Faculty & Guest Presenters

B. Lynn Ware, Ph.D., Founder & President, Integral Talent Systems, Inc.

Dr. Ware is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist who has practiced for over twenty years in the corporate education and organization development field, with a strong focus on how to increase employee productivity for the benefit of achieving business goals. More

Steve N. Knight, Executive Vice President, Integral Talent Systems, Inc.

Steve has 17 years of sales and consulting experience in the field of strategic organizational change. Prior to joining ITS, Steve served as a Vice President at Achieve Global, leading the western region's sales and consulting organization. More

Stephanie Becerra, Learning Leader, Scripps Health Center for Learning & Innovation

Stephanie is a Learning Leader for Scripps Health’s Center for Learning & Innovation, an internal corporate university.  In her role, Stephanie develops learning programs aligned with the organization’s strategic goals and her focus is on implementing programs that develop superior talent within Scripps.  Stephanie hold’s a master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Leadership and has extensive experience designing educational programs geared towards the unique needs of the adult learner.  Stephanie’s professional experience spans across settings in corporate learning, academic institutions and non-profit organizations.  She has recently been featured along with Scripps President & CEO, Chris Van Gorder in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Career Encounters® production of healthcare executive interviews geared towards increasing awareness of career opportunities in healthcare management.

Roy Blitzer, Executive and Management Consultant

Roy has 30 years' experience as a human resources and business management professional and has held numerous positions, including Founding Principal, Vice President, and Senior Executive Consultant for Zenger Miller. He is an expert in coordination and delivery of world-wide training services for individual contributors, and managers, and senior staff, and consults to organizations implementing organization change with service quality, self-managing teams, and other high-employee-interventions.

Roy works with numerous assessment tools (MBTI--Myers-Briggs, Strong, Birkman, FIRO-B, 360 Feedback, etc.) and has an MBA in Organizational Behavior from the University of California at Berkeley. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Francisco, San Jose State University, and Menlo College.

The author of two books, Office Smarts: 252 Tips for Success in the Workplace and Find the Bathrooms First, Roy has been published in numerous journals and magazines. He produces and hosts his own television show, ASK "DR" BUSINESS, is a regular guest on NBC Channel 11's BAY AREA SATURDAY, and is a frequent speaker at national professional conferences.

back to top

Sue Burish, Principal, Burish & Associates

Sue Burish is the principal of Burish & Associates, a consulting consortium specializing in custom design, development and implementation of management, leadership, sales, team, technical and career development training and consulting. She has over 20 years of experience in the high tech, biotech and financial services industries in senior line and staff positions with organizations and as a consultant.

In the area of career development Sue was the architect of a ground-breaking, internally-focused career center at Raychem Corporation, worked extensively with the nationally recognized Career Action Center on their career self-reliance curriculum, and now consults with clients on career development challenges posed by global and virtual environments.

Jillian Dorman, Senior Consultant

Jillian is an experienced leadership development professional with 20 years of practice in corporate education and management development. At Sun Microsystems, Jillian developed learning, development, and performance strategies at the enterprise level, as well as programs tailored for specific work groups and individuals. At Sun, she was also responsible for Management Excellence and for the development and creation of the highly successful Sun Leadership Institute curriculum, an institute for Sun managers that focused on the most critical management capabilities needed for Sun during their rapid growth period in the '90s. In addition, Jillian has broad experience in executive development and succession planning strategies for high potential leaders in the corporation.

Jillian was recently asked to revamp Sun's Global Performance Management System that scales from individual contributors to executives.

In addition, Ms. Dorman has taught classes in education for both San Jose State University and UC Berkeley Extension program. She has presented at numerous conferences on corporate education and leadership development on behalf of Sun Microsystems and holds a Master's degree in Education and Instructional Technology.

back to top

Bruce Fern, President & Founder,
Performance Connections International, Inc.

Bruce is the President and Founder of Performance Connections International, Inc., a performance improvement and organizational effectiveness training and consulting firm, headquartered in New York. PCI specializes in helping organizations increase employee engagement, improve sales and customer loyalty, build leaders, retain top talent, and increase accountability in the workplace.

Bruce has personally provided consulting and training on employee retention and engagement with numerous Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of industries. He is also one of the founders and an adjunct professor in NYU's Management Institute T&D Diploma Program in the School of Professional Studies. He teaches in the NYU Executive Business Mastery Program, and facilitates the special NYU/Ritz Carlton Certificate Program. Bruce has been widely published and is a recognized keynote speaker.

Jim Graber, Ph.D., Managing Director of
Business Decisions, Inc.

