Helena Chapter SHRM upcoming events

Leadership Excellence Award (Wednesday, July 22, 2026)

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Leadership Excellence Award

Help Us Recognize an Exceptional Leader in Our Community!

Great leaders make a lasting impact on their teams, organizations, and communities. Helena SHRM is proud to recognize an outstanding leader who demonstrates excellence in leadership, inspires others, and creates a positive workplace culture.

This award is open to leaders from any industry or profession. Nominees do not need to work in Human Resources. We are recognizing exceptional leadership, regardless of job title or field.

Nominations are open now through November 30, 2026.

How to Nominate

Complete the online nomination form (500 words or less).
Nominees should work in the greater Helena area.
Leaders from any organization or industry are eligible.
Self-nominations are welcome.
Multiple nominations may be submitted.

️ Selection & Recognition

Helena SHRM members will review and vote on the nominations this fall.
The 2026 Helena SHRM Leader of the Year will be announced at our Holiday Social in December.
The recipient will also be recognized through a Helena SHRM press release and social media.

Award

The 2026 Helena SHRM Leader of the Year will receive:

A custom Helena SHRM Leader of the Year Award
A complimentary one-year Helena SHRM membership
️ A $100 gift card to a local Helena restaurant

⭐ Nominee Criteria

Nominees should demonstrate exceptional leadership by:

Inspiring, motivating, and supporting others to succeed.
Creating a positive, respectful, and inclusive workplace culture.
Developing and mentoring employees while encouraging growth and engagement.
Demonstrating integrity, accountability, and professionalism.
Leading through challenges with sound judgment, innovation, and problem-solving.
Making meaningful contributions to their team, organization, and community through their leadership.

❤️ Why We Recognize Great Leaders

Outstanding leadership exists in every profession. Helena SHRM created this award to celebrate individuals who lead with integrity, empower others, and positively influence the people around them. By recognizing great leaders across all industries, we hope to inspire leadership excellence throughout the Helena community.

Know an exceptional leader? Submit a nomination today and help us celebrate those who make our workplaces and community stronger!

August 2026 Training: Maximizing ROI From Departing Employees: Insights and Strategies (Thursday, August 13, 2026)

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:30:00 GMT

Maximizing ROI From Departing Employees: Insights and Strategies

Kanya and Ebony Olivier will highlight the critical importance of managing employee departures strategically. In their presentation they will address the financial, cultural, and reputational implications of employee exits and provides actionable strategies to maximize ROI through effective exit processes, confidentiality protection, and support programs for transitioning employees.

Trainers:

Kanya Olivier, ICF-ACC

COMPANY TRANSITION CONSULTANT, SPECIALIST

Kanya Olivier is a distinguished professional and thought leader with a diverse background in Construction, Engineering, Technology and Human Resource Management. As the President of The Company Bridge Program, powered by Job Interview Training Executive Corp., she has established herself as a trusted authority on ethical and compliant workforce transitions. Kanya began her career as a Career Coach and quickly identified a critical need for organizations to manage employee layoffs with both strategic precision and profound empathy. This insight propelled her to develop a comprehensive consultancy focused on navigating the complexities of corporate restructuring.

Kanya’s expertise is widely recognized. She was honored as a nominee for the 2025 SHRM Florida Human Resource Professional of the Year, a testament to her significant contributions to the field. Her influential voice extends through her popular blog, "HR's Guide to Downsizing in South Florida," where she provides actionable insights for business leaders. She is also a published author in the HR Florida Newswire magazine. Her thought leadership includes the July 2024 article, "Mass Layoffs Spark Social Media

Outrage: A Threat to Corporate Growth," which explores the reputational risks of workforce reductions, and her definitive June 2025 guide, "HR Executive’s Guide to Navigating EEOC Regulations During Mass Layoffs in South Florida." This latest publication provides critical compliance frameworks for HR executives, further cementing her status as a leading expert in the field.

