Jason Averbrook
Jason Averbook is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Knowledge Infusion, a strategic consulting organization that works collaboratively with clients to help them achieve true business results from technology solutions that manage and drive the workforce. As CEO, Jason is responsible for the groundbreaking vision and strategy that has grown the organization to the recognized leader in HR, talent management, and emerging technology consulting. The firm includes over 250 global clients, and was recently ranked #3 on the Minneapolis-St.Paul list of fast growing companies. Jason is a frequent contributor to industry publications including, HR Executive Magazine, Workforce Magazine, BusinessWeek, and CFO magazine. Follow him on twitter at @jasonaverbook.
Karen Beaman
Karen Beaman is the Founder and Chief Executive of Jeitosa Group International and is an internationally recognized speaker and author, having published works in such areas as global human resources technology, global organizational design, global mindset, cultural diversity, and global leadership. In 2002, Karen received the Summit Award, IHRIM's highest award honoring her lifetime achievements in the field of HR technology. She is fluent in English, German, and French. Karen can be reached at karen.beaman@jeitosa.com.
Jason Corsello
Jason Corsello is Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy for Cornerstone OnDemand. In this role, Corsello is responsible for identifying key market opportunities, driving corporate initiatives and guiding M&A, as well as supporting product strategy and service innovation.
Jason Corsello is Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy for Cornerstone OnDemand. In this role, Corsello is responsible for identifying key market opportunities, driving corporate initiatives and guiding M&A, as well as supporting product strategy and service innovation.
Corsello joined Cornerstone from HR consulting firm Knowledge Infusion, where he was senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, responsible for the organization's strategy and solutions. At Knowledge Infusion he also developed and launched many new services at the firm and played a lead consulting role with many of the firm's Global 2000 clients. Prior to his role with Knowledge Infusion, Jason was a research director at Yankee Group, leading the company's human capital management and talent management advisory and consulting services. He also spent six years with Flextronics International, where he worked with large, multi-national clients in developing their outsourced manufacturing and supply chain strategies.
Corsello is an active participant in the HCM community and is a frequent presenter and panelist at industry events. Corsello is often quoted as an industry expert in human capital management, and his research has been featured in leading publications including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and CIO magazine. Corsello holds a BA in business administration management and marketing from the University of San Diego.
Kris Dunn
Kris Dunn is the Chief Human Resources Officer for Kinetix, the RPO firm for growth companies. Prior to joining the team at Kinetix in 2010, Kris was a VP of People for DAXKO, a VP of HR for SourceMedical, a Regional VP of HR for Charter Communications, a HR Manager for BellSouth Mobility (subsequently known as Cingular and AT&T based on which round of consolidation you are referring to), and a Project Manager in the market research division of Aragon Consulting (gobbled up by IBM Global Services).
Kris holds a B.A in ES/Communications from Northeast Missouri State University, a M.A.E in Education from UAB and a MPPM from Birmingham-Southern College. He's also the noted founder of The HR Capitalist and Fistful of Talent and a Contributing Editor at Workforce Management Magazine and workforce.com, where he has written over 50 feature columns. He's also achieved the SPHR designation from the Human Resources Certification Institute.
Jessica Lee
Jessica Lee is Director, Digital Talent Strategy with Marriott International. She provides leadership to all talent related digital initiatives ranging from mobile to SEO and social media across their family of brands and the 70+ countries they operate in. Prior to that, she served as a Vice President for Talent Acquisition at APCO Worldwide, a global PR firm. Jessica's a digital junky but grew up as a an HR generalist and never forgets those roots... so while she's forever sharing her TMI on Twitter and always looking to engage online, go ahead and throw an employee relations issue her way - she's not scared!
