Executive Talent Management Forum 2017

Dr. Vlad Vaiman is professor of international management at California Lutheran University in the USA and is a visiting professor at several top universities around the world, including Aalto University School of Business and Hanken School of Economics (both in Finland), Danube University of Krems and Management Center Innsbruck (both in Austria), Reykjavik University (Iceland), ISEG (France), etc. 

He holds a PhD degree in International Management from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and has received his MBA in Strategic Management and Human Resources at the School of Business of the University of Wyoming, USA.  His professional experience included working on various consulting assignments for a number of major organizations throughout the world, including USA, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, and some other European countries.  Dr. Vaiman is a long-time member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants and a highly sought-after speaker on topics of talent management and cross-cultural communication and negotiations.

Dr. Vaiman has published three very successful books on managing talent in organizations – Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage (with C. Vance), Talent Management of Knowledge Workers: Embracing the Non-Traditional Workforce, and Managing Talent of Self-initiated Expatriates (with A. Haslberger). 

Dr. Vaiman’s academic work has appeared in several top academic journals including Academy of Management Learning & Education, Academy of Management Perspectives, Human Resource Management, Thunderbird International Business Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management, and others.  He is also a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the European Journal of International Management (EJIM), an ISI/SSCI indexed publication (www.ejim-global.org).

Dina is Senior Vice President of Human Resources for The Cheesecake Factory- named one of the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For” in each of the past 4 years. The Cheesecake Factory differentiates itself through their menu innovation, service and hospitality and operational excellence—each of which is dependent upon the strong performance of their 35,000 staff members and the common culture that binds them together. In her role, she is responsible to drive the overall effectiveness and strategy of the HR organization, building the capacity to meet their talent challenges, which include talent acquisition and development, leadership & organization development, executive compensation, strategic benefits design and delivery, succession planning and employer branding efforts.

Before joining The Cheesecake Factory, Dina was Corporate Human Resources Vice President at Thomson/Technicolor. Prior to joining Thomson/Technicolor, she spent her career with The Boeing Company, last as the Human Resources Division Director for Rocketdyne. Dina holds a Master of Science in Organization Development from Pepperdines’ Graziadio School of Business, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Psychology from California State University Northridge.  She’s been honored as the Ventura County NHRA HR Executive of the Year. She is a Board Member of the Cancer Support Community, a Non-profit organization dedicated to providing free emotional support, education and hope for people with cancer and their loved ones.  She is a member of The Senior Human Resource Foundation, HARRT, NHRA, & SHRM.

Bob Bushnell is Group Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, for L3 Technologies, Integrated Sensor Systems (ISS) business.  L3’s ISS sector is focused on making the world safer by producing the best sensing solutions in all domains—Space, Airborne, Ground, Maritime (surface and undersea), and Cyber.  ISS does business globally and has a footprint comprised of seven divisions, with 20 operating locations in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and Italy.

Mr. Bushnell has over thirty years of domestic and international business experience in aerospace and defense, and telecommunications. He spent 23 years with Hughes Aircraft Company and, later, Raytheon Company, after it acquired Hughes. While at Hughes/Raytheon, Bushnell received multiple awards for Business Development Excellence, the highest recognition for excellence in his field.  He also served on the executive leadership team at Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems business, formerly Litton Industries.

Over the course of his career, Bob has sold highly complex military and commercial systems in some of the world’s most challenging markets such as the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Europe. He has negotiated a wide range of international business transactions including special mission aircraft for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance missions; telecommunications satellites, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, several in excess of $1 billion. While at Hughes, he helped launch the hugely successful direct-to-home satellite television service, DirecTV.

Prior to joining Hughes, Bob spent seven years with LTV Aerospace and Defense as a marketing executive. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Pepperdine University, an MBA degree from California Lutheran University and has completed graduate management programs at the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan. In 2012, Bushnell was honored by CLU as a Silver Anniversary Alumni, one the School of Management's top 25 distinguished MBA graduates.

Bob has been married for 35 years and has two adult children.

Jim Cathcart is a (four) seasoned HR executive with over 19 years of experience, all with one company. He leads the HR Division of a 5 diamond luxury hotel with 600 employees.   

After 4 years of Art History at UC Santa Barbara, he worked as a Sales Manager at the Santa Barbara News-Press. When the Four Seasons Biltmore called to place an ad for a Sales Assistant, he jumped at it before it hit the paper. After one year in Sales, he transferred to Human Resources where he climbed the ranks to Assistant Director of HR. In 2006, he joined the opening team of Four Seasons Westlake Village, becoming Director of Human Resources in 2010. Jim has held leadership positions in Learning & Development, Employment, Benefits and Employee Relations during his time with Four Seasons. He lives in Oxnard with his wife of 20 years. They are proud parents of two children.

 

Brick is President and CEO of Pharos Leadership, a very unique Leadership Development and Consulting Group, that effectively transfers Elite Warrior and Iconic Corporate Leadership experience, to diverse organizations, in an immersive and engaging system of Talent, Culture, Process, and Leadership optimization. Those services occasionally include personal C-Level integration, as exemplified by current CEO support to Roadrunner Transportation. Prior to Pharos Leadership, and Executive Positions with Booz Allen Hamilton and Northrop Grumman Aerospace, Brick’s professional world consisted of Navy Strike Fighters, Aircraft Carriers, high risk operations and persistent combat.

As a Squadron Commanding Officer, he was recognized for having the Navy’s best F/A-18 Hornet squadron in 1999, despite having the most inexperienced pilots and technicians.

In 1995 he helped create the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center which virtually transformed Naval Aviation and where he established a training and business model that resulted in overwhelming air combat success in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a key architect of the Iraqi Freedom Air Campaign and was considered the Navy’s premier expert in strike warfare and power projection.

In his final tour in the Navy, Brick commanded one of the largest and most complex Naval Bases in the world. His base was home to a phenomenal array of unique Military capability and his Team won multiple awards for exemplary environment and energy program stewardship. Perhaps his greatest legacy though can be found in the prototype system he designed to optimize military and community relations in Ventura County. His efforts helped to resolve shared problems, take better advantage of independent strengths, and inspired an integrated economic development strategy that still serves as a model for all military installations.

 

Doreen is Founder and Chief Learning Officer of a boutique, global consulting firm, E-Suite Consulting, specializing in strategic talent management, executive development and organization development. She is a Human Resource executive with excellent results in linking talent management to strategic business objectives. She has twenty-five years of experience in key leadership positions working for several Fortune 100 global organizations such as Molson Coors, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Accenture, and CIGNA. 

Her extensive background in building talent and developing organizational strategies bring an ideal mix of expertise to her consulting. Her key competencies and skills include executive and team coaching, strategic talent management/succession planning, change management, leadership education and executive development. Doreen is distinguished in her ability to assist individuals and teams achieve insights that result in advancing their leadership capability. Her distinctive expertise is coaching leaders through successful changes in assignment, such as promotions, expanded scope responsibility, global assignments, and integrating leadership teams resulting from mergers and acquisitions. She has coached leaders and teams in North America, Europe and Asia.

As the Vice President of Global People and Organization Development for Molson Coors Brewing Company, Doreen worked with the CEO and senior leadership team to establish the enterprise-wide people strategy for building global leaders. She established the first-ever Global Center of Excellence to support the talent management and organization development strategy – scope included USA, UK, Canada, Europe and China. She deployed large-scale change management strategies to support the global harmonization of performance management, succession planning and leadership development.

Doreen has an extensive background in working in the Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical industry focused on building talent management strategies to meet the current and future talent pipeline needs. She instituted award winning, best practice global leadership development programs, ranging from action learning models to e-learning on demand. Doreen facilitated senior leadership meetings to identify strategic business drivers to regain market leadership and identify the root cause of manufacturing process challenges to avoid potential threat of Consent Decree sanctions. She successfully directed the change management strategy to address each of these initiatives.

Doreen earned her Ed.D (ABD) in Organizations and Leadership, M.A. in Organizational Psychology, and M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology, each from Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a B.A in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. In addition, she completed executive programs at Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania, as well as a variety of certifications in professional, leadership and coaching programs throughout her career.

Her passion is to ensure that organizations possess the critical link between the business strategy and the people strategy needed to execute optimal results.  

Marilyn A. Monahan is the owner of the Monahan Law Office in Marina del Rey, California. Marilyn focuses her practice on advising consultants, health plans, and employers on compliance with insurance and employee benefit laws, including ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, and COBRA. She lectures frequently to human resource and employee benefit professionals on new developments in the law. Her volunteer activities include serving on the Board of Directors of the Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA); she is currently serves as Immediate Past President of PIHRA.  Marilyn is also a past chair of the Solo and Small Firm Section of the State Bar of California, and currently serves as an advisor to that group.