Concurrent Session

John Vlastelica draws from  20 years of recruiting experience, including almost 10 years as a corporate recruiting leader and over 8 years as a recruitment management consultant and trainer. He was the Senior Director, Global Recruiting for Expedia, a Recruiting Director at Amazon.com, and the engineering recruiting leader for two start-up divisions of McCaw/AT&T Wireless. In 2002, he started Recruiting Toolbox to help other companies improve their in-house recruiting capabilities.

John has provided training and recruitment management consulting services to companies of all shapes and sizes, including leading organizations in high-tech, bio-tech, healthcare, financial services, and retail. John has shared his expertise with colleagues as an entertaining and credible repeat presenter at regional, national, and international recruiting conferences (including ERE Expo, SourceCon, RecruitingTrends, AIRS Symposiums, Talent42, SmartResourcing UK, Australalsian Talent Conference, iRecruit Europe, and SHRM’s national HR conferences), through online webinars, and as an instructor for various Sourcing and Recruiting Leadership workshops and academies.

Nicole Oliver’s recruiting career began in 2007 with Robert Half International and continued with AppleOne Employment Services, where she served as a branch leader for 4 years.  In 2012, Ms. Oliver transitioned into corporate recruiting as the Director of Talent Acquisition for a specialized financial services company.  Under her leadership, the organization was able to acquire the necessary talent to expand their business services into emerging markets and grew from 700 employees to over 2000 in just 14 months.  Currently she serves as a Recruiting Business Partner for Meritage Homes, providing talent advisory services to business leaders as they expand their operations across the southeast. 

With expertise in workforce planning, sourcing strategies, selection methods and leadership development, Ms. Oliver has a track record of successfully delivering ambitious talent solutions.  She believes that the purpose of recruiting isn’t simply to fill requisitions or achieve a headcount goal.  It’s an opportunity to serve others by uncovering their needs and connecting them to solutions that empower and elevate everyone involved.

Tammy D. McCutchen is a senior affiliate with Resolution Economics, providing expert services in the Company’s Wage & Hour and Human Capital Strategy groups.

McCutchen became affiliated with Resolution Economics in 2021. She is a nationally recognized expert in all aspects of wage and hour law. Her experience includes regulation drafting and enforcement, conducting internal compliance audits, defending agency investigations, designing compliance applications using smart technology, and serving as a consulting and testifying expert in wage and hour class and collective actions.

Prior to joining the DOL, she served as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she was the country’s top enforcer of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and wage laws affecting government contractors (the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act). She managed an annual budget of $160 million and 1,400 employees, represented by two unions, in more than 250 offices across the country. She was responsible for the issuance of opinion letters and set enforcement policy. She also was the principal architect of the 2004 revisions to the overtime exemption regulations, the most significant overhaul of the regulations in 50 years. Since leaving DOL, she has been the principal author of numerous comments on proposed changes by DOL to the FLSA regulations, including on overtime and independent contractors. She also has defended dozens of employers facing DOL investigations of FLSA, DBA, and SCA compliance.

After serving at the DOL, she practiced law with Littler Mendelson, PC and was a founding vice president and managing director of ComplianceHR. At CHR, she directed the development of the only on-demand suite of intelligent compliance applications focused on helping employers address the ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements on minimum wage, overtime, independent contracting and more. Her Navigator IC and Navigator OT apps assess the risks of classifying workers as independent contractors and employees as overtime exempt as quickly as it takes to fill out an on-line questionnaire. She remains a Strategic Advisor for the company.

Previously, she was in-house counsel for employment at the Hershey Company, practiced law at Skadden Arps, and clerked for Honorable Daniel A. Manion on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

For over 20 years, Allison West has used her employment law background in delivering customized workplace training, conducting investigations, coaching executives/managers, serving as an expert witness, and specializing in conflict resolution and facilitated discussions to create more collaborative work environments. 