Daniel Schwartz
Daniel A. Schwartz has extensive trial and litigation experience in both the federal and state courts in a variety of areas, including commercial litigation and trade secret enforcement and employers in various employment law matters. Dan is the author of the independent Connecticut Employment Law Blog, one of the most widely-read blogs of its kind in the nation. The blog discusses new and noteworthy events in labor and employment law on a daily basis. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, the ABA Journal named it one of the top 100 blogs produced by lawyers (the "Blawg 100"). Dan is a frequent presenter on a wide range of employment law and commercial litigation topics, and has been interviewed by newspapers, radio and television programs and legal blogs on employment law topics. He recently published a chapter on social media and human resources issues in Think Before You Click: Strategies for Managing Social Media in the Workplace (Thompson Publishing, 2011).
Naomi Bloom
Ms. Bloom is the leading independent voice, business/platform strategy consultant, and thought leader in the HR technology/HRO industries. She has acted as a change agent and HRM delivery systems strategist/coach for global corporate clients, as an advisor on business strategy and product/service design to several generations of HRM software vendors and HR outsourcing providers, and as a provider of competitive insight and due diligence for the investment community. Ms. Bloom has built the only vendor-neutral HRM domain model and application architecture "starter kits," which have been licensed and consulted across the industry and are considered to be not only the state-of-the-art but also a primary contributor to many of today's best practices in both areas.
She is a formidable advocate for the HRM and HRM delivery system end-user community, especially as regards HR leadership's challenges in achieving breakthroughs in organizational performance outcomes through effective HRM enabled by great HR technology. Ms. Bloom is well published and a much sought-after speaker/author for her thought leadership, presentation effectiveness, clarity of vision, and humorous delivery. She has been a general session speaker at the U.S.'s HR Technology Conference since its inception in 1989, and in 1995, Ms. Bloom's contributions to the industry were recognized with IHRIM's Summit Award. She blogs at http://InFullBloom.us, and you can follow her on Twitter @InFullBloomUS.
Carl K. Willis
Vice President, Human Resources, ATK Sporting Group
Mr. Willis provides HR leadership for ATK's $1 billion Sporting Group, comprised of 5,000 employees at 14 locations. He is located in the Minneapolis area. Prior to joining ATK in 2003, he was with Valspar Corporation where he held the position of Director, Human Resources, Metal Coatings Group from 1999. Earlier, he was with PPG Industries for 18 years where he held various HR leadership positions.
Cory Edmonds
Compensation & Workforce Analytics Manager, ATK
Cory Edmonds has been working for ATK since 2008. He has been an HR Analyst where he developed systems to predict attrition risks for all employees, translate production schedules to the necessary headcount, and automating report building and distribution. Edmonds has extensive experience in data mining, modeling risk assessment and increasing efficiency in complicated processes.
Ed Frauenheim
Ed Frauenheim is Senior Editor at Workforce Management and a frequent commentator on the intersection of work, business and technology. Ed has been with Workforce Management as a writer and editor since 2005, during which time he has spearheaded the publication's coverage of HR technology. His journalism honors include a 2012 Jesse H. Neal Award for a story on social media "portability" issues. Ed maintains a blog, Work in Progress, is co-author of Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era and is currently co-writing a book about improving innovation in America.
Michelle Rafter
Michelle Rafter is a contributing editor at Workforce Management, specializing in the intersection of technology and HR. Michelle has written for Workforce Management since 2005 about HR software, recruiting, benefits, and management. A long-time business journalist, Michelle has covered jobs, tech and business for Entrepreneur Media, Federated Media, Inc., BlogHer, Portfolio.com, Reuters, Industry Standard, and the Los Angeles Times, among others.
Erin Grotts
Erin Grotts is the Director of Internal Communications for SUPERVALU, one of the largest companies in the U.S. grocery channel. As America's Neighborhood Grocer, SUPERVALU serves communities across the country though a network of approximately 4,300 stores. Erin leads all company internal communications for 135,000 employees in the traditional retail, Save-A-Lot, wholesale and supply chain areas. She has been responsible for the integration of social media as a primary information vehicle across the company. Prior to joining SUPERVALU, she managed communications functions at Starbucks and Harrah's Entertainment.
