Talent Selection

Kevin England, Ph.D. is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and educator in Human Resource Management (HRM), with focus areas in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), talent development, employee engagement, people analytics, and organizational culture. His career has included internal HRM roles, individual coaching, organizational consulting, teaching at the university level, and higher education administration.

Today Kevin helps individuals, teams, and organizations leverage their strengths in the workplace to realize their infinite human potential.

Dr. England holds the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential, along with SHRM Specialty credentials in Inclusive Workplace Culture, People Analytics, Talent Acquisition, Workplace Investigations, and Total Rewards.

Elizabeth is currently the Manager, Foundation Programs overseeing SHRM Foundation’s strategic priority of Building Inclusive Workplaces. In that capacity, she oversees the Foundation’s initiatives around leveraging untapped talent including Veterans At Work, Employing Abilities and Getting Talent Back to Work. She joins the Foundation with extensive experience across the corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors. She most recently served as the Deputy Executive Director for PFLAG National working to advance equality and anti-discrimination efforts. In that role, she also partnered with corporate diversity and HR professionals on partnerships to impact the workplace culture for the LGBTQ community. She lives in Alexandria with her spouse, two sons, and an oversized rescue dog.

Lorne Epstein, SHRM-SCP, MSOD, is a social scientist, keynote, and Vistage speaker who consults with senior leaders on improving decision-making outcomes by reducing biases. Over 50,000 professionals have taken his workshops worldwide. He has been quoted in Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. His research focuses on improving decision-making and reducing the impacts of unconscious bias in the workplace. Lorne has been leading experiential workshops since 1993. His book, You're Hired! Interview Skills to Get the Job has been downloaded over a half-million times worldwide. Lorne is currently studying cognitive neuroscience at the master’s level at George Mason University. He was admitted to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and Psi Chi, The National Honor Society of Psychology.

I was a talent acquisition leader for 23 years supporting teams in the United States, Brazil and India. Many of my teams won awards for their performance. I wrote the National Talent Acquisition and Diversity Hiring plan for the United States Forest Service.

Justin Ladner is a Senior Labor Economist at SHRM. His work centers on examining labor market trends and emerging issues facing employers and employees. He also has extensive experience researching occupational mobility, personnel training, recruiting, and retention. In all of these areas, he is passionate about leveraging data and analytics to inform real-world policy improvements.

Justin holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan, as well as a master’s degree in economics and bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Boston University.

With over 20 years of legal expertise, Sejal Thakkar serves as a strategic business partner and cultural architect. She designs and implements systems and processes that not only align with organizational values but also drive business outcomes. Sejal combines storytelling, real-world insights, and actionable strategies to deliver leadership coaching and training programs to cultivate strong connections in virtual and global teams.
 

Casey Pratt is a proud graduate of NC State University with a degree in Business Administration. She has spent the bulk of her career in Recruiting and Employee Relations. Casey has worked with large fortune 500 healthcare and retail companies, as well as Greensboro, NC Entrepreneur, Guerrilla RF. Casey currently works at ALT HR Partners; a specialty HR consulting firm that helps small and medium size companies mitigate their risk and increase their employee morale. She specifically works with clients on employee relations, HR compliance, recruitment, performance management, and policy creation. Casey is a certified Associate Professional in Human Resources (aPHR) and is a third-party remitter for unemployment in North Carolina and a certified Health Benefits Representative in North Carolina. She is passionate about creating workplace environments that engage employees, reduce turnover, and contribute to the sustained success of organizations.

Dr. Tom Hall former United States Army Ranger who currently works as a director of AI and data governance in the manufacturing space while consulting and conducting research into rural economics in his free time.  He holds a BA in political science from Iowa State University, MA in conflict management from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a Doctorate in business administration from the University of South Florida where he is an adjunct professor.  His core research areas are on rural talent management, leadership, and perceptions.

James Atkinson is the VP, Thought Leadership at SHRM, where he leads research teams uncovering key insights on the challenges and trends affecting HR and the workplace. James joined SHRM with more than 15 years of research, data, and product experience, having spent a decade in various leadership roles within the HR industry. Prior to SHRM, James was the Vice President of Data Products at Payscale, where he was responsible for the overall strategy, development, and delivery of data products for compensation professionals. He also spent 9 years at Gartner, finishing his tenure there as the Managing Vice President of Data Products for the HR research and advisory practice. Across his career, his teams have created award-winning research and data products for HR executives and their teams on topics including learning and development, total rewards, recruiting, talent management, HR strategy, HR technology, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This work has been featured in top business journals and media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

James holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Ohio State University.