Jim Graber, Ph.D., Organizational Psychologist, is Managing Director of Business Decisions, Inc., Chicago, IL, a company he founded in 1981. During his 30 years of consulting he has worked for more than 100 domestic and international clients, including organizations such as McDonalds, United Airlines, Panasonic, General Motors, Abbott Labs, the U.S. Navy, the City of Chicago, and for clients in Australia, Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. He specializes in Competency Modeling, Talent and Performance Management, 360-degree Multi-Rater Assessments, Training Needs Analysis, Employee Development, Career Planning, and Succession and Workforce Planning. Jim has been involved with the development of talent and performance management software since 1992, and has served as the content expert for the focus talent management software suite since 1995. He has taught at four universities and has had numerous publications and conference presentations. Jim earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. in Psychology from Claremont Graduate University in 1980. Jim has recently co-authored the book Competency-Based Training Basics (with William Rothwell of Pennsylvania State University), published by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), Fall 2010.

back to top

Ross Halleck, CEO, Halleck

Ross Halleck founded Halleck (formerly Halleck Design Group) in January of 1980, at the age of 24. At that time, the business climate required graphic design services that were strategically relevant to companies' business and marketing goals. Strong identity and branding was a significant factor in the business success formula. This incubatory time created opportunities for young creative professionals to establish relationships with companies that grew into marketing partnerships and cooperative learning processes that were mutually beneficial. Since its inception, Halleck has translated corporate marketing objectives into highly effective design solutions, communicating specifically to and evoking desired responses from customers and prospects. Throughout its 25-year history, Halleck has been on the cutting edge of sophisticated marketing techniques, strategies, and technologies. Today, Halleck is experiencing explosive growth. Mr. Halleck greets these growing opportunities with great enthusiasm and seasoned professionalism.

Dave Harden, CEO, KnowHow, Inc.

David B. Harden is a frequently requested speaker and writer on knowledge continuity and innovation and has helped companies save over $360 million. Dave is coauthor of Continuity Management: Preserving Corporate Knowledge and Productivity When Employees Leave. His writings have been in numerous publications, including the Journal of Organizational Excellence. He was invited to be part of Harvard's Learning and Innovation Labs in 2004. Dave has results-oriented expertise in leadership, team building, succession planning, continuity management, and innovation facilitation.

He also pilots the $225 million, technologically advanced C-17, and has over 2,500 flight hours, including combat time in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. He has developed U.S. Presidential statements on policy to the United Nations and NATO, served at the Pentagon, appeared on CNN, and was selected as an International Who's Who for Public Service in 2002. He runs parenting education seminars for disadvantaged families and most recently was a nominee for the Ten Outstanding Young Americans Award.

Dave is founder of KnowHow Inc. and the Knowledge Continuity Center (KCC), an international consulting, training, and software firm helping medium to large size companies save millions of dollars by preventing knowledge loss. He is committed to helping others find better ways to work and succeed in the competitive marketplace by assisting organizations in leveraging their most important assets: people and ideas.

back to top

Mark C. Healy, Senior Consultant

Mark C. Healy is a consultant, teacher, and business writer based in Oakland, California. He assists companies with the development of their human capital strategy, and designs hiring, leadership development, and training programs. Mark emphasizes practicality, scientific rigor, cost effectiveness, and legal defensibility in all of his work.

Mark's recent clients include Wachovia Bank, Genentech, and Monster.com, and he works with large organizations via affiliations with Integral Talent Systems, Inc. of Palo Alto, California, and Rocket-Hire of New Orleans, Louisiana. He formerly held consulting positions with Barrett & Associates, DDI, and 3D Group.

Mark has published articles in journals such as Personnel Psychology and Human Performance and has presented research at conferences of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology and the Decision Sciences Institute. He also contributes to Rocket-Hire.com, the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, Workforce Magazine, and regularly writes technical reports and white papers. In addition to his research and consulting activities, Mark teaches General and Business Psychology at De Anza College in Cupertino, California and presents yearly workshops at the Florida Institute of Technology. He received an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The University of Akron.

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President & CEO, Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc.

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard is President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an international consulting corporation that specializes in techniques for applied business performance improvement, workforce diversity measurement, instructional design and organizational development. He is the founder of the Hubbard Diversity Measurement and Productivity Institute and is also author of more than 40 books, including "Measuring Diversity Results," "How to Calculate Diversity Return-on-Investment," "The Diversity Scorecard,""Implementing Diversity Measurement and Management," and the "Manager's Pocket Guide to Diversity Management."

Dr. Hubbard is an internationally known and respected business consultant, trainer, former professor and Director at Ohio State University, and with extensive experience at several Fortune 100 corporations, including as Corporate Director for Training, Organization Development, and Compensation for McKesson Corporation. ASTD inducted Dr. Hubbard into the prestigious "ASTD New Guard for 2003." He is also a member of the ASTD ROI Advisory Board. Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Behavior, Organizational Analysis, Applied Performance Improvement and Measurement Strategies, Strategic Planning, Diversity Measurement, and Organizational Change Methodologies.

Dr. Hubbard is widely published, with articles in publications such as Inc. Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, Cultural Diversity at Work, Next Step Magazine, American Society for Training and Development Journal, Organization Development Network Journal, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Press Democrat, The Diversity Factor Magazine, and many others. He is also a regularly-featured speaker and keynote for national and international conferences, seminars, and workshops. Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc. clients include Prudential Financial, Starbucks, Inc., McDonalds Corporation, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, America Online, key Military leaders at the Pentagon, Proctor & Gamble, Kaiser Permanente, and many others.

back to top

Ellen Johnston, Director of Human Resources and Leadership Development, Varian Medical Systems

Ellen Johnston has 25 years of broad HR experience, mainly in the high technology industry, during which she has held a variety of management and specialist roles including succession planning implementation at Sun Microsystems. Currently Ellen is Director of Human Resources and Leadership Development Varian Medical Systems in Palo Alto, where she has responsibility for building organization and leadership development processes to drive the company's continued success.

Before Varian, Ellen was Director of Leadership Development for Siebel Systems, Inc. where she managed a team responsible for building the tools and systems for management and leadership development and improving organization and HR team effectiveness. Prior to Siebel, she was Senior Manager, Leadership Development Architecture at Sun Microsystems, Inc. where she developed the infrastructure and tools needed to enhance leadership capability and ensure effective succession management. In this role she also specialized in building Sun's new global performance management system. During this time, she was an active Steering Committee member of the Boston University Executive Development Roundtable for several years.

Louis Patler, Ph.D., Chairman, NearBridge, Inc.

Award-winning author, speaker and consultant, Louis Patler is Chairman of Near Bridge, Inc., a management consulting, trend analysis, and leadership development company. Louis also writes frequently for publications in the U.S. and abroad on the most innovative individuals and companies. England's BBC-TV, SKY-TV and Canada's CBC-Radio praised him as one of America's new breed of business thought leaders. In February 2005, he was invited by the Nelson Mandela-formed Black Management Forum to present a series of talks in South Africa on "legacy leadership." Recently, J. Walter Thompson Agency named him one of "The 20 Most Creative Minds in America."

Louis' message is clear and impassioned: the conventional ways of doing business no longer work in the fast-forward, global economy of today. He shows us how to break through old assumptions about competition, planning, and leadership, in order to run a consistently successful business.

Louis' books include The Consistent Consumer/ Predicting Customer Behavior Through Lasting Values (Chicago: Dearborn/Kaplan, 2005), TrendSmart / The 21 Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business (Chicago: Sourcebooks, 2004), TILT! Irreverent Lessons For Leading Innovation In The New Economy (Oxford, UK: Capstone/Wiley, 1999), and the New York Times best-seller If it ain't broke. . . BREAK IT! / Unconventional Wisdom for a Changing Business World (Warner Books, 1992).

Louis is listed in several national and international Who's Who editions, has twice received NEA awards for his writing, and served as editor of the prestigious American Trend Report. He has also hosted a monthly online chat on cutting-edge business topics at WorldWithoutBorders.com.

back to top

Allan Steinmetz, CEO, Inward Strategic Consulting

Allan is CEO of Inward Strategic Consulting. He has over 32 years' experience in marketing strategy, branding, change management, advertising, and communications. His background includes work for Fortune 500 companies across industries such as Ford Motor Company, US Postal Service, Pitney Bowes, Fidelity Investments, and Campbell's Soup. Prior to establishing the firm, he was Senior Vice President and Corporate Director of Marketing for Arthur D. Little (ADL), a premium management-consulting firm. He was responsible for ADL's brand identity, business development, lead generation, advertising, and communications. Prior to ADL, he was the Worldwide Director of Marketing and Communications for Andersen Consulting (now called Accenture). Prior to Andersen he was with Young and Rubicam for ten years as Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing in a variety of management and new business roles.

Martin Woodrow, Senior Manager of Executive & Leadership Development, KLA-Tencor Corp.

Martin Woodrow currently serves as KLA-Tencor's senior manager of Executive and Leadership Development, with overall "corporate" responsibility for the development of more than 1400 managers from front-line to executive level.

Martin joined KLA-Tencor in 1997. His past career experiences include consultant, coach, and trainer in the public, service, financial, manufacturing, high tech, and non-profit arenas. With over 15 years in mid-management roles, he has helped organizations across the globe develop and execute training and development programs that focus on practical business solutions, team building, peak performance, and organizational effectiveness.

Since Martin joined KLA-Tencor in 1997, leadership development, mentoring, succession planning, and all aspects of KLA-Tencor's ongoing 360º Leadership Programs have quickly become the benchmark in the high-tech industry, recognized by Training Magazine's Top 100 Training Organizations for 2002, 2003, 2004, and most recently 2005 as "best practice."

Martin holds a Master's degree in Education, and a Master's degree in Organizational Development.

back to top