General Session

As the Executive Director of the Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation, Genevieve drives creation and growth of national efforts to expand employment opportunities for people with criminal backgrounds. On a given day you’ll find her sharing expertise with a group of hiring professionals, meeting with government agencies to advocate for hiring people with criminal backgrounds or collaborating with Second Chance Employers around the country to recruit more businesses into the fold. In addition to producing multiple Second Chance Summits around the country, she’s participated in the Center for American Progress and Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives task forces, presented at the Inc 5000, SXSW Interactive Festiva, Sustainable Brands,  International Corrections & Prisons Association, partnered with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) to launch the Getting Talent Back to Work Toolkit, and joined hundreds of other companies across America on the Fair Chance Business Pledge and at the White House in 2016 and 2019.

Heidi Mason represents public and private organizations in employment and labor law matters at Innova Legal Advisors PC.  Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Mason worked as a human resources professional for mid-sized and large corporations. She has hands-on experience in recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations, occupational safety, leaves of absence, payroll, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and collective bargaining agreements. Ms. Mason earned her bachelor's degrees in human resource management and general management from Portland State University and her J.D., cum laude, from Lewis and Clark College, Northwestern School of Law. She serves as a Workforce Readiness Co-Director for the Portland Human Resource Management Association and oversees the organization’s Second Chance activities and outreach efforts.

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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.

Jessica Herrera-Flanigan is Executive Vice President of Government and Corporate Affairs for Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America. In this role, she spearheads the Company’s government relations efforts, corporate social responsibility, social impact and empowerment initiatives including Univision Contigo as well as cross-platform diversity and community efforts. Herrera-Flanigan oversees the Univision Washington, D.C. office, which focuses on developing strategies to address the key public policy issues that impact the Company and the U.S. Hispanic community. She leads a first-class team that works to enhance Univision’s presence among policymakers and influencers, as well as extend the Company’s communications with key stakeholders, such as business and trade associations, consumer groups, think tanks and partners.

Before joining Univision, Herrera-Flanigan served as a partner at Monument Policy Group, where she led the firm’s technology, media and crisis communications practices, as well as advised on such issues as national security, privacy, immigration, and sports. Previously, Herrera-Flanigan served as the Staff Director and General Counsel for the House Committee on Homeland Security, where she was the first Latina to lead a major Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. She has held various other government service positions, including serving as senior counsel in the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney working on fraud and public corruption cases in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. She started her career as a communications and energy lawyer in private practice.

Herrera-Flanigan has deep ties to the Hispanic community, having served as president of the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. and regional vice president for the Hispanic National Bar Association. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and currently serves on the National Association of Broadcasters Television Board and the U.S. Center for Safe Sport Board of Directors. A sought-after speaker and recognized with multiple industry accolades, Herrera-Flanigan was named to Cablefax Magazine’s 2018 Top Women in Cable and Media, honored as Multichannel News’ Wonder Woman, named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States three times by Hispanic Business Magazine, received the President’s Award from the Hispanic Lobbyists Association in 2015, and has been featured in The Hill’s Top Lobbyists list multiple times.

Herrera-Flanigan received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale University.

Kevin Harper is a Senior Retail Executive who recently retired from Walmart after more than 37 years of successful experience in Human Resources, Store Operations, Technology Implementation and International Acquisition Integration.  Before retiring, Kevin spent more than 13 years in Human Resources where the last position he held was that of Senior Vice President People Strategy and Operations.  Delivering quality customer focused results through agile, innovative and people led initiatives around the globe is what inspires Kevin.  In retirement, Kevin is enjoying spending his time with family and traveling with his wife Marsha.

Dr. Larry J. Sabato is a New York Times best-selling author, has won three Emmys, and is recognized as one of the nation’s most respected political analysts.

He appears multiple times a week on national and international TV, including FOX, CNN, MSNBC, and CNN International.

A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, and has had visiting appointments at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England.

Dr. Sabato is the author or editor of two dozen books on American politics. He has taught over 20,000 students in his 40-year career, and the University of Virginia has given him its highest honor, The Thomas Jefferson Award.

Richard A. Fowler is the nationally syndicated radio host of the The Richard Fowler Show, a Fox News Channel contributor and millennial messaging expert.

