Concurrent Session

Becki L. Young is a seasoned business immigration attorney with 20 years of experience in the field. She regularly advises clients on the complex legal issues involved in immigration options based on investments and employment in the United States and is well-known for her creativity, profound legal knowledge and outstanding record of bringing her cases to successful conclusion.  Her clients hail from many industries, including investment banking and securities; information technology; nonprofit; manufacturing; and healthcare. Ms. Young also has represented more than 100 of the world's most prominent hotels and restaurants, and facilitated the sponsorship of foreign professionals, trainees, interns and individuals of "extraordinary ability."

Jeanne Meister is Founding Partner, Future Workplace, an HR Advisory and Research firm dedicated to educating HR leaders on what's next in preparing for the future workforce and workplace.

Jeanne's recent book is, The Future Workplace: 10 Rules For Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees

Some of her articles on the impact of AI on HR are: AI Plus Human Intelligence Is The Future of Work, How Using AI Creates An Enhanced Candidate and Employee Experience  and Three New HR Roles In Age of Artificial Intelligence

Future Workplace has created the first online course to train HR leaders on impact of artificial intelligence entitled Using AI 4 HR To Enhance The Employee Experience.

I have nearly 30 years experience in security consulting, human resources and investigative services, including 14 years in the public sector. My expertise is in fraud and theft investigations, compliance, security operations, public speaking, and executive protection. Prior to joining the private sector, I developed my behavioral acumen through experience as a court investigator, intensive probation supervisor and law enforcement officer, serving both vice and criminal intelligence. 

I served two Fortune 500 companies, as Director of Compliance and Ethics, and Director of Global Investigations Security Services. I have lead a multitude of fraud-related investigations, resulting in the recovery of millions of dollars. 

Greg Hare has been an employment lawyer at Ogletree Deakins his entire career, since 1991. He assists companies with human resources and employment-related litigation matters, including wrongful termination claims, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, employment contracts, trade secrets, and non-compete agreements. He advises clients on a wide range of human resources topics, such as drug testing, employee discipline and discharge, severance planning, independent contractor classifications, wage payment, family and medical leave, disability law, military leave, joint employment issues, affirmative action, and reductions in force. Mr. Hare also counsels clients on traditional labor relations and matters involving the National Labor Relations Board.

Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), an international Business Transformation consulting firm that pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership® - A business transformation methodology designed to create a sustainable culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency through the use of Non-Negotiable Business Processes. Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms,  personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others.

Born in sight of England’s Canterbury Cathedral, Stuart has called the Midwest home since 2004. Stuart believes that conversation helps us to live better and work well in our organizations and our communities. Stuart founded the conversation catalyst Squishtalks in 2010, working with Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits, leveraging the power of conversation to unlock the capacity of human relationships and spark innovation and performance. Previously, Stuart was a UK lawyer and a partner at a branding agency. He is a member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development with Master’s level accreditation in Organizational Learning & Development. 

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.

Howard A. Wallack has been the Deputy Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer since 2016 in the Global Human Resources (GHR) department at Jhpiego in Baltimore, MD, an international, non-profit health organization, affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. Jhpiego is dedicated to improving the health of women, children, and families in lower-resourced countries, with approximately 4,200 employees worldwide in 38 countries. At Jhpiego, Howard spearheads the organization’s leadership development program and leads a team of 5 regional HR business partners who support country HR operations, himself currently backstopping Ghana, Guatemala, and Mozambique. During his 40-year career with experience in nearly 90 countries, Howard has had senior-level positions in HR, training and development, global business development, and program management in for-profit and non-profit businesses and the US Peace Corps. In April 2023 Howard was recognized with an OnCon Icon peer-voted award among the “Top 50 HR Professionals” for having made a considerable impact on their organization and/or previous organizations; made strong contributions to their community through thought leadership; innovated in their role/career; and exhibited exceptional leadership. He has advanced degrees in international affairs and international human resources and globalization and holds multiple professional certifications, including the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and the GPHR® & SPHRi™ qualification from the HR Certification Institute. As a volunteer he has served on the Board of Directors of Cultural Vistas since 2011.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Tricia is responsible for overall client satisfaction and delivery of Willis Towers Watson’s configurable benefit solutions to meet the unique needs of each organization. As a national leader, she advises our teams on how to deploy a holistic approach to health and benefits design and delivery using our deep market insights to develop cutting edge strategies and solutions that benefit both employers and employees.  As a dynamic speaker, Tricia has been a featured at the Conference Board, Retail Symposium, and the Argentum Senior Living Conference.

Jennifer Currence is a Senior Partner of HR Soul consultancy firm in Tampa, Florida, where she delivers results through strategic HR solutions, customized training, and coaching programs for organizational and HR leaders. She is the creator of The SOTO Approach to Leadership and the content architect for the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) international People Manager Qualification (PMQ).

Jennifer is regularly published and featured in industry magazines, webinars, and podcasts, and is the author of three HR books on behavioral business competencies.

Jennifer was named one of the top 100 Influential HR professionals in Leadership and Development in 2023 and Tampa Bay’s HR Consultant of the Year in 2017.  She is a faculty member for SHRM and a former management professor at the University of Tampa.