Talent Selection

JoDee is the Founder of Purple Ink, a human resources consulting firm in Indianapolis, IN. They serve a wide array of organizations with recruiting, HR consulting, leadership training, and HR outsourcing services.

JoDee serves on the Indiana SHRM State Council and is the chair of the Indiana SHRM conference.

JoDee is the Founder of Purple Ink, a human resources consulting firm in Indianapolis, IN. They serve a wide array of organizations with recruiting, HR consulting, leadership training, and HR outsourcing services.

JoDee serves on the Indiana SHRM State Council and is the chair of the Indiana SHRM conference.

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.

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, a strategic organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500's to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought-leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker and blogger, author of three books, and she has 50+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning.

Jonathan Fraser Light has more than 40 years of experience in the field of employment law. He is AV Preeminent-rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest peer-review rating possible. He has been voted a Southern California “Super Lawyer” 18 times. As co-founder and managing partner at LightGabler LLP, Jon consults with almost 2,000 companies throughout California regarding their day-to-day employment law needs.

Jon has been successful in jury trials, appellate cases, Labor Commission hearings and binding arbitration claims involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, race discrimination, class action wage & hour, and other employment-related matters. He has also appeared on behalf of employers before the federal EEOC and Labor Department, the state Civil Rights Department, the National Labor Relations Board, and other government agencies involved with employment law issues.

Jon speaks dozens of times a year to employer and human resources groups including chapters of the Employer Advisory Council, Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA) and Society for Human Resource Management.

Jon graduated from the UCLA School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in history from UCLA and is a graduate of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. He is the author of two editions of the nationally acclaimed and award-winning book, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball.

Christopher “CJ” Gross is the author of the best-selling book What's Your Zip Code Story? Understanding and Overcoming Class Bias in the Workplace and the highly acclaimed Harvard Business Review article, A Better Approach to Mentorship. He is a TEDx Speaker and founder of Ascension Worldwide, a firm dedicated to DEI and cultural transformation consulting based in the Washington, D.C. area. CJ has 20-years of experience as an international organizational development consultant specializing in leadership development, and DEI transformation. CJ is a certified Social + Emotional Intelligence coach, trainer, Keirsey Temperament professional, and Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Administrator.

Michael Bach is a nationally and internationally recognized thought leader and subject matter expert in the fields of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA). He has worked globally in the IDEA field, including as the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer for KPMG International. He is the founder of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI), CCDI Consulting and Pride at Work Canada.

He is the author of the best-selling and award-winning books Birds of All Feathers: Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right and Alphabet Soup: The Essential Guide to LGBTQ2+ Inclusion at Work.

Lester S. Rosen is an attorney and Founder  of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) a service offering of ClearStar.   He is the author of, “The Safe Hiring Manual,”  (3d Edition 2017), the first comprehensive book on employment screening.  He is also a consultant, writer, expert witness and frequent presenter nationwide on safe hiring and due diligence.  He is both a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.  Mr. Rosen was the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) and served as the first co-chairman in 2004. He  received the  PBSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

Ms. Walters has more than 30 years’ combined experience in management, HR administration, employment law practice, and teaching.

She has presented at conferences across the country, been engaged as an expert witness, and testified before U.S. Congressional and state legislative committees on employment issues.

Her book, “From Hello to Goodbye: Proactive Tips for Maintaining Positive Employee Relations” is in its 2nd edition and was one of the SHRMStore’s “Great 8” best-sellers for eight consecutive years.

Today, Ms. Walters works as an independent consultant doing business as FiveL Company, “Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law.”SM

Jessica Miller-Merrell is the Founder of Workology, a workplace resource for HR, recruiting professionals and business leaders, and host of the Workology Podcast. The site has been listed twice as a top 75 career resource by Forbes. Jessica is the president and CEO of Xceptional HR, a human capital strategy and consulting agency. Because of her industry expertise and knowledge, Jessica’s expertise is sought after and sourced by publications and media including: The Economist, Forbes, CIO Magazine, CBS, Entrepreneur Magazine, and SHRM’s HR Magazine. Her new book, Digitizing Talent: Creative Strategies for the Digital Recruiting Age was published in 2023 by SHRM.