summit speakers —
HR Professional Development & Key Competencies
SESSION 1 | SESSION II | SESSION III
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HR Professional Development & Key Competencies — SESSION I
Patricia M. McConnell — Panel Moderator
Human Resources, City of Philadelphia
Ms. McConnell is a human resources leader in the City of Philadelphia. Her expertise and achievements are in the areas of staffing, project management, job design and training. Patty has held various positions of increasing responsibility with the City’s Central HR agency. In a specialist role, she developed staffing plans and HR metrics, provided hiring consultative services, led city-wide initiatives and negotiated outcomes for City departments; and, in a managerial capacity, she directed and lead the activities of a team of HR professionals engaged in the delivery of hiring services.
Patty currently manages human resources for the City’s Department of Streets, which has an approximate workforce of 1,800 employees. The Streets Department provides a variety of services to Philadelphia citizens and visitors which include the design, and maintenance of 2,575 miles city streets, highways and bridges. The Department also installs and operates the 100,000 lights in the City’s lighting and traffic regulation systems which control vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Patty graduated Magna Cum Laude from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and she is certified by the HR Certification Institute as a Professional in Human Resources. She is a member of National SHRM and is active in the Philadelphia Chapter of SHRM serving on the Emerging Leaders Committee.
Albert D’Attilio, Esq.
Director of Human Resources, City of Philadelphia
Mr. D’Attilio was appointed by the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission to be the City of Philadelphia’s Director of Human Resources in June, 2008. Mr. D’Attilio is the administrator of the City’s civil service system. He is responsible for developing programs for the improvement of employee effectiveness, including training, health and welfare, and encourages and exercise leadership in the development of effective human resources administration. Mr. D’Attilio is a trustee on the Board of Pensions and Retirements and is actively involved in labor negotiations with the City of Philadelphia’s four municipal unions. The City of Philadelphia employs approximately 28,000 employees in a variety of occupations from unskilled laborers to highly skilled physicians and attorneys.
Prior to joining Mr. D’Attilio was the Vice President of Human Resources for the Philadelphia Gas Works from May 2005. He was responsible for Recruitment, Staffing, Classification, Compensation, Benefits and Labor Relations. Mr. D’Attilio previously held the position of Director of Labor Relations, Safety and Security where he was responsible for directing PGW’s Labor Relation’s, Occupational Safety, Employee Medical Services and Security functions for PGW.
Prior to coming to PGW in March of 1999 as Director of Labor Relations, Mr. D’Attilio practiced employment and labor law for the City of Philadelphia. He has also served as the Labor Relations Director and Occupational Safety Administrator for the Philadelphia Airport Systems. Mr. D’Attilio holds a Juris Doctor and Bachelors of Arts degree from Temple University.
Kathy Gubanich
Managing Director of Human Resources, Vanguard
Kathy Gubanich is Managing Director of Human Resources at Vanguard. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of HR including employee relations, Vanguard University, employment, compensation, benefits, leadership, diversity, and organizational effectiveness for more than 12,000 employees.
Ms. Gubanich joined Vanguard in 1986. She holds a BBA degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics (MSOD) from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences. A native of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, she now resides in Exton, Pennsylvania.
Ms. Gubanich is a member of the Executive Board of Directors for the American Benefits Council and the Board of Directors for the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program. She is also a member of ICI (Investment Company Institute) HR Planning Forum, Society of Human Resource Management, Wharton’s Financial Services Advisory Group, and several local HR Groups.
Estelle Matthews
Chief Talent Development Officer, School District of Philadelphia
Estelle G. Matthews was appointed Chief Talent Development Officer for the School District of Philadelphia in November of 2008. Prior to accepting her new post, Mrs. Matthews served as Senior Vice President Human Resources at Wachovia Bank from 2005-2008.
In her new leadership role as Chief Talent Development Officer, Mrs. Matthews is responsible for supervising 100 employees within the District’s Office of Human Resources. In addition, Mrs. Matthews will develop and implement all recruitment, retention, and employee relations for the School District of Philadelphia’s 25,000 employees.
Mrs. Matthews brings over 20 years of human resources management expertise to the District’s Office of Human Resources. She draws from her diversified work experience within banking, employee relations, leadership development, executive consulting, and staffing industries.
For the past 13 years, Mrs. Matthews has honed her executive human resource skills within multiple organizational disciplines of Fortune 500 companies Wachovia Bank and CoreStates Bank, N.A.
Mrs. Matthews most recently served as Senior Vice President Human Resources for Wachovia Bank from 2005-2008, where she was credited for implementing human resource strategies which resulted in improved business performance. Prior to that, Mrs. Matthews began her career at Wachovia Bank as Vice President Human Resources from 2003-2005. As Vice President, she served as a Diversity Strategist for Leadership Development. In that capacity, Mrs. Matthews was responsible for providing diversity training to the Wachovia Bank’s organizational leadership.
Mrs. Matthews also served as Vice President Human Resources at CoreStates Bank, NA from 1995-1998, where she provided consulting, coaching, and diversity expertise to senior level executives. In addition, Mrs. Matthews implemented a successful recruitment initiative that tracked CoreStates skilled and diverse workforce.
Estelle’s greatest satisfaction is helping clients identify and address “root cause” problems for long term business results, not simply patching symptoms for short term gain. She thrives on the details associated with the effective implementation of lasting solutions.
