As vice president, Human Resources, Benjamin Abramson is responsible for development of human resources programs and initiatives for AGL Resources’ non-regulated businesses: Wholesale Services, Commercial & Industrial Sales, Storage & Fuels.

Since joining AGL Resources in 2005, Mr. Abramson has built a robust campus recruitment program, building relationships with multiple universities insuring that the AGL Resources subsidiaries employ talented young professionals and field personnel. He has implemented a succession planning program while establishing a series of developmental and training initiatives that has minimized the long term risk to the growing organizations. Finally, Mr. Abramson created a “Pay for Performance” plan that has been a staple in the continued growth of the businesses by directly correlating performance to compensation.

Prior to his career at AGL Resources, Mr. Abramson was a senior representative for human resources at Shell Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, Texas, and at Shell Oil Products U.S. in Houston from 2001 through 2005.

During his college years, Mr. Abramson assisted in the start-up of a wire and cable company. Mr. Abramson’s sales skills helped build Cable X-Perts Inc. of Wheeling, Ill., into a company with more than $1 million in annual revenue within a few years.

Mr. Abramson is a board member of the Independent Energy Human Resources Association. He received his professional certification from the Society for Human Resources. His community service has included volunteering with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, United Way and Habitat for Humanity.

He holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and a masters of human resources and industrial relations from the University of Illinois.

Mr. Abramson, his wife, Shannon, and their children, Ella and Jack, reside in Katy, Texas.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Masters of Business Administration, Rice University 2012 Candidate
Bachelor of Science, Stonehill College

Jamie specializes in creating actionable visual analytics and metrics related to his clients’ human capital investment, delivered in easily accessible formats. He brings a unique perspective to his work which results from his experience in both the business and technology realms: five years working in public and corporate accounting, five years in data warehousing and business intelligence consulting, and over five years in human capital consulting. This experience helps him to understand workforce issues and develop solutions that are both technically feasible and relevant to the business.   

As part of the iknow team Jamie:

• Manages iknow client facing technologies
• Manages the client configuration, go live, and training stages of iknow projects
• Implements iknow platform functionalities and modules
• Plans for and develops upcoming iknow releases

Prior to iknow Jamie was part of Mercer’s Workforce Sciences group where he spent a significant amount of time analyzing workforce issues and developing and delivering meaningful analytics and metrics that could be used to guide strategic human capital decisions. In his previous consulting experience Jamie project managed end to end data warehouse and business intelligence implementations.

 

During her fifteen years at Oracle, Anje has helped transform the Talent and Organizational effectiveness function to meet the needs of the rapidly growing global workforce of 115,000 employees in 67 countries.  Leveraging a deep knowledge of the business, a strong talent vision and Oracle's technology assets, she has created programs and measurements that produce industry leading results in productivity, capability and organizational effectiveness.  Her team's mission includes providing more meaningful intelligence to help the business make better workforce decisions and accelerate execution on its strategy.  Anje oversees initiatives that drive targeted learning solutions for Oracle employees and leaders, including the Oracle Women’s Leadership Initiative which aims at creating opportunities that support, educate and empower Oracle’s current and future generations of women leaders.  Throughout her career, she has held roles in the business and various human resource management positions which include responsibility for employee relations, compensation, recruiting, organizational effectiveness, performance management, training, and employment practices. 

 

Gary Glandon is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Solutia Inc.

As the global leader of the Human Resources function, Gary is responsible for workforce planning, talent management, compensation and benefits, training and development, and staffing and recruiting, while continuing to drive and support Solutia’s high-performance culture.

Gary is a proven leader who possesses the same values and philosophies as those shared by the executive management team.  With his past experience, Gary is poised to lead the human resources team during this upcoming exciting period of growth.

Gary has over 25 years of comprehensive HR experience, occupying both specialist and leadership roles in global organizations.  He joins us from Energy Conversion Devices, a solar company in Detroit, where he was Chief Human Resources Officer.  Gary has also had senior level human resources positions with Insight Enterprises, Honeywell International, Tanox, and Gateway.

Gary earned his BA from Michigan State University and his MS in Business Administration from University of St. Francis in Fort Worth, Indiana.

 

Mayerland Harris, Group Vice President of Human Resources for H-E-B, is a dynamic and influential leader and team builder with over 26 years of retail experience in Human Resources and store operations. She leads a team of more than 50 HR professionals including Field Managers, Recruiters, Training and Development Managers and a full administrative staff. She is directly responsible for providing leadership to all Human Resources functions for more than 80 H-E-B stores, the Central Market Division, as well as the Manufacturing, Warehousing and Transportation Divisions. She develops the strategic direction of the department to ensure alignment with key business initiatives. Her leadership team is accountable for the implementation of policies and programs including employment, employee relations, benefits, compensation, training, and employee assistance.

Mayerland received her bachelor degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991 and received her MBA from Texas A&M University in 2007. She received her certification of Senior Professional in Human Resources in 1999. Mayerland is married with two wonderful children.

 

Matthew Herzberg joined MEMC in March 2011 as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Matt joined MEMC from Express Scripts, Inc., a Fortune 100 pharmacy benefits manager, where he served as Vice President of Human Resources and was responsible for all facets of HR. Prior to that role, he served as the Vice President, Talent Management & Total Rewards and Vice President, Organizational and Leadership Development. Earlier in his career, Matt held various human resources and labor relations positions at companies in the utility, insurance and financial services industries.

Matt earned a BA in Psychology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and a Master of Arts in Industrial – Organizational Psychology from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Organizational Theory from St. Louis University.

 

Deanna Jones is Vice President of Human Resources. She joined Newfield in August 2010. Since 2008, Deanna had served as Vice President of Human Resources, Reservoir Production Group, for Schlumberger in Houston. From 2006-08, she served as Vice President, North America, Information Solutions, for Schlumberger leading software, information and the company's infrastructure organization in the U.S. From 2003-06, she served as Vice President, Human Resources, Information Solutions, as the senior HR manager for Schlumberger's world-wide workforce from the company's London, England office. From 1993-2003, Deanna worked in a variety of assignments for Schlumberger in Canada and the United States. Jones holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Calgary, Canada; and has completed executive business courses in Human Resources at the University of Michigan and in Finance at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

Roslyn Larkey is Vice President, Human Resources responsible for the Company's worldwide human resources programs. She joined Cameron in 2000 and was appointed to her current position in August 2010.

Roslyn most recently held the position of Vice President, Human Resources for Cameron’s Valves & Measurement Group, and also served as Director Employee Relations & Organizational Development and Vice President HR Surface Systems. Roslyn previously held key human resources roles at The Coastal Corporation and Metamor Worldwide. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University.

 

Katya Laviolette holds the position of Corporate Vice-President, Human Resources, for tc • Transcontinental (www.tc.tc). She is a member of the Corporation's Executive Management Committee and her principal role is to oversee the management of all human capital and corporate culture activities.

Ms. Laviolette has close to 20 years of experience in human resources, industrial relations, and organizational development, acquired in positions with CBC/Radio-Canada, Rio Tinto, Bombardier Aerospace, and CN Rail.

Prior to joining Transcontinental Inc., Ms. Laviolette held the position of Vice-President, People and Culture, for Canada's national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, where she was responsible for the overall human resources and industrial relations function for the Corporation.

She holds a Bachelor's of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta and a Master's of Industrial Relations from Queen's University in Ontario. She has received a number of awards, including the E.S. Sunley Scholarship in Industrial Relations, the Queen's Graduate Fellowship, the Cameron-Wood Prize in Industrial Relations, and the Queen's University/IRC Press Prize for her article, "A Framework for a Formal Mentoring Program." In 2000, she co-chaired the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference.

She is a member of the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés and is on the board of directors of the Centre international de recherches et d'études en management (CIREM).

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Sue Ortenstone is executive vice president and chief administrative officer for El Paso Corporation. In her current role, Ortenstone oversees Human Resources, Communications and Community Relations, IT, Facilities and Real Estate functions for the company.  A major focus for her is driving the company’s culture transformation across the organization.  The new performance driven culture focuses on talent management, leadership development, recognition and the employee experience and achieving the company’s vision of being the Place to Work, the Neighbor to Have and the Company to Own.

Ortenstone began her career as an engineer in training for Tennessee Gas Pipeline, a division of Tenneco, Inc.  She has held various positions with increasing levels of responsibility in engineering, operations, marketing, business development and strategy.  Her most recent previous position was chief executive officer of Epic Energy, Australia’s largest natural gas pipeline company at that time.    

Ortenstone earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin and is a registered professional engineer.  She is on the Board of the Houston Area Women’s Center, the Advisory Board for the University of Texas-College of Engineering and the Business Advisory Council for Goodwill Industries.

 

Laurinda Pang is Chief Human Resource Officer for Level 3.

Previously, Ms. Pang was senior vice president of Human Resources at Global Crossing where she led the global programs that supported the firm's Strategic Imperative to focus on its people as the drivers of its future growth. Ms. Pang also served as vice president of Global Crossing Customer Experience Re-engineering where she was responsible for all aspects of global business transformation affecting customer experience.

Prior to that, as vice president for Global Crossing Investor Relations, she was responsible for communicating with shareholders, bondholders and financial analysts. She also served as vice president of operations and chief of staff to the CEO for Global Crossing, and was a member of the executive team that restructured Global Crossing during a critical phase in its history.

Prior positions with Global Crossing included leadership roles in product management, sales and sales operations. In addition to restoring Global Crossing's reputation in the financial markets, she has contributed to the success of its UK business and enhanced the customer support infrastructure in North America. 

She holds a B.A. in political science from Pennsylvania State University.

 

Tom Pauldine is Executive Vice President – Human Resources for Green Plains Renewable Energy, a 2008 start-up company that is now the eighth fastest growing company in the country (Fortune Magazine).  Green Plains is a vertically-integrated ethanol producer based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Tom graduated from Cornell University in 1980 with a degree in Labor Relations.  In 1982, he joined Conoco Oil where he spent 14 years in various HR capacities.  In the early 90’s Tom lived and traveled to Conoco locations in South America, Asia, Russia and Africa where he created HR systems and process for start-up subsidiaries.  He then was promoted to Director of World-Wide Staffing where he led Conoco’s “Strategic Staffing” initiative.  In 1994, he was promoted to HR Director of Conoco’s Rocky Mountain Business Unit which consisted of refineries, transportation terminals and retail stations.

