The CHRLS Alumni Association is pleased to welcome seven new members to its Board of Directors: Hannah Akrong, Chris Carlson, Taylor Fyfe, Emily Legan, Caleb Moore, Liz Pagel, and Jennifer Reilly. Thank you for your commitment and interest in giving back to your alma mater.
New Alumni Board Members
We also welcome back and thank our 14 returning members: Josh Arbit, Heather Besikof, Mary Kate Bisek, Melissa Bryan, Jessica Hooper, Michael Jacobs, Kelsy Martin, Sarah Merkle, Francis Sadac, Crystal Sequeira, Jodell Swenson, Padma Tamma, Melissa Weisse, and Lindsay Wenzel.
The Board is already hard at work planning the annual HR Tomorrow Conference, presenting a series of mentoring activities to support current students and alumni, and building engagement opportunities for alumni to stay connected to the program.
On April 23, 2021, we held our first ever virtual HR Tomorrow Conference! For this year’s theme, we wanted to embrace the changes and learnings of the past year, titling our event, “HRReimagined.” It was a great opportunity to bring our community together to reflect on our experiences and discoveries during this past year’s challenges. We are grateful to have such an amazing community to share this conference with!
We hosted our conference on EventMobi. Transitioning our annual in-person event online was daunting, but with the help of our HR Tomorrow committee, staff, and the assistance of planners on EventMobi, we are incredibly proud of the results: We had a total of 280 attendees join us in our virtual space and 100% would recommend the conference to others. One attendee states, “I thought the online conference space was great…easy to navigate, nice to see who else was attending and who the sponsors were, and I like that all of the presentations are available to view following the conference.”
This year’s conference agenda split the morning and afternoon into two important topics: the morning breakouts emphasized our learnings from the Covid-19 Pandemic and implementing new techniques for the future of HR work (#workdifferent). The afternoon emphasized best practices in the workplace to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (#DEI)! Individual presentations strived to be relevant and applicable to the attendees day-to-day workplaces. One attendee shares that the conference was a “Tremendous opportunity to hear more about current trends, issues and approaches of each different company.”
We had great speakers for each of these topics including our keynote, Heidi Capozzi, and the following breakout presenters: Jen Stone, Matt Walter, Christy Blake, Emily Boarman, Keith LaPointe, David Cambronne, Jill Hauwiller, Alex Smith, Julie Sexton, Katie Hines, Ryan Dunn, Kevin Wilde, Nick Alm, Mark Irvin, Valerie Klitzke, Karla Parra, and Anika V. Ward. We are grateful for the participation of these fantastic HR professionals to share their expertise with the community. Another attendee states, “I can always rely on the conference to provide a variety of engaging speakers presenting on current topics.”
This year’s HR Tomorrow gold sponsor was Ecolab, the silver sponsors were Best Buy and Land O’Lakes, and the bronze sponsors included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Bristol-Myers Squibb, C.H. Robinson, General Mills, nVent, Polaris, Salo, ServiceNow,and UnitedHealth Group. This event was made possible by their outstanding support! We are grateful for everyone that helped make this conference a success!
Over the past year there have been a great deal of changes occurring in HR, our workplaces, and our day-to-day lives. Thank you to our community for joining together for a great professional development event. As an attendee states: “It’s a great way to learn about today’s workplace and incorporate the information presented into your day-to-day work.” We are so pleased by how much we all have overcome and look forward as we continue to reimagine HR and better the world around us. We hope that you’ll join us next year for our 42nd annual HR Tomorrow Conference, whether it’s in-person or virtual. Until next time!
We are extremely grateful for our silver sponsor, Best Buy, and their support of the upcoming HR Tomorrow conference! Charlie Montreuil, SVP of Human Resources at Best Buy, shares a bit about the company: “At Best Buy, our purpose is to enrich lives through technology. We do that by leveraging our unique combination of tech expertise and human touch to meet our customers’ everyday needs, whether they come to us online, visit our stores or invite us into their homes. We have more than 1,000 stores and approximately 100,000 employees in the United States and Canada.”
We’re looking forward to a great conference, made possible by Best Buy’s support!
Our final 2020-2021 “Mentor Monday” virtual speaker series will be held on Monday, April 19 at 12:00 noon CT, on the topic Does Mentoring Matter? Mentoring is a concept used in corporations now for many decades. Do you have a mentor to succeed? Are you qualified to be a mentor? Will your career grow faster with the help of a mentor? Come join Jennifer Reilly (CSOM MAIR/HR ’97, SVP CHRO MKS Instruments) for a discussion on mentoring, the value, the opportunity and the possibilities. Join us via Zoom.
Jennifer Reilly joined MKS Instruments in August of 2019 as the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Ms. Reilly has over twenty-five years of experience in Human Resources. Prior to joining MKS Instruments, she served as the Vice President of Human Resources for the Danaher Life Sciences Platform, a $6.5 billion division of the Danaher Corporation. Previously, Ms. Reilly was the Vice President of Human Resources and Communications for Danaher’s Radiometer Operating Company and resided in Copenhagen, Denmark. Prior to joining Danaher, Ms. Reilly spent almost 20 years in the CPG/Food industry with both the Hershey Company and General Mills in various global leadership roles of increasing responsibility within Human Resources. Additionally, Ms. Reilly has a Master of Arts degree in Human Resources/Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Olaf College.
