Mary Helen Beard graduated from the Vanderbilt School of Law where she was a founding member and editor of The Journal of Entertainment Law & Practice.  The cited decision of Johnson v. Metro Davidson County School System, 108 F. Supp. 2d 906 (M.D. 2000) is a result of her work in the Vanderbilt Legal Clinic. Ms. Beard began her legal career with the former Weintraub & Stock, P.C. (now Fisher Phillips) and later became an associate attorney at FordHarrison.  She held the positions of Senior Attorney/Employment Litigation with FedEx Express Corporation and Senior Counsel/Labor and Employment with FedEx Corporation, being a business partner and counsel to the most senior executives at the parent company as well as three corporate subsidiaries.  Ms. Beard was the  Senior HR Counsel for HCA Healthcare, where she advised the Chief Human Resources Officer and her senior executive team.  Mary then served as Senior Technology Counsel with HCA Healthcare, excited to merge her over two decades of labor and employment with knowledge of the ever-evolving Technology and Artificial Intelligence legal landscape.  Mary is currently the inaugural Vice-President of Employment and Litigation at Ardent Health where she he will partner with human resources teams and department leaders to provide legal guidance, advise on the development of system policies and procedures, and review and negotiate various legal transactions.

Whether as outside counsel and corporate counsel, Mary has placed a specific emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion within the corporate ranks. Mary recently earned recognition at the Nashville Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity Awards in the Outstanding Community Voice category. This inaugural Leaders in Diversity class is made up of individuals and companies who are leading the charge to advance diversity and inclusion practices within the Nashville Business Community. Mary was also awarded Nashville Business Journal Best of the Bar Award, being recognized by her fellow lawyers in Nashville for her contributions to her clients and the legal profession.

Committed to making a positive impact in her community, Mary has shared her many talents and leadership expertise with countless professional, civic, and charitable organizations. Mary served as the Tennessee Bar Association Inaugural Chief Diversity Officer. She is also a former co-chair of its’ Labor and Employment Executive Council and the Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee.  She is a Past President of the Napier-Looby Bar Association and the Ben F. Jones Bar Association, both of which are affiliate chapters of the National Bar Association. She is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Association, Memphis Bar Association and Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Ms. Beard is a former chair and co-chair of the Tennessee Judicial Nominating Commission.  Additionally, Mary serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sexual Assault Center. She serves as a deacon and trustee for Watson Grove Baptist Church. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and The Parthenon (TN) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated. She is an Athena Traditional Award Nominee.

She was awarded the Memphis Business Journal’s Top 40 under 40 Award. She received the Presidential Award from the National Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association.  She has received the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Xi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

In her spare time, Mary immensely enjoys  domestic and international travel,  interior decorating, reading, exercising,  community service, and serving as an armchair coach and quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs.

Megan Taylor is a seasoned finance and strategic planning expert, a founder, and a certified RETAINTM parental leave coach. With rich experience across the healthcare, professional services and media industries, she has transformed financial planning and analysis capabilities, architected innovative strategic planning processes, built businesses from the ground-up and significantly improved organizational efficiency. She is skilled in leading teams, working cross functionally and partnering with executive leadership. During her 10+ years in the healthcare sector, Megan pioneered several resources for working mothers and parents at her Fortune 500 employer’s world headquarters. She founded her own coaching and consulting company, has served dozens of clients, and specializes in elevating leadership performance and solving complex problems. Megan is a part of the core leadership team at the Center for Parental Leave Leadership where she serves as Business Development and Finance Lead. She holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and has completed over 300 hours of leadership development training.

