Concurrent Session

Lauren Priori is the CEO of L. Priori Jewelry, a custom jeweler with 3 locations, and Priori Estate, an estate jewelry treasure box in Philadelphia.  Lauren is obsessed with creating amazing workplaces.  She leads a team of 20 and boasts remarkably low turnover.

Since founding L. Priori in 2016, Lauren has grown the company to seven figure revenue.  She is also an angel investor, working with female founders to help scale their companies.

Lauren has been recognized as one of Philadelphia’s Most Admired CEOs by Philadelphia Business Journal and a Jewelers of America 20 under 40.  She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

Howard A. Wallack has been the Deputy Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer since 2016 in the Global Human Resources (GHR) department at Jhpiego in Baltimore, MD, an international, non-profit health organization, affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. Jhpiego is dedicated to improving the health of women, children, and families in lower-resourced countries, with approximately 4,200 employees worldwide in 38 countries. At Jhpiego, Howard spearheads the organization’s leadership development program and leads a team of 5 regional HR business partners who support country HR operations, himself currently backstopping Ghana, Guatemala, and Mozambique. During his 40-year career with experience in nearly 90 countries, Howard has had senior-level positions in HR, training and development, global business development, and program management in for-profit and non-profit businesses and the US Peace Corps. In April 2023 Howard was recognized with an OnCon Icon peer-voted award among the “Top 50 HR Professionals” for having made a considerable impact on their organization and/or previous organizations; made strong contributions to their community through thought leadership; innovated in their role/career; and exhibited exceptional leadership. He has advanced degrees in international affairs and international human resources and globalization and holds multiple professional certifications, including the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and the GPHR® & SPHRi™ qualification from the HR Certification Institute. As a volunteer he has served on the Board of Directors of Cultural Vistas since 2011.

Scott Tillema has over 20 years of law enforcement experience in the Chicago area and is an FBI trained hostage negotiator.

Educationally, Scott holds a master’s degree in psychology, a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science, and has received training at Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation.

Today, as a partner at The Negotiations Collective, an international negotiations training firm, he provides organizational training and keynote speaking around the concepts of influence and conflict resolution.

Scott currently serves the human resources field by teaching professionals how to navigate difficult conversations with skill and confidence using principles from crisis negotiation.

Scott Tillema has over 20 years of law enforcement experience in the Chicago area and is an FBI trained hostage negotiator.

Educationally, Scott holds a master’s degree in psychology, a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science, and has received training at Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation.

Today, as a partner at The Negotiations Collective, an international negotiations training firm, he provides organizational training and keynote speaking around the concepts of influence and conflict resolution.

Scott currently serves the human resources field by teaching professionals how to navigate difficult conversations with skill and confidence using principles from crisis negotiation.

Heather Stefanski is the Chief Learning and Development Officer at McKinsey & Company where she is responsible for Learning & Development for 45,000+ colleagues globally.  She built McKinsey’s Talent Management capability and she is currently leading the work to pivot the firm to a skills-focused development culture.

Throughout the past 19 years at McKinsey, Heather has held a broad range of People roles, including talent acquisition, professional development, and learning.

Prior to her People roles, Heather was a McKinsey consultant serving clients on various operational topics such as procurement, product development and supply chain.  

Heather has an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford University, and a BS in Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University. 

After several years producing and facilitating team building programs for a variety of companies, Matt May recognized that there was an alternate way to provide engaging, interactive experiences. As a result, he created Premier Team Building & Interactive Experiences®, delivering programs nation-wide, and abroad. As the company’s president, he is responsible for the design & development of its experiences, overseeing the production and facilitation of these programs, customer support, and staff training. Additionally, in his career, May has served as a producer, director, manager, administrator, educator, and consultant for various event and live entertainment, theatrical, and educational organizations.

After several years producing and facilitating team building programs for a variety of companies, Matt May recognized that there was an alternate way to provide engaging, interactive experiences. As a result, he created Premier Team Building & Interactive Experiences®, delivering programs nation-wide, and abroad. As the company’s president, he is responsible for the design & development of its experiences, overseeing the production and facilitation of these programs, customer support, and staff training. Additionally, in his career, May has served as a producer, director, manager, administrator, educator, and consultant for various event and live entertainment, theatrical, and educational organizations.

Hunter Lott is an HR problem solver. He has delivered over 4000 “on stage” events, over 17,000 presentation hours and reviewed over 1200 employee handbooks. Hunter won accolades as a senior course leader for the American Management Association. Hunter is an award winning speaker with Vistage and has earned Speaker of the Year, Impact Speaker of the Year and Top Performer Vistage honors.

Hunter attended Tulane University in New Orleans, graduated from Iowa State and has a Master’s Degree in Employment Law from NSU Shepard Broad College of Law.