Frank Brown is counsel at the Tampa, Florida law firm of Bush Graziano Rice & Hearing.  Frank is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law and has over 35 years of experience in the field, with both litigation and advisory expertise in wage and hour, discrimination, collective bargaining and, in particular, employee benefits law.  Frank has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, Florida Super Lawyers and Florida Legal Elite.  In 2020 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Florida Bar Labor and Employment Law Section. 

Al Roker is the weather and feature anchor of NBC News’ TODAY as well as the co-host of third hour of TODAY. He joined in January 1996.

From July 2009 to September 2015, Roker served as co-host of the morning show “Wake Up with Al” on the Weather Channel.  Until January 2000, he also served as the weekday weather forecaster for News Channel 4’s early evening newscast Live at 5 on WNBC-TV, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station in New York City.

Roker came to WNBC-TV as a weekend weathercaster in December 1983 from WKYC-TV, the NBC television station in Cleveland. Roker began his broadcasting career while still in college by landing a job as a weekend weatherman at WTVH-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1974. After graduation he moved on to weathercasting jobs in Washington, D.C. (1976-1978) and Cleveland (1978-1983).

Roker has been named Best Weatherman twice by New York Magazine. He is a recipient of the American Meteorological Society’s prestigious Seal of Approval and has been a pioneer in the use of computer graphics for weathercasting. Roker has won three Daytime Emmy Awards as part of TODAY’s recognition as the best morning newscast (2007, 2009, 2010).

Roker also co-hosts Sirius XM’s “Off the Rails” with Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones and hosts “Cold Cuts with Al Roker” on Today.com and YouTube. He made his Broadway stage debut in “Waitress” in October 2018 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City, playing the part of Old Joe.

In November 2014, Roker made history on TODAY for “Rokerthon,” in which he broke the Guinness World Record for the Longest Uninterrupted Live Weather Report Broadcast by providing 34 hours of continuous weather coverage. The following year in October 2015, “Rokerthon 2” broke the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Time to Report a Weather Forecast from All 50 US States and the District of Colombia, which he completed in one week. In March 2017 for “Rokerthon 3,” Roker visited five colleges across the country in five days and helped college students break additional Guinness World Records. In August 2020 for “Rokerthon 4,” Roker enlisted the help of nearly 70 renowned chefs, including Bobby Flay, Priya Krishna, Sandra Lee, Marcus Samuelsson and Andrew Zimmern, to set a new Guinness World Records record for the most people in an online sandwich-making relay.

Throughout the years, Roker has reported live for TODAY from some of history’s worst storms and natural disasters including Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Isaac, Superstorm Sandy and the earthquake in Haiti.

Among many highlights of his career as an interviewer, Roker conducted an exclusive interview with Peanuts creator Charles Shultz shortly before his death from colon cancer. Additional interview highlights include Willie Nelson, Burt Reynolds, James Earl Jones and B. Smith.

Since 1985, Roker has co-hosted the annual Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting. He also co-hosts the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade. For ten years, from 2001 to 2010, and in 2017, Roker’s “Lend a Hand Today” initiative took him across the country and raised millions to help small charities work towards improving conditions in their communities. 

In 1994, Roker founded Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (ARE), a thriving multimedia company involved in the development and production of network, cable, home video, and public television projects.  ARE produces programming for a diverse clientele including NBC News, Lifetime Television, A&E, The History Channel, E!, Discovery Networks, PBS, TV ONE, Oxygen, The Cartoon Network and NBC Television Stations Group.

Roker is a bestselling author with 13 acclaimed books to his credit: “The Morning Show Murders”, “The Midnight Show Murders”, “The Talk Show Murders”, “Al Roker’s Big Bad Book of Barbecue”, “Don’t Make Me Stop This Car: Adventures in Fatherhood”, “Al Roker’s Hassle Free Holiday Cookbook”, “Never Goin' Back : Winning the Weight Loss Battle for Good”, “Big Shoes: In Celebration of Dads and Fatherhood”, “Been There Done That: Family Wisdom For Modern Times”, “The Storm of the Century”, “Al Roker's Extreme Weather,” “Ruthless Tide,” and “You Look So Much Better in Person.”

