Virtual Pass

Mike is the current CEO of Crosschq, a Slack, Tiger Global, GGV, Bessemer, Rocketship.vc and SAP.io backed startup that helps companies screen, source and hire the best talent through its digital and automated reference checks/assessments. Prior to Crosschq, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Advanced TV Advertising & Commerce Company, Connekt, Inc. which was acquired by JMJ Financial in 2018. Mike was also the former Founder & CEO of Interactive Commerce Company, Delivery Agent which was acquired by Hillair Capital in 2016. 

Mike is experienced in all aspects of corporate and business development as well as general corporate functions including finance, sales & marketing, technology and product management. Named a Forbes Next 1000 in 2021, Mike is an industry thought leader who has been featured on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, NY Times, WSJ, Forbes among others. 

Russell Podgorski is the head of executive recruiting at Providence, which operates across seven states on the west coast and is comprised of 120,000 employees, 51 acute care hospitals, 1,100 physician clinics, 22 long-term care facilities, 19 hospice and home health programs, 693 supportive housing units, and one major health plan. Russell specializes in building and improving high-performing executive recruiting teams and functions that exceed national benchmarks. He brings over a decade of experience recruiting executives and physicians for multi-billion dollar integrated health care delivery systems. He holds a B.A. degree from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri and a Master of Health Administration degree from St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine.

Joni N. Dolce, MS, CRC is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers University. Joni has several years of experience working in supported employment services for individuals with mental health conditions. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles and workbooks on employment. Joni was a co-principal investigator on a study exploring Human Resource professionals’ views on hiring individuals with mental health conditions and is currently the principal investigator of a study looking at hiring managers’ perspectives on job candidates with mental health conditions. She speaks and provides workshops and trainings nationally on a variety of employment related topics.

Skipper T. Ryan Davis is a 20+ year Retired Naval Officer with 4,000 hours of flight time encompassing multiple deployments in support of combat operations around the globe.  His most recent assignment was as the Commanding Officer for Patrol Squadron 47, a P-8 squadron responsible for executing the nation’s maritime strategy.  During that tour of duty, Commander Davis led his team of 300 Sailors through organizational culture change resulting in the highest morale on record across all VP squadrons, being awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Association Leadership Award, and earning the Battle “E” award for efficiency.  CDR Davis has proven himself a passionate leader who cares about people. 

Ryan is the Founder of Take Flight Leadership, an organization helping individuals and organizations achieve their goals.  He is the author of Take Flight: Cultivating Culture Through Trust, Teamwork, Purpose, & Ownership.  Ryan certified as a SHRM Senior Certified Professional, a Resilience-Building Leader Program Trainer, and as a BCSP Associate Safety Professional to better help him serve the teams he works with.

Eric Ellis is President and CEO of Integrity Development Corp. Since 1991, his firm has served businesses, law enforcement agencies, and organizations by building cultures where Diversity, Inclusion and Respect flourish, driving business results.

One of our nation’s leading strategists on Diversity & Inclusion, Eric and his firm have won numerous awards, including the State of Ohio's Minority Business of the Year, and the NAACP President’s Award. Eric is a member of the SHRM Inclusion & Diversity Expert Panel.

Eric is author of the book, Diversity Conversations, 3rd edition, and co-hosts a weekly broadcast of the same name at www.1320thevoice.com or facebook live, every Saturday, 9:30 am EST @elliseric.

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. 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.

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.

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”.

Tracy Stock is one of the most in-demand and top-rated female speakers in North America today because of her ability to inspire behavior change and achieve positive outcomes. As a workplace culture expert, an engaging Certified Speaking Professional®, highly skilled live and virtual training expert and a best-selling author with five published titles, her 25 years of experience include clients such as the U.S. Army, Motorola, True Value, US Bank and Subway, to name a few. As a speaker of choice, Tracy is committed to helping energize workplace culture, enhance employee engagement and empower high performance.