Past Speakers (2019)

Karyn Alvarez is the Recruiting Director at The Container Store.  Karyn’s 21-year career with the company started in the store stocking shelves and evolved into training and then recruiting.  The common thread throughout every position has been her passion for people and care for candidates.  Karyn holds a degree in Dance from The University of Texas at Austin.  Hook ‘em horns!  Outside of work, Karyn loves to cook with her teenage son, go on hikes with her husband and is an aspiring quilter.

Eric Anderson is currently Vice President of Training and Development for Tailored Brands (TLRD), for 21,000+ employees at leading menswear retailers Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, and Joseph Abboud in the U.S., and Moores Clothing for Men in Canada, along with family retailer K&G Fashion Superstore in the U.S. He is a featured speaker at the company’s annual conferences, and facilitates numerous online and in-person courses. He has co-authored many of the company’s own sales training and train-the-trainer programs. Eric heads the company’s Leadership Circle, an internally-developed two-year leadership and talent-accelerator program, and will launch the fourth Leadership Circle cohort in mid-2019.

Eric has been with Tailored Brands (formerly Men’s Wearhouse) for more than 25 years, with a majority of that time spent in training roles. He is passionate about helping individuals and teams achieve success.

Eric has been married 28 years and is the father of four children between the ages of 15 and 24—with three currently in college.  He lives in Northern California and enjoys long distance running and spending time with his family. 

Semone Bamboat is the Senior Director of U.S. Talent Acquisition at Michael Kors, a global house of brands which includes both Jimmy Choo and Versace.  As the head of U.S Talent Acquisition, Semone oversees recruitment for corporate, retail field, retail development and distribution centers.  She works closely with senior leadership to develop and implement strategic initiatives to acquire top talent across the country.  Prior to Michael Kors, Semone was the Director of Human Resources at Barneys New York.  There, she gained valuable experience as an HR business partner while specializing in Talent Acquisition.  Growing up in the retail sector, Semone worked her way through her Bachelor’s and Master’s program while continuing her work in stores.  Retail and innovation has always inspired Semone, she strives to continuously marry the two to distinguish Michael Kors as a leader in the industry. Semone resides in New Jersey with her husband Zubin and their children Aria and Zachary.  

Hollie Castro is a global business executive who believes that when people are motivated and inspired, they do their best work. Currently, she is Head of Talent and Employee Experience at YETI, and has the privilege of leading all things talent and culture. One of the best things about being a YETIzen is the way employees live the company values. Authentic. Innovative. Humble. Connected. Prioritizing to Make the Biggest Impact. Constantly Striving to Improve. Hollie loves working with companies that put employees at the center of their strategy in creating an environment built on integrity, fun, and collaboration. 

Before coming to YETI, Hollie was President of Castro Consulting Group where she provided coaching and advisement to executives and teams from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups on executive onboarding, organizational changes and job transitions.

Hollie also served as the SVP of Administration at BMC Software (5th largest pure play software company in the world), where she was responsible for Global HR, Real Estate and Facilities, Government and Community Affairs and Employee and Executive Communication. In this role, she successfully defined and executed a global human capital strategy, led a simplification of executive compensation with the Board of Directors’ Compensation Committee, and developed and led a talent and succession planning process through the company and to the Board. She was the leader of 13 acquisitions and three divestitures. Hollie was a key member of the leadership team charged with taking the company from public to private and executing a successful sale.

Prior to that, Hollie was the SVP of Corporate Services for Talisman-Energy, an $18B global energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. She was responsible for Global HR, Corporate Communications, Supply Management and Corporate Project Management. She also led management activities for the Compensation Committee of the Board.

Hollie gained much of her experience at Cisco Systems and General Electric where she held various executive HR roles, including experiences in large global acquisitions and driving change. Prior to GE, Hollie held various marketing positions at IBM, as well as successfully founded two start-up businesses including Global Rainmakers, a coaching and consulting company. The company specializes in acceleration coaching for Generation X/Y professionals, leveraging technology and cohort learning.