Roker is a member of several professional organizations including the Friars Club, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Meteorological Society.

Raised in Queens, New York, Roker received his B.A. in Communications from the State University at Oswego in 1976, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the school in 1998. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts. Roker has two daughters and one son.

Follow Al on Twitter and Instagram: @alroker
 

James Atkinson is the VP, Thought Leadership at SHRM, where he leads research teams uncovering key insights on the challenges and trends affecting HR and the workplace. James joined SHRM with more than 15 years of research, data, and product experience, having spent a decade in various leadership roles within the HR industry. Prior to SHRM, James was the Vice President of Data Products at Payscale, where he was responsible for the overall strategy, development, and delivery of data products for compensation professionals. He also spent 9 years at Gartner, finishing his tenure there as the Managing Vice President of Data Products for the HR research and advisory practice. Across his career, his teams have created award-winning research and data products for HR executives and their teams on topics including learning and development, total rewards, recruiting, talent management, HR strategy, HR technology, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This work has been featured in top business journals and media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

James holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Ohio State University.

Rebekah Gales Swain is group vice president and leader of Managed Health Strategy, Planning and Membership Performance for Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the United States – created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health.
Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health serves nearly 6 million patients across 67 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations.
Ms. Swain joined Advocate Health’s Managed Health team in April 2023. As part of this work, she leads the team’s strategy development, which includes setting strategic direction for managed health contracting in each Advocate region and segment. She leads development of the organization’s employer and payor product portfolios, develops collaborative strategic relationships with payors, and coordinates our approach to partnered insurance products and plans.
Prior to joining Atrium Health, Ms. Swain served for five years as the Chief Operating Officer of Experience Health, an innovative Medicare Advantage plan in the Raleigh-Durham Market. Experience Health was a joint venture between Duke University Health System and Blue Cross NC, strategically leveraging the capabilities of provider and payor to deliver a unique member-patient experience - achieving a 4.5 CMS STAR rating in its second (2023) and third (2024) rating years.
In addition, Ms. Swain held various positions over a decade at Blue Cross NC, where she led development and implementation of payer-provider strategies, including a suite of new network-based products for ACA and commercial group segments. Prior to that, Ms. Swain served as Director, Strategic Planning and Business Development at Rex Healthcare (now part of UNC Health Care) in Raleigh, NC, where she led new business development, certificate of need and enterprise strategic planning.
Ms. Swain is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with an undergraduate honors degree in public health and a master’s degree in health administration, both from the Gillings School of Public Health. She lives with her husband and two sons in the Raliegh-Durham, NC area.
 

Anastasia is an artist at Ink Factory with a passion for visual storytelling. Originally from Florida, she ventured to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Outside of work she enjoys customizing secondhand clothes through drawing and screen printing. Zines and animated movies are constant sources of inspiration for her. When she's not creating, you can find her immersed in nature, buried in a good book, or engrossed in podcasts like Getting Curious and The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie and Katya.

Marilena Acevedo serves as the Sr. Vice President of People and Culture at Moove, a leading fuel and lubricants distributor headquartered in King of Prussia, PA with 53 locations throughout the US.  Marilena is a highly skilled, experienced Human Resources Executive whose career began a little over 20 years ago as Personnel Assistant providing her the unique experience and opportunity to learn from the ground up.  The experience of running a one person HR Department for a number of years along with progressive growth within the HR field prepared Marilena for her current role.

Marilena holds a degree in Human Resources from DePaul University and has authored, served as subject matter expert on panels, and was interviewed for HR publications including SHRM’s HR Magazine, Freightwaves, and Transport Topics, to name a few.   A native of Chicago, Marilena and her husband currently reside in the greater Philadelphia area.

Marilena’s advice for up and coming HR professionals:  Never turn down an opportunity to learn.  Be a sponge.  Learn all you can even if it doesn’t pertain to your current role.  Volunteer for projects.  All of this experience will come in handy someday and it will make you a more rounded individual.  Lifelong learning is not overrated and it will lead to growth and innovation regardless of the field or expertise area you choose.