Schedule

Common Cause: An Exploration of the IT Talent Crisis
Jointly Presented by TechServe Alliance and Society for Information Management (SIM)

Cybersecurity roles Unfilled. Projects delayed. Hiring Needs Unmet. Whether building an internal team as an IT leader or meeting a client’s hiring needs for a project as an IT staffing professional, the problem is the same: the supply of talent in IT is insufficient to meet demand. This supply-demand imbalance shows no prospect of improving. In this joint client/IT staffing forum, we will explore the IT talent crisis, its implications, and innovative solutions being developed in response to this enduring challenge.

The IT Talent Challenge: IT Leaders and Staffing Executives Speak
Moderators: Mark B. Roberts, CEO, TechServe Alliance & Mark Taylor, CEO, Society for Information Management
Panelists:
Sarah Martin, President, Dale Workforce Solutions
Caren Shiozaki, CIO, TMST, Inc.
Lou Senko, CIO, Q2
Manny Vidal, Executive Vice President Strategy and Development, SSI People

The numbers do not lie. Unemployment in IT is at historically low levels. There is little likelihood our domestic pipeline of talent will significantly expand in the foreseeable future. To varying degrees, both official policy and public discourse has ranged from less than welcoming to outright hostility toward IT professionals from abroad.

In this candid discussion moderated by the leaders of Society for Information Management and TechServe Alliance, CIOs and IT staffing executives will explore the IT talent gap, its implications, how various stakeholders are coping today and planning for the future.

IMPACT! Talks
Innovations in Talent Acquisition: Diversifying the IT Talent Pool
Moderator: Sue Thaden, President & Chief Executive Officer, CRi

Fast paced, IMPACT! Talks feature three compelling speakers sharing powerful ideas in the space of 60 minutes. These brief high impact talks are designed to disrupt ordinary thinking and inspire you to reimagine what is possible. For the Talent Forum, the focus of the Impact! Talks will be on innovative ways thought leaders are diversifying the talent pool in the face of the perennial shortage of IT professionals.

IMPACT! Talk #1: Expand Your IT & Engineering Candidate Pool – Eliminate the College Degree Requirement!

Roland Selby, Vice President Strategic Partners, NPower

This session will challenge you to think differently about tech talent and highlight a great untapped resource – the non-college talent. Roland’s talk will address the historic barriers to employment, hiring trends for non-college degree talent, and the value of having a diverse talent pool.

IMPACT! Talk #2: Five conversations We Should Be Having About Neurodiversity in Technology
Marcus Murph, Partner, KPMG

As corporations compete in the war for top talent, they must question their current talent acquisition strategy. Marcus will focus on the challenges, opportunities and changes that need to happen to attract, retain and unleash the potential of neurodiverse talent within today's organizations.

IMPACT! Talk #3: In Our Backyard: The Untapped IT Talent Pool

Tamara Nall, President & CEO, The Leading Niche

With the extraordinary demand for talent, businesses continue to expand their reach to every corner of the globe in search of IT resources, including India, Philippines, and Eastern Europe. However, many overlook the vast and largely untapped domestic – based resources right in our backyard: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). From Morgan State University to Prairie View A&M University to Edward Waters College, many of these schools are typically not on the radar of IT recruiters. In an ever-changing, yet highly competitive market, corporations must be sure that they hire the best and the brightest as part of their teams. Join Tamara Nall, Founder and CEO of The Leading Niche, to learn how she successfully partnered with over 100 employers including Fortune 500 companies, to expand recruiting to these institutions and gain access to a vast pool of untapped IT and engineering talent.

Top critical challenges and opportunities facing IT Staffing firms today
Moderators: Cesar Romero, Head of Community & Partnerships, myBasePay
Panelists:
John Bemis, President, Benchmark IT, LLC
Cesar Jimenez, Founder/CEO, myBasePay
Hank Levine, President and CEO, iPlace USA
Toni Harrison-Hogan, SIM DE&I Council Member and Senior Director of Technology Under Armour

The IT Staffing industry is facing a lot of challenges and opportunities.

How can you overcome these obstacles? What strategies will help your company grow in the future?

