Concurrent Session

Ragan Decker, Ph.D., SHRM-CP, is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist and Manager of Executive Network and Enterprise Research at SHRM. She designs and conducts strategic research to support SHRM’s mission as it relates to work, workers, and the workplace. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and Graduate Certificates in Quantitative Research Methods and Occupational Health Psychology. Her work has been published in HR Quarterly, People + Strategy Journal as well as Occupational Health Science, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, and Annals of Work Exposure and Health. 

Trent serves as the VP of Research at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM),  the world’s largest HR professional society, representing more than 300,000 members in more than 165 countries.  In this position, Trent leads a comprehensive research program that identifies workplace needs, conducts research, and develops research-based solutions and products to allow HR and business leaders to further the goals of their organization.  Trent also served as a SHRM Certification Commissioner.  In this position, Trent served as a chief technical advisor for the development of the SHRM competency model and certification exams.  Prior to SHRM, Trent spent 15 years at Walmart Stores, Inc. leading global HR Centers of Expertise and has led large, multinational HR projects in China, India, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, the UK, and the US.  Trent holds a BA in Psychology and a MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Akron.   He is also holds the SHRM-SCP certification. 

Ms. Migliaro is a US Army Veteran with 5 years active duty experience in the Military Police Corps. During her service, Ms. Migliaro deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan supporting and building local national law enforcement capabilities. She was awarded the FYo8 FORSCOM J.P Holland Award for best Military Police Company in the Army, the combat action badge and bronze star. Ms. Migliaro earned her degree in American Politics and Systems Engineering from the United States Military Academy. She is currently the Vice Chairwoman of America’s Warrior Partnership’s Board and is an advocate for veteran integration. Prior to joining the Apollo Team in 2017, Ms. Migliaro worked in various human resource and operation management roles. In her previous role at UBS, Ms. Migliaro led the Veterans Initiative where she was responsible for the strategic planning and business opportunity operations. In her current role, Ms. Migliaro is focused on value creation in the recruitment, development and sustainment of diverse talent at Apollo and at the companies in which its funds invest.

Kris Erickson currently serves as co-founder and executive consultant for Workforce Science Associates. In this role, she empowers organizations to discover the unique drivers and motivational aspects that drive performance in their workforce and use these to accelerate a high-performance culture.

Kris has over 25 years of consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies. In this capacity, Erickson worked at both the strategic and tactical levels to develop and deploy comprehensive workforce solutions.

James Longabaugh, Ph.D., joined WSA as an Executive Consultant in 2019.  Previously, Dr. Longabaugh worked at IBM for four years as a Senior Managing Consultant, serving as a trusted advisor to organizations for enhancing the experience of their employees through research-driven employee engagement programs.  In addition, Dr. Longabaugh has extensive experience developing pre-employment assessment and selection programs for organizations to hire their unfair share of high-quality talent, employing assessment and coaching programs to develop the next generation of leaders, and leveraging workforce analytics and artificial intelligence to discover meaningful insight to drive change.

Dr. Longabaugh has over 10 years of experience in talent acquisition, employee engagement and customer surveys, talent assessment, and workforce analytics spanning a variety of organizations and industries.  Prior to IBM, Dr. Longabaugh was the owner and Principal Consultant of a boutique consulting firm specializing in organizational effectiveness, employee and customer surveys, recruitment, leadership development, and pre-employment assessments.  Dr. Longabaugh is an adjunct professor in the graduate I-O psychology department at Seattle Pacific University, is a published researcher, and has presented at multiple conferences and continues to contribute research and best practices to improve the world of work.

Jeff Horwitz is the Chief Operating Officer for SAFE Project, a national nonprofit committed to contributing in a tangible way to overcoming the epidemic of addiction in the United States. He is a retired Navy Captain and Judge Advocate. Jeff graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Seton Hall University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. He also earned a master’s degree in Homeland Security from American Military University. During his 28 years of military service, Jeff served in multiple positions including General Counsel of the White House Military Office, Command Judge Advocate on board the USS HARRY S TRUMAN (CVN 75), Counsel for the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Northern Europe and the United Kingdom and as the Director of Navy’s Legislative Program.

