2026 Summit Agenda
2026 SHEHRE Summit Agenda
OMNI Hotels & Resorts
Tucson, AZ
February 22 - 25, 2026
(Updated Draft Version: 1/9/26)
SUNDAY, February 22, 2026
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM Opening Reception
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Dinner
- Welcome
- Introductions of Sponsors: Segal, TIAA, Quantum Health, EyeMed and Vida Health
- Introductions of SHEHRE Board Members
- CHRO Introductions (Icebreaker)
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, Segal
MONDAY, February 23, 2026
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM Welcome and Conference Preview
Shari Mickey-Boggs, President, SHEHRE
Senior Associate Chancellor for Human Resources, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
9:15 AM – 9:45 AM Group Icebreaker:
Getting to Know You – My First Job
9:45 AM – 11:00 AM Opening Keynote:
Adaptive Leadership for College and University
C-Suite Leaders
Nancy Zimpher, Special Assistant to the President of the National Association of Higher Education Systems and Chancellor Emeritus, SUNY
Jim Johnsen, Vice President for Executive Search, Greenwood Asher and Associates
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM Break
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM From Cost Cutting to Cost Leadership: How CHROs Can Shape the Hard Choices Ahead
Allison M. Vaillancourt, PhD, Vice President and Senior Consultant, Segal, Organizational Effectiveness Practice
12:15 PM – 1:30 PM Lunch on the Terrace and Annual Business Meeting
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, Quantum Health
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM SHEHRE Ted Talks
- Ted Talk 1: Meeting the Moment: Leading into a future that is trying to run you down Learn about ways we can develop and hold our core principles no matter what an uncertain future throws at us. Jay Stephens, Vice President for People and Culture, University of Montana
- Ted Talk 2: TBD
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Rapid Fire Round: Group Breakout Discussion
(Various HR Topics)
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM Rejuvenation and Networking Break
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM Reception and Dinner - Navajo Room
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, TIAA
TUESDAY, February 24, 2026
8:00 AM – 8:45 AM Breakfast - Ironwood Ballroom
8:45 AM - 9:00 AM Conference Preview, Day 2, and Reflections on Day 1
Marie Williams, Vice President for Human Resources, Brown University, Vice President for SHEHRE
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM Navigating Uncertainty: The New Norm for Higher Education CHRO’s
Andy Brantley, President and CEO of CUPA-HR
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM Break
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM SHEHRE Ted Talks
- Ted Talk 1: Unleashing Potential – Life and Business Tips from Baxter and His Best Friend
Kelly Jones, Emeritus SHEHRE, and Senior
Consultant, Segal
- Ted Talk 2: Trust, the Currency that Carries Your Campus Through Crisis
Leah Schonfeld, Chief Human Resources
Officer/Assistant Vice President, Human Resources, Citadel
11:00 AM – Noon Preparing for Tomorrow's Workforce: Strategic Responses to AI Innovation and Extended Lifespans
Anne Ollen,
Managing Director, TIAA Institute
Noon - 1:00 PM Lunch on the Terrace
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM The Hidden ROI of Quality Care: A Workshop for CHRO’s Leading Through Cost Pressures Felicia Taylor, CHRO, Quantum Health Al Codablu, Senior Vice President of Employer Business at Embold Health
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Roundtable AI for 2026
Dennis Natali, Professor of Business and Artificial Intelligence Chair, Pikes Peak State College
3:30 PM – 6:00 PM Rejuvenation and Networking Break
6:00 PM – 6:15 PM Meet at the hotel lobby to travel to the restaurant
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Dinner at Bottega Michaelangelo
Thank you to all our Platinum and Gold Sponsors
WEDNESDAY, February 25, 2026
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Breakfast - Ironwood Ballroom
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM Conference Preview, Day 3, and Reflections on Day 2
Shari Mickey-Boggs, President, SHEHRE
Senior Associate Chancellor for Human Resources, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
9:15 AM – 10:15 AM CHRO Dialogue:
- CHRO Burnout and Resilience: Sustaining Executive Impact
- What’s on Your Mind?
