Speaker Biographies

Lori Adams

A native of Spencer, IA, Lori Adams has a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State University and the Certified Public Manager certificate from Drake University. After a career as a newspaper reporter, photographer and editor, and a brief stint as the first program director for the Spencer Area Arts Council, she joined Iowa Workforce Development in 1989 to work on the state’s welfare reform initiative, PROMISE JOBS. Adams worked as a PROMISE JOBS case manager for eight years, and then became the IWD regional manager for a 14 county area in northwest Iowa, including the one-stop offices in Spencer, Sheldon and Sioux City. She moved to Des Moines in 2005 to become the Bureau Chief for Field Operations, overseeing IWD's network of 55 field offices, and assumed statewide program responsibility for both the Veterans and PROMISE JOBS programs. In 2008, she was named Division Administrator for Workforce Center Administration

Chuck Betts

Chuck Betts, as a Senior Consultant at KEO Associates, specializes in Human Resources and Organizational Development. Mr. Betts has experience at senior levels in the public and private sectors, union and non-union environments, is a former Director of Marketing Services for Norand Corporation, Director of Employee Development for Roquette America, Inc. and Executive Director for the Center for Business, Southeastern Community College. Mr. Betts has special expertise in design, development and delivery of skills training for employees from production floor to senior management.

Dick Gaither

Dick Gaither is the president of Job Search Training Systems, Inc. and one of the original founders of JIST Works. During the past 25 years his peers have dubbed him the Wizard of Work. Over 100,000 job seekers and staff have attended his award winning job search training seminars. More than 2,000,000 copies of his training materials are in print and his materials and concepts are integrated into over 3,500 employment and training systems.

Dick is the National Association of Workforce Development Professional’s 2008 Career Professional Of The Year, a former WIA board member, and a recipient of the prestigious Wegman Award...the highest honor for a job search trainer. Most recently Dick was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and Computer World Magazine for the work he’s doing with downsized workers.

Wendy Greenman

Ms. Greenman is a 2007 graduate of Iowa State University majoring in Child, Adult, and Family Services. She has been employed working with children and youth in different capacities for several years. Wendy currently works with the Focused Futures WIA youth program in Creston, Iowa, as a youth employment specialist, helping students reach their educational, career and employment goals.

Cassandra Halls

Cassandra Halls is the founder and president of 2 THE TOP Career Advancement Strategies. Halls believes very strongly in helping the workforce develop independent skills to plan and prepare for positive career transitions. It was this passion that led to the establishment of 2 THE TOP - Career Advancement Strategies to provide career development services for both the individual as well as corporations and non-profit organizations.

Halls has spent many years in public administration in Iowa. As City Manager for two cities and as CFO for third Halls was responsible for managing significant budgets, resolving employee issues and overcoming controversy among many other items.

Halls left public employment for the experience of working with a private corporation. As Vice President of Strategic Accounts for ISGN, a global technology company, Halls worked with mergers and acquisitions, human resources and with forming client relationships.

As a working, adult student, Halls was proud to earn her Bachelor of Arts Degree from William Penn University in Oskaloosa, IA, with a major in Public Administration.

Jeff Havens

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vanderbilt University, Jeff began his career as a high school English teacher before following his father Rex Havens into the world of stand-up comedy, where he worked with some of the brightest lights in American comedy and honed the art of engaging audiences through laughter. But his impulse to teach never faded, and soon he began looking for an avenue to combine both of his passions into entertaining and meaningful presentations.

The result is Uncrapify Your Life!, How to Get Fired!, and Unleash Your Inner Tyrant! and since their introduction Jeff has brought his unique, side-splitting, message-based lectures and keynote addresses to General Electric, Ford Motor Company, USBank, University of Wisconsin, Purdue, and hundreds of other corporations and colleges in the United States and Canada. Original, informative, hilarious and powerful, Jeff’s speeches have transformed the way businesspeople and college students approach the idea of personal and professional growth. In the words of one conference attendee, “I laughed until I had tears in my eyes – and walked away feeling better about work than I have in years. The reverse psychology is a great way to get the point across, and he does a wonderful job of it.”

Jeff is also a regular guest on Fox Business News and has been featured in Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, AOL, and dozens of other regional and national media outlets.

