2013 SPEAKERS Keynote Speaker: Johnny Lee, Director of Peace at Work Johnny Lee is the Executive Director of Peace at Work, an agency dedicated to violence prevention, in and through, the workplace. Johnny was previously the Workplace Specialist for the North Carolina office of State Personnel. His responsibilities included offering program consultation and staff development training to all state agencies and universities on workplace violence prevention and management. His experience includes his role as the Training Director for the UNC-Chapel Hill Injury Prevention Research Center s PREVENT program, delivering a CDC funded, national violence prevention training program. Johnny s professional association memberships includes Chair of the Victim Services Interagency Council of North Carolina, Board of Directors for the Businesses Continuity Planners of the Carolinas, American Society of Safety Engineers, Public Health Alliance to Prevent Violence against Women, and former board member of the NC Victim Assistance Network. HRD Press published his human resources book, Addressing Domestic Violence in the Workplace in 2004. He also co-authored the Armed Robbery Preparation Manual, a training resource for front line clerks and bank tellers to survive a robbery and support the investigations. Other publications include articles in The Journal of Safe Management of Disruptive and Assaultive Behavior.
Becky K. Lindahl, Associate Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP Becky has a diverse litigation practice with a focus on complex commercial litigation and the financial services industry, including real estate, business torts, contract, financial services, consumer finance, employment and bankruptcy disputes. Becky has represented both closely held and publicly traded companies in class action and individual lawsuits in state and federal courts in North Carolina and elsewhere and has handled complex discovery and management of electronically stored information, dispositive motion practice, alternative dispute resolution, bench and jury trials and appellate briefing and arguments. Before joining the firm, Becky served as a law clerk to the Honorable Catharine R. Aron (formerly Catharine R. Carruthers) in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Becky maintains an active pro bono practice and was awarded the Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP Pro Bono Service Award in 2012. In 2013, she was awarded the Safe Alliance Commitment to Justice Award for her outstanding contributions to the Legal Representation Project, which provides pro bono legal services for victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders. Becky is a graduate of the 2011 class of the Mecklenburg County Bar Leadership Institute and serves on the board of directors of Hospitality House of Charlotte. While attending law school, Becky served as executive editor of the Wake Forest Law Review. She was also a member of the Wake Forest Moot Court Board, the Robert F. Wagner Labor & Employment Moot Court Team and the Dean s Shadow Curriculum and Faculty Interviewing Committee.
Laurie Severino, North East Area Director of HR, Verizon Wireless Laurie has been involved in programs to raise awareness about domestic violence for more than a decade, and has helped Verizon Wireless create a work environment in which it is easy and safe for employees to talk about any abuse they face at home or on the job. Laurie moderated programs for The Umbrella, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Connecticut Coalition against Domestic Violence and for the Center for Children and Families in Fairfield, CT. She was also a featured speaker for a similar conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, for a Citizen Initiative sponsored by the New Hampshire Governor s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, and for a special conference sponsored by Family & Child Services of Washington, DC, among other events addressing the issue of domestic violence.
Jenny Ward, HR/Talent Management and Workforce Strategy, Duke Energy Corporation Jenny Ward leads Duke Energy s Corporate Culture work. She is responsible for culture integration for the Progress Energy merger (July 2012) and longer term, for building a performance culture to support the mission, values and strategic priorities of the nation s largest energy provider and #2 investor-owned utility in the world. Prior to this role, Jenny led the culture-building and capacity-building for the company s Sustainability department, doing business in a way that benefits People, the Planet and Profits. As the company s Sustainability Engagement Manager, she designed and executed programs to integrate sustainability into the DNA of the company. The company s signature, grassroots program the Sustainability Corps leverages the talent, energy and expertise of all 18,000 employees across region, business unit, and level. Efforts generated cost savings of approximately $34 million to the company over three years and reflected in increased employee satisfaction scores over those same years. Prior to Duke Energy, Jenny was a Senior Vice President at Wachovia, leading the Corporation s Early Talent strategy within Human Resources to attract, retain and engage a growing, yet oftentimes underutilized, talent base. Her other roles at Wachovia included Brand Manager and Women s Market Leader in Corporate Marketing, where she worked to bring in $1 billion of new loans to women-owned businesses by partnering with business banking to create a research-based focus for the growing financial services needs of women. Branded as Women with Wachovia, she created a virtual network of women and men at Wachovia to understand and create value from the unmet needs of women customers. Jenny s experience prior to corporate roles, includes brand management, strategic planning, public relations and marketing communications roles at two regional full service advertising agencies, serving clients from health care, foodservice, real estate and technology industries.
