APRIL SIMPKINS SHRM-CP, PHR, - April is a dually certified HR Professional with 30 years of executive-level Human Resources experience. April is an HR Consultant, and the Chief Human Resources Officer for Totalhr, a human resources services firm focused on supporting the HR needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. She has helped more than 1000 business owners shape and develop their human capital.

April's experience and expertise, coupled with her continued study of Human Resources trends, has made her a trusted advisor for many in the business community. It also led to an invitation to The Business Journal Leadership Trust, which allows April to share her expertise with leaders nationwide. She has been a requested presenter and guest speaker for organizations that include Harvard University Extension School, Winthrop University, The Citadel, EEOC, and The City of Charleston, to name a few. She is also a member of the SHRM Speakers Bureau.

April is a board member of both the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the SC Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). She is the Chapter Chair for the Charlotte affiliate of the Women Presidents Organization (WPO), a non-profit membership organization for women presidents, CEOs, and managing directors of privately held, multimillion-dollar companies. In 2016 WPO honored April with the Woman of Color Award for her business achievements.

April was the Diversity Director for the South Carolina Society for Human Resources Management from 2018 - 2020. In 2020 April received the Unsung Hero Award from Greenville SHRM for her exemplary leadership in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Her service and commitment to the HR community and the profession's advancement led to her selection as a member of the HR Advisory Board for Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. She works with a team of HR thought leaders who have been charged with designing the human resources undergraduate and postgraduate degree curriculum and programs.

April has received many awards and honors for her business acumen. Her awards include: the 2020 Women In Business Achievement Award from the Charlotte Business Journal, the 2018 Fort Mill/ Tega Cay Business Person of The Year Award from the York County Regional Chamber, the Movers & Shaker Award given by Business Leader Magazine and, in 2016, April was named one of Charlotte's 50 Most Influential Women by Mecklenburg Times.

April is a classically trained pianist, an avid runner, athlete, mother, wife, and entrepreneur.

Christopher Salem is an Executive Coach, Corporate Trainer, and Professional Speaker mentors C-Suite, CPAs, Financial Advisors, Physicians, and other business leaders to build and protect their brands by raising their level of influence as trusted advisors to maximize their results.  He also works with companies to create an interdependent work environment and thriving culture through a growth mindset foundation, effective communication, transparent leadership, and higher engagement.  

His book Master Your Inner Critic / Resolve the Root Cause – Create Prosperity went international best seller in 2016. He also co-authored the recent edition to "Mastering the Art of Success" with Jack Canfield. His weekly radio show Sustainable Success is part of the Voice America Influencers Channel.  Chris is also an accomplished business & emotional intelligence strategist, award-winning author®, certified mindset expert, radio show host & media personality, and wellness advocate.  

He works with organizations such as such as JP Morgan – Chase, Ralph Lauren, GE Research, UTC - Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon, Microchip Technologies, Anthem, US Census Bureau, United Healthcare, Laticrete Corporation, Hubbell Corporation, Conning & Company, Foxwoods Casino, and NYPD Forensics Department including universities such as University of Hartford, Westchester Community College, Bay Path University, Worcester State University, and spoke on overcoming limited beliefs for peak performance at Harvard University’s Faculty Club and US Senate.

Dawn Goldberg has been a CPA in public accounting for over 30 years and has worked for some of the big firms like Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young.

Not only is she an active CPA, but she is also a Professional Certified Coach for accountants and the CEO of The Smarter Accountant.  She founded the coaching company to support accountants with their careers and their businesses.

She is the author of “The Smarter Accountant,” helping accountants to learn what they’ve never been taught in any classroom, CPE seminar, or webinar - how to stop underutilizing their brains.

Her style of teaching is intelligent and informative, helping to break down complicated subjects into simple, actionable steps.

Dena Davis, PHR has over 20 years of experience designing people-centered training and development programs to unlock high performing talent, build leadership skills, and increase levels of engagement, productivity and efficiency across teams. 

She is a lifetime learner, focusing on delivering engaging workshops that are needed in today’s ever changing business climate. She prides herself in “making it real”, bringing a practical, organic approach towards training where she finds creative ways to put learnings into practice. 

In her professional career, she has a proven track record of successfully transforming human resources, employee engagement, organizational development, talent acquisition and (DEI) training and strategy. She was most recently Head of People of Culture at Volk Optical, overseeing the international HR function and prior to that she served as HR Manager and Business Partner for US Sales with ZOLL Medical, overseeing a high-volume recruiting operation. Prior to joining ZOLL, she held senior level HR roles where she led several organization wide transformation and change management efforts. 

In 2019, founded Davis Hill Consulting, where branched out from her corporate background into the consulting world where she leverages her expertise to build collaborative relationships with clients to develop training and advance their talent and people practices. On a personal note, Dena enjoys yoga, herbalism and anything that gets her out in and around nature.

In 2018, Erica McBeth set out on a mission to talk to one stranger a week for a full year.  Her journey through that project is chronicled in her book, “52 New Friends” and her video series, “How to Make Friends & Beat Loneliness.”  In an effort to help people connect together in positive ways, Erica founded Erica McBeth Productions in 2020 and McBeth Marketing in 2021.  She sits on the Arizona Chapter Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and educates people on the benefits of how human connection can transform their companies and their lives.  She is a speaker, a writer, a storyteller, an advocate for human connection and the self-proclaimed slayer of loneliness. 

For the past 35 years Ilene has provided financial literacy and investment education for individual clients to enhance their understanding of money, finances, and investments; and to organizations with a particular emphasis on retirement planning. She has worked for notable Washington, DC area investment companies in management and in building organizational depth in financial education. 

Ms. Slatko has significant experience in the areas of leadership development, team development, career development, executive coaching and talent management. She has expertise in designing learning solutions – virtual instructor-led training and instructor-led -- to meet the unique challenges of clients. She was a key provider of executive and employee education for The Southland Corporation, U.S. Mapping, Century 21, and ERA Real Estate. She has worked with executives and leaders in the areas of communication, selling, client management, leadership development, and team development. 

Ms. Slatko has extensive experience in Federal retirement programs and training federal employees. When the previous retirement system was replaced by FERS, Ilene was at the forefront of presentations to educate affected employees in their choices. She has been a trainer for retirement presentations at agencies throughout the DC area,

She has been a speaker at conferences including the Army Materiel Command Women’s Financial Day, Delaware Women’s Conference, and numerous youth financial literacy programs. Ms. Slatko is currently the host of a weekly Roku and Apple TV show called, The *It Show, the first financial program designed specifically for young women. In addition, she has been the Director of Training for companies in the financial and real estate fields. 

Ilene is an alumna of Marietta College where she studied Drama, Speech, and English. 

Jennifer Hancock is the author of several best selling and award winning books and is the founder of Humanist Learning Systems. Not only was she raised as a Humanist, she is considered one of the top speakers and writers in the world of Humanism today. Her professional background is varied including leadership positions in both the for profit and non-profit sectors.

She teaches Humanism – a combination of Love, Rationality, Science & Responsibility. Her courses will give you hope. It will help you simplify your life by reducing complexity of the problems you face, which will in turn – help you reduce your anxiety. Finally- because this is all science based – it will work. 

What makes her unique is that she teaches humanistic approaches grounded in dignity and compassion coupled with science based behavioral modification techniques to create positive workplace cultures that eliminate unwanted behaviors like bullying, harassment and discrimination while positively reinforcing the behaviors you do want.

Ms. Hancock has a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1990). Her field of study combined cognitive linguistics, anthropology and psychology.  While in college, she apprenticed as a dolphin trainer for a dolphin language/cognition laboratory which is where she learned the behavioral science and behavior modification techniques she now teaches.

Ms. Hancock has worked in executive leadership roles her entire career (since graduating college in 1990).  She has literally never not worked in leadership/management.  In the course of her career she has provided training to companies all over the world for both executive leadership as well as staff.  She started training and coaching staff in her first job out of college as the director of volunteer services for the Los Angeles SPCA., and has provided training, support and mentoring programs at  every job she’s held since including her stint at the manager of acquisition group information for a 1/2 billion dollar company.

She has over 30 years of experience working in executive leadership and in providing leadership and management training to others. If you let her, she can teach you how to be a more authentic and effective leader who is both powerfully ethical and armed with the technical skills required to master whatever challenges you face with grace and dignity. 

Joe Urbanski is the COO with the Total Solutions Group (TSG), providing culture-driven solutions for organizational development focused on driving the results that are Really Most Important™ in your culture, strategy, and capability now and for the long-term by becoming an extension of your executive team and organizational leaders.

For two decades, Joe has helped organizations revitalize their culture and strategy by partnering with executives and organizational leaders to balance their strategic path within everyday execution. These efforts have led to rapid transformation in how organizations build trust, alignment, and accountability to realize their full potential in their marketplace and with their customers. Joe has also custom-built leadership development programs alongside the facilitation of full-day trainings, strategic retreats, and multi-year consulting work.

For these two decades, Joe has honed his electrifying facilitation style performing for as many as 2,400 participants during full-day trainings, three-day retreats, and multi-year leadership development programs. He has delivered more than 550 onsite and online workshops for 420,000+ participants including executive leaders, corporate trainers, and everyone in between. Joe is honored to be ranked among the top 10% of speakers in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Association for Talent Development (ATD, formerly ASTD), as well as Training Conference.

Joe’s genius and passion for providing high-energy, interactive, engaging, and fun experiences within personal and organizational development is at the core of his appeal, while his entertaining style and simple approach make him a favorite at events across the country. Off the road, Joe invests his time with as a “trophy husband” and “best dad in the galaxy” as proclaimed by his wife and two kids.

Lisa Mininni is President, Excellerate Associates, an organizational development and business mentoring company showing businesses how to understand and identify human wiring, uncover prevailing hidden cultures impacting their organizations, and scale the company in alignment with their Contribution in the World

• Founder Business Innovation Lab CoWorking & Conference Center located in Livonia, Michigan
• Best Selling Author of Me, Myself, and Why? The Secrets to Navigating Change
• Excellerate Associates is a Certified Women Business Enterprise
• To schedule an introductory session, visit https://www.ExcellerateAssociates.com or call 734-223-3938
  

Mark provides CPE and technical staff training for CPA firms, private industry, state CPA societies, and government organizations.  His topics include accounting, SSARS, ethics, fraud, internal and external auditing, internal control development (COSO), entrepreneurship, and developing a business plan.  Mark is in the process of initiating a new entity, The Internal Control Institute, which will be offering CPE and staff training related to internal controls, and in conjunction with professors from Claremont Graduate University, will be providing internal control consulting.

Mark is also an expert witness in the defense of CPAs in cases involving primarily ethics, fraud, and compliance with standards in the performance of professional services.

Mark also provides consulting services to CPA firms with an A & A practice that do not have an expert on GAAP or requirements of Professional Standards within the firm.  He addresses such matters as conformity with GAAP, adequacy of disclosures, compliance with professional standards, risk assessment, development and performance of audit and review processes, engagement documentation, compilation and preparation engagements, ethics and independence requirements, assessing and enhancing internal controls for the firm and clients, preparation for peer review, and staff training and CPE.  He also provides consulting services related to client management and marketing.

Mark’s public accounting experience includes working with Kenneth Leventhal & Company and more recently, he was a partner at NSBN, a Beverly Hills CPA and business consulting firm. Mark’s industry experience includes serving as assistant controller of a large trucking and warehousing firm along with controller and Vice President of Finance and Administration for major real estate development companies.  Mark also spent nearly 30 years as an entrepreneur, operating a company that prepared individuals for the CPA exam nationwide.

Mark has been involved in accounting education at CSU Northridge, CSU San Bernardino, Loyola Marymount University and UCLA.  He obtained his bachelor’s degree in accounting from CSU Northridge. He obtained his Executive MBA at the Peter Drucker and Masatoshi Ito School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, where he previously had been a student of Dr. Drucker’s.  He also obtained an Internal Control Certificate from COSO.  Until recently, he authored “Knowledge Based Preparation, Compilation, and Review Engagements” for CCH and updated their checklists for SSARS engagements.  He also served as Senior Editor for Roger CPA Review.

Sherré DeMao, CGS, is founder and CEO and of BizGrowth Inc, an award-winning strategy, training and intellectual property innovation firm specializing in next-level, next-idea solutions for entrepreneurs and leaders to create preferential value, exponential growth, and marketplace preference. A nationally acclaimed author, speaker, organizational growth expert, and impassioned researcher, she is currently conducting a groundbreaking study linking a company's stock value to corporate culture. 

Her book, Me, Myself & Inc. resulted in her being the subject matter expert for Chapter 2, also called Me, Myself & Inc. in the university textbook, Smart Start-up Business Management: Operating Your Business Effectively. Her book, 50 Secrets of Growth Companies in Down Economic Times was nationally acclaimed as a book that would be referred to time and time again. Her most recent book, Dream Wide Awake: Shifting from Daydreaming to Dream Doing was released internationally on Valentine’s Day of 2020 and was selected for the National Association of Women in Construction’s Leadership Book Club. Her books, The Profitability Quotient: What COVID Business Successes Confirmed, and The Prosperity Imperative are expected to be released in 2024. Her expertise has been featured in Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, and EI+ Magazine. 

Her firm has earned more than 50 awards locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Sherré’s business acumen, advocacy and innovative approach to advising and working with entrepreneurs has resulted in national recognition including being honored with a Small Business Woman Champion Award (2006) by the Small Business Administration, named among North America’s 50 Most Enterprising Women (2007), being recognized with an International Consultancy Award from Corporate Vision magazine (UK), and being inducted as an expert and thought leader in Forbes Council in 2022 as a result of her track record for business growth initiatives.

Ty is a CPA with almost 20 years of experience in both public accounting and sales. Ty worked as an accountant at firms ranging from small to large prior to moving into the accounting technology sector successfully building sales training programs for both Wolters Kluwer and Bloomberg BNA. Working in different areas of the accounting industry, Ty recognized that sales and business development skills are a necessary part of the job of a CPA, but also the most underserved in terms of skill development and training. Ty’s passion is to provide the tools necessary for accountants to not only be successful but also enjoy business development. Ty has a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY.