Concurrent Session

Twelve-time published author, Dr. Elijah Nicholas is an Author, Actor, and Advocate. Assigned the female sex at birth, Elijah spent almost half of his life in the US Military, as a woman. Retiring from the US Air Force as a Lt Col in 2012, Dr. Elijah now fully lives and embraces his core values: Authenticity, Integrity, and Transparency. Dr. Elijah further resigned his pastoral duties when he started his gender affirmation in 2018.

Dr. Elijah holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), a Masters of Science in Leadership and Operational Art, a Masters of Art in Education Training & Leadership (MAET), and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Administration of Justice. Dr. Nicholas attended the Harvard Divinity Executive Education program in 2021. Dr. Elijah is the author of a Tran-inclusive family & children's book featuring Madoodle (aka Madison), a ten-year-old girl whose Uncle Pete was once her favorite Auntie Mary. Madoodle is based on Dr. Elijah's personal experiences with family as he navigated his gender transition.  Dr. Elijah has provided Gender Identity and Trans Awareness & Inclusion Training for a host of organizations around the world.

Ben Greene is a transgender advocate and educator who has spoken internationally on topics surrounding transgender inclusion. After coming out at 15 in a small town, Ben has devoted his career to spreading empathy, education, and storytelling around the trans experience, and has spoken for companies, hospitals, schools, religious organizations, and government entities sharing what it means to be transgender and how to show up as an ally. He is a fierce advocate for transgender youth, regularly speaking in their defense at the Missouri State Capitol, and is the author of the book "My Child is Trans, Now What? A Joy Centered Approach to Support". He is passionate about educating others from a place of compassion—no matter where they’re starting from. 

Gina and Margaret are the coauthors of the bestselling book, The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workshop and Why It’s Actually Good for Business (McGraw-Hill, 2021). You can download a free chapter on their website.

Gina and Margaret are OD (organizational development) consultants and coaches, not DEI experts, and that is precisely why their systems approach to workplace racial equity is fresh and actionable.

Joy Toney  serves as a Senior Program Consultant for AIM for Change, LLC.  Joy’s career successes are mapped over 20+ years professional experience in non-profit, consumer services, government contracting, and transportation and distribution. Her work experience spectrum includes both people leader and individual contributor roles at ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Accredo Health, FedEx Express, Johnson & Johnson, and CAS Incorporated. Joy enjoys utilizing her skills in process and performance improvement, software development, information security, quality assurance, project management, talent management, organizational change management, and justice/equity/diversity/inclusion awareness. She is a CISSP, CCA, CBAP, CTFL, CSM, CSPO, ITIL4, and Prosci Change Management certified as well as Brightline's Organizational Transformation micro-credentials (OTF, OTO, OTI), and soon-to-be PMP (Fall 2023) and SHRM-CP (Spring 2024). Joy has served as an advisor to local non-profit boards such as Extreme Dreams USA, OUTMemphis, the International Institute of Business Analysis – Greater Memphis Chapter, and the PMI Memphis Chapter (Project Management Institute).

Joy holds a MBA with a concentration in Information Systems from the University of Memphis, and a Bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Information Systems, both from the University of Alabama at Huntsville. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Business Administration focusing on organizational behavior in tech spaces. 

Voted as Young Professional of the Year for the Greenville Chamber in 2021, Small Business of the Year in 2022, and recently awarded the SC Women In Business Award, speaker and consultant Kamber Parker started her company The YoPro Know in 2018, a platform designed to be the bridge between ambitious young professionals and the companies that wish to hire them and most importantly, retain them. Kamber has spent the last 5 years interviewing thousands of young professionals identifying their key struggles, successes, and ultimately, ways to make them more successful in the workplace. Her business offers consulting services for companies looking to increase young professional recruitment, retention, and engagement, and she is passionate about supporting workforce development efforts.

After decades of helping people return to work following disability, Tara Beaton received her own diagnosis of ADHD. As she said, "It explained a lot. Plus, I always had a passion for accessibility. I just didn't realize it was personal." Now adding her own, first-person experience to her 25 years of disability management, HR and training expertise, Tara offers insights and guidance to professionals and leaders on best practices in inclusion, accessibility and accommodation for neurodiversity, disability, and mental health. She shares both evidence and practical know-how so that workplaces – and those they serve – can reap the benefits.

Mary Cheddie, SHRM-SCP is Divisional Director, Membership Community. 

