Welby C. Broaddus, Jr.
Personal Pronouns
He/Him/His
Author and CEO
Broaddus Business Solutions
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Welby C. Broaddus, Jr. is the chief owner and operator of the business consulting firm, Broaddus Business Solutions. As a visually impaired businessman, he hopes to use his influence to help the disabled community and those without a voice. It's been often said that Welby is able to hold a conversation with anyone, and he likes to say that he “never meets a stranger.” He is also the author of Leading Blind Without Vision: The Benefits of Hiring The Blind and Visually Impaired.

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 - 11:00am to 12:00pm
Dawn T. Gresham, MBA
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Director of Acquisition Policy
Department of Commerce
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Dawn T. Gresham is currently serving as the Director of Acquisition Policy of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of the Secretary (OS), Enterprise Services Acquisition (ES-A) who is designated the Head of Contracting Office (HCO) by the Senior Bureau Procurement Official. Prior to being Director, Ms. Gresham served as the Chief for the Office of Security Contracts of the U.S. Marshal Service within the Department of Justice. Previously, Ms. Gresham was a Chief for the Assisted Acquisition Service within the Division of Acquisition Management for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Currently, Ms. Gresham leads a mixed team of Federal and contractor staff for a shared services acquisition operation with annual obligations of approximately $600M and 4.5k contract actions. She is the lead Federal official overseeing Acquisition Policy, SmartPay (SP3) management, Acquisition Workforce Certification and Development, Audit and Risk Management, Quality Assurance, Warrant Program, IT Change Control and Data Standardization, Acquisition Compliance and IT systems support to a client base of approximately of approximately 45 contracting personnel and over 400 CORs, 60 Program Managers, 800 GOVCC Holders, and Requisitioners from OS Offices and 8 DOC Bureaus. Along with business development, debarment/suspension, FOIA operations, change management, innovation management, RPA development, training, process improvement, energy conservation, industry engagement, outreach to underserved communities, and small business support.

Ms. Gresham holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Information Technology from Drexel University Lebow College of Business, a Master of Legal Studies (MLS) in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy Compliance from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline Law School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Sciences with a concentration in Retail Marketing from James Madison University. Ms. Gresham is also a doctoral candidate at Marymount University in the College of Business, Innovation, Leadership, and Technology (BILT) and her scholarly interests focus on business improvement techniques and technologies which inform decisions that produce high-quality results.

Ms. Gresham is certified by the Federal Acquisition Institute as an information technology and a Level 3 contracting and project/program management professional. She also holds the Department of Defense Cybersecurity for Program Managers and Resilience Credentials. She has taught several professional development courses in-house and through associations like the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) on Federal Contract Management, Acquisition Compliance and Innovation, Diversity and Inclusion, Global Privacy Law Issues, and on workforce management topics.

SESSIONS:
 
Sunday, September 25, 2022 - 12:00pm to 5:30pm
Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP
Chief Data & Insights Officer
SHRM
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Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Data & Insights Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.

SESSIONS:
Irshad Manji
Founder
Moral Courage LLC
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Irshad Manji is the winner of Oprah’s first-ever “Chutzpah Award” for boldness. Prof. Manji leads Moral Courage College, the innovator of a unifying inclusion program called “Diversity Without Division.” SHRM has recognized Diversity Without Division as a “game-changing solution” because it cultivates the missing piece of DEI: empathy.

Prof. Manji’s latest bestseller is Don't Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars. (Fun fact: Chris Rock calls the book “genius.”) An acclaimed professor of leadership at New York University for many years, she now teaches with Oxford University's Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.

SESSIONS:
Tuesday, October 25, 2022 - 11:30am to 12:30pm
Jessica Tuman
Head of Voya Cares and ESG Center of Excellence
Voya Financial
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SESSIONS:
Jed Seifert
Co-founder
Stakes Manufacturing
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Jed Seifert is the Co-founder of Stakes Manufacturing, a print-on-demand apparel company out of Cleveland, OH where they are passionate about inclusion and currently employ a number of individuals with different disabilities. Stakes was recently awarded the APSE 2022 National Employer of the Year recognizing their hard work building an inclusive workforce employing people with disabilities.

Jed is the proud younger brother of Darren, who was diagnosed with Fragile X when he was 12 years old and has always been his inspiration. Jed has been working with the disabled community since he started coaching Special Olympics as a teenager.

Jed is on the Board of Directors and Business Advisory Council for SEEC, an organization dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities attain meaningful employment opportunities and independent living in the DC metropolitan area, who supports his brother’s employment. He is also a Board Member for the National Fragile X Foundation, an organization dedicated to serving all those living with Fragile X with a focus on community, awareness, and research in the pursuit of treatments and a cure. Jed serves on the CEO Commission for Disability Employment founded by Voya Financial, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), to be a source of research and information, actionable steps, and advocacy opportunities for member companies to recruit and onboard individuals with disabilities into their organizations.

SESSIONS:
Zac Bradley
Vocational Specialist
Shepherd Center
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Zac is a former college basketball player for Clayton State University, who only played his freshman year due to a tree falling on his car resulting in a spinal cord injury in the summer of 2011. In a moment, Zac went from being a college basketball player to a C6/C7 quadriplegic. This ultimately shifted the trajectory of his life and career. Zac has been a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) since 2017 and has extensive knowledge in assisting people with disabilities enter the workforce. Additionally, Zac has been playing wheelchair rugby since 2012 and had the opportunity to compete in The World Games 2022 for the USA Low Point Team.

