Concurrent Session

Margaret Spence is the founder of The Employee to CEO Project and CEO of C. Douglas & Associates. Inc. It is her mission to champion the advancement of women into executive leadership. Her new book, Leadership Self-Transformation ask women two simple questions, what do you want from your career and why don’t you have it now? It’s her feeling that you cannot get the corner office until you get clear about what you want and why you want it.  Margaret is a keynote speaker, leadership development coach, corporate consultant, and the author of three books. Learn more about Margaret at her website: www.MargaretSpence.com

Margaret Spence is the founder of The Employee to CEO Project and CEO of C. Douglas & Associates. Inc. It is her mission to champion the advancement of women into executive leadership. Her new book, Leadership Self-Transformation ask women two simple questions, what do you want from your career and why don’t you have it now? It’s her feeling that you cannot get the corner office until you get clear about what you want and why you want it.  Margaret is a keynote speaker, leadership development coach, corporate consultant, and the author of three books. Learn more about Margaret at her website: www.MargaretSpence.com

Jinhee Kuhl is the Head of Talent Acquisition for the North America Retail team at Amazon.  In her role, she is responsible for developing and executing the talent acquisition strategy.  Her team recruits tech and non-tech talent globally to support Amazon’s growth and innovation agenda.  Prior to her current role, she was the Head of Talent Acquisition for the North America Sellers organization. 

Jinhee has over 20 years of experience in HR, Talent Acquisition, Sales and Finance.  Prior to Amazon, Jinhee spent 10 years at Microsoft leading both HR and Talent Acquisition functions.  She was the HR Director for Microsoft Research and led recruiting for the Office organization, North America Sales and Marketing and the Corporate Business Groups.  During her tenure at Microsoft, Jinhee also worked with Venture Integration on the Yammer acquisition and was part of the initial Microsoft Retail team launching the first stores across the US.  Jinhee spent several years at T-Mobile, a Seattle based startup, recruiting agencies and AIG.  She started her career selling mutual funds and annuities. 

Jinhee holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puget Sound with a major in International Business and minor in Professional Writing.  Her hobbies include travel, running, cooking and watching sports.  

Cynthia leads the firm’s High Tech practice in the heart of Silicon Valley.  As the Managing Partner of the firm’s Northern California practice, she directs the strategic representation of companies ranging from large Fortune 500 companies to small start-up companies in the firm’s “e-group.” She has worked with numerous companies to set up and manage worldwide immigration compliance programs. She also offers legal advice to individual investors (i.e., EB-5).  Cynthia is a longtime Adjunct Professor at Southwestern University School of Law where she has taught since 1988. She also frequently lectures on corporate immigration and, as a thought leader in the industry, she has written numerous articles on business immigration law matters.  Cynthia is also the Managing Partner in charge of the firm’s I-9 Service Center, which offers state of the art electronic I-9 tools and advisory services for proper I-9 and E-Verify completion. She is experienced in government investigations, audits and establishing compliance programs for companies.  Cynthia serves as a member of Fragomen's Executive Committee. Cynthia joined Fragomen over 30 years ago, after beginning her career at the U.S. Department of Justice as an INS trial attorney.

Sharlyn Lauby is an author, writer, speaker and consultant. She has been named a Top HR Digital Influencer and is best-known for her work on HR Bartender, a friendly place to talk about workplace issues. HR Bartender has been recognized as one of the Top 5 Blogs read by HR professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and best business blog by the Stevie Awards.

Publications such as Reuters, The New York Times, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, and Mashable have sought out her expertise on topics related to human resources and the workplace. Sharlyn is the author of “Essential Meeting Blueprints for Managers,” and ”Manager Onboarding: 5 Steps for Setting New Leaders Up for Success,” which are available in the SHRM Store.

Her personal goal in life is to find the best cheeseburger on the planet.

Gil “GW” Williams is the Senior and Lead Talent Manager/Career Matchmaker for Intel’s Sales & Marketing Group here in Chandler, Arizona.  He has been with Intel for 11 years however he has 27 years of experience in Technology Talent Acquisition, Staff Augmentation, Human Resources and Organizational Development.  He has worked for such companies as: Motorola, CapGemini, CDI Aerospace (formerly CDI Engineering Services) and various technology consulting firms here in the Phoenix metro area.  He has worked as a Director of Talent Acquisition, Talent Acquisition Manager and Sr./Lead Recruiter.  GW holds a Masters in Human Resource Development from Webster University and a BA in Mass Communications from New Mexico State University.  

Jen Shirkani is a nationally recognized expert on emotional intelligence and a featured speaker at several national SHRM conferences and at state affiliates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Washington. She is the author of Ego vs EQ and Choose Resilience, guides to leveraging the power of emotional intelligence. She has spent over 25-years working with organizations as a business consultant and executive coach. In addition to emotional intelligence, she frequently speaks and writes about workplace challenges including interviewing and selection, employee engagement and motivation, generational differences, and coachability. Jen has been a frequent guest of several national radio programs, and has been featured in Bloomberg/Businessweek, Leadership Excellence magazine, Investors Daily, Business Insider, Reader’s Digest, Publishers Weekly, Fast Company, and Upstart Business Journal.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and has devoted herself to improving leadership effectiveness and on making common sense more common. 

Matt is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – one of the nation’s leading pediatric healthcare systems and consistently ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine. With the support of a strong team, Matt is working to evolve and optimize the recruitment platform at Children’s.

Prior to working at Children's, Matt helped reshape talent acquisition at Ericsson, the world's leading provider of communications technology and services, operating in 180 countries and employing more than 100,000 people. In his five years with Ericsson, Matt lived in both Australia and Singapore. He drove innovation in the employer branding, sourcing and recruitment strategy for Ericsson regionally and globally.

He has past experience as a senior strategy consultant with a U.S. recruitment communications firm, helping leading organizations implement innovative employer branding and digital strategies to attract top talent. Matt is a graduate of The Florida State University in the USA. He is an author and featured industry speaker on best practices in Talent Management at international HR events.

Nestor Ares conceptualized and currently manages the People Analytics and Processes Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank. In this capacity, he oversees complex data collection, dashboard production, and analytical output. The Unit is accountable for producing human resources business intelligence, providing insight for operational leaders and evaluations of business and/or system process, supporting workforce planning and strategy development. Since its creation, four years ago, the Analytics Unit has gone from organizing data and producing reports, to being at the forefront of the business intelligence at the Bank, by developing the most advanced data visualization dashboards, and producing high impact analytics that effectively combine operational and personnel data.

Prior to leading the People analytics Unit, Mr. Ares held various positions at the IADB, including Advisor to the Vice-President of countries, where he supervised resources management and budget execution.

Mr. Ares holds a M.S. in Information Systems Technology from the George Washington University.

An HR practitioner for over 25 years, Michael VanDervort specializes in creating thriving workplaces driven by positive associate relations.

Michael is the Executive Director of CUE Inc., a non-profit, member run organization dedicated to assisting companies in the creation and maintenance of positive working environments.  Before joining CUE, Michael was the Manager, Labor Relations for Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, Florida.  Michael is also a volunteer leader for the Society of Human Resources Management, currently serving a term on their Special Expertise panel on Labor Relations.

An accomplished social media user, Michael was responsible for implementing the initial social media efforts at one of the largest grocery retailers in North America.  Michael was recently chosen for the 6^th time to serve as part of the blogging and social media team for the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition.