Michael W. Kublin
President, PeopleTek Inc.

Michael Kublin is the founder and President of PeopleTek, Inc., a company that focuses on helping leaders, teams, and organizations develop the skills and talent they need to be successful. PeopleTek was founded in 1996 with the intent to enable Information Technology organizations, teams, and leaders to assess what it was they truly wanted to create, learn to become personally accountable, and be provided with the tools they needed to be successful.

For over 13 years, PeopleTek is credited with helping businesses and individuals improve their efficiency and effectiveness while increasing personal and corporate success.

In 1999 Michael took his knowledge and developed a comprehensive 12 session leadership-training program (PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey) that provides leaders and teams a process to improve their skills and abilities as a leader. The primary focus is to help leaders develop skills in the following five areas: Knowledge, Strategy, Communication, Coaching and Development, and Self Awareness. Leaders leave the program feeling more confident, skilled, and passionate about their managerial responsibilities.

Prior to PeopleTek, Michael worked for Electronic Data Systems (1976-1979) in a variety of Information Technology leadership roles. Michael then joined American Express, where over a 19-year period he held several top managerial positions in Information Technologies and Service Establishment Sales. His leadership positions included: Director of Technologies, Manager of Production Control, Manager of Computer Operations and Territory Sales Manager. In his last position Kublin was Operations Leader/Director of Global Telecommunications Networks for American Express. In this role, he directed a 50-member internal staff and nearly 70 outsource partners, all engaged in supplying voice and distributed process services to service approximately 8,000 employees.

In 1976 Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida. He received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University in 1986.

Michael has served as past President for the Medivan Health and Community Services Organization (formerly Elderly Interest Fund), a local non-profit organization in Florida that helped the indigent in Broward County receive the medical attention they desperately required. He recently joined as a Transformer for Children’s Diagnostic Center located in Broward County. He is also a member of the International Coaching Federation, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Yves Lermusi
CEO & Founder, Checkster

Yves Lermusi (aka Lermusiaux) is CEO & founder of Checkster. Checkster is a Career and Talent Checkup tool.

Yves founded Checkster after seven years at Taleo (TLEO) as President of Taleo Research. Prior to Taleo, Yves founded iLogos (acquired by Taleo) and held several positions in research and consulting organizations in Europe.

Yves is a well known public speaker and a Career and Talent industry commentator. He is often quoted in the leading business media worldwide, including Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Business Week, and Time Magazine. His articles and commentary are published regularly in online publications and business magazines. Yves was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the Recruiting Industry” and his blog has been recognized as the best third party blog.

Yves earned a degree in Physics and Philosophy, and has a diploma in Economics from the University of Brussels and from the University of London.

Dean Foster
President, Dean Foster Associates

For almost 20 years, Dean Foster, President, Dean Foster Associates, has developed and administered training programs and consulting interventions that have helped tens of thousands of individuals and organizations meet their global challenges. As former founder and Worldwide Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural, and before that as the founder and President of his own company, Cross-Cultural Consulting Associates, New York, Dean has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training as a critical international human resource intervention in most major countries around the world.

His work has spanned the development of models of international negotiations, cross-cultural relocation orientations for adjustment to living and working abroad, cross-cultural team building, global strategic planning, and business briefings on most major cultures. Currently, DFA is involved in the application of cross-cultural research, training and consulting in over 50 countries, in areas as diverse as the development of interactive cross-cultural learning products, to conducting on-going cross-cultural research on the impact of global business forms on traditional cultural dimensions. In his work, he has consulted with most Fortune 500 companies, both in the United States and in most major countries around the globe.

In addition to conducting cross-cultural training around the world, Dean travels to present frequently at major international professional conferences. He is an active member of and a frequent speaker at the annual international conferences of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Institute for Human Resources (IIHR), the Global Business Association, the Employee Relocation Council, and other organizations, and an Executive Board member of the International Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR).