Allison is a top-rated speaker at the SHRM Annual Conference as well as other HR/diversity conferences, and is a national expert on harassment, discrimination and investigations. She has appeared on PBS, CBS This Morning and in O Magazine discussing workplace harassment issues. 

She is a member of the State Bar of California and holds her SHRM-SCP certification and AWI-CH (investigation) certificate.

For over 20 years, Allison West has used her employment law background in delivering customized workplace training, conducting investigations, coaching executives/managers, serving as an expert witness, and specializing in conflict resolution and facilitated discussions to create more collaborative work environments. 

Allison is a top-rated speaker at the SHRM Annual Conference as well as other HR/diversity conferences, and is a national expert on harassment, discrimination and investigations. She has appeared on PBS, CBS This Morning and in O Magazine discussing workplace harassment issues. 

She is a member of the State Bar of California and holds her SHRM-SCP certification and AWI-CH (investigation) certificate.

Meredith Nethercutt is the Manager of Member Engagement at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She provides leadership and direction to establish, maintain and strengthen relationships with SHRM Volunteer Leaders, members, and affiliates to achieve the Society's strategy and objectives on membership. Meredith develops and executes a comprehensive strategy to educate and inform volunteer leaders on membership programs, services and resources and to support them in their Volunteer Leader role. Meredith was previously the director of member advocacy at SHRM, overseeing the Advocacy Team (A-Team) network of volunteer advocates, where she facilitated relationships between SHRM members and lawmakers to strengthen the Society's advocacy objectives in legislative districts nationwide. In addition, Meredith provided training and guidance to HR advocates on how to effectively communicate with lawmakers regarding workplace policies.

Ms. Walters has more than 30 years’ combined experience in management, HR administration, employment law practice, and teaching.

She has presented at conferences across the country, been engaged as an expert witness, and testified before U.S. Congressional and state legislative committees on employment issues.

Her book, “From Hello to Goodbye: Proactive Tips for Maintaining Positive Employee Relations” is in its 2nd edition and was one of the SHRMStore’s “Great 8” best-sellers for eight consecutive years.

Today, Ms. Walters works as an independent consultant doing business as FiveL Company, “Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law.”SM

Courtney Barksdale Perez is a senior litigation associate at Carter Scholer Arnett Hamada & Mockler. Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, Courtney represents individuals, corporations, and government entities in all phases of commercial and employment-related litigation including administrative proceedings, state court and federal court.  Courtney has represented plaintiffs and defendants in disputes involving fraud, negligence, breach of contract, breach of covenants not to compete, tortious interference with contracts, misappropriation of trade secrets, trademark infringement, breach of fiduciary duty and employment-related civil rights claims.

Courtney also advises clients concerning compliance with employment-related statutes such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Federal Labor Standards Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Texas Whistleblower Act, the Texas Payday Act, the Texas Labor Code and employment agreements.  She also conducts internal investigations, reviews and prepares policies and procedures, and provides training for employers.  Ms. Perez also has experience advising government contractors with their obligations under federal contract compliance laws, developing compliance programs, drafting Affirmative Action plans and representing government contractors in administrative proceedings.

In addition, Courtney is a trained mediator and uses her dispute resolution training and experience to assist litigants in resolving employment, business, commercial, consumer, personal injury and civil rights disputes. Prior to joining Carter Scholer, Courtney maintained a solo practice. Courtney was an associate at K&L Gates, LLP from 2008-2011, and served as Law Clerk to the Honorable James A. Beaty, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina from 2007-2008.

Lester S. Rosen is an attorney at law  and CEO of Employment Screening Resources (ESR), a national background screening company.  He is a consultant, writer, expert witness  and frequent presenter nationwide on pre-employment screening. He is the author of “The Safe Hiring Manual,” (3d Edition 2017/826 pages), the first comprehensive book on background screening.  He served as the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the Professional Background Screeners Association (PBSA),  served as its first co-chair and received the PBSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.