Join us for this live podcast panel to learn about four important topics facing IT staffing firms today. First, we'll discuss practical strategies you can implement to tackle the IT talent shortage. Next, we'll talk about how digital recruiting and direct sourcing are shaping the industry and best practices to leverage recruiting technologies. Finally, we'll share with you some tips on how to develop an effective recruiting strategy so that you can attract diverse top talent from all over the world.

This is a chance to learn from other top executives like yourself who are facing similar issues in their business and how they overcame them. Learn about new trends, best practices, and proven strategies that you can implement right away!

SIM Foundation Keynote

Be The Rainbow

Presented by Brian Shul, Former SR-71 Pilot Major, USAF Retired

Brian Shul's compelling story of living fearlessly and embracing the opportunities of each day. As an Air Force fighter pilot, Brian was shot down in the Vietnam War and severely burned in the ensuing crash. Initially given up for dead, he was finally rescued, spent more than a year recovering and was told his flying days were over. Amazingly, Brian returned to active duty flying, and became one of only 89 men in history to fly the SR-71 spy plane, the fastest jet ever built. Brian inspires hope, overcoming obstacles, daring to dream and shares his passion for the magnificence of U.S. ingenuity and technology.

General Session: The CIO Mindset in 2021 and Beyond: A Candid Conversation
Moderator: Scott Aicher, President, Belcan Workforce Solutions
Panelists:
Blake Holman, CIO, St. David's Foundation
Tom McCurely, CIO, Chef's Warehouse
Beau Mesereau, CIO, Fish and Richardson P.C.

The first rule of business is “know thy client.” In this ‘straight talk’ panel discussions, CIOs will share their thinking and insights. What has changed (and what has stayed the same) since the onset of the disruptive impact of COVID-19 in March 2020? What is their perspective on remote work and ‘recruit from anywhere’? Where do they see technology going and how are they likely to meet their talent needs in the future?

General Session: Assembling a Winning Team–Build It, Recruit It, or Buy It?
Moderator: Barb Bruno, President, Good As Gold Consulting
Panelists:
Threase Baker, President, ABBTECH Professional Resources, Inc.
Dan Callaghan, CEO, Veremark
Rick Carlson, Director, TechServe Sales & Recruiting Management Program & President, Harvyst Consulting
Adam Conrad, Founder/CXO, Great Recruiters

Challenges around talent are not limited to consultants. For most IT and engineering staffing firms, their inability to add high performing team members on a consistent basis is the most common reason they cannot grow. So how do you go about build a team with top performers? Do you train and develop your own people? Laterally hire experienced hands from other organizations? Acquire other companies and their teams? In this interactive panel discussion, we will explore the advantages and drawbacks of each approach as well as discuss how to execute a winning strategy for building an extraordinary team.

Talent Challenge Breakouts & Roundtable Discussion
Join in Industry experts and your peers for candid discussions about the unique challenges directly related to building an IT & Engineering staffing team.

Roundtable Discussion: Attract, Retain and Redeploy to fill more Business Written

Roundtable Lead: Barb Bruno, President, Good as Gold Training

Unfilled contracts and orders = lost revenue and profits. Low redeployment percentages negatively impact your bottom line. We will discuss effective ways to attract and retain your contractors/ consultants and direct hire candidates. In addition, how to increase the percentage of contractors/consultants your company redeploys.

Roundtable Discussion: The Importance of Formalizing Internal Training for Sales and Recruiter

Roundtable Lead: Rick Carlson, Director, Sales & Recruiting Management Program & President, Harvyst Consulting

The largest firms know the importance of building an in-house structure for training internal Account Managers and Recruiters. Some of the larger organizations have onboarding as well as ongoing training for all production employees, usually referred to as their "University."

But how can smaller firms and even many mid-sized ones build such an infrastructure? Using outside firms can be one way to establish a program, but what can get lost in the outsourcing of this important function is "culture" and "adoption." Without these two traits, training becomes an event and not a standard of expectation.

Let us have a deeper discussion about how to train, what to train on, and how to implement a longer-term solution for the continuous development of our resources.

Roundtable Discussion: Turning Your Recruiters into Brand Magnets

Roundtable Lead: Adam Conrad, Founder/CXO, Great Recruiters

Recruiters are at the forefront of the industry and are your firms’ biggest marketers. They speak to more people than anyone else in your organization and are the primary driver of creating great first impressions. In a candidate-driven, recruiter-saturated market, candidates have a choice of who they want to work with, but will they choose you? There has never been a more important time to invest in your recruiters’ personal brand, turning them into your firms’ brand magnets.

