Conference speakers

If you’re in the search business, Jeff Allen needs no introduction. He’s been The Fordyce Letter’s monthly “Placements and The Law” columnist since 1982.

After a decade of working a desk and serving as a human resources manager, Jeff became an attorney specializing in our industry. For over 33 years, he has served it exclusively. Jeff holds four certifications in placement.

Jeff has collected more placement fees, prosecuted more trade secrets cases, prepared more fee schedules, written more retainer agreements, drafted more employment agreements, consulted on more equal employment matters, and represented more search and placement practitioners than anyone else. He is the author of “The Allen Law,” the only industry-specific trade secrets statute in the country.

Jeff is the author of 23 books in the career field, including The Placement Strategy Handbook, Placement Management, The National Placement Law Center Fee Collection Guide and the two-volume Best of Jeff Allen.

Barbara has been a Top Producer, Entrepreneur and Working Manager in her Profession for over thirty years. She is President and Owner of HR Search, Inc. and Good As Gold Training, Inc. Barbara has worked in all segments of the Recruiting and Staffing Profession including: Direct, Temporary, Contract, and Retained Search. In 2007, she addresses over thirty-five conferences both in the US and Internationally – and was the highest rated speaker in 100% of those conferences. She is known for the wealth of information she shares in her sessions. Barb as developed the top rated web-based training program for recruiters – The Top Producer Tutor which is distributed worldwide. She writes for seven national publications monthly including her “Ask Barb” column in the Fordyce Letter. She also writes the most widely read on-line newsletter for recruiters – the NO BS Newsletter. She is the past Chairman of the Board of NAPS, Recipient of the highest honor in the Recruiting Profession – the Harold B. Nelson Award and was inducted into the NAPS Hall of Fame. She is the only Recruiting Professional to receive top honors in two States, Indiana and Illinois. In 2007 she was also honored as a Woman of Merit for her philanthropic endeavors. She makes learning fun, her enthusiasm is contagious and you won’t know which idea to implement first.

Gavin Chase is the General Manager of CNA International, a European recruitment business with 22 franchised offices covering middle to senior management appointments across niche markets, around the globe. He has 20+ years of recruitment experience utilizing only proactive search techniques and is still working a desk whenever he can!

During his career Gavin has become recognized as a presenter, trainer and mentor who delivers the "recruiter's view" of their day to day challenges and delivers practical solutions, improving a recruiter's understanding of the recruitment process leading to marked performance enhancement.

Gavin is also the founder of the social network and self teaching internet resource for recruiters, "Want to be a Big Biller?" for recruiters looking to raise their game.

Michael has been described as one of the most exciting, innovative new trainers in our industy. He opened his recruiting firm in early 1990 as a franchise of Management Recruiters International and transformed it into The Hudson Consulting Group and WorldBridge Partners. He has ranked in the top-10 billing managers several times, ranking as high as second across all MRI divisions with cash in on his desk in excess of $2 million. In 2001 Michael made the strategic decision to grow his firm instead of developing his individual recruiting practice. Training his team on the techniques that launched him, he developed an office that ranks in the top 3% of MRI. He was ranked the 11th-fastest growing IT search firm in the country (outside of MRI) and the fourth fastest growing search firm within MRI out of 1,100 offices with almost $3m in annual revenues. Additionally, he is currently ranked the second largest search firm in the greater Hartford, Connecticut area. In 2007 Michael launched his training, speaking, and consulting firm, TheRecruiterU.com. He works with owners of recruiting firms individually and in groups who have plateaued and want to break through to the next level of revenue and success.

Amybeth began her career in research in the summer of 2002 as the sole researcher for an award-winning MRI-affiliated executive search firm in Ohio. She then served as the manager of Internet research for a recruiting franchisor in Ohio where she provided research support to franchise offices and implemented, customized, and conducted training classes for contact management databases as well as passive researching techniques. She later was a sourcing strategist for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, a global public relations agency headquartered in Seattle. She also maintains an Internet research blog, www.amybethhale.com, where she is affectionately known as the "Research Goddess".

