LEVEL UP HR CONFERENCE
March 28-29, 2023 | Virtual & Hybrid Experience
Join HR Professionals, Emerging Leaders, and Students for an epic, 2-day experience that will challenge you to LEVEL UP your HR Passion, your HR Network, and your HR Career.
This conference is hosted by the Villanova University Graduate Programs in Human Resource Development and the Villanova SHRM Student Chapter.
This event will be a hybrid experience. The first day of the conference will be fully virtual. The second day will have virtual sessions, with the final closing keynote presentation and networking reception in-person at The Inn at Villanova. (The final closing keynote will be live streamed for our fully virtual attendees).
Conference Schedule
The conference schedule is fully virtual with the exception of the closing networking reception & closing keynote. All times are in Eastern Time.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023:
8:15-9:30am | Opening Keynote
12:00-1:00pm | Breakout Networking Group
3:30-5:00pm | Closing Keynote
Wednesday, March 29, 2023:
8:15-9:30am | Opening Keynote
5:30-6:45pm | In-Person Networking Reception
6:45-8:00pm | In-Person Closing Keynote
(livestream for virtual audience)
Virtual Opening Keynote | March 28
Rob Lawless
Founder
Robs10KFriends
On a mission to spend 1 hour, 1:1, with 10,000 different people, Rob Lawless speaks with an incredibly unique perspective. Over the last 7 years, he’s met over 5,000 people from across 85+ countries, sharing their stories on his Instagram, @robs10kfriends. He’ll inspire you to be more intentional about connection and to treat it as an experience rather than a transaction.
Rob’s experience includes speaking with everyone from CEOs to celebrities to students to everyday people who’ve overcome extreme circumstances. He has been featured by press sources like the Kelly Clarkson Show and the TODAY Show, and regularly shares his insights through podcasts and speaking gigs. Rob believes that every human interaction holds the potential to change your life; potential you can start capturing today!
Virtual Closing Keynote | March 28
Bethany AdamsVP Human
Associate Director, Marketing & Strategy
Villanova Graduate Programs in HRD
Bethany Adams has more than 15 years of experience in HR and education. She began her career working in training and development and HR in the restaurant and retail industries. She has experience in both small, privately-owned businesses and large, Fortune 500 organizations. Bethany holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Organizational Management, the SHRM-SCP certification, and is a Certified Genos International Emotional Intelligence Practitioner. She currently teaches at Villanova University and serves as the Associate Director of Marketing & Strategy for the Villanova Graduate Programs in Human Resource Development. Bethany has spoken at a wide variety of HR & education conferences throughout the country on topics including strategic HR, design thinking, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and emotional intelligence. Bethany hosts an HR podcast called HR Tea.
Heather Cluley
Associate Director & Assistant Professor
Villanova Graduate Programs in HRD
Heather earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at John Molson School of Business, Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She has an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and a BS in Public Health Education and Psychology. Heather has worked in various project management roles in health promotion and health care communications in public and private health care settings.
Virtual Opening Keynote | March 29
Sy Islam
Vice President of Consulting
Talent Metrics
Dr. Sy Islam is a co-founder and Vice President of Consulting with Talent Metrics. He has over 15 years of experience providing data analytic, training, and organizational development support to organizations in a variety of workplace settings. Dr. Islam’s consulting work was recognized when he won the Scientist-Practitioner Presidential Recognition Award from the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology for his focus on science driven practices in training, leadership development and talent development. Through Talent Metrics he has consulted with fortune 100 companies like IBM and teams like the Florida Panthers. Dr Islam has also served in leadership roles with ATD NYC and ATD Long Island. His book “Leaders Assemble! Leadership Lessons from the Marvel Cinematic Universe” was published by Emerald Publishing on June 7th, 2022.
In-Person Closing Keynote Panel | March 29th
Human Capital 2023 and Beyond: Critical Trends and Implications for HR Leaders
The workplace continues to evolve at a breath-taking pace, and that trajectory is likely to accelerate into 2023 and beyond. Despite ongoing progress in areas like employee experience, analytics, leadership and talent development, automation, and inclusion—to name a few—many Human Resource organizations are still not prepared to drive the human capital results their organizations will need to stay competitive in the future. This panel will provide insights into evolving human capital trends, highlight challenges, and provide expert guidance on how Human Resource leaders can prepare to enable ongoing organizational success by unlocking the power of people.
