Concurrent Session

Jennifer McClure is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and high-performance coach who works with leaders to leverage their influence, increase their impact, and accelerate results.

Frequently recognized as a global influencer and expert on the future of work, strategic leadership and innovative people strategies, Jennifer has decades of in-the-trenches leadership and executive experience working in and with startups, privately held companies, and Fortune 500 organizations in a variety of industries.

As a top-rated keynote speaker, Jennifer has shared her insights with thousands of leaders at conferences and corporate events around the world. Clients include Procter & Gamble, General Electric, IBM, SAP, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab, Stryker, LinkedIn, Notre Dame University, Society for Human Resource Management, Association for Legal Administrators, and Association for Talent Development.

In her informative and entertaining keynote programs and workshops, she shares a blend of research, best practices, case studies and storytelling which leaves audience members inspired and motivated to take action when they return to work.

Jennifer is also the Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR, a global community designed to move the collective thinking forward when it comes to talent in the workplace, and she hosts a weekly podcast – Impact Makers with Jennifer McClure – sharing conversations with practitioners, entrepreneurs, authors and speakers who are changing the world while building careers that they love, and lives that matter.

As CEO of Propel Forward LLC, Carlann Fergusson and her team partner with leaders to gain the insights, capacity and confidence to transform themselves and their organizations. Whether providing coaching, visioning, strategic planning or leadership development, her ultimate goal is to create leaders who love their role and bring passion and energy to their work. Corporations shouldn’t be places where people are counting the days till the weekend or the years till retirement.

Carlann is known for her unique approach of blending coaching and organizational development to create both personal and business results. Her keen insight and her ability to synthesize information from numerous sources results in solutions that stick. She has over 25 years of experience in executive and leadership coaching, strategic planning, organizational development, and leadership development. She is also a master certified coach. 

As a past Senior Director of Global Organizational and Leadership Development as well as a Manufacturing Manager overseeing a team of 740, Carlann uses her line and staff management experience to achieve measurable results. Her past position titles also include Strategic Planning Manager and Change Manager.  Carlann has worked for a diversity of businesses including Intel Corporation, Visteon Automotive, Meijer Corporation, Press Ganey, Florida Power and the United States Government. She and her teams were recipients of two Intel Quality Awards, Press Ganey’s Innovation Award, The Department of Treasury Treasurer’s Award and a finalist for the Visteon Summit Award. Today her client list includes pharmaceutical, fashion & design, financial, healthcare, construction and technology companies.

Carlann teaches the Leadership Certificate Program for Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. She is the author of Shoots and Ladders Workbook; Insights to Accelerate Your Leadership and has been cited in CBS MoneyWatch, International Business Times, Newsday, and The Boston Globe.

She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland.

Scott Hamilton has a long and proven track record in the successful improvement of executive and organization performance in global Fortune 5000 companies. Scott is the co-founder of Allign, a company that has developed and introduced a proprietary process that integrates leadership vision with visual-experiential mapping methods to align all stakeholders into unified, positive action. His global advisory team helps leaders build the internal organizational capability to innovate, execute and measure.

Been there – done that!  With 30 years of HR and business experience – Lori has walked in your shoes.  A recovered HR Generalist, she built a consulting company that she sold to Arthur J Gallagher after 7 years and then reinvented her current business – HR Topics -  training, speaking and developing content for HR professionals.  Lori delivers facts, tips, tricks and best practices in a way that appeals to human resource and business leaders: with a sense of humor, a bias toward actions that improve their operations right away, and practical resources and tools to support their progress.  As an annual speaker at the National SHRM conference, she has leveraged her masters in HR, SPHR and SHRM-SCP background to elevate the position of all HR professionals!

Doug Stevenson is the creator of The Story Theater Method for strategic storytelling in business. He is the author of the book Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater Method, The 21-Step How to Write and Deliver a Dynamite Speech System, and The Next Level Storytelling Video eLearning Series. Doug is a former actor, now professional keynote speaker, trainer and speaker’s coach. His clients span many industries and associations, including the American Medical Assn., the National Assn. of Realtors, Microsoft, Cisco, Amgen, Bayer, Caterpillar, Coca Cola, ConAgra Foods, Oracle, Aetna Insurance, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Eli Lilly and many others. Doug has presented storytelling in business keynotes and workshops in the U.S., Canada, and 15 other countries in South America, Europe and Asia. 

Doug has blended his acting experience with his experience on the keynote platform to bring a unique perspective to speaking and storytelling. He helps presenters of all kinds use strategically chosen and crafted stories to make their content more entertaining, persuasive and memorable. Doug believes that “emotion is the fast lane to the brain” and stories, when told with authentic emotion and imagery, are the best way to create an emotional connection with any audience. People remember your stories!  Join him to learn how to Story Your Message for Communication Success!

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.

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Data & Insights Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.

Graduate in business administration, with specialization in business management, has over 26 years of experience in the HR area in segments such as metallurgy,  automation and power technology, telecommunications, automotive, consumer goods and petrochemical. He has already  implemented  organizational and HR transformation programs , cultural change , leadership development programs, build and implement HR strategy,  and internationalization of HR policies and practices. Has developed his career within some global companies such as ABB, Unilever, Fiat Chrysler Automotive and Braskem.

Matt Adam serves as Chief Talent Strategist for NAS Recruitment Innovation, a leading Employment Branding & Recruitment Marketing firm. He has been an innovator and thought leader in the space for over 25 years. Today, his role is national in scope and designed to lead major account implementation and support strategic project consultation for many high-profile organizations.

With his finger on the pulse of the industry, Matt has shared knowledge on topics such as Employment Branding, Career Site Best Practices and The Future of Recruitment Marketing to audiences at SHRM, NAHCR, AAPPR, etc.

Matt has a Marketing Degree from Boston College and resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.