56th Annual Human Resources Management Conference

Meet This Year's Speakers

Sarah D. Patterson, Keynote Speaker

Currently in her 33rd year as the Crimson Tide's head coach, Sarah Patterson has guided the Alabama Gymnastics program to four national championships, six Southeastern Conference Championships and an NCAA-best 25 regional titles. She has also led Alabama to 28 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances, a span that includes 23 “final four” finishes. The Tide is routinely among the NCAA’s top-2 in attendance for gymnastics and was second among all women’s sports in 2010. Under her guidance, UA gymnasts have earned 21 individual NCAA titles, produced more than 240 All-American honors, led the league in Academic All-SEC selections and the nation in NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners. As successful as Alabama gymnastics has been in the gym and the classroom, Patterson, a 2003 Alabama Sports Hall of Fame inductee, has worked tirelessly to make sure her program has a positive impact on the community at large. Her "Power of Pink" initiative has blossomed into a nation-wide endeavor, helping raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. In the West Alabama area alone, the four-time National Coach of the Year has helped raise over $800,000 for the Alabama Gymnastics/DCH Breast Cancer Fund.

Jane Chandler is very familiar with working as a team of one.  After working for 12 years for Alabama Power and Southern Nuclear, subsidiaries of The Southern Company, as a Training and Organizational Development specialist, she became a one person Human Resource Department for 4 1/2 years for American Camper, in Haleyville, AL, where the average number of employees was between 110-125. When American Camper moved its operations to Mexico, Jane found another "one person HR department" job working for JENOPTIK Optical Systems, Inc, a German owned company with three locations: Huntsville, AL; Jupiter, FL., and Easthampton, MA.   Jane has been employed in the Huntsville, AL office for the past 7 years where she is responsible for carrying out HR competencies such as safety, workman's compensation, recruiting, interviewing, benefits, employee relations, enforcement of policies and procedures, Affirmative Action plans and more.  Jane admits that every day is different and challenging when operating an HR Department of One, and although the job can be stressful, she likes what she does and plans to stay.  She continues to creatively find the help she needs when faced with new and unfamiliar challenges. Jane received a BA in Human Resource Management from Birmingham Southern College in 1992.

Melanie McNary, SPHR

Currently is employed with Protective Life Corporation (2,400 + employees) as Vice President and Talent Acquisition Manager/Senior HR Partner.  She was previously employed as Corporate Human Resources Director with Building & Earth Sciences, Inc., as the first HR Manager hired due to growth of the company where she was responsible for building the HR function.  She has 16+ years of generalist/HR Management experience.  Melanie has worked in various industries in the Birmingham area including regional, multiunit organizations.  She is a Cum Laude graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has a B.S. degree in Management with a major in Human Resources.  Melanie is an active member of SHRM (Society for HR Management), BSHRM (Birmingham Society for HR Management) and NAAAHR (the National Association for African Americans in Human Resources) where she was the 2008 President of the Birmingham Chapter.  She drew from actual experiences to present a program to BSHRM on the strategies of outsourcing the transactional components of HR.  Melanie holds the SPHR (Senior Professional in HR) certification since 2006 and currently is an instructor for BSHRM's certification exam study course. She is also a certified Achieve Global Facilitator.  Melanie's HR Generalist knowledge includes high volume recruiting, workplace planning, strong knowledge of employment law and managing employee relations effectively, diversity and inclusion programs, managing change, design and delivery of learning and development tools, compensation and benefits administration, development of effective policies and procedures and implementing Safety Programs.  She has worked as a strategic business partner, trusted advisor, and advocate for organizational effectiveness and performance throughout her entire career.   Melanie was selected as a “Top HR Director” by the Birmingham Business Journal in April 2009.

Bill Rush, SPHR, is currently with Emarico Risk Management out of Birmingham as their Director of Human Resources. He has worked in the human resources profession for over twenty five years in various industries, to include warehouse/distribution, real estate, government contracting, high tech manufacturing and food processing. Most of Bill’s HR experience has been in the start up phase of various human resource departments. Bill’s first one person shop was with Colonial Properties Trust in Birmingham.  Bill graduated from Jacksonville State University with a BS Degree. He is a lifetime certified Senior Professional in Human Resources through the Human Resources Certification Institute. Bill has been very active in the Society for Human Resource Management on the local, state and national level for twenty five years. He is a past President of the Birmingham Society for Human Resource Management (BSHRM) and a current Board Advisor. He also currently serves on the Alabama SHRM State Council as a District Director and the conference chair.

Melva Tate, PHR, is President of  Strategic HR Partnerships, a firm offering specialized services in executive human resource consulting, training & development and career coaching, Melva served as the Director of Human Resources & Administration for two start-up organizations as a "department of one":  Nexcel Synthetics (fiber manufacturing) and Kelly Construction Company (street and road).  These evolving environments put her B.S. degree in Human Resource Management, Executive MBA, and Professional Certification (PHR) to the test daily while offering challenging and rewarding experiences.  She knows about "doing it all" and finding vital resources when you need the extra help.  Melva is passionate about the Human Resource profession. She is a credible activist, professional speaker, serial entrepreneur and networking “Diva”.   She spends quality time “Building Relationships where Relations Matter!!  She is a frequent contributor to the Birmingham Works Magazine, and the Birmingham Business Journal on issues related to careers, workforce development and human resources.  Melva currently serves as President for the Birmingham Society for Human Resource Management (BSHRM).  She also serves on the Executive Board for the United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham and the Central Alabama Women’s Business Center, Executive Committee (Membership Chair) Region 4 Alabama Workforce Development Council, Diversity Chair – Alabama SHRM State Council, and member of the Diversity Roundtable for the Birmingham Business Alliance (Regional Chamber).  Melva’s enthusiasm and eagerness to serve others earned her recognition as one of Birmingham’s “Top 40 Under 40” Professionals (BBJ 2006), Best Minority Business Honoree (BBJ 2009) and Alabama Rose Honoree (2010) from the Central Alabama Women’s Business Center.

Tammy L. Baker, Esq., is a partner in the Birmingham, Alabama office of Jackson Lewis LLP.  Ms. Baker has been practicing employee law since 1994 and has experience in all aspects or workplace law, including multi-plaintiff and class action litigation.  She regularly advises employers on complex issues, including compliance with the FMLA and other employment laws.  She obtained her law degree, magna cum laude, from The University of Alabama School of Law and her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Following law school, she clerked for United States District Court Chief Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn.  Ms. Baker lectures frequently on employment-related topics, including at national conferences sponsored by the Society of Human Resource Management. Ms. Baker was honored by Chambers USA as one of America’s best lawyers and the Birmingham Business Journal named her as “Best of the Bar.”

David G. Bronner, Ph.D., J.D., Keynote Speaker,is the Chief Executive Officer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, a public pension fund with assets in excess of $28 billion providing benefits for over 325,000 public employees and retirees. The RSA is ranked 86th of largest private/public pension funds in the world. Dr. Bronner earned a Ph.D. and a law degree from the University of Alabama where he taught in the Graduate Schools of Business and Education and served as Assistant Dean and Lecturer in the School of Law before coming to the RSA. Dr. Bronner has been featured in Time, Governing magazine, The Institutional Investor, The Money Manager, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes Magazine, and Pension& Investment Age for his investment strategies and financial market decisions. In 2003, PlanSponsor magazine named the RSA “Plan Sponsor of the Year.”  High profile investments to help Alabama thrive are a hallmark of Dr. Bronner, including office buildings in Montgomery, Mobile and New York and the development of eight luxurious hotels and conference centers in Alabama. Other investments include Raycom Media with 43 TV stations, and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., with over 160 newspapers which provide free advertising for the state of Alabama.  Dr. Bronner served as Chairman of the US Airways Board of Directors during 2003-2005.  However, the venture of which Dr. Bronner is most proud is the Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a renowned collection of 26 championship golf courses at 11 sites that has put Alabama at the top of the list of golf destinations worldwide and helped increased tourism from a $1.8 billion industry to a $9.6 billion industry. 