Hollie earned her international MBA from Thunderbird University and her undergraduate degree from Marlboro College. She has worked with and served on numerous Boards, including GoodFx, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Society for the Performing Arts of Houston, and was a founding member of Caprock Academy. Fluent in English, Italian, Portuguese, French, and Spanish, Hollie has lived in many cities and countries. She currently lives in Austin with her husband, Dan, and daughter, Isabella. 

I have been with PVH for 27 years in various positions.  I started my PVH career in a retail store in Gurnee, IL.  I transferred to the NJ home office to work in the Store operations department where I wrote retail policies and training programs and oversaw communication to the stores.  I moved into HR as an HR Representative 20 years ago and continued to assume more responsibility.  I now oversee the Human Resources function for all of our US, Puerto Rico and Guam retail stores  (over 500).  

Kim Davis, Vice President of Human Resources for Under Armour, Inc. and leads the HR Business partnerships with key business units like Digital, Marketing, Innovation, Product, and Strategy. Within those business units Kim is responsible for the full spectrum of HR practices including talent strategy, leadership effectiveness, talent acquisition, total rewards, teammate engagement, M&A, and cultural integration that align with the Under Armour strategy and core values. 

With 20+ years of Human Resource experience, Kim has a wealth of knowledge and is skilled at determining and directing the company’s talent strategies and goals to support productive and profitable business operations. In addition, she provides leadership and focus to advance the company’s vision to drive the business forward.  

Kim graduated with a B.A. in Speech Communication and Rhetoric from Texas A&M University and holds her certifications as a PHR and CCP. Kim lives in Austin with her husband Brad and their two kids, Kaitlin and Kade. 

Lora Dikun leads and oversees the Human Resources, Legal, Safety and Loss Prevention Departments at Giant Eagle, Inc., one of the nation’s largest multi-format food, fuel, convenience and pharmacy retailers with 32,000 Team Members and approximately $9.5 billion in annual sales.

Giant Eagle is on Forbes magazine’s largest private corporations list. Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with more than 425 corporate and independently-owned and operated supermarkets and fuel and convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia, western Maryland and Indiana as well as four distribution centers.

Lora has more than 29 years of leadership experience in human resources, finance and management. In addition to Giant Eagle, Lora has served in leadership roles at DQE/Duquesne Light and Deloitte. Lora also has strong expertise in the areas of talent acquisition and development; employee benefits; labor relations; executive compensation; risk management; pension and trust investments; accounting; taxes, and financial planning.

Lora joined Giant Eagle in 2003 as Director, Benefits, and has received several promotions since then: Sr. Director, Human Resources Strategy & Operations; VP, Human Resources Operations; VP, Talent Development & Labor Relations, and Sr. VP, Human Resources, Legal and Safety & Chief People Officer.

Some of Lora’s recent accomplishments, include: The founding of the Giant Eagle Team Member Care Fund, a non-profit corporation that provides financial assistance to fellow Team Members that are facing severe hardship, for which she also serves on the Board of Directors. Lora is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh, Class XXVIII, and was named one of the Top Women in Grocery 2012 by Progressive Grocer. Lora also earned the 2014 Women of Influence in the Food Industry by The Griffin Report, and the 2014 Pennsylvania’s Leadership Excellence Award by the Pennsylvania Diversity Council. Lora was recognized as one of the 2015 Most Influential Women in Business by the Pittsburgh Business Times and earned the 2016 Leadership Excellence Award from the Ohio Diversity Council. Most recently, Lora was recognized as the 2018 Circle of Hope honoree through PA Women Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in career transition through job readiness, emotional growth, education, training and employment.

Ms. Dikun is very active in the Greater Pittsburgh community and works with various organizations, including Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, as the founding President for their Young Leadership Board, the FISA Foundation, Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, as well as F.A.M.E.—the Fund for Advancement of Minorities through Education. Her focus has been on organizations that support woman, minorities and people with disabilities. Ms. Dikun currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Veteran’s Leadership Program of Western PA.

A native of New Jersey, Lora graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, and a Master’s degree in Taxation from Robert Morris University. Lora resides in the Pittsburgh area with her husband and two children.

Maureen is a seasoned Executive Human Resource Professional with over 20 years of experience designing human resources tools and processes for Fortune 200 brands.   With expertise in specialist areas including Organizational Development, Total Reward Management, Talent Acquisition, Training Design and Delivery, and Executive Coaching, Maureen has successfully created and integrated systems of operational HR delivery and employee leadership on a global spectrum.   Her most recent roles have been in HR strategic partnerships with top executives to align organizational vision, build efficient HR strategic processes, and develop strong and engaging organizational cultures.  With a passion for developing others, Maureen leverages executive coaching frameworks to unlock skills & behaviors that impact personal leadership capability and creating strong team environments.   

Maureen received a BA in Economics from University of California at Berkeley and a MBA from University of California at Irvine.  To elevate and establish her passion for executive coaching, she studied at the University of Texas, Jindal School of Business Executive Coaching program and earned her credential as an International Coach Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC).  Born and raised in Southern California, she loves being outdoors year round and spending time with family and friends.

Laura Kato is a Director of People & Culture at Stitch Fix, an innovator in personalized commerce. As the head of the Business Partner team that collaborates with the Operations division, she has helped to build out the Business Partner function within the growing company. She partners closely with senior leadership to bring the Operating System (how the people of Stitch Fix work together) to life. In her prior life, she held positions at University of Phoenix, Amazon and Anheuser-Busch. Laura lives in Phoenix with her husband Darrell and their two kids, Myles and Miya. 

Stitch Fix is the world’s leading online personal styling service. We blend the art of expert personal styling with the science of algorithms to deliver apparel and accessories selected to fit our clients’ unique tastes, lifestyles and budgets. Our service is highly personalized, available for women, men and kids, and designed to help all our clients look, feel and be their best selves.

Brandy Lindsey is the Director of Talent Acquisition for Nordstrom’s Supply Chain Network. She has 21 years of experience in Human Resources, and has an extensive history of innovation in her field and project management, including leading the startup team that supported the launch of Nordstrom’s East Coast Fulfillment Center in (year – 2015?) and has created and implemented a successful Early in Career development program for new leaders. She consolidated the hiring structure for Nordstrom’s Fulfillment network, resulting in the successful hiring of 1600 employees in the first year that new hiring structure was implemented, and currently supports HR teams in Illinois, California, Iowa and Pennsylvania. Outside of work, Brandy has served on the Board of Directors for Boys and Girls Club as well as volunteering as a Big Sister, has chaired the United Way Campaign for the Nordstrom facility, and is an active member of the Society of Human Resources.

Ray Malouf serves as the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Whole Foods Market in Austin, TX.  He oversees recruiting for the company’s global headquarters, twelve regional offices, and supports the hiring efforts for stores, distribution centers, and other company-owned facilities. During his eighteen months with the company, he’s redefined the employment brand and value proposition, elevated the team and added new capabilities to the talent function, including executive recruiting, research and talent sourcing, and recruitment marketing. Under his leadership, Whole Foods Market has hired over 50,000 new Team Members as the company expands their physical stores and new product offerings.

Prior to joining Whole Foods Market, he worked for ten years at the Walmart Corporate offices in Bentonville, AR. Over the course of his Walmart career, he held multiple roles within Ethics, Communications, Talent Acquisition, and HR Strategy. In his last role as Senior Director of Associate Experience, he was responsible for elevating the employee experience across the entire talent lifecycle from hire-to-retire. He has led large teams, implemented global technology solutions, launched new HR products, and managed multi-million dollar vendor relationships. 

Ray holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and an MBA from John Brown University. While at JBU, he worked as a consultant and Soderquist Fellow at Milestone Leadership.

