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.

Howard A. Wallack has been the Deputy Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer since 2016 in the Global Human Resources (GHR) department at Jhpiego in Baltimore, MD, an international, non-profit health organization, affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. Jhpiego is dedicated to improving the health of women, children, and families in lower-resourced countries, with approximately 4,200 employees worldwide in 38 countries. At Jhpiego, Howard spearheads the organization’s leadership development program and leads a team of 5 regional HR business partners who support country HR operations, himself currently backstopping Ghana, Guatemala, and Mozambique. During his 40-year career with experience in nearly 90 countries, Howard has had senior-level positions in HR, training and development, global business development, and program management in for-profit and non-profit businesses and the US Peace Corps. In April 2023 Howard was recognized with an OnCon Icon peer-voted award among the “Top 50 HR Professionals” for having made a considerable impact on their organization and/or previous organizations; made strong contributions to their community through thought leadership; innovated in their role/career; and exhibited exceptional leadership. He has advanced degrees in international affairs and international human resources and globalization and holds multiple professional certifications, including the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and the GPHR® & SPHRi™ qualification from the HR Certification Institute. As a volunteer he has served on the Board of Directors of Cultural Vistas since 2011.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Tricia is responsible for overall client satisfaction and delivery of Willis Towers Watson’s configurable benefit solutions to meet the unique needs of each organization. As a national leader, she advises our teams on how to deploy a holistic approach to health and benefits design and delivery using our deep market insights to develop cutting edge strategies and solutions that benefit both employers and employees.  As a dynamic speaker, Tricia has been a featured at the Conference Board, Retail Symposium, and the Argentum Senior Living Conference.

S. Renee Smith helps her clients increase their income and influence by becoming more likable, marketable and credible. As a renowned self-esteem, branding and communications expert, life and business coach, speaker, she is a resource to the media. S. Renee has worked with over 100 organizations in nine different industries, including Fortune 500 corporations—95 percent are repeat customers. She has coached countless employees and over 300 small business owners.

S. Renee is sought after for her ability to shatter old beliefs and mental constructs—closing the gaps in the minds of audiences regarding how they see themselves, their careers, and their abilities to achieve success. Her consistent and immediate outcomes are noteworthy—developing award-winning employees while increasing their income by 113 percent and helping businesses increase their revenue by as much as 900 percent.

With more than 20 years of experience in communications, she has served as a television talk show host, producer, and spokesperson (United Paramount Network–Philadelphia), director of public relations at an academic institution, a corporate marketing representative, and a manager.

Her insights have been featured in Woman’s World, Entrepreneur, Shape, Marketing Daily, Workwise, and other magazines and she has made countless radio and television appearances including ABC, CBS, NBC and other major networks.

S. Renee is the author of 5 Steps to Assertiveness How to Communicate with Confidence and Get What You Want (Callisto Media, 2018); There Is More Inside Personal Essentials to Living a Power-Packed Life; The Bridge to Your Brand: Likability, Marketability, Credibility, and Our Hearts Wonder: Prayers to Heal Your Heart and Calm Your Soul. She is also the co-author of Self-Esteem for Dummies, which was written for the world’s bestselling reference brand series, For Dummies (Wiley, 2015).

This speaker is a member of the SHRM Speakers Bureau.

Jennifer Currence is a Senior Partner of HR Soul consultancy firm in Tampa, Florida, where she delivers results through strategic HR solutions, customized training, and coaching programs for organizational and HR leaders. She is the creator of The SOTO Approach to Leadership and the content architect for the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) international People Manager Qualification (PMQ).

Jennifer is regularly published and featured in industry magazines, webinars, and podcasts, and is the author of three HR books on behavioral business competencies.

Jennifer was named one of the top 100 Influential HR professionals in Leadership and Development in 2023 and Tampa Bay’s HR Consultant of the Year in 2017.  She is a faculty member for SHRM and a former management professor at the University of Tampa.

Two themes are woven throughout Lauraine Bifulco's diverse career: a passion for a job well done and a zest for continual learning and improvement.  Lauraine infuses Vantaggio HR with these qualities every day. When she founded the firm in 1994, Lauraine combined her rare talent in understanding what a client needs and her gift of business foresight to create a company that can service the HR and management consulting needs of small and large companies equally well.  Today, Vantaggio serves clients across the country from their offices in California, Hawaii, Colorado, and New York. 

Her Career experience helps employers realize their HR goals and adapt to the shifting HR landscape.  Lauraine is a veteran HR executive and entrepreneur with 25 years of international, corporate, and consulting experience. Her bold career has taken her to employment and business opportunities in Europe and multiple U.S. cities. She serves as co-chair of the California Small Business Administration's committee on Labor Issues which reviews and makes recommendations on pending labor/employment laws, keeping her abreast of legal developments.                                                                            

Delivering over 30 presentations and webinars each year, Lauraine is a well-respected, and highly sought after guest lecturer and speaker on a variety of business management and HR-related topics for both state and national organizations including Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA), American Payroll Association (APA), Next Concept HR Association (NCHRA), Paylocity annual Elevate Conference, and HR Star Conference to name a few. She has been invited to review, develop, and deliver certificate programs for SHRM, and has developed and delivered curriculum for businesses throughout the U.S.                                                                   

Lauraine received a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and conducted graduate level studies in linguistics at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Born in sight of England’s Canterbury Cathedral, Stuart has called the Midwest home since 2004. Stuart believes that conversation helps us to live better and work well in our organizations and our communities. Stuart founded the conversation catalyst Squishtalks in 2010, working with Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits, leveraging the power of conversation to unlock the capacity of human relationships and spark innovation and performance. Previously, Stuart was a UK lawyer and a partner at a branding agency. He is a member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development with Master’s level accreditation in Organizational Learning & Development.