Concurrent Session

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Kate Gebo is the executive vice president of human resources and labor relations for United Airlines. Kate is responsible for leading a global team of more than 500 professionals in the transformation of United’s culture. In her role, Kate and her team are the principle drivers of delivering on commitments to employees to provide a great employee experience. This includes recruiting, developing and retaining top talent, and building effective teams to put customers at the center of everything United does while working closely with our labor partners.

Kate previously served as senior vice president of customer service delivery and chief customer officer at United. She was responsible for delivering an integrated and industry-leading travel experience for customers from booking to landing. Kate also previously served as United’s vice president for the office of the CEO, where she worked with United’s CEO, Oscar Munoz, and the executive team to coordinate strategic company initiatives.

Kate joined United in 1998 and also held roles leading the corporate real estate organization and in procurement. Prior to joining United, Kate worked at Continental Airlines. Kate is a board member of Youth Guidance and also a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow. She. received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Chicago’s DePaul University and earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business at Loyola University of Chicago.

John Mazzone is an experienced finance professional with over 20 years of technical accounting and operational finance experience. John spent the first half of his career with PwC and KPMG as an auditor of companies ranging from small startups to large SEC reporting entities. He also led due diligence teams and advised private equity and strategic buyers on a variety of transactions. After his public accounting career, John held key finance positions at a large international public biotechnology company and large international financial investment firms.

Over the last 10 years, John has led large international accounting finance teams and implemented best in class practices. With John’s vast international finance experience across a broad spectrum of companies, he is well aware of the challenges company’s face when contemplating international expansion.

John earned his CPA license in the state of Massachusetts.
 

Giselle is the Practice Lead in Optimus SBR’s Learning & Development Group with over 25 years experience as a sought after resource to industry leaders across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors dedicated to building strategies and programs that help clients target, motivate and engage employees in order to increase performance and productivity.

Giselle has devoted more than 20 years to researching the impact that generational differences have on organizational performance, creating solutions and programs in four areas – leadership, high performance teams, early career talent, and reinforcement & sustainment of learning. Giselle has co-authored two books and completed her Master of Arts Degree in Communications Studies at the University of Windsor.

She is Chair of the Board at The Institute for Performance and Learning (I4PL), co-chair of the Cross Academy Association and Advisory Council member at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Joseph (“Joe”) Beachboard is a nationally recognized employment lawyer who also closely tracks the most important developments at the U.S. Supreme Court impacting the business community. He has more than 30 years of experience representing management in a wide variety of employment and labor matters in perhaps the most challenging state in the nation for employers – California.  Mr. Beachboard speaks regularly before human resource and employer groups on cutting edge employment law topics.  He is a member of SHRM and has been an annual presenter at both the SHRM Annual Conference and the Employment Law and Compliance Conference for two decades.  Mr. Beachboard is frequently quoted in such leading publications as HR Magazine, National Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, NY Times, HR Executive and Workforce, and has been published in dozens of legal and business journals. Throughout his career in Los Angeles, Mr. Beachboard has represented dozens of studios and entertainment properties.  He cites his most interesting project as working with the cast and crew of the television show The Office, from its pilot through the final season.

Kate Lister is a recognized workplace thought leader and president of Global Workplace Analytics, a research-based consulting firm that has been helping communities and organizations optimize flexible and distributed workplace strategies for more than fifteen years. She has written or co-authored five business books including the U.S. chapter of “Telework in the 21st Century” (Edward Elgar, 2019), a multi-country peer-reviewed study on remote work. Her perspectives on how COVID-19 will change the way people work have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and dozens of other respected news outlets. In July of 2020, she was one of only three witnesses invited to testify before a U.S. Senate committee on the expansion of telework in government post-COVID-19.

Karen M. Gustin, LLIF, is the Executive Vice President for Ameritas Group Dental and Eye Care in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Gustin began her career at Ameritas in 1983. In January 2016, Karen was promoted to her current position.  She is a member of the Ameritas of New York Board of Directors and is also the Dental Select President, CEO and Chair of the Board. 

Ms. Gustin is involved with the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP) and has served as past Chair of both the NADP Board of Directors and the National Association of Vision Care Plans (NAVCP) Board.

Karen graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.  

Joe Urbanski believes an Undeniable Culture™ inspires its people to unleash their best selves, take home more wins and less stress to their families, and create incredible value for the company, its customers, and community. For more than two decades, he has worked with HR and training departments, consulting and coaching 750+ executives and leaders at 400+ global organizations, and facilitating 800+ kickass trainings, strategic retreats, and leadership programs for 480,000 people. Joe has a remarkable understanding of how to transform the workplace experience. Plus, you’ll have more fun and laughs than you’d expect.

As former federal prosecutor and leader of multiple federal and local agencies, clients look to Leon to give them direct advice on the risks related to investigations, to give them guidance on responding to investigations, to advocate for an optimal resolution, or to aggressively litigate their matters to positive outcomes.

Leon is a founding member of the firm's Immigration and Compliance specialty team. He has helped clients understand this rapidly changing and increasingly risk-laden area. Leon has assisted a number of clients with I-9 audits, training on best I-9 practices, and negotiating with government authorities when enforcement events arise. When clients have difficulties obtaining visas to travel to or remain in the US, he assists them either by negotiating with government authorities or by bringing litigation to secure a positive outcome to their case.

In his practice, Leon draws upon his foundational training and experience as a litigator and investigator, primarily gained as a federal and state prosecutor, along with his wide variety of substantive experiences secured through high-level government leaderships posts. From 2014 to 2017, Leon served as the Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), following a more than two decade career as a prosecutor, law firm partner, and government agency leader. From 2011 to 2014, Leon served as the Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. This diverse range of experiences make him most effective for multidisciplinary matters involving multiple and serious risk vectors for clients.

Leon serves as chair of Seyfarth Government Relations Policy Group and works with clients to develop multifaceted strategies to achieve desired public policy outcomes. A veteran of many congressional hearings, he also assists clients who either have been summoned to testify or provide documents before congressional committees. Leon has also handled interdisciplinary problems requiring an attorney with extensive and diverse experience in litigation and investigations, in interacting with the government at all levels, and interacting with media and external stakeholders.

Leon is also chair of the firm's Health Care Regulatory and Compliance group, and a co-chair of the Health Care Privacy, Security and HIPAA group. He assists firm clients with complex and novel HIPAA questions. Leon also counsels and assists clients who have experienced data breaches or otherwise under investigation by the Department of Health and Human Service Office for Civil Rights.

Leon enjoys Seyfarth's collegial environment across its international services, and the firm's commitment to using innovative delivery and pricing approaches to deliver consistently positive outcomes for clients.

Leon Fresco is an immigration attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office where he focuses his practice on providing global immigration representation to businesses and individuals. He also represents clients in administrative law matters, and has extensive appellate, commercial litigation and legislation experience. Mr. Fresco was the primary drafter of S.744, the U.S. Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill of 2013. He uses his broad range of experience to develop creative solutions to achieve his clients' objectives, which often may involve multistage representation before administrative agencies and federal courts and the development of policy solutions.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Fresco was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Immigration Litigation at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Division. In this position, Mr. Fresco provided litigation risk assessments to cabinet members in Executive Branch agencies. He also oversaw all civil immigration litigation on behalf of the federal government, including representation of the DOJ, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This involved supervision of more than 350 attorneys working on nearly 10,000 cases per year. He also advised and assisted client agencies in drafting immigration regulations. In this capacity, and prior to entering government service, Mr. Fresco argued extensively in six of the federal appellate circuit courts, including several en banc arguments.

Prior to joining the DOJ, Mr. Fresco was the staff director for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, handling matters involving immigration, refugees and border security, including managing the subcommittee's oversight functions involving the DOJ, DHS, HHS, DOL and DOS. He was the principal advisor to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), former chairman of the subcommittee, on all aspects of immigration law and policy.