Positioned at the intersection of news, politics and the cultural issues facing everyday Americans, Richard’s fresh style and non-traditional spin on populism have taken audiences by storm. He pushes all ages and demographics to ask more of themselves. As a gay man, Fowler understands this fight more than most, having fought for equality his entire adulthood.

From his campaign work uncovering the deplorable school conditions in the Detroit Public School system to his effort training and equipping hundreds of millennials to run for office and take charge of their community, Richard brings a sense of realness to everything he does.

When asked what drives him Richard says, "Talk is cheap. Our country needs real solutions, and they will come from our greatest resource –our people."

Blake Mycoskie is the Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, and the person behind the idea of One for One®, a business model that helps a person in need with every product purchased.

A simple idea has grown into a global movement: TOMS Shoes has provided over 60 million pairs of shoes to children since 2006, TOMS Eyewear has restored sight to over 400,000 since 2011 and TOMS Roasting Company has helped provide over 335,000 weeks of safe water since launching in 2014. In 2015, TOMS Bag Collection was founded with the mission to help provide training for skilled birth attendants and distribute birth kits containing items that help a woman safely deliver her baby. As of 2016, TOMS has supported safe birth services for over 25,000 mothers.

TOMS humble beginnings happened unintentionally. While traveling in Argentina in 2006, Blake witnessed the hardships faced by children growing up without shoes. His solution to the problem was simple, yet revolutionary: to create a for-profit business that was sustainable and not reliant on donations. Blake’s vision soon turned into the simple business idea that provided the powerful foundation for TOMS. Over the course of its first five years, TOMS was successful enough in providing shoes for children in need. But Blake, having recognized other vital needs during his travels around the world, realized that One for One® could be applied to more than shoes. He developed the idea for TOMS Eyewear in which for every pair of eyewear purchased, TOMS would help give sight to a person in need. One for One®. In the fall of 2011, Blake released his first book, Start Something That Matters, offering his own amazing story of inspiration, and the power of incorporating giving in business. He references other companies and individuals who have been motivated and inspired to integrate philanthropy into their profession as well as their personal lives. The book became a New York Times best-seller. More importantly, it is Blake’s hope that Start Something That Matters inspires others to turn their passion and dreams into a reality.

From shoes to eyewear and now a book, Blake’s unique approach to business has awarded him with numerous accolades. In 2009, Blake and TOMS received the Secretary of State’s 2009 Award of Corporate Excellence (ACE). At the Clinton Global Initiative University plenary session, former President Clinton introduced Blake to the audience as “one of the most interesting entrepreneurs (I’ve) ever met.” People Magazine featured Blake in its “Heroes Among Us” section, and TOMS Shoes was featured in the Bill Gates Time Magazine article “How to Fix Capitalism.” In 2011, Blake was named on Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list, recognizing him as one of the top young businessmen in the world.

Ginger Hardage recently retired as Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications at Southwest Airlines after an illustrious 25 years, where she served as a member of the CEO's executive leadership team. At Southwest (the nation’s largest airline), Ginger led a team of 150 people responsible for building and sustaining the organization's legendary culture and communications enterprise.

Recognized by many as a foremost global authority on building and sustaining organizational culture, Ginger was responsible for the activities that nourished the culture and the internal and external communications function. At Southwest, Ginger was a tireless ambassador of the world-famous Southwest Culture, leading to honors like 22 consecutive years on FORTUNE’s “Top 10 Most Admired Companies in the World” list. Most importantly, Ginger helped champion the values that have made Southwest a culture of enduring greatness – we put people first, we treat customers like family, we nurture our culture, and we try to change ahead of the times.

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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.

Vineet Nayar is Founder Chairman of Sampark Foundation and former CEO of HCL Technologies (for wiki profile) and author of the highly acclaimed management bestseller “Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down” (Harvard Business Press, June 2010).

A management visionary and radical thinker, Vineet led the transformation of HCL Technologies into one of India’s fastest-growing global information technology services company, growing from $0.7 billion in 2005 to a $4.7 billion Global Technology Services Company with over 85,000 employees across 32 countries in 2013. This radical transformation led Fortune to recognize HCLT as “the world’s most modern management” while BusinessWeek named HCLT as “one of the world’s most influential companies”; which led its innovative management practices to be taught as a case study at both the Harvard Business School and London Business School.

