Concurrent Session

Matt Tenney envisions a world in which all leaders and workplace cultures consistently make a positive impact on the wellbeing and growth of team members.

He is the author of the highly-acclaimed book, Serve To Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom, and his inspiring TED talk has been viewed over 1 million times since January 2020. 

Matt has delivered programs that help improve employee engagement and retention to hundreds of clients, including companies like Salesforce, T. Rowe Price, Roche, Kraft Heinz, Marriott, Keller Williams, L’ Oreal, and many others.  

Dan Gallagher is an inclusive and innovative leader who works at the intersection of talent and transformation to increase individual, team, and organizational self-awareness. He’s committed to intentionally linking customer and employee experiences, and very savvy at humanizing change. Dan has worked as both a practitioner and consultant building trust and rallying teams around key business initiatives. He has worked in a Fortune 100 corporate university, managed a boutique consulting firm, led several B2B brand launches, and is past president of Philadelphia SHRM. Dan currently works with clients on consulting, coaching, and development engagements to grow and scale their businesses.

Jack Gottlieb is a results-driven senior executive with 20 years of experience in transforming and revitalizing organizations. As the CEO of Total Solutions Group, a strategic consulting and results-based training firm, he has a proven track record of aligning culture, strategy, and capability to achieve critical short-term and long-term goals. TSG has generated $3.25 billion in ROI for clients in growth, profitability, innovation, and efficiency, including leading fifteen M&As and ten turnarounds from inception to implementation. 

With extensive experience in the C-Suite and as an HR leader Jack has a deep expertise of how to drive organizational health and performance through an embedded employee experience. Jack has had global roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, & Chief Culture Officer in banking and currently is the Vice President of Global Capability & Transformation in a market leading test lab in the gaming industry. 
Jack has been one of the top rated speakers and thought leaders for SHRM both at annual and state council conferences. Jack also hosts the successful "L&D Transformation Podcast: How To Lead The Future Of Our Organizations Through Talent Development” which is in its third season with over 100 episodes.

Omari Faulkner is President and CEO of Blue Fire Fed, a strategic communications and development company.  As a trailblazing business leader, driven by service and a passion to address the needs of the military community, Omari delivers solutions and provides thought leadership to Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, universities, and nonprofit organizations.  He ensures veterans, military families, and active military members transitioning to civilian life are fully integrated into the civilian workforce and culture; filling an untapped niche in the global workplace.

He has traveled to over 45 countries as a U.S. Department of State Special Envoy and is the author of Athlete for Life, a book providing student-athletes, parents, coaches, and the sport development community with a blueprint for success and lifelong accomplishment.  Today, he remains an active Public Affairs Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.  

Wendy Harkness is the Chief Compliance Officer at Harri. She leads the advancement of Harri’s industry-leading Workforce Compliance Platform, supporting a rapidly expanding community of global enterprise clients across multiple compliance functions, including wage & hour, payroll, and training. Wendy is also leading the development of Harri’s Predictive Compliance products. This first-in-market suite of solutions allows HR, legal, finance, and operations executives to better monitor, mitigate, and plan for employee risk across their organization.

Erica Edwards-O'Neal is a strategic diversity, equity and social responsibility professional and lawyer. Bringing more than 25 years’ experience, she is a business executive that has provided guidance, counsel, and training across the country on topics including cultural competence, implicit bias, microaggressions, inclusive leadership, inclusive human resource practices and EEO compliance. Additionally, she is an experienced EEO officer skilled in conducting investigations, resolution of employee relations matters, HR laws, and industry best practices.

In late 2020, Erica joined the New York Road Runners (NYRR) as the Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She spearheads the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy across all business units and levels of the organization. Under her leadership, she will direct NYRR’s cultural shift to a more inclusive environment that will extend to the community that it serves. As part of this role, she is leading the policies and practices to embed equity and belonging principles in the organizational DNA.

Previously, she held the position of Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Social Responsibility for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In that role, she oversaw the development of policies and programs to attract, retain, and foster a diverse and inclusive workforce. Erica has a long-standing commitment to diversity and public service. Her other professional experiences of diversity leadership include serving as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion and Senior Career Counselor at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, the Director of Legislative Advocacy Coalition at the Health & Welfare Council, and the Community Development Liaison at Americorp VISTA.

Erica received her B.A in Government from the College of William and Mary and her J.D. from Touro Law College.