Mike Brennan
Director, OnDemand Practice, Knowledge Infusion
Mike Brennan directs Knowledge Infusion's OnDemand Practice. He has been with the firm for 5 years and has spent most of his time working with clients across industries such as Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Novo Nordisk, Turner/CNN and Staples develop and implement integrated talent management strategies. Prior to joining Knowledge Infusion, he directed learning services and technology research for IDC and implemented learning management technology for WBT Systems. He holds both a Bachelors of Science and an MBA from Boston University.
Kathryn Yates
Kathryn Yates is Towers Watson's Communication and Change Management Global Practice Leader where she manages teams of talented communication and change management consultants. She has more than 25 years of experience in communication and operations management and is accomplished in all aspects of employee communication and change management. Kathryn has particular expertise in helping organizations develop strategies and programs to build strong, productive employee-employer relationships.
As the Communication Global Practice Director at Towers Watson, Kathryn led a global team in developing the firm's comprehensive change management methodology, used internationally to help clients successfully implement change. She also led the team that launched the ground-breaking Communication ROI Study which helps clients connect effective communication practices to financial results.
Before joining the company, Kathryn managed an organization redesign and HR integration project for the largest telecommunications merger in Canada, and led the development of a website dedicated to real-time merger and acquisition management. She was also Vice President and General Manager of Canadian Operations for the world's largest disability insurer. In that position, she achieved 10 consecutive quarters of profit growth, continuously improving line and staff performance through operations reengineering, collaborative leadership and change management.
Kathryn holds a B.A. in communications from Pennsylvania State University and graduated from the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. She is past president of the Council of Communication Management.
Kim Lennon
Actionable Analytics Expert, SumTotal Systems
Kim Lennon is responsible for leading reporting and analytics across the SumTotal Human Capital Management suite. Kim has 15 years building and analyzing customer business data warehouses on platforms such as Oracle, SQL Server, MY SQL, and Teradata. She has used Cognos, MicroStrategy Business Objects, and JasperSoft Business Intelligence tools to deliver information to her customer's to make critical business decisions. In her current role, Kim is responsible for interfacing with industry/financial analysts, customers, prospects and partner organizations; spearheading product design and the development of product roadmaps as it relates to reporting and analytics.
Diana Van Blaricom
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Epicor Human Capital Management
Ms. Diana Van Blaricom is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at EPICOR responsible for the strategy and direction of the Human Capital Management applications. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources with over 25 years of accomplishments in HR including complex ERP solutions, e-business design and organizational strategies.
She has worked with clients to enhance their HR processes and improve organizational effectiveness through HR initiatives. She has participated in the delivery of PHR and SPHR recertification workshops for the Society for Human Resources Management with topics focusing on pay-for-performance and technology solutions and has contributed to several industry media outlets over the years.
Doug Berg
Director, Jobs2Web Product Strategy
SuccessFactors
Doug Berg is the Founder of Minneapolis-based Jobs2web which was recently acquired by SuccessFactors, and is an expert in online recruiting strategies. Doug has worked with hundreds of companies to leverage the internet for recruiting on the Web, and is a pioneer in the interactive recruiting industry. Prior to SuccessFactors and Jobs2web, Doug founded techies.com which was a leading technology career site which had nearly 1 million IT professional members nationally, and won PC Weeks number 1 career website in 1999. Doug was also founder and CEO of Quantum Consulting & Placement, a Minneapolis based IT consulting and placement services company. Doug is frequently quoted in the press on workforce and career related trends including major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Business 2.0 and is a featured speaker/presenter at HR and technology conferences, and holds an honorary Doctorate Degree from Capella University.
Mollie Lombardi
Research Director
Aberdeen’s Human Capital Management Practice
Mollie Lombardi has surveyed and interviewed thousands of end-users to better understand the key challenges facing today’s HR and talent management leaders, as well as uncover the Best-in-Class strategies, capabilities, tools and technologies they are using to address those challenges. She has written and spoken about a wide variety of HCM topics including strategic talent management, workforce planning, employee engagement, talent acquisition and learning, as well as the use of emerging technologies.
Mollie brings together up-to-the-minute research on the most pressing human capital issues of the day with over a decade of experience in the Human Capital research and consulting space. Prior to joining Aberdeen she worked as an independent consultant providing executive development, leadership development and talent strategy consulting to clients in a wide variety of industries. Previous to that she was a researcher and consultant with The Concours Group.
Paul Kramer
Director of Compliance
WorkForce Software
Mr. Paul Kramer, an attorney-at-law, is WorkForce Software's Director of Compliance. Mr. Kramer is responsible for researching and staying abreast of labor laws that affect our clients, ensuring compliance is embedded in EmpCenter® products, and working with clients on compliance audits in the areas of the FLSA, FMLA, and other wage/hour and absence laws. Prior to joining WorkForce Software, Mr. Kramer was a private attorney for over two decades and has represented employers nationally in employment and labor law matters.
Kevin Choksi
Co-founder & CEO
WorkForce Software
As a Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kevin Choksi is responsible for product strategy and setting the strategic direction for WorkForce Software. With more than 15 years experience in the workforce management field, Mr. Choksi has become known as a thought leader and visionary in the industry. He frequently speaks on trends and innovations in the workforce management space. Mr. Choksi holds an MBA and a BSE in computer engineering from the University of Michigan.
Hardeep Gulati
Executive Vice President Products and Customer
SumTotal Systems
Hardeep Gulati is Executive Vice President Products and Customer Support at SumTotal Systems and responsible for leading innovation and driving product direction. He brings a wealth of technical and product management expertise to SumTotal Systems.
Gulati joined SumTotal from Oracle where he provided years of leadership in product development, product management, and product strategy across a variety of enterprise application areas. Most recently he served as Vice President of Product Strategy for Oracle Corp for Product Lifecycle Management and Master Data Management, where he played key management role to bring these product lines from concept to market leadership with organic and acquisition strategies, including key acquisition of Agile Software Corp, a public company.
Prior to Oracle, Gulati was Vice President of Products at SpinCircuit, an information exchange enterprise software company founded by Cadence, HP, Flextronics, and Avnet. Gulati was also founder and CTO for eBizAutomation, an enterprise integration company that was acquired by SpinCircuit. Early in his career, Gulati held senior consulting positions at Lucent Technologies and Dun & Bradstreet.
Gulati holds a master's in business administration from Wharton Business School. He also received a bachelor's degree in computer science from the National Institute of Technology in Nagpur, India and a master's in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, India.
Pat Pickren
Vice President, Product Management
Ultimate Software
Patrick Pickren is Ultimate Software's Vice President of Product Management, overseeing the company's product management team responsible for Ultimate's most important product initiatives. Pat joined Ultimate more than three years ago as a Product Manager and has played a pivotal role in growing the product through continuous innovation in an effort to deliver superior HCM and payroll solutions in the Cloud. Pat has more than nine years of experience building and delivering software in the HR technology space.
Trudy Wonder
Director, Market Trends and Strategy, Ultimate Software
Trudy Wonder is the Director of Market Trends and Strategy at Ultimate Software, responsible for HCM research and education, strategic alliance communication, and thought leadership engagements. She has more than 15 years of experience in HR, including global workforce planning, talent management, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, change management, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness. Prior to Ultimate, Trudy's roles included AVP of Customer Engagement at Chubb Insurance, and a member of the HR leadership team at Merck & Co., where she supported the transformation of HR from an administration function to a strategic business partner and oversaw the introduction of targeted change initiatives designed to create a high-performance organization. Trudy has also held leadership roles with General Electric, Holiday Inn Worldwide, the Wall Street Journal Europe, and the Pulitzer Broadcasting Company. Trudy is a Co-founder and Executive Board Member of Celebration for Life.
