Speakers

Cesar Ayala is a Category Manager with LyondellBasell’s Global Procurement team in Houston. He leads indirect Corporate Services categories and projects with responsibility for over $100,000,000 in annual spend globally. Cesar’s main objective is to maximize value for his company by developing business strategies based on comprehensive market and spend analysis. Creative in issue resolution, he builds relationships critical to success.

Cesar previously worked in Shell’s Market Intelligence team, enabling better negotiations through market research and total cost models for Downstream Manufacturing. He was part of the award-winning team that redesigned Shell’s Category Management and Contracting Process, their end-to-end process for procuring goods and services. Prior to joining Shell, Cesar was part of Dresser-Rand’s Supply Chain Management team, responsible for strategic leadership of a global portfolio of Corporate Indirect categories, including HR, IT, Finance and other Professional Services.

Eager to give back to our community, Cesar has been active in professional organizations, including serving as a board member and mentor to current college students and recent graduates through the Institute for Supply Management’s Houston chapter. A lifelong learner, Cesar reads for pleasure every day and enjoys exploring historic cities with nothing more than a good map and list of key phrases.

Cesar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from The College of New Jersey, a Master’s degree in Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Michigan State University.

Sunil is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is transforming the way world-class companies think about and acquire talent. Blending vision, technology and business skills honed in the most innovative corporate environments, he has launched a new model for recruitment called Crowdstaffing which is being tapped successfully by global brands such as Google, MasterCard, SpaceX, and Walmart.

Sunil is passionate about building a company that provides value to the complete staffing ecosystem including clients, candidates and most importantly, recruiters. 

Sunil is an investor and advisor in several Silicon Valley startups, including Loudr.FM, Creative Gig, and Good.co

Karen Brehmer represents the IRS at outreach events working with tax professionals and small business organizations, as well as in conjunction with other Federal, State and local government agencies.

Karen has been with the IRS for over 30 years. She has served as a customer service representative, a tax collector, and spent the last nine years in education and outreach. She regularly speaks at meetings and workshops, both face-to-face and via webinars, on tax topics that are relevant to the given tax professional or small business audience.

Category Manager for WestRock, formerly Rock-Tenn for three years. Responsible for managing temporary labor-$123 Million, Copiers $7 million, printers, and office supplies-$6 million

• $123 Million in Temporary Labor spend
• 72 Temp agencies under agreement
• VMS tool-Fieldglass
• MSP-Barpellam-Bartech
• Previously worked for Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Atlanta Ga, Fort Worth TX
• MCI- AT&T- Equifax- Beazer Homes-Russell Athletic-all in Procurement in Atlanta Ga

Originally from Chicago Illinois, attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Arkansas Major Business Administration.

Kanita is an independent consultant providing contingent workforce advisory services. Kanita leverages her years of buy-side experience to present meaningful solutions to clients by leading enterprises and providers through the process of implementing, managing and optimizing their Contingent Workforce programs. Throughout the course of her career, Kanita has strategically managed $1B+ spend in large organizations. She has served as the lead for high performing programs at Procter & Gamble and Halliburton. Kanita is a Certified Contingent Workforce Professional. She provides thought leadership to the industry via written publications and as a speaker at industry conferences.

Monique is a results-oriented professional with 21 years of extensive experience in large program management, staff management, mentoring, training, and program delivery by providing significant growth and expansion to her clientele. This includes over 11 years Operational Experience managing all aspects from within an MSP/VMS program along with its supporting team efforts and growth.

This unique combination of experience allows for her to become a trusted adviser and partner to associates and clients at all levels. Monique's continued long term business relationships are a testament of her overall efforts.

Emily D. Campion is an Assistant Professor in Management at Old Dominion University. Her research focuses include the future of work (e.g., freelancers, co-working, gig economy), recruitment and selection methods, and career development. She also works as a consultant for public and private organizations. Prior to academia, she was a daily reporter in Indiana and teacher in Washington, D.C. She has her Ph.D. in Organization and Human Resources from the University at Buffalo.

