FREE Training for HR Professionals and Managers **SHRM Certification Credits Pending
Made possible by a grant through the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board, in
partnership with Career Ready Lancaster! and Lancaster SHRM.

401K Vendor Services

“Having joined the industry in 2001, days before the 9/11 terror attacks, I know the debilitating power of fear. In 2007, I launched my firm, Align, just months before the Financial Crisis. I’ve been blessed to endure and succeed in hard times in spite of fear and uncertainty, the same things faced by hard-working folks trying to save for a brighter tomorrow.
This understanding and a tireless determination to positively impact the lives of others are at the heart of everything I do.”

Workplace Healers – Samm Smeltzer, M.Ed., MMQ

Samm Smeltzer, PHR, SHRM-CP, Founder and Chief Vision Officer, The HRart Center

Samm Smeltzer has passionately pursued the missing elements for employee engagement within organizations, and this path has led her to a place the working world often avoids, Spirituality and Eastern Medicine. She has since combined both her roles as an HR Visionary and a Medical Qigong Healer to heal disengaged workplaces and guide leaders and employees to discover their own professional purpose and passion.

Prior to this journey, Samm began her career serving as an HR Manager within two U.S. based retail companies and was responsible for multiple store sites in various states. She then transitioned industries to healthcare where she developed and implemented company-wide educational programs for leadership and staff at a large Central Pennsylvania Healthcare System. Samm has functioned as a consultant to enhance team and individual performance. Samm’s dedicated efforts resulted in multiple awards, two of them being 2013 Organizational Learning & Development Educator of the Year and Penn State’s 2015 Outstanding Graduate Student in Training and Development. Samm’s experience combined with her desire to create workplaces with thriving employees resulted in the creation of the HRart Center (pronounced “heart”), a boutique consulting firm devoted to corporate wellness and growth. She is the author of three books, the newest of which is called Workplace Healers. HR leader, Qigong healer, coach, author, and avid podcaster, Samm Smeltzer is on a mission to revolutionize HR and heal the working world.

Local resources for HR advancement:

Lancaster County Workforce Development Board 

HR Managers Report

HR Workers Report

Local Graduate Programs in HR  

DeSales University MBA with HR Concentration

Drexel University Online

Moravian College Master’s in HR Program

Moravian College MBA with HR Concentration 

Cedar Crest College Master of Science HR Management 

Penn State Online – Graduate & Undergraduate Programs

Local Undergraduate Programs with HR Concentrations  

Drexel University Online

Lehigh Carbon Community College HR Management AAS 

Lehigh Carbon Community College HR Management Certificate 

Millersville University – Management Concentration: Human Resources

Muhlenberg College Bachelor’s Degree in HR (Wescoe School)

DeSales University (ACCESS Program) Bachelor’s Degree in HR Management 

Wharton University of Pennsylvania – HR Management and Analytics 2 Month Certificate  

SHRM Essentials of HR Management

Scholarships Available through SHRM

HR Certification

SHRM Certification (SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP) 

HRCI (PHR, SPHR, GPHR) 

Kim Kerrigan, Founder & CEO Pinnacle People & Leadership Solutions

Kim is an unshakeable optimist, and her passion is adding value to others. She believes together we can achieve the Pinnacle of success, no matter what size or type of organization.

Described as “a caring and inspirational coach/leader with a rare ability to connect with differing personality styles”, Kim has devoted her life to help advance a vision of the world where leaders and teams work together to achieve a common goal while adding value to each other.

Kim is an extremely capable leadership professional with more than 20 years of progressive human resources management experience in both public and private sectors. Additionally, she has a strong desire to help leaders, aspiring leaders and HR professionals attain the skills necessary to be successful and organizations reach their goals.

Kim is the Founder & CEO of Pinnacle People & Leadership Solutions. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and Human Resources Management from Colorado Technical University and a Master of Business Administration and Leadership Degree from Post University. Kim is also a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Member specializing in Leadership Development, Keynote Speaking, Leadership Coaching, Executive Coaching, Group Coaching, Professional Development, DISC Training and DISC Consulting.

Kim has trained, coached, and mentored thousands over the years and understands the value of personal development in becoming an effective leader. As a servant leader and advocate for continuing education, she has served on multiple boards of HR and Management non-profit organizations.

Panelists

Maddy George, SHRM-SCP

Maddy George is a recruiter for High Companies, focused in the High Real Estate Group portfolio, recruiting for High Hotels and High Associates. Prior to her role with High Companies, Maddy was an HR Assistant at MGS, Inc. (Denver, PA) for 2.5 years (7/2019 – 2/2022) and a Pre-Hire Administrator at Sheetz, Inc. (Claysburg, PA) for 1.5 years (1/2018 – 7/2019). 

