Gina Rudan is the President of Genuine Insights Inc. a contemporary professional development and training practice whose mission is to leverage the genius within every individual and organization. Gina spoke on the subject of genius at the 2010 TED Global conference at Oxford University and is the author of PRACTICAL GENIUS: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Passions and Talents Working for You which was published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster in the fall of 2011.

Gina has been a guest lecturer, trainer and strategist for organizations including Merck Co., the BET Network, the Interpublic Group, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Stern School of Business at New York University among many others. She is the curator of TEDxMIA, an independent movement to spread genius in southern Florida and is a member of the Visionary advisory board for the Wolfsonian – FIU Museum. Before launching her own practice, Gina held management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Avon Products and PR Newswire, where she was responsible for spearheading multicultural and international marketing efforts.

In 2010 Gina was selected as one of Poder Magazine’s top “20 Under 40” Hispanics in the United States. A native New Yorker, Gina graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Binghamton University and is a National Urban Fellow holding a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College in New York City.

Tony Schwartz is President and CEO of The Energy Project, a company that helps individuals and organizations perform better and more sustainably. He spent the first part of his career working as a journalist. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and is one of HBR’s most popular bloggers. He also blogs regularly on the Huffington Post and on Oprah.com.

In his role as the Director of Social Engagement for SHRM, Midkiff provides strategic leadership and direction to various departments in their efforts to maximize the potential of social media to achieve their departmental and organizational goals. He also works closely with SHRM chapters and state councils across the country, providing them assistance and social media training.    In addition, he is a recognized thought leader on the subject of social media strategy as it relates to employee engagement initiatives.

Kathleen Coulombe is a Senior Advisor, Government Relations at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  In this capacity, she is actively involved in tax and benefit public policy issues on Capitol Hill that impact the Human Resource profession.  Prior to working in this capacity, Coulombe served as the State Affairs Specialist where she managed public policy issues on the state level for SHRM. She is based in Alexandria, Va.

Michael Layman is senior associate in Government Affairs at SHRM.  Layman promotes SHRM’s views on employment, labor relations, and civil rights legislation with House and Senate offices and the Administration.  He also serves as Chair of the National Coalition to Protect Family Leave, a broad-based group of organizations, companies and associations dedicated to protecting the integrity of the Family and Medical Leave Act and supporting public policy that promotes voluntary, employer-provided leave benefits to maximize flexibility for both employers and employees.

Mark J. Schmit, Ph.D., is the Executive Director for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation. In this capacity he leads the Foundation’s efforts to advance the strategic direction and impact of the HR profession. Dr. Schmit was previously the Vice President of Research for SHRM. Dr. Schmit has more than 25 years of experience in the field of human resources and has also been an academic, applied researcher, HR generalist, and internal and external consultant to both public and private organizations. Dr. Schmit earned a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Bowling Green State University in 1994. He has published more than 25 professional journal articles and book chapters and delivered more than 75 presentations at professional meetings on HR and Industrial/Organizational Psychology topics. Dr. Schmit is a Fellow in both the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association. He is also certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).