Joshua Frye is the Director of People Operations at O’Shea Builders. At O’Shea, People Operations is a strategic business function that focuses on the logistics of employment while respecting the nature of people and continuously improving employee engagement, development, and retention to drive growth. Some of Josh’s favorite projects have involved change management, employee engagement, team building, and process improvement. His greatest satisfaction comes from helping people and their teams reach new heights. Josh holds a Master of Science degree in Management and Organizational Behavior from Benedictine University and completed his undergraduate studies in Clinical Psychology and Counseling at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He holds an SPHR certification as well as being a Certified Technical Trainer, an ATD certified trainer, and a Scrum Master.

Brooke Valenti-Jouett, SHRM-SCP, serves as the Director of Human Resources at KEB, a public accounting firm serving clients across Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin. She has been with the firm since October 2016. Brooke helps lead strategic HR initiatives across KEB’s offices while supporting recruitment, retention, employee benefits, talent development, and employee relations. She is passionate about developing people, strengthening workplace culture, and helping students and professionals build meaningful, successful careers.

Susan O’Malley is a seasoned human resources executive with more than 30 years of experience in human resources leadership, employee development, labor relations, organizational strategy, and workforce management. She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources and Professional Development at Bank of Springfield, a position she has held since 2013.

In her role at Bank of Springfield, Susan provides strategic leadership across a broad range of human resources functions, including workforce planning, compensation and benefits, performance management, professional development, employee relations, recruitment, training, and regulatory compliance. She works closely with bank leadership and managers to develop effective staffing strategies, strengthen employee performance, support organizational growth, and promote a positive and productive workplace culture.

Prior to joining Bank of Springfield, Susan served for nearly nine years as Vice President and Director of Human Resources at Illinois National Bank. During her tenure, she provided HR leadership and consultation to management while overseeing recruitment, employee development, compensation, benefits, performance management, training, employee relations, and compliance initiatives.

Earlier in her career, Susan held progressively responsible human resources and personnel leadership positions with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Her public-sector experience included labor relations, collective bargaining, employee and labor grievances, EEO and Human Rights matters, organizational restructuring, policy development, workforce planning, and administration of large-scale personnel programs.

Throughout her career, Susan has developed extensive experience helping organizations navigate complex employee relations matters, organizational change, leadership development, staffing challenges, and employment-related compliance requirements. Her combination of public-sector and financial-services experience provides a broad perspective on workforce strategy and organizational effectiveness.

Susan holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Arts equivalent in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Illinois State University. She is a national member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and a member of the Central Illinois Chapter of SHRM (CIC-SHRM).