Dean has written many articles as well as the book, Bargaining Across Borders, published by McGraw-Hill and voted as one of the top ten business books of the year in 1994 by the American Library Association. Presently, Dean’s new book series, The WorldWise Guides to Global Etiquette, John Wiley & Sons, began with the release in 2000, with, The Global Etiquette Guide to Europe and The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia, followed up in 2002 with The Global Etiquette Guide to Africa & The Middle East and The Global Etiquette Guide to Latin America.  Dean is a Contributing Editor with National Geographic, writing the monthly “CultureWise” column, appearing in National Geographic Traveler Magazine. Dean is on the faculty of American University, Intercultural Management Institute, Washington, D.C., and he received his Master’s degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, NYC.  Dean guest lectures at many premier educational institutions, including Harvard Business School, Columbia University School of Business, Fordham University and others.

Melyssa Bernstein
Director of Client Strategy, TMP Worldwide

Melyssa Bernstein is an Account Director for TMP Worldwide. With an extensive background in hospitality management, experience working for a search engine optimization (SEO) firm and six years in an ad agency environment, she offers unique insights regarding all things social recruiting and new media.

Melyssa has conducted client workshops on related topics and regularly shares her expertise at industry conferences and events, most recently NAHCR 2010.

Having graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations, Melyssa is immediate past-president of the Staffing Management Association of South Florida, and an active member of various social recruiting groups both on and offline.

Kevin Burns
Workplace Expert, Burns Group International (BGi)

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, Burns Group International (BGi), is a worldwide authority on Management and Corporate Culture. He is the author of eight books including his forthcoming, Your Attitude Sucks – Managing A Culture of Excellence In A Wasteland Of Mediocrity. He is an influential business speaker, organizational consultant and an international columnist and blogger. He is opinionated, blunt, direct, funny, thought-provoking, incredibly well-researched and usually … right!

Kevin Burns has developed several proprietary strategies and systems on how to improve personal results while contributing to a solid workplace Culture and has been featured in many national newspapers and magazines for his solid, no-nonsense approach to putting people and management on the same page. He has become one of the pre-eminent authorities on personal Attitude and its effect on workplace Culture.

In addition to his many speaking appearances before corporate, association, government and safety audiences, he works with managers, mid-managers and those who aspire to be managers to improve their results and the results of those they touch. He is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Valerie Frederickson
Founder & CEO, Valerie Frederickson & Company

Valerie Frederickson, MS, CMF(M) founded her namesake company in 1995 after the sale of Career Campaigns, Inc., in 1994. Referred to as one of “the top business thinkers in the country” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Valerie had previously served in consulting capacities with one of the world’s largest providers of strategic human resource solutions and for a regional human capital management consulting firm. Before entering the field of human capital management consulting, Valerie held various sales and marketing roles including serving as National Sales Manager for Micro Direct, Inc., and in Federal Sales for Everex Systems. A popular speaker, Valerie has been frequently quoted in the media on a variety of human resource and career management topics, and has published many articles. Valerie authored Folio: The Most Comprehensive Career Transition Manual, and was featured as an expert in The Change Agents: Decoding the New Workforce and the New Workplace (St. Martin’s Press, 2001).

Valerie holds a MA in Counseling Psychology with options in Adult and Career Development and in Marriage, Family & Child Counseling. She is a certified Career Management Fellow Manager with the Institute of Career Certification International; a Member of the Outplacement Institute since 1996; and a participating CEO in Vistage (previously TEC) since 2002.

Valerie has served on corporate, government, non-profit, and member association boards. She spent two terms on the board of the National Association for Professional Saleswomen and two years on a California State Auxiliary Board, where she chaired the Finance Committee. She is active with the Northern California Human Resources Council and National Association of Corporate Directors. Valerie is an angel investor and actively consults to and fundraises for startup organizations. Her angel portfolio includes www.odesk.com, www.vectorii.com, www.shipserv.com, and www.varstreet.com.

