Concurrent Session

Chris founded Discovery Learning in 1990. As the company’s head product designer, he manages the research and development processes and is always coming up with new ideas to ensure Discovery Learning’s products remain innovative and effective in a changing world. He also works with clients on program and training design to make sure Discovery Learning’s products fit their needs.

Chris served as a Kellogg Fellow (1987-1990) and has worked in organizational and leadership development for more than 30 years. He has developed numerous programs covering leadership development, creativity and innovation, change management and team building for some of the most well known and respected companies in the world. He has designed and delivered programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, India, China, Japan, Malaysia and Ethiopia. He has also helped create seven simulations and nine innovative assessment tools.

Shayna Balch is a partner in both the Phoenix and Los Angeles offices. She represents employers in employment and labor litigation matters before federal and state courts as well as before administrative agencies. She handles matters across all facets of labor and employment law including employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, restrictive covenants, preventive counseling, employee training, personnel policies, and employment agreements. Shayna has represented clients before trial and appellate courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Arizona Civil Rights Division, and United States Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel (OSC).

Douglas M. Towns is an Employment & Labor Partner at Sherman & Howard LLC in Atlanta, Georgia. With more than 20 years of experience, Doug exclusively represents employers in all employment and labor areas, including the following:

• Counseling companies on US and global employment issues involving all aspects of employment law, including, social media, reductions-in-force, immigration compliance, discrimination issues, complex hiring, disciplinary, and termination issues, and executive employment contracts. He regularly assists client with public accommodation audits under Title III of the ADA, immigration audits by ICE, OSHA investigations, glass ceiling audits and OCFFP compensation reviews, and senior-level harassment and discrimination investigations.
• Defending employers in complex employment litigation, including class actions and multi-plaintiff employment discrimination lawsuits, wage-hour collective actions, and state law tort and contract claims. He has represented employers in state and federal courts, arbitrations, appellate courts, and administrative agencies, including the OFCCP and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
• Counseling and litigating on the range of legal issues arising from restrictive convents, trade secrets, and the protection of intellectual and human capital.
• Representing management during union organizing efforts, at the bargaining table, and in labor disputes, including emergency injunctions and in interest arbitrations.

Doug has written extensively on employment law, class and collective actions, management of complex employment litigation, e-discovery, mental disabilities, employment issues in corporate acquisitions, contingent workers, immigration compliance, and challenges to the OFCCP’s compensation analysis. He has spoken at more than 250 employment law programs, conducted in-house management training programs, and appeared on CNN “Headline News” as an employment law commentator.

He is also actively involved in the community and on several boards, including serving as General Counsel for Angel Flight Soars, which provides free medical transportation to those in need.

Doug graduated from Emory University and received his J.D. from the University of Virginia where he served on the Virginia Law Review.

Larry is an experienced counselor and trial lawyer. He is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and represents clients in all types of labor and employment matters, including wrongful termination and employee disloyalty litigation, development of personnel policies, implementation of workforce reductions, negotiation and drafting of employment agreements and compensation packages, union avoidance and collective bargaining, and investigations and administrative proceedings. Larry has tried cases to verdict, judgment and decision in state and federal court, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration.

Larry was named a Texas “Super Lawyer” seven times in Texas Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters (2003-2005 and 2008-2011) and was recognized as a “Leading Labour Lawyer of the World” by Euromoney in 2003. Larry served as President and General Counsel of HR Houston, as an instructor for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Technical Assistance Program, and is an Adjunct Professor in Management in the Jones Graduate School of Business. Larry is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Society for Human Resource Management and other professional organizations and currently serves as President of Jones Partners. He is a regular speaker at national and regional human resources conferences and has authored numerous articles on employment law topics. Before founding the firm, Larry was a partner at Baker & McKenzie and co-director of the labor and employment practice at Legge Farrow.

Tom Sonde is a principal with SilverRoad Solutions, a management consulting firm specializing in business process improvement. He began performing process improvement work while at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. He subsequently worked at KPMG Consulting and was vice president of global business transformation at Misys. Tom has extensive experience designing and implementing process improvement initiatives. He has written several articles, including “Finding the Hidden Values in HR Systems” for Human Resources Executive magazine

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.

Chloé Rada is a forward-thinking, creative and analytics-driven employment branding leader with fifteen years of experience in the recruitment advertising industry and a passion for social media!

Leading Sodexo’s "award-winning" Employment Branding team, she is responsible for building awareness of Sodexo’s culture and workplace experiences in the US by managing their social, digital and mobile strategy. By leveraging technology like Avature CRM and QueSocial, she has spearheaded talent community re-engagement and employee advocacy programs to help bring their brand to life!

Named “the voice of Sodexo Careers” in January of 2012, she now manages a team that cares for Sodexo’s seven social media profiles, the career site and seven discipline-specific microsites and more than two dozen media relationships to improve their source of qualified candidates. She also is the chief content curator for the Sodexo careers blog, the number one most helpful social space for their candidates.  

In her previous role at Rada Advertising, a privately owned national recruitment advertising agency, Chloé consulted with employers on strategy and process to effectively communicate with and attract the right talent.  Leading the agency in new product development, she built strategic partnerships with HR technologies companies to develop and launch digital solutions for the agency. In addition to designing go-to-market strategies, she provided training, mentorship and education to co-workers and clients on these emerging recruitment trends and technologies.  Chloé’s previous two years’ experience at Edelman Worldwide, allowed her to hone her public relations and marketing techniques and adapt them for the recruitment marketing industry.

Chloé volunteers for Society of Talent Acquisition & Recruitment (STAR Chicago), formerly the Staffing Management Association of Greater Chicago (SMAGC), for the past eleven years and enjoys providing job search training to community organizations and students.

Chloé graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts and resides in Chicago, IL. Learn more about Chloé's here or by following her on Twitter (@CRada) or Instagram. 

Nancy Taylor has advised clients on health and FDA related matters for more than two decades. She has broad experience in areas relating to the Affordable Care Act provisions, CMS reimbursement and policy issues relating to providers and plans, and she has done a significant amount of FDA regulatory work. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Nancy served 10 years as Health Policy Director for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and worked on a number of significant health and FDA laws, including NLEA, Safe Medical Device Act, Hatch-Waxman, COBRA and ADA. She also served as CEO of a start-up medical device company, where she obtained eight product clearances, including securing reimbursement coverage for each product.

Attorney James P. (“Jim”) Reidy is a management-side labor and employment lawyer. He is a partner in the New England based law firm, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, PA, where he is the Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment group. His practice focuses on prevention, training and compliance but he also handles matters when claims arise.

He has more than 35 years of experience in the field and been a media resource on workplace law for media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Business Magazine, Bloomberg, NPR, The Associated Press, NPR Market Place, Buzz Feed, Law 360, Inc. Magazine, The HR Power Hour, HR Breakroom, SKI Magazine and HR Magazine as well as several local/regional publications.

In 2020 Jim was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. 

Chambers USA and New England Super Lawyers have ranked Jim in the Top Tier of management-side employment lawyers for each year of the last 15 years. Best Lawyers USA named Jim the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Labor and Employment Law (Manchester, NH) and the NH Business Review named him one of the top 200 most influential business leaders in New Hampshire.

Jim has been a presenter regularly at SHRM’s Legal and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC as well as SHRM’s annual conferences.