Concurrent Session

Margaret Spence is the founder of The Employee to CEO Project and CEO of C. Douglas & Associates. Inc. It is her mission to champion the advancement of women into executive leadership. Her new book, Leadership Self-Transformation ask women two simple questions, what do you want from your career and why don’t you have it now? It’s her feeling that you cannot get the corner office until you get clear about what you want and why you want it.  Margaret is a keynote speaker, leadership development coach, corporate consultant, and the author of three books. Learn more about Margaret at her website: www.MargaretSpence.com

Jeff Lanza was an FBI Special Agent for over 20 years. He investigated corruption, fraud, organized crime, cyber crime, human trafficking and terrorism. He has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Dateline and Larry King Live, among others.

He is passionate about keeping people and organizations safe from risk and has presented to thousands around the globe. His clients include many Fortune 500 companies.

His newest book, “Pistols to Press” is now available.

Jeff loves talking to audiences the world over, but is most comfortable in his home city, where he serves as a certified Kansas City barbecue judge.

Follow Jeff on Twitter @lanzafbi.

Heather is an exercise physiologist and sport psychologist who transformed her passion for health into a national provider of worksite health and wellness solutions. Her leadership has shaped Provant's commitment to industry best practices in the form of regular accreditation with the National Committee for Quality Assurance, adherence to Six Sigma process management standards, and the development of customized wellness programs that reduce employee health risks and build cultures of health. Prior to Provant, Heather spent more than a decade in the health promotion and management industry. She was responsible for the operation of wellness centers in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island and provided strategic development for wellness and rehabilitative services as a private consultant. Heather holds two Master of Science degrees in Exercise Physiology and Sport Psychology. Heather is Board Chairman of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Heart Association.

Carolyn Kurowski, Senior Vice President of Federal Management Partners, Inc., has over 15 years of experience leading a diverse range of projects and providing analytical and consulting services in the area of human resource management. She currently works with VA’s Learning University (VALU) to design MyCareer@VA, a world-class online resource that offers current and potential employees a “one stop shop” for career planning and development. Ms. Kurowski provides technical guidance, leading the overall integration efforts that help drive this innovative project. With a focus on building cross-functional and cross-organizational teams, she works closely with her team and her clients to navigate information analysis, process engineering, IT integration and solution development challenges. Ms. Kurowski received her M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Clark University and B.A. from Notre Dame University.

Art Amler became Vice President, Human Resources, at Ricoh in February 2012. Mr. Amler was Vice President, Compensation & Benefits, Ricoh Production Print Solutions (RPPS). In this role, Mr. Amler was responsible for directing and leading total rewards for 3,000 employees worldwide, establishing new appraisal programs, base pay, Sales Plans, performance bonus programs, and executive compensation pay programs. 

Mr. Amler began his career with IBM Corporation in 1978 and, for more than 30 years, he transitioned through various human resource management positions. In 1997 he was appointed Director of Global Employee Compensation. Over the next six years, Mr. Amler introduced worldwide market-based ‘pay for performance’ programs deploying broad banding, pay differentiation and manager-based budget allocations for both bonus and base pay programs totaling more than $1 billion. In 2003, Mr. Amler was appointed Director of IBM Compensation- Global Services, a position in which he directed executive and employee compensation programs for the group, including delivery and execution of worldwide compensation changes covering more than 100,000 employees and 1,000 executives. In 2007, he joined Ricoh as Vice President of Global Compensation and Benefits before transitioning into his current role in 2012. 

Mr. Amler has a B.A. in History from Lake Forest College and a M.B.A. in Labor Management relations from Pace University.

Toni Pilzner is an attorney with more than 15 years' experience in advising employers on creating and administering employee welfare and retirement benefit plans. Having worked as a certified public accountant and as an in-house corporate tax analyst dealing with employee benefit plan matters before becoming an attorney, she also understands the financial and practical aspects of employee benefit plan administration. Toni has shared her expertise with SHRM members by presenting concurrent sessions on employee benefits topics at a number of SHRM conferences in addition to writing SHRM Legal Alerts and contributing to SHRM Online articles on employee benefit matters. She also served on the SHRM Total Rewards Special Expertise Panel and its predecessor, the SHRM Compensation and Benefits Committee, as well as serving a three-year term on the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council.

Andrea P. Howe is the co-author, with Charles H. Green, of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust. She is the founder of The Get Real Project and an entrepreneur on a mission: to kick conventional business wisdom to the curb and transform how people work together as a result. Andrea is a recovering IT consultant who has spent more than 20 years working with clients, managing projects, and facilitating groups of all kinds and sizes. Her focus for the last decade has been teaching people in consulting roles how to get better results by getting relationships right. She speaks on topics like customer intimacy, client loyalty, the dynamics of influence, speaking hard truths, and developing business with trust. When she’s not working, you can find her in the art studio taking far too long to finish her latest mosaic project. 

Over her 22 year career at Maritz, Tammy has worked in or supported all Maritz business solutions through research.  While specializing in research in support of group travel and motivation solutions, she has played several other key organizational roles, including win/loss, voice of the customer, market intelligence, employee engagement and is a research liaison with The Maritz Institute.