Calvin G. Butler, Jr., Senior Vice President, Exelon Corporate Affairs, manages day to day Outreach in the state of Maryland and maintains strategic relationships with key state stakeholders.

Prior to his appointment to Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Exelon Corporation, Butler served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Exelon.  Butler managed the Corporation’s strategy that drives performance, talent development, organizational design, labor management, diversity and inclusion along with compensation and benefits for Exelon’s approximately 19,000 employees.

Butler joined ComEd in 2008, bringing significant government affairs experience. Prior to ComEd, Butler served as senior vice president of external affairs for RR Donnelley, where he lobbied at the local, state and federal levels and led a variety of strategic initiatives. During his eight-year tenure there, Butler rose through the ranks from senior director of government affairs to division director for a Wheeling, Ill., direct mail plant and vice president of manufacturing for a magazine plant. Butler also managed RR Donnelley’s supplier diversity and government sales groups and served as president of the RR Donnelley Foundation.

Before RR Donnelley, Butler spent five years in a variety of positions at CILCORP (Central Illinois Light Co.) in Peoria, Ill., where he worked in the government affairs, legal and operations areas.

Active in the community, Butler serves on the boards of Leadership Greater Chicago, the Illinois Energy Association, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Voices for Illinois Children, Econ Illinois and the Bradley University Board of Trustees. Butler also maintains memberships in the Economic and Union League Clubs of Chicago. Butler was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, a role assumed in June 2008, and in 2009 was chosen to join the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change.

Butler has received a number of honors and awards for his contributions. In January 2011, Butler was recognized by Uptown Professional Magazine as one of the top 100 Executives in America.  He was inducted into the Peoria African-American Hall of Fame Museum in 2010, recognition by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the “40 under 40” emerging leaders in 2008, Chicago Defender “50 Men of Excellence” designation in 2008, a profile in Who’s Who in Black Chicago in 2007, a 2006 Career Focus Eagle award from the National Eagle Leadership Institute, a Chicago Tribune and YMCA African-American and Hispanic Leadership Award in 2003, a Mahogany Foundation Award for Black Achievers in 2002, and was recognized as one of the top 30 African-American leaders under the age of 30 in Ebony Magazine in 1998.

Butler is a graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

Butler and wife Sharon live in Naperville, Ill., and have two children, Blake Calvin and Raini Alexis.

 

Rob Campbell is senior vice president of Human Resources for NiSource Inc. He is responsible for leading NiSource's strategic human resources efforts and managing the NiSource human resources organization.

Campbell was named to this position in September 2005. Previously, he was employed at NiSource as vice president, Labor and Employee Relations and vice president, Human Resources from June 2001 through January 2004. In January 2004, he returned to the law firm of Schiff Hardin LLP as Of Counsel to oversee Schiff's professional development functions.

From 1986 through 2001, Campbell was with Schiff Hardin, first as an associate and then as a partner. His practice was in the area of labor and employment law.

Campbell earned his undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University and his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University of Chicago. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Frank J. McGarr, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

 

Cara Capretta, VP of HCM Transformation & Thought Leadership for Oracle, has over twenty years of internal and external experience in Human Resources. She is a recognized speaker and thought leader in the field of talent management.

Cara is a resource to assist Oracle clients think through their talent management priorities that may include:

• Alignment of talent strategies to business plans
• Integrated HR practices that support the entire employee lifecycle
• Competency-based human resources applications
• Design and roll-out of enterprise-wide succession planning processes such as talent review meetings, talent profiles, use of the 9-cell, replacement planning, etc.

Cara is the former President and COO of Lominger International, a Korn/Ferry Company. Lominger is a global provider of competency-based leadership development tools. During her tenure at Lominger, she co-authored several books and product lines including FYI™ for Teams, FYI™ for Talent and The Interview Architect®.

Lominger, she co-authored several books and product lines including FYI™ for Teams, FYI™ for Talent and The Interview Architect®.Lominger was sold in 2006, at which time Cara became the VP of Strategy and Intellectual Property for Korn/Ferry International, the largest executive search firm in the world. 

Prior to working in the consulting and commercial product arena, Cara was a Human Resources executive at Nationwide Insurance for 13 years, where she was responsible for enterprise-wide leadership development and succession planning efforts for more than 20,000 employees. She also has experience as a Human Resources generalist.

Cara is a native of Columbus, Ohio where she attended The Ohio State University and graduated from Franklin University.

