Cindy offers over twenty-five (25) years of valuable recruitment experience in a variety of management roles and industries, including staffing agency, corporate recruiting, classified newspaper advertising, digital advertising, employer branding agency, and eleven (11) years of building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with the executives of Monster’s global ad agency partners, significantly growing Monster’s agency practice.  Cindy has served on the Newspaper Association of America’s Recruitment Board; was the Arizona SHRM Staffing President for four (4) years; won SHRM's Host award for outstanding leadership; and served on the Southern California Staffing Management Association Board.  She has presented at numerous conferences and industry association events, including AZ SHRM, Southern California SHRM, Southern California Association of Health Care Recruiters, TAtech (fka IAEWS), ERE and Recruiting Trends.  She has published articles and a training video on recruitment best practices.   In the early 90’s, Cindy was with one of the first newspapers in the country to put employment ads on the web, which earned an Advertising Excellence award.  She was elected to serve two (2) terms on the Board of Governors for the International Association of Employment Web Sites (IAEWS). Today, at Hodes, Cindy works with enterprise employers to create measurable value by redefining how brands connect to talent. 

Alex Hagan is an Instructor at The Futures School, and the Founder and CEO at Kienco, a boutique workforce strategy consultancy. Kienco helps organisations to shape the future of their organisations and workforces, by blending Workforce Analytics with Strategic Foresight in a way that provides both evidence-based and future-focused insights that inform strategy. Hagan has advised Global Fortune 500 organisations, NGOs, and government departments on every continent except for Antarctica, and is frequently engaged as a corporate speaker and trainer to help companies and governments stay relevant in times of unprecedented change.

Jenn Saavedra joined Dell in 2005 after several years serving as an external consultant to Fortune 50 companies, the US armed forces and government. Jenn’s passion is in understanding the psychology of human behavior and harnessing this knowledge to help people, teams and organizations be their best. Serving as captain of her intercollegiate polo team and completing her PhD in Organizational Psychology, provided Jenn with the opportunity to gain skills and experience she brings to her work. Jenn started with Dell in the Global Talent Management organization leading surveys and assessments and expanded her contribution to include key HR practices (performance, promotion, succession), human capital analytics and talent and culture strategy. Jenn now leads our HR Strategy office where she focuses on Dell’s culture and leadership strategy and provides OD and talent consulting and support to enterprise level strategic initiatives. Jenn lives in Austin Texas (originally from San Francisco, California, USA) with her husband Mike,  daughter Jia and dog, Roxy.

In 2014, John Robinson was named one of ten national White House Champions of Change for Disability Employment and honored with the Excelsior College President’s Award for Advocacy in 2010. Since 2011, he’s served as managing partner, CEO and Founder of Our Ability, which provides inclusive workforce and employment consulting, mentoring, workshops, keynotes and seminars on disability and diversity. Our Ability’s clients have included Cargill, Inc., Microsoft, Bank of America, Aflac and Realty USA. John additionally founded Our Ability Connect, the only online platform where employers can directly connect with qualified candidates with disabilities by searching a digital profile service, posting employment opportunities and sponsoring virtual job fairs. As Executive Director of the New York Business Leadership Network, he builds coalitions among New York State businesses interested in both hiring and building supplier diversity of businesses owned by individuals with disabilities. John currently serves as an advocate for people with disabilities with the Disability Education Forum of New York and was the subject of “Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story,” a public television documentary and autobiography.

“I left corporate America after 20 years to give back to our community of individuals with disabilities and provide new opportunities for employment.”

Since 1996, Jamie Robinson has worked at the local, state and national level to support business to reduce unconscious bias about disability, generate inclusive cultures and increase hiring people with disabilities. As Financial Empowerment and Workforce Manager and member of the Training and TA Team at National Disability Institute, Jamie specializes in workforce systems change and integrating financial capability strategies. As part of a Workforce Investment Board in Massachusetts, she led a pilot exploring the most effective employment services for individuals with disabilities. With a master’s degree in Deafness Rehabilitation from New York University and fluency in American Sign Language, Jamie supports employers to hire Deaf employees. 

Since 2001, Katie Metz has worked to increase the understanding of compliance for equal access and opportunities for persons with disabilities in both government and private sectors. As Manager of Financial Empowerment and Inclusion for National Disability Institute she’s led a number of initiatives in asset development and financial education training for individuals with disabilities, military, Veterans and their families. Katie has created and organized multiple education and curriculum programs, designed to ensure educational and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. She’s also developed and implemented disability-specific technical assistance and education programs for tax and asset building coalitions, highlighting SSA benefits, increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities, tax credits and deductions and financial literacy curriculums.