For over twenty-five years Jeff has delivered development and training solutions for the private and public sector. He has facilitated hundreds of programs and delivered keynote addresses to scores of clients as diverse as General Electric, the U.S. Postal System, Federal Express and the City of New York. Topics have ranged from leadership to performance accountability, from customer service/loyalty to team building.

Earlier Jeff’s consultant activities were associated with The Disney Institute, a best-practices institution modeled on America’s first corporate university. While there, Jeff was responsible for designing The Disney Approach to Quality Service and Service, Disney Style programs. The models, concepts, and examples of that program were later introduced to corporate America in Be Our Guest, a popular benchmarking title published by The Disney Institute, with a forward by Michael Eisner.

While at the Disney Institute, Jeff played a key role in developing other programs at The Disney Institute to include Disney’s Approach to Customer Loyalty, and Disney’s Approach to Creativity and Innovation. He continues today as a columnist for MousePlanet.Com where he continues to share stories of excellence in the Walt Disney Company as best-practices ideas for corporations worldwide.

Jeff is now CEO of World Class Benchmarking, which provides a programming series that benchmarks many of America’s greatest corporations. Recently, World Class Benchmarking supported Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (Sheraton, Westin, & St. Regis) in launching a massive customer/brand service initiative for over 125,000 associates globally.

Recently Jeff has consulted in the last couple of years for the Finance division of the City of New York in providing leadership and transformation solutions for the public sector. He is the Chief Learning Architect for The Public Strategies Group (PSG) creating training and development solutions for such organizations as the State of Iowa and Federal Student Aid—U. S. Department of Education.

Jeff’s new best-selling book, Lead With Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand into World-Class Excellence (ASTD Press) showcases what world-class organizations do to attain and sustain extraordinary results and is available via ASTD.org, Amazon.com, and bookstores all over the world.  Jeff's book, "The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney" highlights best practices in customer service at Disney.

Candy Knowles, a veteran health system human resources executive, is senior vice president for human resources and chief human resources officer for the University of Maryland Medical Center and its parent organization, the 12-hospital University of Maryland Medical System. In this newly-created position, she has oversight of all human resources functions throughout the system and serves as part of the senior leadership team.

Before joining the University of Maryland Medical Center/System, Knowles was the chief human resources officer at Parkland Health and Hospital in Dallas. Prior to her role at Parkland, she served in senior human resources positions at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, IN, Phoebe Putney Health System in Georgia, and Battle Creek Health System in Michigan.

Candy is certified by the Society of Human Resources Management and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.  

Cali Williams Yost believes when business and people partner, they create award- winning flexible workplaces that achieve high performance and work+life well being.  

For over two decades as a corporate strategist, author, speaker and founder of the Flex Strategy Group / Work Life Fit Inc., Yost has helped hundreds of organizations adapt their strategies and cultures to the new reality of work, and has given thousands of individuals the modern tools and skills to take control of their work+life fit and find success, on and off the job. 

Leaders from diverse organizations, such as E&Y, Novo Nordisk, Quest Diagnostics, the United Nations, USDA, Stanford University and the Singapore Government, regularly seek out her high-impact, often contrarian, yet always practical, insights into what it takes for flexibility to really succeed in the workplace.     

An honors graduate of Columbia Business School, Yost’s pioneering work+life “fit” how-to advice for individuals can be found in the recently released, Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day, (Center Street/Hachette, 2013), and in the critically-acclaimed, Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2004).  

Called “one of the most sophisticated thinkers,” on work and life issues by The New York Times, Yost is frequently asked to comment in the media. She has appeared on the TODAY Show, most recently with Maria Shriver as part of her “Doing It All” series, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, NPR, and in Fast Company, USAToday, and the Wall Street Journal. 

In addition to being named one of Mashable’s Top 14 Career Experts on Twitter, and one of Columbia Business School’s Alumni Changing the World, her websites have been awarded “Best of the Web” distinctions by Forbes.com and WorkingMother.com. Yost lives in New Jersey where her work+life fit includes two wonderful daughters and an amazing husband.

For more information about Cali Williams Yost, and the Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit, Inc., go to www.flexstrategygroup.com, and connect with Cali on Twitter @caliyost and on Facebook facebook.com/worklifefit.

Follow Cali on Twitter @caliyost.

Julie Austin is an award-winning author, inventor, and multiple business owner. Her patented product, swiggies, wrist water bottles, have been a NASDAQ product of the year semi finalist and are currently sold in 24 countries. She's appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX News, along with dozens of TV shows, magazines and radio shows around the world. She's a "go-to" media expert in the fields of innovation & creativity, and is featured in the books "Patently Female" and "Girls Think of Everything". Her book "The Money Garden: How to Plant the Seeds for a Lifetime of Income" is available on Amazon.