Concurrent Session

Mr. Wilkinson is the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc. - a leadership training and strategy consulting firm specializing in group facilitation. He is considered a national leader in the facilitation industry. • Author of The Secrets of Facilitation and The Secrets to Masterful Meetings. • Board member of the International Institute for Facilitation. • Founder of the FindaFacilitator database. • One of the first five Certified Master Facilitators in North America. • Named Facilitator of the Year in 2003 by the Southeast Association of Facilitators. Active in both the private and public sectors, he has provided leadership training and strategy development assistance to such diverse organizations as The Coca-Cola Company, Unisys, Sears, EPA, CDC, KPMG Peat Marwick, and the American Cancer Society. Mr. Wilkinson is a much sought after facilitator, trainer and speaker, both in the U.S. and around the globe. He has completed international assignments in Bangkok, Brisbane, Glasgow, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Milan, Singapore, Sydney and Wellington. Past participants have commented that his dynamic presentation style, combined with his unique insights, make for an intense, power-packed session. Prior to Leadership Strategies, Mr. Wilkinson spent six years with ADP and eight years in the information technology practice of Ernst & Young's Manage¬ment Consulting Group. He is a High Honors graduate from Dartmouth and resides with his wife and two children in Atlanta.

Jen Shirkani is the CEO of Penumbra Group and has spent over 20-years as a learning and development specialist, trainer and speaker. Her topics are presented from a leadership perspective filled with practical strategies and immediately useable tips. She lives in New England where she oversees a national talent management firm. She has been a past speaker at national SHRM conferences and at SHRM affiliates in Colorado, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Maine, and the North East. Jen holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership and focuses on leadership development, communication skills and on making common sense more common.

Since 1986, Ms. Young and her associates have helped their clients develop vision and strategies and implement “change” in their businesses worldwide. They coach and develop globally competent and multiculturally versatile leaders on the individual and group basis in order to help mold a new organization that is nimble and flexible in order to meet its customers’ needs around the world.  Ms. Young is a faculty member of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, Organization System Development Programs where she trains coaches in the theory, concept and application of Gestalt in the development of “Whole Person” leadership, teams and organization.   She is an adjunct professor for Pepperdine University, School of Business.  Ms. Young is also a professional speaker on Pacific Rim cultures, cross-cultural communication, organizational behavior, organizational change, multicultural leadership, diversity and creativity, and global business strategies.   Ms. Young has a BA in Business Administration from Fu-Jen University in Taiwan, a MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University and a MA in Counseling Psychology from Pepperdine University.

KATHY DOAN, SPHR, Vice President, Community Banking HR Insights & Metrics, Wells Fargo Bank’s Community Banking Human Resources Group. As a Senior Analytics Consultant, she provides analytics and insights to link HR metrics with business performance. She consults with over 50 HR Business Partners on the areas of retention, customer and team member experience, manager effectiveness, employee engagement, talent management, diversity, and productivity using statistics-driven methods. An 11-year veteran with Wells Fargo, Doan has previously served as an HRIS Consultant for Wells Fargo’s Regional Banking Human Resources Group supporting the Recruitment Strategy team, where she consulted with 300+ recruiters on the candidate experience; new hire retention, productivity, and satisfaction; and recruiting effectiveness. She is a certified Project Management Professional, Senior Professional in Human Resources, Human Capital Strategist, and a Six Sigma Green Belt. She has a B.A. in Mathematics, a B.S. in Statistics, and an M.S. in Financial Engineering. 

 

 

Candy Knowles, a veteran health system human resources executive, is senior vice president for human resources and chief human resources officer for the University of Maryland Medical Center and its parent organization, the 12-hospital University of Maryland Medical System. In this newly-created position, she has oversight of all human resources functions throughout the system and serves as part of the senior leadership team.

 

Before joining the University of Maryland Medical Center/System, Knowles was the chief human resources officer at Parkland Health and Hospital in Dallas. Prior to her role at Parkland, she served in senior human resources positions at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, IN, Phoebe Putney Health System in Georgia, and Battle Creek Health System in Michigan.

 

Candy is certified by the Society of Human Resources Management and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.  

Cali Williams Yost believes when business and people partner, they create award- winning flexible workplaces that achieve high performance and work+life well being.  

For over two decades as a corporate strategist, author, speaker and founder of the Flex Strategy Group / Work Life Fit Inc., Yost has helped hundreds of organizations adapt their strategies and cultures to the new reality of work, and has given thousands of individuals the modern tools and skills to take control of their work+life fit and find success, on and off the job. 

Leaders from diverse organizations, such as E&Y, Novo Nordisk, Quest Diagnostics, the United Nations, USDA, Stanford University and the Singapore Government, regularly seek out her high-impact, often contrarian, yet always practical, insights into what it takes for flexibility to really succeed in the workplace.     

An honors graduate of Columbia Business School, Yost’s pioneering work+life “fit” how-to advice for individuals can be found in the recently released, Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day, (Center Street/Hachette, 2013), and in the critically-acclaimed, Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2004).  

Called “one of the most sophisticated thinkers,” on work and life issues by The New York Times, Yost is frequently asked to comment in the media. She has appeared on the TODAY Show, most recently with Maria Shriver as part of her “Doing It All” series, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, NPR, and in Fast Company, USAToday, and the Wall Street Journal. 

In addition to being named one of Mashable’s Top 14 Career Experts on Twitter, and one of Columbia Business School’s Alumni Changing the World, her websites have been awarded “Best of the Web” distinctions by Forbes.com and WorkingMother.com. Yost lives in New Jersey where her work+life fit includes two wonderful daughters and an amazing husband.

For more information about Cali Williams Yost, and the Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit, Inc., go to www.flexstrategygroup.com, and connect with Cali on Twitter @caliyost and on Facebook facebook.com/worklifefit.

Follow Cali on Twitter @caliyost.