Marie B. White, MSW, LCSW Mecklenburg County Community Support Services Women s Commission Division Ms. White has worked in the field of domestic violence for over thirteen years. In addition to being employed by the Mecklenburg County Community Support Services, Women s Commission Division, Ms. White has worked with survivors, child witnesses and teen victims of Domestic/Dating Violence as well as batterers. Ms. White has done independent consultant work in the areas of family violence, intimate partner violence and animal abuse. Ms. White serves on several committees and boards in the North Carolina and in the Charlotte- Mecklenburg area. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additionally, Ms. White has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Ms. White s background also includes experience in the fields of aging, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, domestic violence and mental health.
Kathy Gauger, Director of Residential Services, Safe Alliance Kathy recently became the Director of Residential Services at Safe Alliance, responsible for the operations and strategic vision of the newly constructed 80 bed Clyde and Ethel Dickson Domestic Violence Shelter. She holds a Masters of Arts in Counseling degree from UNC- Charlotte and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UNC-Wilmington. Her goal has been to empower women and children at difficult stages in their lives, and has seen the impact of domestic violence in her work. She has spent her career creating, implementing and maintaining programming responsive to the needs of women and children. As the founding director of Family Promise of Charlotte, Kathy implemented a new way of providing shelter for homeless families. When that agency merged with two other agencies to form Charlotte Family Housing, she was involved in the development of the programming designed to help get homeless families into safe, affordable housing and maintain that housing. As a counselor at Florence Crittenton Services, she worked with pregnant women and teenagers during a crisis pregnancy, and helped to develop residential programming to serve teens in foster care who chose to parent their child. Kathy has an established track record of positively impacting women s issues including domestic violence, homelessness, adoption, parenting and substance abuse and is viewed as a respected client advocate in her field.
Stephanie Player, PHR, The Employers Association Stephanie Player is a Human Resources Specialist for The Employers Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Employers Association is a member-based organization that serves as a knowledgeable and trusted resource to meet the comprehensive human resource and training needs for nearly 900 organizations in the greater Charlotte area. Stephanie is primarily responsible for advising companies in the areas of employment law and employee relations. She also conducts HR audits, specializes in handbook reviews, and is involved in compliance training for member companies. Stephanie is a Charlotte, NC, native and a graduate of The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. She also has a Business Certificate from UNC Chapel Hill, and is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR).
Renea T. Barber, MBA, PHR Human Resources Manager (Employee Relations), Mecklenburg County Renea has been employed with Mecklenburg County since June 2000. Prior to joining Mecklenburg County, she worked 17 years in Human Resources with Duke Power-Catawba Nuclear Station. Renea is a graduate of Winthrop University with a Masters in Business Administration and holds a PHR (Professional Human Resources) Certification.
Lisa Yarrow, Co-Director, Founding Executive Director of the Women & Girls Research Alliance Lisa Yarrow is the Co-Director and Founding Executive Director of the Women + Girls Research Alliance, formerly known as the The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Women's Summit. Lisa's expertise is concentrated in the following areas: Non-profit and change management, communityuniversity engagement, research development, the social and economic status of women encompassing the gender wage gap, dependent care, educational attainment and income disparities, women's political participation and impact of public policy decisions on women.
Harlan Calhoun, VP Operations, Mid-Atlantic AlliedBarton Security Services Harlan began his 23 year career in the security industry as a Business Process Analyst, Hostage Negotiator and Academy Instructor for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department from 1994-2002, before becoming the Account Manager at Duke Energy for AlliedBarton Security Services. As the current Vice President of Operations for AlliedBarton Security Services for the Mid-Atlantic, Harlan is responsible for leadership oversight of nearly 3,000 employees spanning a service platform including North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, in addition to direction of the overall growth and management of Company Police Operations in North Carolina. His governance responsibilities include the management of new sales growth, human capital development, jurisdictional license compliance, administration and client services. He has extensive experience managing start up, corporate city and large operations and has received the North Carolina Advance Law Enforcement Certification, the Advance Hostage Negotiations Certification and numerous Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Awards. Harlan graduated from Wingate University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science, Communications, International Studies and Psychology, and is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security, Charlotte Center City Crime Council, and the International Security Management Association. He speaks frequently on the issue of domestic violence in the workplace providing companies with realistic tools that they can utilize when dealing with this issue.
Charles D. Kirby, CPP District Manager AlliedBarton Security Services Charles began his career as a Municipal Law Enforcement Office in Tennessee where he also worked as an instructor for domestic violence, defense against abduction and the citizen s police academy. He moved on to become a Special Investigator before joining a security service firm. He was client area manager for AlliedBarton Security Services for a year in Jacksonville, Florida before coming to Charlotte. He is now responsible for the overall growth, service and management of more than 1000 personnel, including client area managers, account managers, and operations managers in Charlotte and has experience managing accounts at start up, retail manufacturing, petro-chemical, corporate, government, and large operations. Charles has a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Tennessee State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, and is also board certified through ASIS (American Society for Industrial Security as a Certified Protection Professional (CPP).