HR LEARNING CENTER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- HR Consultant
- HR Consultant / LGBTQ, Diversity
- HR Consultant / LGBTQ, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist
Ben Greene is an HR consultant who specializes in the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for LGBTQ employees. He's spent years as a go-to source of information about the trans community and is passionate about advocacy and education. He is an expert on LGBTQ issues and gave a TEDx talk in the spring of 2019. He assists our clients in improving inclusivity in the workplace for all employees and provides training to our clients on these issues. Ben received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Office Manager
- Office Manager / Webinar Director
Chris DeGroat is the Office Manager/Webinar Director for HR Learning Center LLC. She is responsible for handling all webinar scheduling and requests for information on our webinars. Chris also is a valuable office manager ensuring that our staff and clients are well taken care of and responding promptly to all client requests. Chris has a background in business.
Daniel S. Braverman, Esq. has been counseling and representing clients in all aspects of the employment relationship for over fifteen years. Mr. Braverman's past experience includes many years at a large national law firm and a boutique Labor and Employment law practice, working with some of the finest and most respected attorneys in the nation. He zealously represents companies and individuals through the complex and evolving Labor and Employment law legal landscape.
Mr. Braverman clerked for a respected jurist in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, and frequently lectures on Labor and Employment law topics. He received his law degree, cum laude and with Honors, from the Seton Hall University School of Law; and he received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Mr. Braverman is licensed to practice law in the State of New York and the State of New Jersey, and has represented clients in numerous states throughout the nation.
Mr. Braverman also is admitted to practice law before the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western, and Northern Districts of New York; the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey; the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut; the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Mr. Braverman provides engaging and effective employment law training for HR Learning Center throughout the United States as well as advice and counsel on employment law-related matters.
Diane Sherman's past experience includes being a partner in a boutique business litigation/entertainment law firm, practicing in a large national law firm and having served as in-house counsel at a major entertainment company. Diane has extensive experience with labor and employment law and business litigation. She offers clients the experience and skill of a big firm lawyer with personal attention and responsiveness.
Diane has first-chaired over 50 labor and employment arbitrations, as well as tried numerous business litigation civil trials to verdict. Her labor and employment experience includes extensive expertise in wrongful termination and discrimination, FMLA, ADA, invasion of privacy and defamation, wage and hour (both individual and class actions), workplace safety, misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition and executive compensation disputes. Diane also regularly advises both California and New York employers and high-level executives on employment contracts, change of control agreements and trade secret and unfair competition issues, as well as conducts internal investigations and counsels employers on FMLA/ADA issues, wage and hour compliance, employee leasing, reductions in force, sexual harassment, occupational safety and the development of personnel policies and employee handbooks.
Diane practices in Federal and State Courts. She is admitted to practice in California, New York and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. District Court, Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts of California; and the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Diane has also handled a significant number of appeals, and is admitted in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit and Second Circuit.
Diane's reported appellate decisions include Schaffer v. GTE, Inc., 40 Fed.Appx. 552, 2002 WL 1354703 (C.A.9 (Cal.) where she successfully represented Verizon in a sex and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit and Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority v. Stewart Title Guaranty Company, 2004 WL 2943877 (9th Cir. 2004), which she argued before the Ninth Circuit, and where she obtained a favorable decision defeating a $7 million claim in a complicated insurance dispute.
Diane received her law degree from UCLA School of Law. Following graduation, she served a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall of the United States District Court for the Central District of California and during law school, she served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcon of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Diane received her B.A. magna cum laude with High Departmental Honors from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and also has a M.S. degree from Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Diane worked as a journalist for prominent national publications.
Job Titles:
- Security Consultant
- a Certified Instructor
Fred T. Leland, Jr. a certified instructor on firearms, terrorism prevention and response and prevention and managing violent encounters. His focus is presenting training seminars to law enforcement, military, public and private security professionals. In addition to his work with HR Learning Center, Fred Leland is an active Lieutenant with the Walpole (MA) Police Department. He previously worked as a deputy with the Charlotte County (FL) Sheriff's Department, and before that spent six years with the United States Marine Corp as a squad leader Beirut, Lebanon. Leland is an accomplished trainer with more than 28 years experience teaching law enforcement and security professionals, certified in numerous programs including dynamic encounters; threat assessment; decision making; violence prevention; fire arms; use of force; incident command; and anti-terrorism.
