Stacey Lewis is the Founder/CEO of HR Interrupted, a consultancy firm dedicated to providing resources to business leaders who are seeking to disrupt outdated workplace principles and practices. She has over 30 years of professional HR experience in the private and public sectors, including her former roles as Chief Human Resources Officer for the Port of Long Beach; and Commissioner for the Long Beach Unified School District Personnel Commission. Stacey serves on several local boards, including CSULB's HR Advisory Board, Little Owl Foundation of Childhood Education, and Girls Inc. of Los Angeles.  

Stacey’s professional advice has been featured on Indeed, the #1 job site in the world, as well as Ebony and Parenting magazines. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of the Pacific and a Human Resources Management Certification from Loyola Marymount University. She holds several professional certifications including a SPHR and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Certification from Cornell University.

Melvin L. Felton II represents corporations and individuals in a wide range of employment and business litigation matters.  He has extensive experience advising in all stages of litigation, mediation, and arbitration, having successfully resolved nearly 200 matters in a gamut of different industries including film, television, music, amusement/resort, luxury hospitality, high fashion, cosmetics, restaurant, retail, refinery, finance, healthcare, construction, professional services, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, higher education, and real estate.  Mr. Felton assists clients through disputes, including pre-litigation, pleadings, discovery, law and motion, trial, and appeal.

Leslie Freeman (MHRM, SPHR, SHRM-SCP) has a passion for human resources and has been employed in the industry for over 20 years. Her employment from a myriad of companies, includes United Airlines, Marriott, Equifax, and the California Association of Hospitals Health Systems and the US Census2020. Currently, she is a consultant, trainer, and professor; and represents companies in Southern California at Unemployment Hearings.

On the board of directors for California Unemployment Council, she has served on the Board of Directors of several human resource associations such as Professionals in Human Resources Association and worked closely with the Employment Roundtable of Southern California. She is a Certified Diversity Professional with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition, Mediation Certification from the State of California, Human Resource Professional of the Month for Human Resource Certification Institute and she holds an Orange County Human Relations Council Certificate of Completion for Effective Human Relations in the Workplace

Alvin M. McCurdy is the CEO of 828 Coffee Company. He has global experience as an officer of publically traded & privately owned companies. Mr. McCurdy has over 20 years of experience as a C-Level Executive.

Some of his experiences include VP of Global Operations at Natural Alternatives Inc., San Marcos, California; V.P. of Global Operations at Kerr a division of Sybron Dental McCurdy had responsibility for Canada, Michigan, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland & Mexico, with distribution facilities in Australia & Japan; and the first manger promoted to the plant manager position at the Trenton, Ohio, Miller/Coors/SAB Brewery. Mr. McCurdy holds a B.S. degree in Business management from Cardinal Stritch University

Mark Mikelat (MBA) is a business growth expert, speaker, consultant, and author with extensive experience in business strategy development and implementation. He has successfully consulted with corporations around the world in sales channel development, sales systems implementation, marketing strategy, and staff leadership development. Some of his clients have included Microsoft, Coach Luxury Brands, Hewlett Packard, the Los Angeles School District, and many others. He has an MBA from the European Business School, and is a respected lecturer at various universities. He is also the author of multiple books on business.

With over 20 years of Human Resources experience, Jocelyn has partnered with businesses in the areas of talent acquisition, compensation, employee development, and change management to improve organization effectiveness and establish a positive work culture.

She began her career as a compensation consultant and progressed into levels of higher responsibility within human resources. She has a Bachelor’s in Business degree from the University of San Diego and MBA from USC, and holds a Society of Human Resource Management-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and a SeniorProfessional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification.

Jocelyn is also a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Certified Practitioner. She has extensive experience working for large international organizations in a number of industries including hospitality, manufacturing, engineering consulting, and water.Jocelyn recently transitioned to an operations role and is currently the Vice President, Service Operations for Suburban Water Systems, where she applies her human resources knowledge to lead a 40-person team towards operational excellence.

Linda Shoob, MS, brings 25 years of experience working in the field of leadership development, team-building, and strategic planning. Linda works with executive teams to enhance their strategic alignment and assists them in clarifying mission, vision, values, roles, goals, processes, and infrastructures. Linda established Organization Effectiveness Consultants (OEC) and has collaborated with dozens of clients to customize organization effectiveness interventions and leadership development programs at all levels. She has delivered thousands of hours of training and facilitation; and provided hundreds of leaders with personalized feedback and coaching. A partial list of her public sector and nonprofit clients includes the City of Anaheim, City of Los Angeles-Port Construction and Maintenance Division, City of San Diego-Public Utilities, City of Oceanside-Parks Department, San Diego Gas and Electric, and many others. Linda holds degrees including a Master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from San Diego State University and a Bachelor's in Experimental Psychology from Arizona State University.

Susan Steward is a partner in the Cerritos office of law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.  Susan represents clients in state and federal court, before arbitrators, and as a trusted advisor. She has worked closely with for-profit and nonprofit companies, governmental entities, and local and national trade associations on legal matters including defending against claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. Susan also has extensive experience defending employers in class action claims and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) matters. She represents clients in administrative agency actions and contract negotiations, and conducts large-scale workplace investigations.   She has been a lecturer in the College of Business at CSULB for more than a decade.

With over 30 years’ experience in the strategy, development, execution, and measurement of training and continuing education certification initiatives, Penni Wells is known for her versatile approach to creating and delivering training and education. She has brought her proprietary 360 Degree Customer Experience methodology to clients in the private and public sectors, targeting the successful customer experience for everyone involved: the customer, the employee, and the organization. Some of her clients include The Boeing Company, Southern California Edison, Steelcase Corporation, Southern California Edison, the Center for International Trade and Transportation, and the Gateway Cities Partnership. Penni has provided training and other services for the CSU Chancellor’s Office, CSU Dominguez Hills, Fullerton College and Rio Hondo College. In addition, she has provided training courses for the Long Beach Community Action Partnership; and was the former Associate Director for Professional Programs at CPaCE/CSULB.