Pamela Chambers O’Rourke is the Founder and CEO of Houston-based ICON Information Consultants, LP. Established in 1998, ICON Consultants is a national “Top Tier” provider of human-capital solutions with core competencies in IT, Accounting, Finance, HR, and Procurement with most recent annual sales exceeding $280 million and more than 3,250 consultants servicing Fortune 500/100 clients throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Pamela thrives on being a mentor and leads by example. She believes that giving back is an important business strategy; one in which she demonstrates through her continuous support of women-owned companies. Pamela is a past National Board Member of Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and a past Board Member for Women’s Business Council-Southwest (WBCS). She is a current board member of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and University of Houston Board of Visitors. In addition, Pamela is a member of Women’s Presidents Organization (WPO) and Committee of 200 (C200).

Somnath is based in San Francisco with 20+ years of leadership track record in building ecosystem for technology companies primarily in the IoT-AI and SaaS platform space.  Has been associated with VeriKlick and associate company Synkriom from formative stages. 
 
Founded SharePract that offers ecosystem platform to emerging enterprises. Scaled one of the world’s largest tech entrepreneurship network (TiE) of 25,000+ stakeholders across 60+ locations in 17 countries comprising corporate professionals, tech entrepreneurs and recruiters. Executed global projects to trigger deal flows for Microsoft, Uber, Bloomberg, Citibank, USAID, European Commission, tech accelerators, corporate venture fund and a national IT manufacturing network.

Peter G. Christian is an employment litigator at Schaefer Halleen, LLC committed to protecting the rights of individuals in the workplace. As an advocate who takes pride in representing a wide range of employees – from top level executives to blue collar laborers – Peter has secured significant victories for an array of clients in many areas of employment related litigation, and against some of the biggest corporations in the world. For his advocacy on behalf of employees, he was named a Rising Star by Minnesota Super Lawyers, Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine, and Twin Cities Business.

Prior to joining Schaefer Halleen, Peter worked with the Ramsey County Public Defender’s Office, Juvenile Division, primarily representing children accused of crimes.   While in law school, he received awards for his trial and appellate advocacy skills and was a director of the Special Education Law Clinic, working on behalf of students with disabilities. 

Before law school, Peter taught fifth grade in the Mississippi Delta with the Teach for America Corps, leading his students to record-setting results in reading and math proficiency, and co-founded the Delta Youth Empowerment non-profit organization. Peter received his J.D. with honors from the University of Minnesota Law School and his B.A. with high honors from Marquette University.

As Vice President of Global Sales, David heads the company’s industry-leading sales team with representatives in the US and UK. He brings more than 25 years’ experience that spans the managed services, vendor management systems, and sales sectors of the non-employee labor industry. An industry veteran, David has established and maintained extended workforce solutions programs at many global 1000 companies and worked with technology start-ups to bring groundbreaking solutions to the fore. Under his leadership, the GRI sales team brings independent, strategic solutions and programs to prospects and clients, guiding them to greater realized value and program performance.

Bori is a Ph.D. candidate in Work and Organizations at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. Her research explores individual experiences at the work-nonwork interface (e.g., spillover), implications of managerial time use, and the relationship between networking behaviors and reemployment outcomes for unemployed job seekers. Bori is developing her dissertation on the predictors and outcomes of freelancers’ control over work and she looks forward to diving into this topic together with Contingent Staffing 2018 attendees!

Komal is an IT professional with over 15 years experience and holds a Master degree in Computer Science and MBA from NJIT. 

Founded in 2015, Synkriom lnc, is an Global IT staffing company that  has become a premier organization that supports both on / off - shore clientele and resources. 

Our success was such that we patented a product proudly named VeriKlick. This is a key web based tool for use in the HR space that will eliminate candidate bait and switch, fake resumes and increase your ROI  

Synkriom / VeriKlick is an organization that creates new opportunities for Women every day.  Komal, is also an active member of Lions to promote STEM to the younger generation. 

Patrick is the Global Sourcing leader for Subcontract Services (Technical Services & Complementary Workforce) in support of IBM's general and services procurement business. His responsibilities include creation, execution and ownership of the global sourcing strategy across all IBM Business Units with responsibility for >$5B in annual global spend spanning 90 countries and 30 languages.

With over twenty years of experience in Sales, Procurement, Supply Chain, and IT Applications, Gijo George now serves Americold Logistics LLC, as the Director of Strategic Sourcing. Based in Atlanta, GA, his team supports Americolds’ 170+ global facilities executing procurement strategies on a daily basis.

He inherited the VMS/MSP program two years ago with less than 10% adoption and now manages a stable and industry-leading multi-million dollar program; including both traditional Contingent Workforce and SOW programs. Prior to Americold, Gijo worked for Rock-Tenn, The Home Depot, The Hackett Group, GeP, and consulted for several Fortune 500 companies. Gijo also serves on the Procurement Advisory Board for CoreTrust (GPO).

He holds a Master’s Degree in International Business from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India and a Master’s in Computer Applications from IGNOU, India. 

Jodi Hallerman, MSOD, brings a broad foundation of experience and expertise in operations leadership as well as in sales, career development and HR consulting. Currently VP of Strategic Account Development at MBO Partners, Jodi utilizes her knowledge and background to consult with organizations who are faced with the risk and challenges of the new independent workforce.

Toni Halleen is an employment law attorney and the Chief Operating Officer for Schaefer Halleen, LLC in Minneapolis. Schaefer Halleen represents employees who have been discriminated against or subject to sexual harassment, retaliation, and other unfair workplace practices. Over the course of Toni’s legal career, she was the Director of Employment Law for ADC Telecommunications, Inc., and practiced employment law with the Twin Cities law firm of Briggs and Morgan. She has served as an adjunct instructor at Mitchell Hamline College of Law, and has presented at numerous continuing legal education seminars. Toni has advised a number of companies as in-house counsel and has trained thousands of managers and employees on sexual harassment prevention and respect in the workplace. Toni is also a writer and comedian who performed stand-up and improv comedy for many years. She has combined her talents by developing a workshop for legal professionals that is based on the rules of improv. Toni’s seminars are presented across the country, and are designed to build listening, thinking, communication, team-building, and presentation skills. Toni’s play, “Soulless, Bloodsucking Lawyers: A Musical!” was the Best Selling Show and voted Best Musical at the Minnesota Fringe Festival of 2003, and played to sold out audiences in 2004 at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Toni’s writing has appeared in literary magazines, and in 2013 she was awarded a Mentor Prize at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Toni received her J.D. with honors from the University of Minnesota School of Law, and her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.

Sara Jensen is the vice president of business development at Innovative Employee Solutions, a leading nationwide provider contingent workforce solutions, specializing in employer of record payrolling and independent contractor compliance services. Founded in 1974 in San Diego, California, IES has grown into one of the city’s largest women-owned businesses and been named one of its “Best Places to Work” for nine years in a row.

Prior to joining IES in 2011, Sara worked in development for the nonprofit sector, where she honed extensive skills and experience in account management, corporate relations and sponsorship development in various roles at both national and local nonprofit organizations.

A Washington native, Sara earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Western Washington University. Sara is a Certified Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP), a member of the American Staffing Association’s “Women in Leadership Council”, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce Young Leaders and Advance program, as well as the San Diego Sales and Marketing Alliance.

In her downtime, Sara loves going to the beach, practicing yoga and enjoying all that SoCal has to offer with her husband and their two children.