James Gelfand became president and CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) in April 2023, having previously served as its senior and then executive vice president for eight years. He was promoted to the position of president in June 2022. James oversees all aspects of the association’s activities, which focus on programs that shape federal and state health and retirement benefit policies, and that impact ERIC member companies’ ability to operate under federal ERISA protection from a patchwork of conflicting state and local laws. He has brought prominence to ERIC among federal and state lawmakers, thought leaders, and major companies in the U.S. and globally. James provides strategic leadership to ERIC’s legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy; membership and partnerships; and communications and operations, to achieve ERIC’s mission and implement the directives of ERIC’s Board of Directors. James first joined ERIC in 2005, when he was appointed a policy research associate, then health policy research manager for more than two years. He next led health policy efforts at the U.S Chamber of Commerce and served on Capitol Hill as counsel to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) on the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee, and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee. James also served as an associate project director for Luntz Global Partners, where he helped spearhead the firm’s political practice during the 2014 election, and then led the federal affairs team at the March of Dimes Foundation, where he successfully advanced policies critical to the health of women and children. James has been recognized as a top industry lobbyist by both the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics and The Hill. Since 2018 he has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Arlington, VA-based Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA). MMHLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the mental health of mothers in the United States, with a focus on national policy and health equity. MMHLA is a staunch advocate for improved mental health care during pregnancy and postpartum. James earned his J.D. at George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, and his undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Legal Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife and son. 

Steve Perrotta is the Director of Public Policy for SHRM.  He directs the comprehensive strategy and initiatives to achieve SHRM’s public policy objectives at the Congressional and state level.

Previously he was the Retirement Policy Director for Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ranking Member of the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.  His responsibilities included the Committee’s jurisdiction over private sector ERISA retirement plans.  He also covered workforce and labor matters.  In addition to his HELP Committee responsibilities, Steve has covered tax matters, government affairs, telecommunications, and technology issues including the Senator’s Finance Committee and Aging Committee assignments.  He coordinated the Senator’s activities with the Senate Nanotechnology Caucus and the Senate Philanthropy Caucus.  He joined Senator Burr’s HELP Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging staff at the start of the 110th Congress in March 2007.

Prior to joining Senator Burr’s Committee staff, Steve was a Professional Staff Member with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce chaired by Representative John Boehner of Ohio.  His responsibilities included pension reform and health care. Previously, he was the Senior Legislative Assistant and Military Legislative Assistant in the office of former Congressman Amo Houghton of New York State. Representative Houghton was a Marine veteran and former CEO of Corning, Inc. Rep. Houghton served on the Committee on Ways and Means and on the Committee on International Relations. Congressman Houghton established a bipartisan retreat for members of Congress and their families on the theory that civility and personal friendship would foster cooperation on Capitol Hill.  Steve spent ten years working for Mr. Houghton – starting in the Corning, New York district office in 1995 as a military and veterans affairs caseworker. While in the District he also acted as the Congressman’s Military Service Academy selection committee coordinator. In 1999, he transferred to the Congressman’s Washington D.C. office to join his legislative staff. In addition to military affairs, his responsibilities included veterans, agriculture, labor, education, welfare, energy, transportation, judiciary, crime, immigration, gun control, campaign finance reform, mining, housing, banking, and financial services.

Prior to his Congressional career, Steve worked in the human resources office of Toshiba Westinghouse Electronics Corporation, an international joint venture between two of the world's leading electronics firms involved in the manufacture of television picture tubes.

Steve has a Bachelors of Science from Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations.

Nita Beecher, Of Counsel to Fortney & Scott, LLC, advises clients on a broad range of employment law issues with her primary focus on issues involving discrimination, affirmative action, compensation, and wage and hour matters. She serves as Legal Counsel for The Institute for Workplace Equality and co-editor of the Federal Employment Law Insider, a monthly newsletter updating employers on federal laws and regulations and presents webinars on federal employment law issues.

Prior to working for FortneyScott, Ms. Beecher served as in-house counsel in major corporations for over 20 years where she advised in-house clients on labor and employment law issues and developed a self-audit tool for OFCCP audits. Ms. Beecher also spent 10 years leading networks of senior diversity, EEO, and affirmative action corporate practitioners and of in-house labor and employment counsel.

 In 2011-2012, Ms. Beecher served as one of ten experts on the National Research Council of the National Academies panel which produced the NAS report, Collecting Compensation Data from Employers, requested by EEOC.

Ms. Beecher has been a regular speaker at many professional meetings, including the annual NILG conferences since 2004.