Advisory Board

As Vice President of Payroll Shared Services at Charter Communications, Dr. Martin Armstrong is responsible for overseeing payroll strategy and execution for the company’s nearly 102,000 employees. Prior to joining Charter Communications, Martin held executive roles at Time Warner Cable and Caesars Entertainment. Martin is a retired U.S. Navy Supply Corps Officer and is the former Accounting and Finance Area Chair for the University of Phoenix, where he was named the Distinguished Faculty of the Year. He is a member of the Payroll Org (formerly the American Payroll Association), Society for HR Management (SHRM), and the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP). Martin is also Chair of the Bloomberg Tax Payroll Advisory Board and Chair of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council. He is a Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), holds an MBA from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), and a DBA from Argosy University, where his dissertation concentrated on employee readiness for organizational change.

What he’s passionate about: Spending time with family and friends, traveling, and helping entities with business processes and tax compliance.

Natalie Bickford has worked in HR and HR leadership for more than 20 years and brings a wealth of experience in consumer-facing industries to Sanofi.

Prior to joining Sanofi, Natalie was Group HR Director at Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second largest location-based entertainment business, where she was responsible for 30,000 employees across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. She also held senior HR positions at Sodexo, AstraZeneca and Kingfisher Plc.

Natalie has a solid track record of transforming organizations, with a strong focus on inclusion and diversity. She was awarded “HR Diversity Champion of the Year” at the European Diversity Awards in November 2019.

Natalie Bickford is a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Kate Bischoff is an overly enthusiastic and opinionated management-side employment attorney and HR professional. She works closely with management, HR professionals, and technology companies to improve organizations through training, policy, and investigation work, in addition to everyday advice and counseling. Prior to starting her own business, Kate served as the HR Officer for Consulate General of the United States, Jerusalem, and U.S. Embassy Lusaka, Zambia. Kate has been recognized by The New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, NPR, and other journalistic sources as a leading authority on harassment, technology in the workplace, and employment law.

What she’s passionate about: Learning to fly helicopters and seeing as many glaciers she can with her two teenaged sons.

Bob Clements is President and CEO of Axsium Group, the world’s leading workforce management consulting firm. Over the past two decades, Bob has become one of workforce management’s most influential thought leaders. He is a frequent contributor to industry magazines, is often interviewed by the press to comment on the latest industry trends, and has been a keynote speaker at dozens of industry events and webinars. Prior to Axsium, Bob was a distinguished member of the National Retail Foundation’s (NRF) Association for Retail Technology Standard (ARTS) and led product strategy and design for several leading workforce management solutions.

What he’s passionate about: Spending time with and supporting his wife and two daughters, while also believing the Chicago Cubs will win another World Series in his lifetime and he can get his golf handicap into the single digits.

In addition to serving as The Workforce Institute's executive director, Dr. Jarik Conrad, Ed.D., SPHR, SHRM-CSP, NACD. DC, is vice president of human insights at UKG, leading a team of former HR practitioners, business leaders, and consultants who are distinguished experts in the HCM field and uniquely qualified to help leadership teams reach their organizational goals. With an acute pulse on industry trends, best practices, and technological innovations, Jarik and his team serve as liaisons, trusted advisors, and thought leaders who help to shape HR industry conversations and direction.

Prior to UKG, Jarik spent more than 20 years in HR leadership roles in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. He is a sought-after speaker on employee health and wellness, the future of work, emotional intelligence, and workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B), and has been recognized as one of the world’s top people practitioners as well as a Top HR Influencer.

Jarik is the author of two bestselling books: “The Fragile Mind: How It Has Produced and Unwittingly Perpetrates America’s Tragic Disparities,” and “In Search of Humanity: Why We Fight, How to Stop, and the Role Business Must Play.” Jarik, who grew up in public housing in East St. Louis, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, two master’s degrees from Cornell University, and a Doctor of Education from the University of North Florida.

What he’s passionate about: Jarik is vegan and is passionate about plant-based nutrition.