He resides in Austin, with his wife, Monica, and their two young children, Owen and Cora.  He is passionate about the convergence of people, ideas and technology.

Myke Mansberger is the Vice President of People at Bombas, a fast growing, energetic e-commerce apparel company. He has an extensive background in technology, human resources, and marketing and has studied both digital media and organizational development at New York University and Colorado State University. With his experience working with high growth startups including LivePerson, Magnetic and Bombas, he has had the opportunity to transform the HR landscape to meet the expectations of our modern day workforce.

I started my career with Journeys as a part time Sales Associate in January 1995. I was promoted to Assistant Manager and then eventually took my first store in 1996. After successful stints as manager for two more stores, I was promoted to District Manager in June 1998 at the age of 21. After 7 years as a District Manager, I was promoted to Regional Vice President in September 2005. In April 2011, I transferred to the Training Department to assume the newly created position of Director of Training and Development. Our President and CEO wanted someone with a track record and field management experience to develop and deliver training material for all of our field positions. In March of 2015, I was promoted to my current position of Vice President of Training & Development for our field organization, Distribution Center, as well as Customer Service Department. I have been very fortunate to have found a company like Journeys early in my career. The Journeys culture has molded me into the leader I am today. In my role, I see it as a privilege to impact others the same way this company has impacted me. 

Jacqueline Meyer is VP Human Resources at Tapestry, a global house of brands including Coach, Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade.  As the HR Business Partner for Coach North America, she helps leaders develop and maximize their talent and organization to deliver their business strategy.  Prior to that, she was VP Global People & Organization Development at Tapestry, responsible for learning, development and organizational effectiveness initiatives that empower employees to own their development and demonstrate our values. Before joining Coach, Jacqueline spent many years as a consultant with Accenture where she developed a strong passion for helping people and organizations successfully transition through change. Jacqueline holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and resides in New York City with her husband, Ben, and dog, Sawyer. 

Stephanie has spent twenty years in the field of Human Resources. She's served as an HR generalist as well as an employee & labor relations subject matter expert in a variety of industries, including public higher education, small and large consulting firms, and retail.

A sought after advisor and calculated risk-taker with deep employee & labor relations knowledge, Stephanie champions the notions of balancing the interests of the Company with those of its team members; exceptional customer service to managers and team members; and ensuring that HR processes are simpler, better and faster. Stephanie is recognized for applying these strategies to the creation and implementation of workplace policies, handling organization restructures, coaching and guiding management teams, and investigating and resolving workplace issues.

Embracing the core values of integrity, creative problem-solving, and transparency, Stephanie leads her teams by customizing her approach on an individual basis while inspiring and empowering her team members to make data-driven decisions, be open-minded, curious, & innovative, and be positive in the face of the ever-changing retail landscape.

Stephanie holds a JD from Hamline University School of Law, a Management MBA from the University of St. Thomas, and a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is also a member of the Minnesota State Bar.

Kerry is a recruitment marketing and employer branding professional with more than 25 years of experience in developing and delivering knowledge-based solutions through digital marketing. She has been instrumental in launching successful social media programs that empower employees to share their personal and professional stories as corporate brand ambassadors.

She is currently caring for the CVS Health recruitment marketing and advertising as Director of Employer Branding. She and her team are transforming the CVS Health candidate experience through a robust content strategy, recruitment marketing guidelines, a refreshed career site, mobile apply and a fun, emotional and purpose driven recruitment value proposition campaign. Prior to joining CVS Health Kerry led the employment brand strategy at Amtrak, America’s Railroad, as Employment Branding Director.

Rob Ollander-Krane is the Director of Talent Planning and Performance at Gap Inc.  Gap Inc. is comprised of 6 brands (Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, Hill City and Intermix) and employees 140,000 people in over 40 countries.  Rob’s passion is performance.  He has spent most of his career in Learning and Development, Talent Management and most recently Performance Management and Talent Planning.  His last six years have been focused on reinventing Gap Inc.’s performance management process.  As he describes it, changing our process to focus more on performance and less on management. And more recently, has made similar innovations to succession planning. 

