The CEO panel will offer a lively discussion about the unique value and impact that a strong HR capability has on organizational success. Sponsored by Socialfix, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) panelists will share their perspectives on how to redefine and realign HR to meet the needs of an increasingly complex and changing social, business and geo-political environment.

Our experienced and esteemed cadre of CEOs include: Matt Straz (Namely), David Walker (Triplemint), William Schiemann (The Metrus Institute), Sharon Emek (Working at Home Vintage Experts) and Tevis Trower (Balance Integration Corp.) These CEOs will offer their experiences and views about what an effective workforce looks like, and the importance of having strong HR business partners. They will also offer insight on how to build and maintain an amazing employee experience.

Audience members will learn the interesting stories how and why these companies were formed, and the strategies they employ to create an engaged workforce and retain top talent. We will also learn about the most pressing issues plaguing the current Talent marketplace, and the key capabilities HR Managers will need to develop and hone in order to navigate the changing role and landscape of HR.

Session Objectives Include:

• Identifying the CEO’s top business issues and talent issues that can impede revenue growth, innovation and the company’s ability to retain customers and members.
• Explaining how to bring your HR functional expertise to contribute beyond your functional role and serve as an active player, counterbalancing the other players around ethical and long-term sustainability issues.
• Describing how to develop and maintain trust in the HR capability which can and should serve as a confidential sounding board, in addition to maintaining integrity within the organization (e.g. participating in due diligence and decision-making regarding mergers, restructuring, divestitures, etc.).

Namely is the leading HR platform for mid-sized companies. Since founding Namely, Matt has grown the company to over 1,000 clients, 150,000 users, and has raised $158M from leading investors, include Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners.

Prior to Namely, Matt was co-founder of Pictela, an ad tech company he sold to AOL in 2010, and a long-time media and advertising executive.

Matt has been named one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs and writes frequently on human resources, startups, and technology.

Sterling Talent Solutions is the global leader in background screening with nearly 4,000 employees in 20 offices in 9 countries. Clare joined Sterling Talent Solutions as President in May 2013 and was named CEO in January 2015. Since joining the company, Clare has introduced new leadership and strategies to accentuate Sterling Talent Solutions high performance culture while accelerating the growth of its global revenue footprint.

Prior to joining SterlingBackcheck, Clare was President and CEO of Infogroup and a member of the Board of Directors from July 2010 through December 2011. From 2006 to 2010, she was Executive Vice President, Dow Jones & Company, a News Corporation Company, and President, Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group.

Clare was President and CEO of Factiva, a joint venture between Dow Jones and Reuters, from 2000 to 2006 and during her tenure, she grew the company from number three in its industry to number one.

Clare has won numerous awards for leadership and innovation including Inside Market Data’s 2010 Hall of Fame, where she was recognized as "The Visionary” and Drexel University’s Drexel 100, the University’s alumni hall of fame. She also served on the Direct Marketing Association and the Software and Information Industry Association Board.

Clare received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Computer Systems Management from Drexel University and a M.B.A. from Rider University.

As CEO, David leads Triplemint’s mission, vision for the future, business strategy, and culture. Working with his co-founder Philip Lang, David drives Triplemint’s goal of creating the best possible client experience when buying, selling, or renting a home.

Before founding Triplemint, David left Yale University to become the Director of Marketing at the tech startup YouRenew.com, where he developed the company’s brand and led marketing and business development strategy. YouRenew was acquired in 2014 by Clover Wireless.

David returned to Yale University to receive a B.A. in Political Science. While there he became a national champion rower, earning honors as the captain of the Yale Lightweight Crew Team. David currently serves on the Board of the Yale Crew Association and is a lifelong artist who has sold oil paintings and photographs.

Bill Schiemann is Principal and CEO of Metrus Group, specializing in optimizing the impact of people in organizations to achieve great results. Dr. Schiemann and his firm are known for their pioneering work in the creation of the People Equity (ACE) talent optimization framework and the use of strategic performance surveys and scorecards to drive stakeholder alignment and engagement. They also specialize in building powerful winning cultures and employer brands. Bill has consulted and spoken extensively with corporations and associations across the globe. He also founded the Metrus Institute, which supports research in the human capital arena.