A 2004 graduate of the FBI National Academy Class 216, Fred specialized in terrorism related topics, leadership and management. He is also an instructor for the Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee where he teaches decision making, use of force, terrorism, leadership, ethics, and incident command to veteran law enforcement officers.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- HR Consultant
- Member of the United Technologies Leadership Development
Having served as both an internal and external organization consultant, Gina has worked as a financial analyst, marketer, human resources specialist, and performance consultant. She now provides human resources training for HR Learning Center LLC as an HR Consultant on a wide-range of topics including:
ADA
business etiquette
change management
coaching and feedback
communication skills
conflict management
consulting skills
customer service
emotional intelligence
facilitation skills
FLSA
FMLA
goal setting
influencing without authority
interviewing skills
leadership development
matrix organizations
meetings
mentoring
negotiation skills
office etiquette
peer / team feedback
performance management
presentation skills
project management
sexual harassment prevention
team development
train the trainer
Gina has served as a faculty member for United Technologies Leadership Development programs, General Electric Company's Emerging Information Management Leadership programs, Citi Group's Technical Leadership Development Program, and Johnson & Johnson's Financial and Operations Leadership Development Programs. She was also a three-year faculty member of the Management Development Course at GE's Jack Welch Leadership Institute known as Crotonville, and for five years in United Technology Company's Leadership Development programs.
Gina holds degrees in Marketing and Finance from Fairfield University and in Organizational Behavior from the University of Hartford, Connecticut. She is qualified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and is certified in Achieve Global and Sterling International products. Her international assignments include Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico and Spain.
Job Titles:
- HR Consultant
- Human Resources Professional and Business Partner
- Member of the Society for Human Resource Management
Ivonne L. Natal is a bilingual attorney, human resources professional and business partner. She graduated magna cum laude in 1980 with a Bachelor 's degree from Fordham University. She received her J.D. degree, with two honors, in 1983 from Yale Law School.
Ms. Natal was formerly a Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the American Stock Exchange LLC ("Amex") in New York City. In her role as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Amex, Ms. Natal was in charge of supporting and providing services to Amex employees, consultants, retirees, members and member firm employees. She was also responsible for overseeing staffing, benefits, employee relations issues, and served as liaison to senior management and outside counsel. Ms. Natal was the senior staff member assigned to work with the Amex Board's Compensation Committee. Her most recent experience was successfully orchestrating a massive reduction in force as a result of a merger.
Prior to her promotion to Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Ms. Natal served as Special Counsel, Assistant General Counsel, Associate General Counsel and Vice President in the Amex's Office of General Counsel. In 2002, she was elected Antitrust Compliance Officer and served in that capacity until her promotion to head of Human Resources in 2006.
Before joining the Amex, Ms. Natal worked as an Associate Attorney for Chadbourne & Parke, a midtown law firm. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Natal was a paralegal, translator and interpreter with Pennie & Edmonds, a law firm specializing in intellectual property. Ms. Natal is fluent in Spanish.
Ms. Natal is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, National Association for Professional Women, New Jersey Human Resources Planning Group and the New York Bar.
Job Titles:
- President and Founder / Attorney / HR Consultant
Melissa Fleischer, Esq., is a sought-after employment law attorney and HR advisor, having utilized her 20+ years of law practice experience specializing in management-size employment discrimination litigation to form HR Learning Center LLC, an HR consulting firm that specializes in providing workplace solutions to employers on a wide range of legal and human resource management issues. Ms. Fleischer provides preventative counseling and proactive training on a wide-range of employment law issues to help employers achieve legal compliance and reduce litigation costs.
Ms. Fleischer is a management-side New York employment attorney and is nationally recognized as an expert in her field. Ms. Fleischer has successfully represented numerous clients in employment discrimination litigation in New York as well as providing preventive counseling and training on workplace issues. Her litigation experience includes drafting discovery, trial preparation and legal research related to drafting motions and briefs. Ms. Fleischer was previously associated with Epstein Becker & Green in NYC.
Ms. Fleischer provides advice and counsel, on-site training seminars/on-line training webinars and consulting on a wide range of workplace and human resource issues including sexual harassment, disabilities, diversity, discrimination, workplace violence, employee use of social media, job descriptions, employee handbooks, workplace investigations, FLSA misclassification and independent contractor status, information privacy and security, and HR records management. She also offers compliance training on the major employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, including exempt and non-exempt worker classifications and the National Labor Relations Act. She presents seminars, leads webinars and workshops, and is a frequent lecturer on these and other HR management and legal topics. Ms. Fleischer also conducts workplace investigations and reviews and revises employee handbooks and policies for employers.
Ms. Fleischer served as a chapter editor for the Family and Medical Leave Act Treatise, published by the Bureau of National Affairs. Ms. Fleischer is an adjunct faculty member with the Professional Development Center at SUNY/Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York and with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Ms. Fleischer earned her J.D. degree from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.
