Concurrent Session

 

Julie Austin is an award-winning author, inventor, and multiple business owner. Her patented product, swiggies, wrist water bottles, have been a NASDAQ product of the year semi finalist and are currently sold in 24 countries. She's appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX News, along with dozens of TV shows, magazines and radio shows around the world. She's a "go-to" media expert in the fields of innovation & creativity, and is featured in the books "Patently Female" and "Girls Think of Everything". Her book "The Money Garden: How to Plant the Seeds for a Lifetime of Income" is available on Amazon.

Warner Bros. is a leader in the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting. At Warner Bros., Andy Ortiz is Senior Vice President, Organization Effectiveness, a position he has held since March, 2008.

In his role, Ortiz is responsible for ensuring the development of Warner Bros. most important asset, its people. He is responsible for aligning its people with the Company’s business strategy through employee learning and development, leadership development, succession management, diversity initiatives, employee communications, employee relations, and change management. Andy also oversees all global organization development initiatives.

Prior to joining Warner Bros., Andy was Vice-President, Talent Management, Diversity, and Leadership Development for HealthNet, Inc. While at HealthNet, he was responsible for the leadership of the company’s talent pipeline including workforce planning, recruitment, diversity, associate development, leadership development, and succession management. Prior to HealthNet, Andy held numerous leadership roles in a variety of industries including financial services, cable, and automotive.

Ortiz earned his Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication. Andy is a certified executive coach from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara and a member of the International Coaching Federation.

Greg Morrison considers himself a change agent and has applied his skills in strategically addressing business challenges and building two sustainable high performing global Human Resource functions.  His success is attributed to surrounding himself with great people who transform into powerful strategic leaders that thrive on change and drive value throughout the organization. Morrison is currently the Global Vice President, Human Resources for Tornier, Inc. - a leading global orthopaedic extremity company.  Tornier provides innovative solutions that every patient deserves, and is the partner that every orthopaedic specialist trusts. Prior to joining Tornier, he served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources at ev3 Inc. from August 2007 to December 2010, and as Vice President, Human Resources from May 2002 to August 2007. 

Dr. Singleton comes to Marist College from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He has held many leadership positions at GW and most recently served as associate dean, where he was responsible for all aspects of School of Business undergraduate programs. 

Singleton has held numerous academic and professional positions throughout his career. He has served as president of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Accounting Association, Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Human Resource Certification Institute, and as a member of its Executive and HR Committees. He worked in the audit and National SEC Practice groups of Ernst & Young LLP’s Washington office and was a visiting professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management in France and Peking University in China. He has also served as a consultant to many of the world’s leading companies and organizations, including Cisco Systems, Inc., Harley-Davidson Motor Company, NASDAQ, National Investor Relations Institute, National Geographic Society, Public Relations Society of America, Raytheon, Roche, Siemens Corporation, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and The World Bank.

Singleton is a recipient of the George Washington Award, the university’s highest, in recognition of exceptional contributions. He has received numerous teaching awards and was recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management on numerous occasions as one of its Annual Conference Top Ten Speakers.

Singleton is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Beta Gamma Sigma, Beta Alpha Psi, the American Accounting Association, the National Investor Relations Institute, and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Singleton received Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in accounting from Louisiana State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant

 

 

Vicki Hess is an expert in employee engagement, team dynamics, and workforce and leadership development. A registered nurse with more than 30 years of hands-on professional experience include healthcare, consulting & sales. Hess is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), the speaking profession’s international standard for platform skill.
In 2011 & 2012, Speaking.com named Hess a ”Top 5 Healthcare Speaker”. Hess holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development from Towson University and was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University Graduate School of Business for five years. Hess is the author of SHIFT to Professional Paradise: 5 Steps to Less Stress, More Energy & Remarkable Results at Work and the The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Hiring, Firing & Inspiring . She is also a regular contributor to the Baltimore Business Journal and NurseTogether.com
 

Gary Latham teaches courses in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour. His research includes employee motivation, performance appraisal and training. Latham currently has a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant to investigate the use of goal setting theory as a basis for enhancing transfer of training. Latham is also examining ways of increasing organizational justice and organizational citizenship in the workplace.

In 1995, Borbi began his journey as a financial advisor at a full financial services firm and would eventually manage close to $100 million in assets for his own clients. His income grew from $28,000 in his first year to $500,000 seven years later; this dramatic rise of income would prove to be his downfall and led to some poor ethical choices. When the stock market fell in 2001, Borbi's began to cover his clients’ losses by transferring assets illegally and committing wire fraud. He was caught when his biggest client noticed the illegal transfers. This crime lead to a 30 month sentence in Federal prison. Borbi’s life took an extreme turn and he lost everything. He returned to society a pariah, banned from the investment community forever, a felon who would always be looked at differently, having to rebuild his life financially, gain new friends, reestablish his credibility, and tell his two young children where he had been for 2 years. Borbi is now sharing his mistakes  with the intent to help people make strong ethical choices and live each day without regrets.
 

In his current role, Mark oversees  the company's human resources, compensation & benefits, organization effectiveness, training & development, information systems, guest service systems and video communications departments. Prior to joining Jack in the Box, Blankenship was vice president of human resources for Mitchell International, a San Diego-based company that provides information products, software and e-Business solutions to the insurance industry.

Rhonda Larimore is vice president of Human Resources for Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Ms. Larimore’s expertise and leadership helped transform Children’s Hospital’s Human Resources Department into a business partner with hospital divisions as well as with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh Physicians and outside companies who provide contract services and staff to the hospital. Under her leadership, Children’s HR Department focuses on the people who carry out the mission of the hospital every day. Her hospital operations experience helped drive improved HR practices specifically in the areas of recruitment, retention, and development of top performing employees. She brings a high level of creativity to identify and implement solutions to the many human resources challenges.  Ms. Larimore has a Master of Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree from Carlow University. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources.

Alison sets the strategic direction for her firm, leads the development of new products and services, and provides senior counsel to clients such as BNY Mellon, ITT, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Merck and PepsiCo.
She is co-author of The Definitive Guide to HR Communication (FT Press, 2011), and co-author of Your Attention, Please (Adams Business, 2006). Davis is a former online columnist for The New York Times and frequently writes articles for business publications, including The Conference Board Review, Communication World and PR Strategist. In 2009, she was rated a top speaker at the SHRM Annual Conference.
Alison is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Society of America and the Communication Leadership Exchange. Alison earned her B.A. from Douglass College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.