Geoffrey Marczyk
Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Director
Villanova Graduate Program in Human Resource Development
Geoffrey Marczyk holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hahnemann University, a JD in Law from Villanova University, a MS in Human Organization Science from Villanova University, a MA in Counseling Psychology from Immaculate University, and a BA in Psychology from Villanova University. He has over 25 years of experience in consulting, human resources, and higher education. He began his career as a faculty member at Widener University where he specialized in clinical and organizational psychology. He then transitioned to Vanguard, a global financial services firm, where, as a Principal and part of the HR executive team, he enhanced talent management and leadership development capabilities, founded the organization development and transformation function and led the HR business partner organization.
Immediately prior to joining Villanova, Geff was a Principal and Associate Vice President of Organizational Development and Change Management at Infosys, a global technology and business process management provider, where he focused on human resource integration, organizational readiness and change management for significant business process and technology outsourcing efforts.
Kelly Jones
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Director, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Kelly has held a variety of progressive and strategic human resource and operations assignments over his 26 year career. He is currently the Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Director, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion for The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Kelly leads the bank's human resource functions and its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Prior to his role with The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Kelly was the head of People and Inclusion for Alleghany Corporation; Senior Vice President Human Resources and President, Corrections for Aramark; in addition to several leadership roles with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Lockheed Martin earlier in his career. He is a board member with the Center For Autism in Philadelphia and is actively involved in his local community as a youth basketball coach and referee.
Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Temple University and his master’s degree from Rutgers University. Kelly resides in Montgomery County, PA, with his wife and their three children.
Sue Betters
Sr Director, HR Business Partner
Global IT & Strategic Global Sourcing
AmerisourceBergen
Janice Patel
Executive Director, Human Resources Comcast NBCUniversal
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She is a performance-driven and detail-oriented professional with 15+ years of experience in strategically managing a full spectrum of human resources operations to achieve business objectives Throughout her career, Sue has overseen a broad range of operations, including formulating effective strategies, developing policies and practices, recommending process improvements, handling talent acquisition, conducting program management, driving large scale transformations, and administering change management and deployment activities.
She has had immense exposure to revitalize operational performance with a focus on continual process improvement and value-added solutions. This is coupled with her ability to learn and master new skills, techniques, and technology to manage diverse platforms and support operational success. She demonstrates confidence, entrepreneurial motivation, and superior communication skills to propel teams to peak performances.
In this role, Janice is responsible for partnering with the Executive Human Resources teams for Cable Headquarters (HQ) to drive the HR strategy for client teams including Total Rewards, ULearn/Talent, HRTSS, Labor & Employee Relations, Executive Compensation, HR Communications, HR Finance, and the Cable/HQ & Corporate HR teams. Prior to moving into the HR Business Partner role, Janice led Talent Management and HR Operations for the Cable HQ & Corporate teams at Comcast.
Janice brings over 10 years of HR and law experience through first practicing law and then moving into a Rotational Leadership Program at Vanguard. Her rotational experiences led her towards a career in strategic HR. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Drexel University, Janice also holds a JD in Entrepreneurial & Business Law from Drexel University and a Masters of Business Administration from Temple University.
Janice lives in South Jersey with her husband and two young boys. In their free time, they enjoy traveling and exploring new places.
Registration
Virtual Conference:
Registration for the virtual conference is limited to 300 attendees. Registration is required for access to the conference platform.
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Free Current Villanova HRD Students, Faculty, Staff, and any HR students or Emerging Leaders (0-8 years’ experience)
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$25 for all other HR professionals
In-Person Closing Reception & Keynote:
The in-person event will be held at The Inn at Villanova University. To attend the in-person event, separate registration is required to attend both the virtual and in-person events. Closing Reception registration includes one hour open beer & wine bar with passed hors d'oeuvres during the networking reception prior to the keynote.
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$20 Current Villanova HRD Students, Faculty, Staff, and any HR students or Emerging Leaders (0-8 years’ experience)
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$30 General Admission for all others
All sessions will be approved for SHRM recertification credits. 5 SHRM recertification credits are available for the entire conference. All sessions will be recorded and available for at least 60 days after the conference concludes. To receive recertification credits, attendees must attend the full conference.
(Registration for the Virtual Conference does not include the in-person closing keynote & reception. However, the closing keynote presentation will be live streamed to all virtual conference attendees. To attend the in-person event, separate registration is required.)
Sponsors
