Atlanta HR Star Conference Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Speaker Information Dr. Stephen Lundin is an internationally acclaimed author, public speaker, entrepreneur, filmmaker and graduate level business school professor. Steve has written a number of books including the multimillion copy best-selling FISH! and the best-selling FISH! Tales,FISH! Sticks, FISH! for Life and Top Performer, A Bold Approach to Sales and Service. His latest book, CATS: The Nine Levels of Innovation, was published earlier this year. During the past decade, Steve has worked with hundreds of companies all across the globe, including the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest builder in Dubai, nursing homes in New Zealand, banks in Australia and Malaysia, a shipping company in Singapore, a management institute in Japan and health club chains in Sweden and Portugal. A sample of his US clients include: 3M, Johnson and Johnson, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Cargill, Keyspan Energy, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Barnes Jewish Hospital System, The Credit Bureau Executives, Procter & Gamble, the University of Florida Medical School and Hampton Brands by Hilton. Loops: Success in Small Business is All about Closing Loops will be published in the summer of 2009 and Ubuntu: Ancient African Wisdom for Today’s Leaders will be published by Random House in the spring of 2010. David Gevertz is a Shareholder with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. and the Vice Chairperson of the Labor & Employment Department. He has more than thirteen years of experience representing large public and privately held companies throughout the country in complex employment litigation. Mr. Gevertz defends class and collective actions; single and multi-plaintiff claims of racial, age, national origin, disability and religious discrimination, harassment and retaliation under state and federal laws; Family and Medical Leave Act claims; executive agreement and restrictive covenant litigation; drug-testing disputes; and reduction-in-force challenges. His practice also involves litigating accommodations claims brought against restaurants, theme parks, testing entities and other places of public accommodation under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and related state and local laws. In addition, Mr. Gevertz advocates employment law compliance and litigation avoidance for his clients. He counsels companies on conducting nationwide reductions-in-force, drafting and implementation of employment policies and procedures, investigating allegations of internal unethical and/or unlawful conduct, conducting comprehensive employment audits, negotiating employment contracts and restrictive covenants, and providing hiring, disciplinary and termination-related advice. Mr. Gevertz is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Todd D. Wozniak is a Shareholder with Greenberg Traurig LLP. Todd is a labor & employment trial attorney defending companies in labor, employment, and business disputes. In addition, he counsels management on a wide range of employment and business-related issues, including reductions-in-force, pre-dispute arbitration agreements and programs, non-compete agreements, employment and separation agreements, ERISA compliance and preemption, diversity, wage-and-hour compliance, and internal investigations. Todd was selected in America's Leading Lawyers for Business by Chambers & Partners, recognized as an "AV" rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed as a Georgia Rising Star by Atlanta Magazine and Law Politics. He is a frequent lecturer and has written on a wide variety of labor and employment issues. Todd graduated from Duke University, summa cum laude and received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Annette A. Idalski is a Partner in the Labor and Employment practice of Duane Morris LLP in the Atlanta office. Her practice involves litigation, employee relations counseling and management training. She has defended employers nationwide against single and multi-plaintiff lawsuits involving race, gender, age and disability discrimination, workplace harassment, traditional labor matters, wage and hour compliance, restrictive covenants, contract disputes, and whistleblower actions. Ms. Idalski proactively counsels employers on employment issues concerning complex leaves of absence, hiring and firing, wage and hour compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and collective bargaining matters. In addition, she conducts legal compliance audits of clients' human resources functions and prepares employee policies and handbooks and employment agreements. Ms. Idalski also conducts training courses on prevention of litigation with respect to sexual harassment and discrimination under Title VII, FMLA, ADA, FLSA, FCRA, and other state and federal employment laws. Ms. Idalski is Past President of the Georgia Association For Women Lawyers and has served as a board member since 2002. Charles H. Kuck is the Managing Partner of Kuck Casablanca & Odom, LLC, an Atlanta and Miami-based immigration law firm where he manages its nationwide immigration practice. He is also the National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) where has served on the National Executive Committee for the past four years and on its Board of Governors for six years. Mr. Kuck's practice involves assisting employers and employees with business and professional visas, labor certifications, immigrant visas, consular representation, and citizenship matters for foreign executives, managers, professionals, and workers. He has represented asylum seekers in more than 400 trials before the immigration court. Mr. Kuck also advises employers on compliance procedures in verifying the work eligibility of new employees as required under the I-9 employer sanctions provisions of federal law. In addition, Mr. Kuck serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Georgia, where he teaches immigration law classes. He is listed in Who’s Who of International Corporate Immigration Attorneys, Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The World’ Leading Lawyers For Business and in Atlanta Magazine as a “Georgia Super Lawyer.” He is the Editor-in-Chief of the AILA Litigation Toolbox, a how-to book on representing clients before the immigration and federal courts. Mr. Kuck has practiced immigration law for more than 20 years, has testified before Congress on immigration law, and frequently appears in the news media, including: CBS, FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and Business Week. M. Kim