Cecile Alper-Leroux is the VP of Human Capital Management (HCM) Innovation at Ultimate Software and an internationally sought speaker, thought leader, and visionary on HCM trends, hot topics, and global strategies. An economic anthropologist with more than 20 years of experience worldwide, Cecile has dedicated her life to helping companies design experiences that enable all people to achieve highly purposeful and productive jobs. She is passionate about the extraordinary transformation of the work environment and the vastly more human-centered ways of building meaningful careers. A recognized voice in the HCM industry, Cecile has been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, HR Magazine, HRD Canada TV, and The Wall Street Journal.

Tom Hammond assumed the role of vice president of corporate strategy and product management in January 2017 with more than 25 years of experience at Paychex. He leads an organization that develops strong, intuitive, and relevant HCM solutions for small and mid-size businesses, embracing the challenge of remaining cutting-edge in an increasingly competitive market. He also shapes and directs the execution of the company’s strategic vision. Earlier in his Paychex career, Hammond spent six years as the senior director of product and program management, putting his stamp on Paychex software development initiatives. He oversaw the creation of Paychex’s first payroll application, CORE Advanced, and has since played an integral role in its evolution into what is now Paychex Flex, the company’s full suite of HCM solutions. A graduate of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., Hammond earned his Bachelor of Science degree in marketing in 1990.

Kristy Wallace is the President at Ellevate Network, and is responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing professional women with a global community to lean on and learn from. She directs the Network’s staff, is responsible for business growth and strategy, and works closely with Ellevate's Chapter Leaders, Business Partners, and Champions to further Ellevate's impact. Kristy obtained her BA in English/Sociology from Villanova University and began her career as a financial analyst at KeyBank.

Katharine Mobley is an award-winning marketer who is blazing a trail for the next generation of women in technology. With over 20 years’ experience in her field, she has witnessed drastic changes in marketing and advertising and the impact they’ve had on technology companies. She is a highly regarded marketing maven, as well as a self-proclaimed data geek and social media addict. Prior to joining First Advantage as Global CMO, she served as CMO at Crescerance and WeCareCard Mastercard®. Earlier in her career, she managed brands such as Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Michelin and Dodge Automotive for global agencies: BBDO, Millward Brown and Allison+Partners. Katharine is a proud graduate of The University of Georgia with a BA in Marketing from the Terry College of Business (1998). She resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two sons.

Yessica Cancel is the Chief Operating Officer serving PACE Center for Girls, Inc. based out of Jacksonville, FL. She joined PACE in 2011 in an organizational development capacity. Prior to joining PACE, Yessica spent a significant part of her career in the for-profit sector working with an ocean transportation carrier as Vice President of Organizational Development. The move to PACE was a convening of experience and passion as Yessica began her career as a high school teacher working with at risk populations. Yessica has a B.A. in Multilingual/Multicultural Education from Florida State University and a Master’s Human Resource Management from the University of North Florida. She is a Certified Compensation Professional, as well as achieved the SHRM-SCP and SPHR designations.

Alex leads product marketing for ADP DataCloud, ADP’s industry-leading portfolio of reporting, analytics and Big Data solutions, named “Top HR Product of 2016” by Human Resource Executiveâ and a multiple-time Awesome New Technologies winner from the HR Technology Conference. Drawing on nearly 20 years of marketing experience, Alex is responsible for go-to-market strategy for ADP DataCloud, achieving double-digit revenue growth following its launch in 2015. He has spoken at SHRM and been quoted in numerous publications, including HR Professionals Magazine, TalentCulture and TechTarget. Prior to joining ADP, Alex led global marketing for IBM Interactive Experience, where we helped grow the digital consulting agency into an industry leader cited by Ad Age and industry analysts, and has also spent time in consulting and higher education administration. Alex has an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School and an undergraduate degree from Tufts University.

Enterprise software industry analyst Brian Sommer covers the ERP, finance and HR sectors for Diginomica and other publications. Brian began his career began by re-writing a payroll/time-reporting system for a fast food chain and subsequently reworked, implemented, etc. numerous application software systems. He went on to run Accenture’s Global Software Intelligence organization where he advised hundreds of clients on software selection and shared services initiatives. Brian also headed up Accenture’s Global HR Center of Excellence and its Global Finance/Performance Management Center of Excellence. More recently, Brian has led several HR/ERP software selections/negotiations and had been an expert witness for major software litigation cases. Brian has won Software Advice’s Authority Award – ERP Expert and numerous ERP Writers' Awards. He has keynoted numerous software conferences globally including events for NetSuite, PeopleSoft, Sage and many more.

Check out this article from Lisa Dunn on TechnologyAdvice where she explains what's new and exciting at the 2018 HR Technology Conference. She features the top sessions to attend such as An Introduction to AI for HR Leaders and Sink or Swim: Activating the Digital Organization plus several speakers to hear from like Randi Zuckerberg, Mike Rowe and Pat Milligan during four exciting days at the conference.

The nature of HR has evolved to a strategic function equally as important as any other function of the business. Your role in attracting, developing and enabling talent is pivotal to the success of your organization. Join Lisa Sterling as she shares her insights on how to bring people and HR to the forefront of your organization and drive the strategy of your business. Attend this presentation to discover:

Contributed by Patricia Milligan is the Global Leader, Multinational Client Group at Mercer