In-person Pass

Tim Sackett, SCP, is the CEO of HRUTech.com, a leading technical recruiting firm. Tim has over 20 years of combined executive HR and talent acquisition experience working for Fortune 500 companies. Tim is a highly sought-after international speaker on leadership, HR &TA Tech, talent acquisition, and HR execution. Tim is currently a Senior Faculty member with the Josh Bersin Academy. He is also an Angel investor and advisor and sits on multiple HR Technology corporate boards.

Tim is the author of the newly released book The Talent Fix, Vol. 2. He also writes daily on his blog, the Tim Sackett Project. Tim is married to a hall-of-fame wife, has three sons, and his dog Tucker. In 2023, he was named a Top Global HR & Recruitment Influencer by HR Executive. He has more Twitter (X) followers than his 3 Gen Z sons and is sponsored on stage by diet Mt. Dew.

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.

Bethany Adams has more than 15 years of experience in HR and education.  She began her career working in learning & development and human resources in the restaurant and retail industries. She has experience in both small, privately-owned businesses and large, Fortune 500 organizations. Bethany holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Organizational Management, the SHRM-SCP certification, and is a Certified Genos International Emotional Intelligence Practitioner. She currently teaches at Villanova University in the Graduate Programs in HR Development.  Bethany has spoken at a variety of conferences throughout the country and leads corporate training on topics including emotional intelligence, DEI, and strategic HR.  Bethany hosts an HR podcast called HR Tea.

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”.

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an International Business Performance Consulting Corp. specializing in Business Improvement, Diversity Return on Investment (DROI®) Measurement/Analytics, and organizational development.  Author of more than 59 DEI ROI and Business-related books, Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Analysis, ROI Measurement, Strategic Planning, and more. Dr. Hubbard was an honoree at the Inaugural International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Living Legends of Diversity Award Ceremony in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where he received the “Living Legends of Diversity Award” for creating the “Diversity ROI Analytics” and “Diversity Measurement Fields and their associated Disciplines” and is recognized globally as the creator of these unique sciences and fields of study. 

Dr. Hubbard received the “Excellence in Global Leadership Award” from the World HRD Congress (the highest individual professional award given), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences, the Sentry Award from the U.S. Pentagon, and many others.

Dr. Hubbard serves on the Harvard Business Review, Diversity Executive Magazine and Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine Editorial Advisory Boards and serves on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University African American Alumni Society. He also holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Neuroscience discipline. Dr. Hubbard earned Bachelors, Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.

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.

Paul Meshanko, CSP, is an author, professional speaker and thought leader with over 25 years of experience in leadership development and organizational culture change. Known for his down to earth, humorous and highly-interactive style, he has captivated over a half million leaders and business professionals on five continents.

Pulling from the most current research in organization development, psychology and science, his inspiring programs cover a broad range of topics dealing with workplace culture, diversity, respect, motivation, bias and critical thinking. Paul holds a BSBA from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College. His most recent book, The Respect Effect, was released by McGraw-Hill in 2013.

Matt Baxter is a serial entrepreneur. He started his first business at the age of 15, owning and operating Stony Pointe Lawn Care for over six years, before selling the company in July 2015. From this experience, Baxter experienced firsthand the hiring process's pain points, which led him to launch his current venture, Wedge, shortly after graduating from Hope College.

Today, Baxter is the CEO of Wedge, the one-way recorded video screening solution that enables job seekers to show off their true selves. Earlier this year, Wedge closed its seed funding round, raising $1 million in total. Baxter is focused intently on driving success and further establishing himself as an industry leader, building out the Wedge development team, and scaling its partnerships and integrations.

Baxter hosts "The Matt Baxter Show," dedicated to people finding their purpose. The show is an opportunity to have conversations spanning purpose related topics with people who love what they do every day.

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. 

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”.