Zuleika Sgro is the VP, People at Saje Natural Wellness in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Prior to her most recent appointment she was the Sr. Manager of Talent Services and HR business partner at Questrade Inc., in Toronto for over seven years. She has over 10 years of extensive experience in progressive People and HR practices focusing on talent management, international recruitment, strategic talent acquisition and HR compliance specifically within rapid growing organizations. Zuleika is a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP). She graduated from the University of Waterloo with honours degree in business and communications, specializing in HR. She also holds a post-graduate diploma from George Brown College in human resources management. She also contributes to the Globe and Mail within the Nine to Five column on a regular rhythm providing career advice to the Nation. Zuleika was also recognized for her work in Diversity inclusion by winning the 2011, TRIEC Canadian HR Award for Individual Achievement. Zuleika has a passion for wellness and pushing the mark in talent management in innovative talent practices and is currently working towards her U.S. HR certification with the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Zuleika loves exploring the outdoors and is a true believer in the power of yoga and meditation.

Jessica Steinberg is sr. director of human resources, US Stores for the Southern Division at The Home Depot. She is responsible for all human resources functions for approximately 700 stores in the southern division of the United States including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Jessica joined the Company in 2004 through the Business Leadership Program.  She has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility within human resources including manager, senior manager and regional manager of human resources with the Supply Chain. She has also held project leadership roles for key growth initiatives, director of human resources – merchandising, sr. director human resources – e-commerce and marketing, and Home Depot acquisitions including HD Quote Center, Blinds.com, The Company Store and Red Beacon.  

Jessica volunteers with the American Corporate Partners organization and mentors veterans transitioning to the civilian workforce.  

Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on marketing and personal organizational leadership from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Jocelyn Stratter is Director of Field Talent at Urban Outfitters, Inc., supporting North American stores across all brands (Anthropologie & Co., Free People, and Urban Outfitters). Now in her 16th year with URBN, Jocelyn collaborates with brand leaders to align organizational culture to drive business strategy, create high performance and engage people. Jocelyn’s current role leverages her experience in employee engagement, store operations & communication, workforce planning, organizational strategy, employee relations, and field recruitment to drive an entrepreneurial and innovative talent strategy that is evolving alongside their customers, candidates and employees. When Jocelyn isn’t working at the incredible URBN campus at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, she can be found running, doing yoga and getting outside with her husband and two daughters.

Kevin Vilke currently oversees HR for all Barnes & Noble stores. He also leads the company as its EEO Officer.  He has been with Barnes & Noble for over 10 years.  Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, Kevin worked with Diageo NA in various HR roles.  A recovering attorney, Kevin also spent time in his previous life as employment counsel for Gap Inc. and as an employment litigation associate at the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in San Francisco.  

Sherry Yaskin is vice president of human resources, U.S. stores and operations, for The Home Depot. She is responsible for all human resources functions for the Company’s 1,977 stores in the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Sherry joined The Home Depot in 2004 as director of learning and has held positions of increasing responsibility, including director of talent management and organizational effectiveness, senior director of human resources for both the western and northern divisions, senior director of human resources for U.S. operations and the pro business and, most recently, vice president of talent management and organizational effectiveness.

Prior to joining the Company, Sherry was a district manager with Circuit City. She also spent more than 14 years with Gap, Inc., where she held a variety of leadership positions.

Sherry holds a Bachelor’s of Speech Communication from the University of Florida.

Zainab is the program director for WBR’s HR events portfolio developing market leading events for senior HR leaders across industries such as retail, healthcare, and financial services. She builds programs addressing top industry trends and concerns, recruits senior executive thought leaders, and creates productive learning and networking experiences. Zainab can be found at New York City parks trying to coax her dog away from chasing squirrels.

