Bob Gregg | Boardman Clark LLC
Attorney and WI SHRM Legislative Partner

Keeping Up with the Times - Employment law Update and Trends

About the Program.  Bob Gregg will provide his always-anticipated legal and employment law update, focusing on the top policies HR professionals must prepare for in 2025. Known for his engaging style, Bob will also share some of the most unusual and intriguing cases currently shaping employment law.

Bob Gregg is an employment relations attorney with more than 30 years of experience representing clients on complex issues.

Bob litigates a wide variety of employment cases on behalf of employers, including discrimination, wage, and hour, FMLA, ADA, unfair discharge, contracts, privacy, and more. His main emphasis is helping employers achieve enhanced productivity, creating positive work environments, and resolving employment problems before they generate lawsuits. Bob conducts proactive management seminars throughout the United States to teach supervisors how to recognize issues and avoid liability.

Bob is nationally recognized for his work on respectful workplace education, employment and service provision, and has helped numerous public and private employers. As a founding faculty member of the Department of Defense Race Relations Institute, he developed anti-discrimination programs for military bases worldwide. As Chief Equal Rights Officer for the Wisconsin Personnel Commission, he was responsible for implementing some of the first anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies and practices in the United States. He is a Nationally recognized authority on workplace issues.

Bob’s practice also has a special focus in documentation issues. He is retained to conduct high level, sensitive investigations for both public and private sector organizations. Bob trains HR staff, security personnel, and civil investigators in the concepts of properly investigating employment issues.

As the Head of Government Affairs for the world’s largest human resources trade association, Emily M. Dickens leads SHRM’s advocacy and policy initiatives. This includes its Advocacy Team — the “A-Team” —composed of nearly 30,000 HR professionals across the United States positioned front and center in efforts to advance the interests of the HR profession. She oversees government affairs, global policy, legal affairs, and the SHRM Foundation, the 501(c)(3) philanthropic arm of SHRM. Dickens has been a featured expert on workplace issues and business leadership – with commentary appearing in CBS News, NBC News, AP News, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg Law, Crain's Business, Marketplace, WTOP, Yahoo Finance, HR Brew, and HR Dive among others. In addition, Dickens has testified before Congress and the EEOC on worker and workplace topics like AI, gender bias, and paid leave.

Dickens serves on the boards of the following industry organizations to maximize SHRM's impact and voice in global, national, and local business and labor policy debates: B20 Brazil Women in Business Action Council (Co-Chair); USCIB-United States Council for International Business (Governance Committee); The Bryce Harlow Foundation; Skill-up, and the National Foundation for Women Legislators. 

Before SHRM, Dickens served as a passionate advocate for access to higher education as the general counsel/head of policy for the DC-based Thurgood Marshall College Fund; Vice President of Public Policy for the Association of Governing Boards for Colleges and Universities; and the Assistant Vice President for Federal Affairs at the University of North Carolina System. Dickens leverages her higher education background to promote the importance of leveraging the education-to-employment pipeline to address future workforce needs. She has also worked at Duke University and Fayetteville State University in administrative and external affairs roles.

Actively engaged in board service, Dickens is a member of the North Carolina Central University Board of Trustees and the NCNW Board of Directors (Co-Chair Personnel Committee). She is a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated where she has served as Chairman of the International HBCU Task Force, and on the sorority’s Education Advancement Foundation Board (AKAEAF).

Emily is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Jesús Villa currently serves as the Deputy Administrator for the Division of Personnel Management at the Wisconsin Department of Administration, a position held since January 2023. Prior experience includes the role of Administrator for the Equal Rights Division at the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development from March 2019 to January 2023, and EEO Officer at Northwestern Mutual from September 2008 to January 2023, where responsibilities included EEO compliance, government reporting, and employee relations consulting. Jesús Villa also worked as a Partner at Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP, focusing on labor and employment matters, and as an Associate at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. Jesús Villa holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy and a Juris Doctor from Duke University, along with an AB in Sociology from Princeton University.

Chuck is a registered Apprenticeship Outreach Representative (AOR) for the State of Wisconsin, DWD to create and advance stronger career opportunities for Wisconsin citizens and employers. I engage with employers to promote, expand and reinforce apprenticeship partnerships, contracts, training, and talent pipelines for emerging (non-traditional) apprenticeable sectors to include: HR specialist, truck driver, software analyst/developer, cybersecurity, early childhood educator, IT support pro, Building Automated Systems, Fire Alarm IMT, caregiver, ophthalmic asst, lab tech, MA, pharmacy tech, greenhouse mgr, and more! I help grow apprenticeship programs for sole-sponsor businesses by connecting them with Wisconsin's 16 technical colleges and other accredited instruction providers. Registered apprenticeship has been the "Gold Standard" of training models in WI since 1911 and a win/win! Your company hires and trains apprentices who learn your processes and start a career with you! Apprentices earn and learn on the job and related instruction to start a lucrative career path without incurring staggering debt!