Conferences & Education

2009 HR & Training Forum

May 7-8, 2009
Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

2009 Forum Home | Schedule | Program | Exhibits & Sponsorship 

 

Click on links below (where available) to view and print Speaker Handouts.
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Forum Program

Pre-Forum Workshop

High-Impact Leadership Development
Jim Hopkins, President/CEO, JK Hopkins Consulting

8:30-9:30 am Registration Open
8:30-9:00 am Continental Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon Workshop 

Optional/Separate fee applies

Some work skills can be learned from reading a book and others can be absorbed through online courses, or a quick workshop – yet when it comes to management and leadership communications, setting strategies and implementing vision, a guiding hand makes all the difference in the learning transfer and sustained business culture. Join us for an interactive session that will give you the foundation for building coaching and mentoring processes into your current and future management and leadership training programs. Increase your bench strength by mobilizing your first string players into active participation in the development of your future leaders! You’ll learn how to identify which programs benefit from coaching and mentoring activities, how to establish criteria for the selection of coaches and mentors and how to implement high impact leadership development within your organization.

General Sessions

Trends in Independent Banking
Nancy E. Sheppard, President & CEO, Western Independent Bankers

Handout

Nancy will provide a quick overview of our industry and emerging trends.

A President’s Perspective on Your Role in Organizational Effectiveness
Larry P. Ward, President & CEO, Heritage Oaks Bank

Handout

We kick off the conference with views from a seasoned bank president as he explains his views on issues he sees as important for HR and training professionals and the role these functions play in the overall performance of the organization and its effectiveness. Come prepared to ask questions on issues important to you.

Pay for Performance: Idle Words or an Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Jim Finkelstein, President & CEO, FutureSense, Inc.

Handout

Pay for performance has been in the management lexicon for eons. At its best, it is a driving corporate cultural value, a meta-theme, a call to action and a tour de force. At its worst, it is a management fad de jour, another example of corporate administrivia and bureaucracy on steroids. It is as oft-dreaded as final exams and term papers. This presentation highlights the convergence of environment, culture, development, incentive and compensation that is needed to improve business performance through the use of human capital. Jim will show you how to apply these competencies to all of the areas that impact people at work – from why they show up to why they stay.

Staying Above the Line – Steps to Accountability
Brad Starr, Vice President, Partners in Leadership

We will address the typical views of accountability that don’t seem to work in organizations today and will show you a more effective and positive approach to accountability that can work within your organization. In order to fully understand what it means to be accountable, we’ll highlight common factors that prevent us from being truly accountable. Gain a new working definition of what it means to be accountable and learn to implement the four steps to greater accountability.

Love ‘em or Lose ‘em: Proven Strategies for Employee Retention
Jack Smalley, Director, HR, Express Employment Professionals

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Learn how to become an employer of choice by studying proven practices from many of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies. We’ll discuss factors that have the greatest impact on employee morale such as internal hiring, employee referral programs, formal and informal benefits programs and how to give your new employee the “red carpet” treatment. Your retention practices will improve when you learn non-traditional methods in the areas of recruiting and retention, employee recognition, your exit interview process, gauging employee needs and whether employees are quitting the company or quitting their managers. You’ll walk away with many new ideas and proven strategies to support your company’s efforts to win the war for talent.

Coaching With Your Hair on Fire
Dale Biron, Principal, Core Action Associates, Inc.

Handout

A financial firestorm is raging. The fear coursing through the banking industry is palpable. Unfortunately, the natural instincts of many managers are just the opposite of what is needed. Coaching holds the answer! Learn to shift focus from paralyzing fear and challenges that debilitate to one of energized growth and sustained success.

Concurrent Sessions

Benefit Trends: Helping Employees Live for Tomorrow – Today
Debra H. Stoll, Senior Attorney, Ruthenberg & Long

Handout

Learn how you can reduce the cost of benefits and meet employee health needs while helping your employees plan for their retirement. This session will show you how you can make this a reality and will show you new regulations that provide opportunities for money-saving automatic contribution arrangements and the advantages of Health Savings Plans.