Valerie and her husband live in Menlo Park, CA and are members of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, where Valerie serves on the Stewardship and Personnel Committees. In addition to fundraising for municipal and regional political campaigns, she is a Sustainer of the Junior League of Palo Alto Mid Peninsula. Her hobbies include growing tropical plants and cacti and speaking European languages. A native of Berkeley, CA, Valerie has lived and worked in Vaud, Switzerland. She switched her baseball affiliation from the A’s to the Red Sox upon her 2002 marriage to Adam Bernstein, who is from Pembroke, MA and works with Omni Hotels Corporation. Adam is a collector of 20th century paintings and English antiques, and is a fanatic member of the Red Sox Nation.

Victoria Kane, Esq.
Area Director of Labor Relations & Integration, Portfolio Hotels & Resorts

Victoria Kane is the Area Director of Labor Relations and Integration for
Portfolio Hotels & Resorts, located in Los Angeles. She is responsible for labor relations, training, benefits programs, human resources, and the integration of labor and technological resources.

Victoria has been a speaker, featured writer or contributor for the following:

• Southwest Texas Women and Minority Owned Business Conference Speaker (2006)
• Guest Speaker for the Southwest Texas Insurance Underwriters Association (2006)
• National Automobile Dealers Association Speaker (2005 Annual Conference)
• Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association (2004-2005)
• CILS, International Business Transactions Delegate, Salzburg, Austria (2004)
• National Restaurant Association (2003-2005)
• Lorman Education Seminar Speaker (Texas, D.C. and Virginia) (2001-2006)
• American & Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association Contributing Writer (2000-2004)
• American Bar Association, International Hospitality Section Speaker, 2001 Annual Conference
• Writer and quoted expert for articles in Lawyers Weekly, Workforce Magazine, and HRWire
• Pro Bono Attorney for Four Maryland Chapters of ARC (2001-2004)
• Pro Bono Attorney for Washington Lawyers for the Arts – Outstanding Service Award (2001)

Victoria is serving as a leader for an innovative, hospitality training partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District, UNITE HERE labor union, Jewish Vocational Services, and the City of Los Angeles. She is also a current member of the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board.  She has served on committee positions with Women’s Foodservice Forum and the Southwest Texas Women and Minority Business Organization. She has provided pro bono counseling services to a variety of non-profit organizations such as:  CAN, a hospitality-based, workforce training program with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s Workforce Investment programs; Child Advocates San Antonio (CASA) a leading court appointed special advocates for children organization; and has won an award for her services with the Washington D.C. Lawyers for the Arts.

As an attorney, Victoria Kane has represented employers, owners and management in the United States and around the world, providing advice and counseling related to labor relations, employment law, business immigration, pre-litigation strategy, and employee relations and programs. With over 20 years of business management experience in human resources and operations, Victoria provides workable solutions to employment issues in compliance with the myriad of federal, state and local workplace regulations.

Examples of client industries served include:

·   Hotels, resorts, bed-and-breakfast inns, and casinos in almost every state in the U.S. and Puerto Rico as well as in Mexico, Canada, Australia, Japan, France and the U.K.

·   Golf course management companies, country clubs and private dining clubs

·   Auto and truck dealerships and service centers

·   Restaurants, franchises, chains, catering and privately held foodservice groups

·   Multi-state quick service retail and food service companies

·   Fortune 500 Companies

·   Small business start-ups, expansions, mergers and acquisitions

·   Family-owned businesses, such as restaurants, book stores, consulting firms and retailing

·   Government contractors

·   General contractors and related service providers

·   Benefits consulting firms and third-party insurance administrators

·   Financial institutions and brokerage firms

·   Multi-national manufacturing companies

·   Professional service companies operating around the world

·   E-commerce and software development companies

·   Hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare organizations

·   Non-profit organizations and associations