Patricia Ann Hamm
EVP, Human Resources
Datalink

On September 24, 2008 Patricia Hamm was the most senior leader present when FBI agents descended upon the Petters Group WorldWide headquarters in Minnetonka. She, along with other key company leaders, were shocked to find their CEO, and others, were involved in what would be one of the largest cases of business fraud in Minnesota. Patricia was thrown into a situation with no playbook and yet she agreed to stay on and be one of the last to leave the company so that all employees had the support they needed. Patricia has many reflections and lessons learned from those days as well as the challenge of laying off 8,000 Fingerhut employees a few years earlier. Come hear an amazing story and how she applied the insights gained while at Imation and now as a senior leader at Datalink.

Nate Caskey
Founder, Caskey Consulting Services,
Former Director, HR Strategy and Operations, Target

Few industries are impacted more by the speed of change than those in retail and grocery.   At Target Corporation, the drive for growth over the past ten years has led to an organization with different parts having many different agendas to succeed.  But in March 2015, the company made a bold move and put in place an enterprise-level change management team.  The number one priority of the team is to help the organization get aligned in strategy and communications.  Nate Caskey will share how his organization is identifying the core messages across the organization and helping the leadership team to prioritize what is feasible from a change perspective.

Tom O'Neill
CEO
The Nerdery

Some changes are very hard to plan for.  That was the situation The Nerdery found themselves in when their leader and co-founder Luke Bucklin died unexpectedly in a plane crash in 2010.   Not long after the tragic accident every employee (called “Nerds”) was given the role as a “Co-President.”   This was in honor of Luke’s memory and to recognize their part in making the company a success.  Tom will share how the team responded to the news and how it became a catalyst for developing his leadership style and for creating a company where open communication is highly encouraged.

Chris Campbell Loth
Communications Director
Medtronic

In early 2015, Medtronic officially acquired Covidien, a medical device and supplies company, in a transaction valued at nearly $50 billion.  Though there were hurdles in closing the deal, the real challenges facing the team were  in managing the internal changes across the new combined organization.  Chris will share many of the tools and systems that were used to communicate and work with teams during this period of integration including metrics, feedback systems and intervention.   She will share what worked and many of the lessons learned when two cultures come together.