After 14 years at Conoco, Tom held various positions that leveraged his international HR experience.  In 1998, Tom was hired by Starbucks Coffee to lead a project that would identify the company’s key culture characteristics for possible export to new overseas subsidiaries.  Using an analytics protocol, the project successfully inculcated select Starbucks values with local values to create the best performance-driven “DNA cocktail”. 

After leaving Starbucks, Tom started a consulting firm specializing in the work he did at Starbucks.  His clients included RE-MAX, Micron and WABCO (European train and auto parts). 

In 2003, Tom was VP, Human Resources for First Data where he provided HR leadership to 10 manufacturing sites employing 3,800 employees.  At First Data, Tom learned and applied Six Sigma skills to HR interventions.

Tom joined Green Plains Renewable Energy in 2008.

 

Whitney Shelley has 19 years of experience holding various senior positions in Human Resources with a focus in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions, Organizational Development and Learning & Development.  She is currently the Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer for Denbury Resources Incorporated, one of the largest oil-focused independents in the U.S. ($8B).   Ms. Shelley held executive positions with Gateway Computers, FedEx Kinko’s, Blockbusters and Bank of America.   She is currently a board member for Sci-Tech Discovery Center.

Ms. Shelley holds a Bachelor of Science from The University of North Texas (Cum Laude).  She also is certified as Myers Briggs Administrator, Microsoft Systems Engineer Instructor (MCSE), Novell Master Design Engineer (MCNE) and PDI Executive Coach.  Engagements include Speaker International HR Conference Board and ASTD.

 

A native of Cuero, Texas, Jeff Steen has been involved in the energy service business in various capacities since 1978.  

Early in his career he was a petroleum landman, and over the past 25+ years he has served in roles of increasing responsibility for a number of publically traded oil and gas service companies. 

Steen spent 10 years with Camco International Inc. as Assistant General Counsel and General Counsel. Following Camco, Steen served for 5 years as the General Counsel for North America for Schlumberger, then 5 years at Grant Prideco as Vice President of Legal and Human Resources.

He is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Legal and Human Resources Oil States International.

Steen is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BS in Agricultural Economics and received his Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law.    

 

Pamela Stroko is the Talent Management Expert & Evangelist at Taleo Corporation and a recognized leader in the talent management arena, with over 20 years’ experience as a practitioner. Over her career she has developed deep expertise in all aspects of talent management, with a focus on delivering business results by aligning enterprise strategy with strategies for building people capability across the organization.  In her executive roles, Pamela has focused on identifying critical priorities, aligning people and resources behind those priorities, driving timely execution of targeted action plans that produce measurable business results.  She is a seasoned executive coach, having worked with a number of established c-level executives as well as developing leaders. She is an engaging seminar and workshop leader, delivering and facilitating sessions from the strategic to the tactical implementation of integrated talent management in organizations.  

Pamela is a thought leader in the talent management space, combining best practices with practical and actionable solutions.  She frequently speaks at conferences, webinars, and industry meetings globally, including:  

• 2010 PACK EXPO, Chicago
• International Consortium of Executive Development Resources, Paris, 2009
• Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, 2008
• Illinois Women’s Conference
• New York Human Resources Leadership Symposium, 2011
• Boston Human Resources Leadership Symposium, 2012
• Arygle Executive Roundtable, 2012
• Human Capital Institute: Strategic Recruiting Conference

In 2011 Pamela was the host of “Inside the Talent Studio,” a broadcast featuring thought leaders in Talent Management.  As a follow up to the broadcast she completed a 10-city tour of the workshop:  Unlock Results!  Building a High Performance Organization through People, which received great reviews from participants.

Pamela developed her expertise as a talent leader by serving in senior business and HR roles at RR Donnelley & Sons Company, Deloitte, The Coca Cola Company, ICI London, Gap Inc., and Kraft.  She has authored numerous implementation tools that drive organization effectiveness and connect Talent Management to business performance.               

 

Sally Vardy, Vice President of Human Resources at Aker Solutions, has over 20 years of experience as a strategic human resources trusted partner in start-ups to multi-billion dollar global companies in diverse industries.  She is responsible for driving Aker Solutions’ human resources strategies around talent, culture and organizational effectiveness for North America.  Her HR team designs and implements programs to attract, develop and engage talent, and enables the building of a high performing organization.

Sally’s prior experiences include strategic and operations human resource roles and responsibilities at Aspen Technology, Jefferson Wells, the Friedkin Companies, AAFES, BFI as well as a faculty position at the University of Maryland, European Division.  Her expertise spans strategic planning and change, human capital investment, talent acquisition and management, and leadership development.  

Sally holds an MBA from Texas A&M University and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Math and Art from Southwestern University.