About the 2008 Speakers

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the RSA, a Fellow of Lancaster University Business School, Vice Chairman of People 1st, an associate member of Investors in People’s Human Capital Management Standards board, and Chair of the Advisory Board to the Centre for Professional Personnel and Development (CPPD). He recently was appointed as a Fellow of Sunningdale Institute – a virtual academy of leading academics and other thought leaders created to advise and advance public service. In July 2006 David was voted HR Director of the Year by readers of HR Magazine and in June 2007 he secured No.1 position in Personnel Today’s Top-40 HR Power Players list. In July 2007 he was given an honorary Doctorate in Business Administration by Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.

Liane Hornsey joined Google as EMEA HR & Staffing Director in January 2006.

Before joining Google Liane was Group HR Director for Lastminute.com and prior to that for NTL. The majority of her working life however has been in the entertainment industry, working for BMG Sony for 8 years as HR Director UK, VP HR EMEA as well as other senior management roles in the Benelux and Nordic regions.

She started her career in sales, has worked in marketing, operations and customer service but has found that she enjoys the broad organisational view and involvement in company-wide issues that HR offers, and so sees herself firmly rooted in the function for the future!

Hal Adler is the President of the Great Place to Work® Institute. In this role, Hal provides leadership and strategic direction for the Institute. He brings a creative, dynamic approach to his work with expertise in instructional design, leadership training and consulting.

Hal came to the Institute in 2004 with a background in consulting, training and leadership development, and has distinguished himself in service to clients, through his public speaking and in the customized design and delivery of workshops and training programs. Hal continues to work with clients on matters such as building and sustaining trust, management training and development, executive coaching and change management.

Prior to joining the Institute, Hal was the founder of the Training Arts Institute, and his professional career also includes leadership positions with the Center for Talent Retention, a management training and development firm, and Manpower, a global HR Consulting and staffing business. He was also the owner of 3RING, a restaurant in the heart of San Francisco's restaurant row

Michael is based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Institute, Michael was an internal training and organizational development associate with W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. in Newark, Delaware. Gore, makers of Gore-tex, is one of five companies that has been listed in every one of Fortune’s annual ranking of 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. He consults widely on issues of diversity and organizational change, and has been a featured presenter at several professional conferences. Michael received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts.

Bob Lee is the founder and CEO of the Great Place to Work® Institute Ireland, and a co-owner and Director of GPTW UK. In these roles, he provides leadership and strategic direction for the Institute within these markets.

Bob works with leaders and managers in a wide variety of industries to assess their workplace culture and support them as they seek to transform their organisations into great workplaces. He brings a creative, dynamic approach to his work, and has extensive experience in all aspects of assessment, analysis, and delivery of results.

Bob writes and lectures extensively. In addition to his regular contributions to Conferences and Seminars throughout Europe, Bob is a regular keynote speaker and presenter at professional association conferences.

Jörg Staff is head of Human Resources Center of Excellence, reporting to SAP Executive Board member Claus Heinrich. The HR COE, which replaces the former Practices & Governance function, includes the four global functions: Learning and Talent Management (LTM), Recruiting, Staffing & Organizational Effectiveness (RSO), and Total Rewards and HR Reporting. In this role, Staff is responsible for leading the organization in designing, initially rolling out, and ownership of global and regional HR solutions. In addition, Staff is entrusted with advancing HR reporting, labor/employee relations, health & diversity, and vocational training. Staff is also co-Managing Director (MD) of SAP Labs Germany with Peter Rasper.

Before joining SAP, Staff held senior management and consulting positions at DaimlerChrysler AG and its IT services company Debis Systemhaus GmbH, finally as director of global training for DaimlerChrysler AG. He left DaimlerChrysler to join Deutsche Post AG, where he held the dual roles of global lead for their HR cost-efficiency program as well as MD of personnel development reporting to the board of directors. While in this position, he led the team that was responsible for streamlining and restructuring the global HR organization and company-wide personnel expenses. He joined SAP in 2005.

Staff holds an MBA in international management consulting from the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside in Great Britain, and has further executive training from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, in the United States.

David J. Kelly has been CEO of Worthington Cylinders GmbH, Kienberg , Austria since 2001. He has held previous general management, sales, and engineering positions in the robotic welding, bicycle components, ceramics, explosives, construction equipment, and mining industries in the USA, South America, Middle East, and Europe. In 2007 he won the AFQM Special Award for "Leadership" as well as the competition „Austria's Leading Companies" in the „Big Player" category published by the Austrian daily newspaper „Wirtschaftsblatt". Worthington Cylinders was one of the shooting-stars and highest ranked companies (11th) in the Best Companies to Work List 2008 in Austria who participated for the first time. 

Phil Broad joined Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Ltd as managing director UK and Ireland in April 2006 and has been quick to build on the company's success as it grows to almost 650 stores and employs 8,500 people. Prior to joining Starbucks, Phil was the managing director of his own franchise business for Outback Steakhouses. Before running his own business, he was managing director of TGI Fridays (UK) Ltd, having previously held the role of Operations Director. Prior to this, Phil held senior operations and commercial roles with Tesco, Pizza Hut and Grand Met Retail. His qualification is in Hotel and Catering Management, a sector in which he spent much of the early part of his career and in which he is widely known and respected. 

Garry joined Hudson Talent Management in 2007 from Wyeth Medica Ireland. For more than two decades, Garry has operated as a both an external and internal change agent to develop and implement comprehensive talent management/leadership development solutions. Garry has extensive experience of management and leadership development programmes for public and private sector organisations in both an Irish and international context. Extensive consulting experience at Senior Management level allows him to align management theory with strategic business objectives. Garry has an MBA from the Open Business School and a Business Degree in Systems Thinking. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the Institutes' of Bankers in both UK and Ireland. 

Caroline specialises in Assessment and Development. She has significant experience managing international leadership assessment and development engagements with leading organisations, including Dell, Toyota, BP, Rexam & the European Commission. Caroline has worked with Hudson for 7 years, both in Belgium and the UK. She has extensive experience designing and implementing integrated consultancy solutions for a range of organisational issues, and has designed competency models for major organisations including Honda, Ericsson & IMS. Caroline has an MSc in Psychology as well as an MSc in Human Resources. 

Theo Rinsema is the General Manager of Microsoft Netherlands and is responsible for the overall strategy for the Dutch market. He leads the Dutch management team and is accountable for the further development of Microsoft's position in the Netherlands. Theo has been working for Microsoft Netherlands since September 2004 as the Business Marketing Organization lead and was appointed General Manager in May 2006.

Prior to this he assumed several other sales and marketing leadership positions in the Dutch ICT-sector. Theo finds inspiration in the solutions that ICT offers to businesses, governments and consumers. He is particularly passionate about the way technology can contribute to company results, by improving collaboration between people and creating a better work-life balance.