Roundtable Discussion: How to Make an Offshore Recruiting Partnership Successful

Roundtable Lead: Casey Godfrey, Vice President, 247 Headhunting

Your needs may be too many job orders to fill, clients are demanding greater speed in identifying candidates, or you as a leader are looking to improve efficiency of the team. These challenges require leaders to think and operate differently. Offshore recruiting is one tool a firm can use to tackle these challenges. Join Casey, an industry veteran in RPO, and discuss how offshore recruiting when done right can be a great resource for your team.

Roundtable Discussion: Breaking Barriers: Tapping into Non-Traditional Talent Pools

Roundtable Lead: Jason Sacramento, Principal Solutions Consultant, Bullhorn

In the current environment where there is a limited supply of tech candidates, IT staffing organizations need to expand outside of the traditional talent pools that they have always worked with. In this roundtable, we will explore a few underutilized segments of viable candidates with the right skills or transferable skills needed to be successful in the workforce. Join us to explore groups of untapped potential candidates, and discuss best practices for how to engage them.

Executive Women’s Lunch
Sponsored by ClearEdge Marketing
Lesley Vickrey, CEO & Founder, ClearEdge Marketing
Sunny Ackerman, President - The Americas, SThree
Anna Frazzetto, Chief Digital Technology Officer, Tential

Get ready to be inspired during the Annual Women’s Luncheon where you will hear personal stories of triumph from industry leaders and participate in roundtable discussions with your peers. From breaking through barriers to building your personal brand and rising-up the next generation of staffing leaders, this is the most talked-about event at the conference. Do not miss out on an opportunity to learn, share and grow.
**Separate registration required**

Keynote: Being a Next Level Leader
Simon T. Bailey
A world renown speaker, success coach, author, television host, and philanthropist

Change in our industry is happening at the speed of light. The leadership skills of yesterday will not carry the day in the new and rapidly evolving business landscape environment. In this highly engaging presentation, Simon T. Bailey, an award-winning motivational speaker, success coach, author, television host, and philanthropist, will share the core principles and skill sets that will enable current and emerging leaders to take their organizations successfully into the future. These skill sets include collaboration, emotional intelligence, storytelling and creativity.

With his more than 30 years of experience, Simon has worked with over 2,000 companies in 50 different countries. He has helped countless people unlock their fullest potential, and he will help you find yours too.

Strategic Leadership Breakout: Avoiding Legal Minefields in a "Work from Anywhere" World

Moderator: William Josey, Principal, William S. Josey LLC
Robert Brown, VP Strategy and Development, Legal Counsel, Signature Consultants
Michael Hammond, Attorney, HNM

In addition to the long-standing array of compliance issues, the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the workplace has raised a host of new legal concerns. From compliance challenges associated with working from home, leave obligations, immigration, to liability when employees return to the office, the list continues to grow longer. Join our distinguished panel of legal experts with deep industry expertise on how to avoid liability and still get things done in the “new normal.”

Strategic Leadership Roundtables

Roundtable Discussion: Automation and AI Realities Guaranteed to Impact Your Bottom Line

Roundtable Lead: Pankaj Jindal, Co-Founder, Sense

It’s an undisputed fact that automation and AI are changing the way staffing companies operate in this post-Covid world. Those who embrace this new paradigm of digital transformation are able to modernize their business practices and see its impact on every dimension of the talent lifecycle: from sourcing and screening, to pre-hire and onboarding, to contractor care and customer delight, and redeployment and retention. In this discussion, we’ll unpack real world examples in which automation and AI are being leveraged at some of the largest and most forward-thinking tech staffing firms to drive meaningful impact on their bottom line.

Roundtable Discussion: Now for the Good News: Opportunities for Staffing in an Altered Marketplace

Roundtable Lead: Gus Samra, Chief Revenue Officer, JobDiva

As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many of us conduct business, placing our offices and workforces in new arrangements as we adjust to new realities. At the same time, the pandemic also catapulted us into a more digitized future—years ahead of schedule.

