Concurrent Session

Shirley Davis, SHRM-SCP
President and CEO
SDS Global Enterprises, Inc.
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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.

 

 

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - 11:30am to 12:30pm
Lisa Fain
CEO
Center for Mentoring Excellence
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Lisa Fain is the CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence and an expert in the intersection of cultural competency and mentoring. Her passion for diversity and inclusion work fuels her strong conviction that leveraging differences creates a better workplace and drives better business results.

Lisa brings her energy, enthusiasm, and engagement to any group, facilitating lively workshops and training, and delivering interactive speeches with practical steps that can be implemented right away.

As Senior Director of the Diversity and Inclusion function at Outerwall, Inc., Lisa spearheaded the development, establishment, and implementation of its diversity initiative. Prior to assuming that position, she worked as Outerwall’s in-house counsel, coaching leaders and partnering with Human Resources to establish fair and effective policies and practices that would sustain the organization as it grew in size, revenue, and renown.

For almost a decade, Lisa practiced law in the Chicago office of a major multinational firm, where she counseled employers on creating inclusive policies and practices. While in that role, she served as Master Trainer, training thousands of employees at a variety of companies, large and small, on how to create a better workplace.

Lisa is also an executive coach, specializing in individual and group coaching for professional women looking to design and live their best personal and professional lives. She is a certified mediator. She graduated with a B.S. in Social Policy from Northwestern University and holds a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

Lisa lives in Seattle, WA. She loves to hike and explore the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two daughters.

SESSIONS:
Dr. David S. Cohen
Founder and Contrarian Consultant
DS Cohen & Associates
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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.

SESSIONS:
Susan Collins
Director of Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding
Talbots
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Susan Collins PHR, Cl is the Director of Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding at Talbots. Perpetually inspired by people, processes, and ideas—Susan is always on the hunt for inspiring leaders that live and breathe the Talbots Brand. Her no-nonsense approach along with her insatiable curiosity has and continues to bring genuine, top talent through the doors of any company she works with or for. She is also responsible for strategy, technology & education around the recruitment function and is driven by the possibilities of making every day just a little better than yesterday for those around her.

SESSIONS:
Garen Staglin
Co-Founder and Board Chairman
One Mind
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Garen is the Co-Founder and Board Chairman of One Mind (formerly the International Mental Health Research Organization), a 501c(3) non-profit organization.

During the last twenty years, One Mind and the Staglin’s Music Festival for Brain Health have raised more than $400 million for mental health charities and research. Launched in 2011 with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy and now led by President, Brandon Staglin, One Mind is pursuing a number of large-scale public-private partnerships in Schizophrenia, TBI, and PTS as well as funding cutting-edge research with 30 rising star scientists.

Garen is a private equity investor and philanthropist with more than 40 years of experience in building and starting companies in the financial services and payment industries. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Silicon Valley Bank, ExL Services, NVoice Payments and Profit Velocity Solutions. He is also a Senior Advisor to FTV Capital. Garen is a graduate of UCLA, B.S.-Engineering (1966), and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MBA (1968). He is a recipient of the Gold Spike Award, Stanford University’s highest award for volunteer service and the UCLA College of Letters & Science Fellows Award. He is Co-Chairman of the UCLA Centennial Capital Campaign.

He and Shari, and their children, Brandon and Shannon, are founders of the STAGLIN FAMILY VINEYARD, a 64-acre estate in Rutherford, California.

 

SESSIONS:
Virginia Peddicord
Director of Global Employee Population Health
Merck & Co., Inc.
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Virginia (Ginny) Peddicord is Director of Global Employee Population Health.  Ginny is responsible for building organizational capabilities that enable Merck to implement programs and measure employee health and wellness investments.  She oversees innovative and integrated programs that drive employee engagement in health and wellness.  During her career with Merck, Ginny has held leadership roles in both Marketing and Sales.

Ginny has an MBA from the University of Chicago where she majored in Marketing, Strategy and attended the University’s Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy.   

