Justin Jones-Fosu
Author
work. meaningful.
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Justin Jones-Fosu MBA, CSP is a full-time dad-e who also happens to be an international speaker, a social entrepreneur, and author. He is the Founder and CEO of Work. Meaningful. where he speaks 50-60 times a year for professionals, corporations, organizations, and associations. His clients include some of the biggest names in The Fortune 500 to the best spelled names in Fourth Grades across the country.He is the author of two books, the most recent being The Inclusive Mindset: How to Cultivate Diversity in Your Everyday Life. Justin is a former HR Professional who obtained his MBA specializing in Leadership and Organizational Change and undertook further graduate studies in Human Resource Development. He has also gained valuable leadership experience with three Fortune 500 companies as well as by consulting on strategy, leadership, diversity/inclusion and organizational development. Justin was named as one of EBONY Magazines “30 Young Leaders on the Rise.”
He is a former radio host and a former workplace contributor to NPR's "The Takeaway." If you only remember a few things about Justin, it’s that he loves being a dad-e and giving to educational initiatives on the continent of Africa. He believes that these are more important than any accomplishments, recognition, or accolades!

SESSIONS:
Michael Letizia, SHRM SCP
President/CEO
Letizia HR Solutions, Inc.
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Mike Letizia is an accomplished, certified, senior human resource executive with over 35 years’ experience in the full scope of all HR functional areas. His last 23 years holding Director, Vice President, and President roles in HR. Mike is a subject matter expert in California employment law and is the author and developer of, “California Employment Law Essentials for Business” and has collaborated with SHRM in the development of education courses focused on California employment law.

Through his company, Mike provides full scope human resource services to over 30 small to medium sized business in California with a strong focus on training and development. He is a contracted instructor for SHRM delivering both virtual and face-to-face human resource education courses throughout the USA and California. He is also a frequent speaker at business and trade associations delivering presentations, workshops and courses on a variety of human resource topics.

SESSIONS:
Jennifer McCollum
CEO
Linkage, Inc.
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Jennifer McCollum is CEO of Linkage, Inc., where she oversees the strategic direction and global operations of the Boston, MA-based leadership development company. With a mission to “Change the Face of Leadership,” Linkage has dedicated 30 years to improving leadership effectiveness and equity in hundreds of organizations globally. Linkage provides assessments, training, coaching, consulting and conferences, with Solutions designed to Accelerate Purposeful Leaders; Advance Women Leaders; and Create Inclusive Organizations. 

Jennifer is a highly sought-after consultant and speaker, with a deep expertise in Inclusive Leadership and Advancing Women Leaders. She has delivered workshops, keynotes, webinars and podcasts to thousands of leaders globally on live and virtual stages, including 100 Leaders Live (Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches conference), Chief Learning Officer Exchange, Chester Elton’s “Leading with Gratitude” LinkedIn Live, John Baldoni’s “Grace under Pressure” LinkedIn Live, Candy O’Terry’s “The Story Behind Her Success” podcast, and VoiceAmerica radio broadcast. She is a contributing author to Leadership in a Time of Crisis and has been published in The Wall Street JournalFast CompanyChief Talent Development Officer, CEO Refresher, and Real Leaders. She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches.

Background & Experience:

Jennifer has 20 years of experience building and leading businesses in the leadership space. Prior to Linkage, Jennifer spent a decade growing businesses within Korn Ferry and Corporate Executive Board (CEB), now Gartner. At CEB, she led product management within the leadership division, driving innovative solutions that helped organizations select, develop and place leaders at all levels. She also ran CEB’s Leadership Academies business, which developed more than 30,000 professionals in 2,100 companies throughout 50 countries and grew revenue at a 97% combined annual growth rate across five years. 

Previously, Jennifer served as CEO of IntraVision, a leadership consultancy she founded and grew over the course of eight years. She worked with public companies, start-ups, associations and nonprofits. Her passion is creating vision, executing strategy and managing cohesive teams toward aspirational goals, with a special focus on supporting women in leadership roles.

She is an avid tennis player and skier, and lives in Bethesda, MD, with her husband and three children.

Education & Training:

Jennifer has a master’s degree in communications from the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, and an undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in psychology and communications.

SESSIONS:
Mike Aitken
Executive Vice President, HR Professional Solutions at SHRM
SHRM
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Mike Aitken is Executive Vice President, HR Professional Solutions at SHRM, following 15 years of leading SHRM’s successful advocacy programs as Vice President of Government Affairs.  

Mike is a leading authority on the issues important to the human resource profession and drives SHRM’s membership vision, ensuring excellent member experiences, and implementing the organization’s newly developed business strategy.

He applies his proven model of engagement to shape the future of work, workers, and workplaces. He is an expert relationship-builder across diverse constituencies and stakeholders, always seeking out the “win-win” in every situation.

As a member of SHRM’s executive team, Mike also plays a key role in setting the strategic direction of the organization, offering important counsel on SHRM’s educational programs and professional development opportunities.

Before joining SHRM in 2003, he spent 14 years with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), which represents more than 23,000 HR professionals at over 1,900 higher education institutions. 

In 2015 and 2016, Mike served as an employer representative on the U.S. delegation to the International Labour Conference.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of San Diego.

SESSIONS:
Rachel Sheerin
Award-Winning Emcee & National Speaker
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Rachel Sheerin, CPBA is an award-winning keynote speaker, emcee and employee engagement consultant on a mission to help people feel better, think better and do better - together!

A Certified Professional Behavior Analyst, audiences are transformed and recharged with energy and leave equipped with strategies and tangible tools. What makes Rachel connect is the fact that she has been on all sides of business - sales, operations and executive leadership.. She's built multi-million dollar sales teams for organizations that want to grow profits and boost happiness and delivered organization-wide training for different vocations from machinists to executive director, SVP and beyond.

She's also burned out, failed and ruined her career a couple of times - which makes her messages of burnout prevention, happiness and success sincere, impactful and hilarious. With a strong dash of vulnerability, Rachel meets audiences where they are and with her background in meetings and events, gives planners and executives the 5-star surveys they want most.

With Fortune 500 clients such as The Ritz Carlton, WAL-MART, National Associations in Healthcare and Banking, Hilton, Berkshire Hathaway and many more, Rachel is also Co-Founder of MAGNET METHOD, an employee engagement and retention consulting firm for growing cultures.

Rachel's continued research and motivational content around burnout, happiness and success can be seen regularly on her LinkedIn profile and read in her upcoming book, BETTER: How to Feel Good as You Live, Lead and Succeed (8/8/23, Hawthorn Road Press).

Currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Association for Women in Events (AWE), Rachel is a proud member of Meeting Planners International (MPI), supporter of the Appalachian Bear Foundation and can often be found playing ping pong badly with her husband, Jeff.

SESSIONS:
Michael Letizia, SHRM SCP
President/CEO
Letizia HR Solutions, Inc.
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Mike Letizia is an accomplished, certified, senior human resource executive with over 35 years’ experience in the full scope of all HR functional areas. His last 23 years holding Director, Vice President, and President roles in HR. Mike is a subject matter expert in California employment law and is the author and developer of, “California Employment Law Essentials for Business” and has collaborated with SHRM in the development of education courses focused on California employment law.

Through his company, Mike provides full scope human resource services to over 30 small to medium sized business in California with a strong focus on training and development. He is a contracted instructor for SHRM delivering both virtual and face-to-face human resource education courses throughout the USA and California. He is also a frequent speaker at business and trade associations delivering presentations, workshops and courses on a variety of human resource topics.

SESSIONS:
Saturday, September 30, 2023 - 8:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday, October 1, 2023 - 8:00am to 4:00pm
Elijah Nicholas, Ph.D.
Author and Trans Advocate / Speaker
Dr. Elijah Nicholas, LLC
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Twelve-time published author, Dr. Elijah Nicholas is an Author, Actor, and Advocate. Assigned the female sex at birth, Elijah spent almost half of his life in the US Military, as a woman. Retiring from the US Air Force as a Lt Col in 2012, Dr. Elijah now fully lives and embraces his core values: Authenticity, Integrity, and Transparency. Dr. Elijah further resigned his pastoral duties when he started his gender affirmation in 2018.

Dr. Elijah holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), a Masters of Science in Leadership and Operational Art, a Masters of Art in Education Training & Leadership (MAET), and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Administration of Justice. Dr. Nicholas attended the Harvard Divinity Executive Education program in 2021. Dr. Elijah is the author of a Tran-inclusive family & children's book featuring Madoodle (aka Madison), a ten-year-old girl whose Uncle Pete was once her favorite Auntie Mary. Madoodle is based on Dr. Elijah's personal experiences with family as he navigated his gender transition.  Dr. Elijah has provided Gender Identity and Trans Awareness & Inclusion Training for a host of organizations around the world.

SESSIONS:
Ben Greene
Personal Pronouns
He/Him/His
CEO and Speaker
BG Trans Talks
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Ben Greene is a transgender advocate and educator who has spoken internationally on topics surrounding transgender inclusion. After coming out at 15 in a small town, Ben has devoted his career to spreading empathy, education, and storytelling around the trans experience, and has spoken for companies, hospitals, schools, religious organizations, and government entities sharing what it means to be transgender and how to show up as an ally. He is a fierce advocate for transgender youth, regularly speaking in their defense at the Missouri State Capitol, and is the author of the book "My Child is Trans, Now What? A Joy Centered Approach to Support". He is passionate about educating others from a place of compassion—no matter where they’re starting from. 

 

SESSIONS:
Margaret Hudson Greenberg
Co-Founder/Co-Author
Greenberg & Greenlee, LLC
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Gina and Margaret are the coauthors of the bestselling book, The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workshop and Why It’s Actually Good for Business (McGraw-Hill, 2021). You can download a free chapter on their website.

Gina and Margaret are OD (organizational development) consultants and coaches, not DEI experts, and that is precisely why their systems approach to workplace racial equity is fresh and actionable.

SESSIONS:
Gina Denise Greenlee
Co-Founder/Co-Author
Greenberg & Greenlee, LLC
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Gina and Margaret are the coauthors of the bestselling book, The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workshop and Why It’s Actually Good for Business (McGraw-Hill, 2021). You can download a free chapter on their website.

Gina and Margaret are OD (organizational development) consultants and coaches, not DEI experts, and that is precisely why their systems approach to workplace racial equity is fresh and actionable.

SESSIONS:
Robdarius RobenX Brown
Partner
Extreme Dreams USA
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Robdarius Brown is from Memphis, TN. He was born with albinism and as a child, he was often bullied because of his appearance. Music initially served an avenue to escape from the world. He even created an alter ego - RobenX. He became the person he wished everyone would see and love if they stopped focusing on the lack of color in his skin. He began to define who he was and express himself through music, performing at community and school talent shows. He even found himself in the principal’s office a few times for trying to help other students who were being bullied! Now an adult, RobenX has expanded his platform. 

He is a music artist, model, anti-bullying advocate and albinism advocate. RobenX has been blessed to share his mission on several stages and in media. In 2018, he traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to speak and perform at the United Nations during their Human Rights Day Celebration. He has received special recognition from the Mayor of Memphis, Jim Strickland, for his Albinism Advocacy. RobenX has also been applauded as a Human Right Champion by Stand Up for Human Rights. He is currently forming partnerships with the United Nations and other nonprofits to spread his message of treating others with dignity and respect across the globe. RobenX loves to engage with fans whether it's through words or songs. His music is the place where hip hop and rock meet with infectious beats and meaningful lyrics that make people feel good about who they are.


 

SESSIONS:
Joy Toney
Senior Program Consultant
AIM for Change, LLC
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Joy Toney  serves as a Senior Program Consultant for AIM for Change, LLC.  Joy’s career successes are mapped over 20+ years professional experience in non-profit, consumer services, government contracting, and transportation and distribution. Her work experience spectrum includes both people leader and individual contributor roles at ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Accredo Health, FedEx Express, Johnson & Johnson, and CAS Incorporated. Joy enjoys utilizing her skills in process and performance improvement, software development, information security, quality assurance, project management, talent management, organizational change management, and justice/equity/diversity/inclusion awareness. She is a CISSP, CCA, CBAP, CTFL, CSM, CSPO, ITIL4, and Prosci Change Management certified as well as Brightline's Organizational Transformation micro-credentials (OTF, OTO, OTI), and soon-to-be PMP (Fall 2023) and SHRM-CP (Spring 2024). Joy has served as an advisor to local non-profit boards such as Extreme Dreams USA, OUTMemphis, the International Institute of Business Analysis – Greater Memphis Chapter, and the PMI Memphis Chapter (Project Management Institute).

Joy holds a MBA with a concentration in Information Systems from the University of Memphis, and a Bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Information Systems, both from the University of Alabama at Huntsville. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Business Administration focusing on organizational behavior in tech spaces. 

SESSIONS: