In her role as Director, HR Competencies for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Kari Strobel is responsible for overseeing key initiatives around professionalism and competencies to include the assessment and implementation of SHRM’s HR Competency Model, and setting the research agenda for developing additional competency-based talent management tools.

Prior to joining SHRM in 2013, Dr. Strobel worked at the Department of Defense where she was responsible for leading the development, assessment, and implementation of competencies for the total force.  Dr. Strobel has also been responsible for managing organizational development projects for the Chief of Naval Operations, Surface Warfare Enterprise and the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command. 

With over 30 journal articles, technical reports, and national and international conference presentations, to include published works in Journal of Applied Psychology and Human Performance, Situation Awareness and Automation, Dr. Strobel has received national recognition for her contributions to the field.  She was the first recipient of the 2002 American Psychological Association Division 19 (Military Psychology) Research Award, and received Honorable Mention from the Virginia Academy of Science for her team performance research. 

As a consultant she has worked with Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Royal Dutch Shell, Deutche Bank, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, The United States Army, and the State of Virginia’s Peninsula Aids Foundation.

Dr. Strobel received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Old Dominion University. 

Cornelia C. Springer has 20 plus years of experience in the credentialing industry. Over the past year Ms. Springer has been engaged as a contractor with SHRM to aid in the development of the new SHRM certification program. Her many years of certification experience has provided foundational knowledge in the development of program policies, certification and recertification criteria as well as aided in defining the customer relations management database.

Prior to joining Real Time Process Solutions in 2011 as a certification consultant, Ms. Springer held several leadership roles with the HR Certification Institute including Executive Director and Operations Director from 1990 to 2010. During her tenure with the HR Certification Institute she had operational oversight for budget development, product development, and the administration of the certification, recertification and pre-approval programs. While with the HR Certification Institute she was instrumental in moving from paper and pencil testing to computerized testing, added two new credentials to the portfolio of products. She also led the organization in becoming accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Ms. Springer has a BS degree in Management from Clemson University.

Andrew Schmidt joined the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in 2012 to develop and manage engagement programs for Chief Human Resources Officers. Andrew and his team have built a global community of 500 CHROs that hold peer networking events, participate in applied research and advocacy, and advise SHRM on business issues related to the HR profession. Recently, Andrew has been using his background in competency modeling to help build SHRM’s new certification for HR professionals. 

Prior to joining SHRM, Andrew was a management consultant and worked with c-level clients in finance, IT, HR, and marketing to build and transform organizational programs. He specialized in succession planning, leadership development, and organizational design. Andrew completed his Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology with a dissertation that examined the effects of toxic leadership on military units.

Allan H. Weitzman is the head of the Labor and Employment Law Department in the Boca Raton office of Proskauer Rose LLP, and is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law with over forty-one years’ experience – all at Proskauer. 

Based on a peer-review study, Allan has been named in the 2005 through 2015 editions of Best Lawyers in America, the nation’s definitive guide to legal excellence.  He is particularly proud that he was named by Best Lawyers as the 2013 Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law in South Florida.  From 2007 through 2015, Allan has earned a first tier Chambers ranking for his outstanding employment law work.  In 2009 and 2011 through 2015, Allan was named by Human Resource Executive magazine as one of the nation’s top 100 corporate employment attorneys. He is also a fellow in the prestigious College of Labor Employment Law Attorneys. 

Among his notable achievements, Allan submitted the amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Society for Human Resources Management in the Faragher case.  The employer’s “affirmative defense” that was adopted by the Supreme Court in Faragher was based on an argument made by Allan and his firm. 

Allan is graduate of the Cornell Law School where he was an Editor of the Cornell Law Review, graduating with distinction and was a member of “The Order of the Coif.”