Concurrent Session

Giovanni is a global expert on Organizational Strategy, Analytics and HR.

A Harvard Business School alum, he serves as Senior Advisor for HR & Organizational Development at Boston Global – a Harvard affiliated consultancy. He is also Senior Advisor for Qlearsite – a People Analytics company and sits on the advisory board of PeopleCart, a Social Rewards & Recognition company.

Giovanni is a passionate writer and speaker on The Future of Work and People Analytics. He is featured in the analytics book “The Power of People”. In his spare time, he and serves as Creative Director for a contemporary fashion label and recently produced an award winning documentary on Women Empowerment.

Tara Taylor, MPA, is the Managing Director of ADR Vantage, Inc., a woman-owned consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., that supports clients across the U.S. through conflict management, organizational effectiveness and leadership development, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices, as well as training and coaching. Tara holds a B.A. in Organizational Communication, an M.A. in Management & Public Administration and is a professional mediator and facilitator. She is a highly sought-after consultant and a dynamic speaker focused on helping audiences engage, get inspired, and walk away with ready-to-implement solutions for their professional challenges.

Jason Barger is committed to engaging the minds and hearts of people. He is the globally celebrated author of Thermostat Cultures, Step Back from the Baggage Claim and ReMember as well as a coveted dynamic keynote speaker around the world. As founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, he partners with organizations to strengthen leadership development, culture-shaping, and clarity of mission, vision and values. He has added value to global brands like Nationwide Insurance, Wendy’s, Ultimate Software, Deloitte, TEDx and across industries from corporate america to government to education to healthcare. Learn more at JasonVBarger.com @jasonvbarger

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.

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an International Business Performance Consulting Corp. specializing in Business Improvement, Diversity Return on Investment (DROI®) Measurement/Analytics, and organizational development.  Author of more than 59 DEI ROI and Business-related books, Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Analysis, ROI Measurement, Strategic Planning, and more. Dr. Hubbard was an honoree at the Inaugural International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Living Legends of Diversity Award Ceremony in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where he received the “Living Legends of Diversity Award” for creating the “Diversity ROI Analytics” and “Diversity Measurement Fields and their associated Disciplines” and is recognized globally as the creator of these unique sciences and fields of study. 

Dr. Hubbard received the “Excellence in Global Leadership Award” from the World HRD Congress (the highest individual professional award given), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences, the Sentry Award from the U.S. Pentagon, and many others.

Dr. Hubbard serves on the Harvard Business Review, Diversity Executive Magazine and Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine Editorial Advisory Boards and serves on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University African American Alumni Society. He also holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Neuroscience discipline. Dr. Hubbard earned Bachelors, Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.

Shawn Kent Hayashi is the founder and CEO of The Professional Development Group and a global expert in developing inspiring leaders and high performing teams. Growth, innovation, and elevated performance and profits are the results of Shawn’s work as an executive coach and consultant.  Shawn facilitates growth in leadership ability, emotional intelligence, communication skills, collaboration, and building trust and stronger relationships.  Her clients include entrepreneurial companies, Fortune 500, and associations around the globe. The author of six business communications books, Shawn has also been a feature expert in The New York Times, Forbes, and FastCompany.

Stacey Kervin is the human resource practice group manager at Kronos and editor of the What Works blog focusing on HR topics and trends. Stacey has spent her career positioning solutions for leadership development, career management, outplacement, recruiting, performance management and strategic workforce consulting to provide employees the best possible employment experience. She presents regularly on workforce-related topics and has her SHRM certified professional accreditation.

Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, is the president of Crescendo Strategies, a firm committed to reducing unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making leaders more effective in their roles. Workforce Magazine named Cara a “Game Changer” and Recruiter.com named her in their “Top 10 Company Culture Experts to Watch.” Cara is also the author of the 2018 book Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave & How to Keep Them Longer. 

Dave Edelman joined Aetna as Chief Marketing Officer in September 2016, where he heads a 400-person organization, overseeing marketing strategy, creative, operations, and technology, to drive business growth and help Aetna’s 22 million members realize the joy of achieving their health ambitions. 

Since Aetna was acquired by CVS Health in December 2018, Dave also partners closely with his peer CMOs who lead CVS Pharmacy/Retail and CVS Caremark, respectively.  In addition to his current role at Aetna, Dave sits on the Board of Directors for the The Ad Club of Boston and the Board of Trustees for The Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts.

Before joining Aetna, Dave was a Partner at McKinsey and CMO of its Marketing and Sales practice. He built a global practice that helped clients through digital transformation, bringing hands-on expertise in analytics, technology, program development, and process redesign.

Prior to McKinsey, Dave spent nine years at Digitas where he served as Executive Vice President for the Strategy and Analysis practice. Prior to that, he was a Partner with the Boston Consulting Group, helping to build BCG’s “Segment-of-One Marketing” and “E-commerce” practices.

Named by Forbes as one of “The World’s Most Influential CMOs” in both 2017 and 2018, Dave is a recognized thought leader and LinkedIn Influencer, and has been published in the Harvard Business Review. He speaks and writes regularly about digital transformation, agile marketing, consumer experience, and localization of health care.

Dave received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an avid music fan, long-time saxophone musician, and is married with three children.

To learn more about Dave, follow him on Twitter @DavidEdelman and on LinkedIn.

Christine Howard is managing partner of Fisher Phillips’ Tampa office. Christine represents employers in all types of employment-related matters including defending employment-related lawsuits and administrative complaints. Over the last two decades, she has defended numerous FLSA collective action cases, successfully defeating attempts at class certification in practically every instance. Christine also defends class actions under the FCRA, helping employers navigate these claims to successful resolutions and dismissals. Aside from litigation, Christine assists employers with preventive advice, investigations, training and other pro-active compliance steps. Christine is "AV" Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and recognized in The Best Lawyers since 2015.