With more than 20 years of expertise Rebecca Mazin creates usable solutions for employers to meet increasingly complicated human resources challenges. Rebecca's clients benefit from clear guidance, tools and techniques that quickly cut through fads, jargon and complex regulatory issues. Rebecca's consulting, training and written communications produce measurable results in a range of businesses impacting organizations from small start-ups to industry giants.
Rebecca uses her passion for demystifying everyday human resources issues to write content accessible for business owners, managers and HR pros. She is the author of The Employee Benefits Answer Book: An Indispensable Guide for Managers and Business Owners published by Pfeiffer in December 2010 and the co-author of The HR Answer Book: An Indispensable Guide for Managers and Human Resources Professionals published by AMACOM in 2004 with a revised edition issued in June 2011. Her advice and commentary appears in business publications, industry and trade journals and is featured in The HR Answer Blog on the award winning www.AllBusiness.com web site. Follow Rebecca on Twitter at @thehranswer.
Rebecca previously held key management positions at major organizations. Experience with Millennium Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation built on work at Owens Corning and for the Federal Government at the National Labor Relations Board.
Rebecca is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Labor Relations. She is a certified facilitator of Achieve Global training programs. Rebecca is active in the community where she uses her skills and talents to enhance organizational effectiveness and outcomes. She has held board positions with The Junior League of Westchester on the Sound and currently serves on the board of Furniture Sharehouse, Westchester's Furniture Bank.
S. Adam Spiewak, Esq. is an experienced employment attorney/HR Consultant who focuses on real-world conflict de-escalating solutions to legal and human-resources concerns by recognizing the interplay of legal framework, business needs, and inter-personal dynamics. He has been called upon to proactively represent clients in litigation, the negotiation and drafting of contracts and severance agreements, handling compliance issues, the drafting and revision of policies, and training of employees. Adam is a trained negotiator, mediator and workplace investigator. Adam has practiced in California for more than a decade and is admitted in all Courts in California, including each of the Federal Districts.
Adam's past experience includes several years at a large national law firm and followed by practicing at a national boutique Labor and Employment firm, working with some of the finest and most respected attorneys in the nation. He has more recently focused on representing smaller and start-up businesses, as well as individuals and also has experience serving an interim General Counsel for a national company. Prior to embarking on his work as an attorney, Adam clerked for a Federal Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of New York and was a judicial extern in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal chambers of now Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He received his law degree, with Honors, from the Columbia University School of Law; he received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude from Columbia College, where he was also Phi Beta Kappa, and also spent a year as a visiting student at the London School of Economics.
Sean Canney is an experienced HR professional in all areas of the HR function with expertise in HR training, employee recruitment, total compensation, health & wellness, and HR policy & procedure. In his over 30 years of HR work experience Sean has worked in the health care, manufacturing, hospitality, gaming, and transportation industries. He has worked with companies ranging from 50 to over 4,000 employees. Sean's formal education includes a Bachelor's degree in Business from Mankato State University and MBA degree from the University of St. Thomas.
Steve has worked in Human Resources for more than thirty years utilizing his impressive past experience in labor relations and human resources to provide his expertise to HR Learning Center LLC's clients. Steve has significant experience in labor relations and collective bargaining, benefits, legal compliance, compensation, regulatory matters, and change management.
Steve has experience assisting clients in both the public and private sectors working with clients in diverse settings including hospitals, government, universities and not for profit organizations. He has been the Chief Negotiator for collectively bargained agreements with transit workers, nurses, college employees, social workers and doctors to name a few. Steve has also conducted workplace investigations and provided training, advice, and counseling to managers up to and including those in the Executive Suite. He also has expertise in implementing lawful and efficient reductions in force.
Steve received an MPA from the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU and a BA from Queens College of the City University of New York.
Job Titles:
- HR Consultant / Diversity & Inclusion Expert
Mr. Taylor is humble and known for his extraordinary work ethic, positive and motivational attitude, and passion for identifying and solving problems.
Tye was an adjunct professor at the Institute of Audio Research where he taught the business of music and entertainment, and he is now on the adjunct staff at Kean University where he teaches online and in classroom courses in HR Management, Entrepreneurship, and Business Management.
Tye Taylor provides engaging and effective employment law training and specializes in providing training on Unconscious Bias/Diversity for HR Learning Center LLC throughout the United States. Tye also conducts workplace sexual harassment investigations and provides advice and counsel on employment law-related matters. Tye is focused on assisting our clients with support in improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace.