Every day is a good day when you love what you do! At Leapgen, Fridays are even more special because we get to share them with you; our incredible Now of Work community that ranges from CHROs and executives, to managers, consultants and entrepreneurs. Those who dream and do, ideate and execute. We are inspired by the power of us all.

Come to engage, listen, relax, and enjoy the power of community!

How would you rate your Workforce Experience on a scale of one to 10? Would you give it a 10? Would you say, without hesitation, that it is REMARKABLE? That's the goal; an experience where both PEOPLE THRIVE and business moves forward.

This week Oracle announced that they want IN to the employee journeys space, and they're not alone. There's never been more activity in the HR Technology space— more urgency, funding and the intention to FOCUS ON PEOPLE; their SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, MOBILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND HAPPINESS!

It's no longer just about tech. Honestly, it never was. It's about designing employee journeys using data. It's about re-engineering solutions to produce better business outcomes. AND today, we'll help you sort things out, with a SPECIAL GUEST.

We're excited to welcome Yvette Cameron to our FRIDAY Digital Meetup! Our Jason Averbook, JESS VON BANK, and James Holincheck are pumped to talk shop with the Senior VP of Global HCM Product Strategy at Oracle. In addition to examining the market, we'll also surely have some Friday fun catching up and talking change with our longtime Leapgen friend.

Brian Matthews is President of Appriss Insights and is responsible for the overall strategic direction, and financial performance of this leading data and analytics business focused on saving lives, preventing fraud, and keeping communities and workplaces safe. Since joining Appriss in 2017, Brian has lead Insights’ product strategy, successfully pivoting the business towards new growth opportunities in risk management and fraud prevention, growing revenue by 70% and doubling EBITDA. In October 2019, Brian was promoted to President of Appriss Insights. As President, Brian has continued to drive growth and helped shape the culture of Insights to focus on growth over status quo, action over deliberation, and team over self-interests.

Brian has over 30 years of senior leadership in technology companies with a primary focus on strategy, business development, sales, marketing, and product management. His experience ranges from startups and growth-stage companies to Fortune 50 organizations. Career highlights include almost a decade at JP Morgan Chase, eight years at VeriSign, as they scaled from $100M to $1.5B in revenue, and growth leadership roles at eOriginal, Verint, and Vubiquity. In these roles, Brian focused on defining growth strategies, disrupting markets, launching new products and channel distribution.

Brian holds an MBA in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BBA in Accounting and Pre-Law from Ohio University. He lives in the suburbs of Maryland outside of D.C. with his wife and three children.

Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdmatthews99/

Connect with Jess: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessvonbank/

Appriss: https://appriss.com/

We're 12 days away from Spring HR Technology Conference & Exposition and we're pumped! 4 Days, 7 Keynote speakers—3 Leapgen led sessions, including our Jason Averbook's keynote: Changing Work for Good: A Whole Person Approach to Digital Transformation.

Connect with Mimi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-brooks-72426aa/

The idiom of 'canaries in the coal mine' refers to coal miners who carried caged canaries into the mines to detect carbon monoxide and other toxic gases before they could hurt humans. Kanarys (pronounced the same way) was established with the same mission: to detect toxic factors that might prevent a company from achieving a truly inclusive work culture where everyone belongs. Where humans can thrive.

Jess Von Bank was thrilled to welcome Mandy Price, CEO and Co-Founder of Kanarys, to the Now of Work. They got nitty gritty about the anonymous, bottom-up feedback loop that is absolutely essential to TRULY HEARING what PEOPLE ARE FEELING. Take a listen to an inspiring conversation about making your voice heard. Change at work starts here, in this conversation between Mandy and Jess — and with each conversation we have to make work more inclusive.

Connect with Mandy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandysprice/

Connect with Jess: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessvonbank/

Kanarys: https://www.kanarys.com/

NOW LIVE: SmartRecruiters is on a mission to change how people and organizations think about hiring, diversity, and recruiting. With Rocki Howard at the helm, they’re poised to make a significant impact. We’re excited to welcome Rocki, their Chief Diversity Officer, to our #NowofWork Digital Meetup. “We believe that when you change the lives of people who are underrepresented, you change the world,” she says.

It's a big honor for our CEO, Jason Averbook, to welcome Global Industry Analyst, Josh Bersin, to our Now of Work Digital Meetup. In this episode they preview Josh's Spring #HRTechConf keynote "#HRTechnologyy 2021: Facilitating Big Changes in Work." Jason will also tease his talk.

Rocki Howard is doing some of the most important work that needs to be done right now, but wishes that her job didn't exist. "I would love to live in a world where I don't have a job," she tells our Jess Von Bank in this Now of Work podcast episode.

Rocki is the Chief Diversity Officer of SmartRecruiters, and explains that she's on a mission to "disrupt the intersection of diversity and recruitment and create systems that lead to simple, substantive, sincere and sustainable diversity solutions." And although Rocki would love to live in a world where ALL recruiting includes diversity recruiting, she knows that the industry is not there yet. 

To chip away at this dilemma, Rocki spearheaded a Diversity Hiring Toolkit with SmartRecruiters, that's changing the way people and orgs think about hiring, diversity, and retaining talent. She digs deeper during her engaging chat with Jess, as they unpack about everything from unconscious bias to tech and budget barriers. "We don't want price to be a barrier. We want people to have diversity hiring success. We believe that when you change the lives of people who are underrepresented, you change the world."

Before joining SmartRecruiters, Rocki spent over 20 plus years in the recruitment industry. She's held leadership roles that include the US Operations Director at Resource Solutions, a Principal at Pipeline HC, and VP of Colleague Experience at Adecco. If you think Rocki and Jess's convo is smooth, it's because Rocki also has a podcasting background. She brings her wealth of experience and insights to her role as Host of the Voices of Diversity podcast, which seeks to amplify and humanize underrepresented voices and diversity efforts.

Hear more from Rocki about changing the way we do diversity recruiting and hiring on Friday. She'll be a guest on our 2/26 Meetup Series.

Save your seat now!

REGISTER:

Connect with Rocki:

ACCESS Smart Recruiter's Diversity Hiring Toolkit:

WE LOVE highlighting people doing innovative work in #HR, #HRTech, #DEI, & #Women in Leadership worlds! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT. Nearly ONE THOUSAND people have registered for our Friday #NowofWork Digital Meetups!! Surely a moment to celebrate. It's also an incentive to keep doing the work to help move the industry forward.