Under Kanya's leadership, The Company Bridge Program delivers a robust suite of services, including reduction-in-force transition management, position elimination and reallocation assistance, compliance guidance, leadership training, and outplacement services. Her approach is rooted in a strong academic foundation, holding a bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Business Administration from Florida A&M University, which informs her strategic foresight in performance management and planning.

Kanya is known for a hands-on, compassionate leadership style that ensures success for both organizations and their employees. She and her team partner closely with clients to develop tailored solutions that transform workforce challenges into opportunities for growth, stability, and renewed success.

Ebony Olivier, SHRM-CP

COMPANY TRANSITION CONSULTANT, SPECIALIST

Ebony Olivier is the President of The Company Bridge Program, powered by Job Interview Training Executive Corp., where she leads transformative workforce transition solutions for businesses navigating restructuring, layoffs, and organizational change. As a seasoned public speaker, trainer, and Human Resources Professional, Ebony leverages over a decade of experience in human resources to deliver expert guidance tailored to the needs of executives and employees alike.

Ebony is a certified SHRM Human Resources Professional, Florida Certified Labor Relations Professional, and Certified EEOC Investigator, specializing in employee offboarding, EEOC compliance, and the complexities of workforce transitions. Her expertise spans critical areas such as training and development, performance management, strategic planning, labor relations, talent management, recruitment, off- boarding and retention.

At The Company Bridge Program, Ebony’s team provides comprehensive services, including reduction transition management, position elimination and reallocation assistance, compliance guidance, leadership training, and outplacement services. They specialize in assisting companies navigating downsizing, restructuring, and mergers, helping organizations transition their employees through the layoff process with empathy and precision.

Ebony’s passion for human resources led her to earn a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Psychology from The Florida State University, with a concentration in Human Resources Management, Training and Development, and Organizational Learning. During her academic journey, she conducted research on adult learning and motivation, laying the foundation for her career as an HR consultant and career coach.

Her personalized approach equips clients with invaluable strategies to navigate challenges and achieve their goals with confidence, making her a trusted partner for businesses and professionals alike.

Book meeting — LinkedIn

The Power of Belonging: A Helena SHRM Virtual Seminar (Wednesday, October 14, 2026)

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

TBD

November 2026 Training (Thursday, November 19, 2026)

Thu, 19 Nov 2026 18:30:00 GMT

TBD

2026 Holiday Social (Thursday, December 17, 2026)

Fri, 18 Dec 2026 00:30:00 GMT

TBD

January 2027 Training: The 5 Voices: Unlocking Team Alignment & Communication (Thursday, January 21, 2027)

Thu, 21 Jan 2027 18:30:00 GMT

The 5 Voices: Unlocking Team Alignment & Communication

Most team dysfunction isn’t about effort – it’s about misunderstanding. This session introduces a practical framework that helps teams understand how they’re wired, communicate more effectively, and stop repeating the same costly breakdowns. The result is greater trust, faster alignment, and more productive collaboration across the board.

Trainer: Nathan R. Mitchell

Nathan R. Mitchell is a Leadership Coach, Executive Advisor, and member of the Forbes Coaches Council who helps small and mid-sized businesses build high-performing, burnout-free cultures through empowered leaders and aligned teams. With more than 25 years of leadership and coaching experience spanning corporate retail, higher education, and small business, Nathan has led teams, developed leaders, and helped shape award-winning workplace cultures. Certified through GiANT Worldwide, The Jon Gordon Companies, and The John Maxwell Team, he is the Founder of Lead Empowered LLC and Host of Lead Empowered TV, where he equips leaders with practical strategies to improve communication, strengthen engagement, and unlock the full potential of their people.