Jim Jensen
Vice President, SaaS Technology, Ultimate Softwaree
Jim Jensen is the Vice President of SaaS Technology at Ultimate Software. Jim has played a pivotal role in helping organizations transition to SaaS, serving as a SaaS evangelist and enabling customers to experience increased flexibility, control, and cost savings as result of moving to the cloud. Jim has been with Ultimate for over 15 years and previously held the role of Chief Information Officer as well as roles in Sales and Development. Jim studied at Southern Wesleyan University and Clemson University.
Ed Colby
Ed is a Human Capital Management (HCM) and Workforce Management (WFM) strategic consultant and technology evangelist, having been both an educator and student of management, technology, and leading business practices for over 25 years. Ed's professional passion is helping to build higher-performing organizations by optimizing the effectiveness of people, process, information, and technology.
In his current role as Global Solutions Manager for SumTotal Systems, Inc., the global leader in Strategic Human Capital Management, Ed advises enterprise clients on the value and full utilization of HCM and WFM technology and leading practices. He has held senior leadership roles in professional services, management consulting, value analysis, and marketing for several leading-edge HCM and WFM technology providers. As a practitioner, he has led large operational consulting and systems/application development groups.
In addition to his role on the Workforce Educational Organization Blueprint Team, Ed currently is Managing Editor of Workforce Solutions Review magazine, the professional journal of IHRIM (The International Association of Human Resources Information Management). He also currently sits on the Advisory Board of The Institute for Human Resources WFM Certification Program; and is a past member of the Advisory Board for the WFM Learning Community of The Human Capital Institute (HCI). Previous leadership roles with IHRIM include Professional Development Committee; Board of Directors - New England Chapter, and; Content Committee Chair - Annual International Conference. Ed is a frequent presenter at industry events.
Ed holds a MBA degree in Marketing and Computer Sciences from Northeastern University and a B.S. degree from Tufts University.
Lisa Disselkamp
Lisa Disselkamp collaborates with the Workforce Educational Organization Steering Committee and will play an important role in the development of the certification content and collaboration with leading specialists in the industry. As Co-Founder, Lisa will support the activities of the WEO various committees and content contributors to the Workforce Asset Management Professional Certification program.
Lisa Disselkamp is a Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP in McLean, Virginia. She has written two books on TLM systems including her latest, No Boundaries – How to Use Time and Labor Management Systems to Win the Race for Profits and Productivity (John Wiley & Sons Publishing, Inc. 2009).
Lisa has led multi-million dollar projects impacting up to 300,000 employees. She operates as a senior level strategic advisor but she can also roll up her sleeves and go "under the hood" of today's systems from a technical perspective. Today she is leading the industry in developing strategies to control labor related expense.
Lisa has been an advisor to Wall Street analysts, served on several advisory boards and committees, and is a popular keynote speaker and panel participant. She collaborates with academic and industry researchers and has been tendered as an expert legal witness defending employers in large class action FLSA lawsuits with respect to their use of timekeeping systems and business practices.
She graduated magna cum laude from Earlham College with a B.A. in Japanese and International Management. She also attended Iwate Medical University in Morioka, Japan. In 2008 she was recognized as "Smart Woman's Technology Star" and in 2009 Lisa and her former firm, Athena Enterprises, won the prestigious Top 100 Women and Minority Business Entrepreneurs.
Nick Stein
Nick Stein is the Director of Content and Media at Salesforce Rypple, a cloud based social performance management platform that helps Facebook, LivingSocial, McCann Worldwide, and other innovative companies recognize great work, run fast, efficient feedback loops, and coach employees to achieve their goals.
Stein drives all remarkable content development, thought leadership, and communications at Rypple, including hosting the company's renowned Leadership Webinar Series, which has featured motivation expert Dan Pink, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, One Page Talent Management author Mark Effron, and many other leading business thinkers.