Bill is a thought leader in the human resources field, having published scores of articles in both academic and business journals and multiple books in the human capital arena, including among others, The Rise of HR (2015), Reinventing Talent Management (2009), Hidden Drivers of Success: Leveraging Employee Insights for Strategic Advantage (2013), and his most recent book, Fulfilled! Critical Choices: Work, Home, Life (2016).

Bill was formerly on the faculties of University of Iowa and George Tech. He has served on the Board of Directors of the HR Certification Institute and was the past Chair of the SHRM Foundation board. He has been named a Fellow and Scholar by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Sharon has effectively broken the mold by infusing flexibility into the traditional office staffing structure with a proven blueprint that is gaining widespread attention, changing lives, and yielding impressive results. With decades of industry experience, Sharon understands firsthand the challenges that employers and “vintage” professionals are facing today.

Before founding WAHVE, Sharon spent thirteen years of her career as a partner at CBS Coverage Group, Inc., where she managed the New York City office and provided business insurance and risk management for a large client base. Prior to joining CBS, Sharon was president, founder and CEO of The Emek Group, an insurance agency she formed in 1988. Sharon began her career as a professor at Rutgers University and a management consultant to businesses.

Sharon is a dynamic leader, a frequent industry speaker, and a progressive thinker with an award-winning record of success for ushering in a much-needed WAHVE of change for finding talent.

Sharon has earned numerous awards for her thought leadership, including the 2016 SmartCEO Brava Award honoring top female CEOs and the Vistage Leadership Legacy Award; Insurance Business America’s “Elite Women in Insurance” 2014, 2015 and 2016 and the 2015 “Hot 100” list; the first woman to receive the 1882 Fellow Award, the highest honor presented by IIABNY (2014); Outstanding Committee Chairperson Award from IIABNY (2008); the first woman to receive the Sidney O. Smith Government Affairs Award from the IIABA (2007); the Distinguished Service Award from IIABNY (2006); the Helen Garvin Outstanding Achiever Award from the NAIW (1999); and the National Promising Research Award for her doctoral research (1978).

Sharon is frequently sought out by the media as an expert on insurance, management and business issues. She has appeared on CNN, CNBC, CBS, Fox and Lifetime; has authored numerous articles; and is often quoted in national news periodicals including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, National Underwriter and Business Insurance.

Sharon has testified before the New York State Assembly Insurance Committee, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee Subcommittees and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Sharon served on the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York Board for ten years and is a past chair. She served as a board member of ACT (Agents Council for Technology) for four years and Chaired the Mid-Commercial Working Group. She has served on numerous other boards including the Institute for Student Achievement, Women Builders Council, Center for Women’s Business Research, NYC Mayor’s Small Business Advisory Board, and the IBM Small Business Research and Technology Advisory Council.

Sharon received her doctoral degree from Rutgers University (1977). She is the author of Answers for Managers and numerous articles on management and insurance issues.

Balance Integration Corporation Founder/CEO Tevis Trower is a pioneer in optimizing corporate cultures. Heralded in Megatrends 2010 as “corporate mindfulness guru for the new millennium”, under her leadership Balance Integration has grown to serve clients in over 90 US markets, Europe and Latin America.

Balance develops and facilitates global executive immersions, engagement and leadership activations, keynotes, panels and wellness strategies for prestigious organizations including Harvard Business Review Events, Young Presidents Organization, PWC, the NBA, KKR, Soros, Bloomberg, Viacom, Google and The Economist on issues including mindfulness, resilience, personal mastery, innovation, and the role of consciousness in creating radical success.

You can find expert advice from Tevis and profiles on Balance Integration featured in respected media outlets including Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Glamour, YogaJournal, CIO, Pink, RealSimple, Crain’s, New York Post, Financial Times, WWD, New York Observer, MSNBC, FoxBusiness, NY1, CNN, Martha Stewart, WebMD and HuffPo. She lives, works, plays guitar, hikes, and socializes in upstate New York and Chelsea, Manhattan.

Since 2010, she has focused on fostering a culture of innovation at Ultimate, resulting in the delivery of advanced, people-centric HCM technology solutions and services. She also has served as Ultimate’s VP of Product Strategy and Product Management, responsible for defining and developing the global vision and strategy for Ultimate’s industry-leading HR, payroll, and talent management solutions.With more than 20 years’ experience in both national and global markets, Cecile is an internationally sought-out speaker, thought leader, and visionary on HCM trends, hot topics, and global strategies.