SESSIONS:
Moderator: 
Melissa Dawn Simkins
CEO, Velvet Suite | Founder, The She-Suite
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Melissa Dawn Simkins, affectionately known as "The First Lady of Personal Branding," is a pioneer in personal brand leadership with a proven track record of advising Fortune 100 organizations, CEOs, C-suite executives and influencers. She is a sought-after strategist on how to lead change in the face of adversity. Relevance and readiness are core to her approach as she gives insight around future-ready talent development, bridging the diversity divide and brand leadership innovation.

She is CEO of Velvet Suite® (www.velvetsuite.com) an award-winning leadership innovation firm advancing the future of profit through people. She is the Founder of The She-Suite®, the female focused platform of Velvet Suite on a mission to break the outdated paradigm of work by empowering working women to boldly design a career and life with purpose (theshesuite.com). The She-Suite Brand Leadership Institute (BLI), is the only online leadership readiness platform community with proven results to ready, retain and advance all women and women of color who work for large enterprises. 


Melissa is a former contributor to Inc.com and has been a frequent guest on media outlets such as CNN, CNBC and more. She is the author of Brand Me. Make Your Mark: The Ultimate Playbook for Personal Branding. Melissa is a sought-after keynote speaker on leadership innovation.

As an innovator, Simkins was the first African American female advisory board member for the World Brand Congress. Velvet Suite created the NFL Player Brand University in partnership with the National Football League, the first personal brand development academy of its kind in all professional sports. Other Velvet Suite clients have included: Boston Scientific, UBS, Lincoln Financial, Allstate, Home Depot, Southern Company, the National Basketball Association, CEOs, C-Suite executives, celebrities, pro-athletes and more.

She has been recognized by NAMD as their Entrepreneur of the Year, The Atlantan's Women of Power & Influence and her firm is a finalist for the Greater Washington Innovation Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for The SHRM Foundation (Society for Human Resource Management).

SESSIONS:
Eric Ellis
President and CEO
Integrity Development Corporation
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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.

SESSIONS:
Jodi Detjen
Managing Partner
Orange Grove Consulting
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Jodi is an organizational consultant and educator. Her mission is to help organizations leverage their talent strategically by increasing inclusion as soon as possible. In addition to being Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Orange Grove Consulting, Jodi is Clinical Professor of Management at Suffolk University. She has spent her career transforming the way people work and designs top-tier women’s leadership. She has consulted and run workshops for clients such as Accenture, Microsoft Partners and Oracle.

She is co-author of the book, The Orange Line: A Woman’s Guide to Integrating Career, Family, and Life. Her upcoming book on building inclusive workplaces will be published November 2020.

Jodi earned her B.Sc. from Virginia Tech, her MA from Duke University and is currently pursuing her Doctorate at Temple University.

SESSIONS:
R. Scott Oswald
Managing Principal
The Employment Law Group, PC
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SHRM member Scott Oswald is an accomplished trial lawyer who has brought more than 40 trials to verdict, tallying more than $300 million in judgments and settlements. As managing principal at The Employment Law Group, he represents employees and whistleblowers in matters ranging from wrongful termination to corporate fraud. Mr. Oswald serves as chair of the Federal Bar Association's Qui Tam Section, which focuses on whistleblower law. He earned his law degree at Howard University and is a fellow of the elite College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Lawdragon, and more.

SESSIONS:
Steve Hodgson
Director of Payroll Training
American Payroll Association
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SESSIONS:
Nancy A. Woolever
Vice President, Certification
SHRM
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Nancy Woolever, SHRM-SCP, joined SHRM in 1997 to plan SHRM’s conference, seminar, e-learning and executive education programs. In 2006, she began leading SHRM’s academic initiative to raise HR educational standards and led the test development and administration of SHRM’s student capstone exam before joining the certification team as director of exam development in 2017. In 2019, Ms. Woolever became the vice president of certification operations as overall product and project owner with responsibility for exam development, certificant care and testing administration. Before joining SHRM, Ms. Woolever held various management positions in industry and academia. Her specialty areas are test development, training and development.  Ms. Woolever holds a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in HR both from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

SESSIONS:
Tuesday, June 30, 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm