General Session

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Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy Magazine and one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."

Mr. Taylor's career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), Flores & Associates, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump Administration.

The Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Mr. Taylor as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

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Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy Magazine and one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."

Mr. Taylor's career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), Flores & Associates, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump Administration.

The Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Mr. Taylor as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

Natasha leads Nielsen’s global diversity & inclusion strategy. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in Client Service, Global Operations, Product Leadership, Human Resources, and Diversity & Inclusion.

Natasha has parlayed her love of mentorship and writing into commentary on career planning and guidance. She is a contributing writer for several career and lifestyle magazines. Natasha sits on the editorial board for Training Industry Magazine and the board of directors for the Village of Oak Lawn’s Chamber of Commerce.

Natasha graduated from Northern Illinois University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. She has an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the Jack Welch Management Institute. Natasha lives in the Chicago area with her husband and their sons.

Miguel is the Chief Belonging Officer of MJA & CO, a Minority-owned consulting firm helping leaders leverage DEI as a catalyst to improve recruitment, engagement, and retention.  Recognized as a LinkedIn's Top Voice in Racial Equity, Top 15 Champion of Diversity by Diversity Global Magazine, a Top 100 Executive by Diversity MBA Magazine, and featured as an Inclusion Innovator by SHRM.

Miguel served as the first civilian Chief of D&I in the history of the US Coast Guard.  He started his career as diversity recruiter and for over a decade held several leadership positions in 3 major Federal Departments. Miguel is a TEDx speaker, featured at the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and Telemundo.

 You can learn more about him by visiting www.migueljoeyaviles.com

Caroline Casey is an award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of #valuable - a catalyst for an inclusion revolution that exists to position disability equally on the global business leadership agenda. 

Committed to building a global movement on inclusive business for the 1.3 billion people in the world with a disability, over the past two decades she has set up several organisations and initiatives centred on disability business inclusion. 

Her latest initiative, The Valuable 500, is an ambitious year-long campaign to get 500 businesses to commit to put disability inclusion on their leadership agendas. Launched at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Summit, Casey succeeded in bringing disability inclusion onto the main stage at DAVOS for the first time ever with the support of global business leaders. 

The Valuable 500 is supported by a host of global leaders including Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Polman, and global brands including Virgin Media and Omnicom. 

Casey is also a TED speaker, Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, a past advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative, a One Young World Counsellor and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

Drew Brees is the 2009 Super Bowl MVP---winning quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. A native of Austin, TX, Brees attended Westlake High School and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball and as a senior in 1996 led his football team to a perfect 16---0 record and the 5A State Championship while garnering 5A Offensive Player of the Year honors. He attended Purdue University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Management from the prestigious Krannert School of Management while lettering in football from 1997---2000. A two---time Heisman finalist, Brees led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance during the 2000 season. In that same year, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation's top collegiate player as well as being named Academic All---American Player of the Year and was a recipient of the National Football Foundation's post---graduate scholarship. In Brees' five years with the San Diego Chargers and eleven years with the New Orleans Saints, he has been elected to 12 Pro Bowls while being named 2004 Comeback Player of the Year, 2006 All---Pro Team, 2006 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, 2008 and 2011 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl XLIV Champion and MVP.

As much pride as Brees takes in his on---field performance, he takes even more pride in his community service endeavors. Drew and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003 and since then have contributed over $33,000,000 to help improve the quality of life for cancer patients and provide care, education and opportunities for children and families in need. Brees has also proudly participated in five USO trips visiting Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Turkey, Djibouti, Dubai, Okinawa, and Guantanamo Bay.

Drew currently lives with his wife Brittany and children Baylen, Bowen, Callen and Rylen in New Orleans, LA.

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Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy Magazine and one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."

Mr. Taylor's career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), Flores & Associates, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump Administration.

The Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Mr. Taylor as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

Dan Heath co-wrote four of the most-loved business books of the past decade: Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive, and their latest book, The Power of Moments, which explores why certain brief experiences can jolt, elevate and change us—and how we can learn to create these extraordinary moments in our life and work. All four were New York Times best-sellers. Together the Heath brothers' books have sold over two million copies worldwide and been translated into 33 languages.

Dan is a senior fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports entrepreneurs who fight for social good. He is also an entrepreneur himself, having founded Thinkwell, an innovative education ompany that will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2017. A former case writer for Harvard Business School, Dan was named in 2013 to the Thinkers 50, a ranking of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers, and also to Fast Company magazine’s list of the Most Creative People in Business.
He has delivered keynotes or workshops for teachers, police chiefs, U.S. senators, interior designers, Navy admirals, health care leaders, marketers, ministers, and countless executive teams, across 26 countries on 6 continents. (He’s still waiting for that invitation from Antarctica.)

Dan has a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Elatia Abate is the CEO of a start-up that matches advisors with innovation projects. She is an expert on the future of work, blockchain applications, and building cultures of creativity. She works with organizations that range in size from Fortune 500 to early-stage start-ups. She coaches the Scaling Social Innovation Lab at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

She is a sought-after speaker and lecturer, having delivered a TEDx titled, “Pioneering The Future of Work.” Other recent speaking engagements include “The Future of Work” at the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Convention (August 2017), “Design Your Dream Career” at University of Chicago Booth School of Business (February 2018) and keynoting Fundación RAP’s Seminar on Employment and Inclusion with a talk entitled “Preparing For The Fourth Industrial Revolution” at Tulane
University (March 2018). She is also the voice of "Good Evening," Brazil's Gazeta do Povo English language nightly news briefing.

Before leaving the corporate world, Ms. Abate served as Vice President of Human Resources at Dow Jones & Company and Global Director Talent Acquisition at Anheuser-Busch InBev. At both organizations she led global initiatives to build cultures of innovation through human capital strategy.

She teaches in the Continuing Studies departments of Stanford University and University of Toronto. Her work has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Estadão and Fast Company.

Ayesha Blackwell-Hawkins, Esq., Sr. Director, Talent Mobility for Johnson & Johnson.   Ayesha is the Global Head for Talent Mobility at Johnson & Johnson where she is responsible for all aspects of talent mobility including operations, strategy and compliance.  She served as member of the Board of Directors for Council for Global Immigration for 10 years (2007-2017) helping to influence immigration laws globally and was named one of Deloitte’s Women to Watch in the Tech, Media and Telecom fields in 2017.  Prior to her current role, Ayesha spent nearly 9 years growing the immigration and global mobility functions for Amazon.com, with her most recent role as head of Mobile Talent & Immigration Strategy for the e-commerce giant.  She also served as Counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb where she headed the Immigration Department.  She began her career in immigration as an Associate for Epstein, Becker and Green PC in New York. She holds a J.D. Degree from Rutgers School of Law, Camden, NJ, a B.A. from Rutgers College/Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ and is licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey.

Simon Marti is the Head of the Office of Science, Technology and Higher Education at the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States of America. In this capacity, he and his team are focusing on strengthening the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science, technology and education; they cover the respective policies, and showcase the Swiss higher education, research and innovation landscapes.

Until summer 2016, Mr. Marti worked with the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) in Switzerland, as a Project Manager in Education Management and Research. Previously, he conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University in New York (Fellowship by the Swiss National Science Foundation) and worked for the European Parliament and for the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, among others. He is a political scientist and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Basel and a Master’s degree from the University of Bern. Before entering academia, he has started out on a vocational and professional education and training pathway.

House Committees:

During the 2019 legislative session, Ruth is a member of: Joint Finance Committee; Appropriations Committee; Education Committee, Health & Human Development Committee, Manufactured Housing Committee, Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee, Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee, and Veterans Affairs Committee.

More about Rep. Briggs King:

Ruth is the 37th District Representative and has served the area since a Special Election in 2009.  She is a gifted and engaging presenter, as well as a consultant for not-for-profit organizations and strategic human resources. She has an extensive resume in a variety of fields including medical, education, banking and finance with an emphasis on leadership, organizational development, and strategic planning. Ruth is known for her honesty, straight forwardness, problem-solving abilities, and her focus on issues to get results. She has accepted major assignments in the Legislature, tackling Workers’ Compensative Reform, Prevailing Wage Reform, Financial Literacy, the Structural Revenue Review Task Force, the Mental Health Task Force and educational funding task force. Ruth initiated legislative action on opiate and heroin issues in Delaware by bringing attention to substance-exposed infants. Ruth also serves on the newly formed Autonomous Vehicle Task Force, as well as continuing to serve on not-for-profit boards including the University of Delaware’s Sea Grant board, Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition advisory board, and the Cancer Consortium. 

In 2017, Ruth was invited to attend three significant leader events outside of Delaware: Civility Training in Hyannis Port, MA, Legislative Leadership at the Fels Institute with the Council of State Governments, and the National Foundation for Women Legislators, where she serves as the State Director for Delaware.

As a strong advocate on many issues, she also maintains a busy local schedule in order to be accessible and accountable to her constituents. Ruth is married to Stanley King and they have two adult sons and six grandchildren. The latest arrival, Sawyer Renee, was born on January 12, 2018.