This will conclude our first annual Mentor Monday session series. To view recordings of our prior speakers, visit our CHRLS Alumni Association page under the 2020-2021 Alumni Mentorship Program tab.
Attendees of the upcoming HR Tomorrow virtual conference will have the opportunity to choose which presentations they experience during breakout sessions. The afternoon breakout sessions focus on working toward Equitable Outcomes in the workplace (#DEI). The second afternoon breakout session occurs from 2:15-3:15 pm CST and features the following engaging presentations:
Karla Parra, Leadership and Transitions Coach for Vida Canvas Life and Career Coaching, will present, “Non-obvious Inclusive Language and its Impact in the Workplace.” This talk will explore how team leaders can develop and apply non-obvious inclusive language skills to build inspired, thriving teams.
Anika V. Ward, Founder and Principal of Sankofa Leadership Network, will present “Leading for Good: Become a Critical Partner Advancing EDI in Your Institution.” In this session, discuss the critical role the HR partner plays as key internal thought partner, influencer and strategist for equity.
Visit the HR Tomorrow website for more information and to register today!
Attendees of the upcoming HR Tomorrow virtual conference will have the opportunity to choose which presentations they experience during breakout sessions. The afternoon breakout sessions focus on working toward Equitable Outcomes in the workplace (#DEI). The first afternoon breakout session occurs from 1:00-2:00 pm CST and features three stimulating speaker presentations:
Nick Alm, Executive Director at Mossier, will present “LGBTQ Self-Identification: Challenges & Opportunities.” Historically, businesses have avoided asking for information about sexual orientation and gender identity but Mossier’s discussion will focus on the benefits of asking LGBTQ employees and candidates to self-identify (self-ID) their LGBTQ status.
Mark Irvin, Chief Inclusion, Diversity and Talent Officer at Best Buy, will present “Painting the Extra-Ordinary.” This session will be a snapshot of how Best Buy is creating a culture of equity and inclusion.
Valerie Klitzke, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for MN Department of Veterans Affairs, will present “Using Lived Experiences to Move Toward Equity.” She’ll discuss her lived experiences as a female combat Veteran and DEI director and tips/tricks when striving for equity.
Visit the HR Tomorrow website for more information and to register today!
We would like to say a a huge thank you to the second half of our bronze sponsors for the 2021 HR Tomorrow Conference! This includes the companies nVent, Polaris, Salo, ServiceNow, and UnitedHealth Group. We are looking forward to another outstanding conference made possible by these companies’ support!
Attendees of the upcoming HR Tomorrow virtual conference will have the opportunity to choose which presentations they experience during breakout sessions. The morning breakout sessions focus on learnings from Covid-19 (#workdifferent). The second breakout session occurs from 9:45-10:45 CST and features three engaging presentations with great speakers:
Alex Smith, Chief HR Officer for the City of Memphis, will present “From 2.5 to 3.5: City of Memphis’ Journey from going Unnoticed to the Cover of a Magazine.” In particular, this session will detail how key talent management, total rewards and diversity and inclusion strategies can work together to drive change in employee engagement, innovation and leadership.
Julie Sexton, SVP and Chief HR Officer, and Katie Hines, Manager of Learning and Development at Land O’ Lakes, will present“A Flipped Learning Implementation: What COVID Taught Us.” Hear about how Land O’Lakes pivoted its strategy, adapted to a new way of work and delivered content that was engaging and impactful to hundreds of leaders across the enterprise after COVID hit.
Ryan Dunn, Co-Founder and Chief Talent Officer of i4CP, and Kevin Wilde, Executive Leadership Fellow at Carlson School of Management, will present “Leadership Redefined: When we are faced with disruption, we are also faced with opportunity.” This session will reveal i4CP’s study of2020 leadership, highlighting what the best did well and what will propel leadership in 2021 and beyond.
Visit the HR Tomorrow website for more information and to register today!
Attendees during the upcoming HR Tomorrow virtual conference will have the opportunity to choose which presentations they experience during breakout sessions. The morning breakout sessions focus on learnings from Covid-19 (#workdifferent). The first breakout session occurs from 8:35-9:30 CST and features two stimulating presentations with great speakers:
Jen Stone, VP HR Global Functions, Matt Walter, VP HR Global Operations and Supply Chain, Christy Blake, VP HR Cranial and Spinal Technologies, Emily Boarman, HR Director Employee Experience, and Keith LaPointe, VP HR Shared Services, for Medtronic Inc., will present “Discovering the Future of Work,” discussing Medtronic’s process of doing so, and emphasizing how employees drive the expectations of the work experience.
David Cambronne, HR Consulting Leader and SVP at Wells Fargo, and Jill Hauwiller, President and Principal Consultant for Leadership Refinery, will present “Productivity and Wellness in a Pandemic,” an interactive webinar on how we can successfully manage our personal productivity and well-being in the midst of a pandemic.
Visit the HR Tomorrow website for more information and to register today!
