The Workforce Summit

The Governor's 2008 Summit on Workforce Solutions

Featured Speakers


	Rick Tate Rick Tate is an internationally recognized expert on leadership and management development, performance management, and customer loyalty strategies. His results-oriented approach impacts individuals at all levels of the organization; from Executives, middle managers, supervisors, to front line manufacturing and call center employees. For over 20 years, Rick has been consulting, speaking, training, writing, and developing state of the art concepts that challenge people's mindsets and develop new ways of thinking. His expertise is backed by over 12 years of successful line management experience. Rick is a faculty member for the Institute of Management Studies and has been on the faculty of many institutes of higher learning. Rick has authored many books, articles, and training programs including the best selling Leadership and the Customer Revolution™, the recently released People Leave Managers... Not Organizations, and other notables like Legendary Service™, World Class Customer Service™, and The Service Pro™. His acclaimed training programs have been translated into a dozen languages and distributed all over the world. Rick holds graduate degrees from the University of San Francisco and California American University.

	Joe Calloway Nationally known as a straight-talking expert on how to compete and win in today's marketplace, Joe Calloway has made a career out of helping businesses create competitive advantage through unsurpassed customer service. Called "an expert on developing customer-focused teams" by Sales and Marketing Management magazine, he knows from experience what separates ordinary companies from companies that dominate the competition. Labeled "one of the most innovative and compelling people in customer service" by a National Customer Services Advisory Board, Calloway is the author of Market Leadership: Managing a Customer Focused Team, Focus on the Customer: Winning and Keeping Today's Tough New Customer, and Taking It to the Next Level, and Becoming a Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison. In addition to his popular videos, "Positive About Change," "Focus on the Customer," and "Taking It to the Next Level," Calloway has produced customized video programs for a wide range of companies. His 2005 book release, Indispensable: How To Become The Company Your Customers Can't Live Without, is receiving rave reviews. A guest lecturer with both the Graduate School of Business at the University of Tennessee and the Center for Professional Development at Belmont University, Calloway is also a partner in Mirror, an award-winning restaurant in Nashville, which was recently featured on television's Food Network. He speaks frequently on business competition, and he has been inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame.

	Curtis Biggs Curtis grew up on a ranch in the Nebraska Panhandle, and attended high school in nearby Sidney, Nebraska. At the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, he received his Bachelors of Science, and found his passion in international students. Pairing international student will to branch out with his endless enthusiasm to see the world through other eyes flourished into friendships without boundaries. Employed under Department of Labor contract at Lincoln Action Program (LAP), Curtis began direct work with youth employment services in 2001, facilitating Workforce Investment Act Youth Programs in eastern Nebraska. He experienced great satisfaction, challenges and success in helping young people develop their career and leadership pathways. Curtis also continued his multi-cultural exposure at LAP. At that time, LAP had the highest rate of employee diversity in the U.S., with over 30 nationalities represented amongst staff. In 2005, Curtis decided to relocate to Wyoming. Thereafter, Curtis was hired as a Youth Employment Specialist by Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (DWS), in Cheyenne, WY. Curtis was inspired by the significant impact our youth can make in the Wyoming workforce. Through DWS, Curtis became familiar with the friendly, willing people of Wyoming and enjoyed partnerships across the State that ensured success of youth in all facets of their lives. Curtis recently joined Sheridan College, where he administers and develops college credit programs for area high schools.


	Ron Wild Ron Wild grew up in Hanna, Wyoming and graduated from the University of Wyoming in December of 1999. Carbon Fiber Technology acquired his services on January 2000 as an Electrical Engineer. Ron is now the Operations Support Manager and plays a fundamental role in guiding the transition of Carbon Fiber Technology through the recent acquisition of the company by the SGL Carbon Group. He represents the company as Chairman of the Uinta County Economic Development Commission holding that position for the last 3 years. He sits on the Evanston Chamber Board and is a Founding Officer on the Evanston B.O.C.E.S. Foundation Board. He was recently asked to sit on the Evanston Housing Authority Board. His wife, Sonja, of 20 years provides support for his focus on the community and betterment of Wyoming.

	Billie Kirkham Billie Kirkham is the President and owner of Kirkham & Associates, LLC located in Riverton, WY. She provides statewide consulting services in the fields of Housing, Community and Business Development. Her areas of expertise include building community relationships, managing diverse groups, building inter-cultural relationships, collation and team building, research, analysis and solution development of issues important to rural communities. She has 30 years of experience working with rural residents and communities in federal affordable housing, community and business programs that included development, delivery, funding, and real estate appraising and lending, loan and grant administration.

Dawn Wynn Malone
Dawn Malone is administrative director of work and family services for Bon Secours Richmond Health System, a Catholic not-for-profit health care system with more than 6,000 employees. Ms. Malone, who earned a work-life certificate from Boston College, specializes in work-life policies and practices that promote employee attraction, retention, satisfaction and engagement. Under her direction, the health system has garnered national, regional and local recognition for employee relations practices from AARP, Working Mother magazine, National Association of Female Executives, Companies that Care and the Wellness Councils of America.


	Glenna Campagnaro Glenna is the Administrator for the Business Training & Outreach Division of the Department of Workforce Services. She oversees programs which include: Apprenticeship Utilization Program, Boomers & Business, Employment & Training for Self-Sufficiency, Senior Community Service Employment Program, Quality Child Care and the Workforce Development Training Fund.

	Jim McIntosh Jim McIntosh started with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in August of 1976 as a counselor in Evanston. In April of 1979, he was promoted to Regional Supervisor for the southwest region of the state. He moved to Cheyenne in 1993 to assume the position of Assistant Administrator for Field Services. In 2002, he was given the opportunity to serve as the division's Administrator.


	Jason Dorsey Bestselling author Jason Ryan Dorsey shares proven ways to create a culture of loyalty in your organization. Jason first reveals the mindset of today's young professionals and then shares five creative ways to retain them without paying them more.


	D. Sharon Fain D. Sharon Fain is anchor/producer of the Wyoming Business Report Radio update airing on 40 stations across Wyoming. Prior to her work in Wyoming, she was National Editor and Breaking News Manager for FOX News Channel in New York and later served as southeast bureau chief based in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1991-1997, Fain was with the NBC News Channel serving as national assignment editor, field producer and regional manager. While with NBC, she coordinated news coverage for CNBC, MSNBC, the Today Show and NBC Nightly News. Special assignments include coverage of the Oklahoma City and Olympic park bombings, supervising producer of the Timothy McVeigh trial, Elian Gonzalez custody battle and the 2000 Florida/Presidential Recount. Fain, an Atlanta native graduated from Georgia State University and began her journalism career as a freelance writer for WSB-TV.

	Evette Torres Evette Torres is presently the Workforce Development Specialist for Shell Oil Company in the United States. After joining Shell in 1982, she has held various assignments in Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusiveness, Learning and Development and Social Investments. In her current assignment she works with several of Shell's businesses to address workforce issues for operator and maintenance craft roles. She is an active member of the American Petroleum Institute Workforce Committee, the Rockies Energy Workforce Collaborative, the Center for the Advancement of Process Technology and the Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance. In addition, Evette is a Board of Director member for the Industrial Instrumentation & Controls Technology Alliance..


	Chris Thomas Mr. Thomas has published numerous articles and presented seminars on immigration issues to educate attorneys, corporate executives and managers, human resource managers, and the general community.

	Colleen Dubbe Colleen Dubbe has served as the Manager of the Jackson Workforce Center since 1999, and has been involved in the initial application process for H-2B visas since that time. The Jackson Office has managed the H-2B Guest Worker Program for the State of Wyoming since 2001.

Denny Smith
Before joining Calhoun Community College in 1998, Dr. Smith was in Human Resources for a personnel services firm in Athens, Alabama. He has worked on various projects for some of the following companies: 3-M, International Diesel, Goodyear of North American, Steelcase, BP Amoco, Boeing and Teledyne Brown Engineering, International Paper and Siemens Automotive. Dr. Smith is a current president of Training for Existing Business Industry Network (TEBIN) for Alabama College System. He is active on various local and state committees and works actively with local economic development associations.


	Anne Ladd Anne Ladd is the CEO of the Wyoming Business Coalition on Health - a new state-wide organization whose main objective is to raise the visibility, viability and sophistication of conversations between employers – who are the ultimate payers of most healthcare expenses through their own insurance premiums and through taxes paid to the various levels of government – and those who deliver and influence the delivery of care. Born and raised in Wyoming, Ms. Ladd has an undergraduate degree in economics from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., a Master's degree in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and a Master's in Healthcare Administration from St. Mary's College in Moraga, California.

	Mike McCracken Mike McCraken is publisher of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle and president and chairman of the board of directors of Cheyenne Newspapers Inc., which is owned by his family. The McCrakens also have ownership interests in the Laramie, Rawlins, Rock Springs and Worland newspapers. He is a third generation newspaperman who started his career as a carrier for the Wyoming State Tribune at age 14. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from the University of Wyoming. For two years he served as advertising manager for The Branding Iron, UW’s student newspaper. During and after his college years, McCraken worked as a general assignment reporter for the Rawlins and Laramie papers. To broaden his experience, McCraken left Wyoming in 1979 and worked as a business reporter for newspapers in Corvallis, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. He later worked in San Francisco and Denver, serving as a national advertising sales representative for about 180 daily newspaper clients all over the country. He returned to the Cheyenne newspapers in 1987, serving as promotions manager and later retail advertising manager, and was named publisher in 1991. In 1994 he merged The Wyoming Eagle and the Wyoming State Tribune into the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. It is the state’s largest locally-owned newspaper and the second largest in terms of circulation. In May 2007 the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle broke ground on a $15.5 million capital improvement project featuring a new MAN Roland printing press to better serve its readers, advertisers and commercial printing customers. The project, which will be completed in June, includes higher-capacity inserting and production equipment and an enlargement of its Cheyenne production plant, which also prints the Laramie Boomerang. .