Craig Weber, Founder, The Weber Consulting Group

Craig Weber is the founder of The Weber Consulting Group, an alliance of experts committed to helping organizations and teams build their capacity for engaging tough, wicked, adaptive challenges. He's consulted to an expansive roster of world-class clients, helping them improve their performance by treating dialogue as a discipline. Craig is the author of the groundbreaking book, Conversational Capacity: The Secret To Building Winning Teams That Perform When The Pressure Is On (McGraw-Hill, 2013).

By combining his formal education (in organizational development and organizational psychology) with his extensive consulting experience, he's created a powerful approach to conversing productively under the toughest of circumstances.

In addition to his consulting work, Craig has lectured at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, Thunderbird (the American Graduate School of International Management), Webster University School of Business & Technology, Santa Clara University, and the Work Place Learning Institute at Columbia University.

Michael L. Meyer, Executive Vice President Human Resources, Ecolab

Since January 2008, Mike Meyer has been executive vice president and Chief Human Resources Officer for Ecolab. Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that provide and protect clean water, safe food, abundant energy and healthy environments. Ecolab's 42,000 employees deliver comprehensive programs and services to the food, energy, healthcare, industrial and hospitality markets in more than 160 countries.

Mike has had the good fortune to be the HR leader on 3 acquisitions which transformed businesses and companies, in addition to a score of smaller deals. All 3 of these acquisitions were highly successful, beating the published probabilities that only 1 in 3 succeed.

Prior to joining Ecolab in 2007, Mike was in a line role for a large medical products company, running a cardiovascular business in Latin American and Canada for Abbott Laboratories. This role came about as the result of an acquisition as well. During his 24 years with Abbott, he also held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in Human Resources, ultimately becoming responsible for all international HR as well as leading HR for the entire Medical Products business of Abbott.

Mike is very involved in the community. He teaches HR at the Master's level. He serves on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities and the board of trustees for the Nature Conservancy of Minnesota, and is a member of the council of regents of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Mike received a bachelor's degree in Behavioral Sciences from Westminster College and a master's degree in Business Administration --International Management from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management.

Morning Session I: Breakouts, 9:45 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.

Aaron Krenz, Chief of Deployment Cycle Support, Minnesota National Guard

Session Title: Minnesota's Innovative Employment Support for Returning Soldiers

MAJ Krenz currently serves as the Minnesota National Guard's Deployment Cycle Support Chief, which is focused on Service member and military family care and wellness. MAJ Krenz is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead and the military's Command and General Staff College. He has over 22 years of service in the Minnesota National Guard and has had two combat tours in Iraq.

James Finley, Director - Veterans Employment Programs, Department of Employment and Economic Development

Session Title: Minnesota's Innovative Employment Support for Returning Soldiers

James Finley began his career with the State of Minnesota in 1977 as one of the first Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialists hired to seek out and develop employment opportunities for returning Viet Nam Era Veterans. Currently, Finley manages 35 Veteran Employment Representatives throughout the state in 47 WorkForce Centers. He served with the Army's 9th Infantry Division, and was Honorably Discharged from service in 1977.

Gina Sobania, Military Education Director, Veterans Re-Entry Education Program, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

Session Title: Minnesota's Innovative Employment Support for Returning Soldiers

Gina Sobania is the military education director for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). She assists college and university faculty, staff and administration in welcoming and supporting veterans, service members and their families. Specifically, she assists colleges and universities in awarding academic credit for military training and experience and assists service members and veterans with career and education planning using MyMilitary GPS LifePlan. She has a bachelor's degree in Teaching Social Studies Secondary and a certificate in Educational Technology and Computers from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a master's degree in Higher Education Administration from St. Cloud State University.

Marvin Hamilton, Senior Group Director for Distribution, Target Corporation

Session Title: Minnesota's Innovative Employment Support for Returning Soldiers

Marvin Hamilton has been with Target Corporation for over 20 years starting as a Regional Distribution Center supervisor and worked his way up to his current position as Senior Group Director for Distribution. Hamilton comes from a military family and has served in the US Army where he graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1985. Hamilton has conducted extensive recruiting of military veterans, including Officers and NCOs, of all services. He is a sponsor of Target's Service Academy Career Conference (SACC) and participates in other major military orientated recruiting events.

