Concurrent Session

Attorney James P. (“Jim”) Reidy is a management-side labor and employment lawyer. He is a partner in the New England based law firm, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, PA, where he is the Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment group. His practice focuses on prevention, training and compliance but he also handles matters when claims arise.

He has more than 35 years of experience in the field and been a media resource on workplace law for media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Business Magazine, Bloomberg, NPR, The Associated Press, NPR Market Place, Buzz Feed, Law 360, Inc. Magazine, The HR Power Hour, HR Breakroom, SKI Magazine and HR Magazine as well as several local/regional publications.

In 2020 Jim was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. 

Chambers USA and New England Super Lawyers have ranked Jim in the Top Tier of management-side employment lawyers for each year of the last 15 years. Best Lawyers USA named Jim the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Labor and Employment Law (Manchester, NH) and the NH Business Review named him one of the top 200 most influential business leaders in New Hampshire.

Jim has been a presenter regularly at SHRM’s Legal and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC as well as SHRM’s annual conferences.

Dr. Shirley Davis, CSP, President of SDS Global Enterprises, a global workforce solutions firm, is an award-winning Human Resources expert, with over 30 years of business experience in a variety of senior executive roles for several Fortune 100 companies, as well as her last role of Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion for the Society for Human Resource Management. She’s also a best-selling author of 5 books, serves on the National Speakers Association and the NSA Foundation Boards, and the Make A Wish Foundation Board. She is a popular facilitator for eight LinkedIn Learning leadership courses.

Bob Kelleher is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and consultant on employee engagement, leadership, and workforce trends. Bob is the author of the bestselling book, LOUDER THAN WORDS: 10 Practical Employee Engagement Steps That Drive Results, CREATIVESHIP, A Novel for Evolving Leaders, EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT for Dummies, and I-Engage, Your Personal Engagement Roadmap.   

Bob can be seen or heard on national media (most recently on CNBC, CBS, NBC News, Business Week, Forbes, and Fortune, and has presented to many of the world’s top companies

Bob is also the founder of The Employee Engagement Group, a global survey, products, assessment, consulting firm.  

Ginni Rometty was the ninth Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. Under her leadership, the 100-year-old company reinvented 50 percent of its portfolio, built a $25 billion hybrid cloud business, and established leadership in AI and quantum computing. Rometty also drove record results in diversity and inclusion and supported the explosive growth of an innovative high school program to prepare the workforce of the future in over twenty-eight countries. 

Through her work with the Business Roundtable, Rometty helped redefine the purpose of the corporation. She has been named Fortune’s #1 Most Powerful Woman three years in a row, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and has been honored with the designation of Officier in the French Légion d’Honneur. Today, Rometty serves on multiple boards and cochairs OneTen, a coalition committed to upskilling, hiring, and promoting one million Black Americans without four-year degrees by 2030 into family-sustaining jobs and careers. She is married to Mark Rometty, and the author of the bestselling book Good Power: Creating Positive Change in Our Lives, Work and World.

John Ferguson is the Chief Human Resources Officer at NASCAR, the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States.

In this role, Ferguson oversees the development and execution of NASCAR’s human resource planning, aligning it with the overarching business plan and strategic direction of the organization. This includes cultivating a "people-first" company culture across more than 20 office and race-track locations throughout the U.S.

Ferguson serves on the Board of Directors for the SHRM Foundation, Alumni Board of Directors for Furman University, and the UNCF Orlando Leadership Council.

Ferguson holds Bachelor’s in Political Science from Furman University, Executive Certificate in Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management from Georgetown University, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Howard University School of Business.

As executive director of SHRM Northern California Operations, Ayllon is responsible for overseeing membership engagement activities, including recruitment, retention and local educational programs for HR professionals living and working in the Greater SF Bay Area. Additionally, she oversees the financial responsibilities of the Northern California operation. Prior to joining SHRM, Ayllon served for nearly 18 years as executive director of the Professional Association of Childhood Education, where she oversaw the organization’s daily operations, program development and strategic planning initiatives. Ayllon holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from San Francisco State University. Additionally, she is SHRM SCP Certified and a Certified Association Executive.

Kevin Abbed is the Specialist, Academic and Afiliate Engagement for SHRM.  Prior to that he served as Member Engagement Associate, where he engaged with members, students and prospective students. Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications from Penn State University.

Dianna Sporcic, SHRM-SCP is Members and Community Director for the Southeast Region, which includes the states of AL, FL, GA, Mississippi, Bahama, BDA, PR, DC, KY, NC, SC, TN, VA, WVA. She works remotely from her home in St. Petersburg, FL.

Dianna spent almost 30 years with Hyatt starting in operations and then moving into HR. Most recently she was Director of HR for Hyatt Vacation Ownership (HVO) who is known for the most luxurious vacation ownership resorts in the world. She was instrumental in the M&A when Interval Leisure Group (ILG) purchased HVO. She remained on as a highly valued and strategic member of the ILG HR team while still supporting HVO. After Marriott purchased ILG, Dianna joined ONICON Measurement Solutions. Dianna has diverse HR experience in hospitality, manufacturing and labor relations. Dianna is a member of our Tampa chapter and holds SHRM-SCP certification.

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.