 

As Vice President of Sales, Chris Cowan leads the business development efforts of AchieveGlobal’s U.S. sales organization. He is responsible for strategic direction, development of long-term partnerships, client satisfaction, and oversight of a geographically dispersed sales team.  

Mr. Cowan has a long and distinguished career spanning the financial services, consulting, travel and entertainment and technology sectors. During his 22 years with American Express, he led a variety of sales and client development teams, developing highly-integrated partnerships and marketing programs in the consumer and commercial markets. In his last role, as Vice President and General Manager in the Global Merchant Services group, he directed the business development activities with leading merchants in the hotel, private jet, and luxury club industries. 

Prior to joining AchieveGlobal in late 2011 Mr. Cowan was the Senior Vice President of Sales for LOYAL3, a disruptive technology firm that enabled companies to sell stock directly to consumers over their website or Facebook page. 

Chris Cowan is a graduate of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.

 

Paula Erickson was appointed Vice President Global Communications & Public Relations of Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) in December 2008. Beam is one of the world’s largest premium spirits companies, which encompasses more than 100 brands, including 10 of the world’s top-100 premium spirits brands, a dozen global operating and commercial facilities, and 3,200 employees worldwide. 

Erickson is a retail industry veteran with two decades of corporate communications, media relations, public relations as well as consumer and business-to-business marketing experience. In her role at Beam, Erickson is responsible for the global internal and external communications, public relations, CSR and media relations for the company and its world-class portfolio of brands, including Jim Beam®, the world’s number one Bourbon; Maker’s Mark® Bourbon; Sauza® Tequila; Courvoisier® Cognac, Canadian Club® Whisky; Skinnygirl Cocktails, among others.   

Erickson joined Beam following 17 years at Ace Hardware Corporation, a $4 billion international company with 5,000 retailers in the U.S. and 70 countries worldwide. At Ace, she held various positions with increasing responsibility in corporate communications, public relations and consumer marketing. From 2006 – 2008, Erickson held the top consumer marketing / advertising position in the company, serving as Director of Advertising & Brand Development, responsible for driving sales through the company’s national marketing, media buying, public relations and advertising initiatives.  

Erickson serves on the Public Affairs Board of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and is the Communications Director on the Board for St. Mary School, Buffalo Grove, Ill. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in communications with minors in international relations and sociology from the University of California, San Diego. She resides in Long Grove, Ill., with her husband and three children.

 

Diane Frisch is Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Corn Products International, Inc. and is responsible for all corporate human resources activities including strategy, organizational development, internal communications and reward and talent management. 

Prior to joining Corn Products, Diane worked for Alcan Packaging where she served as Vice President of Human Resources and Communications for that company’s Food Americas and Global Pharmaceutical Packaging businesses.  She has also served as Vice President of Human Resources for the flexible packaging business of Pechiney, an aluminum and packaging company; Vice President of Human Resources for Culligan International Company; Vice President and Director of Human Resources for Alumax Mill Products, Inc.; Director of Human Resources for U.S. Reduction Company; and Manager of Human Resources for American Can Company. 

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Mr. Gorrell is seasoned human resources executive with broad HR, People Services and HR Technology experience within the technology, software, manufacturing and service industries. During his career he has demonstrated ability to lead global human resources teams and strategically partner with executive teams including CEO and Board of Directors. Gorrell spent most of his career growing and building large technology/software companies with global responsibility, and then he ventured into the private equity-leverage buyout arena helping acquire/restructure six companies. He rejoined the HR arena where he led restructuring activities and large scale change management in three publicly traded global technology companies. Gorrell is currently the Corporate Vice President of HR-People Services at Motorola Mobility where he is part of the senior leadership team that recently separated Motorola, Inc., into two separate publicly traded companies. Motorola Mobility is in the final stage of being acquired by Google and Gorrell is now focused on working with Google on the integration plans. Gorrell joined Motorola Mobility from MSC Software Corporation which had been acquired, where he was the Executive Vice President of HR. Previously Gorrell was Vice President of HR at ITT Corporation, where during his tenure at ITT, Gorrell was the worldwide leader for ITT e-HR (enterprise HR and HRIS) strategy, implementation, shared services and HR operations. While at ITT he led a global, multicultural HR team in China, Europe and North America, and served as executive coach and consultant to the president and executive team. During his tenure at ITT Gorrell was honored with the Orange County, CA, National Human Resources Association (NHRA) "HR Executive of the Year" award. In addition Gorrell held senior HR leadership positions at Hewlett-Packard Co., Inc,, Westar Capital (a private equity investment firm), and USCS International (a software and services company). Gorrell holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and Organization from Idaho State University and resides in Laguna Niguel, CA. 

