Archives: Speaker

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.

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.”

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.

Gabby is the Co-founder and CEO of Cooper, a parenting mecca offering parents (and parents to be) with the tools and resources to build their parenting muscle and become the parents they want to be. Cooper offers on demand access to leading experts in child development and likeminded parents, 24/7. Group sessions, live events/workshops and “always on” one-on-one support are spearheaded by top tier experts including PhD’s, educators and licensed clinical social workers with decades of experience. Cooper’s mission is to equip parents with more effective ways of seeing and solving parenting challenges at home.

Prior to founding Cooper, Gabby spent her early career working with founding teams at multiple e-commerce startups . From there, she founded her first company out of Columbia Business School – Ollie, a DTC subscription dog food company.

Peggy Verdi is Vice President, Human Resources and Administration for Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA). In her role as the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Verdi is responsible for all aspects of human resources. This includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts, managing corporate facilities and services, working on strategic planning initiatives, change management, and organizational design in order to meet the needs of the constantly evolving business.

At Subaru, Verdi has successfully built a leadership team with a combination of internal and external talent and is focused on partnering with leaders to create organization structure, talent strategy and succession plans for future growth. She has demonstrated success in all aspects of global human resources, enhancing organizational decision-making and approaches for securing growth on a business-wide scale.

Her dedication has helped SOA achieve sustainable people solutions and drive transformational change, partnering with leaders to create a vision, organization structure, talent strategy and succession plan for future growth. Verdi has been recognized for her excellent business acumen, sound judgment, deep understanding of what motivates people, and her success in collaborating with leaders challenged by all facets of change. Prior to joining Subaru in 2017, Verdi served as Chief Human Resources Officer of BAYADA Home Health Care and was a consultant for Resources Global Professionals. She began her career at Bristol-Myers Squib, where she was most recently the Executive Director Human Resources Change Planning, holding numerous global human resources positions throughout her nearly 30-year tenure. Verdi holds a master’s in human resource management from Rutgers University – New Brunswick and a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University – Camden. She serves as the executive sponsor of the SOA veteran community employee resource group, SARGE, and is a mentor for employees throughout the company. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and has two adult children.

Lauren Williams, SPHR is the CEO of Workplace Harmony, a dynamic group of HR experts (think Avengers) that helps women owned and minority small businesses thrive with leading high performing teams and building better workplaces.HR is the No. 1 thing employees complain about. Lauren and her team know how to get the employee experience right — whether it is as simple as being sure your newest rockstars can log on, get to work and get paid, or it is as complex as blending workplace cultures when you merge one company with another. Have you thought about a mentor program or what a more robust DEI process looks like? What about recognition and rewards outside of money? Lauren cares deeply about the employee experience, and she sees around the corners so her clients can keep their heads down and do the work.When you meet Lauren, you’ll see her positivity, integrity and spiritually shine through. You’ll know her by her smile and laugh, and you’ll hear her tell her clients want they need to hear with honesty and directness. Lauren holds an undergraduate degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in Finance and Economics and a Master’s of Arts from Immaculata University in Organizational Development & Effectiveness. Her job is to help you establish a foundation that is so strong that as you grow, you won’t need her and her team of experts anymore. Lauren supports her community in various ways including volunteering on the HR Committee of Pottstown Beacon of Hope, which provides shelter to the homeless population in Montgomery County. She also is on the Board of Foundation for Pottstown Education, helping the school district of Pottstown provide opportunities for the students to excel. Lauren resides in Pottstown, PA with her husband and three kids. When she isn’t helping her husband find his keys, or wrangling the three children, she loves a good high energy concert, she can also be found cooking, and satisfying her addiction to retail therapy.