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM Conference Wrap-Up and Evaluation
Shari Mickey-Boggs, President, SHEHRE
Senior Associate Chancellor for Human Resources, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM SHEHRE 2026 Board Meeting:
Shari Mickey-Boggs, President, SHEHRE
Senior Associate Chancellor for Human Resources, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
All Members are welcome to attend
11:00 AM Depart to the airport
Dr. Andy Brantley has served as CUPA-HR's President and chief executive officer since July 2005.
Before joining CUPA-HR, he worked for 17 years in campus leadership roles including associate vice president and chief human resources officer at the University of Georgia, director of human resources at Davison College, and director of human resources as the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Andy received his Bachelor of Business Administration, master of Arts in Business Administration, and Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Georgia.
Andy currently serves on the Washington Higher Education Secretariat steering committee and in September of 2025, He completed a four-year term as the Secretariat's representative to the American Council on Education Board of Directors. He was also recently appointed to the EDUCAUSE board of directors.
Andy is a frequent keynote and workshop presenter at meetings across the country.
Session Summary:
Navigating Uncertainty: The New Norm for Higher Education CHROs
The past year has brought significant change and uncertainty to higher education and higher education leaders. We face new compliance requirements, budget cuts, layoffs, and leadership shifts, all while supporting employees who are overwhelmed and concerned about the future. Our challenge is to create an environment where employees and institutions can work through the uncertainty, thrive, and grow. During this presentation, we will discuss specific actions you can take to adapt to change and create and sustain a resilient, psychologically safe environment for yourself and your team.
Here’s the outline of the session (includes a group breakout session:
- Campus culture and conflict
- Higher education as an employer of choice
- Resilience, psychological safety and adaptability
- Gratitude and Grace
- Closing Comments
Allison M. Vaillancourt, PHD
Vice President and Senior Consultant, Segal,
Organizational Effectiveness Practice
Allison M. Vaillancourt, PhD is a vice president in Segal's organizational effectiveness practice. She brings more than 30 years of leadership and organizational strategy experience to her consulting engagements, with deep expertise in the areas of change management, human resources transformation, leadership development; organizational strategy; performance management, team dynamics; and workplace culture and climate assessments.
Prior to joining Segal, Allison held leadership roles at several universities, most recently at the University of Arizona where she served as Vice President for Business Affairs and Human Resources and was an award-winning faculty member in the School of Government and Public Policy.
Allison is a long-time contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of The Organizational Politics Playbook.
Session Title:
From Cost Cutting to Cost Leadership: How CHROs Can Shape the Hard Choices Ahead
Session Summary:
Under mounting financial pressure, colleges and universities often resort to across-the board cuts or sweeping reductions in administrative infrastructure under the banner of “preserving the academic mission.” These blunt measures may offer short-term relief, but they frequently erode what matters most: academic excellence, research vitality, and student success.
This session argues for a smarter path: cost leadership as a strategic advantage. True cost leadership is about clarity, courage, and reinvention. It means confronting institutional 6 complexity, making transparent tradeoffs, and redesigning legacy structures that quietly drain resources and stall innovation.
Discover how visionary higher education leaders are rewriting the playbook—partnering across finance and academics to align people strategy with mission, unleash institutional agility, and build resilient systems that will define the next era of higher education.
Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguish cost containment from cost leadership and articulate
the risks and benefits of each approach in higher education.
2. Identify and assess five evidence-informed strategies most likely
to produce significant, sustainable resource gains.
3. Apply core change-management principles to design a cost
leadership initiative that protects academic quality and
strengthens institutional resilience.
