The cavnessHR podcast

Overcoming adversity is nothing new to Steven Matly. A high school dropout turned entrepreneur. He has twice created six-figure revenue generating companies with less than $5,000 startup capital. Raised by a single mother in the South Seattle housing projects. Steven entered the workforce at age fifteen and quickly recognized the limited resources, mentors, and role models available to families like his in the area.

In the years that followed Steven worked for both small companies and large corporations in a number of different roles. In 2014, Steven launched SM Diversity, a boutique hiring agency committed to helping businesses create a more diverse and inclusive workforce. By connecting them with community-based organizations, subject matter experts, and experienced recruiters, his clients are able to leverage a broader network of diverse talent.

Leo Novsky is a professional speaker, executive presentation coach at SPEAK with Power Consulting. Coming to the United States as a political refugee at the age of 12 from the Soviet Union, Leo experienced first-hand the challenge of not being understood. This challenge turned into a calling to master the art of effective communication. Leo has over 17 years of experience in communication, training, marketing and business development. His educational background includes a BA in English Literature from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the University of Dallas.

He is a published author, inventor and founder of several start-ups. In addition to his regular consulting business, Leo has taught Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Business Communication courses as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Washington, Edmonds Community College and even in Washington State Prisons. He is fluent in English, Russian, and conversant in Japanese.

Jacky is a wife, mother, sister and friend.  When she is not busy fulfilling those roles, she is deeply immersed in her passion for human capital development as a learning leader. Jacky’s career spans the fields of Education, Human Resources Management, Tourism Management, and Marketing. Her roles have included: Director of Recruitment for the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas; Director of Development and Vice Principal for a leading K-12 school; adjunct faculty at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and UWI's Project Liaison for HR.com's Inspired Leadership simulcast.

She currently shares her talent for people development through her role as Training Manager for the AML Group in The Bahamas, where she has oversight for the design and facilitation of the Group’s leader development programme. AML Foods Limited, with some 1,000 employees is the parent company for the chain of Fresh Market and Solomon’s grocery stores, the Cost Right club stores, as well as the Domino’s Pizza franchise.

Jazmine Wilkes is an HR Assistant in Huntsville, Alabama, she currently

works her full-time position, she has also joined the 2018 Northern

Alabama Society of Human Resources (NASHRM) Board as the VP of

Membership, she is a blog writer for her personal HRJazzy Blog, and a

contributor to Workology and SHRM Blog. Jazmine is a Millennial HR

Professional who brands herself as, "Just Trying to Get It Right". She's

been in HR for two full years and hopes to continue taking the HR career

field by storm and creating new positions and provide help to HR newbies.

Bruce Bjorklund is a senior software architect, entrepreneur, and US Army veteran. Having moved to the Pacific Northwest after a sudden military career sickness, and like a stroke of luck Bruce got his foot in the door of the video game industry at Gas Powered Games as an entry level production assistant. Upon teaching himself how to code in his spare time, Bruce was taken under the wing of then CEO Chris Taylor, where he was put in charge of his R&D projects. He then continued building games and prototypes for companies like Disney, Microsoft, and Wargaming. Where his beloved gaming studio suddenly lost all contracts. Bruce was selected to stay behind to run a kickstarter to save the company, but was ultimately bought out by Wargaming before the conclusion of the campaign.

Ready to move on to the next challenge, Bruce quit his dream job to chase another dream - starting his own business. After crashing his first startup within the first year, and battling personal life issues. Bruce

Janelle is a Human Resources Consultant for a nationally recognized payroll & HR outsourcing provider and the President for SHRM Affiliate chapter, Staffing Management Association of South Florida. She has 15+ years human resources experience in various industries such as high speed technology, power management and payroll & HR outsourcing. Janelle holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in HR Management from the University of Central Florida, College of Business [Go Knights!] and holds both PHR & SHRM-CP certifications. Janelle has been a member of several human resource organizations including: SHRM, SMA of South Florida, HRABC and GMSHRM. She has entered her seventh year on the Board of Directors for Staffing Management Association of South Florida and is excited to be serving her first full term as Chapter President.

Russ Elliot, an expert on organizational culture, is the founder of the Conscious Culture Group, a consulting and executive coaching company committed to linking culture to performance by creating ownership for culture and fully understanding the employee experience. Working closely with leaders, Russ helps create organizational changes that build more effective and intentional cultures holistically. Russ brings his 32 years of HR practitioner experience to his consulting practice.

 While serving as a SVP HR Director, his organization was recognized as a Best Place to Work in Silicon Valley and nationally as one of the top 40 Best Banks to Work For. Russ, SPHR certified, is on the faculty of UC Berkeley extension, Global Institute of Leadership Development and Women in Leadership. Russ’ articles have been published in national HR magazines and he has been interviewed as an HR/culture expert for national HR articles. Russ holds a BS in Business and an MA in HR.

Matt Burns’ nearly 20-year corporate journey has taken him around the world, supporting companies with operations in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. He’s presently the Head of HR for a global retailer and leads a team that was recently recognized for the: ‘Most Innovative Use of HR Technology’ in Canada.

Matt is also in the midst of a mid-career renaissance. He’s passionate about innovation and knows things need to change in the Corporate World. He’s in his own words: a “recovering corporate hack’, having recently discovered that his true passions lie, not in personal success, but in engaging and enabling the success of others.

He’s documenting his experiences, using his enrolment in an International Executive MBA program as the backdrop for a transformative change journey that began this past summer in Vancouver, and recently took him to Sao Paulo. Future stops in Mexico City (January), and Nashville, this Spring (April) are sure to incite further learnings, convers

Paul Maskill is a business coach, consultant and inventor focused on helping service-based business owners go from Business Operator to Business Owner and CEO. Paul's focus is on putting systems, processes and people in place so that the business can thrive on a day-to-day basis without the owner.

Our guest today on the cavnessHR podcast is Laurie Litwack. She is a problem solver, a mother of daughters, a compassionate geek, and an expert coach with a passion for leadership and creating greater impact for women in tech.