 

Ed leads the human capital agenda for the West Division Supply Chain team at Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.  His specialties include organization development and effectiveness initiatives, executive coaching and development, talent management, culture and change management initiatives.  He leads the performance management, succession planning, organization capability assessment and headcount planning processes. He is the primary leader for advancing the people strategy and the division’s functional HR team consisting of 22 direct and indirect reports.  He is an avid Yoga practitioner and mountain biker and also enjoys travel and reading.

 

Wendy Hirsch is a Principal with Mercer’s Human Capital Business. She helps clients understand the people implications of their business strategy and leverage their human resource function to improve bottom line results. 

Wendy is an industrial-organizational psychologist who has experience in human capital strategy and measurement, workforce planning, post merger integration, attraction and retention, talent management, pay equity and diversity.  She helps clients determine alignments between human capital, HR and business strategies, assess risks associated with diversity and pay equity, identify the drivers of turnover, assess the labor market availability of key competencies, visualize workforce data through dashboards and scorecards, and explore the relationship between employee perceptions and organization practices.

Prior to Mercer, Wendy was an Associate Behavioral Scientist at RAND Corporation where she conducted career path modeling for the Air Force and evaluated organizational change efforts in several health care organizations. She has also analyzed the organizational changes needed to meet peacetime operational requirements in the U.S. Air Force by determining the minimum amount of temporary duty activities necessary to support mission readiness. In her earlier work, Wendy also examined methods to improve the successful transfer of trained skills from the classroom to the job and has explored the impact of job satisfaction and health conditions on employees’ organizational withdrawal behaviours.

Wendy received her PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work has been presented at several national conferences and published in The Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and Human Resource Development Quarterly.

 

As Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer for Harsco Corporation, Janet leads more than 175 HR professionals serving 19,500+ employees in seven different businesses across more than 50 countries. Janet collaborates across the $3.3B company to further develop Harsco’s most valuable competitive advantage — its people. Prior to joining Harsco, Janet spent almost 20 years at Monsanto Company most recently as Vice President, Human Resources for the Global Research and Development Group.

In Janet’s current role, she drives both professional and financial excellence through a holistic, people-centered approach to talent management.  Janet served in a variety of HR leadership roles at Monsanto Company, leading numerous strategic realignments, acquisitions and employee engagement programs.  Monsanto was consistently recognized among the best places to work by a variety of industry publications, including Working Mother and Forbes. 

Janet earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mathematics from Southern Illinois University.

Outside of work, Janet is a volunteer board member for the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board and has served as a board member for several charities.  Janet is also a busy mom of two college-age children and a 3rd grader. Her son and daughter attend the University of Missouri. Janet lives with her husband and her youngest daughter in Harrisburg, PA.

 

Don has more than twenty years of experience in business management, leadership, sales and consulting in the performance improvement industry. As a Business Development Director for Insights he is responsible for building client relationships and helping them implement solutions that improve the effectiveness of their people and the performance of their organizations.

He began his career in corporate training as a consultant and account executive with Zenger Miller/Achieve Global and then moved into a management role, leading the Northeast business unit through the post-merger integration of three companies.

Prior to joining Insights Don was a principal consultant with Axialent (www.axialent.com), an Argentine based consulting firm, doing culture alignment, executive coaching and leadership development with Fortune 500 clients. He coached executives and leaders at Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AXA Equitable, Crowe Horwath, and other firms.

Don’s interest in leadership and personal transformation began while completing his undergraduate degree at Ohio Wesleyan University. During his senior year he explored eastern studies and soon joined Élan Vital, an international personal transformation organization. He traveled extensively throughout the world for several years teaching principles of self-discovery and then joined the management team as President of the corporation.

He is a competitive tennis player, certified tennis coach and collegiate referee. He also plays guitar and writes and records music. Don has two children and lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife Ellie and their cat, Mr. Jones.

 

Tim is currently vice president of Talent Management for ConAgra Foods – a Fortune 200 company with over $13 billion in annual sales. He is responsible for the company’s integrated talent management strategy, which includes Workforce Planning, Performance Management, Recruiting, Succession Planning, Talent Reviews, Leadership Assessment, Diversity & Inclusion, Capability Training Strategy and HCM Technology.  Prior to joining ConAgra Foods, Tim served as a director at two industry-leading recruiting and consulting companies specializing in Information Technology.  He has a degree from the University of Nebraska and a Harvard Business School Executive Education certificate.