In this roundtable session, Gus will discuss the business and recruitment opportunities presented by the changes resulting from this moment in history. Attendees will emerge from this roundtable heartened by trends that point toward an age of stronger relationships and more agile teams.

Roundtable Discussion: Leveraging Alternative Recruiting Models to Beat the Competition

Roundtable Lead: Bryan Tweed, Vice President of Operations, IMS People Possible

In this unprecedented demand for technical talent, staffing leaders need to leverage a multitude of recruitment delivery solutions to gain market share and compete in the talent war. Join Bryan and other industry leaders to discuss how leveraging a variety of delivery models can provide agility, scalability, and speed to market.

Asfa Malik, Founder/CEO, GrowthMinded Consulting

Build a sense of belonging, and they will come … and they will stay. Inclusive leadership is a rare quality and style that only a few leaders achieve.

The goal of all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives is to have an inclusive work culture. The question becomes, how can we create an inclusive work environment for employees? Leaders play a pivotal role in whether any DEI initiative succeeds or fails. In this interactive workshop, we will explore simple ways that leaders can create inclusion and become that rare leader that people want to follow and aspire to be.

Strategic Leadership Workshop
Workshop: The Art & Science of Building Effective and Affordable Comp Plans
A Real Time Demonstration
Tom Nunn, President, Tom Nunn Consulting

In today’s highly competitive environment for talent, building effective comp plans for your current and prospective team members has never been more critical. If a plan is ‘below market’, you will lose AEs and recruiters to competitors. If it is too ‘rich’, profitability will be adversely impacted.

In this interactive workshop, veteran industry executive and consultant Tom Nunn will kick-off the discussion by sharing best practices on developing comp plans that incentivize the right behaviors, align with the company's strategy and business model and are affordable. After laying the foundation, Tom will in ‘real time’ walk through modeling tools and reports that you can use in developing your own highly effective comp plans.

General Session: Starting with the End in Mind: Maximizing Enterprise Value
Moderator: Mark Roberts, CEO, TechServe Alliance
Dan Reynolds, CEO, Talon Professional Services
John Larson, Independent Consultant, M&A Marketplace, TechServe Alliance
Joel Leege, EVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Randstad Technologies Group

There is a well- known business maxim: start with the end in mind. For most owners and executives of IT & engineering staffing firms, that translates into maximizing enterprise value for an eventual exit. In this engaging panel discussion with experts offering a multi-disciplinary perspective, we will explore the core drivers of enterprise value: growth and profitability. Learn what strategies and tactics owners and executives successfully employ to accelerate growth and increase profitability in order to drive enhanced enterprise value throughout the lifecycle of a company.

Emerging Leaders Forum
**Separate additional registration required**
Facilitator: Tom Nunn, President, Tom Nunn Consulting
Presenters: Barb Bruno, President, Good as Gold Training
Rick Carlson, Director, TechServe Sales & Recruiting Management Program & President, Harvyst Consulting
Bill Josey, Principal, William S. Josey, LLC

For an IT & engineering staffing firm to scale and build enterprise value, it must successfully develop its future leaders. While most firms recognize this imperative, few firms possess the internal expertise and resources to do so. In response to this gap, TechServe has created the Emerging Leaders Forum designed to provide a one-day industry leadership primer for the high-potential members of your team.

The Emerging Leaders Forum will be held in conjunction with the Executive Summit and led by veteran industry executive and consultant Tom Nunn. Participants will engage with renowned industry experts in leadership, sales and recruiting management, as well as compliance and legal issues.

Workshop: Business Development Workshop: Sparking Customers For Life
Simon T. Bailey
A world renown speaker, success coach, author, television host, and philanthropist

Building off the inspiring messages from Simon’s Keynote address, this workshop will do a deep dive into how to create customers for life. Through evidence-based research, stories and examples, this workshop will teach you how to attract and retain customers in a growing global market, turn customers into loyal fans, and create unforgettable moments that keep them coming back.

Enhancing Enterprise Value: Breakout & Roundtables - Group I

In sports, much can be learned from the routines and practices of elite athletes. What small adjustments can improve performance? Which of these practices can be readily adopted? Join subject matter experts and industry peers for interactive roundtable discussion on the key paths to enhance enterprise value.