Vance is a Shareholder in the Labor and Employment Group at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C where she has over twenty years of experience representing management in every aspect of labor and employment law. Ms. Vance is listed in Chambers USA's America's Leading Business Lawyers as a leading labor and employment lawyer in Tennessee. Also, she has been listed in Best Lawyers in America and in Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2007. In addition to defending companies in employment litigation, Ms. Vance's practice focuses upon: presenting in-house management training programs to reduce employment-related legal risks for companies across the nation, counseling management clients through auditing human resources policies and practices to reduce legal risks, and developing pre-litigation strategies to improve available defenses in preparation for litigation. Ms. Vance earned her J.D. at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law School with High Honors. David Long-Daniels is a Shareholder with Greenberg Traurig LLP. He is a trial lawyer and represents clients in all employment matters, including claims under the Fair Labor Standard Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and other federal and state labor and employment matters. A celebrated speaker at numerous conferences and seminars, Mr. Long-Daniels has been included in Chambers & Partners USA Guide, an annual listing of the leading business lawyers and law firms in the world, as well as recognized as part of Georgia's Legal Elite by Georgia Trend. Mr. Long-Daniels is active in the Atlanta community providing general counsel for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and he serves on several boards. He is a graduate of the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law where he has also taught as an Adjunct Law Professor. Debbie McGrath is the CEO of HR.com, a company committed to delivering HR best practices and helping organizations build great businesses through community, collaboration, research, shared best practices and measurements. Prior to starting HR.com, Debbie owned The CEO Group, a Canadian and European entity that created job board software, talent management software, HTC career magazines and career fairs. In August of 1998, The CEO Group was sold to Kaplan (now BrassRing.com), a fully-owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Company. During her tenure, Debbie served as President of the Canadian and European operations, as well as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Complementing her extensive background in human resources, publishing and the Internet, Debbie also holds a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration through the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Dan Campbell is the Founder and CEO of Hire Dynamics which provides skilled staffing and professional recruiting services through its four divisons: Hire Dynamics, Hire Dynamics Rx, Hire Accountability and Hire Direct. With 12 offices in 5 states, Hire Dynamics was voted among the #1 Best Places to Work by Atlanta Business Chronicle and was ranked as one of the Inc. Magazine 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S. for three years in a row. In addition, Mr. Campbell was recognized as the #1 Entrepreneur in Atlanta in 2007 by Business to Business Magazine and was a finalist for the Small Business Person of the Year in 2006 by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Prior to establishing Hire Dynamics, Mr. Campbell was the CEO of a staffing company based in Los Angeles, a Director of Business Planning for AHL Services and an Investment Banker in the Corporate Finance Group of Price Waterhouse. Mr. Campbell serves on the boards of the American Staffing Association and Else School of Management for Millsaps College, and he is also the incoming Georgia State Chair of the Young President’s Organization (YPO). Mr. Campbell has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Staffing Industry Report, SI Review, Staff Digest and Gwinnett Magazine, among many others. John Arnold Smith is a Senior Vice President with Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), where he leads the leadership consulting practice for the Southeast Region. John has 18 years experience in management consulting, coaching, training and organizational development with Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has an extensive background in assessing, designing and delivering talent management strategies and leadership programs. As a speaker and trainer, he delivers high impact workshops to all management levels, while partnering with business leaders to create a winning culture, optimize business results, manage diversity and achieve objectives aligned with overall corporate strategy. He is a frequent speaker and has been featured in a variety of business journals as a subject matter expert on leadership assessment, global talent and diversity management. Before joining LHH, John was a Senior Consultant with Conner Partners, where he consulted with senior leaders to design enterprise-wide change management and leadership development programs to drive execution of strategic initiatives. John was also Managing Director and Senior Consultant for Global Interface, where he helped organizations assess their leadership, culture and capabilities; create strategies to align leadership teams; and build competencies for success in the global marketplace. John holds an MBA in International Management, speaks fluent French and has delivered programs in 27 countries. Henry L. (Dick) Thompson, Ph.D. is an award-winning organizational psychologist and an internationally-recognized leadership consultant, researcher and author. Dr. Thompson is President & CEO of High Performing Systems, Inc. (HPS), an international management consulting and training firm he founded in 1984. HPS clients include Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and a diverse group of public, private and international firms. Dr. Thompson specializes in talent management, succession planning, leadership development, emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, psychological type, and group dynamics. He is also recognized as a leading authority on assessing and integrating these concepts using a systems approach. Dr. Thompson is the creator and exclusive instructor for TeamDynamics, the premier train-the-trainer course for team development. In addition, he is a certifying instructor for the BarOn EQ-i and the MSCEIT, two powerful emotional intelligence assessments. Dr. Thompson’s leading-edge work on