Tamara Erickson
Claudio Fernandez-Araoz
Steven E. Sanderson
Roselinde Torres
Eamonn Kelly
Julie-Ellen Acosta
Dr. John J. Medina
Shubh Saumya
Al Vicere
Henry S. Givray
Christina Gold
Dr. Joseph L. Cavinato
Michael P. Connors
Gregory Kesler
Tamara Erickson is a respected McKinsey Award-winning author, and popular and engaging storyteller. Her compelling views of the future are based on extensive research on changing demographics and employee values and, most recently, how successful organizations work. Erickson has co-authored four Harvard Business Review articles: "It's Time to Retire Retirement" (March 2004), winner of the McKinsey Award; "Managing Middlescence" (March 2006); "What It Means to Work Here," (March 2007); and "Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams," (November 2007). She also wrote the book Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent (Harvard Business School Press, 2006) and co-authored an MIT Sloan Management Review article titled "Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams" (Summer 2007). In addition, Erickson is the mind behind one of Harvard Business Review's Breakthrough Ideas for 2008, "Task, Not Time," (February 2008). Her current work includes a trilogy of books about how individuals in specific generations can excel in today's workplace. Erickson is a former member of the boards of directors of two Fortune 500 companies — PerkinElmer Inc. and Allergan Inc. — and has served on the Audit, Compensation and Governance Committees.
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Claudio Fernandez-Araoz is the author of the acclaimed book Great People Decisions, strongly endorsed by Jim Collins and Jack Welch, and translated into many languages including Chinese and Vietnamese. Recently featured by BusinessWeek as one of the world’s most influential search consultants, his advice is followed by major global corporations, leading business schools and the civil service of some of the most advanced nations. He has worked for 23 years for the leading executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, where he has successively led its management appraisal practice, professional development and enhancement of the firm’s intellectual capital.
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Steven E. Sanderson is President & CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. A former Fulbright Scholar in Mexico, Sanderson holds a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. He also has held fellowships and grants from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, NASA and the Ford, MacArthur, Rockefeller, Tinker and Heinz Foundations. For the past 20 years, Dr. Sanderson has been deeply involved with the scientific cooperation on the environment, through the Social Science Research Council Committee for Research on Global Environmental Change, the International Geosphere-Biosphere program and the National Academy of Sciences Oversight Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Dr. Sanderson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and advisor to the Woods Institute of the Environment at Stanford University.
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Roselinde Torres is a member of BCG’s Organization Practice Leadership Team and the global topic leader for Leadership. Roselinde has worked with CEOs, senior executives, and Boards on leadership and organization issues associated with transformation and value creation. Working across multiple industries, Torres has authored publications on Organizing for Growth, Executive Team Effectiveness, Cultural Integration and CEO Succession. Torres held leadership roles at Mercer Delta Consulting and Johnson & Johnson. She holds an MS degree in Human Resource Development from the American University and NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science. She has an AB double major degree, with honors, in English and Spanish from Middlebury College.
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Eamonn Kelly is CEO of Global Business Network, the renowned California-based, future-oriented network and consulting firm, and a partner of the Monitor Group. He has been central to sustaining GBN’s thought leadership about the future and leads its consulting practice. He has consulted at a senior level to dozens of the world’s leading corporations in most sectors, including healthcare, energy, telecommunications, transportation, financial services, manufacturing, computing, professional services and consumer goods. Kelly also has worked with key global and national public agencies, as well as several major philanthropic foundations. For more than a decade, he has been at the forefront of exploring the emergence of a new, knowledge-intensive economy, and the far reaching consequences for society, organizations and people – and has been invited to present his provocative ideas frequently all over the world. Kelly holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Strathclyde University. He is the author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World (Wharton, 2005) and co-author of What’s Next: Exploring the New Terrain for Business (Perseus/Wiley, 2002) and The Future of the Knowledge Economy (OECD, 1999).
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Julie-Ellen Acosta directs the overall strategy for developing leaders capable of creating an engaged workforce who guide the overall growth and productivity of the The Boeing Company. An electrical and systems engineer, she has more than 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry. Previous assignments include Vice President of AeroStructures, Manufacturing and Support Technologies for Boeing Phantom Works, as well as senior roles on the Boeing 757 and 737 programs. Acosta also served in lead engineering roles to support the design of Air Force One. She earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Wichita State University, and completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School. Acosta serves as the Boeing executive focal for Wichita State University and sits on several advisory boards at WSU.