Vineet, in turn, was chosen by Fortune Magazine for its first-ever global Executive Dream Team and also found a place on the elite Thinkers 50 List. His ideas of organization transformation have received rich praise from influencers like the late C.K. Prahalad, Tom Peters, Gary Hamel, and Ram Charan.

Vineet stepped down from the company in 2013 to focus on Sampark Foundation, co-founded with his wife Anupama Nayar, to catalyse ‘large-scale transformation in primary education through frugal innovation’. Today, Sampark Foundation is transforming learning outcomes of 7 million children studying in 76,000 rural schools across 6 states in India: Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Utter Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand at less than $1 per child per pa. This large-scale transformation is now a ‘case study’ at Harvard Business School.

Vineet has been cited by Forbes in its ‘Heroes of Philanthropy List 2016’ and also as a ‘Global Thinker 2016’ by Foreign Policy magazine for ‘unplugging technology so kids can learn’ along with his wife.

Vineet joined HCL in 1985 after earning his MBA from XLRI. In 1993, he founded the start-up Comnet, where he developed and put into practice many of the ideas described in this book, transforming it into a multi-billion-dollar business. In 2005, he became president and in 2007, the CEO of HCL Technologies, where over the next five years, he led a remarkable turnaround.

Vineet currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Fortune 1000 companies. He is on the Advisory Board of the Millions Learning Project led by the ex-Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard and has served as Governor of ICT, member of the Global Advisory Board of Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program at the World Economic Forum. And, as a mentor to multiple technology led start-ups, he continues to follow his passion of turning conventional management wisdom, upside down.
 

Marc A. Howze is Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Deere & Company, a position he was appointed to in November 2016. In this role, he has responsibility for key administrative activities of the company, including Human Resources, Labor Relations, Public Affairs, Communications, Brand Management, and Security. Mr. Howze joined Deere & Company in 2001 as an attorney. He later served as Senior Attorney, Senior Counsel, and Manager, Business Development, Consumer Equipment Division. Mr. Howze was elected Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel, Deere & Company, in 2006. In 2008, Mr. Howze was assigned to Deere's agricultural marketing group as Marketing Integration Manager. In 2009, he was appointed Factory Manager, John Deere Turf Care, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, and was later Global Director, Cotton Harvesting Product Line. Immediately prior to his current position, he was Vice President, Global Human Resources and Employee Communications, beginning in October 2012. Prior to joining John Deere, Mr. Howze served in the U.S. Army as an artillery officer and in various capacities as a Judge Advocate. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Howze earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a member of the Illinois and Michigan Bar Associations and member of the boards of the Executive Leadership Council, Human Resources Policy Association, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In 2018, Mr. Howze was elected to the board of directors for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

Hollie Delaney currently serves as Head of People Operations for Zappos.com. She joined the Zappos Human Resources team in 2006; prior to Zappos, she served in different HR leadership capacities at Wet ‘n’ Wild, Marshall Retail Group and Vegas.com. Ms. Delaney began her time at Zappos by creating and managing the employee relations and benefits roadmap. Later, she began shepherding programs that some consider synonymous with the Zappos brand, such as its new hire training program and focus on employee culture. Her distinctive approach to her work has grown the Zappos HR department far beyond what is typically considered a part of the job and now includes the corporate social responsibility/charity program (Zappos For Good), the employee store, employee engagement, and her most recent project called ‘Heart & Brain’. In this latest endeavor, she’s broken down a preexisting barrier to the business side of operations and is working one on one with C-level leadership and beyond to help infuse culture and mindfulness into the business world. Ms. Delaney is passionate about working to deliver happiness and provide the best place for employees to work. Ms. Delaney’s career in Human Resources includes multiple industries, more than 20 years, and countless experiences that have helped build her philosophy of doing what is right for the whole company and the whole person rather than focusing on what went wrong. When she’s not rethinking the way HR works for employees, Ms. Delaney can be found cheering on the Las Vegas Golden Knights with her family and friends in her hometown of Las Vegas.