Cheddie has more than 35 years of domestic and international experience in all aspects of human resources and training. She has extensive experience with strategic planning, M&As, and in starting and turning around businesses.

Prior to joining SHRM, she served as senior vice president of human resources for Interval Leisure Group, Inc. and its affiliated companies. The company was publicly traded on NASDAQ and the leading provider of vacation services with a global consumer membership base of nearly 2 million member families, more than 2,500 member resorts in over 75 countries worldwide, and has oversight for about 14,000 employees. 

Cheddie also served as senior vice president, people with PRC, as well as vice president, human resources, strategic planning, office services, and facilities for The Orvis Company, Inc. in Manchester, VT.

She earned her MBA from Upper Iowa University, a bachelor’s degree from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey, and is certified as a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional.

Cheddie received the HR Award of Excellence, Hospitality in 2016 from South Florida Business & Wealth. Business Leader Magazine named Cheddie one of the 2011 Women Extraordinaire and in 2012 the National Diversity Council awarded her the Glass Ceiling Award.

She serves on the Board of Trustees for Upper Iowa University, Chairs the Human Capital Committee and is a member of the Governance and Advancement Committees, Chaired the Keiser Career College’s Advisory Board, was a member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) from 2003-2008 and chaired SHRM’s governance and compensation committees. Cheddie has more than 35 years of SHRM volunteer leadership experience at the national, regional, state, and local levels.  She also served on the Waldorf College Alumni Board from 2004 through 2008 and was the President of the Dallas HR Association in 2000 (one of the largest affiliated SHRM chapters). She resides in South FL.

Yvette Lee, SHRM-SCP, is an HR Knowledge Advisor at SHRM, the world’s largest HR professional society, representing 300,000+ members in more than 165 countries. Yvette possesses over 25 years of human resources experience. Her expertise includes talent management, benefits, compensation, diversity and inclusion, employee relations, ethics and compliance, and employee development. A published author of several articles in SHRM's HR Magazine on various topics, Yvette holds a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Virginia. She also holds the SHRM California Law HR, Talent Acquisition, Inclusive Workplace Culture, People Manager Qualification and HR Dept. of One Specialty Credentials. Yvette enjoys spending time with her family and doing community service.

Jeremy York, SHRM-SCP, SPHR is the Lead Consultant and President of InvigorateHR and coauthor of the “JoyPowered Organization.” He has over 20 years' experience in human resource strategy and business operations where he has worked with and advised all levels of management on critical business and people-related issues. Jeremy's expertise in defining and understanding the "big picture" enables him to translate business needs into tangible solutions. With his guidance, organizations have improved employee relations, increased performance, and developed cultures based on mutual trust and respect. Jeremy holds a master’s degree in management from Indiana Wesleyan University and a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Purdue University. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for Purdue University Indianapolis for over 15 years teaching various leadership and human resources curriculums. Jeremy is a national speaker and currently serves as an advisor on the Society for Human Resource Management’s Diversity Taskforce.

Maria Ross is a speaker, facilitator, author, strategist, and empathy advocate who believes cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive. She’s spent decades helping forward-thinking leaders, teams, and brands connect and engage through empathy to accelerate growth. Maria has authored multiple books, including her newest, The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries, Her previous book, The Empathy Edge sparked a movement and she now hosts the top-rated The Empathy Edge podcast, speaking with leaders, changemakers, authors, and activists on how to achieve radical success through empathy. Maria delivers powerful talks and leadership training workshops for companies such as CHRISTUS Health, TBWA/Worldwide, and CHRISTUS Health. She has delivered dynamic keynotes at venues ranging from TEDx to The New York Times to The 3% Conference. Maria has appeared in many prominent media outlets, including MSNBC, NPR, Wisdom from the Top with Guy Raz, Forbes, ABC News, Entrepreneur and Thrive Global. Maria lives in Northern California with her husband, young son, and American Bully rescue dog and serves clients worldwide.

Learn from great leaders, experts,  and thinkers on her weekly podcast at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com and learn more about Maria's work at www.Red-Slice.com

Bethany Adams has more than 15 years of experience in HR and education.  She began her career working in learning & development and human resources 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 in the Graduate Programs in HR Development.  Bethany has spoken at a variety of conferences throughout the country and leads corporate training on topics including emotional intelligence, DEI, and strategic HR.  Bethany hosts an HR podcast called HR Tea.