Maddy was born and raised in Lancaster County, attending Garden Spot High School. Upon graduation in 2014, she accepted an athletic scholarship for Volleyball from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. In December of 2017, Maddy graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. She obtained her SHRM-CP Certification in February of 2021 and is currently working towards obtaining her MBA in HR Management from Lebanon Valley College. 

Outside of work, Maddy enjoys weightlifting and spin classes, exploring new bike trails in the warmer weather, and vacationing at her favorite beach – Ocean City, New Jersey! 

Tim Strawser

Tim Strawser holds a BS degree in Business Administration from Elizabethtown College and a PHR certification from HRCI.  He currently serves as Business & Human Resources Manager at COBYS Family Services.  Prior to COBYS, Tim served in a medical billing company for 31 years, holding positions of Customer Service Manager and later as Client Service Executive.  After some downsizing at the medical billing company, Tim decided it was time to look for another job.  He felt it was an opportune time to make a complete career change by becoming an HR manager.  His years in Customer and Client Service have provided him with the needed skills to use in Human Resources for the past 5 years at COBYS.  Tim is very motivated by people, which is one of the reasons he is also an Indoor Cycle and Circuit Workout Instructor for the YMCA.  He serves as a board member of a local community theater group, The Promise Players, and enjoys serving on the Evangelism and Outreach Committee at his church.  He is a big fan of Mr. Rogers, which is why he strongly believes in treating all people with kindness and dignity.  Tim will be married 37 years on November 9^th to his wife Rose, and they have 3 grown children, and 1 precious grandson.  They reside in Lampeter, PA.

Darryl Gordon

Darryl Gordon is responsible for Human Resources for High businesses and resource units as
well as Benefits and Compensation, Environmental, Health and Safety, and Talent, Organization &
Development and Training. He was promoted to this role in 2012.

Previously, Darryl was Corporate Director of Human Resources / EEO Officer, a position he held
starting in 2007. His previous roles included SAP Core Team Member – HR/Payroll/Benefits Core
Team Member and, before that, Director of Human Resources for High Steel Structures LLC. He
joined High as Manager of Human Resources for High Concrete Group LLC in 2000. He came to
High from Case New Holland, the predecessor to CNH Industrial N.V., where he was Plant Human
Resources Manager.

Darryl earned an MBA from the Purdue University Krannert School of Management and a BS in
Operations Management from the Smeal College at The Pennsylvania State University. He is a
member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Darryl is Board President of the Lancaster County Career and Technical Center Foundation
and has served as a board member since 2003. He served as a member of the United Way of
Lancaster County Resource Investment Team Member and as Past Account Executive. Darryl is
a member and past chair of the steering committee for the annual Martin Luther King Breakfast
supporting the Crispus Attucks Community Center of Lancaster.

Become a mentee or mentor!

Kevin M. Ressler, M.Div has spent his life seeking ways to bring about an equitable peace and justice for all. These endeavors started as early as elementary school speaking against bullies, through Middle School where he disrupted a semester-long Revolutionary War history simulation (having been made Governor of Pennsylvania, he demanded freeing slaves as part of the Declaration of Independence), through forming Peace Club in High School.

Kevin’s personal journey increasingly interacted with the realities of poverty and the negative historical and social repercussions beginning with a learning tour to Nicaragua at fifteen years of age with Witness for Peace to visits to his mother’s homeland in Eastern Africa during formative years, to a month-long trip to Southern Africa and Zimbabwe during Mennonite World Conference and eventually studying a semester in the Middle East while attaining his B.A at Eastern Mennonite University. His first post-college job was a year-long volunteer year in Oakland, California with Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service living with an intentional community before returning to Lancaster for an AmeriCorps VISTA year with Community First Fund when he bought a house in an economically distressed part of Lancaster City, where he and his wife, Melissa, still reside while raising their daughters Acacia and Iriana as active participants in the neighborhood and SDOL.

Kevin earned a Master of Divinity through Lancaster Theological Seminary, hoping to integrate his spiritual and moral concerns with the professional activities he could engage in through non-profit leadership. He spent 5 years growing Meals on Wheels of Lancaster and joined United Way of Lancaster County on January 1, 2020. His volunteer work includes board and committee work as Board President of Meals on Wheels of Lancaster, Board Chair of Everence Federal Credit Union, and at large member of Landis Quality Living, UPMC Lititz Hospital, United Way of Pennsylvania, Conestoga Valley Education Foundation, Partnership for Public Health and a variety of community steering committees including Hunger-Free Lancaster County and the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition. He also enjoys public speaking and preaching, writing, and acting.