Webinar: Managing Up!

Hi my name is Sarah Donovan and I am the HR Manager for the City of Chaska, Minnesota. I graduated from MN State Mankato with my Bachelors in Business Management, specializing in HR. I went on to obtain my Masters in Organizational Development and completed that in 2016. I have worked in HR for 9 years, with 8 of those being in public sector, a large corporate environment, a school and now for a local government. All have presented unique opportunities and have assisted in giving me a wide range of experience, and I love what I do!

Byron’s experience touches on both the public and private sector, with the last several years of his career being spent in service to the University of Florida, ranked in the Top 5 Public Universities, supporting the mission of their Cancer Center.

As an HR professional, leader, and specialist in organizational development, he focuses on building strong relationships at all levels of the organization, providing expert consultation and coaching to staff and leadership, improving the talent acquisition process to effectively reach top talent, ensuring equal access to learning and development opportunities, as well as ensuring equity and fairness in all policies and initiatives.

With senior certifications from both the Society for Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Certification Institute as well certification as a workplace mediator and mediation trainer from the Mediation Training Institute at Eckerd College, his ultimate goal is to create an environment and culture which drives exceptional performance with engaged, fulfilled people at its core by applying industry best practices and novel approaches to delivering essential HR services and strategic business partnership.

Mary Siwierka has held various positions in local government for nearly 40 years. During her career of service, she was elected to Elyria City Council, served on the Civil Service Commission, served as the Office Manager for the Mayor's office and was the first female in Elyria's 200 year history to serve as Safety Service Director. In that role, Mary oversaw the day-to-day operations of Ohio's 14th largest city with a workforce of over 400 delivering services to a population of over 55,000.  Her leadership extended into the world of medicine when she became a Regional Administrator for the Cleveland Clinic. In this role she reported the Clinic's newly established Chief Experience Officer. Mary has completed several leadership development programs including the Deep Dive at Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead School, Leadership Lorain County, and recently received Certified Public Manager certification through Cleveland State’s Certified Public Manager Program. In addition to her work and service -  she has participated in the FBI's Citizen Academy and serves on many local and one national board. She currently serves as the Human Resource Director for the City of Avon Lake and recently received her credential from the International Public Management Association for Human Resources as a Senior Certified Professional (IPMA-SCP).  She is a graduate, later in life, of Tiffin University and feels strongly that women in leadership roles must support other women.  Mary and her husband, Gary are the proud parents of one adult son and enjoy traveling. They haven't made it to all 50 states...but that's the goal.