Transforming Onboarding into Ongoing Training: Keep the Excitement Going from Day 1 to Day 365, and Years Beyond
Rebecca Doepke, Director of Training and Culture Change, NewGround

Ninety-six percent of employees are still undecided if they’ll take the job on the first day of employment. Within the first three months of employment, 65% of employees make the decision to leave. In spite of these staggering numbers, financial institutions can take steps to excite and motivate employees from the moment they’re hired. Employees can be coached and encouraged to pursue a long-term career at your bank. Learn how to give your employees a tangible reason to believe in, and stay loyal to, your organization. You will know how to assess your hiring practices; develop a profile of a “perfect” employee; discover the best practices for hiring; create a pre-employment package that engages and inspires employees; and create an ongoing program to energize and enhance the employee experience.

An Incentive Plan that Everyone Understands – Impossible?
Dennis J. Wootten, Director, EW Partners, Inc.

Handout

Our expert will show you how to develop incentive plans (executive and production) and the importance of proper methodology, goal setting and measurements and the impact it can have on the success of the plan when done right. Key measurement components to be discussed are performance, asset growth and ROA/ROE. By the end of the session, you will walk away knowing how to tailor and measure your plan for the desired results.

Know Before You Grow: The Value of Uncovering Personality Fit in the Hiring and Retention Process
Genevieve Ward, Senior Consultant, The Omnia Group

Handout

We typically recruit and hire based off of pedigree and interviews but are surprised to learn months later that we really don’t know much about the inner workings of who we hired, or a sense of what motivates them or how to communicate, work with or manage them. When trying to fill a position it is critical to identify the key players before we start the hiring process. Not only does this save time and energy, getting the right person in the right position and aligning their inherent skill sets creates far happier employees and maximizes performance. You will learn how to identify the right person for the position, stay consistent and objective in the hiring process, best manage your employees to boost retention, and develop and retain your top talent.

Peer Exchange Sessions

Get first-hand experience from peers and experts alike. These sessions receive consistently high marks as highly productive sessions.

Friday, May 8

7:30-8:45 am - Breakfast & Peer Exchange Session
Cover Your Assets – what can you learn from this?

1:30-2:30 pm - Peer Exchange Session
What Works at Your Bank?

Speaker Biographies

Dale Biron
Principal, Core Action Associates, Inc.

Dale Biron helps successful bank leaders get even better – by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. His unique approach allows even the most stressed and time-starved bank managers (aka “hair-on-fire” bankers) to take advantage of the real-world, no-nonsense performance improvement strategies of coaching. In addition to his speaking, consulting, writing and coaching background, Biron brings his practice as a Black Belt in the martial art of Aikido to each of his organizational assignments. 

Rebecca Doepke
Director of Training and Culture Change, NewGround

Rebecca Doepke is director of training for NewGround’s Culture team. She is directly responsible for managing a team of trainers, business development efforts and the implementation and execution of client programs. With 20 years of retail and banking experience, Doepke provides clients with an assessment of their educational needs and creates and delivers a customized education program to further their culture development. Her interactive, high-energy experience training sessions have proven to achieve positive and sustainable results for clients, including Guaranty Bank’s achievement of $1.6 million in 10 branch locations over a 90-day time period in new business directly related to NewGround's digital signage and training programs. She is an active facilitator for the BAI and the ICBA. 

Jim Finkelstein
President & CEO, FutureSense, Inc.

Jim Finkelstein’s experience has included being a Partner in a Big Five firm, a CEO of a professional services firm, a corporate executive for Fortune 500 companies and an entrepreneur with his current company, FutureSense®, Inc. He has specialized in business and people strategy, motivation and reward, and organizational assessment, development, communications and transformation. With more than 32 years of consulting and corporate experience, he understands the convergence of environment, culture, development and rewards in order to improve business performance through people.