Zac began his career as an intern at the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA) where he learned how to assist clients in finding employment through the various services available through community providers. While interning at GVRA, Zac also worked for the Shepherd Center part-time as a Peer Liaison, where he assisted inpatients and outpatients adjust to spinal cord injury.

Upon earning his CRC, Zac became a part-time Vocational Specialist at the Shepherd Center, in addition to his Peer Liaison position. In this role, Zac learned the process of returning people to work. Zac transitioned to work for the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO), the state’s designated protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities, as an Employment Advocate. At the GAO, he had
robust training in Social Role Valorization and Customized Employment. With this knowledge, he worked to encourage and increase meaningful employment for people with disabilities. He was responsible for monitoring state and private facilities for compliance with federal and state laws, ensuring that people with disabilities had access to competitive-integrated employment.

After the GAO, he worked for Amy Price of the Price Support Network doing customized employment, where he practiced discovery and saw firsthand the beauty of uncovering individuals’ strengths and gifts. Zac earned an Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators credential in Employment Services with an Emphasis on Customized Employment certification in 2021.
Zac now works at Shepherd Center as an ABI-post acute vocational specialist. He has worked across the continuum of brain injury post-acute services: SHARE Military Initiative, the Complex Concussion Clinic, and Shepherd Pathways, returning people to work with the help of an interdisciplinary team.

Of note, from 2019-2022, Zac served on the board of directors for Citizen Advocacy of Atlanta & Dekalb. This experience allowed him to expand his knowledge of Social Role Valorization and dream big for individuals with disabilities. Zac firmly believes that with proper placement and accommodation, we can truly increase employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

SESSIONS:
Ryan Rotundo
Manager of Employment Programming
National Down Syndrome Society
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Ryan Rotundo is the Manager of Employment Programs at the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) where he develops resources, programs, and partnerships to advance employment opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome. Ryan brings more than a decade of experience as a high school special education teacher, with a focus on preparing young adults for positive post-secondary transitions. He also has experience developing curriculum to support siblings of individuals with Down syndrome, has worked as a Direct Service Provider, and continues to share his experience as a guest lecturer and speaker. In 2018 Ryan was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to the North Caroline Council on Developmental Disabilities, and in 2019 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by Buncombe County Schools, in partnership with Arc of Buncombe County. Ryan holds an undergraduate degree in special education from UNC – Greensboro and a master’s degree in public administration from UNC – Chapel Hill.

SESSIONS:
Moderator: 
Kandi Pickard
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
President and CEO
National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS)
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Kandi Pickard is the President & CEO of the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) where she provides vision and leadership, working collaboratively with individuals and organizations to support the entire Down syndrome community. Kandi holds a degree in business administration and brings two decades of experience in operations and effective administration management to her role at NDSS. Kandi’s involvement in the Down syndrome community first began as a local volunteer and advocate after her youngest son, Mason was born with Down syndrome. Nine years later, she leads NDSS with a focus on building community and keeping people with Down syndrome at the center of everything the organization does. Kandi’s vision for the future of NDSS includes resources, programs and support for individuals with Down syndrome and their families from birth to adulthood, with a special focus on caregiving, public health and supporting aging adults.

SESSIONS:
Tuesday, October 25, 2022 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Isabelle Bichler-Eliasaf
Co-Founder and COO
retrain.ai
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Isabelle is Co-founder and COO of retrain.ai, a Responsible AI-powered Talent Intelligence Platform. She has been recognized for her work by Women in AI North America. Prior to retrain.ai, Isabelle was the co-founder & CEO of Tohar, an Israeli placement company that pioneered how to leverage technology to source, screen, and find the best-fit candidates. She holds an LLB from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an MBA specializing in Taxation from the College of Management in Israel, and a Masters in Risk Management from New York University, where she focused her research on Identifying Risk in DEI & Artificial Intelligence.

SESSIONS:
Ragan Decker, Ph.D., SHRM-CP
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Manager, Executive Network and Enterprise Research
SHRM
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Ragan Decker, Ph.D., SHRM-CP, is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist and Manager of Executive Network and Enterprise Research at SHRM. She designs and conducts strategic research to support SHRM’s mission as it relates to work, workers, and the workplace. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and Graduate Certificates in Quantitative Research Methods and Occupational Health Psychology. Her work has been published in HR Quarterly, People + Strategy Journal as well as Occupational Health Science, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, and Annals of Work Exposure and Health. 

SESSIONS:
Kathleen Christensen, Ph.D.
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Executive Director
Work Equity
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Kathleen Christensen, Ph.D., serves as Co-Director of Work Equity at Boston College’s Center for Social Innovation. Previously, she founded and led the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s cutting-edge research programs on working families; the aging workforce; and the impacts of outsourcing on the U.S. workforce, as well as spearheading, with SHRM, the first national campaign to advance workplace flexibility. Dr. Christensen worked closely with the White House on its 2010 Forum on Workplace Flexibility and its 2014 Summit on Working Families. Author/editor of seven books, Dr. Christensen was formerly Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Center, City University New York. She is widely quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other media.

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