David Creelman is CEO of Creelman Research. He’s best known for his research on the latest issues in HR. He has worked with many think tanks, including Talent Tech Labs (New York), Works Institute (Tokyo), CRF (London), and, of course, The Workforce Institute at UKG. He’s collaborated with leading academics such as Henry Mintzberg (leadership development), Ed Lawler (“Built to Change”), and John Boudreau (future of work). His latest book is a way-out-of-the-box look at the state of management, titled Management for Scientists and Engineers: Why Managing is Still Hard and If It Will Get Better. Prior to founding his own company, David was Chief of Content and Research for HR.com. He has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a Combined Honours bachelor’s in chemistry and biochemistry from McMaster.

What he’s passionate about: Raising awareness that the science and practice of management has made pitiful progress in the past 40 years — hence, we need to take a radically different approach.

As Chief Nurse Executive at UKG, Nanne M. Finis, RN MS, is committed to creating more meaningful and connected work experiences for all healthcare employees. An industry executive immersed in the nursing profession and patient-care delivery for more than 40 years, Nanne is committed to fostering innovation, collaboration, and strategic decision-making across care settings. In addition to serving on the advisory board of The Workforce Institute at UKG, Nanne leads the UKG Chief Nurse Executive Advisory Board, is Co-Chair of the Nursing Advisory Council for Saint Mary’s College, and is a member of the AONL Foundation Advisory Council and ANA/AONL’s Nursing Administration Scope and Standards Revision Workgroup. As a nurse, she’s a lifelong caregiver who finds purpose in supporting the people around her and seeing them thrive.

What she’s passionate about: Spending time with those who matter most: family and friends; people will forever be her passion.

John Frehse speaks around the world on a variety of best practices in the labor management field. John’s experience covers a wide array of strategic issues, from analytical resource deployment modeling to implementation planning and execution. Specific tactical problems include scheduling and shift management to increasing employee satisfaction, health, morale, and performance. Over John’s career, he has implemented solutions with Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries. Those projects have generated over $400 million in cost savings. John has done this with diverse workgroups across almost every industry, focusing on employees who do not work the traditional 9:00 to 5:00 schedule. His proven approach has balanced operations and labor savings with employee-morale initiatives to make sure cost savings stick. John is a sought-after speaker and has authored numerous white papers and articles, including the “11 Keys to Strategic Scheduling.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in politics with a focus on the political economy from Wake Forest University.

What he’s passionate about: Spending time with his family, running, and learning from hourly employees about what engages them.

Jessica Kriegel is the Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture for Culture Partners, leading research and strategy in best practices for driving results through culture. For more than 15 years, Jessica has been guiding global, national, Fortune 100 and other organizations across finance, technology, real estate and healthcare industries on the path to creating intentional cultures that accelerate performance. After she got her MBA and became a global consultant for a human capital management solutions provider, Jessica consistently saw highly-stressed leaders failing to deliver against lofty financial goals. She knew that if these leaders could transform their cultures, performance and profitability would follow. But, because culture is often viewed as an intangible, these leaders didn't know where to begin. So, Jessica set out on a personal mission to 'quantify culture.' Her doctoral research and consulting engagements with Oracle, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Federal Reserve, and Bank of America to name a few, led to the Culture Equation - a tested model where strategy combined with culture to deliver consistent results.

What she’s passionate about: Jessica enjoys learning about the spiritual journey. It’s why she went back to divinity school!

Sharlyn Lauby is the author of HR Bartender and president of ITM Group Inc., a Florida-based training and HR consulting firm focused on helping companies retain and engage talent. Before starting ITM Group, Sharlyn was Vice President of HR for Right Management Consultants, one of the world’s largest organizational consulting firms. She has designed and implemented highly successful programs for employee retention, internal and external customer satisfaction, and leadership development. Publications such as Reuters, The New York Times, ABC News, TODAY, Readers Digest, Men’s Health, Mashable, and the Wall Street Journal have sought out her expertise on topics related to HR and the workplace. Sharlyn launched HR Bartender to provide a “friendly place for everyday workplace issues.” The site has been recognized as one of the Top 5 Blogs Read by HR Professionals by SHRM. She is the author of Manager Onboarding: 5 Steps for Setting New Leaders Up for Success and The Recruiter’s Handbook: A Complete Guide for Sourcing, Selecting, and Engaging the Best Talent.

What she’s passionate about: Playing Pokémon, watching Marvel movies, and finding the best cheeseburger on the planet.

Alexandra Levit focuses on preparing organizations and their employees to be competitive and marketable in the future business world. A nationally syndicated columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Alexandra has authored several books, including the international bestsellers They Don’t Teach Corporate in College and Humanity Works: Merging People and Technologies for the Workforce of the Future. Alexandra consults and writes on leadership development, HR, technology adoption, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career and workplace trends on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 companies and has spoken on these topics at hundreds of organizations around the world. In the last several years, Alexandra has conducted proprietary research on the future of work, technology adoption, the millennial generation, gender differences and bias, and the skills gap. She was recently named to the Thinkers50 Radar list of rising business thought leaders in the world.

What she’s passionate about: Watching her kids grow into cool people, watching a new dystopian show every month on Netflix, and checking travel destinations off her bucket list.

Dennis Miller is the Associate Vice President of HR and Benefits Administration in a shared services environment at The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven separate and highly regarded institutions of higher education, including Pomona College, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont McKenna College, Scripps College, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont Graduate University, and Pitzer College. Dennis has held several executive roles over his career in HR and was formerly the Chief Employment Officer for Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. This auxiliary organization supports Cal Poly Pomona, which is one of the 23 California State University campuses delivering exceptional educational services and experiences to about 500,000 students annually. Dennis’ focus in the workplace is organizational development, with an emphasis on process improvement through the application of technology, and team development. Dennis holds a Senior Professional in HR Certification from the HR Certification Institute and a graduate degree in HR development and management from Chapman University. He is also a retired U.S. Marine Corps Air Traffic Controller.

What he’s passionate about: Living life to its fullest, remaining healthy and happy, while sharing in that happiness with friends and loved ones (which became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic)

Sarah Morgan has been a practicing HR executive for over 20 years in the retail, restaurant, and light industrial industries. She has worked behind the scenes leading HR for such brands as Jiffy Lube, KFC, Taco Bell, ADT Home Security, and more. In 2021, Sarah stepped away from being a traditional corporate HR practitioner. She is now the Director of Equity and Inclusion for Humareso, working with customers nationwide to create workplaces where people from traditionally marginalized identities can better thrive. In 2011, Sarah blasted onto the social media scene under the pen name “Buzz Rooney” with her blog, The Buzz on HR. Over 10 years later, the pen name is gone — but her voice as an influencer is stronger than ever. Sarah is the creator and curator of the #BlackBlogsMatter and #BlackPodsMatter challenge, which recognizes the unique content creation of Black bloggers and podcasters as well as drives thought-provoking conversations around equity and anti-racism. She is also the creator and host of the Leading in Color podcast, a show centered on cultivating positive workplace experiences through diversity, inclusion, and social consciousness.

What she’s passionate about: Her family, friends, and dog, as well as food, reality TV, and rest.

Joey V. Price is founder and CEO of Jumpstart:HR, which offers HR outsourcing and consulting for startups and small businesses. He also co-hosts While We Were Working, a weekly podcast for workplace leaders who wish to be better at handling people issues, covering topics such as employee engagement, workplace culture, and HR law for the agile, modern workplace. A seasoned HR professional with experience in multiple organizations, Joey advocates for businesses to translate their goals into high return on investment through happily engaged staff members. In addition to The Workforce Institute at UKG, he also serves on the advisory board for the HR department at the Forbes School of Business and Technology at the University of Arizona, the Ethics in Artificial Intelligence Board at Arena Analytics in Baltimore, Maryland, and as a member of the Forbes HR Council.

What he’s passionate about: Traveling and creating new memories with his wife and two daughters, as well as audiobooks and podcasts that open his world to innovation and historic moments he might’ve missed in history class.

