Speaker Bio: Linda C. Wingate is the founding principal of Wingate Consulting. Her primary consulting focus is on delivering customized succession management and leadership development services. She helps companies to prosper in a dramatically changing business environment and to pursue leadership development strategies for current and future needs. Linda does this by asking the right questions and listening for the real issues and challenges. Using this input, leaders can and will grow and develop their companies as well as themselves. She follows through on her commitments and is known throughout the business community as a practical realist.  A partial list of client companies includes: CIGNA, Commerce Bank, Fleet Credit Card Services, Independence Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Keystone Mercy Health Plan, United Way of SEPA, and Susquehanna International Group. Linda received her Masters in Organization Development from Temple University. Linda is a presenter and speaker on various management and organizational topics and has taught classes in organization change at local universities. She is active in the Philadelphia Human Resource Planning Society where she has held various Board positions. She is also a Board member for Elfreth’s Alley Association, a volunteer for Business Volunteers for the Arts and a member of the Advisory Board for the FMA Group, a financial services firm.

Kelli Cottom is an accomplished Human Resources professional with over 20 years of proven success in recruitment, client servicing, training and diversity strategies.   A change agent for promoting diversity and inclusion in the corporate sector, Mrs. Cottom has committed much of her professional career and volunteer services in support of this mission.

In her current role as Manager of Corporate Services for INROADS Inc., Mrs. Cottom’s primary responsibility is to direct corporate sponsors (in various industries) in their efforts to identify quality, diverse talent for summer internships, leading to a diverse future workforce.  Consulting on diversity strategies through needs-assessment, understanding the corporate culture and developing career development plans all play an integral role in the successful implementation of the strategy.  Recruiting, training and coaching young diverse professionals throughout their internship experience in preparation full-time hire is the final and perhaps most essential step in ensuring the success of the strategy.  This commitment to building a culture of corporate-inclusion earned Mrs. Cottom the 2003 INROADS Employee of the Year award, acknowledging her outstanding efforts and expertise in the areas of diversity-based client servicing and career development.

Mrs. Cottom’s accomplishments in the area of Recruitment stem from her innate ability to establish solid client relationships and deliver superior customer service.  She prides herself on knowing her clients and understanding their needs in order to deliver talent that will be the best fit.   Whether recruiting healthcare professionals for Novacare Inc., or sales and client service representatives for Aetna US Healthcare, or working alongside Fortune 100 and 500 companies through INROADS, Inc., Mrs. Cottom’s keen sense of matching “talent to opportunity” has been key to her successful placement of hundreds of professionals during her professional tenure.

Mentoring and education are essential in grooming and preparing diverse talent for success in the corporate marketplace.  In this vein, Mrs. Cottom has facilitated and developed a host of workshops and training sessions in both her professional and volunteer services.  An active member and group leader of Positive Intervention  in the early 1990’s,  Mrs. Cottom was able to impact the lives of several school age children by exposing and preparing them for college and career options.  Mrs. Cottom intimately understands the relevance and critical importance of early career counseling.  It is this unique understanding that informs her work as a volunteer mentor, facilitator and career coach for the various church and civic organizations with whom she partners to bring her message of “Educational Options.”

Mrs. Cottom resides in Ambler, PA with her husband and daughter.   In her spare time she enjoys traveling, cooking and spending quality time with her family and friends.

Jane Kim-Hall is a Sr. Immigration Specialist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She develops immigration policy, processes, and services for Children's Hospital and manages the processing of employment-based visas and permanent resident applications for its foreign national employees. Jane received her Juris Doctorate from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2002 and her Bachelor's degree in International Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Jane has lived in Canada, Japan and Malaysia; and enjoys international travel and learning about other cultures. She is the co-author of Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High-Achievers - and How You Can Too and has appeared on local and national television, radio and print such as Good Morning America, The New York Times, and NPR.