Zev J. Eigen is a nationally recognized expert in data science applied in law and HR, appearing in the media frequently (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc.). He is a winner of the National Law Journal’s 40 Under 40 Rising Legal Stars award, a FastCase50 Innovator, and has been recognized by the Financial Times as one of the 10 most innovative lawyers in the US.

He is an accomplished public speaker and is invited regularly to lecture and present papers at academic institutions and professional organizations across the country. He is a former law professor (Northwestern, Yale, NYU), and former in-house counsel (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.) He received his BA and JD degrees from Cornell, and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He founded Syndio Solutions, which develops technologies that enable organizations to find and close the gender pay gap, as well as measure and analyze relational data (how individuals connect to each other across networks) to reduce gender biases, improve collaboration, identify the most influential people in an organization and measure and improve inclusion as part of diversity and inclusion initiatives. He holds a PhD from MIT ('09), a JD from Cornell Law School ('99) and BS from Cornell University in Industrial & Labor Relations ('96).

Before launching 70MillionJobs, Richard served as Director of Executive Relations and Prison Engagement at Defy Ventures, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing incarcerated men and women second chances upon release, by training them in entrepreneurialism. His role at Defy included fund-raising, business development and leading New York events.

His career began on Wall Street, where he managed money at Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns. He eventually went on the found Biltmore Securities, a registered broker-dealer based in South Florida. Richard grew Biltmore to nearly 500 employees, spread out over four national offices, and took many companies public.

After Biltmore, Richard founded Channels Magazine and launched several successful consumer product and service businesses. Richard was convicted of securities fraud in 2002, arising from his activities in the 1990s and served two years in a Federal prison camp. Upon release, he was destitute, and for years tried to put the past behind him.

He found a home at Defy Ventures, where he served as director, leading to his founding 70MillionJobs, the first for-profit recruitment platform for individuals with criminal records. Almost immediately, he partnered with City of Los Angeles to drive more employment opportunities for that city's ex-offender population and then was asked to participate in Y Combinator, the early-stage investor incubator in Mountain View, California. In a short time, the 70MillionJobs has amassed a community of more than one million ex-offenders--a population emerging as a vital economic and political force.

Most recently, Justin served in the Obama White House as the Deputy Director of Private Sector Engagement, where he led the Fair Chance Business Pledge, an effort to ensure job opportunities for individuals with a criminal record. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Justin clerked for judges in both the Northern District of Illinois and the Eastern District of Missouri.

He previously served as a Policy Aide to U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and helped lead the Senator's successful re-election campaign in 2012. He also worked on then-Senator Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Justin is a native of St. Lous, MO, and a graduate of Truman State University and Washington University School of Law.

John serves as Senior Vice President Corporate and Workforce Development at The Doe Fund, where he leads major employer engagements for employment and training leverage. Kirkland was previously Vice President-Corporate Employment & Development Partnerships at FEGS in New York City.

Dariely is director of the Economic Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law where she leads the Committee’s efforts to combat employment discrimination and to address ongoing economic and racial inequality through litigation, public education and policy advocacy. Ms. Rodriguez is co-chair of the Employment Task Force of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the national umbrella organization of American civil rights groups.

Before joining the Lawyers’ Committee, Ms. Rodriguez worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. There she prosecuted affirmative civil rights cases in the areas of disability access, immigration services fraud, consumer racial profiling, language access, employment discrimination and reproductive rights. She also served as Co-Chair of the Office’s internal equal employment opportunity committee. Prior to joining the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Rodriguez worked in private practice for several years at the firms of Jackson Lewis LLP and Farrell Fritz P.C.

Ms. Rodriguez began her career clerking in the New Jersey Superior Court – Civil Division. She received her J.D. from Hofstra Law School where she was a LatCrit Scholar and the recipient of the Dwight L. Greene full tuition scholarship for minority rights advocacy. She received her B.A. from New York University.