identifying, hiring, developing and retaining leaders, as well as incorporating concepts such as emotional intelligence, has resulted in HPS’ proprietary Leadership Potential Equation (LPE). The LPE is a trademarked and scientifically validated assessment process that determines what a candidate’s best role level fit is currently and his/her potential for advancement within an organization across time - key information for succession planning. Valerie Frederickson is the CEO of Valerie Frederickson & Company, a leading human resource, executive search, and career management firm based in Silicon Valley. She consults to and places top executives in a variety of industries, including high tech, software, wireless, insurance and finance. Ms. Frederickson holds a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology with options in Adult and Career Development, and Marriage, Family, Child Counseling. Also, she is a certified Career Management Practitioner. Referred to as one of “the top business thinkers in the country” (SF Chronicle), Ms. Frederickson is a popular presenter and has published many articles on a wide variety of human resource and career management topics, including the "HR’d on the Street" column for the HR Bulletin. Ms Frederickson has earned a reputation as an expert source for information on labor market trends, career and job search issues, and general human resource management, and she has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Elle Magazine, the SJ Mercury, the SF Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, the Denver Post, CFO Magazine, and Monster.com. In addition, Ms. Frederickson is the author of Folio: Silicon Valley’s Comprehensive Career Transition Manual and was a featured expert in The Change Agents: Decoding the New Workforce and the New Workplace, published by St. Martin’s Press. C. Todd Lacey is Founder and Managing Partner of The (k)larity Group, an independent corporate retirement plan consulting firm based in Athens with offices in St. Simons and Atlanta. The (k)larity Group objectively serves plan sponsors and participants offering services including corporate fiduciary and investment consulting, vendor and fee comparative analysis, plan design consulting and participant investment education and advice. Todd was recently named as one of 20 Rising Stars of Retirement Plan Advisors by Institutional Investor News. This recognition is awarded to a select group of advisors seen as the future leaders of the retirement plan advisory space and who will shape the industry for years to come. Todd began his career as a Regional Director with a major retirement plan provider and then served as the Director of Retirement Plan Consulting at a major investment consulting firm. Todd serves on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta chapter of ASPPA (ABC of Atlanta) and is a frequent speaker and author on 401(k) related topics. Todd earned his B.A. at Miami University of Ohio. Brian Hilliard is Founder and President of Atlanta-based Agito Consulting. He is a recognized sales and marketing coach, specializing in providing individuals with actionable techniques that can be employed immediately at the workplace. As an accomplished and popular speaker, Brian is known for delivering dynamic presentations and providing professionals with insightful tools on how to build their businesses. Prior to forming Agito Consulting, Brian worked with GE Capital at several locations, including Chicago, Dallas and Alberta, Canada. In this capacity, Brian served as a manager, leader and mentor to as many as thirty different customer service agents and representatives throughout GE. In addition to consulting and speaking, Brian has authored Networking Like a Pro and How to Overachieve without Over Committing. A graduate of Duke University, Brian’s work has been featured in Forbes and Black Enterprise magazines. Brian was also a guest on the Martha Zoller Morning Show, where his interview was broadcast to over two million listeners. Dethra U. Giles is the Director of Staff Recruitment and Retention at Georgia State University and a member of the Board of Directors for ExecuPrep: an HR training, consulting and executive coaching firm located in Atlanta, GA. She holds an M.B.A. with a concentration in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development as well as an M.S. in Conflict Management - both from Kennesaw State University. In addition, Dethra is a Certified Trainer of Workplace Mediation and a Registered Neutral through the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. Professionally, Dethra has worked with a large number of outstanding organizations, including State Farm Insurance Companies, the Department of Labor, the Small Business Development Center and the Georgia Women Entrepreneur Network. Ryan Behrens is a Development Officer for Georgia’s Own Credit Union, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through his position with the Credit Union and his knowledge of the financial industry, he has developed extensive expertise working with people to help them better understand the FICO scoring model and to help them better recognize what opportunities they have to raise their own credit scores. Ryan presents credit score enhancement seminars and workshops on a regular basis to many of the member companies of Georgia’s Own Credit Union as part of their employee financial education training. An ambassador for two different Georgia County Chambers of Commerce, Ryan has displayed his passion for helping those in his community achieve their personal financial goals. Ryan holds a degree in Business Administration through Georgia Southern University and is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. Braden L. Albert is the Founder and President of the HR Star Conference and its parent company, Abbington Court Media. A graduate of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Braden began organizing job fairs and trade shows in the mid-1990's. Intrigued by the idea of bringing people together for a shared, learning experience - and impressed by the impact such an experience can provide - Braden organized his first HR Star Conference in 1999. Today, the scope of the HR Star Conference includes annual events in Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; and Cleveland, Ohio. Over 2,750 HR professionals attended an HR Star Conference in 2008. Ever eager to explore new formats and innovative concepts, Braden recently added the HR Executive Summit to his event line-up. The HR Executive Summit is a roundtable, discussion-based forum designed exclusively for VPs of HR and Directors of HR.