Jim Hopkins
President & CEO, JK Hopkins Consulting

Jim Hopkins is the president & CEO of JK Hopkins Consulting. A banker since 1979, and training professional for the past 18 years, he brings the strengths of a trainer, designer, performance consultant and former chief learning officer to bare in helping fellow training professionals learn the skills necessary to bring their bank success.

Nancy E. Sheppard
President & CEO, Western Independent Bankers

Nancy Sheppard is president & CEO of Western Independent Bankers. She has more than 30 years’ experience working in banking associations and the political arena. She joined WIB as executive director in 1988. Prior to joining WIB, she spent eight years with the California Bankers Association and held positions with responsibilities for federal government relations, PAC fund raising, public affairs, communications and educational programs & conferences. Prior to becoming a banking association professional, she spent six years at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., as a legislative assistant to three Congressmen. 

Jack Smalley
Director, HR, Express Employment Professionals

For the last three decades, Jack Smalley has devoted his career to the field of human resources. His experience includes executive-level management in a number of different industries such as oil, chemical and packaging with an emphasis in manufacturing, engineering, sales, logistics and corporate management. Smalley serves as a senior human resources consultant for Express Services, Inc. He provides human resource training and consulting for more than 600 Express offices and clients in the U.S. and Canada. Smalley offers clients preventive measures that minimize the threat of allegations emanating from workplace problems and employee relations issues.

Brad Starr
Vice President, Partners in Leadership, Inc.

Brad Starr is a vice president and an executive facilitator for Partners In Leadership, Inc. He has experience working with organizational leaders at all levels. Starr has worked with many Fortune 500 companies that include Baxter International, Macy’s, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough Corporation, and Valassis Communications, Inc. He has the ability to engage his audiences to get them focused on the results needed to create a Culture of Accountability within the organization.

Debra H. Stoll
Senior Attorney, Chang, Ruthenberg & Long

Debra Stoll is a senior attorney with Chang, Ruthenberg & Long. Her practice includes all aspects of employee benefits law, with a particular emphasis on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and ESOP transaction and 401(k) plans. She recently spoke and published an article on automatic contribution arrangements for the Sacramento Area Human Resources Association (SAHRA). Stoll has served as past-president and a board member of the National Institute of Pension Administrators, Sacramento Chapter. She is a member of legislative and regulatory committee of SAHRA, NCEO, ESOP Association, IFEBP and Western Pension & Benefits Conference.

Genevieve Ward
Senior Consultant, The Omnia Group

Genevieve Ward is a senior consultant at The Omnia Group in Tampa, Fla., a company that offers The Omnia Profile as a hiring and management tool. She helps clients screen job applicants and motivate existing employees by assessing behavioral tendencies. She coaches business owners and hiring managers on best practices for reducing turnover, increasing employee engagement, and managing for optimal performance.  Prior to The Omnia Group, Ward worked as a senior recruiter in New York City. 

Larry P. Ward
President & CEO, Heritage Oaks Bank

Larry Ward is the president & CEO of Heritage Oaks Bank in Paso Robles, Calif. Upon his arrival at Heritage 16 years ago, the bank was a one branch bank with just over $50 million in total assets. Today the bank has 15 full-service branch offices along with its administrative headquarters building covering all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. With assets of about $850 million and 232 full time equivalent employees, Heritage Oaks Bank is the largest community bank on the Central Coast of California. Ward currently serves as WIB chairman.

Dennis J. Wootten
Director, EW Partners, Inc.

Since 1995, first with John Parry & Alexander and currently with EW Partners, Dennis Wootten has partnered with Steve Enna to provide HR consulting services to more than 100 community banks throughout the West Coast. Prior to 1995, Wootten held positions with First National Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Insurance Company of North America, Banker’s Mortgage, Western Mortgage and Continental Advisors, Inc.