Susan McGraw

Susan McGraw is the founder of Partners for Exceptional Government, a consulting and training firm offering turn-key and customized curriculum and tools for workforce development staff to deliver high quality career development and job search programs for youth, entry level workers, and experienced professionals.

Susan has over 20 years of career and organizational development experience, partnering with governments and community-based organizations to design and implement strategies to enhance service delivery to their customers and the community.

Ann Merrifield

Ann Merrifield is the General Manager for Dynamic Works Institute, and also serves as One-Stop Operator for West Central Missouri. Ann has a Masters degree in Education with a concentration in Curriculum Development and Instruction, Educational Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Education with a concentration in Special Education. Ann’s knowledge, skills and abilities include instructional design/materials development, training delivery, multimedia production, desktop publishing, and conference planning. She is also experienced in consulting with business leaders and workforce development professionals to determine training and business needs, human resource development, training design and delivery, strategic planning, working with at-risk youth and special needs students, program planning, functional analysis, and facilitating focus groups. Ann also brings private business management experience as well, having co-owned 5 restaurants for 4 years.

Silver Rose

Author of the forthcoming book, Changepreneurship: Learning to Dance with Change, Silver works with individuals and organizations to optimize their ability to dance with change.

She writes a weekly blog, Change Your Focus/Change Your Life and is the author of four books including her most recent, Change Your Focus, Change Your Outlook. She is a Certified Corporate Speaker, a member of the National Speakers Association and winner of the Dale Carnegie Award for Highest Achievement.

Her proudest accomplishment is having successfully raised her daughters, at-risk teens she adopted from the California Foster Care system at ages 12 and 15.

Chuck Stewart

Chuck entered the world of workforce development in 1986 as a ‘temporary’ youth counselor for the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) summer youth program. Twenty-three years later Chuck is still doing what he loves.

Chuck holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Drake University. He has earned a living in a variety of interesting ways. He is a former employee of the Illinois Department of Employment Security and two community colleges. Chuck also did time as a chair inspector, salesman, warehouse laborer, and even repossessed cable television equipment in the Gary, Indiana housing projects. Chuck credits much of his success in workforce development to the variety of unique experiences he had, not to mention the interesting people he met, while working in these often less than glamorous jobs.

Chuck considers the development of a well trained workforce that is willing to accept further skills development to be the key to success for all economic development activities. He considers the national workforce development system, education system, economic development organizations, and community developers to be natural partners in solving our Country’s economic woes and guaranteeing a bright future.

Chuck has been director of Partners in Job Training and Placement since 1997. He is involved in a number of state, regional and national associations. Chuck is Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, is past president of the Illinois Employment and Training Association, past president of the Illinois Workforce Partnership, past president of the Great Lakes Employment and Training Association, and a Governor’s appointee to the Illinois Workforce Investment Board.

Chuck has three children, one grandson, and a truly great dog.

Teresa Wahlert

Teresa Wahlert, Iowa Workforce Development Director, began her career in Data Systems for Northwestern Bell in Omaha, holding a variety of positions including: District Manager – Finance at AT&T headquarters in New York in 1981; General Finance Manager in Omaha in 1983; and Assistant Vice President – Finance for U S WEST in 1986. In 1995, Wahlert became the first female to head the Iowa operations, employing 2,300 people serving 750,000 customers. She retired from QWEST in 2002 after 32 years of service.

In 2003, Wahlert was named President and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership where she had operational oversight and led fund-raising efforts for this public/private partnership. In 2004, she was named President and COO of Mid-America Group, a regional real estate, investment, and development firm, retiring in 2008.

Governor Terry Branstad appointed Wahlert as the Director of Iowa Workforce Development in January 2011. She leads the agency to help meet the Governor’s goals to create 200,000 jobs in Iowa, reduce the cost of government by 15 percent, increase family incomes by 25 percent, and make Iowa number one in the nation for education.

A native of Dubuque, Director Wahlert holds an MS in Business as a Sloan Fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an MBA from Creighton University and a BS from St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame. Wahlert lives in Waukee with her husband, Howard, and has three grown children and one grandchild.

Michelle Wilson

Ms. Wilson has worked with youth for more than 10 years, on both the east and west coasts. Michelle currently works with the Focused Futures WIA youth program in Creston, Iowa, as a youth employment specialist, helping students reach their educational, career and employment goals.