct Professor in Management in the Jones Graduate School of Business. Larry is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Society for Human Resource Management and other professional organizations and currently serves as President of Jones Partners. He is a regular speaker at national and regional human resources conferences and has authored numerous articles on employment law topics. Before founding the firm, Larry was a partner at Baker & McKenzie and co-director of the labor and employment practice at Legge Farrow.

Sheila Stygar is currently the Sr. Director of Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, based in Chicago, IL. She is responsible for leading the Global Talent Acquisition Center of Excellence providing strategic design & leadership for many global projects and programs related to recruitment. Global recruitment technology implementation, Employment Branding, Campus Recruitment & social media are examples of initiatives underway through her leadership. Sheila is also responsible for leading Supply Chain and Operations recruitment, Talent Acquisition Operations support and vendor and partner management. Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2007, she worked as a Sr. Manager, Recruitment for Baxter International and also worked for The Marix Group, placing professionals in the research & medical fields.

Lynn Sutton is the managing principal with Kairos Consulting Worldwide. An accomplished business & technology strategist, her experience in process engineering spans more than 22 years assisting regional, national and international high-performing firms in achieving their operational and financial goals. Ms. Sutton founded Kairos Worldwide in 2004, building a team of seasoned professionals who share her same dedication to operational efficiencies. Consummate professionals with diverse backgrounds, they bring deep insight and valued expertise to each client engagement. The Kairos Team includes among its accomplishments providing change management services for the US Navy / Department of Defense helping them to realize $23M in savings, increasing productivity by 40% within Hospira Worldwide, Inc, working with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, demonstrating opportunities for return on investment following major technology initiatives, and implementing a lean six sigma environment for Lufthansa Technik Philippines realizing $14M in savings and improving productivity by more than 25%.

Stephanie R. Thomas is the CEO of Thomas Econometrics Inc. She provides economic and statistical consulting services to Fortune 500 companies, major law firms, and government agencies such as the Department of Justice and the FBI. Stephanie has testified as an expert on gender, race and age discrimination claims in compensation, hiring, promotion, termination and other employment practices in federal and state courts throughout the U.S. She is a noted authority on internal pay equity, and is the author of Compensating Your Employees Fairly: A Guide to Internal Pay Equity, published by Apress in April 2013.