 

Elizabeth joined Fortune Brands in January 2000 as in-house legal counsel. Since then, she has taken on increasing responsibility, moving to Assistant General Counsel and Vice President, Compensation & Benefits. In 2009, she became Vice President, Human Resources for Fortune Brands. Prior to joining Fortune Brands, she was a partner at the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and in-house counsel at Amoco. Elizabeth earned her BA from Boston College University and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

 

Mindy Mackenzie joined Beam, one of the world’s largest premium spirits companies (NYSE: BEAM), as Senior Vice President of Human Resources in January 2010.  Reporting directly to President & Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shattock, Mackenzie is a member of the company’s executive leadership team. As the global leader of human resources, Mackenzie is responsible for the human resources, organizational development and global communications strategies to support more than 3,200 employees throughout the world. She oversees Beam’s employment practices building its talent pipeline, maximizing organizational effectiveness and increasing employee engagement to drive growth in all areas of the business. 

Mackenzie has extensive leadership experience in the areas of human resources, organizational effectiveness, diversity, change management and performance culture development for industry-leading retail and consumer packaged goods companies throughout the world. She joined Beam following five years at Campbell Soup Co., where she held various positions including Vice President Human Resources & Public Affairs for Campbell’s Asia Pacific division.

Mackenzie also spent nine years at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in the areas of human resources and organizational development and training.  At Wal-Mart, among her many roles and responsibilities, she established a training strategy for the business to accelerate the leadership and development for the company’s associates worldwide.
Mackenzie holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from Ambassador University, as well as a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She and her family reside in Chicago, IL.

 

Tom McPartlin was appointed VP CIO & Global Business Services of Beam, one of the world’s largest premium spirits companies (NYSE: BEAM), in January 2011.

Reporting directly to Beam’s Chief Financial Officer, McPartlin is responsible for leading the information technology function at Beam, as well as overseeing the company’s business systems transformation and Global Shared Services initiatives. During his time at Beam, McPartlin has led the program to stand up Beam as a publicly traded pure play spirits company.

A proven business leader, McPartlin brings more than 29 years of professional experience and is widely recognized for his impressive record of delivering impactful business results leading major transformation programs at Cadbury. McPartlin directed the successful multinational integration of the operations and systems platforms to support the Adams confectionary brands acquisition. He also spearheaded the development of the Logistics and Customer Operations strategic transformation for the Cadbury business units in North and South America and led the development and implementation of the global Facilities Management outsourcing program for Kraft Foods/Cadbury. 

Before commencing work with Cadbury, McPartlin served in various capacities at AT&T, most notably as business transformation program director of the company’s consumer products division.  

In addition to his business transformation experience, Tom has a broad business background having served as Marketing Director for the Trident gum brand and VP, Logistics & Customer Operations for the U.S. and Canada business units during his time with Cadbury.  In these roles, Tom led each team to achieve turnarounds in business performance.

McPartlin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics and computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., and received his Masters of Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. 

 

Jim Michaud is Senior Vice President Human Resources for Cliffs Natural Resources. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is an international mining and natural resources company. A member of the S&P 500 Index, the Company is a major global iron ore producer and a significant producer of high- and low-volatile metallurgical coal.

Prior to joining Cliffs in 2010 Jim was a Partner at Laurus Strategies, a rapidly growing HR Consulting company. Before joining Laurus he the Vice President for the Americas, for Arcelor Mittal Steel, the world's largest Steel Company.

Jim also spent over 25 years at Alcoa in a variety of increasingly responsible Labor Relations and Human Resources positions and retired from the company in 2005, after serving as the Global Director of Human Resources.

Jim is a past Board member of the National Business Group on Health and the Hewitt Senior Client Advisory Board. He is currently a Board member of the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, his alma mater.

 

Mary Lou Mills has been working in the insurance field for over 32 years, and has been in Human Resources for over 20 years.  She has a Master's Degree from the University of Missouri and has attained the Chartered Life Underwriter designation.  For the last seven years, she has been Vice President of Human Resources for Shelter Insurance Companies in Columbia, Missouri. 

The Shelter Insurance® group of companies is a leader in the insurance industry, providing customers with exceptional insurance and financial products and services. Since its inception in 1946, Shelter has become one of the most successful and financially sound regional insurance groups in the country with over four billion dollars in assets. Shelter has grown from a small company providing Missourians affordable car insurance into a leading corporation offering a variety of insurance products in 16 states.  The Shelter Insurance group also includes an international reinsurance operation specializing in reinsuring property around the world.