Enrique Rubio is a HR, technology, and future-of-work expert, keynote speaker, and founder of Hacking HR, a global learning community at the intersection of the future of work, technology, business, and organizations, with thousands of members all over the world. Prior to Hacking HR, he was the founder and CEO of Management Consultants, a firm specializing in HR in Venezuela. Previously, Enrique worked in the telecommunications sector as a senior project engineer for Telefonica, and as an advisor to the CHRO at the Inter-American Development Bank. Enrique is a guest author for several blogs about innovation, management, and HR. In 2020, Engagedly.com named Enrique one of the Top 100 HR Influencers. He is a Fulbright Scholar and an electronics engineer, with an executive graduate degree in public administration from Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

What he’s passionate about: The digitalization of HR and the workplace, and the intersection of the future of work, technology, and HR

Dan Schawbel is a New York Times bestselling author and the Managing Partner of Workplace Intelligence, a research and advisory firm helping HR adapt to trends, drive performance, and prepare for the future. He is the bestselling author of three career books: Back to Human, Promote Yourself, and Me 2.0. Schawbel is also the host of the 5 Questions podcast, where he interviews world-class humans. Past guests include Matthew McConaughey, Natalie Portman, Richard Branson, Condoleezza Rice, Reed Hastings, Chelsea Handler, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. His Workplace Intelligence Weekly LinkedIn newsletter is the most read in his industry with over 250,000 subscribers, and more than 130,000 students have taken his LinkedIn Learning courses on leadership, management, and hybrid working.

What he’s passionate about: Using data and interviews to connect the dots on key workplace issues that leaders can take action on.

David Shaw is senior managing director and global HR transformation and delivery lead at Accenture. David has more than 30 years of consulting experience with Accenture’s largest customers to enable agile, adaptive, and employee-centered cultures. In advising and working with CHROs and C-suite executives on a full range of business transformation, talent, and people opportunities, David’s experience spans all areas of HR and talent, including hiring and career development, workforce management, HR service delivery (HRSD) and process, capability development and learning, and transformational change management. As Accenture’s global practice lead for HR transformation and delivery business, David brings to The Workforce Institute an invaluable world view on the intersection of the employee experience, HRSD, workforce management, labor optimization, and the future of work. David graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems.

What he’s passionate about: Leading, defining, and delivering high-impact transformation programs that involve the disruption of core enterprise strategy and processes.

Ivonne Vargas is an author, journalist, and speaker with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of human capital, education, and HR. She is the author of the bestseller ¡Contrátame! (Hire Me!), published in Mexico and Central America, and a freelance columnist for Entrepreneur and Business Insider. In addition, Ivonne is a senior member of the radio show Zona Económica (Economic Zone) at IMER. She is an Associate of the Formal Employment Studies Center and speaker at the Human Capital Bureau for Penguin Random House. She received the Journalism Award for HR in 2013 and 2014 from OCCMundial, an online employment agency. Ivonne has also been a guest influencer in entrepreneurship and human capital campaigns for different companies such as Zonajobs and Bumeran, both online employment agencies.

What she’s passionate about: Volunteering and having the opportunity to support social causes for women and children, such as The Junior League (based in New York), where she is part of the “Care for Water” committee and “Intégrate Mujer,” a coaching program for women.

Laurie Ruettimann is an HR leader-turned writer, speaker, and entrepreneur known for her common-sense style and straightforward approach to workforce issues. Her popular podcast, Punk Rock HR, regularly hits the Top 100 management and business podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Pandora. For over 20 years, Laurie has been telling work-life stories and building solutions to drive better employment experiences, increase retention rates, and improve job satisfaction. CNN recognized Laurie as one of the top five career advisers in the United States, and her work has been featured by NPR, The New Yorker, USA TODAY, the Wall Street Journal, and Vox. Her latest book is Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and (Finally) Take Control of Your Career.

What she’s passionate about: Being an animal rescue advocate and a cat/dog foster.

Mark Wales has over 30 years of retail experience both in the US, Europe, and Asia with leading retailers, such as Starbucks, Ralph Lauren, Williams-Sonoma, Selfridges, and Tesco. He has provided retail consultancy with IBM and Price Waterhouse Coopers, where he has worked with many other leading brands in the US. His expertise centers on how to implement and drive benefit from the more challenging projects such as ERP, eCommerce, and Workforce Management. His recent focus has been on developing a next generation model for workforce management that drives company performance through impacting the customer experience by investing in the employee experience. He believes that the role of workforce management is to coordinate and facilitate the various critical activities into a management discipline that brings Operations, Stores, Planning, HR, Training, Payroll, Finance, Corporate, Logistics, Planning, and Legal into a holistic approach. In this way the modern retailer can create and sustain real performance improvement.