Concurrent Session

Ethics in the workplace is a serious matter, but talking about it doesn’t have to be “business as usual.” Chuck Gallagher learned a lesson about choices and consequences the hard way—but now he shares his experience so that others don’t have to. In his compelling presentations, Chuck starts by setting the scene with his own story… and ends by setting the stage for your organization’s ethical success.  You may have seen Chuck on CNN, CBS, Fox or NPR.  His business insights are sought after for his strong position on ethics. Chuck’s focus is business—but his passion is empowering others.

Lara is an experienced trial lawyer and client advocate. Her extensive career has involved representing companies of all sizes, across many industries, in all aspects of employment law. Lara has successfully defended clients in the courtroom, before administrative agencies, and on appeal.

In addition to litigation, Lara has spent her two-plus decades of experience partnering with clients to counsel them through complex issues involving discrimination, retaliation, accommodation, and wage and hour compliance. Lara has also developed a passion for guiding clients through high-stakes matters involving pay equity, harassment, leave of absence and accommodations. Lara has had the distinct experience of working as in-house counsel for two large, multi-national corporations, which gives her a unique perspective on how to address the intricate issues facing organizations and their employees.

Lara is an accomplished speaker and presenter, having presented on cutting edge employment law topics at local and national events, as well as many online forums. Lara is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Lara is an experienced trial lawyer and client advocate. Her extensive career has involved representing companies of all sizes, across many industries, in all aspects of employment law. Lara has successfully defended clients in the courtroom, before administrative agencies, and on appeal.

In addition to litigation, Lara has spent her two-plus decades of experience partnering with clients to counsel them through complex issues involving discrimination, retaliation, accommodation, and wage and hour compliance. Lara has also developed a passion for guiding clients through high-stakes matters involving pay equity, harassment, leave of absence and accommodations. Lara has had the distinct experience of working as in-house counsel for two large, multi-national corporations, which gives her a unique perspective on how to address the intricate issues facing organizations and their employees.

Lara is an accomplished speaker and presenter, having presented on cutting edge employment law topics at local and national events, as well as many online forums. Lara is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Alex envisions a world where work is effortless and teams are drama-free.

Standing side by side since 2015 with New York Times best-selling author and thought leader Cy Wakeman, Alex collaborates with organizations and leaders globally to help them ditch the drama from the workplace, hardwire accountability in their teams and turn excuses into results.

Everything he does is designed to help people understand that success and happiness is their natural state as a human being—once the drama is gone. With this core belief, Alex’s passion is revealing to those he works with that once people carve away drama from their lives, the same job they found themselves upset with today becomes the job they look forward to and love tomorrow.

As a keynote speaker and trainer, he helps organizations exchange the endless argument for a DIFFERENT workplace reality for a shifted perspective that enables them to start achieving more success and fulfillment in their CURRENT workplace reality.

In addition to sharing the reality-based philosophy from the stage, Alex is also a quintessential part of Cy Wakeman’s content creation and media team, spreading the ditch-the-drama message online. Over the last three years, his expertise, insights and execution have helped to balloon her  online community of raving fans from 15,000 to 150,000 followers across multiple platforms.

As the host of The Carvery Podcast with Alex Dorr (available on Apple iOS, Google Play and Simplecast), he shares his journey, stories and insights as a reality-based speaker and practicing drama defuser to help others carve away their own drama and start calling those they lead to greatness.

Although Alex stands at 6’6” tall and is commonly told at events, “you look a lot taller up close,” he prides himself on being down-to-earth or, better yet, grounded in reality.

An advocate for mental minimalism and a former professional basketball player, Alex holds a MSc in international business from the University of Derby (England) and his client list includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Adobe, Carnival Cruise Lines, Ely Lilly, Kohler, Emory Healthcare, Methodist Healthcare (San Antonio), Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Commerce, NetJets, Allina Health, Delaware North, AMC Theatres, Washington Department of Transportation, Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center, Providence Medical Center, the University of Oregon, Baton Rouge General Medical Center, CH Robinson, Intact Insurance, National Association of Credit Management and Credit Institute of Canada, among others.

