The cavnessHR podcast

Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP is the Vice President of Human Resources for LaRosa's, Inc. - a regional Pizzeria restaurant chain in Southwest Ohio with 13 locations and over 1,100 Team Members.

Steve has been an HR professional for 30 years and has worked in the Hospitality, Manufacturing, Consumer Products, and Professional Services industries in various HR roles.

He is currently a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Board of Directors and has been a member of the Membership Advisory Council (MAC) representative for the North Central Region of SHRM and Past Ohio State Council Director. He facilitates a monthly HR Roundtable as well as an HR internet forum, called the HR Net, which reaches over 11,000 people globally each week.

Steve is an accomplished speaker who has been featured at local, regional and national Conferences, Chambers of Commerce, HR chapters and businesses.

He’s very active in Social Media and has a nationally recognized HR blog – Everyday People. (http://sbrownehr.com) He also has authored a new book called “HR on Purpose !!” which looks at Human Resources from a fresh, positive and intentional perspective.

Bernard Cruz is a transformative, Human Resources Director and Human Resource Business Partner who designs and executes strategic initiatives that accelerated the complex challenges of the global talent market – touching organization, operations, culture change, leadership, performance management and succession planning. Leverages a collaborative leadership style, international career, depth and breadth of experience, and an innate ability to root out existing and/or potential problems to quickly create enduring solutions that align with business plans, human capital needs and strategic direction especially in India and China. Builds a foundation of trust and connectedness among internal and external stakeholders – building bridges with cultural sensitivity across oil and gas, energy, manufacturing, engineering and IT environments.

Dr. King is currently the President of Senior Options LLC, a senior services advisory company. She has served as an executive in health care for over 25 years. In addition, Dr. King has served as adjunct faculty at The Ohio State University School of Public Health. To write her book "Fired: How to Manage Your Career in the age of Job Uncertainty." Nancy spent five years traveling the country interviewing 65 people who were let go. Her research produced significant patterns and insights on the ramifications of job loss. The recovery that follows and tips for practically managing your career.

NextShift Robotics was co-founded by Mary Ellen Sparrow. Mary Ellen first began creating material handling robotics systems for the Semi-Conductor Industry while at PRI Automation (which was brought by Brooks Automation). Mary Ellen focused on all layers of software and her teams were responsible for deploying 30+ systems in Fabrication plants across the world for Intel, IBM, AMD, Motorola, Promos, etc. She has held

software management positions at Brooks Automation, AS&E, Symbotic,

and Veeco, where she managed software, systems, controls, software

quality, field service, and program management teams; was a member of the companies’ strategic planning boards; and company representative for several semi-conductor standards committees.

Vincent Edwards, CEO of Empire Builders, has been consulting businesses for 8 years. Mr. Edwards has a diverse background that includes 11 years with Procter & Gamble and years of financial experience in loans, financing, capital investments, loan negotiations, HR and more. He has helped businesses raise millions from investors and debt financing. He loves working with businesses and helping them conquer the challenges they incur. His top skill is problem solving. He has consulted well over 100 companies from various industries and business sizes. His current vehicle to help startups and entrepreneurs is about to disrupt the startup community and ecosystem. He is a proud alumnus of the University of Kentucky. He Loves coffee, bourbon, cigars, living life to the fullest and is deathly allergic to failure.

Bill Herling runs Seattle based HummingTree. A national advertisement content management platform. HummingTree creates and shares affordable template ads to reach targeted customers faster. Bill previously ran Dial Inc. An interactive imaging technology which was fortunate enough to be acquired. Bill has written a few patents, is a marathon runner and volunteer coaches a youth cross country team that just won the city title.

Robert Lee is a career entrepreneur who sometimes refers to himself as the Forrest Gump of high tech. His diverse adventures encompass computer programming and hardware design, marketing consulting, advertising and electronic payment systems. As the founder and chief strategist behind successful businesses in both the U.S. and Canada, Lee and his companies have received national media exposure that included coverage in the New York Times and the front page of PC Week (now eWeek).

Our guest on the cavnessHR Podcast is Melissa Williams. She is the founder and chief consultant at Carolina Consulting LLC, author of Essential Life Skills, founder and President of nonprofit organization- Hands and Feet 24/7, Navy veteran, wife, passionate follower of Christ, and mom to three awesome children. She served in the Navy from 2003-2007, after which she completed her undergrad at Old Dominion University majoring in Philosophy. Since then, she has studied at Notre

Dame, Villanova, and Oxford Universities as she is a hopeless serial

student. She has risen from foster care in one of the poorest counties in

rural South Carolina to being an established community leader, author, and entrepreneur who is dedicated to improving the quality of life of our most forgotten communities and citizens.

Our guest on the cavnessHR Podcast is Victoria Matey. Victoria is a business events professional with 15 years international experience in the industry. She has successfully delivered many business events with high profile. Such as an investment showcase in London and those on a smaller scale. In 2001, She received her first major in linguistics. From Russian University and worked as a product coordinator for various organizations. Over the years she has been involved in delivering business events and realized this was something she liked doing. She then decided to get an Events Management education. She's always been keen to share her expertise and she noticed in her home country of Russia, there was a lack of education and professional government opportunities for event specialists. So in 2015 she started Matey Events.

Joe Wallin focuses his practice on emerging high growth startup companies. Joe frequently represents companies in Angel and Venture financing mergers and acquisitions and other significant business transactions. Joe also provides general counsel services for companies from startups to public.