Concurrent Session

Ric Edelman, a top-ranked advisor for nine years in a row and three times named the #1 independent financial advisor in the country,1 is Chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services LLC. He is also CEO, President and a Director of The Edelman Financial Group. Ric is the best-selling author of seven books, including Rescue Your Money, the award-winning The Lies About Money and the personal finance classic, The Truth About Money, now in its fourth edition. “The Truth About Money with Ric Edelman” can be heard on radio stations and seen on public television throughout the country. Edelman Financial manages $7.9 billion for more than 17,0002 clients. He is also an Investment Advisor Representative who offers advisory services through EFS and a registered Principal of (and offering securities through) Sanders Morris Harris Inc., an affiliated broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC.Visit Ric online at RicEdelman.com.

Allan H. Weitzman is the head of the Labor and Employment Law Department in the Boca Raton office of Proskauer Rose LLP, and is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law with over forty-one years’ experience – all at Proskauer. 

Based on a peer-review study, Allan has been named in the 2005 through 2015 editions of Best Lawyers in America, the nation’s definitive guide to legal excellence.  He is particularly proud that he was named by Best Lawyers as the 2013 Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law in South Florida.  From 2007 through 2015, Allan has earned a first tier Chambers ranking for his outstanding employment law work.  In 2009 and 2011 through 2015, Allan was named by Human Resource Executive magazine as one of the nation’s top 100 corporate employment attorneys. He is also a fellow in the prestigious College of Labor Employment Law Attorneys. 

Among his notable achievements, Allan submitted the amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Society for Human Resources Management in the Faragher case.  The employer’s “affirmative defense” that was adopted by the Supreme Court in Faragher was based on an argument made by Allan and his firm. 

Allan is graduate of the Cornell Law School where he was an Editor of the Cornell Law Review, graduating with distinction and was a member of “The Order of the Coif.”

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.

 

 

Dan Schawbel is a New York Times bestselling author, a Partner and Research Director at Future Workplace. He is the author of three career books: Back to Human, Promote Yourself and Me 2.0. He is the host of “5 Questions with Dan Schawbel”, a podcast where he interviews a variety of world-class humans by asking them 5 questions in less than 10 minutes. He has been recognized on several lists including Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30”, Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30”, Business Insider’s “40 Under 40”, BusinessWeek’s “20 Entrepreneurs You Should Follow,” and as one of Workforce Magazine’s “Game Changers”.

Sheldon Blumling is a Partner in the Irvine, California office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, a national labor and employment law firm. He is a member of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group. He advises clients with respect to all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation, including retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans and equity-based compensation plans.

Follow Sheldon on Twitter  @labor_attorneys.

 Joe is a leading thinker in managing and motivating people. He’s passionate about helping organizations achieve their vision through effective performance management.

 He’s a top-rated SHRM speaker and serves as Chief Value Officer for Delphia Consulting, a national HR and Payroll software consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio. Joe is the co-creator of miviva, a continuous performance management application.

 Joe has over 30 years of experience and serves as VP of Professional Development on the Human Resources Association of Central Ohio (HRACO) Board of Directors. Joe is a cited contributor to the SHRM Learning System.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

 

Debbi Davidson is a Senior Human Resources Consultant with Willis’s HR Partner practice in Atlanta. She provides consultation and guidance to clients in the areas of compensation design, human resources strategy, total rewards, performance management, training and development, and market/best practice research. Prior to joining Willis, Debbi was a Principal/Senior Consultant with Mercer and PricewaterhouseCoopers where she consulted with clients on a variety of compensation issues. Prior to her consulting experience, Debbi was Director of Human Resources for Rollins, Inc. and Human Resources Manager for Computer Sciences Corporation. Debbi holds a BS degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from Auburn University and a MA degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. She is a Certified Compensation Professional with WorldatWork.