Emily M. Dickens, J.D., serves as SHRM Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs & Corporate Secretary. She is the executive responsible for coordinating staff to implement the CEO's vision, serving as corporate secretary for the SHRM Board and subsidiary boards, as well as managing external partnerships and providing oversight for the Government Affairs division.

Dickens is an attorney with significant and progressive experience in government, higher education and the non-profit sector. She has served as a member of the leadership team at the University of North Carolina system, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.  Her prior roles include general counsel, chief relationship officer, senior vice president, vice president for public policy and assistant vice president for federal relations.  Dickens has also worked at Duke University and Fayetteville State University in administrative and external affairs roles. 

Emily is actively engaged in board service. She formerly served on the  Fayetteville/Cumberland (NC)  Chamber  of  Commerce  (Secretary  of  the  Board),  the Cumberland County Workforce Development Board, the  North  Carolina  Partnership  for  Defense  Innovation Board, and the Educational Advancement Foundation. She is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the Advisory Board of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina Central University, and chairs the International HBCU Task Force for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Central University School of Law. 

Danielle Abril covers technology and its impact on workers across industries for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she covered Big Tech companies at Fortune including Google and Facebook. She previously was a reporter and editor for more than 10 years in Dallas.

Nothing excites Simon more than the phrase, “That’s impossible.” Over a 24-year career, leading businesses from $1M to $9B, he has consistently transformed markets, organizations, and teams—shattering conventional expectations of performance.

Now, as Founder & CEO of The Simon Assessment, he’s on a mission to revolutionize team performance and solve “The Tragedy of Wasted Potential.”

Simon believes high-performing teams aren’t found—they’re engineered. His work focuses on identifying and eliminating the root causes of underperformance, allowing organizations to build environments where people are inspired, empowered, and equipped to thrive. It’s not about incremental improvement—it’s about exponential growth.

Beyond his professional work, Simon is deeply committed to investing in people and helping them reach their full potential. His passion for Potential, People, and Progress fuels everything he does.