Felicia Taylor,
Chief Human Resources Officer Quantum Health
Felicia Taylor: As Chief Human Resources Officer at Quantum Health, Felicia Taylor leads the company’s people and culture strategy, encompassing talent acquisition, leadership development, organizational design, total rewards, Warrior® services and the overall employee experience. A transformative HR executive with more than 20 years of experience across technology-enabled and high growth organizations, Felicia is known for creating, inclusive, high-performance cultures that empower people to do their best work.
Before joining Quantum Health, Felicia serves as the Chief People Officer at WebPT, a leading healthcare SaaS company, where she guided the organization through global expansion, acquisition integrations and large-scale cultural transformation. Her career also includes executive HR leadership roles at Trintech and RealPage, where she developed scalable talent and engagement strategies that aligned people, purpose, and performance in fast paced, results-driven environments.
Throughout her career, Felicia has been recognized for her ability to align human capital strategy with enterprise growth and to foster environment where innovation, equity and well-being thrive. She is passionate about building workplaces where every team member feels valued, supported, and inspired to grow – both personally and professionally.
Al Cadablu,
Senior Vice President, Employer Business Embold Health, a Quantum Health Company
Al Codablu: Al Codalbu serves as Senior Vice President of Employer Business at Embold Health, where he leads the company’s fastest-growing segment—employer-focused sales. With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Al leads growth by connecting employers with actionable, data-driven insights and solutions to help employees access high-quality care.
Before joining Embold Health in April 2023, Al spearheaded innovation and business development at CVS Health’s HealthHUBs and built healthcare solutions for CVS’s Aetna business. Al has also held sales and growth roles for UnitedHealth Group and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Sheild. His deep knowledge of employer healthcare needs enables him to shape customer-centric programs that deliver measurable ROI and enhanced member experience.
Al earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and three kids.
Session Title:
The Hidden ROI of Quality are: A Workshop for CHRO’s Leading Through Cost Pressures
Session Summary:
CHRO’s today are facing unprecedented pressures, managing rising healthcare costs, increasing employee stress, and their own burnout – all while being asked to do more with less.
In this interactive workshop, Quantum Health and Embold Health will lead a hands-on discussion to explore one of the few levers CHRO’s can still pull to meaningfully impact both cost and culture, access to high quality healthcare and guided navigation for employees.
Participants will examine:
- How access to quality care directly affects cost trends, absenteeism, and employee focus.
- How improved navigation and quality transparency can ease HR’s administrative and emotional burden.
- Practical strategies CHRO’s can share with their leadership teams immediately.
Anne Ollen,
Managing Director, TIAA Institute
Anne develops and executes TIAA Institute programs that seek to build and share knowledge important to higher education and other nonprofit leaders about drivers of change and innovative solutions and strategies in three broad thematic areas: leadership, workforce trends, and organizational effectiveness. Anne leverages the Institute’s pillars of work – research, partnerships, convenings and strategic communications – to bring distinctive value to Institute stakeholders in alignment with TIAA business priorities.
Anne’s career spans 30+ years of experience in front-line business, marketing, operational, and leadership roles at TIAA. She was part of the founding team of the TIAA Institute in 1998, helping to create and launch several Institute signature initiatives, including the TIAA Institute Fellows Program, the Higher Education Leadership Conference, and the TIAA Institute Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence in Higher Education.
Session Title:
Preparing for Tomorrow's Workforce: Strategic Responses to AI Innovation and Extended Lifespans
Session Summary:
This presentation explores how artificial intelligence and increased longevity are fundamentally reshaping the workplace and workforce needs, with particular relevance for higher education institutions. Drawing on research from the TIAA Institute and other leading sources, the session will examine three interconnected forces reshaping our workforce landscape – AI’s unprecedented transformation requiring 39% of workers to update core skills by 2030, the evolution toward life stage-appropriate benefits, and longevity fitness as individuals navigate 100-year lifespans. The discussion will provide actionable insights considering both technological disruption and demographic shifts that will define the next decade of work.