Elizabeth Surin, Esq. is a partner at the immigration law firm of Morley, Surin & Griffin, P.C. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Surin was a leading educator in the Singapore education system before migrating to the United States to receive a liberal arts degree from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She subsequently attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she authored Government Influence On Labor Unions In A Newly Industrialized Economy published in the Wharton School and Penn Law School's Comparative Labor Law Journal. Prior to establishing her current immigration law practice, Ms. Surin was a Labor & Employment Litigator and Immigration Attorney at the Philadelphia-headquartered law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. At Drinker Biddle & Reath, Ms. Surin developed the firm's business and employment immigration practice, advising corporate clients on current legal issues in business immigration and the practical application of the law in various employment situations. In addition to extensive work in business and family-based immigration issues, Ms. Surin represents clients in immigration court in removal proceedings and in appeal matters including federal appeals. Ms. Surin is currently an active member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of AILA (American Immigration Lawyers' Association), and has spoken frequently at conferences on immigration issues in the employment and family-based immigration realms.

Patience Lehrman is director of programs for the Welcoming Center for new pennsylvanians. She oversees a vocational literacy program, in which immigrants learn English that is directly applicable to their specific career paths. In addition, she works with businesses of all sizes, providing them with information about the practical steps and economic benefits of hiring foreign-born workers. Mrs. Lehrman came to the U.S. from Cameroon, West Africa. She is fluent in four languages, including French. She holds a dual master's degree in education and organizational development from Temple University, and a Professional Human Resource Certification from Villanova University. Mrs. Lehrman has a decade of experience in the workforce development field. She previously worked at a Philadelphia based organization as Managing Director of Program Operations, overseeing the largest urban transitional jobs program in the Commonwealth. She is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management and the American Society for Training and Development.

Paulette Gabriel is President of Key Leadership Initiatives. She has significant experience consulting to executives and organizations, has a successful executive coaching practice, and has helped organizations and individuals accelerate their capacity for development, self renewal and continuous learning. Additionally, she has a strong background leading strategic and tactical human resources initiatives at the executive and managerial level. Her challenges cross a broad number of industries including pharmaceuticals & chemicals, financial services, transportation, consumer products, consulting services and retail. Entrepreneurial roots have contributed to Paulette’s practical and value conscious approach to achieving results. Currently, in addition to her role at Key Leadership Initiatives, Paulette is completing her doctoral dissertation on the subject of personal transformative experiences as they relate to transformational leadership.
 
Across her career, Paulette has worked as either a consultant or an HR executive in:

• Catalyzing change from the most senior levels to the individual contributor level in order to insure the viability of the business, business team and/or the individual.
• Positioning the human resources of the organization for growth within emerging markets and emerging cultures.
• Leading teams and campaigns to breakthrough results in support of business goals.
• Taking charge of multifaceted and sometimes uncharted challenges and developing expertise as well as delivering results.
• Creating credible and responsive human resource services groups that reflect a benchmark business standard.

A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Broadcast Journalism, Jennifer’s life mission to “empower, educate, equip and encourage” has become a way of life in her roles as wife and mother of four.  After turning her love for feature reporting into a radio show that would make a difference, Jennifer and her husband Tony (both media veterans) launched T.J. Communications Inc. a media consulting and communications company.  

T.J. produces and distributes radio programming, consults radio stations and coaches professionals in the area of personal and professional success, speaking, presenting and communicating, through unique Inspirational Professional Development/Training and its newly launched COMMUNICATOR’S WORKSHOP.

Jennifer loves inspiring individuals to take charge of their lives and careers and achieve their dreams of greatness and balance and she passionately specializes in working with clients who are ready to move to their next level of success and beyond!  Her desire to help people win in life is evident in the excellent standard she commands of herself and others. 

Jennifer lives with her husband and their four children—Morgan, 19, Naomi, 17, Caleb, 13, and Samantha, 12—in Atlanta.

Partial Client List

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

• Professionals Trained: Executive Leadership, Research, Child Life Assistants, Administrative Assistants, Human Resources, Marketing, Middle Level, Front Line Management and High Potential Leaders.

Cox Enterprises, WALR-FM Radio Station

• Professionals Trained: Sales Manager(s) and Account Executives.

University of Minnesota

• Pan-African Conference/Trained: College men and women: Freshmen – Graduate, Community Leaders, Education Professionals, and Business and Civic Leaders.

Kutztown University

• Trained: College Freshmen-Senior Women

Countless Keynote Addresses, Conferences, Workshops and Seminars