Speakers

This is just a partial list of speakers set to participate at Transform. Stay tuned for more information on this year’s full speaker faculty.

Interested in being one? Contact John Hollon.

This year’s event will feature presentations from:

Nick Araco

Nick A. Araco, Jr. Esq is the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of The CFO Alliance and AchieveNext, the principal community for finance leaders that gathers a diverse population of CFOs and finance executives for ongoing roundtable discussions that fuel, debate and dissect critical issues that CFOs are currently... [more]
Ann Bares

Ann Bares is the Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group. She is a recognized reward strategist with over 20 years of experience consulting in compensation and performance management , having worked with a range of organizations in auditing, designing and implementing reward programs, including executive compensation plans, base salary structures,... [more]
Laurie Bassi

Laurie Bassi is the CEO of McBassi & Company, a leader in the emerging decision-science of human capital management. Since she founded McBassi in 2001, she has been working with clients to help them unleash human capability within their organizations. In the earlier years of her career, Laurie... [more]
Billy Beane

One of the most progressive and talented baseball executives in the game today. Considered one of the most progressive and talented baseball executives in the game today, Billy Beane has molded the Oakland Athletics into a perennial postseason contender since assuming the general manager’s duties shortly following the 1997 season. Under Beane’s... [more]
Jennifer Benz

Jennifer Benz is the founder and chief strategist at Benz Communications, an award-winning benefits communication company based in San Francisco, CA. Her work has been recognized by Business Insurance, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Profit Sharing Council of America and others. A well-known expert in employee benefits... [more]
Karren Fink

Karren Fink is the Vice President of Human Resources for Edmunds.com Inc., the premier resource for automotive information. She is responsible for overseeing the team of professionals who manage Edmunds’ Human Resources processes including employee development, staffing, and benefits for the company’s employees headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and a... [more]
Mike Gannon

Michael P. Gannon is the senior vice president, chief strategic and human resources officer for Nexteer Automotive. He is also a member of the Nexteer Strategy Council (NSC), the top strategy and policy making body in the company. Gannon began his career at General Motors in 1980 as a labor relations... [more]
Joe Gerstandt

Over the past decade, Joe Gerstandt has worked both internally and externally with corporate and non-profit organizations on issues related to diversity, inclusion and culture. His consulting work consists of helping people and groups of people truly understand diversity, inclusion, and culture so they can deliver better on their promises.... [more]
Dawn Hrdlica-Burke

Dawn is the VP of People for Daxko, a leading software and services provider for non-profits nationwide. As VP of People, Dawn is responsible for helping the Daxko team find great talent, develop team members, preserve Daxko unique culture and manage the general HR function of the company.... [more]
Mel Kleiman

Certified Speaking Professional Mel Kleiman is an internationally recognized authority on how to recruit, select, on-board, engage, and retain frontline hourly employees and the people who manage them. His expertise is based on his practical experience as the former owner of three different businesses as well as his more than... [more]
Jim Knight

As head of the School of Hard Rocks, Jim has put his experience and creativity to work, which has consistently developed cutting-edge training concepts. The Training & Development department won coveted Telly Awards in 2000 for Hard Rock’s guest service video and again took top honors in 2007 for their menu... [more]
Jason Lauritsen

Jason Lauritsen is the reformed corporate guy. For nearly a decade, he spent his days in the belly of the beast as a corporate Human Resources leader (most recently as vice president for HR at Union Bank in Omaha, NE) where he had to actually “walk the talk” each day.... [more]
Gerry Ledford

Gerald E. Ledford, Jr., Ph.D is a nationally recognized authority on human capital issues, including compensation and total rewards, talent management, organization design, change management, and management of the HR function. He has devoted over 30 years to consulting and research on these topics. Gerry has consulted to dozens of... [more]
Rebecca Meissner

Rebecca Meissner is the Director of Product at BranchOut, the largest professional networking application on Facebook. In this role, Rebecca leads the product, design, and development teams building all of BranchOut’s offerings. Prior to BranchOut, Rebecca worked as a Product Manager for Disney Interactive Media Group, an HR Business Partner... [more]
Fran Melmed

Fran Melmed is founder of context communication,a consulting firm that specializes in workplace wellness. She founded context in 2003 after working for Hewitt Associates, a global management consulting firm, in their Communication and Talent and Organizational Change practices in the U.S. and U.K. Fran and her clients and have won... [more]
Eric Meyer

Eric B. Meyer is a partner in the labor and employment group of the Philadelphia-based law firm Dilworth Paxson LLP. He dedicates his practice to litigating and assisting employers on labor and employment issues affecting the workplace, including collective bargaining, discrimination, handbook policies, enforcement of restrictive covenants, and trade secret... [more]
Vivian Mora

Vivian L. Mora has more than 15 years of experience and expertise providing innovative human capital solutions to companies in diverse industries including a global professional sports franchise, a $15 billion grocery store chain, and a Fortune 300 energy/power producer. As a human capital consultant, she is focused on... [more]
Margaret Morford

Margaret N. Morford is President for The HR Edge, Inc., an international management consulting and training company in Brentwood, TN. Her clients have included Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Time Warner, Sara Lee Foods, Home and Garden Television, Nationwide Insurance, NAPA Auto Parts, New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell & Columbia Medical Centers),... [more]
Kimberly Roden

Kimberly Roden works with organizations who want to maximize their ROP (Return on People), by increasing the effectiveness of their leaders, and creating productive partnerships between those leaders and their teams. She uses her two decades of experience developing leaders, maximizing performance and increasing employee engagement, to develop creative,... [more]
Laurie Ruettimann

Laurie Ruettimann is a former Human Resources leader and an influential speaker, writer and social media expert focused on the human capital management industry. She received her SPHR certification in 2001 from The Human Resources Certification Institute and is an active member of The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).... [more]
Tim Sackett

Tim Sackett is the Executive Vice President for HRU Technical Resources in Lansing, MI. Tim’s job is to make sure everyone is happy and productive – for those who have worked in staffing firms, you know exactly what that means. HRU is primarily an engineering and technical contingency firm that... [more]
Libby Sartain

After a distinguished 30 year career in human resources Libby Sartain is now an active business advisor and Board Member. As CHRO of both Yahoo! Inc. and Southwest Airlines, Sartain led significant business transformation initiatives as a member of executive leadership teams and guided global human resources efforts focusing... [more]
Ron Thomas

Ron Thomas is a Director in the Talent and HR Solutions practice at Buck Consultants (A Xerox Company). He will be leading and selling global talent planning and talent engagement initiatives while also directing the practice new media approach. He will also direct the social media output for... [more]