Dr. David S. Cohen
Founder and Contrarian Consultant
DS Cohen & Associates
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Dr. David S Cohen, Ed. D. has a vision: organizations that thrive by living their values in good times and especially VUCA times. David's first career was in elementary and high school education, where he built a reputation for building school communities based on purpose and social responsibility. Thirty-three years ago, David transitioned to corporate consulting. As a consultant, David earned a reputation as a contrarian consultant because he does not always follow what is popular in his chosen field. David works with leaders helping them understand what is and what is not necessary to build an active and positive organization. He helps leaders' step into life's challenges, inspiring them to create a sustained approach through a values-based focus, resulting in better business results. David has had the privilege of partnering with firms across five continents and all business sectors. Additionally, he has worked with governments, from the local to the federal levels, and not-for-profits.

He has taught at Queens University School of Labour Relations and the executive education program at the Schulich School of Business, York University. Currently, he teaches organizational development at Durham College. David earned his doctorate from Boston University in Humanistic and Behavioural Studies. During that time, he also completed independent studies at the Harvard School of Education, where he was a teaching assistant.

David is a keynote speaker, educator, disruptor, facilitator, team builder, and executive coach. He has authored two books and numerous articles in professional journals.

  • The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing, and Keeping Top Performers (John Wiley and Sons, August 2001)
  • Inside the Box: Leading With Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success (Jossey-Bass September 2006)

When David is not travelling, he is hanging out with his five grandchildren, when possible, attending Toronto Raptor's games, or relaxing with family and friends.

David is honored to be recognized by the GlobalGurus30 as one of the top 30 GlobalGurus in Organizational Culture.

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Eric Ellis
President and CEO
Integrity Development Corporation
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Eric Ellis is President and CEO of Integrity Development Corp. Since 1991, his firm has served businesses, law enforcement agencies, and organizations by building cultures where Diversity, Inclusion and Respect flourish, driving business results.

One of our nation’s leading strategists on Diversity & Inclusion, Eric and his firm have won numerous awards, including the State of Ohio's Minority Business of the Year, and the NAACP President’s Award. Eric is a member of the SHRM Inclusion & Diversity Expert Panel.

Eric is author of the book, Diversity Conversations, 3rd edition, and co-hosts a weekly broadcast of the same name at www.1320thevoice.com or facebook live, every Saturday, 9:30 am EST @elliseric.

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Daryll Bryant
President
DKB Industries
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Daryll Bryant is a transformational leader with a distinguished career in manufacturing providing outstanding results for a number of Fortune 100 companies.   He is a Keynote Speaker, Leadership Coach, Trusted Business Advisor and Author of the book entitled “Engage. Lead. Deliver.   Leadership Tenets for Tapping into the Collective Genius of Your People”, available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles online book stores.  

Daryll’s passion is to inspire New Leaders and provide them with the confidence to begin on their leadership journey.   His desire is to coach New Leaders by helping them to identify their personal leadership signature and leverage it to unlock the collective genius of their people.  His mission is to equip New Leaders with tools which will support them in overcoming roadblocks to their growth; and provide them with skills that will enable them to lead change, create business value, and foster engaged work environments.

SESSIONS:
Jeremy M. Eskenazi, SHRM-SCP
Managing Principal
Riviera Advisors, Inc.
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Jeremy Eskenazi, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CMC is Managing Principal of Riviera Advisors, Inc., a global Human Resources management consulting and training firm that helps organizations improve, enhance and optimize their internal talent acquisition and recruiting capabilities.

Prior to founding Riviera Advisors in 2001, Jeremy spent almost 20 years leading talent acquisition and recruiting teams at Universal Studios, Amazon.com, and Idealab. A regular SHRM speaker and a member of the SHRM Talent Acquisition Special Expertise Panel, Jeremy is also proud professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Institute of Management Consultants-USA.

Jeremy is the author of the books, “RecruitCONSULT! Leadership – The Corporate Talent Acquisition Leader’s Field Book”, and “The High-Performance Talent Acquisition Advantage”.

 

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Becka Klauber Richter
Co-Founder & President
Helpr
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President and Co-Founder of Helpr, Becka Klauber Richter, has been operating childcare brands for 15 years. Helpr was grown from a boutique domestic placement and babysitting agency into a global network of care professionals and family enterprise technology servicing the top media, retail, finance, and technology companies. As a former foster parent, new mom and power user of her own platform, Becka is driven by her mission of achieving universal parent inclusion and community in the workplace.

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Elizabeth Speck
Principal
MindOpen Learning Strategies LLC
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Elizabeth Speck is the Founder and Principal of MindOpen Learning Strategies, a training, consulting, and coaching firm that helps people and organizations learn new ways to work in order to achieve social justice goals. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Development from Fielding Graduate University and an M.A. in Drama Therapy from New York University. She uses her unique background to create transformative adult learning experiences that lead to measurable business results and social impact. Prior to founding MindOpen, Elizabeth most recently led large-scale organizational and systemic change efforts as Chief Learning Officer for the Workforce Professionals Training Institute in New York City, and Senior Training Director for Safe Horizon, the nation's largest victim assistance organization. Elizabeth's doctoral research studied the workforce entry and career advancement experiences of formerly incarcerated professionals.

 

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Karl Ahlrichs, SHRM-SCP, CSP
Personal Pronouns
He/Him/His
Senior Consultant
Gregory and Appel
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Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

 

SESSIONS:
Monday, August 23, 2021 - 12:30pm to 1:00pm
Michael Bolton
Multiple Grammy Award-winning Singer, Songwriter and Humanitarian
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Michael Bolton is a multiple Grammy Award-winning Singer, Songwriter and Humanitarian, who has sold more than 65 million records globally and continues to tour the world.  Bolton remains committed to humanitarian causes, especially through the Michael Bolton Charities. 

Recently announced, Michael is Executive Producer and host, along with Zooey Deschanel, of The Celebrity Dating Game, premiering primetime on ABC June 14, 2021. The reboot of the beloved gameshow is a wry wink at modern dating featuring three contestants hoping to win a date with a celebrity guest. Michael will offer musical clues to help the contestants guess the mystery celebrity’s identity.

Celebrating 50 years of contributions to the entertainment industry, Bolton’s most recent release A SYMPHONY OF HITS, a #1 album on the Billboard Classical Chart, is a collection of his favorite Greatest Hits newly arranged and recorded with a full symphony orchestra. To date, Bolton has seen nine studio albums rank in the Top 10, with nine No. 1 singles.

In recognition of his artistic achievements, Michael won 2 Grammys for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance (nominated four times), 6 American Music Awards, 3 Emmy nominations and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  As a songwriter, he has earned over 24 BMI & ASCAP Awards, including Songwriter of the Year, 9 Million-Air awards, and the Hitmakers Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

Bolton has written with some of the greatest and most diverse talent of our time, including Bob Dylan, Paul Stanley, Lady Gaga, Diane Warren, and David Foster. Bolton's songs have been recorded by the likes of KISS, Kanye West, Jay Z, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Kenny Rogers and Marc Anthony. Michael has performed with legacies such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Renee Fleming and BB King. 

Michael became a viral sensation in The Lonely Island’s Emmy nominated video, “Captain Jack Sparrow” that launched on Saturday Night Live and has racked up nearly 220 million views on YouTube.  He earned another Emmy nod for his collaborations with the Screen Junkies channel popular “Honest Trailers”. He executive produced and starred in the Netflix show Michael Bolton’s Big Sexy Valentine’s Special which has become a seasonal cult classic.  

Michael’s songs and performances have been featured in numerous television and film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated theme song “Go the Distance” from Walt Disney’s blockbuster animated film Hercules and the recent Russell Crowe film Fathers & Daughters which has become a favored wedding song and part of several viral videos. He also executive produced the documentary Terror at Home addressing Domestic Violence in America, and was Emmy-nominated for writing the title song “Tears of The Angels”.  Michael also produced a feature-length documentary, American Dream: Detroit which is his loveletter to the Motorcity.

SESSIONS:
Chair Charlotte A. Burrows
Chair
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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Charlotte A. Burrows was designated by President Biden as Chair of the EEOC on Jan. 20, 2021.  She was initially nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2014.  The U.S. Senate later unanimously confirmed her to a second term ending in 2023.

Chair Burrows has advocated for strong civil rights protections and robust cooperation between the Commission, employers, and employees to advance equal opportunity in the workplace.  She seeks to enhance the Commission's enforcement of all laws within its jurisdiction, focusing in particular on initiatives to combat harassment, foster pay equity, and advance diversity and inclusion.  While at the Commission, she has worked to increase the agency's outreach to Native Americans, vulnerable immigrant and migrant communities, and other traditionally underserved populations.  In addition, Chair Burrows is particularly interested in the impact of technology and big data on civil rights and employee privacy.


Prior to her appointment to the EEOC, Chair Burrows served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she worked on a broad range of civil and criminal matters, including employment litigation, voting rights, combatting racial profiling, and implementing the Violence Against Women Act, among others.


Chair Burrows previously served as General Counsel for Civil and Constitutional Rights to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee and later on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.  During her time on Capitol Hill, she worked on a variety of legislative initiatives, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008.

Chair Burrows also held several roles in the Civil Rights Division's Employment Litigation Section at DOJ, including Deputy Chief of the Section.  There, she represented the United States in all phases of civil litigation, including trial, to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Earlier in her career, she served as a judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP.

Chair Burrows received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

SESSIONS:
Commissioner Keith E. Sonderling
Commissioner
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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Keith E. Sonderling was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with a bipartisan vote, to be a Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2020. Until January of 2021, he served as the Commission’s Vice-Chair. His term expires July of 2024.

The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. The laws apply to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, training, wages, benefits, and prevent harassment and retaliation.

Prior to his confirmation to the EEOC, Commissioner Sonderling served as the Acting and Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before joining the Department of Labor in 2017, Commissioner Sonderling practiced Labor and Employment law in Florida. Commissioner Sonderling also serves as a Professional Lecturer in the Law at George Washington University Law School, teaching employment discrimination.

Since joining the EEOC, one of Commissioner Sonderling’s highest priorities is ensuring that artificial intelligence and workplace technologies are designed and deployed consistent with long-standing civil rights laws. Commissioner Sonderling has published numerous articles on the benefits and potential harms of using artificial intelligence-based technology in the workplace and speaks globally on these emerging issues.

Immediately before his confirmation to the EEOC, Commissioner Sonderling served as the Acting and Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The Wage and Hour Division administers and enforces federal labor laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the labor provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. During his tenure, the Division accomplished back-to-back record-breaking enforcement collections and educational outreach events. 

Commissioner Sonderling also oversaw the development and publication of large-scale deregulatory rules and authored numerous Opinion Letters, Field Assistance Bulletins, and All Agency Memorandums. Additionally, he was instrumental in developing the Division’s first comprehensive self-audit program, which collected more than $7 million for nearly eleven thousand workers.

Before his government service, Commissioner Sonderling was a partner at one of Florida’s oldest and largest law firms, Gunster. At Gunster, he counseled employers and litigated labor and employment disputes. In 2012, then-Governor Rick Scott appointed Commissioner Sonderling to serve as the Chair of the Judicial Nominating Committee for appellate courts in South Florida. Commissioner Sonderling was also active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors for Morse Life Health System, the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Florida.

Commissioner Sonderling received his B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Florida and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Nova Southeastern University.

 

 

 

SESSIONS:
Moderator: 
Emily M. Dickens, J.D.
Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs & Corporate Secretary
SHRM
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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. 

 

SESSIONS:
Thursday, September 9, 2021 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Marissa Afton
International Partner & Head of Global Accounts
Potential Project
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As a driving force behind leadership development and change initiatives at multinational organizations, Marissa helps leaders and organizations unlock their potential for cultural excellence and superior performance, resilience and innovation. She has worked with leading companies including Cisco, Accenture, Bloomberg, Eli Lilly, and Verizon. As a seasoned change management professional and corporate consultant, as well as a mindfulness practitioner for over 25 years, Marissa is recognized globally for transforming organizations by transforming the mind. Marissa enjoys splitting her time between New York City and the serene foothills of Boulder, Colorado, where she lives with her husband and their blue heeler.

 

SESSIONS:
Saturday, September 11, 2021 - 7:30am to 8:30am