Upon his retirement in 2014, Jeff became the first Director of Development for Penn State Law as well as Penn State University’s School of International Affairs. Jeff worked for a brief period as the Director of Strategic Planning for the Milton Hershey School before joining SAFE Project in April 2018.

Nikki Lanier is an experienced leader with over 25 years of career achievements that span Banking, Labor and Employment Law, Collective Bargaining, Human Resources, and State Government. She is an author, a sought after keynote speaker, and has received many awards and recognitions for her expertise and leadership in talent development, HR innovation, community development, DEI, and economic equity.

Nikki spent eighteen (18) years as an HR Executive and employment attorney. She has worked in more than ten (10) sectors including manufacturing,  consulting, consumer goods, health care, media, law, government, higher education and banking. She has led organizations in both the public and
private sector. She has served as an HR Executive with Philip Morris USA (VA) and Georgia-Pacific Corp (GA), CHRO for Charter Schools USA (FL), Vice Chancellor of HR for Maricopa Community Colleges (AZ), and Personnel Cabinet Secretary for the Commonwealth of Kentucky (youngest and first black female appointee).

In these roles, she drove accelerated cultural change, created and implemented innovative organizational development, and focused on strategic planning, employee relations, community engagements and partnerships, training and development, succession planning, recruitment and retention, and labor negotiations.

Nikki is deeply involved in the community and has served on more than 25 nonprofit boards, commissions and civic committees. Through her work and strong local and national board memberships, she is widely recognized as an accomplished thought leader in progressive HR strategies and in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism, corporately and civically.

She is the current Board Chair of OneWest Community Development Corporation, Chair of the Commonwealth of Kentucky – Kerner Commission 2.0, Secretary, Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority Board (4th largest Cargo airport in the world w/ $129 mil budget); a board member of Greater Louisville Inc. Chamber of Commerce (GLI), Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and two national foundations.

Nikki earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Hampton University and holds a certification in Collective Bargaining from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She has served as an adjunct MBA professor for the University of Louisville College of Business since 2018, where she also serves on its Board of Advisors.

Regional Engagement Lead Pacific Northwest & Northern California: 

As a Regional Engagement Lead, Hayley is passionate about creating a culture of health and well-being throughout client organizations by utilizing Cigna’s unique products and services, as well as collaborating with benefit consultants, local resources, and wellness vendors. Hayley is responsible for innovating Cigna’s Life Connected approach with focus on engagement and well-being on a market and enterprise level. She works closely with local market leadership on strategy, process improvement, and identifying unique product solutions to improve population health. Hayley is a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor and participates in speaking engagements focused on mental health, nutrition, and well-being on an on-going basis.

Industry Experience:

Hayley has been dedicated to the health and wellness field for the last eight years through her unique education and clinical work. Hayley has worked as a certified nutritionist, clinical therapist, and health educator to promote health and behavior change and to improve individuals’ quality of life. Hayley truly believes in the connection between the mind and body, and has attended several trainings which focused on intuitive eating, nutrigenomics, mindfulness-based stress reduction and more. Hayley’s masters program has set the framework for her to create an environment to support high level population health and behavior change by focusing on positive preventive approaches.

Certifications and Licenses:

• Washington State Certified Nutritionist
• Washington State Licensed Mental Health Counselor
• Certified Wellness Program Coordinator
• Licensed Insurance Producer
• Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor

Degrees:

• Master of Science in Nutrition and Clinical Health Psychology from Bastyr University
• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Hawai’i

Tracy is the VP of Marketing for Fountain, an all-in-one high volume hiring platform empowering the world’s leading brands to find and hire the right people through smart, fast and seamless recruitment. Prior to Fountain, she worked at SparkPost, where her passion for creativity and media was the drive behind some of SparkPost’s award winning campaigns, such as #FindTheFlame. Prior to SparkPost, Tracy spent 10 years at TiVo and almost 5 years at Cisco helping marketing organizations deploy digital solutions and tell stories that drove significant market impact. She has served on the board of Women for WineSense, and co-founded a nonprofit for lung cancer, for which she received a Bay Area Jefferson Award. She has also been an adjunct professor in digital marketing and social media at UC Berkeley and SFSU, and has authored Taking Your Brand from the Bench to the Playing Field.