Roundtable Discussion: How AI for DEI can be a Transformative Revenue Driver

Roundtable Lead: James Lucier, Executive Vice President, ProcureWise

In today’s tight labor market, some staffing firms are attempting to differentiate themselves by hiring from a diverse talent pool. However, some clients are skeptical and demand proof of their DEI claims. Join James Lucier, a Champion for Global Workforce Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to discuss how currently available AI technology for DEI can be leveraged to become an immediate revenue driver for staffing firms by expanding business with existing clients and bringing on new clients.

Roundtable Discussion: How to influence the BIG Deal

Roundtable Lead: Monica Dominic, Executive Director, Sales & Account Management, Proteam Solutions Inc. (PSI)

Often in the IT Staffing world you are a prisoner of long RFPs. How can you set your firm apart from the others that are reading the same RFP? During this roundtable, we will dive into some of the restrictions that are placed on proposals and how you can navigate through the roadblocks and identify pathways to success.

Roundtable Discussion: Right-Now Solutions for Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

Roundtable Lead: Jerry Grady, Partner, UHY, LLP

If cybersecurity was not on the radar of staffing owners across the globe before, it should be, especially now. Recently, the Biden administration announced a ransomware task force after cyber breaches carried out by Russian ransomware operators paralyzed a good portion of the East Coast’s gasoline supply and crippled a major meat processing company. Recent breaches have occurred because of human failure rather than technology failure because today’s advanced persistent threats target people, not systems. There is a strategic gap between security risks and security solutions.

Regardless of company size, security breaches result in reputational damage and material business disruption. Developing and managing an effective cybersecurity program is becoming a necessity in today’s internet-driven economy. This roundtable will cover right-now solutions, state and federal laws that you need to be aware of, and how to protect the data of your company and employees.

Roundtable Discussion: Strategies in Building Enterprise Value

Roundtable Leader: Paul Mehring, Co-President, Access Capital

Every staffing entrepreneur makes a decision on whether to have a lifestyle business or possibly obtain generational wealth by building enterprise value by taking calculated risks. In this session, Paul Mehring will share best practices for adding value by:

Investing in senior management, staff, and technology. We’ll cover how to construct KPIs to manage the ROI on these investments
Establishing partnerships with investors to both grow organically or through acquisitions. Learn how to align your growth strategies with the capital deployment strategies of your financial partner.

Roundtable Discussion: The Gross Margin Method: How to Improve Your Bottom Line and Avoid Pricing Traps

Roundtable Lead: Matt Bish, Director, Recruiter Services – US, People 2.0

Every salesperson wants to sell more and increase their bottom line. Whether you are a sales representative, temporary placement specialist, manager, owner or if you simply want to enhance your enterprise value, this is the session for you. Join Matt to learn the tools to recognize and avoid the traps that are holding you back from getting what you deserve in your placements. You will discover how to increase your gross margin each time you fill an open requisition, as well as:

The "hidden" bad habits that exist when it comes to pricing or paying
How to determine appropriate bill rates without just relying on past practices
Ways the margin leaders in the industry really use power pricing

Enhancing Enterprise Value: Breakout & Roundtables - Group II

Roundtable Discussion: Impact of artificial intelligence within the recruitment industry

Roundtable Lead: Venkat Kolli, CEO, Oorwin

With continuous evolving and changing needs of organizations, it is very important for staffing firms to keep abreast of new technologies for competitive differentiation. Join this roundtable discussion to understand the impact of AI on the recruitment industry and how staffing firms are adopting AI to provide high quality value to their customers, partners and employees.

Roundtable Discussion: Creating and Telling Your Value Story

Roundtable Lead: John Larson, Independent Consultant, M&A Marketplace, TechServe Alliance

Your business story highlights what makes your firm valuable to both clients and potential buyers of the business. Join this interactive session to learn how you can identify the value drivers in your business. We will work through a case study framework that you can use to identify the various elements in your business that accentuate its value. We will address ways to identify the soft spots (and share ideas on how to fix), and how to elevate and promote your strengths. This exercise will enable you to craft a compelling story that showcases the value of your firm.

Roundtable Discussion: Enhancing Enterprise Value through the Power of Contingent Workforce Data

Roundtable Lead: Mike Provenzano, Vice President of Compensation Analytics, PRO Unlimited

As talent gets more geographically dispersed and top talent is even more sought after, hiring intelligence becomes critical for both finding quality professionals and saving opportunities. Staffing companies that can easily access on-demand hiring data empower clients to make more informed hiring decisions and optimize the cost and location of resources globally.

In this roundtable, you will learn about the increasing importance of quality data within human capital management. The session will delve into:

Types of data needed for optimizing talent acquisition & workforce management
How to avoid data collection pitfalls & the characteristics of five-star data
How to five-star data to identify hidden savings opportunities

Roundtable Discussion: Lead with Talent Quality - Move from Transaction to Strategic Advisor

Roundtable Lead : Ben Walker, VP of Operations, Glider AI

Between 2020-2021, AI tools captured a 92% increase in candidate fraud during the recruitment to hire process. This trend directly impacts staffing firms’ reputation and the business of their clients. To keep their competitive edge, staffing firms must implement a recruitment strategy that focuses on talent quality and eliminates fraud, reduces time-to-fill, and improves placement rate. In this session, learn how to transform transactional client relationships into strategic partnerships by:

Creating alignment around talent quality
Evaluating talent quality with DE&I, skill, and fit
Mitigating risks like talent fraud, skills misrepresentation, and internal biases

General Session: Innovation & The Future of the Industry: What you Need to do Now 
Moderator: Jonathan Kestenbaum, Managing Director of Technology Strategy & Partners, AMS

Panelists: Dan Callaghan, CEO, Veremark
Jason Heilman, SVP of Product Bullhorn, Bullhorn
Lauren Jones, Founder & CEO, Leap Consulting Solutions

Look around. Few industries are untouched or impervious to disruptions from innovative technologies or business models. Professional staffing is not an exception! In this provocative panel discussion, you will hear about technologies that are changing the face of the professional staffing industry. Which new technologies could alleviate some of the staffing industry business challenges? Where should you invest in technology now for maximum return? How will technology impact the industry in the future? When should you begin making these investments? Hint: You need to begin now!

Innovation & The Future of the Industry Breakout & Roundtables

Join industry experts and your peers for candid discussions about the unique opportunities that innovation and new technologies can deliver to your firm.

Roundtable Discussion: How Artificial Intelligence Can Double Your Business by Unlocking the Data

Speaker: Amar Chadipirala, CTO, CEIPAL

Technology choices played a significant role in determining the winners and losers during the market transformation caused by the COVID disruption. New Technologies, such as AI, continue to play an outsized role in enabling staffing firms to compete for a historically scarce talent pool today. No longer just a promise for the future, practical applications of AI today drive significant new revenue for the early adopters. Join to hear how AI can unlock the information in your CRM to shorten placement cycles, increase placement rate, and identify additional business opportunities in your existing clients.

Roundtable Discussion: Growing Your Staffing Firm in The Age of Disruption

Roundtable Lead: Cesar Romero, Head of Community, myBasePay

As a staffing firm, you are always looking for ways to grow your business. But keeping up with the pace of disruption and digital transformation can be a daunting task. In this roundtable, we will focus on:

Maximizing direct sourcing trends to your advantage; and
Candidate inventory in the age of Online marketplaces.

Closing General Session: What will drive IT & Engineering Staffing Firm Success in the Future
Moderator: Mark Roberts, CEO, TechServe Alliance
Panelists: Eugene Holtzman, President, Mitchell Martin, Inc.
Graig Paglieri, CEO, Randstad Technologies Group
Pat Patel, CEO & President, Intelliswift Software, Inc.

In closing remarks and the Summit’s final panel discussion, TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts will explore what will drive success for IT & Engineering Staffing firms in the future. This session will examine:

How the pandemic reshaped the industry and what trends will endure?
Will the characteristics of successful IT & engineering staffing be the same to thrive in the future?

Join Mark and industry leaders for final thoughts on what it will take to win in the IT & engineering staffing industry in 2022 and beyond.

Schedule

IT & Engineering Talent Forum

The Executive Summit

Forum

The Talent Challenge

Strategic Leadership

Enhancing Enterprise Value

Forum

Enhancing Enterprise Value

Innovation & The Future of the Industry