Concurrent Session

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.

Tim is the President of The Human Resources Team, a Little Rock based human resources management consulting company. His consulting firm provides assistance and resources in preparation, training, support and implementation of Affirmative Action Plans with Positive Solutions. He works with a wide and diverse range of industries including banks and financial institutions, utilities, health care, technology, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, nonprofit, construction, and service organizations. He has over 30 years of experience in all areas of functional areas of HR as a Director of Human Resources in manufacturing, service and financial industries and in his consulting firm with client’s coast to coast.

He is a top-rated speaker on the topic of Affirmative Action compliance for SHRM and other conferences many other professional associations and conferences across the country. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Member Award from the local SHRM chapter and the Arkansas Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. He received the Arkansas Human Resources Professional of the Year Award and was finalist for the SHRM National Award for Professional Excellence and the Jim Wilkins Life Time Achievement Award in Human Resources and the Russell Gunter Legislative Advocacy Award.

He is the Chair for the Arkansas Industry Liaison Group.

He has served the ARSHRM State Council as Professional Development Director and is currently the Government Legislative Affairs Director.

As a cancer survivor he serves as a coach for esophageal cancer patients with MD Anderson Medical Cancer Center.

Michael S. Cohen is a partner in Duane Morris’ Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group.  Michael concentrates his practice in the areas of employment law training and counseling. He has trained and counseled employers throughout the country on subjects including harassment prevention; diversity, equity and inclusion; combatting implicit bias; performance management; discipline and discharge; hiring and recruiting practices; performance evaluations; FMLA, ADA and FLSA compliance; leave of absence policies; LGBTQ+ issues in the workplace; substance abuse testing; workplace violence; records retention; conducting background checks; and more. Michael also has conducted investigations into claims of harassment and discrimination and has drafted employee handbooks, employment agreements, non-compete agreements and post-termination agreements. Michael regularly conducts in excess of 200 trainings each year.  He has represented clients throughout the country in EEO and other administrative proceedings.

Michael has been cited as a national authority on employment issues by The New York Times, The Associated Press, USA Today, MSNBC.com, HR Magazine, SHRM On-Line, Employment Law 360, Inside Counsel Magazine, as well as many other publications. Michael serves as an Advisory Board Member of GenHERation and as a Board Member of Serve, Inc. Michael is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph (“Joe”) Beachboard is a nationally recognized employment lawyer who also closely tracks the most important developments at the U.S. Supreme Court impacting the business community. He has more than 30 years of experience representing management in a wide variety of employment and labor matters in perhaps the most challenging state in the nation for employers – California.  Mr. Beachboard speaks regularly before human resource and employer groups on cutting edge employment law topics.  He is a member of SHRM and has been an annual presenter at both the SHRM Annual Conference and the Employment Law and Compliance Conference for two decades.  Mr. Beachboard is frequently quoted in such leading publications as HR Magazine, National Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, NY Times, HR Executive and Workforce, and has been published in dozens of legal and business journals. Throughout his career in Los Angeles, Mr. Beachboard has represented dozens of studios and entertainment properties.  He cites his most interesting project as working with the cast and crew of the television show The Office, from its pilot through the final season.

Rebekah Kowalski is the Vice President of ManpowerGroup’s Global Strategic Workforce Consulting Practice. As the Principal Consultant for the practice globally, Rebekah focuses on helping clients understand the risks to business and economic growth strategies posed by workforce supply and demand forces, and partners with them to develop practical options for ensuring they have the right talent in the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost. Rebekah specializes in consulting and advising on how the convergence of government, education, employers, and individuals drives local and global market competitiveness.  Prior to her current role, Rebekah spent nine years at the helm of Manpower’s US and Global Solutions units and led the teams responsible for working with ManpowerGroup’s most strategically significant clients. She is a member of the Advisory Council of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for the Study of the Workplace and a member of multiple research consortia.

Bill Inman is a 15-year veteran in the human resources industry who has served in executive leadership positions at several of the nation’s largest contingent workforce management and staffing companies. Currently, he is president of Emergent, a Los Angeles based contingent workforce employer and wholly owned subsid-iary of GEP Administrative Services, Inc., which ranks among the largest employers of contingent labor in the U.S.

Bill has positioned his company as an industry game changer, introducing solutions to disrupt the traditional staffing services market. Emergent is radically changing the way companies engage temporary and project-based contingent workers, providing a compliant employment platform that helps companies source their own contingent workforces to reduce their labor costs, minimize their compliance risk and improve their overall workforce productivity. With his leadership and continued innovation, Emergent will continue to grow as a significant player in the contingent workforce marketplace.

With more than 20 years of industrial engineering and plant management experience at European, Chinese and US-owned companies in a variety of industries, he’s seen just about everything the business world can throw at you. From frenetic growth and high volume, to cutting out fat, cutting into muscle and cutting your own throat.

Todd is a long-time lean operations practitioner and six sigma black belt. He’s started up a billion-dollar semiconductor fab, improved factory performance so it just hums along, integrated operations after mergers and acquisitions and outsourced production overseas laying off hundreds of employees and closing plants.

In 2000, Todd started the Maverick Institute to pioneer the application of lean production principles to training and development. Throughout his career, Todd’s seen that effective knowledge transfer and sharing of expertise are critical elements to success. Today, the blistering pace of change, the globalization of business and the explosion of learning technologies requires organizations adopt a new learning framework.

Geoffrey Dubiski has been a passionate liberator of companies’ talent management processes for over twenty years. Gaining insight with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, Geoffrey became an executive compensation consultant with Towers Perrin and an operational executive with one of the largest National staffing firms directing large-scale workforce engagements. He now leads Sumner Grace - a human capital strategy and advisory firm dedicated to the advancement of client’s success through talent management.

Working with companies including GE, Cisco, Ingersoll-Rand, Monsanto as well as Discovery Communications, Vail Resorts, TYCO, NCR and Scotiabank, Geoffrey has facilitated over $1.5 billion dollars in client expenditures in the human capital markets and overseen the fulfillment of 240,000 positions.

A self-proclaimed metrics junkie, Geoffrey takes a non-conformist view of data usage and how HR, specifically recruiting, is a profit center for any organization.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter @talenscout1.

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