As Toptal's VP of Enterprise, Michael is responsible for driving the rapid scaling of Toptal Enterprise by establishing processes, service offerings, and strategies to enable Toptal's largest global clients to successfully leverage our elite global talent network at scale. Michael has crafted enterprise solutions and built global teams for clients across a wide range of industries through a career in consulting and entrepreneurship, with leadership positions at Slalom Consulting and Accenture, where he helped establish a scaled Business Process Outsourcing model that grew into a very successful business unit. Michael has a BS from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business.

Cynthia Moore manages Allstate’s $100 million contingent/temp labor program. Since joining Allstate, Cynthia has been working to enhance Allstate’s existing contingent labor program. Enhancements include, but not limited to, supplier optimization (from 50+ suppliers down to 16), increasing diversity spend, supplier scorecard revamp, measuring hiring manager response time, a new MSP strategy, and making the program overall a data driven program. In addition, she is a SME on the expansion of Fieldglass across the enterprise as the single source of truth for all contingent workers.

Prior to Allstate Cynthia spent six months creating Discover's newly formed Supplier Diversity program, ran and completed multiple LEAN initiatives and managed Risk and Controls in Global Procurement. She originally joined Discover as the Sr. Manager for Professional Services Management in 2007. In that role her responsibilities included, managing a team responsible for all offshoring, consulting, staff augmentation vendor and engagement relationships. Successes included the implementation of a contractor tenure policy and overall program to mitigate co-employment risks across the organization, development of a non-employee policy to drive awareness of how resources should be leverage, centralization of all non-employee resources in the VMS(Beeline) tool which helped not only in identifying resources but identified savings opportunities and reduced risk as well as on boarding time by 80%.

Prior to joining Discover she was the Team Lead for Alternative Workforce at TransUnion. She was responsible for establishing Centralized Vendor Management at TransUnion LLC. She was instrumental in the selection and management of TransUnion’s web based vendor management system (Beeline).

Before TransUnion, Cynthia was a successful sales, project and operations manager for a variety of IT consulting environments. As an account manager, Cynthia exceeded revenue and gross profits expectations on numerous occasions and received several sales awards for her efforts.

Cynthia is co-founder and Vice President of a national user group called VMS Professionals. This group was founded in 2001 as a not for profit and continues today. VMS Professionals has multiple chapters and has completed 15 annual conferences. The 16th annual conference is scheduled for June 2018. VMS Professionals has 300 + member companies with members made up of corporate end users who are responsible for contingent labor.

John Moore is a Senior VMS Consultant with PeopleFluent and a specialist in contingent management processes and tools. He managed an international division of a staffing supplier, worked as a process consultant with a VMS software company, and served as director of an advisory service with a global managed services provider. As a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he implemented the first SaaS VMS solution and managed an internal vendor management team. He is a Certified Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP).

Hazzen Muñoz is Director, Global Talent – Contingent Workforce Solutions at Ecolab. In his role, he is responsible for creating a global contingent workforce program. Working in partnership with human resources and procurement, he is contributing to diversifying Ecolab’s talent sourcing channels and making Ecolab the premier destination for the world’s most capable talent; regardless of their preferred engagement relationship.

In his 10+ years at Ecolab, Hazzen has been both an HR Business Partner and a COE leader. In his last role, he led Ecolab’s U.S. Employee Relations and Compliance team. Leveraging his strong business acumen, Hazzen has consistently been able to gain the respect and collaboration of business leaders and peers alike. He took on his career’s toughest challenge in early ‘17 when he decided to create Ecolab’s first contingent workforce program.

Chad is a highly experienced change agent and inspirational leader in procurement and finance with demonstrated results managing high performing global teams delivering sourcing and talent programs, implementing innovative strategic sourcing practices, and negotiating complex partnership deals for leading companies.  He’s a recognized cross-functional leader leveraging strong negotiation, collaboration, analytical and leadership skills to make the case for change and implement innovative business solutions that support revenue growth and lower costs.  In his role leading Microsoft’s Strategic Sourcing group, Chad combined previously disparate category groups into one global high performing sourcing team with oversight for $12B+ in annual indirect procurement spend spanning Real Estate, Marketing, Professional, and Contingent talent services spend portfolios. 