Estelle is a strong advocate for women issues. She is currently working with a group of female youth at the Trenton Detention Center. She is consulting and assisting the youth in turning around their lives through mentoring and love. Estelle also continues her relationship with the young women once they are released from the facility. For Estelle it is important for these young women to reach their potential in life. She also served on the boards of the South Eastern Pennsylvania Girl Scouts, Aspira and Women in Transition.
Estelle is a certified Diversity Trainer Consultant from Elsie Y. Cross and Associates, and holds a Masters degree in Human Services from Lincoln University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from La Salle University in Philadelphia.
Lorraine S. Webb
Vice President, Organizational Development, PGW
Ms. Webb was appointed Vice President of Organizational Development in May 2005. She is responsible for Staffing, Performance Management, Succession Planning, EEO, Affirmative Action, Training and Development and the Leadership Development program. Ms. Webb previously held the position of Director of Strategic Planning and prior to that Director of Human Resources for PGW. Before joining PGW, Ms. Webb held various positions in the field of human resources. Previous positions included Manager of Human Resources, Affirmative Action Officer for Ciba Geigy (now Novartis), as well as Senior Career Transition Counselor for the Ayers Group of New York. Ms. Webb holds a B.A. degree from State University of New York-Binghamton. She is a member of SHRM. The Philadelphia Gas Works is the nation’s largest municipally owned natural gas utility. PGW serves more than 500,000 customers and has annual operating revenues of more than $859 million.
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HR Professional Development & Key Competencies — SESSION II
Alyson Lyon
Employee Development Specialist, Fox Rothschild
Alyson has over 20 years of experience in law firm management and is certified as an Executive Coach through the International Coach Federation. Currently, she is responsible for developing and implementing a long term strategy of formalized training and development for the administrative exempt and non-exempt Fox Rothschild employees to facilitate their professional development and continuous learning.
During her career, Alyson has administered the work of more than 200 attorneys and support staff in three law firms in her role as Executive Director and Legal Administrator. Her corporate/law firm management experience has spanned the entire gamut of business operations – from strategic long-range planning and human resource management to finance/accounting, marketing/PR, facilities management and computer systems.
Trained as an Accounting Analyst and COBOL programmer, Alyson worked for Westinghouse in the Pittsburgh region in the 1980s. She holds MBA (1998) and Bachelor of Science in accounting and business information systems degrees (1981) from Robert Morris University. She is a member of the Association of Legal Administrators, American Society of Training and Development and the Organizational Development Network.
Felicia Z. Smith
Chief Human Resources Officer, Fox Rothschild LLP
Felicia has over 30 years of experience in HR, Risk Management Operations, Administration and Compliance. She joined Fox Rothschild, LLP in 2007 to consolidate the Firm's HR functions into a fully centralized department and now leads the first HR department in the 425 attorney firm's 102 year history. Previously, Felicia headed the HR function at Akerman Senterfitt, overseeing its growth from a large Florida based firm to a 14 office national entity. She was also the Director of HR for Morgan Lewis' 900 person Philadelphia headquarters, overseeing all attorney and staff HR matters.
Felicia’s prior experience spans numerous senior level roles across many varied industries and two continents. Her North American experience includes banking, wholesale distribution, marketing, technology, insurance and at a renown Philadelphia and Washington DC foundation. Her European experience includes supporting Unisys with matters across several international divisions and working for the Dept. of Defense in Germany. Additionally, she was an HR consultant at AIG's Life Insurance division, in Wilmington, DE and practiced as an in-house counsel and immigration and nationality lawyer.
Felicia has a BS from the University of Maryland in Business and Management and a JD from Widener University. She also attended the University of Brussels, in Brussels Belgium, and Pace University in NY. She's a member of the Philadelphia and Delaware County Bar Associations, the National, NY and Florida Association for Legal Administrators and the National and Philadelphia SHRM chapters.
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HR Professional Development & Key Competencies — SESSION III
Cheryl Kaplan
Sr. Director of Training and Organizational Development, ARAMARK
For more than 20 years, Cheryl Kaplan has developed effective, pragmatic and life-affirming approaches to individual and organizational development. Through her work at ARAMARK Corporation, The Vanguard Group, and Penn State, she has sought to understand how individuals and organizations change and grow in ways that have lasting and positive personal and organizational impact. In her current role as Sr. Director of Training and Organizational Development for ARAMARK Correctional Services, Cheryl coaches employees at all levels of the organization. Cheryl holds a M.P.S. in Communication from Cornell University, a B.A. in Organizational Studies from SUNY at Albany, and received coach training from The Coaches Training Institute. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
Karen Warner
President, Tangible Group
Karen Warner is President and founder of Tangible Group, a coaching consultancy that designs and delivers coaching and consulting services to help Fortune 1000 companies and their leaders improve behavior, performance, and visibility at the place where business, leadership and people intersect. Before founding Tangible in 2002, Karen spent nearly three decades in corporate marketing at companies such as American Express and IBM, including serving as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Atlas Venture in Boston. As managing partner of Tangible Group, Karen coaches and teaches leaders at all levels -- from front-line managers to the C-suite. Her client list includes ARAMARK Corporation, British Petroleum, Los Angeles Unified School District, Microsoft, and affiliates of Paramount Pictures. In 2009, Mercer Consulting published the book Creating Value through People, on which she collaborated. Karen earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Rutgers University and studied Marketing Management at Columbia University’s Executive Education program. She earned her coaching certification from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara in 2002 and is a member of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Consortium for Coaching in Organizations (ICCO) and the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
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