Careers in a Post COVID World: Speaker Profiles

Dawn Penfold | Lois Johnson | Khamali Brown | Alexey Gutin | Brian Buff | Rose Miller 

Paul Fahey (Moderator)

Dawn Penfold, a former meeting professional, started Meetingjobs in 1990 to fill a need for a professional recruitment company serving this industry. As founder and President of Meetingjobs, LLC, she has aided thousands of candidates and hiring officials connect successfully, economically and efficiently full time or temporary positions.

Dawn has served as President and executive board member of the Greater New York Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, and is a past Board Member for the New York Chapter of Professional Convention Management Association. She has published articles on the meetings industry for “Meeting News”, “Meetings and Conventions Magazine”, “Successful Meetings” and “Meetings Manager” offering sound and brutally honest advice in career management and job opportunities in the meetings industry. She has been recognized in the past by Meeting News as one of the 20 most influential people in the Meetings Industry and by M&C as one of the top keynoters. Dawn holds a Masters Degree in Tourism and Travel Administration from the New School for Social Research.

Lois Johnson is the Director of Workforce Strategies for the Workforce Development Institute (WDI). She is a results-driven workforce professional with over 20 years executive level program and policy experience in non-profit and government sectors. Previously, Lois served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Innovate+Educate working on building skills-based economies in New Mexico and nationally.  As Director of Workforce for the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions,  she led statewide reorganization of the public workforce system, including consolidation of 41 workforce centers, development of a new demand-driven service model, and system-wide staff re-training. Lois was the founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Employment and Resource Center in New York’s Capital Region, noted for successful workforce training programs and strategic partnerships with local business and industry.   

Khamali Brown, Dale Carnegie of Northeastern New York
Khamali earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Utica College. For almost 10 years, she worked for the NYS Department of Health, AIDS Institute Education and Training. She has 15+  years’ experience as a facilitator and small business coach mentoring individuals to achieve their goals. Khamali joined Dale Carnegie of NENY, as a consultant focused on training, sales, and marketing in January 2016. As a certified Dale Carnegie Instructor she trains individuals and corporate teams on leadership, interpersonal communication, coaching, presentation skills, and more. Khamali has recently joined The SEAT Center as their Director of Special Projects.

Alexey Gutin is the CEO of Web Scribble, the leading provider of career center technology for hundreds of associations and non-profit organizations.  Alexey manages the strategic direction of Web Scribble’s sales, marketing, and customer success teams. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Computer Systems & Electrical Engineering, Master’s Degrees in both Computer Systems Engineering and Management, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY.

Brian Buff is the Vice President, Association Management Operations, at Capitol Hill Management Services (CHMS), where he oversees staff training and development, and client resource development, for the firm’s 56 international, national, regional and statewide clients. CHMS is an AMCI accredited association management company and has a staff of 50 based in its Albany, NY and Raleigh, NC Offices. Brian is the Immediate Past Chair of ESSAE, and has served on the Society’s Board of Directors, as a committee chair, as well as a Dean and faculty member for strategic planning and association benchmarking of the Association Leadership Academy.

Rose Miller is President of Pinnacle Human Resources, LLC, a NYS #55656 and nationally certified Women Business located in Albany and Syracuse, NY. A human resources professional for over twenty-five years, she enjoys helping companies to find solutions that improve their human resources delivery system. Providing strategic HR support and expert HR best practices, Rose’s firm helps clients reduce costs and focus on their core business. Pinnacle Human Resources, LLC provides clients with customized solutions that fit any size company.

Rose holds a B.S. in Organizational Behavior from Lesley University and is a certified Senior Professional in HR. She currently services on the boards of Northern Rivers Family Services, the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York. Rose is regular speaker for national training providers, the Society of Human Resources and is the author of the monthly column “Work Matters” for the Times Union, a Hearst Publication. Rose has a growing audience following her podcast series, “The Thorn in Rose’s Side”. She was awarded the Women of Excellence in Management in 2007 and Human Resources Professional of the Year in 2013 from the Capital Region HR Association. She resides in Albany with her husband. They have two sons, who live in the Albany area.

Rose’s staff of 20+ HR experts offers On-Site/Off-Site HR support models, HR Audits, Employee Handbooks, Managerial Training, Executive Coaching, HRMS Implementation Services, Leave Management Services, Organizational Development Plans, Performance and Compensation Systems and assistance with Mergers & Acquisitions. Pinnacle HR services a wide variety of industries within the region, state and nationally.

Host & Moderator: Paul Fahey, Vice President, Overit