Dick Daniels, President of Leadership Development Group, St. Paul Chamber of Commerce

Session Title: Minnesota's Innovative Employment Support for Returning Soldiers

Dick Daniels is the President of The Leadership Development Group. His master's and doctoral work in adult development provide the framework for his consulting in the US and Europe as an organizational culture strategist with expertise in developing emerging, mid-level, and senior leaders.

Kevin Erickson, Vice President, Human Resources, Climate Solutions North America, Ingersoll Rand

Session Title: Developing a Differentiated, Global Talent Solutions Strategy

Kevin Erickson is the Vice President of Human Resources for the Climate Solutions North America business of Ingersoll Rand. He has an Executive Masters in Human Resources from Rutgers in addition to his B.A. from the University of Nebraska. During his almost 20 year career, Erickson has worked at prominent companies including Elementis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer. Erickson's experiences have provided him with ample international experience, especially in the United Kingdom, China, Malaysia, Brazil, and throughout Europe. He is known to effectively evaluate the organizations' business needs, and create a strategy to leverage resources to obtain the maximum business impact.

Karin Goettsch, Instructional Design Lead, Global Leadership Portfolio; HR Learning & Development, Cargill

Session Title: Maximizing Virtual Team Collaboration: Current Perspectives for Global HR

Karin Goettsch, CPLP, specializes in workplace learning and development, business and intercultural communication, and second language consulting. Prior to Cargill, she managed learning functions and designed and facilitated learning initiatives at global organizations including Medtronic and Thomson Reuters. She has taught for over 15 years at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University. Karin earned her BA from St. Olaf College (French, Economics), MA from the University of Minnesota (Teaching English as a Second Language) and MA certificate from the University of St. Thomas (Business Communication Management). A doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota, her PhD research focuses on intercultural communication in global virtual work teams.

Ann Ruschy, Managing Director, Oberon, part of the Salo family

Session Title: Blue Zones in the Workplace - Creating Healthier and Happier Workplace Environments

Ann Ruschy brings 25 years of combined experience in leadership, human resources, sales, staffing, and consulting to her Managing Director role. Her professional track record as well as her focused, results-oriented expertise leads the charge to grow Oberon's business. Highly intuitive, she is well skilled at building effective relationships. Prior to managing the Oberon team, Ann worked as an Executive Coach and Consultant where she coached executives on how to maximize their leadership efforts. She also spent over ten years with a national staffing company, where she served as Executive Vice President and Human Resources Vice President. Ann received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the College of St. Benedict and completed her Co-Active Coaching training from the Coaches Training Institute. Ann is passionate about her work on the Board of Directors for Project SUCCESS; empowerment programs that motivates and inspires middle and high school students to dream about their futures and help them take the steps to get there.

Morning Session II: Breakouts, 11:10 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

Tom McMullen, VP & North American Reward Practice Leader, Hay Group

Session Title: Reward Next Practices

Tom McMullen is the leader of Hay Group's North American Reward Practice, based in Chicago, IL and is accountable for leading Hay Group's innovation, thought leadership and capability development initiatives for the reward practice. His client consulting work focuses primarily on developing and implementing total reward program design, including reward strategy development, incentive plan design, linking reward and performance management systems, job evaluation and organization structure design. McMullen is a frequent speaker on reward and human resource issues and he has authored a number of publications including The Manager's Guide to Rewards. McMullen holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics and an M.B.A from the University of Louisville. Prior to joining the Hay Group Chicago office, McMullen was a consultant in the Hay Group's Washington D.C. and Cincinnati offices. McMullen is currently a member of WorldatWork, the Chicago Compensation Association and Society for Human Resource Management. He also serves on the Compensation Advisory Board of WorldatWork.

Dana Martin, Principal, Hay Group

Session Title: Reward Next Practices

Dana Martin is a Principal with the Chicago office of Hay Group. He works with boards and senior management to ensure alignment of organizational strategy, compensation design and competitive positioning. Martin's expertise centers on performance management, executive reward program design, and the alignment of incentives with organizational value. He received his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management with concentrations in Finance and Strategy.

