Keynote Speaker
Jim "The Rookie" Morris
2018 Annual Conference
Speaker
Ruth Chandler Cook
The Minority Majority: A Look into Diversity and Women of the Future
Founder & CEO
Ruth is an entrepreneur who leads HireHer’s efforts to connect diverse talent with innovative industries faster. Through the HireHer technology and services, Ruth enables employers to recruit, engage and retain diverse talent.
Ruth is viewed as an up and comer in HR tech and well-known industry expert in strategic human capital management. She is adept at helping leaders and managers navigate through issues of diversity & inclusion while cultivating high performing teams through organizational culture enhancements.
Prior to founding HireHer, Ruth maintained a distinguished career in government and the private sector. Most recently she led human resources policy from the headquarters of a large complex federal agency with over 100,000 employees world-wide. In her work aligning human capital to strategic plans she was recognized for leading an award-winning employee engagement program.
Ruth is known for building and sustaining a culture of engagement across the enterprise, and designing workforce strategies that result in resilient, high performing teams. She regularly advises leaders on key policy initiatives, labor-management considerations, and executes efficient yet effective change management tactics.
Ruth earned a master’s degree in Human Resources from Georgetown University. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources Management (SPHR) by the Human Resources Certification Institute and as a Society for Human Resources Management – Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP).
Jeremy Mahugh
Human Trafficking: The Silent Risk
CoFounder
Jeremy Mahugh spent 10 years in the US Special Operations, where he went on to become and deploy as a Navy SEAL Sniper. After his time in the SEALS, Jeremy returned to the Middle East as an operative for a National Level Intelligence agency for an additional five years. After 17 deployments later, Jeremy returned home to work on a successful political campaign for a US Congressman from Montana. In 2014 Jeremy co-founded DeliverFund. DeliverFund is a nonprofit, private intelligence organization challenging the status quo in the fight against human trafficking by targeting the human trafficker. Jeremy focuses on training, equipping and supporting law enforcement so their efforts to counter human trafficking can be scaled as a solution to Human Trafficking in the United States.
John Wall
Human Trafficking: The Silent Risk
Sergeant, Houston Police Department
Sergeant John Wall is a 25 year veteran of the Houston Police Department (HPD). In 2014, he played a key role in the implementation and development of the newly formed HPD Vice Division, Human Trafficking Unit (HTU). The HTU is responsible for investigating and combating all aspects of Human Trafficking in and around Houston, whether in the sex industry, or forced labor, including both domestic and international trafficking. In October 2016, the Houston Police Department and YMCA International received a federal grant award for 1.5 million dollars to continue the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA) of the Southern District of Texas. Sergeant Wall was instrumental in writing the grant and serves as the HTRA task force supervisor, managing investigations, operations, and administrative duties. Since its inception in 2004, HTRA has been recognized as a national model in identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking and prosecuting those engaged in trafficking offenses.
Sergeant Wall works closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on the issue of human trafficking well as the City of Houston and Harris County legal departments, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and various non-governmental organizations.
He holds a Master Peace Officers Proficiency Certificate from the State of Texas and has over 2,600 hours of law enforcement training, a Bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University, and a Master’s degree from the University of Houston-Downtown.
Dr Douglas Benner
For Real or Just Blowing Smoke? Marijuana-related Workers Compensation Claims
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. DOUG BENNER is an Independent Consultant and serves as the Chief Medical Officer of EK Health as well as the National Medical Director of Macy’s & Bloomingdales Claims Operations and as the Medical Consultant for Western States of Marriott International Claims Operations. He has Lifetime Board Certification in Occupational Medicine and is Certified as a Medical Review Officer.
He was with Kaiser Permanente for over 35 years and created 31 Occupational Health clinics and developed the Kaiser Hospital and Permanente Clinic Employee Health Services for the Northern California Region.
