Categories: Conference Speakers

Ash Hanson, Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at AmeriHealth Caritas. A results-driven talent leader committed to creating organizational value by attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent. Areas of expertise include leadership development, performance management, succession planning, executive coaching, and organizational development. Proven track record of designing solutions aligned with business strategy.

Andy Sholly, PHR, SHRM-CP is a 1999 Graduate of Moravian College (Bethlehem, PA) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. In 2003, he earned his Professional Human Resources (PHR) certification and received certification from the Society for HR Management (SHRM-CP). Andy has served organizations for over 20 years as an HR professional leading workforce initiatives and teams in Healthcare, Hospice, Telecommunications, Distribution, and Service industries. Since 2019, Andy has been the Chief People Officer at National Fitness Partners.

National Fitness Partners operates 140 locations with over 1700 employees and is one of largest and most successful Planet Fitness Franchisees. He is experienced in many HR functional areas including: employee relations, performance management, labor relations, benefits, training, safety, compensation, recruiting, and leadership development. In addition to leading HR Operations for NFP, Andy is also the chairperson for the Independent Franchisee Council’s Human Capital Committee which provides support and workforce best practices throughout the Planet Fitness Franchise system. Andy is also a certified Mental Health First Aid responder.

Outside of National Fitness Partners, Andy has been active member of the local and state professional HR Chapters. He has served as Vice President, President, Past President, Treasurer and Conference Chairperson. You may find him speaking at various events in Central PA such as Leadership Lebanon Valley, Junior Achievers and local HR Chapter meetings. Andy lives in Palmyra, PA with his wife Laura and kids, Addisan and Ryan.

Daniel Ross is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Day & Zimmermann, a century-old, family-owned company, with $2.7 billion USD in revenue, specializing in construction & engineering, operations & maintenance, staffing, security and defense for leading corporations and governments around the world. Mr. Ross oversees all of human resources for the D&Z enterprise including talent management, talent acquisition, compensation, diversity & inclusion, labor strategy and organizational development.

During his 16 years with the company, Dan has progressed through a series of roles in multiple business units that have provided him with a unique perspective on the company, its operations and strategy. He first joined Day & Zimmermann as a college intern, rejoining in 2008 as the Director of Talent Acquisition, where he led the Company’s recruiting organization. From there, he held increasingly responsible roles in Human Resources in Yoh, Corporate and MC (then called ECM), where he spent four years as Vice President, Human Resources. In this role, he supported a business with 900+ staff employees and 15,000-20,000 Union and Non-union craft employees.

Since 2019 to 2022, Mr. Ross held the role of Vice President, Corporate Development, facilitating the Company’s strategic planning process and leading its mergers and acquisition activities, including the acquisition of two Projects & Construction organizations, one that expanded our Maintenance and Construction division into Canada. As a corporate development leader, Dan reported directly to the CEO and worked with business leaders across the enterprise to help them achieve long-term, profitable growth by supporting and leading initiatives relating to corporate strategy, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and other special projects.

He is a member of the D&Z Leadership Council, which makes decisions regarding overall Company strategy and policy. He also led the COVID-19 response team, where his efforts were instrumental keeping Day & Zimmermann’s 40,000+ employees safe during an unprecedented global event. His collaborative style and strong business acumen have served him well and he brings this experience from across the business. Dan continues to move D&Z HR strategies, policies, processes and cultural initiatives forward.

Mr. Ross received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University. In addition, he is a graduate of the Wharton General Management Program.

For over 25 years, Kelly Jones has held several progressive and strategic human resource and operations assignments. He is currently the senior vice president and chief human resources officer for The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Prior to joining The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Kelly worked at Alleghany Corporation as the strategic advisor for people and inclusion, and previously he held key leadership roles with Aramark, Lockheed Martin and Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals. Throughout his career, Kelly has been recognized as a collaborative leader with a demonstrated track record of developing teams, coaching leaders and connecting human resource strategies to tangible business outcomes. He has led and sponsored corporate diversity councils, employee resource groups, community service projects and has been instrumental in raising funds and awareness in support of Autism research.

Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Temple University and his master’s degree from Rutgers University. Kelly resides in Montgomery County, PA, with his wife and their three children.

Kyle has been called “the patron saint of outrageous ideas.” Whether he’s having a Viking funeral for the regrets of 21,000 people, hosting the world’s first fake marathon, or gaining a million TikTok followers in just 25 hours, Kyle is always on the lookout for outrageous ideas that produce wildly outsized outcomes.  Over the last decade, his projects have been featured in outlets like Fast Company, WIRED, The Washington Post, Yahoo!, BuzzFeed, UpWorthy, Goalcast, and more.  His videos have been viewed over 250 million times, and he has spoken to hundreds of thousands of audience members across the United States.  More than anything, Kyle hopes that his story can inspire others to chase their own outrageous ideas and become the people they were meant to be.

Kyle is also the author of “How to Host a Viking Funeral: The Case for Burning Your Regrets, Chasing your Crazy Ideas, and Becoming the Person You’re Meant to Be” and the children’s book, “Pizza with Everything on it.”

As founder and CEO of Right Chord Leadership, Dr. Michael Brenner collaborates with leaders and teams at all levels to strengthen the essential skills needed for peak performance. He achieves this by drawing on more than two decades of experience as an international leadership consultant, executive coach, keynote speaker, and educator, and more than 35 years as a professional musician. Michael’s unconventional workshops, executive coaching sessions, and consulting services – grounded in the belief that “When people work in harmony, great things happen!”™ – have helped clients increase employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve customer service, and create more inclusive work environments.

Michael is the creator of the CHORDS Model™ which consists of six key “notes” all successful leaders and teams play: C (Communication), H (Harmony), O (Ownership), R (Respect), D (Direction) and S (Support).  He has partnered with leading organizations in a variety of industries, including law firm Ballard Spahr, Morgan Properties, Burlington Stores, QVC, SAP, Penn Medicine, Drexel College of Medicine, the City of Philadelphia, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Boeing, The Goddard School, Godiva, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He has worked for several not-for-profit organizations as well, including JEVS and Habitat for Humanity.

Michael was 2014 president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and Chairman of the chapter’s 2015 Regional Learning and Development Conference. He has been a featured speaker at many industry events and conferences around the world, including Southeast Asia, Canada and Australia.

Michael holds a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University and a master’s degree in Adult and Organizational Development from Temple University. He has taught courses in organizational behavior, systems dynamics, negotiations, and interpersonal relations (among others) at Immaculata University, Temple University, and La Salle University.  Currently, he is on the faculty of Penn State University and American University.

Additionally, Michael recently completed a certificate program on the neuroscience of leadership from MIT and is currently writing a book aimed at developing emerging leaders.