Jonathan R. Hefferlin, Full Time Search Consultant, heading up the Commercial Construction Team here at MRI. Also Trucking/ Logistics/Customs Brokerages, & Energy Teams. TV commentator for a decade ('70s), 'The Real News Report', 'Investor Alert' & 'Dollar Survival' (5k TV shows), Author, 'Making Inflation Pay', founder of $500 mil. co., retired in '81, '89 & '97.

Jeff Kaye is chief executive officer of Kaye/Bassman International and the newly formed Next Level Recruiting Training. This former MRI National Recruiter of the Year has helped build the largest single-site search firm in the country — with annual search revenue in excess of $18 million. His firm has won national awards for philanthropy and workplace flexibility and was named the best company to work for in Texas in 2006 and 2007. Kaye/Bassman International has retained 30 search professionals who have produced over $400,000 in annual search fee revenue.

Ted Konnerth has been President/CEO of Egret Consulting Group, a retained search firm with specialties in Electrical Manufacturing, Wholesale Distribution, Consulting Services (Architectural and Engineering) and Mergers and Acquisitions Consulting, since 1999. Prior to founding Egret, Ted was with Cooper Industries for 16 years.

Kathleen Kurke, president of the prestigious Pinnacle Society, is an active recruiter working a $1m+ desk. As owner of StarbridgeGroup, a national executive search firm, and Director of Corporate Solutions with www.brazencareerist.com, Kathleen is a well known "go-to" person for creative innovative approaches that work in changing markets.

Scott Love improves the margins of search firms and staffing agencies by showing recruiters and salespeople how to think at a higher level, how to build resilience, and how to follow a step-by-step system of recruiting that will give average people above average production. He is the author of The Recruiter's Adventure Book! and has written over 150 articles on recruiting. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Selling Power Magazine, and dozens of business magazines and newsletters around the world. He is a graduate of The United States Naval Academy and lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his eight-year-old son and a very hyper dog named Honey Bear, who thinks she is a cat. His website is www.GreatRecruiterTraining.com.

Rob is the Senior Director of Training and Development for Next Level Recruiting Training. Rob comes to NLRT from MRINetwork(tm) Corporate in Philadelphia, where he served as the Chief Learning Officer, responsible for all training and sales development of 1,100 offices worldwide. Previously Rob was with the Acclivus Corporation, an international performance development company. He has facilitated the Acclivus curriculum on five continents and was part of the Acclivus team responsible for global relationships with companies as diverse as Dell Inc., Accenture, KPMG Consulting and Dun & Bradstreet. Rob's knowledge of the search industry comes from 10 years with Merritt Hawkins and Associates, part of the MHA Group of Companies, the nation's leading provider of clinical healthcare staffing and consulting services.

Bill Radin is a highly respected trainer, seminar speaker, author, and publisher. His best-selling books and audio programs include "The Recruiter's Almanac of Scripts, Rebuttals & Closes," "Quick-Start Audio Boot Camp for Rookies," "How to Market & Sell your Recruiting Services," and "Recruiting & the Art of Control."

Mike Ramer, CPC, CSP, is an international trainer for the search and recruitment industry. He is founder and president of Ramer Search Consultants in the New York/New Jersey area. A working manager with his pulse on the market, Mike's personal career billings exceeds $4 million. Mike designed The Art of Search (c) training programs, which he presents at industry events and recruiting firms throughout the U.S., Canada and U.K.

Jordan Rayboy is an enigma. Since starting up Rayboy Insider Search (RayboyIS) in late 2006, he has commanded the industry's first virtual search firm run entirely from a giant RV while full-timing around North America. By leveraging technology, focusing on helping others, and having a burning passion for the business, Jordan has been an inspiration to many in the recruiting field, as well as his clients and candidates. He continues to defy the odds, with a goal of spreading the idea that success does not have to come at the cost of fulfillment.

Jordan's career in recruiting almost ended before it began, when he fell asleep in his initial interview. Fortunately, he was still hired by that MRI office, and went on to win Regional Rookie of the Year at age 20, followed by 3 Regional Account Executive of the Year Awards. He was ranked one of MRI's Top-10 worldwide producers by 25. He earned the company's CSAM (Certified Senior Account Manager) distinction and spoke at numerous CSAM conventions and regional meetings, while accumulating over $5M in career cash-in. He has visited over 20 recruiting offices during his travels to coach, mentor, and inspire others, giving a fresh perspective on the business. He has also participated in NLRT's Big Biller video series, been part of the APEX Mastermind Forum, and been interviewed by XtremeRecruiting for their BigBiller series/ebook.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer who finds appropriate job candidates for your hard-to-fill positions. She's also developed the telephone names sourcing online training series "The Magic in the Method" so you can learn how to telephone names source for yourself. She offers Module subscriptions to the ever-changing series at http://www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod Her company, TechTrak.com, Inc. can be visited here: www.techtrak.com.

Craig Silverman joined UMS Healthcare in 2008 as COO. He is responsible for Sales, Marketing, Franchise Development & Support, and Training. UMS Healthcare is focused on recruiting to fill healthcare and medical direct hire/perm positions for hospitals. Prior to UMS Healthcare, Craig was the EVP, Sales & Marketing for HireAbility.com. From 2002-2004, he was the Senior Vice President for TMP/Hudson Global Resources, where he was responsible for its $90M U.S. IT Services business. From 1996–2001, he was with Hall Kinion as Executive Vice President and CMO. He was successful in growing the Hall Kinion recruiting business from annual revenues of $30M to $296M while opening 40 new sales offices and hiring 400 recruiters.

Jeff Skrentny, CPC/CTS, had his first deal falloff.

He was voted least likely to succeed in his training class. Three years later he was the firm’s top producer.

From top producer, to manager, to entrepreneur, he stumbled into IT recruiting in 1996 and rode that roller coaster while growing from contingency placement to engaged search.

While starting his business, Barbara Bruno saw Jeff train. She hired him for the NAPS Conference in 1998 in New York City. With those first two breakout sessions, his career as a trainer was set, and now Jeff has made nearly 400 training presentations, inspiring more than 15,000 search, staffing and recruiting professionals from 32 nations.

Every year Jeff also mentors individual recruiters to their best year ever, with his emphasis on proven recruiting processes and sales pipeline management.

Jeff has worked for 21 years to learn the profession, to bring its best practices to his desk, and then shares them with you for your success. Along the way he has created a few best practices of his own…proven email marketing before most recruiters had email; a decade of creating passive candidate networks with his Radical Recruiting process; using testimonials and success numbers for maximum sales impact; developing THE process to Torpedo Counteroffers; and most recently, re-engineering Reference Checking to make it the core process of his desk, annually driving over 50% of his revenues.

Find out why Paul Forrest said “your presentations are of utmost value with potential to scare the competition.” Learn the tested, practical and proven processes and techniques from a recruiter who works a desk just like you.

Shally Steckerl is the founder and Chief CyberSleuth of JobMachine, Inc., the premier provider of sourcing consulting services and research training. A noted talent acquisition strategist and speaker, he has experience consulting with and building sourcing organizations at many Fortune 500 companies. Steckerl managed the research arm of Microsoft's global centralized sourcing team, and has previous experience leading organizations such as Google, Genentech, Disney, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Cisco Systems, and Motorola.

Hank Stringer's unique experiences and expertise include over 30 years of global recruitment experience in the US and Asia, 12 years as a visionary entrepreneur in the recruitment technology marketplace and as an author and international speaker on Talent Acquisition and Management.

As founder of Hire.com from 1996 to 2006, Hank and his team created many of the processes used in today's corporate career sites and public job portals. Today Hank has returned to his roots and first passion, Executive Search where his firm Stringer Executive Search is sowing the seeds today to redefine the global executive search industry tomorrow.