February 2027 Training: Navigating the Modern Leave Landscape - Federal Frameworks, Multi-State Complexity, and the ADA Gray Zone (Thursday, February 18, 2027)

Thu, 18 Feb 2027 18:30:00 GMT

TRAINING TOPIC: Navigating the Modern Leave Landscape — Federal Frameworks, Multi-State Complexity, and the ADA Gray Zone

Leave administration has become one of the most legally tangled areas HR professionals manage — and the hardest cases rarely fit neatly into a single statute. This session gives HR professionals a practical framework for thinking through leave and accommodation questions when the rules overlap, conflict, or run out.

We'll start with the question that quietly trips up even experienced teams: when an employee lives in one state and works in another, whose leave laws apply? From there, we'll ground ourselves in the federal foundation — FMLA and the ADA — and then spend real time in the ADA's gray areas, where "reasonable," "interactive," and "undue hardship" leave the most room for costly missteps. Throughout, we'll work real scenarios together, untangling the situations where FMLA, the ADA, and state programs collide all at once — especially during the return-to-work transitions where most leave mistakes actually happen.

Attendees will leave able to spot leave-law overlap before it becomes a problem, reason through ambiguous accommodation requests with more confidence, and approach multi-state leave questions with a clear method rather than a guess.

This is an interactive virtual session with scenario discussion.

Trainer: Sarah Kenne

Sarah is an HR Consultant and Leave Management Specialist at Envision Benefits Group, where she manages complex leave and accommodation cases for employers across a range of industries. With seventeen years in HR and talent acquisition, she's come to specialize in the messy middle of leave administration — the overlapping statutes, the edge cases, and the gray areas where FMLA, the ADA, and state programs don't quite line up. She's known for translating dense compliance requirements into plain language HR teams can actually use, and she writes regularly on leave and HR practice for a growing professional audience on LinkedIn. She's based in Western New York.

April 2027 Training: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth for HR Professionals (Thursday, April 15, 2027)

Thu, 15 Apr 2027 17:30:00 GMT

Training: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth for HR Professionals

Based on John C Maxwell’s book

If taking your HR career to the next level is your aspiration, let the valuable lessons from John Maxwell assist you. As a certified Maxwell Leadership speaker, trainer, and coach, I have identified the key laws of growth from his teachings in The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth that are most relevant to HR professionals' path towards strategic partnership. This session covers law 1. The law of intentionality – growth doesn’t just happen, and law 6. The law of environment – growth thrives in conducive environments.

Becoming intentional at personal and professional growth will set you up to reach your goals. As example, administrative duties can flood your time and energy, leaving little room to dedicate to setting your pathway to greater success. Growing from being an administrative agent to a strategic partner will be a game changer. It’s all about intentionality.

Just as a plant can’t grow larger in a small pot, we can’t expect to expand to our full potential in a box that is not conducive for healthy growth. The environment we find ourselves in plays a huge role in nurturing our growth or stunting it.

Also, as HR professionals committed to elevating others, the laws apply to support coaching opportunities for you and your leadership team to uplift your team members.

Join the discussion that takes a deeper dive into leadership growth and how you can apply the lessons in your own world.

Speakers Bio:

Deborah Jenkins is a dynamic keynote speaker, impactful leadership development and workforce training facilitator, and knowledgeable HR consultant with over 25 years of relevant experience providing deliverables to diverse audiences. Whether speaking in a large venue or training in smaller settings, Deborah’s authentic and unique ability to relate well with broad audiences is inspirational and evokes a positive response. Taking her career to the next level in 2019 as an independent consultant through her business, HR Solutions, LLC, Deborah now has a wider international audience with clients including numerous government agencies, universities, businesses, and organizations. In addition to earning both a human resource management and accounting degree, she also maintains professional certifications of SHRM-CP and PHR. She also is an authorized DISC personality assessment provider with Wiley's Everything DiSC and as a certified John C. Maxwell Leadership speaker, trainer, and coach.

When Deborah isn't busy working or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, exploring in the great outdoors, and enjoying the arts and entertainment in her home state of Montana and beyond. Deborah can be contacted at www.HRS-MT.com.