Concurrent Session

Work. Life. Leader. CEO and Executive Coach Julie Cohen, PCC, is a nationally recognized authority on leadership development, work-life balance and career management. She is the author of Your Work. Your Life…Your Way: 7 Keys to Work-Life Balance, a contributor to The Huffington Post and Working Mother, and a columnist with The Philadelphia Business Journal. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She is also a frequent guest expert on Wharton Business Radio’s “Career Talk”. An astute observer with 20+ years experience in career and leadership development, Julie adeptly identifies workplace shifts that impact employee satisfaction, success and retention, and responds with innovative programs and support for employers and employees. 

Kathleen is currently the President of The HeaRt Group, a human resource consulting firm, with expertise in organizational development, talent acquisition and management, employee engagement, performance leadership, compensation and benefits. She is the former Assistant Vice Chancellor of Human Resources at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to that, she was Corporate Vice President of Human Resources at Edgewater Technology in Fayetteville, AR for five years, helping with the acquisition of 44 companies to form Staffmark Inc., later becoming Edgewater. Prior to this position she held various executive human resources positions at Acxiom Corporation, Express Human Resources and M.M. Cohn. In her last position, she was responsible for the human resource function in the UAMS Medical Center, which has over 6500 employees, as well as campus responsibility for the operation functions that includes compensation, HR analytics, recruitment, organizational development, employee relations, affirmative action, immigration, compliance, benefits, employee services, and performance management for 11,000 employees. The HeaRt Group’s focus is to work with small to mid-sized business owners and executives to develop Human Resource practices best aligned with their business objectives and strategic plans. The HeaRt Group provides common sense human resource advice by solving Human Resource challenges, handling Human Resource issues and partnering with clients to enhance their organization. Ms. McComber has over 40 years’ experience in the human resource profession and has done extensive work in the areas of compensation, benefits, employee relations, performance leadership, diversity and organizational development 30 of those at the senior level. She is a member of the Central Arkansas Human Resource Association (CAHRA) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) for many years. She has served on the CAHRA board of directors twice serving as Chair. She has also served on the SHRM Board of Directors for seven years and held the top volunteer position as Chair in 1998. She served four years on the Human Resource Certification Board and six years on the SHRM Foundation Board serving as chair in 2006. She holds a B.S. in Education from the University of Arkansas and a M.A. in Management from Webster University. She is on the faculty of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in the College of Public Health and Webster University teaching leadership and human resource classes at the graduate level.

Nancie Ruder founded Noetic Consultants 15 years ago, providing clients such as Wells Fargo, Discovery Channel, Pepsico, Samsung, Whirlpool and Nike with marketing training, marketing strategy, branding and consumer research support. She began her career at Leo Burnett Company where she worked with Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly and The Gap. Nancie is an active member of the DC Chapter of the Women’s Presidents Organization. She has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, her undergraduate alma mater, teaching Marketing Strategy, as well as a Board member and strategic advisor for the National Children’s Medical Center in Washington, DC

Todd Solomon is a partner in and Chicago local practice group leader of the employee benefits practice group of McDermott Will & Emery LLP in its Chicago office.  Todd focuses his practice primarily on designing, amending, and administering pension plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans, 403(b) plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.  He also counsels corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary and plan investment issues under ERISA, employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions, executive compensation and Code Section 409A compliance and correction matters, and the implementation of benefit programs for domestic partners.  

Dr. Ben Porr received a B.A. in Psychology from Hofstra University and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from George Mason University. His educational background is in the study of human behavior and has specialized in building and maintaining effective organizations by understanding how employees interact with their environment (e.g., colleagues, supervisors, IT systems, organizational culture) to produce beneficial impact to individuals, teams, and organizational systems. He volunteers on multiple committees, has written articles and has presented at local and national conferences with the intent to translate applied psychological theory and methods to practical solutions for clients.

Joey Price is a recent SHRM Top 30 under 30 awardee and CEO of Jumpstart:HR, LLC - an HR firm that provides administrative and strategic HR support to US-based small businesses and startups. Joey also hosts a podcast entitled "Business, Life, and Coffee" that's all about personal development for busy professionals. You can find him online building his social army at @joeyvpriceHR and www.jumpstart-hr.com/blog. 

 

Nicole Sahin's mission is to make it easy for any company to expand into any country as easily as they hire team members in the United States. As CEO of Globalization Partners, her focus is building the world’s most competent and trustworthy Global Professional Employer Organization in existence. Prior to launching Globalization Partners, Nicole was a Managing Director at High Street Partners, a firm which provided international HR, tax, legal, and compliance services to CFOs, HR Directors, and General Counsel of fast-growing technology companies establishing subsidiaries and hiring in dozens of countries.

As the HR Projects Coordinator and part of the Business Services team Bobby manages and coordinates HR projects.  With a focus on process improvement, strategic goals, and vision, Bobby works closely with HR staff and campus leadership to facilitate and collaborate all areas of project management.  

As the University Records Officer, Bobby oversees the records management program for James Madison University including retention and disposition approval of all university records.  Bobby provides training in records management procedures, practices, and use of appropriate forms, as necessary.  Bobby also collaborates with departmental Records Coordinators to help maintain an effective records management program at JMU. 

He provides strategic analysis planning and coordinating for all HR-related records and imaging system (Nolij) information technology support, guidance and consultation to all members of the HR staff.  He also manages the document imaging function in the HR office, including record management, workflow, retention and destruction planning, organization and processing.  Bobby has created a strategic approach to record keeping management in HR ensuring that all record-keeping systems conform to state, federal and JMU policies and guidelines.   He also collaborates with Talent and Development designing and facilitating workshops for campus staff.

Bobby has been at JMU since 2008 and joined Human Resources in 2013.  He holds both a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Corporate Communications from Duquesne University.  He is currently seeking a second Master’s Degree in Adult Human Resource Development with a concentration in Leadership and Facilitation through the College of Education at JMU. 

Bobby provides consultation to internal and external customers in regards to electronic records management and training for the HR staff.  Bobby has presented his session on JMU’s mountain of paper regionally and nationally.

As President of Berkshire, Beth Ronnenburg, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is responsible for leading one of the most reputable and respected brands in affirmative action compliance solutions. Beth, who became President in June 2011, is the steward of Berkshire's strategic vision, “to help companies build their ideal, balanced workforce.” She oversees all business interests and operations, and more importantly, Beth is a well-known thought leader who speaks regularly at conferences including SHRM, National Industry Liaison Group (NILG), and other national events. She currently serves as a board member for the NILG, where she represents the Mid-Atlantic Region. She is also on the board of the Baltimore ILG. Beth holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and Organization Development from The Johns Hopkins University.