People & Talent Management

Dr. David S Cohen, Ed. D. has a vision: organizations that thrive by living their values in good times and especially VUCA times. David's first career was in elementary and high school education, where he built a reputation for building school communities based on purpose and social responsibility. Thirty-three years ago, David transitioned to corporate consulting. As a consultant, David earned a reputation as a contrarian consultant because he does not always follow what is popular in his chosen field. David works with leaders helping them understand what is and what is not necessary to build an active and positive organization. He helps leaders' step into life's challenges, inspiring them to create a sustained approach through a values-based focus, resulting in better business results. David has had the privilege of partnering with firms across five continents and all business sectors. Additionally, he has worked with governments, from the local to the federal levels, and not-for-profits.

He has taught at Queens University School of Labour Relations and the executive education program at the Schulich School of Business, York University. Currently, he teaches organizational development at Durham College. David earned his doctorate from Boston University in Humanistic and Behavioural Studies. During that time, he also completed independent studies at the Harvard School of Education, where he was a teaching assistant.

David is a keynote speaker, educator, disruptor, facilitator, team builder, and executive coach. He has authored two books and numerous articles in professional journals.

• The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing, and Keeping Top Performers (John Wiley and Sons, August 2001)
• Inside the Box: Leading With Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success (Jossey-Bass September 2006)

When David is not travelling, he is hanging out with his five grandchildren, when possible, attending Toronto Raptor's games, or relaxing with family and friends.

David is honored to be recognized by the GlobalGurus30 as one of the top 30 GlobalGurus in Organizational Culture.

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.

Kelly Bunting, Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Labor & Employment Practice's Workplace Compliance & Counseling Group, and member of its Artificial Intelligence Law Group, has considerable experience defending class and collective wage and hour litigation and misclassification claims, having defended employers in Title III ADA access litigation and litigation alleging race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She is deeply experienced in virtually all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, labor, Title VII, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, non-competition and non-solicitation, trade secrets, SOX and Dodd Frank whistleblower claims, CEPA, ADEA, FMLA, NJLAD, and failure to accommodate issues. She has identified and managed employment issues in M&A deals and appeared before the EEOC, NLRB, and DOL in many states, as well as state agencies in DE, NY, NJ and PA. Kelly has represented many clients in mediation and settlement negotiations, and created HR and compliance training modules. She is regularly sought after as a workforce trainer for issues related to harassment and discrimination, FCPA compliance, good management techniques, and union awareness.

Kelly focuses much of her practice on international L&E issues, including employment/secondment contracts, data privacy, and global anti-corruption compliance. She advises clients on national and international handbook policies, procedures, and strategic HR issues, and provides day-to-day counsel in hiring, employee relations, employee discipline, and termination. She also conducts and advises on internal investigations.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Lisa I. Perez is the Founder & President of HR consulting company, HBL Resources, Inc., HR Support & Training Membership platform The Complete Manager Makeover and National Management Training Week.  She is on the mission of Transforming the Human in Human Resources®.

As a member of SHRM and holds two nationally recognized HR Certifications and her firm is designated as an approved provider of recertification credit programs from both the SHRM and HRCI.

Recognized throughout her 30-year HR career including two 2020 American Business Awards® Silver Stevie Awards for Entrepreneur of the Year and Human Resources Professional of the Year, she attributes the success to her passion for people and desire to give back to her community.  She volunteers for S.C.O.R.E. Broward, her local Chamber, Broward County's KAPOW Program and her family Church.

Originally, from Brooklyn, NY, she is a wife, mom, grandma and considers herself a craft geek.

Marissa Andrada is a master of activating organizational hyper-growth and turnaround through the transformation and creation of dynamic, diverse, and inclusive cultures.  With over 25 years of experience integrating people and leadership capability into the foundation of business strategies, she has energized brands to codify their purpose and values while accelerating company growth and industry-wide change, inspiring a movement for employee well-being and opportunity.

Marissa is passionate about leading with authenticity and helping people and organizations unleash human potential to lift personal and overall company performance. She has been the key catalyst in transforming cultures and driving performance at a multitude of consumer brands, most recently as the first chief people officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill. As the former chief diversity, inclusion, and people officer, Marissa activated a culture strategy that was co-created with the workforce - including the launch of a debt-free college degree and education program and access to mental healthcare.

Prior to Chipotle, Marissa led human resources at Kate Spade & Company and partner resources at Starbucks Coffee Company. Earlier, she served as senior vice president and head of human resources at GameStop Corporation and at Red Bull North America. She is currently serving as an independent board director at Krispy Kreme, Inc. where she is also the chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. Marissa also serves as a board member on a $150 M diversity fund and advisor to GUILD, Sholder, With U Forever and Boomerang, companies committed to the creating opportunity and well-being for employees.

Marissa advises CEOs and their teams on creating high-performance and inclusive cultures as well as developing diverse go-to-market product and service strategies. Marissa hosts live weekly conversations with leaders from various industries on how
they are creating cultures where people can thrive and what advice they can share to lead through transformation on her CultureCast with Marissa podcast. Marissa holds an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and an undergraduate degree from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona. She is a founding member of the SHRM Executive Council, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Workplace Dignity Council and the CNBC Workforce Executive Council and a 2020 American Business Award Gold Stevie winner.

Thad Price is Chief Executive Officer at Talroo, where he provides leadership, strategy, and guidance to all departments to ensure the company is moving in the right direction with the right talent.

With more than 17 years of experience in online recruitment and the job search vertical, Thad uses his cross-functional experience to turn client feedback into innovative products that help companies hire better.

Under Thad’s leadership, Talroo continues its mission of disruption in the industry. Prior to joining Talroo, he was a VP of Business Development at Job.com. Thad holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Mary Washington.

Chris Dyer inspires audiences with a straightforward delivery, insightful candor, and engaging humor. His talks leave audiences permanently transformed, offering innovative perspectives on leadership to improve company culture, and empower organizations to create a people centric approach.

As a highly sought-after keynote speaker, consultant, and advisor he brings a unique perspective from his expertise in building, leading, and exiting successful organizations. Through his research from two best-selling books, he is always engaged with leading companies to help transform their culture, leadership, and flexible work strategies. He is also the host of a popular radio show TalentTalk where he has had hundreds of conversations with the world’s best leaders for his audience of over 3 million annual listeners. Currently he is the Founder of PeopleG2, an Accusource company, with a fully remote organization. PeopleG2 is routinely ranked one of the best places to work and has been listed as one of Inc.'s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies five times.

Chris enjoys contributing to the leadership conversation and has been featured by leading media outlets such as the BBC, Fox Business, NBC, Telegraph, The Sun, INC, and Forbes. He has also delivered keynotes and worked as a consultant for top brands like Johnson & Johnson, Citi, IKEA, Kelly Services, the United States Patent Office, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and their Ministry of Defense, as well other top firms like Farmer’s Insurance and Cornerstone OnDemand. He is listed a Top 50 Global Thought Leader by PeopleHum, and as a top leadership voice on LeaderHum. Most importantly he married his high school sweetheart and has three adopted children who have finally left the house, and one grandson.

As a measurement strategist, Whitney’s passion and expertise lies in the field of surveys and assessments. A self-professed “data nerd,” Whitney has a Master’s degree in the area of Human Resources Measurement and Evaluation and has conducted extensive research on the predictive validity of various hiring assessment strategies.

Whitney has been a highly rated speaker at several National HR Conferences and has authored articles on assessments for several books and publications, including Harvard Business Review. She is a member of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and has two decades of experience working in the assessment industry.