Shari Simberkoff is the Director of Human Resources for EILEEN FISHER, a women’s clothing company headquartered in New York, whose mission is to “inspire simplicity, creativity and delight through connection and great design”. Shari began her career at EILEEN FISHER in 1998, having previously held HR positions at Bloomingdale’s Department Store and Nine West Group. She leads a team of HR professionals who support the company’s 850 employees across the country in the full suite of HR services. One of the team’s primary goals is to foster a joyful and fulfilling employment experience in the company. EILEEN FISHER has been awarded the honor of being one of the 25 Best Medium Companies to Work for in America each year since 2004. Shari graduated with a B.S. in marketing from the School of Management at Boston University.

Ginger Guyton is a Human Resources Manager, bringing over 20 years of employee relations, training and recruiting experience. Ginger attended Jackson State University and joined the US Air Force shortly there afterwards. Ginger’s organizational management skills and her ability to build teams and develop training programs has positively impacted several organizations and companies that she has worked for. She has volunteered for several nonprofit activities/organizations such as Special Olympics, Career Day, Third Ward Community Outreach and Junior Achievement.

Mark is an acclaimed consultant – having worked with dozens of Fortune 500 companies in six of the seven continents of the world over the past two decades. As an author and highly demanded speaker, Mark has an innovative, results-focused passion for helping people make a difference.

Mark first joined the Walt Disney World Resort® in 1978, working in a wide variety of leadership roles. After more than ten years, Mark left to establish The Consultant Network, eventually leading over 60 business consultants.

In 1992, during his doctoral studies, Mark was recruited to lead the consulting team at the Federal Aviation Administration’s national training headquarters. Mark played a key role in the Department of Transportation’s organizational redesign – spearheading initiatives such as executive development, assessment and design, change dynamics, self-managed/directed work teams, and train-the-trainer programs.

Mark returned to the Walt Disney World Resort® in 1996 to help lead the transformation of the Disney Institute Business Programs. While in this role, Mark was in charge of Leadership, Creativity & Innovation, and Quality Service initiatives. He also served externally as the senior project manager for numerous highly successful large-scale organizational initiatives for leading domestic and international corporations – many of which are showcased in the Disney-published book Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service. In recognition of his contribution to the Disney organization, Mark was nominated for the prestigious “Partner’s in Excellence” award – Disney’s highest regarded corporate award.

Currently, as Chief Operating Officer of World Class Benchmarking, Mark leads a network of experts from the world’s most renowned companies in implementing organizational transformation.

Mark’s new best-selling book, Lead With Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand into World-Class Excellence (ASTD Press) showcases what world-class organizations do to attain and sustain extraordinary results.

For over twenty-five years Jeff has delivered development and training solutions for the private and public sector. He has facilitated hundreds of programs and delivered keynote addresses to scores of clients as diverse as General Electric, the U.S. Postal System, Federal Express and the City of New York. Topics have ranged from leadership to performance accountability, from customer service/loyalty to team building.

Earlier Jeff’s consultant activities were associated with The Disney Institute, a best-practices institution modeled on America’s first corporate university. While there, Jeff was responsible for designing The Disney Approach to Quality Service and Service, Disney Style programs. The models, concepts, and examples of that program were later introduced to corporate America in Be Our Guest, a popular benchmarking title published by The Disney Institute, with a forward by Michael Eisner.

While at the Disney Institute, Jeff played a key role in developing other programs at The Disney Institute to include Disney’s Approach to Customer Loyalty, and Disney’s Approach to Creativity and Innovation. He continues today as a columnist for MousePlanet.Com where he continues to share stories of excellence in the Walt Disney Company as best-practices ideas for corporations worldwide.

Jeff is now CEO of World Class Benchmarking, which provides a programming series that benchmarks many of America’s greatest corporations. Recently, World Class Benchmarking supported Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (Sheraton, Westin, & St. Regis) in launching a massive customer/brand service initiative for over 125,000 associates globally.

Recently Jeff has consulted in the last couple of years for the Finance division of the City of New York in providing leadership and transformation solutions for the public sector. He is the Chief Learning Architect for The Public Strategies Group (PSG) creating training and development solutions for such organizations as the State of Iowa and Federal Student Aid—U. S. Department of Education.

Jeff’s new best-selling book, Lead With Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand into World-Class Excellence (ASTD Press) showcases what world-class organizations do to attain and sustain extraordinary results and is available via ASTD.org, Amazon.com, and bookstores all over the world.  Jeff's book, "The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney" highlights best practices in customer service at Disney.