Adam Tanner is one of Waggl’s co-founders and he also is the head of product management.  Adam works closely with key clients such as Paychex, McGraw Hill, Children’s Health and MGM Resorts. Adam has lead several platform enhancements, including detailed Manager Reporting and custom dashboards, while maintaining Waggl’s simple, yet sophisticated, user experience.

Before Waggl, Adam was the Director of Product Management at Fort Hill Company, an industry leader in web-based learning activation solutions. Adam also managed the Quality Assurance dept. Adam served as Mentor Administrator for AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), a national service program that works to eliminate poverty. 

Mary Beth Ferrante is the founder of Live.Work.Lead, a company committed to reducing the gender & caregiving gaps in the workplace. Live.Work.Lead. provides consulting, training and coaching for organizations on how to best support new parents in the workplace and increase the retention rates & engagement. She partners with organizations to create programs to coach new parents, train managers on caregiving bias and re-onboard and re-engage parents post parental leave. In addition, she provides coaching & training through The Maven Clinic.  Ferrante has been featured in Working Mother, FairyGodBoss, Scary Mommy and she is a regular contributor for Women@Forbes, writing on the intersection of work and motherhood. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young daughters

Dan currently leads the marketing efforts for Fountain - a hiring automation platform for companies hiring shift and gig workers.Prior to Fountain, Dan worked for Deputy, a leading provider in the workforce management space focused on employee scheduling and time and attendance for shift workers. 

As Executive Strategist at Hogan Assessments, Brandy Agnew partners with enterprise clients on selection and development related work. From designing senior level leader selection processes, to implementing high potential talent development interventions, Brandy uses her 20 years of talent management experience to bring the best solutions to Hogan clients. Additionally, Brandy leads the Global Learning division at Hogan which certifies thousands of individuals across the globe in the Hogan tools. 

Brandy’s professional experience includes eleven years at Dell in the Global Talent Management Organization. During that time, she designed and implemented high-end, customized, top-talent development strategies to cultivate Dell’s most senior leaders. She also managed Dell’s global executive coaching practice, managed the global employee engagement survey, and led much work around competency modeling, selection, performance management and succession planning. Prior to Dell, her experiences include working in Talent Management for a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston, where she focused on performance management, succession management and learning solutions. In her early career, she worked for the Federal Aviation Administration conducting Air Traffic Control selection research, where she participated on the team that developed the selection assessment (AT-SAT) that continues to be used as part of the selection process.

Sarah Mitchell is the Industry Director for Retail at CareerBuilder.com, where she has spent the last 13 years working in the Human Capital Software & Recruitment Advertising industry. She oversees sales, nationwide, to retail clients on the Fortune 1000.  Along with her team, Sarah partners with her clients to help them plan, find, hire and screen top talent in the ever-changing retail industry.  She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and currently resides in Chicago, IL with her husband and two young boys.

Alaa has over 25 years of executive experience leading and building high-performance sales operations, with a proven track record of revenue growth and market penetration.

Prior to joining Instant Financial as Chief Revenue Officer, Alaa held executive roles with POS and SaaS solutions companies such as Vivonet, HotSchedules, MacromatiX and Compris Technology.

Danielle is the Founder and CEO, of ConveyIQ. She has operational and Startup experience from founding to scale and helped create the Digital Interviewing and Interviewing Management sectors. In 2017, she launched Convey, which is the first Talent Communication software for recruitment. Convey is the only solution that engages candidates from application to onboard integrated into all major Applicant Tracking Systems. She has led the company since inception and has experience launching 3 software products. In 2016, the company was recognized as a Top 10 HR Cloud Solution Provider. ConveyIQ has raised $18M in venture capital.
 

Danielle has been a contributing writer for Inc. Magazine, The Huffington Post and Wired and was a contributor to the book, “Been There, Run That.” In 2014, she was named a Game Changer by Workforce Magazine and a Top Under 30 Entrepreneur by the New England Technology Summit. Danielle was an Arthur Rock Fellow at Harvard Business School and is a member of the Rock 100, a network of founders of high-impact ventures.
 