Robert Gill is the Director of People Operations at Checkr Inc. Robert has been a long-term advocate of diversity and inclusion and wants to include fair chance hiring under that umbrella. He has worked at a mix of nonprofits, startups, and large companies like Facebook and Gap Inc. Robert has a Master's Degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco and has been working in human resources for the past 12 years.

Antwoin "Chef Fresh" Gutierrez has transformed his life since leaving prison six years ago. He discovered his natural talent for baking as a trainee at The Doe Fund at the age of 25. After two years of exploring New York City’s demanding pastry/culinary industry, he was hired by The Doe Fund as a full-time employee and became the organization’s youngest Culinary Instructor by the age of 27. Since finding his passion, Mr. Gutierrez has earned numerous culinary arts accreditations, including national and local food protection certificates.

At the age of 16, Antwoin exhibited the first signs of an emerging, but misguided, entrepreneurial spirit when he began to sell illegal narcotics. Following a stint behind bars, a more mature Antwoin recognized that the business skills he developed on the streets could be applied to more legitimate ventures. His awakening demonstrates the power of second chances, as he has become an inspiration to hustlers and businessmen alike, as well as a role model to his 11 year-old son.

MARC S. MILLER as a thought leader, consultant, speaker and author, is a nationally respected authority on Human Resource Information Systems with over 35 years experience with all aspects of technology solutions for Human Resources. His nationwide consulting firm, a sole proprietorship, together with his industry visibility, has made Marc S. Miller one of the HR Technology industry's most recognized voices.

He uses his thought leadership, significant industry experience and contacts to provide insight into the important trends surrounding HR Technology. In great demand, Marc has been a featured speaker and presenter at numerous HR and HCM technology meetings both industry focused and at many HRMS providers User Conferences. His blogs and webinars are always well viewed and attended.

His recently published book, "Heroic HR", now in its Second Edition, is in high demand. Marc's latest book, WHO KILLED H. (HARRIET) R. (ROSE) JOB? a police procedural will be released nationwide by Feb 2018.

Bob Schiff is a savvy business executive with a distinguished record of building, operating and leading high growth technology companies--specifically within the cybersecurity and HR arenas. He has cultivated an extensive network of both C- suite executives and cybersecurity professionals, including those previously associated with the Department of Homeland Security, The Department of Energy and The White House.

Prior to his cybersecurity career, Bob held various executive positions at Ultimate Software, iClick, InTime Systems and other HRMS providers. Bob has been featured on CNN and in The Wall Street Journal regarding numerous technology related topics.

Jordan Birnbaum has been with ADP since 2015, as VP and Chief Behavioral Economist, directing the application of behavioral economics principles into new product development in the human capital management market.

Prior ADP, Jordan was owner / operator of The Vanguard in Los Angeles, a hybrid media and live music venue, employing more than 150 people for a decade. He was a founding employee and Senior Vice President of Juno Online Services, playing a key role in an IPO. Jordan graduated from Cornell University with a BS, Policy Analysis, and from NYU with an MA in Industrial / Organizational Psychology.

Patti Perez is on a mission to transform workplace culture. She combines her experience as a licensed California attorney, a professionally-certified HR executive, a specialist in the prevention and resolution of workplace drama, an expert witness in state and federal court, a state regulator and as an entrepreneur to create a revolutionary shift in the way we communicate and make decisions at work.

Patti wants to help us in our mission to create healthier workplace cultures. This role helps her to leverage technology solutions to deliver engaging, informative and pragmatic content and also allows her to provide thought leadership on workplace training issues.

Experience and Education
After working as an employment litigator:

• She worked internationally on a judicial education project in Mexico and served as an HR executive.
• In 2001, she founded Puente Consulting and made a significant professional pivot – moving into the role of workplace crisis manager. It was during this time that her clients dubbed her “the Workplace Wolf” (with a nod to the movie Pulp Fiction)
• In 2015, Ogletree Deakins, an international employment law firm, acquired Puente and she worked as a shareholder at the firm’s San Diego office.
• Two governors selected her to serve on two statewide regulatory entities – the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (2008-2011) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Council (2013-2016).
• A native Spanish speaker, she has not only worked in nearly all 50 states, she has also worked in Mexico, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Chile and Peru.
• A proud double-Bruin, she has a BA in English Literature from UCLA (1989), and a JD from the UCLA School of Law (1992).