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Dr. John J. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders. He has spent most of his professional life as a private research consultant, working primarily in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries on research related to mental health. Medina holds joint affiliate faculty appointments at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in its Department of Bioengineering, and at Seattle Pacific University, where he is the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research. In 2004, Dr. Medina was appointed to the rank of affiliate scholar at the National Academy of Engineering. He has been named Outstanding Faculty of the Year at the College of Engineering at the University of Washington; the Merrill Dow/Continuing Medical Education National Teacher of the Year; and, twice, the Bioengineering Student Association Teacher of the Year. Dr. Medina has been a consultant to the Education Commission of the States and a regular speaker on the relationship between neurology and education.
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Shubh Saumya, a Partner in The Boston Consulting Group’s global financial services practice, has joined the speaker roster for the upcoming 2009 HRPS Global Conference. His keynote address – Collateral Damage: What the Crisis in Credit Markets Means for Everyone Else – is scheduled for 4:15 pm on Monday, April 27. Saumya advises that the global financial crisis is no longer just a financial crisis – it is engulfing the wider economy. BCG's Collateral Damage perspective will explain the background to the current troubles, analyze the impact of government actions around the world, explore likely economic scenarios, and examine the challenges facing banks and companies outside the financial sector. During his keynote, Saumya will outline the key questions and strategic imperatives that the crisis presents to senior HR executives. This session will include key takeaways that you can put to immediate use, including a plan to help you move from diagnosis to action in three to six weeks. Shubh Saumya is a Partner in BCG's global financial services practice focusing on capital markets and wholesale banking. He has advised senior leaders at global financial and corporate clients on strategy, organization, risk management and operations. He is co-author of BCG's "Collateral Damage" perspectives on the credit crisis, BCG's white paper on post-crisis investment bank business models, and BCG's annual "Creating Value in Banking" reports. Prior to his consulting experience, he traded mortgage-backed securities at Citibank. He has been cited in publications such as The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and American Banker. He holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology.
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Al Vicere holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Penn State where the primary focus of his graduate work was the field of executive education and development. At Penn State, he served for more than 11 years as the Smeal College’s Associate Dean for Executive Education, leading that unit to international prominence as a center of excellence in executive development. He was the founding director of Penn State’s Institute for the Study of Organizational Effectiveness (ISOE) and has earned a number of MBA “Excellence in Teaching” awards for his courses on strategic leadership. In addition to his current duties at Penn State, he is President of Vicere Associates Inc., a consulting firm with an impressive array of global clients. Dr. Vicere has published more than 80 articles and professional papers in several leading journals. His latest books are, Leadership by Design (Harvard Business School Press) and The Many Facets of Leadership (FT Prentice-Hall).
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Henry S. Givray is Chairman & CEO of SmithBucklin Corporation, the world’s largest association management and professional services company providing full-service management and related staff services to more than 225 trade and professional associations, government institutes and corporations. Under his leadership as CEO, SmithBucklin has grown more than 75% and has shattered every performance record from the previous 55 years in areas that include client retention, new client acquisition, employee satisfaction, financial performance and growth. His success in building a culture that inspires employees to provide extraordinary service and create value for client organizations is prominently featured in the 2006 book by Randy Pennington, Results Rule! Build a Culture that Blows the Competition Away. Henry authored two articles for BusinessWeek: “Leadership Lessons from Mom” and “When CEOs Aren’t Leaders” published in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and he is regularly invited to speak at association conferences and corporate events attended by a variety of professionals across many industries. His presentation, “The Passion of Leadership,” offers unique insights into the characteristics of effective leaders and helps people to identify opportunities to grow as leaders. Henry is one of 25 leaders featured in the 2007 book Apples are Square – Thinking Differently About Leadership, by Susan Smith Kuczmarski and Thomas D. Kuczmarski, in which the authors reveal the results of their search for the ideal 21st-century leader.
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As President & CEO for The Western Union Company, Christina Gold is responsible for the financial and overall operational performance of the $4 billion company – a worldwide leader in money transfer, bill payment and prepaid services. Based at Western Union’s global headquarters in Englewood, Colorado, Gold has executive management oversight of a network of approximately 300,000 Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. In addition, she oversees an employee base of nearly 5,000 people located in 44 countries. Prior to joining Western Union in May 2002, Gold was President and Chief Executive Officer of telecommunications and e-commerce services provider Excel Communications. She also had a long and distinguished career with Avon where she served as President, Avon North America, and was credited with a significant turnaround of the cosmetic brand’s US business. BusinessWeek named her one of the top 25 US managers in 1996, and she was recognized in 2003 and 2006 by Fortune magazine as one of America’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. Gold serves on the board of directors of ITT industries and New York Life, and is a member of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.
