Featured Speaker(s)

Dawn Spring, Director, Tiffany & Company

Dawn Spring is currently Director of Business Process Improvement, Customer Services for Tiffany & Company, the renowned Retail Jeweler. Dawn’s responsibilities include the management of several key initiatives within Customer Services; most importantly, helping to ensure the consistent level of service offerings for all Tiffany stores worldwide.

Prior to her current position, Dawn was the Specialty Retail Manager, Information Technology reporting directly to the CIO. In that role she managed the applications that supported the subsidiary Iridesse. Prior to joining Tiffany in 2001, she held varies management positions at United Jersey Bank / Summit Bank ending with Vice President IT Strategic Planning where she participated in the strategic planning of IT initiatives including prioritizing and Return on Investment reviews.

Dawn holds a B.S. and M.B.A from Seton Hall University.


John R. Erickson, Toys “Я” Us, Director of Information Services, Toys “Я” Us

John R. Erickson is a seasoned information technology executive with an extensive background in systems development, operations, major conversions and technical project management in the retail, financial and pharmaceutical sectors. He is currently the Director of Information Services at Toys “Я” Us. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Information Management at Popular Financial Holdings in Marlton, Director of Global Information Architecture at Johnson & Johnson, North Brunswick, and Second Vice President at Chase Manhattan Bank, N.Y.

At Toys “Я” Us, Mr. Erickson is responsible for e-commerce integration applications, data warehousing, data standards/architecture and SOX for the international lines of the Toys “Я” Us businesses. In his two-year tenure, he has developed and implemented a strategy for streamlining and connecting the company’s international business data warehousing development based on leveraging domestic U.S. functionalities. He was a key member of the Toys “Я” Us UK e-commerce team that successfully recast the Toys “Я” Us UK website in Q3 2008.

John holds a B.B.A in Computer Systems from Baruch College and an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University.


Eileen Mathews , VP Leadership Development , the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies

In this role, Eileen oversees programs and processes designed to strengthen Chubb’s leadership bench. Eileen joined Chubb in 2005 as the head of the Leadership & Organizational Performance Center of Excellence.

Prior to joining Chubb, Eileen was VP, Talent Management and Development for The Charles Schwab Corporation. She spent many years in the consumer goods industry, having worked for The Gillette Company and Mars, Incorporated (the parent company of M&M/Mars), where her major accomplishments included establishing a leadership development practice in the Asia-Pacific region, introducing new approaches to corporate learning, and developing a group of line manager trainers in mature and global developing markets.

Eileen, who holds SPHR designation, is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management, ASTD, the New Jersey Human Resource Planning Group, and the New Jersey OD Network. She holds a B.A. degree in Communications (Business, English and Speech) from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

Clarice Kennedy, Senior Director Information Management, Resources Global Professionals

Clarice Kennedy is the senior director of Information Management for Resources Global Professionals, www.ResourcesGlobal.com. NASDAQ: RECN.

Clarice brings 20 years of experience in the technology industry and in this role manages the strategic development of the Information Management practice specifically in the areas of business (IT) governance, business process transformation and program and project management.

Prior to joining Resources, Clarice was the founder and CEO of CCN, Inc., a technology staffing firm. During the past two decades, she guided its growth and expansion into a full-service provider of technology services and talent management solutions for some of the world’s leading companies.

Kennedy began her career as a systems programmer, then evolved into a network engineering role supporting European traders at Security Pacific Bank, now Bank of America. Two years later, the entrepreneurial 24-year-old founded CCN and strategically fulfilled the emerging need for Technology services as North American companies began widespread deployment of computers across the enterprise.

Clarice is a member of Columbia University’s mentoring program within the Executive Master of Science in Technology Management degree program, offered by Columbia’s School of Continuing Education. She serves on the New York Leadership Board of Women in Technology International (WITI) and is an active Board member for Dress for Success, a non-profit organization that empowers women transitioning back into the workforce.

Kennedy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York. She lives in New York with her husband, and her three greatest accomplishments �" her children, Dylan, Connor and Aidan.