Erin Koerselman, Sr. Director of Human Resources, Prime Therapeutics LLC

Session Title: Building Workforce Planning and Analytics Capability from the Ground Up

As Prime Therapeutics' Senior Director of Human Resources, Erin Koerselman oversees and manages all aspects of the Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, and Corporate HR Manager functions. She has primary responsibility for coordinating the cross-functional efforts in support of Prime’s corporate goal of engaging its employees as strategic assets. Koerselman is a former employment lawyer, most recently serving as Prime Therapeutics' Senior Legal Counsel in healthcare, general business, and employment focus areas. Prior to Prime Therapeutics she was a litigator in private practice. She received her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law, and earned a Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology from the Creighton University.

Kerry Cannon, SPHR Senior Director, HR - Total Rewards, Prime Therapeutics LLC

Session Title: Building Workforce Planning and Analytics Capability from the Ground Up

As Prime Therapeutics' Senior Director of Human Resources for Total Rewards, Kerry Cannon oversees and manages all aspects of Total Rewards including employee benefits, compensation and human resource systems. Ensuring Prime's corporate goal of engaging employees as strategic assets, she leads the Star Recognition employee program in addition to community affairs initiatives through PrimeCares. Cannon is a certified Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR) and received a Bachelor's of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota, Duluth with a concentration in Human Resource Management. Over the last 15 years, her previous experience includes a variety of leadership roles within human resources. Most recently as Manager of People Services at Digital River, Cannon also oversaw employee benefits and compensation.

Marcus Joseph, Principal Consultant, Workforce Analytics and Planning, SuccessFactors

Session Title: Building Workforce Planning and Analytics Capability from the Ground Up

Marcus Joseph is responsible for providing strategic consulting to clients of the SuccessFactors Workforce Planning, Analytics, and Reporting products. In this capacity, he divides his time between application utilization (advising on usage strategy, facilitating workforce planning, delivering training, and analytics engagements) and implementation (leading teams through strategic design and change management). Prior to SuccessFactors, Joseph held responsibilities in HR Analytics, Reporting, HRIS, and Compensation, as well as Finance leadership.

Mike Anderson, Director, Global Benefits, Human Resources, 3M

Session Title: Health & Wellness at 3M: Creating a Sustainable, Healthy and High Performing Culture

Mike Anderson is currently the Director of Global Benefits at 3M Company. His prior responsibilities include Director, Global Total Compensation Services, and director, Global Employee Services. He was manager of the Health Care, Disability and Worker's Compensation programs at 3M from 1997-2001 and has held various responsibilities within the benefits area and in corporate finance. Anderson received both his undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of Minnesota.

Jane Royse, Global Wellness Manager, 3M

Session Title: Health & Wellness at 3M: Creating a Sustainable, Healthy and High Performing Culture

Jane Royse is currently the Manager of Global Wellness at 3M Company. Her prior responsibilities include Manager, 3M Wellness Program; Manager, Disability, Worker's Compensation and FMLA; Manager US Health Care Benefits; and Manager, 3M Work/Life Programs. Prior to her career at 3M, Royse spent 20 years working in non-profit agencies in the areas of healthcare and services for seniors. She earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Indiana State University.

Richard Brynteson, Innovation Consultant, The Collabrium

Session Title: Building Innovation: An Organizational Imperative

Richard Brynteson attended the University of Minnesota and received his PhD in Adult Education. He has taught at the undergraduate and master's level for 25 years, mostly at Concordia University. He has been an organizational innovation consultant, an executive coach, and a leadership development trainer in Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. Recently, Brynteson published four books. Two of them focus on innovation: The Manager's Pocket Guide to Innovation and 50 Activities for Building Innovation. Both were published by Human Resource Press.

Afternoon Session I: Breakouts, 1:20 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Karen Ainslie, Manager, Talent Management-Performance Management, Target Corporation

Session Title: A Strategic Approach to Talent Management - One Company's Journey

Karen Ainslie graduated from the University of Iowa with a BBA in Organizational Management. From there she began her 13 year career with Target as an HR Generalist in their Colorado Distribution Center. Ainslie moved to Minnesota in 2003 to take a role on the Benefits team as a client liaison for Target's Distribution team members. From there she moved into a Benefits Vendor Management role where she managed Target's Pharmacy and HMO vendors. In 2006 Ainslie had the opportunity to start up an HR Process team for Target's Distribution HR teams where they focused on building best practices. In 2008 she became an HR Manager supporting Target's Technology team members. For the past year, she has been a part of the Talent Management COE, where she leads the Performance Management team.

Robert Bentley, Associate Partner, Sales Force Effectiveness, Aon Hewitt

Session Title: The Future of Sales Management and What It Means for Plan Designs

Rob Bentley is a Manager and Associate Partner in Aon Hewitt's Talent and Organization Consulting Practice, located in Lincolnshire, Illinois. As a leader in Aon Hewitt's Sales Force Effectiveness group, Bentley has extensive experience developing solutions to improve the effectiveness of clients' sales human resources, with over 220 companies/projects across all industries. He also is experienced in broader areas of sales effectiveness. Bentley is the author of Sales Force Long-Term Incentive and Recognition Study. He is also a co-founder and ongoing facilitator of both the Greater Chicago Sales Operations Roundtable since 2009 and the Twin Cities Sales Compensation Sub Group since 2010. Bentley received a B.A. in history from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. with concentrations in finance and marketing from Northwestern University (Kellogg).

Marilu Malague, Associate Partner, Aon Hewitt

Session Title: The Future of Sales Management and What It Means for Plan Designs

Malague is an Associate Partner in Aon Hewitt's Sales Force Effectiveness practice and works from The Woodlands, Texas office. She specializes in sales force effectiveness and has worked in the sales arena for over 25 years. She has a special expertise in sales competencies and global compensation program design and has managed complex global sales compensation design and implementation in technology (hardware/software/services), manufacturing, digital/print media, energy, and distribution industries. Her clients include: Farmers Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic. Malague received a B.B.A. in Marketing from Texas Tech University, and an M.B.A. with concentrations in Organizational Behavior, Management Strategy, and Marketing from Northwestern University.

Michele Murphy, Executive Vice President, Human Resources & Corporate Communications, SUPERVALU Inc.

Session Title: Workplace Empowerment: The Sweet Spot of People, Space and Technology

Michele Murphy earned a BS degree in Economics from St. Vincent College. She then went on to attend law school at the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Her first position after graduation was with the international firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. After working there for almost four years, Murphy joined the in-house legal group of American Stores Company, where she practiced employment law. After first becoming Senior VP, Labor and Employee Relations for SUPERVALU INC., she took on leadership of the corporate human resources group in addition to her other responsibilities, and became Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources and Labor Relations. Most recently, in March 2013, Murphy's role was changed to include responsibility for all of human resources and communications for SUPERVALU. She has sat on the Board of Directors of the Network of Executive Women (NEW) and is now acting as NEW's General Counsel. She was named one of the Top Women in Grocery by Progressive Grocer magazine in 2010 and 2011.

Sharon Lessard

Session Title: Workplace Empowerment: The Sweet Spot of People, Space and Technology

Prior to joining SUPERVALU, Sharon Lessard was Vice President of Visual Merchandising for Bath & Body Works, a division of Limited Brands. Her responsibilities were to bring cutting edge, brand right visual merchandising ideas to Bath and Body Works that would enhance Brand equity and drive traffic and top line sales profitably. Lessard has also held various positions at Best Buy, Inc., ALU, a contemporary design and manufacturer of fixtures and modular systems, as well as, Victoria's Secret and The Limited, leading, developing and directing the Visual Presentation and Merchandising strategies and teams. She sits on the VM&SD Editorial Advisory Board, President of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter for the Retail Design Institute and a Board Member for the Jungle Theater. Lessard is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a BA in Art History and Painting and resides in Minneapolis, MN.

Taryn Shawstad, General Manager- Total Remuneration, Chevron

Session Title: Enabling a Global Expatriate Workforce

Taryn Shawstad has been with Chevron for 24 years and is currently General Manager, Total Remuneration. As the General Manager, Shawstad manages global compensation and benefits, including executive and non-employee director remuneration. She serves on the Enterprise HR Leadership Team and is Secretary to Chevron's Management Compensation Committee. Her prior position was the General Manager, Global Workforce Development, accountable for a corporate center of expertise in individual, leader and organizational learning and development. Previously, she was the General Manager, Human Resources, for Chevron Global Upstream, and responsible for developing and implementing HR strategies, programs and policies for almost 25,000 employees in over 30 countries. Before that, she was Manager-Shared Services for Chevron United Kingdom Ltd. . A native of Minnesota, Taryn graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Masters degree in Industrial Relations.