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Dr. Joseph L. Cavinato is the ISM Professor of Supply Chain Management at Thunderbird (The Garvin School of International Management). He also heads the Institute for Supply Management’s A.T. Kearney Center for Strategic Supply Leadership. He is active in professional and industrial societies as a member of the World Future Society, International Center for Organizational Effectiveness and Council of Logistics Management. Dr. Cavinato’s educational background includes a PhD in Business from The Pennsylvania State University and a BS and MBA from The American University. He received the A.T. Kearney Doctoral Dissertation Award for a study of multi-firm supply chain system total cost measurement systems, His dissertation is cited as the first research believed to be conducted in enterprise-wide supply chains. Since 1990 he has been on the board of directors of Pegasus International, a South African organization that directs educational development programs and investment funding for the economic upliftment of black entrepreneurs in southern Africa. He is the author of several books, and has written more than 180 cases in strategy, inter-organization linkages, purchasing and value chain management.
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Michael P. Connors is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ listed Information Services Group, Inc. (ISG). The company was founded in 2006 to build an industry-leading, highgrowth, information-based services company by acquiring and growing businesses in advisory, data, business and media information services. In November 2007, the company acquired its first company, TPI, the largest sourcing data and advisory firm in the world. Connors previously served as Chairman and CEO of the Media Measurement and Information (MMI) group of what is now The Nielsen Company, a leading global information and media company. In 2001, he led the formation of the MMI group, comprised of VNU’s media information, entertainment, software and Internet businesses, including Nielsen Media Research, NetRatings and Nielsen Entertainment. He also served as Chairman of VNU World Directories business, a leading Yellow Pages Directories and online commercial search company operating in seven countries. Before joining VNU, Connors was Vice Chairman of ACNielsen Corporation, the world leader in marketing information services, where he helped lead the turnaround of ACNielsen into a profitable company. Earlier, Connors was Senior Vice President with The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, which owned such companies as Moody’s Investors Service, Rueben H. Donnelley, IMS Health, ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, D&B Credit Services and a majority stake in Gartner Group. He played a leading role in D&B’s break-up into three separate publicly traded companies in 1996. During the previous 15 years, Connors held executive human resource positions with The Sprint Corporation and American Express. He is a director of NYSE listed R.H. Donnelley and Eastman and has appeared on CNBC Power Lunch, CNBC Fast Money and is quoted in the New York Times and other leading publications on media, information services and the Special Purpose Acquisition Company investment vehicle.
As the primary editor and writer of the recently published GLOBE book, Mansour Javidan is the co-principal investigator of the GLOBE Phase 3 research program. The book was the recent winner of the Society for Recognized by Jobster as the “Bill Gates of Workforce Planning” and by HR Magazine as The Workforce Planning Industry “Trailblazer,” presented the Optimas award for innovation by Workforce Management Magazine and leader of the year by both IQPC and ERE, Dan Hilbert is considered a leader and futurist in scientific human capital management, strategic workforce planning and optimization. The industry awards received by Orca Eyes, their clients and his teams at Fortune 20 Valero Energy since 2005 are unprecedented. Hilbert holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Belford University, General Management and Advanced Process Engineering certifications from the University of Texas. Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s (SIOP) award competition for “The M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in The Workplace.” Dr. Javidan has been designated an Expert Advisor (Global Leadership) by the World Bank and a Senior Research Fellow by the US Army. He also is on the Board of Directors of Business for Diplomatic Action. He has designed and taught a variety of executive development courses, offered and facilitated workshops, conducted consulting projects and made presentations in 22 countries around the world. A proven academic, Dr. Javidan took a four-year sabbatical from his university teachings to work with the CEO of TransCanada PipeLines, a multibillion dollar Canadian energy company. Dr. Javidan was instrumental in helping the CEO develop new directions and strategies, and facilitate cultural change within the company and its pipeline business. He was directly involved in the acquisition of a $15 billion corporation, at the time the largest such merger in Canada. He established a process for new business development that involved more than 200 employees throughout the company and produced new business ideas estimated to produce $50 million in net after tax earnings.
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Gregory Kesler is managing partner of Competitive Human Resources Strategies LLC, a firm specializing in talent management, human resources management, alternative reward systems and organization change. His breakout session, Complex Organization Design - Making the Matrix Work in a Down Economy, will discuss how organization design is now a core tool kit for senior HR people – and how critical it is in the current economy in order to right-size without chopping muscle. While many companies are now focused mostly on defense, others insist on not losing the growth agenda – and smart organizationl design is one way to do that. The session will look at a tool kit and a short case-study that examines What smart companies are doing to reduce costly infrastructure and focus on value in the current economic down draft, a model to guide complex organization design, three high-powered tools to support better design choices, how to make the matrix easier to manage in the current environment, and insights to how HR leaders are guiding the organization design process.
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