Concurrent Session

Internationally recognized as an expert in the field, Mr. Kushner is one of the nation's most sought after speakers on HR strategy and employee benefits. He has advised four U.S. Presidents on health care and has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Small Business Committee on employee benefit issues.

A frequent resource to the media, Mr. Kushner contributes to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, AP, Knight-Ridder, the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter, CNN News, Fortune, MSNBC and Good Morning America among others. More importantly, he and his wife Tamis have five children and four wonderful (and amazing!) grandchildren.

Sarah Noll Wilson, Inc. is on a mission to help leaders build and rebuild teams. Our goal is to empower leaders to understand and honor the beautiful complexity of the humans they serve. We create a safe, honest environment, preparing people to deal with real-world conflict, have more meaningful conversations, and create purposeful relationships. Working with organizations that care deeply about their teams and understand the connection between staff development and organizational success, Sarah Noll Wilson, Inc. specializes in transforming relationships from good to great. 

With 15+ years in leadership development, Sarah Noll Wilson earned a Master's Degree from Drake University in Leadership Development and a BA from the University of Northern Iowa in Theatre Performance and Theatre Education. Through her work as an Executive Coach, an in-demand Keynote Speaker, Researcher, Contributor to Harvard Business Review, and Bestselling Author of “Don’t Feed the Elephants”, Sarah helps leaders close the gap between what they intend to do and the actual impact they make. She hosts the podcast “Conversations on Conversations”, is certified in Co-Active Coaching, Conversational Intelligence, and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities. In addition to her work with organizations, Sarah is a passionate advocate for mental health.   

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Michele Burns is a human resource practitioner and educator specializing in the areas of compensation, benefits, and workforce development.  She is employed as the Director of Classification and Compensation at the University of Arkansas where she is responsible for providing strategic oversight of classification, position management, job analysis, job documentation, and job evaluation and compensation processes as well as serving as liaison with state agencies such as the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE).

Michele is currently ending her course work phase for her Ed. D. in Human Resource and Workforce Development at the University of Arkansas.  Additionally, she is completing a graduate certificate in Educational Statistics and Research Methods, an area that she finds specifically suited for the statistical side of human resources like job analysis, job evaluation, and compensation management.  In addition to holding the generalist certifications of SHRM-SCP and SPHR, she holds various specialist certifications such as CCP (Certified Compensation Professional), CBP (Certified Benefits Professional), and GRP (Global Remuneration Professional).

During her human resources career, which has spanned over twenty years, she has worked both as an HR generalist and as a Compensation and Benefits Specialist in manufacturing, food processing, financial, healthcare, and higher education sectors.  Additionally, she has taught as an adjunct professor at John Brown University, Webster University, and the University of Arkansas.  She has taught courses such as Freshman Success; Human Resources Management; Legal Issues in HR; Introduction to Research, Introduction to Organizational Management, Principles of Management and Leadership, Organizational Communications; Integrative Strategies in Marketing and Written Communications.

Michele recently completed a three-year term as the State Council Director for the Arkansas SHRM State Council. She is passionate about the field of Human Resources and has been actively involved in the field of Human Resources both as an HR professional and as a volunteer.  Michele has served in various positions including MAC Representative alternate for the Southwest Central Region, ARSHRM Arkansas State Council Director Elect, State Council Chapter Advocate Director, Certification Chair, WAHRA (Western Arkansas Human Resource Association) President, President-Elect, Treasurer, and Certification Chair.

John A. Rubino, SHRM-SCP, CCP, CBP, GRP, WLCP, is founder and president of Rubino Consulting Services, a global human resources consulting company based in Pound Ridge, New York. His areas of expertise cover all areas of Human Resources program design. An internationally acclaimed speaker for SHRM and WorldatWork, John is the author of numerous human resources articles, and is frequently quoted in professional publications. He holds BA and MBA degrees, as well as a lifetime Achievement Award from WorldatWork. John works with a wide variety of organizations and his consulting practice takes him all around the world; in fact, he has visited one hundred and nine countries!

Edie Goldberg, Ph.D., is the president of E.L. Goldberg & Associates in Menlo Park, Calif. She is a nationally recognized expert in HR and talent management strategy and organizational effectiveness. She is the co-author of The Inside Gig: How Sharing Untapped Talent Across Boundaries Unleashes Organizational Capacity. Edie earned her Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Albany, SUNY, and she earned a B.S. and M.S. in psychology from San Diego State University. She serves on the board of the SHRM Foundation, is past chair of HR People + Strategy (HRPS), and is  a fellow of the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology. She is the recipient of the HRPS Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions made to the HR profession.

Rosie is an accomplished speaker, writer and consultant. She has spent more than 20 years in worksite health promotion and organizational development. In addition to her bachelor’s degrees in Kinesiology and Public Health, and a doctorate in Organization and Management, Rosie is also a Certified Intrinsic Coach® Mentor, Certified Judgment Index Consultant, a Certified Valuations Specialist, and a Board Certified Coach. Rosie uses this unique combination to work with executive and leadership teams to create comprehensive development strategies centered on shifting thinking patterns. She is a contributing author to the book, “Organization Development in Healthcare — High Impact Practices for a Complex and Changing Environment.” She leverages these principles to help organizations develop and implement strategies to create a thriving workplace culture that values and supports wellbeing and the unique, intrinsic needs of employees.

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.

Dr. Shonna Waters is the Vice President of HR Innovations and Insights (formerly known as “Research”) at the Society for Human Resource Management, where she leads the team that provides evidence-based insights, recommendations, and innovations at the intersection of people and work to improve the employee experience and business performance. Prior to joining SHRM, Dr. Waters spent over 15 years helping organizations make evidence-based decisions as an external and internal consultant. Most recently, she was the Technical Director of Human Resources Strategy and Program Design at the National Security Agency where she led the transformation of NSA’s promotion, performance management, and awards and recognition systems, the design and validation of the Agency’s analyst hiring assessments, and a variety of other evaluation and organizational performance projects. Dr. Waters holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology and Statistics, a certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University's Leadership Coaching Program in the Institute for Transformational Leadership, and is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF). Her work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, the Handbook of Employee Selection, and she has published over 50 technical reports and presented at over 25 professional conferences.