Nick Schacht is a highly experienced executive with more than three decades of experience in professional services, education, and corporate learning and development. He has a history of driving product innovation, growth and profitability, and he has led organizations operating worldwide.

Schacht is Chief Global Development Officer for SHRM, the world’s largest HR professional society. Before joining SHRM, he was the founder and CEO of KnowCyber, a learning and development company focused on improving the cybersecurity-related skills of people in all types of organizations worldwide. Prior to KnowCyber, he was President and Chief Operating Officer for PetroSkills, a provider of training and development services to the worldwide petroleum industry. Prior to that, he was CEO and President of Learning Tree International, a publicly traded provider of IT and management learning and development. Schacht was also the President of Global Learning Systems, a start-up focused on e-Learning and digital content. He served in a variety of capacities at ESI International, culminating in his role as President when ESI was sold to the Institute for International Research (IIR) and then as Group President for the Americas for IIR. He has been a Research Fellow at the Logistics Management Institute, and began his career as a U.S. Navy Supply Officer, on the headquarters staff of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

Schacht graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy, and holds Master’s degrees in Administration from the University of Maryland University College and Information Systems Technology from The George Washington University.

Raj brings over two decades of global, cross-cultural HR expertise in geographies like Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Europe, working across diverse industries such as IT/ITES, Engineering, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas and Pharmaceuticals to name a few.

At present he is working as Chief Strategy Officer and Head HR for Advantage Club. AC is a global HR Technology (SaaS) platform catering to employee engagement, financial wellness, benefits, perks, rewards, and early wage access on a single platform to enrich the Employee Experience journey at Moment that matters ! Headquartered at Delaware, Advantage Club has an impressive presence in almost 100+ countries across the globe, catering to 500+ corporates and extends offers exclusively across 10,000+ brands.

In his previous role, Raj was responsible for heading the Global Digital Talent strategy for Concentrix across 40 countries. He also lead the line HR function for 70,000 employees across 13 cities in India and ASEAN countries. Raj was instrumental in expanding the company’s footprint in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the UAE. Additionally, he pioneered the automation and transformation of the HR function at Concentrix.

For his varied contributions, he is also the proud recipient of six individual industry awards:
 Great People Manager Award – Great Manager Institute and Forbes India (2020)
 TA Pai Young HR Leader Award – People Business and Economic Times (2020)
 Great Manager Award – People Business and Economic Times (2019)
 Times Ascent Asia Pacific HRM Awards – HR Tech Projects of the Year (2019)
 ACEF Asian Awards for excellence in HR – HR Leader of the Year (2018)
 100 Most Influential Tech HR Leaders – Individual Award (2018)

He is a certified M&A Specialist from Aon Hewitt. His formal qualifications PGDM from Symbiosis and further education in Digital Transformation from Columbia Business School, Managerial & Leadership Effectiveness from IIMA and Design Thinking & Innovation from Emeritus, Singapore Known as “TrueTech Reporter” at YouTube, Raj spends his leisure time in reading, video editing and music mixing.

Top Global People leader with a successful track record of over 20 years working with multinational organizations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. As a seasoned CHRO, Fara has been instrumental in preparing and steering organizations through IPOs, strategic mergers, private equity investments, and reorganizations. Fara has managed board-level HR strategies, shaped cultures for business growth and transformation, and coached senior-level executives.

Her passion is leading large-scale global teams while building cultures that promote women, diversity and inclusion and digital transformation. By leading with motivation and transparency, it is her purpose to help individuals succeed and grow. She also enjoys amplifying employee experiences, revamping compensation elements, and accelerating development. She is presently the Group Chief Human Resources Officer for Aster DM Healthcare driving the culture renovation and bringing the vision to life through the 27,000 people.

She has a BA Degree from Purdue University and has completed the HR Management Professional Development Program at Rice University as well as the HR Executive Suite at Harvard Business School (Executive Education). Fara is a member of Women’s Angel Investor Network (WAIN) which mentors and invests with women entrepreneurs in Middle East startups. She is also certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)

Nadeem recently relocated to Dubai from London to work with Aramex as their CHRO. He is a senior business executive with extensive global human capital leadership experience in the Consumer Goods, Retail & Industrial sectors. His key competence and experience are in the areas of senior executive search, reward design, talent development, succession, C-suite coaching, integration of senior leadership hires, performance and organisational design. He is also well experienced in M&A due diligence with reference to people and organisation. Before joining Aramex, Nadeem was Global CHRO at Dyson in the UK prior to which he was at Reckitt, a multinational FMCG where he was a member of the Global HR Leadership team for over 9 years. At RB, he was Area HR Director for Developing Markets, which included Greater China, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific, South Asia and Latin America regions with global people responsibility for e-Commerce.

As Global HR Director for Talent & Leadership, he established the Centres of Excellence for Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Leadership Development and led HR Technology. Based in Dubai as Area HR Director for Russia CIS Middle East & Africa including Turkey and Israel, he established a new geographic region with focus on talent transformation and white space expansion. Based at RB’s HQ in the UK as Global Functions HR Director, he has been a trusted advisor to members of RB’s Executive Committee and senior leaders. Nadeem has also worked with Emaar in Dubai where he was the HR Director for Shopping Malls and Retail.

He is also an Advisory Partner at August Leadership, a global executive search firm headquartered in New York and an Angel Investor with start-ups in the UK. With his birthplace being Saudi Arabia, he lived and studied up to his teenage years in the country. International exposure and development then continued globally as he developed professionally and lived in the UK, Africa and Middle East with increasing levels of global responsibility. Nadeem earned his MBA in International Business from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Pakistan, is a Chartered MCIPD, graduated as a Business Coach with Meyler Campbell and completed his Non-Executive Director Diploma in the UK with Financial Times.

As Area Vice President, Steve is responsible for Cornerstone’s Middle East business, ensuring organisations are successfully navigating HR digital transformation and providing their people with the right development and growth opportunities. Steve has been working in technology for twenty five years most of which in people technology and his extensive people experience ensures his team can bring organisations the technology, content, expertise, and specialised focus to help them realise the potential of their people.

Sriram Rajan is a passionate Talent OD Leader With 20 years of experience across industries and geographies, he has lead teams in organizations like Deloitte Consulting, Deutsche Bank HP In his current role with Novartis, he heads the Novartis Learning Institute for India

From managing scales for organizations with an employee base of 35 000 people, to impacting critical business metrics around people engagement, Sriram has a wealth of experience across all critical functions of the HR/ Human Capital Engine

A Performance Leadership Coach, Sriram was felicitated as the MEA HR Professional of the Year in Nov 2017 His work around C Suite leadership and culture development won the Top award across the MEA region in 2017 A Key Note speaker at regional and global forums, some of his other recognitions include work he’s done around digitizing establishing innovative people development practices

An avid traveler and photographer, Sriram studied in Delhi He then spent a significant amount of time in Bangalore before moving to Dubai where he spent 7 years He is currently based out of Hyderabad

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) Chief Knowledge Officer leading operations for SHRM Certification, Research functions, SHRM’s Paragon Labs, and SHRM Foundation. During his career, he has led numerous global business initiatives with the aim of unleashing human potential through evidence-based management. His works have been published in top peer-reviewed journals and he has published several books including The Price of Pettiness, a guide to enhancing workplace culture. His works have been recognized by groups such as the American Psychological Association for their contribution to real-world issues having received more than $10 million in research funding from well-known foundations. Dr. Alonso serves as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington. Dr. Alonso is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Division 14 of the American Psychological Association.  He received his doctorate in industrial-organizational psychology from Florida International University in 2003.

Robb Holman is the CEO of global leadership consultancy, Holman International, and the bestselling author of two leadership books, Lead the Way and All In. His highly-anticipated follow-up, Move the Needle has been endorsed by some of the top leadership experts of our time. Featured in publications like Inc, Forbes, and Fast Company, Robb’s dynamic teaching style, authentic engagement, and thought-provoking content has made him a sought-after global keynote speaker.

At the age of 21, Robb was hit with bad news as doctors found a potentially cancerous mass in his midsection. But after weeks of uncertainty, an ultrasound specialist confirmed that the mass had somehow disappeared. This miracle radically altered his perspective, prompting him to question his purpose in a way he never had before.

More than 23 years later, Robb is still following his purpose, helping leaders around the world derive more meaning from their lives. His Inside Out Leadership philosophy guides leaders in reflecting on what matters most so they can achieve amazing results. Robb currently lives in West Chester, PA with his wife, Karen, and their three children, RJ, Kayla, and Zach.

Dr. Heba Makram is a researcher, transformation advocate and talent management expert. She is passionate about driving change, transforming the talent value chain and unlocking talent potential.  Throughout her career she worked closely with corporate executives and leaders helping them to develop and deliver on their people strategies. Currently working for one of the most admired air travel brands ‘Emirates’, she is responsible for the transformation of HR, driving culture change and reinventing employee experience. She holds a MSc in International HRM from Cranfield University, School of Management, UK and a PhD in Management from the Lancaster University, Management School, UK. Her main area of research examines how Talent Management enables multinational companies create and capture value. She is dedicated to developing and uplifting the role of HR in organizations and therefore sees her future research contributing to the reinventing of the HR field.