Carol is an executive talent leader and is considered an expert in the Talent acquisition space with an impressive track record of over 20 years in the industry. Her career is characterized by numerous accomplishments in the transformational talent acquisition/management landscape. Throughout her journey, Carol has spearheaded pivotal initiatives, such as implementing enterprise-wide applicant tracking systems, RPOs, and CRMs, building and nurturing high-performing TA teams, and strategically planning the workforce for organizations.

Carol is the Vice President of Talent Acquisition for Providence which supports 51 hospitals, 1,000 clinics, and a comprehensive range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. With over 122K employees, she has oversight for all 63 Providence employees and an outsource RPO parner with over 500 recruiters.

As an experienced TA leader, Carol has successfully motivated and guided TA teams large and small, displaying remarkable leadership skills and a talent for bringing out the best in her colleagues. With her exceptional communication abilities, she has also earned a reputation as a sought-after keynote speaker.

Carol has worked and supported many prestigious organizations, including Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Delta Air Lines, Randstad USA, Kinetix LLC, and Bernard Hodes Group. Most recently, she held the role of Senior Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Wonder, a food technology startup in NYC. In this role, she was responsible for developing and executing the overarching Talent Acquisition vision and strategy roadmap while leading and empowering a 48-person TA team. She is credited with achieving noteworthy milestones, such as launching the Wonder career site and implementing key performance indicators (KPIs) and talent dashboards for each business line. These metrics facilitated the measurement of crucial aspects like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), recruiter enablement, and overall position control.

Carol is a United States Air Force veteran and has recently relocated from the Northeast to Atlanta, GA.

Dr. Wang-Jones is a leader of global diversity and inclusion. She spearheads and drives strategic plans to integrate D&I into the business across IKEA. Her leadership in LGBT+, gender, and religious inclusion impacts 150,000+ co-workers company-wide in nearly 50 countries. With her dual PhD in Organizational Psychology and Clinical Psychology, she is also a coach and psychotherapist helping individuals achieve their full potential. Additionally, she is an independent organizational development consultant specializing in strategic D&I, unconscious bias, and transgender issues in the workplace. She develops business strategies that improve organizational effectiveness while leveraging the power to make positive social change.

Allies provides integrated medical care, supportive human services, and community-based education for individuals living with, or at risk of HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.  Mark joined the organization in 2016 as their first HR professional.  As a department of one and a member of the Agency’s Leadership, he works to ensure that their efforts are efficient, socially aware, ethical, legally compliant, and aligned with their mission and vision.  He works in an environment where employees are required to delve into subjects that would make the most seasoned HR professional blush or turn pale; Mark is learning a lot.

Prior to Allies, Mark was the HR Manager for an independent primary care pediatric practice for 15 years.  He was the first HR person there too.  For 10 of those years, he was also the owner of a company that designed and produced masks, costumes, and props for a variety of enterprises.  Mark’s HR foundation was built in higher education administration and software development (before it was trendy).  He has also served on the Board of Directors for the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association and Pittsburgh Cares.

Danna Hewick joined USSI in July 2013.  In her role as Vice President of Human Resources, Danna oversees performance management; training and development; policy and procedure; recruiting; and employment practices for both union and non-union staff.  A Senior Professional certified through HRCI (SPHR) and SHRM (SHRM-SCP), Danna has over 15 years of strategic human resources experience. Prior to USSI, Danna was Director of Administration, managing human resources, facility, information technology and administration for Pacific Trade International a home fragrance manufacturing company.

With an extensive background as a business partner, Danna has a strong foundation in developing business strategy; envisioning future talent requirements; implementing sound business process; developing performance improvement and talent management programs; succession planning; and the creation of competency mapping to ensure that the company’s human resources are prepared to meet future goals.  Danna holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from George Mason University and an Executive MBA from the University of Maryland, Robert H Smith School of Business. She is a member of the National Society of Human Resources and the Montgomery County Society of Human Resources. She currently lives in Annapolis, MD.