Ms. Mills oversees all aspects of Human Resource management as well as corporate and agent training for over 3000 agents and staff.  Ms. Mills' executive leadership experience has focused on corporate governance and compliance, executive development and succession planning, and corporate change management and process implementation.  Throughout her career Ms. Mills has focused on leveraging information technology as a corporate management tool.   

 

Wayne has been VP HR for Alliant Energy since 2009.  Alliant is a $4B utility with 1.4M customers and 4500 employees across three states.  He is responsible for the all Human Resource functions as well as Strategy, Communication and Safety.

Prior to joining Alliant Energy, Wayne spent 25 years as a consultant, including the last 12 as an owner and founding partner of the Center for Organization Effectiveness, a management consulting firm based in Madison, WI, and its assessment division, surveysbydesign.  In that role, he helped businesses to assess and develop their leaders, manage change initiatives, and improve organizational performance.  He conducted culture assessments, assisted with organizational design and provided one-on-one coaching to executives and managers.  His clients included: Allen-Bradley, Alliant Energy, American Girl, Associated Bank, Briggs & Stratton, Covance, CUNA Mutual Group, General Casualty, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, HJ Heinz, SC Johnson Wax, Lands’ End, Northwestern Mutual Life, Promega, Publix, Rayovac, St. Marys Hospital, Sonic Foundry, Telephone & Data Systems, US Cellular, and Veridian Homes.

Wayne has held management roles in three consulting firms and positions in human resource development at UW-Madison and as a training director and general faculty at the University of Virginia.  He has also taught at the UW-Madison School of Business and the Fluno Center for Executive Education.  He has a M.Ed. from the University of Virginia and a BA from Northwestern University.  In addition, he has completed 27 hours of post-masters study in Industrial Relations at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

 

Vincent A. Scarfone has served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Chicago based Ulta Beauty since May 2011. Prior to joining Ulta, Mr. Scarfone was Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Administration for Duane Reade Drugstores in New York City from September 2006 to April 2011. Previously, Mr. Scarfone served as Vice President—Global Human Resources for Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services from February 2005 to June 2006 and from 1984 to 2005, Mr. Scarfone worked for Toys “R” Us Inc., holding several senior human resource positions including, from 2002 to 2005, Vice President of Human Resources, Toys “R” Us International Division.

 

Mr. Wilke serves as a Sr. Director for the BTS team in Chicago. His primary responsibilities include the global design and delivery of consulting engagements aimed at sharpening strategic execution, as well as managing those relationships and spearheading BTS’ quickly growing business. He specializes in the pharmaceutical, telecommunications, consumer goods and consultant arenas in working with a diverse, multinational clientele. 

Since joining BTS, Mr. Wilke has led several development and delivery projects for many global Fortune 100 companies, such as Abbott, Accenture, AT&T, Kraft and Unilever.  His involvement spans across a broad range of BTS solutions including business acumen, strategic alignment, financial management and business leadership.

Prior to joining BTS, Mr. Wilke worked as a Sales Manager for Morgan Stanley’s fixed income group in Chicago.

Mr. Wilke holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Loyola University Chicago, and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Applied Economics from DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

 

Mr. Wilson has been Senior Vice President - Human Resources of Airgas, Inc. since 2004 and a member of its Management Committee since 2005.  Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, and hardgoods, such as welding equipment and supplies.  Airgas is also a leading U.S. producer of atmospheric gases, carbon dioxide, dry ice, and nitrous oxide, one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, and a leading U.S. distributor of refrigerants, ammonia products, and process chemicals.  More than 14,000 employees work in approximately 1,100 locations.  Airgas also distributes its products and services through eBusiness, catalog and telesales channels.  Its national scale and strong local presence offer a competitive edge to its diversified customer base.  Airgas became well known in the legal and financial fields in 2010 – 2011 when it surmounted the longest unsuccessful hostile takeover attempt in history.  

Mr. Wilson has more than 25 years of human resources experience, most of it as the head of the Human Resources function in several businesses.  Prior to joining Airgas, Mr. Wilson served as Senior Vice President - Corporate Resources at DecisionOne Corporation from 1995 to 2003, responsible for the human resources function, security and facilities, plus acting as Chief Information Officer during the Y2K transition.  Before DecisionOne, Mr. Wilson held human resources, accounting and strategic planning roles with several Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) companies.  Earlier in his career, he was a sales compensation manager at AT&T.

Mr. Wilson earned his bachelor of science in business administration from The Ohio State University. He resides in Malvern, PA.