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HR Leadership Summit Speakers

The following speakers have been confirmed for this year's HR Leadership Summit. Find the conference's entire list of speakers and event schedule below. 

2021 Speakers

Bradd Craver

Bradd Craver

Bradd Craver is the Managing Director of the Carolinas Consulting Practice for Deloitte Consulting LLP. He has nearly thirty years of experience in developing organizational capabilities within the Talent and Human Capital arena.  Bradd has worked in a variety of industries including oil and gas, consumer and industrial products manufacturing, retail, automotive and public sector.  He focuses on areas within HR such as:  talent acquisition; development; competency modeling and assessments; career path development and workforce planning.  Prior to joining Deloitte Consulting in 1998, Bradd led the HR function for a consumer products manufacturing facility where he was responsible for hiring, on boarding, labor relations, OSHA and EPA compliance and quality. Bradd is a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Business and Accountancy. He is active in youth missions work, loves to play golf, and enjoys spending quality time with family.

Michael Arena Ph.D.

Michael Arena

Michael Arena Ph.D. is the Vice President of Talent & Development at Amazon Web Services, where he is responsible for the global talent practices, leadership development and learning, organizational effectiveness, new employee success strategies, executive recruiting, and the organizational research activities to enable the growth and innovation for AWS. He was nominated to the Thinkers50 Radar class of 2020 for his work leveraging network roles in creating adaptive organizations: brokers, connectors, energizers, and challengers.  Prior to joining Amazon, Arena was the Chief Talent Officer for General Motors Corporation where he was responsible for enterprise talent management, cultural transformation, leadership development, talent acquisition and people analytics. While at GM he launched GM2020, a grass roots initiative designed to enable employees to positively disrupt the way they work, which was highlighted in Fast Company and Fortune Magazine. This initiative and others are highlighted in his best-selling book, Adaptive Space: How GM and Other Companies are Positively Disrupting Themselves and Transforming into Agile Organizations.

Dan Krug

Dan Krug

Dan Krug is General Manager of Talent Development and Information and Digital Technology. Dan is responsible for Enterprise Information Technology and leads Nucor’s Digital efforts.  Dan began his career with Nucor in 2002 as Manager of Employee Relations, and he was named General Manager of Human Resources in May 2013.  Dan was named General Manager of Digital Innovation in 2016. He became General Manager of Information and Digital Technology in 2019 and added the role of General Manager of Talent Development effective April 19, 2020. Dan was elected to his current position of Vice President effective January 1, 2021. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Business Administration from Virginia Tech.

Bonnie Kelly

Bonnie Kelly

Bonnie Kelly is the Vice President of Total Rewards & Org Effectiveness at Sealed Air Corporation. As a member of the HR Leadership team, Bonnie is responsible for Compensation, Benefits, Well-being, Employee Experience and Performance Management across 50 countries. Through her career, she has built global total rewards programs at companies such as Hilton, Cox Automotive and Capital One Financial. She has served on multiple HR professional boards, including Conference Board and World at Work, where she is also part of the teaching staff for Executive Compensation Education. Bonnie earned her BA in Finance from Washburn University. 

Kati Keith

Kati Keith

Kati Keith is the Senior Global Benefits Manager at Sealed Air Corporation, where she manages the Health and Welfare and Wellbeing programs across the globe. Kati earned her BA in International Relations from the University of North Florida. She has spent the majority of her career within Human Resources where she has built international and domestic programs for the employees she serves, including the Global Mobility programs for Sealed Air, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. She has also served as the President of the Charlotte Metro Area Relocation Council where she continues to invest in others as she voluntarily leads continued education courses.

Dr. Will Sparks

Dr. Will Sparks

Dr. Will Sparks is the Dennis Thompson Chair & Professor of Leadership at the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, where he also serves as the Director of the Office of Leadership Initiatives. In 2008, he founded the McColl School’s M.S. in Organization Development (MSOD) Program and served as Director until 2013.  Will has published numerous research papers and book chapters and has appeared on several media outlets, including the CBS affiliate WBTV Channel 3, News Carolina Channel 14, and on NPR. His TED Talk “The Power of Self Awareness” was released in 2018. He is the author of “Actualized Leadership: Meeting Your Shadow & Maximizing Your Potential” (2019, SHRM Publishing), which debuted as an Amazon #1 Best Seller and is based on the “Actualized Leader Profile,” a leadership assessment that he designed and validated and that has been translated into nine languages. He is the co-author (with Peter Browning) of the book “The Director’s Manual: A Framework for Board Governance” (2016, Wiley).                                               

Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes

Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes

Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes is president and owner of Xperience Leadership, LLC, located in Huntersville, NC. She is also an assistant professor of strategic communication at Queens University and a retired Bank of America executive.  Xperience Leadership, LLC, supports business with strategic planning, leader/organizational development, and training. She is certified in Diversity and Inclusion via Cornell University. 

 

2021 Agenda

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