Concurrent Session

Laura Stack is America's Premier Expert in Productivity™. In 1992, Laura founded her company, The Productivity Pro, Inc., which specializes in business performance, strategy execution, and employee productivity. As a highly-regarded speaker and author, Laura shares her vision and methodologies around the globe on creating Maximum Results in Minimum Time®. A sought-after thought leader, Laura writes on high-performance cultures, human potential, and peak performance in her columns in The Business Journal, Success, Training, Productive, and Time Management Magazines. Widely regarded as one of the leading experts in the field of human performance and workplace issues, Laura has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and Forbes magazine. Laura is bestselling author of six books by major publishers including Random House, Wiley, and Berrett-Koehler, most recently Execution IS the Strategy.

Follow Laura on Twitter @laurastack.

David W. Ellis is internationally recognized in the area of executive compensation, employee benefits and pension funds. He is exceptionally fluent in international executive mobility, particularly in the design and taxation of compensation payable to expatriates, inpatriates and globally mobile employees. Mr. Ellis is immediate past chair of Baker & McKenzie, LLP’s Global Employment Practice Group.

Mr. Ellis represents and advises management on all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation locally and internationally. He advises multinational companies on tax, labor, securities and data privacy aspects of equity compensation programs and management participation programs. He also advises both buyers and sellers on US and non-US labor and pension funding issues that arise in cross-border transaction.

Jun is an HR professional with nearly 20 years of deep HR body of knowledge and experience (10+ years of which are Japan-focused) across the entire HR value chain gained from both the public and private sectors and various industries such as manufacturing, academe, training, recruitment, and HR consulting. He is not only considered as Japan's premier HR-focused search consultant but also a practicing HR consultant providing services and solutions in various HR areas like performance management, compensation & benefits design, organizational design and development, change management, coaching, and career counseling. He holds a Japan-focused MBA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an MS Industrial Engineering degree from the University of the Philippines. He also completed his HR Studies Certificate from Cornell University.

Karen Michael is the President of Karen Michael, PLC, an employment law & HR consulting firm founded in 2008.  The firm specializes in management and employee training, workplace investigations, HR Consulting, and employment law advice for the public and private sector.

Karen is a former HR executive and employment attorney with almost three decades years of experience in law and HR. 

Karen writes a weekly labor law article for the Richmond Times Dispatch Business section, and regularly speaks at national and local events, including the national SHRM conference and EEOC’s EXCEl conference.

Karen is the author of “Stay Hired.” 

Brenda S. Kasper is a founding member of Kasper & Frank LLP, a law firm representing California and multi-state employers for all of their human resources and employment law needs.  She regularly advises employers of all sizes on wage and hour compliance, leaves of absence, disability accommodation, reductions in force, terminations and discipline management, employment contracts, personnel policies, and hiring issues.  She also provides management and human resources training.  Brenda is a former HR director so her legal advice is practical, creative and tailored to each client’s needs.  She was the 2015 San Diego SHRM Board President, is an instructor for the HR Certification program at the University of California San Diego Extension and holds her SHRM-SCP and SPHR-California certifications.

Becki L. Young is a seasoned business immigration attorney with 20 years of experience in the field. She regularly advises clients on the complex legal issues involved in immigration options based on investments and employment in the United States and is well-known for her creativity, profound legal knowledge and outstanding record of bringing her cases to successful conclusion.  Her clients hail from many industries, including investment banking and securities; information technology; nonprofit; manufacturing; and healthcare. Ms. Young also has represented more than 100 of the world's most prominent hotels and restaurants, and facilitated the sponsorship of foreign professionals, trainees, interns and individuals of "extraordinary ability."

Stacy Cook is a Managing Consultant at Federal Management Partners (FMP) and currently leads FMP’s Learning and Development Center of Excellence. Prior to joining FMP, Ms. Cook served a tour with the Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations in Iraq. Stationed in Baghdad, Ms. Cook led a mix of government and contractor teams in a full-spectrum of organizational development efforts with local businesses designed to revitalize the economy of Iraq. Since joining FMP, Ms. Cook has translated this unique experience into innovative learning and development solutions for FMP’s public and private sector clients. Additionally, Ms. Cook has deep expertise in instructional systems design, eLearning design and delivery, strategic communications, and performance management. Ms. Cook holds B.A. degrees in Political Science, International Studies, and Russian Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Adult Learning and Leadership from the Teachers College of Columbia University.

Ryan is the Founder and CEO of ApplicantPro, a hiring software company founded in 2006. Ryan and his team have grown the small startup into a leading provider of hiring software for over 7,000 companies around the nation. Ryan's mission is to help companies, managers, and HR teams improve their hiring results. To do this, he and his team strive to create educational content, tools, integrations, and software to help businesses drive their hiring results. In addition, he is an HRCI and SHRM-CP Approved Provider and conducts weekly, free webinars and presents at SHRM events around the country.