Uri Barasch joined the Adia team in 2017 as Global Chief Product Officer, and now manages the growth of the business in the states as Head of Adia US. Uri has developed industry-changing products across several categories, in corporate and startup roles alike. He holds an MBA and a Master’s in Marketing and Communication. Uri has studied and worked on three continents, and is passionate about empowering people to transform industries through technology. 

Steve leads the product and engineering teams driving Access’s growth through SaaS software solutions. Steve has enabled both public and private software companies to successfully achieve market and revenue expansion through solid vision, highly motivated teams, market-focused product development roadmaps and customer-focused delivery. Prior to joining Access, Steve was Head of Technology Products for Altisource Portfolio Solutions, and has held global strategy, product, customer success and marketing leadership roles with Goldensource Corporation, Charles River Development and CheckFree (now FISERV). Steve began his career as a systems analyst at M&T Bank and holds a BA degree from Cornell University.

Ernesto Lamaina is the Founder and CEO of Adia. He is a passionate entrepreneur, successfully launching multiple technology companies before the age of 29. Before Adia, he co-founded Laundrie, an on-demand, mobile-based dry cleaning business. He previously worked in corporate finance at Dell and holds a Master’s in Finance and Banking. Ernesto has lived and worked in six countries and is a strong believer that diversity is the key to building great teams. 

An accomplished and experienced human resources leader in technology implementation and as an executive level HR business partner Lori brings breadth of experience to support our clients. With twenty years’ experience in HR and IT, most recently as the business lead for the Lbrands global implementation of Oracle HCM Cloud where she was responsible for leadership of process and system design, organization change management, HR and business alignment as well as user acceptance testing. 

Brian Rose serves as RILA’s Director of State Affairs & Advocacy, managing the day to day state activity for the association, where labor related issues are often front and center. Previously, he served as an advocacy and grassroots consultant for a host of industry associations and corporate clients. 

As an Enterprise Sales Director at TextRecruit, Stephanie Scharaga helps large organizations navigate the ever-changing recruitment landscape. With over a decade of industry experience, she has developed a passion for helping employers find talent, and serves as a strategic business partner to HR & talent teams nationwide.

Amy DaSilva is the Corporate Communications Manager for QuickChek Corporation. She has been with the company for 15 years and has both store retail and administrative support experience. Before joining the Human Resources Department in 2016, she spent several years working in the company’s IT Department and prior to that she spent six years working in the field. Her role in communications is focused on internal communications between their Support Center and their 4,500 Team Members spread across two states. She works closely with the Training & Development Team to manage the company’s Learning Management System and serves as support for many departments to ensure the right messages get to the right people. She has spent the past two years trying to transform the way the company communicates with its teams to improve Team Member engagement and awareness. 

In 2017, Amy was recognized as one of the Top Women in Convenience in the Rising Stars category and last year was honored as a Future Leader in Convenience by Convenience Store News.

Amy has a Bachelor’s in Business & Marketing from Centenary University. She has been married to her husband Brian for six years and the pair loves to travel the world in search of new, exciting adventures.

As full-time MBA faculty at Purdue University Global, Dr. Ilene Ringler works with leaders worldwide to help them achieve their growth goals.  She also has over thirty years of business experience in both internal and external consulting roles supporting leading edge organizations such as Bose, Fidelity Investments, Oracle, and Envoy Airlines.  Her training experience spans leadership development, business productivity, and employee growth.  

She has served on the Board of Directors for the Phoenix Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Mentoring Program, the Arizona Entrepreneurs, and the Women's Enterprise Foundation (WEF). In addition to advising new and small business owners through her partnership with the Maricopa County Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Ringler has served as an advisor to the APS Academy for the Advancement of Small, Minority, and Women Owned Enterprises program.