Professional Development

As a Business Strategist and Executive Coach, LaFern Batie leads The Batie Group, LLC, a business consulting and leadership development firm serving organizations around the globe. With extensive Fortune 500 corporate leadership experience and widely recognized expertise, she works with international organizations and leaders across diverse industries to maximize their collective and individual performance. Leaders value her high business acumen, ability to quickly connect with teams, thorough and efficient approach to identifying challenges and commitment to helping them achieve results that exceed their expectations. 

Follow LaFern on Twitter @LaFernBatie.
 

Clayton Fletcher has performed his hilarious stand-up routine all over the USA, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. His unique blend of clean, intelligent sincerity and witty, pointed sarcasm make him a favorite among audiences ranging from suburban college kids to diverse mature urban professionals. This comic proves once and for all that funny is funny no matter who you are!

Audiences are raving about The Clayton Fletcher Show every Saturday Night 8PM at New York Comedy Club 241 East 24th Street in Manhattan. The show features some of NYC's top comics and is headlined by Mr. Fletcher himself. The show has been running for three years and it is nearly always sold out!  Clayton Fletcher is also an accomplished actor, having appeared in several films and television shows. He also toured nationally with Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story and Hank Williams: Lost Highway. He is a multi-talented performer who has dedicated his life to entertaining people. Clayton even has recorded some music with his band, PokerFace, and his a cappella doo-wop group, Stackin' Forty-Fives. This is a guy you really have to see to believe! Clayton was born in Baltimore, MD but makes his home in New York City where he has been an Orioles fan in New York for ten years. Take pity on him.

Jon Ingham is a consultant, researcher, writer and speaker focusing on strategic human capital management, HR 2.0 and management 2.0.

He helps organizations gain competitive advantage through the creation of human and social capital supported by effective leadership, HR and management practices, OD interventions, and the use of web 2.0 / social media tools etc.

Jon has worked for 20 years in Engineering, IT, change management and HR (including as an HR Director). He is based in the UK but has a global focus to his role and spends a lot of time in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Jon works with business leaders, HR departments and others to raise the level of their ambition to have more impact in their businesses.

Steve is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame and was recognized in 2015 as one of the top 10 motivational speakers globally from over 9,000 candidates.

In addition to being one of the most sought-after speakers in North America, he has written 11 books and was named Author of the Year by Advantage/Forbes for his book Enjoy The Ride.

Steve built a multimillion-dollar company, which the Pittsburgh Business Times named one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the region. Steve is one of SHRM’s top-rated speakers. This is his 18th consecutive year speaking at the SHRM Conference.

Hailed by Tom Peters for bringing his company out of the doldrums, almost overnight, heralded by the media as the UnGuru because he is such a convention-breaker, Aman Motwane is the man behind the movement to change how the world of business does business — Skills 2.0.

Aman holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Master’s from Stanford University, which he received in 9 months. But he’s the first to point out that education and information are worth nothing if you don't understand the right questions to ask.

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Data & Insights Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.

Erica Pinsky, B.A. M.Sc. CHRP ignites conversations that build respect. As a speaker, trainer, author and consultant she provides a full range of customized services and solutions to eliminate discrimination, harassment, bullying and destructive conflict in the workplace. She is the corporate Ombudsperson for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and a faculty member at the Center for Conflict Resolution at the Justice Institute of B.C. Her highly acclaimed book "Road to Respect: Path to Profit" is filled with engaging stories, powerful insights and concrete strategies for achieving sustainable success in today's highly challenging and diverse business environment. A professional member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, Erica was a Top Ten finalist in North America's Next Greatest Speaker contest 2012.

Joe Gerstandt brings greater clarity, action, and impact to organizational diversity and inclusion efforts.

Joe has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, small non-profits, and everything in between. He speaks at numerous conferences and summits, and blogs at joegerstandt.com. He is a featured contributor for the Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum and his insights have been published in Diversity Executive, HR Executive, and numerous other print and on-line journals.

A strong advocate for resetting the diversity and inclusion conversation, Joe sees these issues as poorly understood and often misunderstood.