Molly is a frequent speaker and writer on talent topics. Her articles have appeared in leading publications such as Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, CNBC, Leadership Excellence and The Conversation at Harvard Business Review and she recently appeared on First Business TV.

David Lusk joined the SHRM Government Affairs Team as the Senior Associate for Member Advocacy in 2010.  Lusk oversees SHRM’s traditional member advocacy efforts.   He is also responsible for the development of the Advocacy Team, a SHRM initiative that will elevate the visibility of the HR profession by establishing a strong member presence in each of the 435 congressional districts.

With over 15 years of policy experience, Lusk most recently specialized in grassroots and grasstops internet engagement with Capitol Advantage -- now a part of the CQ-Roll Call Group. He also focused on health policy as a staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce and in the state affairs department of the Health Insurance Association of America. He is based in Alexandria, Va.

seller The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010). The Corporate LatticeTM model provides a strategic, flexible and scalable approach to the realities of today’s workforce and workplace. Molly led the implementation of Mass Career Customization® across Deloitte’s 45,000-person organization, significantly increasing career-life satisfaction, retention and engagement.

Molly has extensive management consulting experience implementing transformational change. She is an authority on organizational effectiveness, human resources strategy, and learning and development.

Molly is a frequent speaker and writer on talent topics. Her articles have appeared in leading publications such as Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, CNBC, Leadership Excellence and The Conversation at Harvard Business Review and she recently appeared on First Business TV.

Molly earned her M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and her undergraduate degree in Government from Harvard University. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two children.

Richard B. Lapp is a partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. His practice concentrates on labor and employment litigation before federal and state courts and agencies, in particular, representing employers in class and collective actions in all areas of labor and employment law, ranging from discrimination class actions to wage and hour collective actions to class cases under the WARN Act and ERISA. He also serves on the Firm’s Lawyer Development Committee and previously was co-chair of Labor and Employment Department’s Training Committee. He formerly clerked for the Hon. Daniel A. Manion on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Camille is a trusted advisor to national companies facing high-profile legal, policy, and media challenges, especially in situations with significant reputational risk. She excels at helping clients navigate complex issues and turn abstract risks into actionable decisions. Camille is renowned for her expertise in crisis management and legal strategy, making her an invaluable asset to her clients. 

A partner at Seyfarth, Camille co-chairs the National Complex Litigation practice group and leads the Complex Discrimination Litigation practice group. She is also a member of the firm’s National Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee. With nearly 30 years of experience, Camille has represented clients in employment discrimination, harassment, wage-and-hour disputes, and independent contractor matters across the country. 

Camille’s distinguished trial record includes serving as lead defense trial counsel in high-stakes cases involving harassment, discrimination, and systemic policy violations. She has also worked as outside counsel to boards of directors and executive teams on sensitive internal investigations. Her sophisticated approach to litigation has led to numerous successful resolutions, often on the eve of trial or through creative motion practice. 

In addition to her legal practice, Camille has regularly testified before the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, EEOC, and Department of Labor on key legislative issues. She has served as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity policy subcommittee since 2013, advocating for employer perspectives on critical employment laws. 

Camille earned both her B.A., with Highest Honors, and her J.D. from the University of Michigan. As an undergraduate, she was awarded the Eita Krom Scholar distinction for her published thesis. Her extensive legal and policy contributions make her a sought-after speaker and a leading voice in the field of complex litigation. 

Rubens Pessanha, GPHR, PMP, MBA, is global market researcher at the HR Certification Institute and a doctoral candidate in Human Resources Development at The George Washington University. Since 1998, he has been involved with internationalization of organizations; more specifically he has conducted the start-up of French organizations in Brazil. He has also participated in the start up of several internet companies in Brazil and of a new management journal for the South Asia Region. Rubens has almost 15 years of experience working with strategic planning, marketing research, business development, organizational development and change. He has been a speaker at the 2011 SHRM Annual Conference, 2010 ASTD International Conference, the 2009 Academy of Human Resource Development International Conference and the 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. His areas of interest include internationalization of organizations, marketing research, cross-cultural communication, global mindsets, strategic thinking, self-directed-learning and action learning. Rubens has written several research articles on HR trends for SHRM and co-authored a paper on experiences that develop strategic thinking skills. An active volunteer, Rubens has held leadership positions at GWU student association, COPPEAD former Master students association and the Rio de Janeiro Chapter of the Brazilian HR Association. Rubens is currently a member of the Project Management Institute, SHRM, American Marketing Association and Marketing Research Association.