Julie Myers Wood has more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sector working on regulatory and enforcement issues from many perspectives, including as defense counsel, consultant, government investigator, federal prosecutor, and compliance consultant.  Ms. Wood is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Guidepost Solutions, a leading investigations, compliance and security firm with offices throughout the United States, as well as England, Colombia and Singapore. 

At Guidepost, Ms. Wood focuses on regulatory compliance and investigative work. Ms. Wood regularly serves as an Independent Monitor/Consultant appointed by the U.S. government. Most recently, she served as the Third-Party auditor for a global security firm and was responsible for evaluating the firm’s compliance with EAR and OFAC for the Department of Commerce. Ms. Wood also served as the Department of Justice-appointed Independent Consultant for a global energy services firm relating to OFAC issues and the company’s compliance culture.  Additional monitoring assignments included serving as Independent Consultant relating to a global bank’s AML, OFAC, and KYC remediation, and as Monitoring Trustee responsible for evaluating divestiture of various business units for a global security firm.

Ms. Wood also regularly assists companies in a proactive matter, assisting with culture and process changes across a wide range of organizations and industries. She has conducted trade compliance reviews for several consulting/technology companies with a worldwide footprint, assisting with classification, recordkeeping, technology, denied party screening and monitoring of activities. 

Before joining Guidepost, Ms. Wood started a consulting and software firm, ICS Consulting.  ICS Consulting built software products to assist the private sector in meeting regulatory requirements for immigration and trade compliance.  ICS Consulting also provided specialized immigration and customs consulting services.  Guidepost Solutions acquired ICS Consulting in 2010.

Prior to joining the private sector, Ms. Wood held several high-level positions with the U.S. government including at the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as at the White House. She has significant experience with compliance culture, internal controls and anti-fraud measures across a wide range of industries. In one of her most significant government roles, Ms. Wood served as Head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the Department of Homeland Security, the largest investigative component and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government. ICE prosecutes violations of trade compliance and customs laws, among other laws and regulations. While at ICE, Ms. Wood led the creation of Trade Transparency Units focused on combatting trade-based money laundering, including under and over-invoicing.

Ms. Wood also served as the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce, where she oversaw all Export Enforcement Special Agents enforcing criminal and civil violations of export enforcement laws, including violations involving telecommunications companies and encryption issues. In this role, she also assisted in policy development relating to enhancements to the EAR and export control reform and supervised the Office of Enforcement Analysis. Ms. Wood also served as the Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division and a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Treasury where she had policy supervision relating to customs enforcement matters.  Ms. Wood also prosecuted cases as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, including customs fraud and money laundering. 

Ms. Wood began her legal career at the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, Illinois.  She is a graduate of Baylor University and Cornell Law School.

Karen A. Young capitalizes on her more than 30 years of experience in human resources as she and her team utilize savvy strategies to develop solutions that produce real results. Karen believes that when the HR pieces fall into place, an organization begins to run like a well-oiled machine.

Karen inspires CEOs, CFOs, and other Accidental HR® managers to fulfill the organization’s mission while strengthening their workforce. She is committed to going the extra mile for clients, helping them build an HR framework that results in improved workplace culture and lower HR costs.

Karen is a sought-after speaker, trainer, and author. The second edition of her book, “Honest and Real: An Essential Guidebook for Drama-Free Human Resources,” debuted in 2020 as a Hot New Release in HR, Amazon’s largest business category.

Karen A. Young, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, has been recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business, and AGS ranked HR Resolutions as a Best HR Consulting Company in 2021. Central Penn Business Journal honored HR Resolutions in 2020 as a Game Changer—one of Central PA’s most dynamic and impactful businesses and leaders. She lends her HR expertise to businesses throughout Central PA via her leadership in the Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC and the PA Chamber of Business and Industry. Karen regularly contributes HR insights and strategy nationwide to Forbes, USAToday, SHRM, and ZipRecruiter.

Karen resides in Harrisburg, PA, with her husband and retired racing greyhounds. She is an active member and leader in area business chambers and professional organizations.