 

Chad leads Microsoft’s global contingent talent program spanning 16 countries filling needs for external talent spanning thousands of engagements each year.  He's also been instrumental in ideating and launching Microsoft’s first digital on-demand talent pilot program enabling access to global freelance talent through a modern, digital-first user experience.  He aspires to be a “student not a critic”, fueled by a growth mindset and a people-first mentality.  He’s proud to serve a global high performing team with Work Health index scores consistently above Microsoft averages.  

Dawn O’Bryan-Lamb started her career in Staffing with Snelling Personnel in Bakersfield as a recruiter, eventually becoming branch manager. From there she went to Silicon Valley and became the program manager for Adecco at Cisco Systems. After a couple of years with Adecco she was hired by Cisco HR to be the Operations Manager for their global temporary staffing program.

During her 13 year tenure at Cisco, in addition to work as an HR Generalist in IT and an IT-Vendor Manager, she developed, implemented, and operationally managed several contingent workforce related programs specifically developed by and for individual business units, including IT, Customer Advocacy, Finance and Global Procurement. Her tenure at Cisco culminated in oversight of the global, Enterprise-wide Consulting and Professional Services MSP under Global Procurement Services.

Dawn has a husband, two adult children and 5 cats. She once was featured in a Taiwanese soda commercial.

Surajit Sengupta is the co-founder and President of nTech Solutions, Inc. He has over 20 years of experience in the software industry and information technology, including consulting for government and commercial companies.

Considered a thought leader in the data-driven field of customer analysis, Mr. Sengupta has excelled in providing advisory services to both middle and senior management of mid- and large sized organizations regarding various aspects of technology implementation with the eventual goal of providing a 360 degree view of the customer.

Mr. Sengupta is a CTO who brings his clients technical challenges into nTech’s excellent team to strategize and provide effective solutions which include business process changes. Mr. Sengupta is also highly skilled in strategic planning, project and program management, resource and financial management, business and practice development, and offshore methodology, development, and deployment. nTech was founded with one clear mission – to earn the trust of clients by consistently delivering superior, proven solutions. Mr. Sengupta achieves this by embracing a partnership philosophy that creates relevant, innovative solutions that improve program performance and ensures success. He believes in collaboration and learning from peers’ successes and challenges, which has helped him become the successful entrepreneur he is today.

Mr. Sengupta, an avid Ravens fan, lives in Woodstock, MD with his wife, two children and a lovely dog.

Sidney Vand is a category lead specializing in IT Services and Contingent Labor, and has been at Visa Inc. since 2015. In her role, she manages $150M in IT services and $100M in contingent labor spend, globally. She is also leading the implementation of strategic organization transformations to drive resource optimization and improve cross-team cooperation.

Prior to Visa, she managed direct and indirect spend including business process outsourcing, facilities, fixture design and development, and procurement of owner furnished equipment. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Texas A&M University, a Master Certificate from Michigan State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts from St. Edward’s University. 

Jim Burke joined ZeroChaos in June, 2018, as Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Jim led three other technology enabled services businesses: Advanced Discovery, a global e-Discovery and risk management firm, vRad, the world's largest telemedicine company, and Global Compliance, a leading ethics and compliance services firm. Jim also held senior leadership positions at several Fortune 500 companies, and served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Jim earned a BSBA from Villanova University, and an MBA from The Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh.

For 21 years, Ken Salapatek has played a key consulting role in the contingent labor industry both on the supply (regional and global) and on the outsourced contingent labor management side. Ken has shared his deep subject matter expertise on contingent labor program modeling including cost reduction in mature programs, budget-savings through Direct Sourcing/Talent Network optimization, and most recently, Artificial Intelligence and VMS.