Cleveland HR Star Conference Wednesday, July 25, 2012 Speaker Information Nancy Barnes, Esq. is a Partner in the Cleveland office of Thompson Hine LLP. An employment litigator with seventeen years of experience, Nancy advises clients on a wide range employment topics including discrimination, harassment, FMLA, ADA compliance, wage and hour issues, non-competition agreements and issues related to privacy rights, including social media. An accomplished litigator, Nancy has defended companies in individual and class actions before the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the Ohio Department of Commerce and in state and federal courts. In addition, Nancy has successfully litigated dozens of cases involving a variety of employment-related issues in arbitration, mediation, jury and bench trials. Nancy is admitted to a variety of state and federal courts in Ohio as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. She is also an OSBA-Certified Specialist in Labor & Employment Law. Nancy graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from the College of William & Mary, and she received her J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Jim Smith, PCC, NCOC™, SPHR is an executive and life coach, international speaker, author and change consultant. Jim works with leaders and business owners who are smart and successful - and who feel stretched and sometimes overwhelmed by the pace of their job and the demands that may outstrip their ability to deliver. Jim helps his clients accurately assess their situation and create a compelling future vision. Then he supports them to build the powerful new behaviors that will get them new outcomes and better business results. Jim spent more than 20 years in the corporate world where he held senior executive roles in sales, finance, operations and HR. He has been coaching executives and organizational leaders since 1992 and has coached leaders from eleven countries and four continents to achieve greater leadership effectiveness and balance. Jim’s clients include top-tier Fortune 500 companies in the service, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors as well as non-profit, government and educational organizations. Jim holds an MBA in organizational behavior from the Weatherhead School at Case Western Reserve University and a BSBA in management and finance from John Carroll University. In addition, he has achieved the highest designation in Ontological Coaching (NCOC™) through The Newfield Network where he currently serves as a Mentor Coach, and he earned his PCC (Professional Certified Coach) designation through the International Coach Federation. Certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, Jim is a past two-term president for the Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management as well as a founder and past President of the Cleveland Coach Federation. Currently, he serves on the board of the Northern Ohio HR Planning Society and is an adjunct instructor for Baldwin Wallace College. Jim is the author of Happiness At The Speed of Life: 13 Powerful Strategies for Finding Happiness at Home and On the Job. and has touched the lives of over 13,000 people through his work on happiness and the enhancement of positive emotion. Jim deeply believes that, "Happiness is a decision, not an event." Sindy Warren, Esq. is a Partner at Warren & Hays LLC and has practiced employment law for 14 years. For the past 4 years, Sindy ran Warren & Hays’ predecessor, Proactive Employment Practices, where she conducted workplace investigations, created and presented training programs on a wide variety of employment law and human resources issues, and acted as a consultant for private and public employers, both large and small. Over the years, Sindy has investigated many complaints of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, fraud and other workplace misconduct. She has also trained managers and employees on issues ranging from harassment to performance management and has provided one-on-one sensitivity training for executive and other supervisory employees. She has also created employee handbooks, revised policies and procedures, and assisted employers with discipline and termination issues. Prior to starting her consulting business, Sindy was an employment litigator for McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen in San Francisco; Foley Hoag in Boston; and Duvin, Cahn & Hutton in Cleveland. Sindy graduated with honors from Stanford Law School and magna cum laude from Tufts University. In her spare time, Sindy tutors elementary school children in the Cleveland School District through the Cleveland Jewish Federation’s Public Education Initiative, for which she also sits on the Board of Trustees. Seth P. Briskin, Esq. is a Partner in the firm of Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis where he is Chair of the Labor & Employment Group. Mr. Briskin provides labor and employment counsel to private, public sector and non-profit organizations. He represents employers and executives in employment litigation, wage and hour matters, non-competition and trade secret litigation, workers’ compensation claims/appeals, union organizing drives, collective bargaining, labor arbitrations and all manner of disputes involving the NLRB, OSHA, EEOC, OCRC, BWC and the Department of Labor. In addition, he prepares employment and consulting contracts, confidentiality and non-competition agreements and advises clients on severance packages and separation agreements. Before joining the firm, Mr. Briskin practiced at boutique and general practice law firms where he developed his experience in all areas of labor and employment law. He also interned for the National Labor Relations Board. Consistently named an Ohio “Super Lawyer” and awarded Crain’s Cleveland Business “40 Under 40” in 2005, Seth frequently speaks on labor and employment law issues. He serves as an officer on the Executive Boards of the Cleveland Leadership Center, American Jewish Committee, Beachwood Chamber of Commerce and the Cleveland Jewish News, and he is a former Chairman of Cleveland Bridge Builders. Mr. Briskin earned his B.S. from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations and his J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law. Bonnie Cox is Founder and President of the Power Training Institute (PTI) based in Santa Barbara, California. As a professional trainer, corporate facilitator and motivational speaker, she offers custom-designed, high-energy workshops for corporations on a wide range of human resources, management and communications training topics. Bonnie lends over 20 years of experience in management coaching, employment law, training development and sales management. Over the years, Bonnie has enjoyed working with leading organizations such as Technicolor, Ricoh Electronics, National Pen, Nordstrom, Herman Miller, Zion's Bank and Meggitt Aerospace. Besides running PTI, Bonnie holds the position of Vice President of Training and Development for The Select Family of Staffing Companies where she is responsible for leading the company's comprehensive training and career development programs. There she formed Select University, an intensive and progressive training school specializing in customer service, sales, operations and management. Bonnie is also an adjunct professor for Santa Barbara City College's Professional Development Department, as well as UCSB Extension and Antioch University. In addition, Bonnie has been a guest speaker for associations like SHRM, PIHRA, ASTD, and VIA, and she has guest lectured at Santa Barbara City College, the University of Phoenix and University of California, Santa Barbara. Bonnie holds a B.S. in Business Management and Finance and an M.A. in Organizational Management. Paul Meshanko is an author, professional speaker and seminar leader with nearly two decades of adult education experience. After a successful career with Honeywell Automotive, he opened the Cleveland office of EdgeOhio in 1997 to focus on the growing need for organizational culture change support. Since then, he has helped EdgeOhio grow to become a global provider of both employee survey and staff development services with its training materials translated into over 20 languages. Over the past decade, Paul has addressed tens of thousands of business leaders and professionals on four continents. In addition to employee engagement, his most popular speaking topics include: respectful workplaces, organizational resilience and high performance work teams. Paul holds a degree from The Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from Baldwin Wallace College. He is an active member of the American Society for Training & Development and serves on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland. Paul's most recent book is Conversations on Success. Marty Mordarski, SPHR is the Director of Research at ERC, where he is responsible for the attraction, retention and satisfaction of ERC members. In addition, he oversees ERC’s HR Help Desk and Research functions. He also provides direction over ERC’s compensation, benefits and workplace studies, including the research and evaluation process for NorthCoast 99 - ERC’s nationally acclaimed program that annually identifies great workplaces in Northeast Ohio. Marty has been cited and interviewed by various media sources regarding workplace research and practices including: Inside Business Magazine, Smart Business Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The News-Herald, Crain’s Cleveland Business, the Tri-County Business Journal and 90.3 WCPN Ideastream, and he is a frequent contributor to the Tri-County Business Journal on HR and workplace-related issues. In addition, he has been a featured presenter at conferences and a frequent guest speaker for colleges and universities, including Baldwin-Wallace College, Kent State University, Lorain Community College and Cleveland State University, speaking on topics like generational differences in the workplace, compensation surveys, and building great workplaces that attract and retain top talent. In 2006, he was honored as one of the “Top 20 in their 20s” by Crain’s Cleveland Business Magazine. Marty received a B.B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources. Sarah Flannery, Esq. is a Partner in the Cleveland office of Thompson Hine LLP. Sarah's practice includes both immigration law and traditional employment law. Within her immigration practice, Sarah counsels employers on strategies for sponsoring employees for immigrant and non-immigrant visas, as well as I-9 compliance. In addition, she conducts I-9 audits, represents employers before the various agencies of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor, develops immigration related policies such as how sponsorship decisions will be made, and conducts due diligence to determine immigration issues within corporate transactions. Within her traditional employment practice, Sarah advises clients on a wide range employment topics, including discrimination, harassment, FMLA, ADA compliance, wage and hour issues, non-competition agreements and issues related to use of independent contractors and temporary employee agencies. Sarah received her J.D. summa cum laude from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, graduating first in her class. Amy B. Shannon is the President of Pinnacle Leadership Solutions and has specialized in organizational development, human resources and training for over 20 years. For the past seven years, Amy has been an Organizational Development Consultant working with clients in the manufacturing, service, financial, non-profit and healthcare industries. Prior to her OD work, she served in Director-level positions with Western-Southern Enterprise and Kendle International. In both of these organizations, Amy built competency-based corporate universities that were nationally-recognized and noted in industry trade publications. In addition, Amy has worked with clients as an executive coach, leadership facilitator, team building consultant and strategic planning expert. She has also been a program facilitator for a city-wide leadership program for women and a lead facilitator at the annual HR Executive Summit. Amy has presented at several national conferences, including as a featured speaker at The Corporate University Week at the Disney Institute. Thomas Wirbel is Vice President of CPI-HR. Originally joining CPI-HR as a Benefits Consultant, through innovative and successful strategies Tom has achieved notable results in aiding client-companies manage the escalating costs of health insurance. Motivated by client feedback that continues to point to health insurance as the number one HR concern, Tom focuses his expertise on developing and designing employee benefit plans. Throughout his career, Tom has also acted as an HR consultant to small and medium-sized businesses in Northeastern Ohio. A native of Cleveland, Tom graduated from John Carroll University with a B.S.B.A. and earned an M.B.A. from Cleveland State University. Sonya Weiland is the President of WeilandWorks Consulting based in Northeast Ohio. Focused on building positive relationships as a strategic partner with clients, Sonya has partnered with senior executives developing talent management and HR solutions with clear links to business results. Her expertise includes creating, designing and implementing training, coaching and HR systems for clients such as Sandridge Foods, PIRHL Contractors, Taleris Credit Union and Ralston Instruments. Sonya is certified as a Professional in Human Resources through HRCI and is an active member of both SHRM and The Cleveland Coach Federation. She also serves as an instructor at Right Management. Sonya has contributed to articles in The Cleveland Plain Dealer and various business publications. Sonya is recognized as an enthusiastic and interactive speaker and trainer supporting various companies, non-profit organizations and associations. A strong advocate for community involvement, Sonya serves on an advisory board and supports multiple non-profit organizations. Sonya is a graduate of John Carroll University. 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 3,000 HR professionals attended an HR Star Conference in 2011.