Women’s Professional Development Workshop

The Great Resignation: The Good, The Bad and The New Working Environment
Tuesday, June 6, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, Barrel Spring II
 

Sponsored by:

This Workshop is open to everyone and will feature an extraordinary panel of accomplished women discussing the impacts of the Great Resignation on their lives and the working environment. Planned by the Committee for the Professional Development of Women, but this topic is applicable to everyone working in the industry! 
 
In 2021, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the workforce started to experience an extremely heightened rate of voluntary resignation. “The Great Resignation” is a dramatic shift in the relationship between employees and their employers with almost 50 million workers in the US quitting their jobs in 2021. Women outpaced men by 1.1% overall and this gender gap is even more significant where women are underrepresented, such as STEM careers.

Specifically, the panel will discuss:

• The current state of the Great Resignation
• Impacts of “Quiet Quitting”
• “Resignation” vs. “Reshuffle”
• Opportunities and challenges created by this current state
• Personal accounts of the impacts to work and home life
• Impact differences based on gender
• Where does our industry go from here?
• What does this mean to the new and upcoming generations as well as those heading toward retirement?

We look forward to sharing this energizing and encouraging discussion with you and responding to your questions during the Women's Professional Development Workshop. All attendees are invited to the discussion on this timely topic!

Speakers:

Sandra J. Guerra, Head of Human Resources North America, Siemens Energy

Sandra Guerra, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, SPHR, is the North American Head of Human Resources for Siemens Energy, a global leader in the energy industry. In Sandra’s role, she leads the North American team consisting of HR Business Partners and an operations team in the US and Canada. The North American team works to support the advancement of business objectives through talent management, talent acquisition, strategic workforce planning, and organizational change management. Sandra achieved a doctorate degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Capella University, in addition to a MBA from Western International University and a BS from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Rebecca (Becky) Hensley, Senior Manager, Environmental Programs, CSX Transportation, Inc.

Rebecca (Becky) Hensley is a Senior Manager of Environmental Programs at CSX Transportation, Inc. where she coordinates the CAA program and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting. She has over 25 years of experience with EHS, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. She specializes in data management solutions and cross-functional team collaboration. Before joining CSX, she worked as a consultant for a variety of transportation, manufacturing, military and government clients. Her career has specialized in environmental permitting and developing customized solutions and tools for air, water and waste compliance. She holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida and currently lives in Louisville, KY. Before moving to KY, she served as the Chair and other board positions for the Florida Section of A&WMA, Northeast Florida Chapter of A&WMA, and Co-Chair for the 2011 A&WMA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.

Elaina Modlin, Senior Principal Environmental Engineer, Geosyntec
 
An environmental consultant at Geosyntec, Elaina Modlin helps her clients assess and manage their regulatory obligations and risks, particularly for operating facilities and new developments. Elaina also co-manages the firm’s Florida operations with a focus on business strategy and human resources. Elaina is passionate about building human capital and helping her colleagues develop long and rewarding careers. A long-standing mentor in Geosyntec’s women’s mentoring program, for over ten years, Elaina also developed and managed Geosyntec’s college recruiting program. This work included ensuring that the company had wide-ranging programs at major universities, developing mechanisms for sharing recruiting information and overarching recruiting strategies, and conducting interviews and training.

Moderator:
Kate MacGregor, Vice President of Environmental Services, NextEra

Kate currently serves as the Vice President of Environmental Services for NextEra, charged with ensuring thoughtful environmental planning and compliance from project development through to operations. Prior to joining NextEra, Kate served as the Senate-confirmed Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, responsible for overseeing 70,000 employees and an annual budget of over $14 billion. Kate’s work at Interior included overseeing responsible domestic energy and mineral development on public lands and waters, implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act to enhance our National Parks, combating the crisis of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaskan Natives, enhancing rural broadband, overseeing the Department’s COVID-19 operational response, and other Interior-focused priorities. Kate also served as Interior’s Regulatory Reform Officer, charged with improving Interior’s review and promulgation of regulations, as well as identifying regulations for repeal, replacement, or modification. Kate joined the Interior Department after working on Capitol Hill for 10 years.  She served as Legislative Director for Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and also served as Professional Staff handling energy and public lands-related issues on the House Natural Resources Committee for two Chairmen.

A&WMA Committee for the Professional Development of Women
This workshop was planned by The Committee for the Professional Development of Women. The commitee's goal is to draw upon the unique perspectives and talents of women to further the goals of the Association and to mentor women in the profession.