Melissa Thompson is an HR and TA executive with 25+ years' experience across a wide variety of industries. Melissa is currently the SVP, Talent Acquisition for Nielsen Media.  She joined McGraw Hill Education as the VP, Talent Acquisition in early 2018.  During her tenure, she built the Global TA team from the ground up, including insourcing US TA and engaging an International sourcing partner.  Melissa improved the user experience by implementing Lever ATS onboard and introducing Passport to Recruit, a manager training program.  Most recently, she led the project to redefine and modernize the McGraw-Hill Employee Value Proposition (EVP). During her career she has held recruiting leadership roles at Dell, Citrix, Siebel, and Lenovo. She is an engaging, results-oriented, strategic Talent Acquisition leader with expertise in designing and executing game changing TA programs. 

As the leader of LinkedIn’s Global Insights capability, Sarah provides companies with relevant insights based on LinkedIn data to help them make better business decisions. During the past year, Sarah played a pivotal role in bringing LinkedIn’s first self-serve analytics product, Talent Insights, to market. Previously, Sarah held multiple roles at Bain & Company, a strategy consulting firm, most recently building out and leading Bain’s Global Advanced Analytics practice. In that capacity, she sought to help companies across all industries turn data into a competitive asset, and she worked to enable Bain’s own internal processes with data-driven intelligence. Sarah holds an M.B.A from Harvard University and a Bachelors in Operations Research from Princeton University. In her spare time, she can be found coaching her sons’ baseball and soccer teams.

Tracy Ting joined Encore Capital Group (NYSE: ECPG) in September 2019 and serves as their SVP & CHRO, bringing more than two decades of combined finance and HR expertise. As a high-performing leader with an influential mindset and a creative strategist, Ms. Ting leads Encore's HR and Corporate Communications functions and provides global enterprise leadership, strategic vision and functional expertise to its 7,300 employees worldwide. 

Ms. Ting held other CHRO roles at Avanir Pharmaceuticals (2017-2019) and Affymetrix (2014-2016).  Ms. Ting also worked at Varian Medical Systems (2000-2014) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications Studies from UCLA

John Register is a modern-day renaissance man and one of the most authentic interactive keynote speakers of our time.

From four-time track and field all-American to Gulf War Army veteran to amputee to Paralympic silver medalist, John has never allowed adversity to hold him back. He continues to hurdle adversity and turn obstacles into opportunities and show others how to do the same.

During a training session in Hays, Kansas, Register, the 8th fastest 400m hurdler at the time, landed awkwardly dislocating his left knee. His artery behind the kneecap was blocked. A 11-hour vein graph surgery was conducted but was inadequate. 5 subsequent operations were not able fully save the limb. Register made the decision to amputate his leg, and his dreams. Armed with this new determination, John decided to take a new step every day.

It began with swimming. His steps to the pool each day resulted in making the Paralympic swim team. He then turned his attention back to running. He and his prosthetist crafted a running leg which took John to the Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where he won the silver medal in the long jump. With his previous goal now accomplished, John turned his sights on creating opportunities for people with disabilities by utilizing the lens of sport.

His post athletic career accolades are equally impressive as he founded the United States Olympic Committees Paralympic Military sport program which assist wounded, ill, and injured service members in their recovery to a healthy and active lifestyle and serving in a variety of capacities to include special advisor to two U.S. Secretary of State on disability foreign policy and being a U.S. Sports Diplomacy Ambassador (Envoy). As a highly sought-after keynote speaker, John believes in audience engagement and collective learning. In either his interactive keynote address, or half day training sessions, experiential learning is at core of each presentation.

Gregory Tall is a trainer and facilitator with over 15 years of experience helping high-growth organizations acquire & develop diverse talent and build top workplaces. Gregory now travels the country delivering interactive workshops that combine his signature high-energy facilitation style with provocative content and experiential learning as part of his obsessive work to help people become better communicators.