Kris Dunn has successfully led HR practices in Fortune 500's and venture capital-held startups and is currently VP of HR at DAXKO. Kris believes that if you aren’t an active recruiter/talent agent as an HR pro (regardless of title or position), you’re overhead. He cringes when peer HR types act like administration is job #1 and allow it to dominate their professional identities.  Kris is well known for his wide spread use of social media as a tool for learning, connecting and conducting business.  He is among the most transparent HR pros you can find.  He cares so much about the art of HR that he’s started two blogs (www.hrcapitalist.com and www.fistfuloftalent.com) with the goal of building an awesome social media community from which he and others can learn from. He’s been putting his thoughts down every business day for 3 years.  Kris served as the host for the spring 2010 Social Recruiting Summit.  He knows the good, the bad and the ugly of social media from the inside out.

Dawn Hrdlica is the HR Manager for MailSouth, the largest independently owned direct mail advertising company in America and one of Shelby County’s largest employers.  She is proud to have been part of MailSouth’s HR team when the organization was given Birmingham Magazine’s recognition as one of “50 Companies We Admire” and Birmingham Parent Magazine’s “Best Companies for Working Families”. Dawn is an active blogger and advocate of social media, contributing to a variety of HR blogs including Kris Dunn’s Fistful of Talent. Dawn, a believer in multi-source recruiting has successfully implemented (by way of a few pitfalls!) social media recruiting methods (most notably LinkedIn and Twitter) to MailSouth’s talent acquisition strategy. In addition, she has begun internal blogs for MailSouth employees including the “MailSouth Fitness Files” to promote wellness initiatives and MailSouth’s internal social/media driven newsletter.  Dawn, always striving to have-her-cake-and-eat-it-too, presents a pragmatic (yet enthusiastic) social media approach for HR professionals desiring to be “ahead of their time” in corporate environments that at times demand cautious HR practices.  It can be done one tweet at a time!  Dawn, an active member of BSHRM, received the chapters’ 2009 Chapter Leadership Excellence Award for her role as VP of Community relations.  In addition Dawn who is PHR certified, graduated from the University of Alabama obtaining her Master’s in HR Management.  While there she was inducted as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma honor society for Business students and scholars.

T. Wayne Bowling began his insurance career in 1981 providing group insurance and individual life insurance to employers.  From 1985 to 1995 Wayne worked as a Broker’s Broker helping agents evaluate and place health insurance throughout the Southeast.  In 1991 he began working with various Third Party Administrators placing partially self insured medical plans.  Wayne started working exclusively with insurance carriers and Third Party Administrators in 1995 to market and manage Self Funded and partially Self Funded plans.  It was during this time that Wayne narrowed his focus to the inner workings of medical plans.  He has worked on complex issues such as plan design, case management, disease management, Prescription analysis, review, design & management, cost & trend analysis, stop loss coverage, Life AD&D, Long and Short Term Disability, Dental, Voluntary Products, Flexible Spending Accounts and Retiree Drug Subsidy Filings.  Since 1999 Wayne has been involved as an Expert Witness for various State and Federal Insurance, Stop Loss and Self Funding Administration cases.  In 2001 Wayne joined Willis of Alabama as an Employee Benefits Consultant.  His current clients range in size from 500 to 8,000 employee lives.  Wayne has obtained the Group Benefits Disability Specialist designation and he is currently the Senior Vice President of Employee Benefits and the Practice Leader for the Birmingham Willis Team.

Scott McDuffie has worked in the employee benefits and insurance industry for twelve years, serving as Vice President in the Employee Benefits Division of Willis (formerly WillisHRH) in Birmingham, AL since 2005.  Scott’s clients include The University of Alabama System, Baptist Health of Montgomery, ADTRAN, as well as several other large clients throughout Alabama.  Scott has extensive experience in working with self-insured health plans, particularly with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama; in pharmacy contracting and benefits management; and in life and disability insurance.  Prior to joining Willis, Scott served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for VIVA Health of the UAB Health System.  In this capacity, he directed the sales efforts of the commercial and Medicare Advantage divisions, growing revenues from approximately $30 million to over $200 million in five years.  Scott received his undergraduate degree from The University of Alabama and his MBA from UAB.  He completed the National Committee for Healthcare Leadership program at The University of Michigan in 2004, and he has obtained the Group Benefits Disability Specialist designation.