She is a member of the Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association, National Association of Law Placement Professionals, The Metropolitan Black Bar Association, The National Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Erica is also the founder of EEO Consults, a firm that helps to support organizations seeking to operationalize equity principles.

Angela Rogers is a Specialist with the HR Registered Apprenticeship Program (HR RAP) at the SHRM Foundation.  Angela conducts outreach, partner engagement, and project management to build the SHRM apprenticeship brand.  She brings diverse experiences from her well-established career in the public and private sectors.

Previously, Angela was a USDOL, Office of Apprenticeship, recognized Apprenticeship Training Representative (ATR), and State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA), Registered Apprenticeship Program Coordinator with the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  Angela managed and oversaw Statewide Registered Apprenticeship Programs in multiple industries.  Her oversight significantly led to the expansion of Registered Apprenticeship programs within the state.

Angela received her Master's degree in Public Administration from Kentucky State University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky.  In addition, Angela is certified in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Angela is a two-time commissioned Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the sitting Governor of Kentucky in recognition of outstanding service to the community, state, and nation.

Dick Finnegan is THE global turnover expert, having cut turnover by 30% and more for healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, distribution centers, call centers, and other industries…and on all six inhabited continents.

Dick has authored the top-selling SHRM-published book, The Power of Stay Interviews, along with four other books. BusinessWeek magazine has said “Finnegan offers fresh thinking for solving the turnover problem in any economy”. He has been similarly cited by Forbes, Chief Executive Magazine, and Consulting Magazine.

He holds bachelors and graduate degrees from The Pennsylvania State University and lives in Orlando, Florida.

Twelve-time published author, Dr. Elijah Nicholas is an Author, Actor, and Advocate. Assigned the female sex at birth, Elijah spent almost half of his life in the US Military, as a woman. Retiring from the US Air Force as a Lt Col in 2012, Dr. Elijah now fully lives and embraces his core values: Authenticity, Integrity, and Transparency. Dr. Elijah further resigned his pastoral duties when he started his gender affirmation in 2018.

Dr. Elijah holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), a Masters of Science in Leadership and Operational Art, a Masters of Art in Education Training & Leadership (MAET), and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Administration of Justice. Dr. Nicholas attended the Harvard Divinity Executive Education program in 2021. Dr. Elijah is the author of a Tran-inclusive family & children's book featuring Madoodle (aka Madison), a ten-year-old girl whose Uncle Pete was once her favorite Auntie Mary. Madoodle is based on Dr. Elijah's personal experiences with family as he navigated his gender transition.  Dr. Elijah has provided Gender Identity and Trans Awareness & Inclusion Training for a host of organizations around the world.

Ms. Bongi is the Senior Specialist, Exchange Visitor Program, working with SHRM’s intern and trainee program participants and sponsor organizations.  Ms. Bongi comes to SHRM with years of experience assisting young professionals and host companies in the J-1 intern and trainee visa sponsorship process.  She has been involved with the Exchange Visitor program since 2012 and in her free time, counsels and monitors J-1 high school exchange students and host families as a Local Coordinator.  In addition to her work in international exchange, Ms. Bongi previously has also created a Department of Labor registered culinary apprenticeship program and has experience teaching Talent Management Training and Train the Trainer courses.  Her background is in financial reporting and accounting and she spent the early part of her career working for companies such as JPMorgan and America Online.  Ms. Bongi earned her MS in School Counseling from Long Island University and her BS in Finance from Pennsylvania State University.

Manuel Lievano is a cofounder and CEO of MCC USA a Global work force solution company that focuses on helping U.S. companies with proven labor shortages to recruit foreign workers under different immigrations categories

Under Manuel’s Leadership, MCC has undergone a comprehensive operational turnaround with record financial growth. As a result, MCC USA is currently and industry leader with recruiting presence in more that 52 countries worldwide

The company has achieved  12 consecutive quarters of year over year growth, doubling the size of the business in just three years. Manuel  drives home the company’s commitment to connecting with employees and customers alike, creating the strongest business possible. 

Manuel comes with more than a decade of experience in the recruiting field; first  recruiting for companies in Canada and later for U.S companies. Manuel holds a BA in  Economics from the University of Minnesota. He currently lives in between Miami FL and his native country Colombia with his wife , Juliana and their two beautiful kids.