A former business journalist at FORTUNE magazine and current affairs producer at CBC television's flagship news program, "The National," Stein has received three Business Journalist of the Year awards, a CAJ Award, and has been nominated for several national magazine awards and a Gemini award (Canada's Emmy's). His work has also been anthologized in the "Best Business Stories of the Year."
Stein has lectured at New York University and Columbia University's Graduate school of Journalism, and holds a BA in English from McGill University and a Masters in Journalism from Columbia.
Gretchen Alarcon
Gretchen Alarcon is Vice President, Human Capital Management (HCM) Strategy at Oracle. Ms. Alarcon leads the strategy team responsible for Oracle Fusion HCM, a full suite of enterprise-grade, SaaS HCM applications that can be deployed easily and securely across any environment. Oracle Fusion HCM is redefining the business of HR, with applications that deliver a next-generation user experience, built-in business intelligence, networking and collaboration capabilities, and embassy-grade security.
Ms. Alarcon brings more than 15 years of industry experience to Oracle's strategy organization. She spent over four years at PeopleSoft working closely with customers and contributing to the direction of the company's talent management and recruiting applications.
Prior to Oracle, Ms. Alarcon was Director, Product Management at Icarian, Inc. where she designed new product roadmaps and drove strategic decisions for the company's workforce management suites. Before joining Icarian, Ms. Alarcon was with National Semiconductor where she helped redesign the company's worldwide human resource functions.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Alarcon was responsible for the strategy of Oracle's talent management applications.
Ms. Alarcon holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in American Studies from Stanford University.
Madeline Laurano
Madeline Laurano is the Research Director, Talent Acquisition Solutions, within Aberdeen's Human Capital Management research practice, and is responsible for leading and collaborating on Aberdeen's research coverage across a range of HCM topics, including talent mobility, workforce planning, sourcing strategy, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), employer branding, onboarding and talent acquisition.
Additionally she is responsible for delivering research findings via published works, speaking engagements, on-line events, and Aberdeen's annual Human Capital Management Summit.
Before joining the Aberdeen Group, Madeline was a talent systems analyst for the Newman Group, driving the company's success in the area of Talent Management Technology Evaluation and Selection. Madeline joined The Newman Group from Bersin & Associates, where she served as Principal Analyst of Talent Acquisition. Prior to joining Bersin, Madeline served as the Research Director for ERE Media where she created the ERE webinar series, published the Talent Acquisition Industry Analysis and Buyers Guide, lead the community discussion groups, and conducted various research products and services. She also worked as Research Director for Linkage, Inc, where she co-edited Best Practices in Leading a Global Workforce and Secrets in Succession Planning.
Chris Tratar
Chris has been in the enterprise software industry for over 15 years bringing to market several industry leading solutions with Taleo, Vista Technology Group and JD Edwards. In his role as Senior Director of Product Marketing for Saba’s Talent Management solutions, Chris tracks trends in many important strategic talent management processes such as social performance, on boarding, development driven performance, talent mobility, workforce planning and build performance driven cultures to drive business results. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and Business from DePaul University in Chicago.
Jeff Kristick
Jeff Kristick is Vice President, Global Product Marketing for SuccessFactors. Prior to his role at SuccessFactors, he worked with Plateau Systems, where he oversaw all aspects of global marketing for the company’s SaaS talent management software solutions.
James Perkins
James Perkins joined PSI Group, Inc. in June of 2003 in the capacity of Senior Vice President of the Standard Class Division. Prior to joining PSI, he was President of SITEL, Consumer Division. SITEL, Consumer Division generates over $40 million dollars in annual revenue, operating in four contact centers in three countries, employing over 1500 people. Prior to being named President of the Consumer Division, Mr. Perkins was the Managing Director of SITEL – United Kingdom. Prior to his services at SITEL Mr. Perkins was with First Data Corporation for fourteen years holding the titles of Senior Vice President, Vice President, Director and General Manager. Mr. Perkins has extensive experience in managing complex organizations and multi-national operations. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska - Omaha, a master's degree from San Jose State University, and completed post-graduate work for a Ph.D.