In-person Pass

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.

Nancy Woolever, SHRM-SCP, joined SHRM in 1997 to plan SHRM’s conference, seminar, e-learning and executive education programs. In 2006, she began leading SHRM’s academic initiative to raise HR educational standards and led the test development and administration of SHRM’s student capstone exam before joining the certification team as director of exam development in 2017. In 2019, Ms. Woolever became the vice president of certification operations as overall product and project owner with responsibility for exam development, certificant care and testing administration. Before joining SHRM, Ms. Woolever held various management positions in industry and academia. Her specialty areas are test development, training and development.  Ms. Woolever holds a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in HR both from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

After graduating from Portland State University in 2016 with a double major in Human Resources and Management & Leadership I now find myself primarily in benefits and wellness. Over the last year learning these new roles at Harsch they fit together seamlessly. What I enjoy about benefits is vendor relationships, traveling for Open Enrollment presentations, and the 1:1 service I provide to employees. When couple that with a year-long wellness campaign that includes an Activity Challenge, Self-Care, and Adopt-A-Family Giving. I get to be creative, active, and help other focus on aspects of their lives outside of work.

Crystal represents and services the Pacific West Region membership council.

Kirk Wyman is the Human Resources Manager for Elementum 3D, Inc. In addition to working with local staff, he regularly participates in global company HR initiatives. He has a people first approach to HR which has been developed through his passion for implementing best practices and utilizes data to help make informed decisions.

Kirk possesses a deep educational background in HR. He holds his MBA from University of Wyoming & a double Bachelors from University of North Dakota in Human Resource Management and Psychology. Kirk also holds multiple certifications including both the SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from HRCI.

Kirk has previously been involved with SHRM at multiple levels to include: collegiate, local and state and is excited to take on a national role. Additionally, Kirk is partnering with his previous educational institutions to serve as a mentor for students seeking careers in Human Resources. In his spare time Kirk enjoys participating in ice hockey where he plays and has served as a youth hockey coach.

Kirk represents and services the Southwest Central Region membership council.

Amanda Brunson is employed as a Global HR Business Partner by Sabre  and is based in Orlando, FL. Amanda has been an active volunteer with SHRM since 2014 in many capacities. She's held several leadership positions for the Rollins College SHRM Student Chapter, Greater Orlando SHRM (GOSHRM) Chapter, and for HR Florida. Currently she  supports the Chapter Marketing team for the 2021 HR Florida State Conference.  Amanda joined the SHRM Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) in 2018 and is enthusiastic about her continued involvement..

Amanda received her Master in Human Resources Degree from Rollins College in May 2016. She holds an Advanced Leadership and Management Certificate from West Virginia University at Parkersburg. Additionally, Amanda obtained her SHRM-CP certification in January 2018.

Amanda is passionate about advocating for the Future of HR. She does this by sharing her knowledge and experience to aid others in attaining their goals. Amanda co-founded a blog called "The Future of HR" where she writes to make a difference, influence change, and support others. Amanda is also a contributor on the SHRM blog.

Amanda currently resides in Orlando, Florida and enjoys bowling, scrapbooking, and visiting Walt Disney World in her spare time.

Amanda represents and services the Southeast Region membership council.

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Data & Insights Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.

Lester S. Rosen is an attorney and Founder  of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) a service offering of ClearStar.   He is the author of, “The Safe Hiring Manual,”  (3d Edition 2017), the first comprehensive book on employment screening.  He is also a consultant, writer, expert witness and frequent presenter nationwide on safe hiring and due diligence.  He is both a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.  Mr. Rosen was the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) and served as the first co-chairman in 2004. He  received the  PBSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

Melissa Dawn Simkins, affectionately known as "The First Lady of Personal Branding," is a pioneer in personal brand leadership with a proven track record of advising Fortune 100 organizations, CEOs, C-suite executives and influencers. She is a sought-after strategist on how to lead change in the face of adversity. Relevance and readiness are core to her approach as she gives insight around future-ready talent development, bridging the diversity divide and brand leadership innovation.

She is CEO of Velvet Suite® (www.velvetsuite.com) an award-winning leadership innovation firm advancing the future of profit through people. She is the Founder of The She-Suite®, the female focused platform of Velvet Suite on a mission to break the outdated paradigm of work by empowering working women to boldly design a career and life with purpose (theshesuite.com). The She-Suite Brand Leadership Institute (BLI), is the only online leadership readiness platform community with proven results to ready, retain and advance all women and women of color who work for large enterprises. 

Melissa is a former contributor to Inc.com and has been a frequent guest on media outlets such as CNN, CNBC and more. She is the author of Brand Me. Make Your Mark: The Ultimate Playbook for Personal Branding. Melissa is a sought-after keynote speaker on leadership innovation.

As an innovator, Simkins was the first African American female advisory board member for the World Brand Congress. Velvet Suite created the NFL Player Brand University in partnership with the National Football League, the first personal brand development academy of its kind in all professional sports. Other Velvet Suite clients have included: Boston Scientific, UBS, Lincoln Financial, Allstate, Home Depot, Southern Company, the National Basketball Association, CEOs, C-Suite executives, celebrities, pro-athletes and more.

She has been recognized by NAMD as their Entrepreneur of the Year, The Atlantan's Women of Power & Influence and her firm is a finalist for the Greater Washington Innovation Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for The SHRM Foundation (Society for Human Resource Management).

Mary Cheddie, SHRM-SCP is Divisional Director, Membership Community. 

Cheddie has more than 35 years of domestic and international experience in all aspects of human resources and training. She has extensive experience with strategic planning, M&As, and in starting and turning around businesses.

Prior to joining SHRM, she served as senior vice president of human resources for Interval Leisure Group, Inc. and its affiliated companies. The company was publicly traded on NASDAQ and the leading provider of vacation services with a global consumer membership base of nearly 2 million member families, more than 2,500 member resorts in over 75 countries worldwide, and has oversight for about 14,000 employees. 

Cheddie also served as senior vice president, people with PRC, as well as vice president, human resources, strategic planning, office services, and facilities for The Orvis Company, Inc. in Manchester, VT.

She earned her MBA from Upper Iowa University, a bachelor’s degree from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey, and is certified as a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional.

Cheddie received the HR Award of Excellence, Hospitality in 2016 from South Florida Business & Wealth. Business Leader Magazine named Cheddie one of the 2011 Women Extraordinaire and in 2012 the National Diversity Council awarded her the Glass Ceiling Award.

She serves on the Board of Trustees for Upper Iowa University, Chairs the Human Capital Committee and is a member of the Governance and Advancement Committees, Chaired the Keiser Career College’s Advisory Board, was a member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) from 2003-2008 and chaired SHRM’s governance and compensation committees. Cheddie has more than 35 years of SHRM volunteer leadership experience at the national, regional, state, and local levels.  She also served on the Waldorf College Alumni Board from 2004 through 2008 and was the President of the Dallas HR Association in 2000 (one of the largest affiliated SHRM chapters). She resides in South FL.

Elizabeth Moore is the Vice President of Development of Holmes Corporation and manager of the SHRM Learning System. She has over 25 years of combined Product Management, Project Management, and training and development experience.  She has managed the design and development of SHRM certification and education courses for over 10 years, working directly with HR experts, employers, educational partners, instructors and students from around the globe. Elizabeth’s insights and expertise have helped shape the SHRM Learning System into the premier HR Certification preparation resource and advanced the careers of thousands of HR professionals worldwide.  

A certified Human Resources and Labor Relations professional with over 30 years of education, labor and civil rights investigation experience, Joe fills multiple roles at the Culinary Institute of America’s many campuses including service as a Title IX/VAWA compliance officer and Co-Chari of the CIA’s Diversity Council. Before becoming a college administrator, Joe served as a practicing attorney, representing and counseled numerous K-12 public school districts throughout New Jersey in complex legal matters. A graduate of Syracuse University and Brooklyn Law School, Joe also received his Certificate in Human Resources Management and Personnel Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also is a certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) from HRCI and as a Title IX Coordinator and Investigator by the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA).

Samia M. Kirmani is a principal in the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and co-leader of the firm's Workplace Training group and member of our Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations Practice Group. She is also a member of the firm's Corporate Diversity Counseling Practice Group and the pay equity and sexual harassment resource groups. She concentrates her practice in employment counseling, training, and policy development on behalf of management.

Samia regularly conducts interactive and engaging training programs for boards, executive leadership teams, managers, employees, individuals, in-house counsel, and human resource professionals on various workplace topics, such as discrimination and harassment prevention; diversity, equity, inclusion, and bias; conducting workplace investigations, and the range of workplace law topics.

She provides practical legal advice to clients on various employment law issues, including harassment and discrimination; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; pay equity; health and leave management; reductions in force; retaliation and whistleblower matters; individual separations; and employee relations issues. Samia also conducts and advises clients with respect to investigations, including those involving leadership, boards, managers, employees, and third parties. She also assists clients with creation, revision, and implementation of workplace policies. She also routinely conducts management and employee trainings on topics in employment law, including sexual harassment prevention, diversity and inclusion, and best management practices. Samia serves as a firm resource on drafting and implementing national arbitration agreements. She defends employers in employment-related administrative proceedings at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. 

Samia is a frequent speaker, commentator, and author for various audiences and publications on workplace law topics, such as harassment, investigations, diversity and inclusion, discrimination, pay equity, arbitration agreements and class action waivers, and related matters.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Samia served as in-house counsel at a technology company, focusing on employment and dispute management.

While attending law school, she was a solicitations editor for the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.