AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast will bring back its Leadership Summit on Wednesday, April 10 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Last year’s event drew more than 500 attendees from organizations across New England to hear keynote presenters and leadership experts provide guidance on the new core competencies for today’s people leaders. This year’s program will feature three keynote presenters, including George Kalogridis, retired president of Walt Disney World Resort, and Daryl Dixon, author and award-winning diversity practitioner.

John Henderson, director of Learning & Development at EANE, believes that “one of the most important things an organization can do today to achieve success is to make an investment in their people leaders. They are critical to employee engagement, productivity, and building a culture that will help deliver optimal customer service. This is not an option. If you want to hit revenue targets and drive innovation, you need to develop your leaders.”

Click here for the full agenda for EANE’s Leadership Summit 2024 and early-bird pricing.

AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) announced that Meredith Wise, president of the association, will be retiring at the end of June.

“After much contemplation, I have decided to retire as president of EANE. It has been my privilege to work with our members for the past 28 years, the last 21 of them as president of the association,” Wise said. “I am so proud of our accomplishments and the work we’ve done to continue the 100-plus-year tradition of the association, including expanding our footprint to serve employers in Connecticut and Rhode Island as well as all of Massachusetts. The depth and breadth of our resources and services has grown to meet the ever-changing needs of our members and employers in the region.”

The board selected Allison Ebner, currently vice president of Membership and Partnerships with the association, as the new president of EANE. She will continue to lead the team of professionals in developing high-quality human-resources support services and training for members and the region’s employers and will focus on building collaborative relationships within the region and creating new opportunities for the expansion of services.

Linda Olbrys will be joining the EANE team as the new director of Membership and Partnerships, bringing with her considerable experience in both human resources and talent acquisition and retention services.

AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) will host its annual Leadership Summit on Wednesday, March 29 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. With a focus on navigating the new workforce, the summit will showcase tangible ways leaders can adapt to workplace dynamics that have significantly shifted in the three years since the onset of COVID-19.

Faced with a myriad of workforce challenges — hybrid work, shifting market dynamics, and new attitudes toward work in general, to name a few — leaders in the Northeast may be struggling to keep up with change. In fact, a 2023 Deloitte survey found that only 24% of C-suite executives and board members feel their organizations are ready to make the changes needed to navigate the new workforce.

“There has never been such a critical time to grow leaders in your organization,” said Meredith Wise, EANE president. “It is clear that employees will no longer stay with ineffective managers. By instituting a new kind of leadership based on inclusion and empathy, organizations will begin to attract, engage, and retain the talent they need to grow. Our upcoming Leadership Summit is designed to do just that.”

The program will feature an opening keynote from U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Famer Chris Waddell. A Western Mass. native, Waddell’s keynote will share his insights and experience as the first nearly unassisted paraplegic to summit Mr. Kilimanjaro. Waddell’s inspiring presentation will challenge attendees to bring integrity to their leadership responsibilities, even when times get tough.

The closing keynote will be presented by Mohammad Anwar and Frank Danna, Wall Street Journal bestselling co-authors of Love as a Business Strategy. Through compelling storytelling, Anwar and Danna will provide attendees with a new, people-first framework for achieving any business outcome. They help leaders achieve better results by transforming behaviors and providing tactics to build high-performing, reliable teams that inspire a feeling of belonging that is led with love.

Attendees will also have access to 10 breakout sessions with topics including coaching and development, unlocking one’s potential, mastering time management, engaging multiple generations, avoiding legal landmines, mitigating conflict, leading with empathy, and more.

Organizations that register six or more participants get 10% off each registration, reserved seating, a personalized post-summit debrief with a member of EANE staff, and more. Grant funding is available to Massachusetts attendees through the Express Program and Rhode Island attendees through the Incumbent Worker Grant. The program will offer credits for HR Certification Institute and SHRM. Register and learn more at www.eane.org/event/2023-leadership-summit.

AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) will host a half-day training opportunity on Wednesday, Oct. 12 for employers who recognize the need to develop a proactive plan that will protect their employees in the unfortunate instance of a violent occurrence in the workplace.

EANE has partnered with PASS (Protective Advanced Safety Servies) of Agawam to facilitate the three-hour training class designed to help employers assess their current safety programs, identify the common behavior patterns of potentially violent individuals, and ultimately learn how to respond during an active shooting situation in a manner that reduces casualties.

The trainers from PASS, John Nettis and Steven Grasso, have risen through the ranks of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and the Agawam Police Department and are skilled in active-shooter response and emergency preparedness. They strive to elevate workplace safety by offering role-playing scenarios, strategies, and suggestions to employers, and creating custom-tailored, effective emergency action plans.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, there has been an increase in drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, political disturbances, and general volatility in workplace relationships. The October training event, “Code Red: Strategies for Preventing Workplace Violence,” tackles the subject of workplace-violence prevention.

Attendees will become acquainted with the process of conducting a physical workspace analysis, how to survey a facility and look for vulnerabilities; understand the components of an incident response plan, how to create a response to an incident at a business (evacuation plans, reunification, and communication); recognize the importance of de-escalating a situation early; and increase awareness of mental health’s role in workplace violence.

The event will take place at the Delaney House in Holyoke. Limited seats are available, and pre-registration is required. While these trainings are open to the public for $125 per person, individuals from EANE member organizations may register at a reduced rate. Registration details are available at www.eane.org/code-red-strategies-for-preventing-workplace-violence or by calling (877) 662-6444.

AGAWAM — Starting on Tuesday, April 27 from 3 to 5 p.m., with continuing sessions on Wednesday, May 26 and Wednesday, June 30, the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) and its training partners from Protective Advanced Safety Services (PASS), will present a three-part training series at EANE’s Agawam training center for regional employers on workplace violence prevention.

Session topics include “Who’s Coming to Work,” “CALM: De-escalation Strategies,” and “Hire Right, Fire Smart.” All three sessions are designed to equip employers with the tools and knowledge they need to keep their workplaces safe from violence, including microaggressions, employee-relations escalations, and the worst-case scenario: an active shooter.

“With today’s volatile climate, we’re seeing people dealing with increased pressures like financial stress, domestic violence, increased drug and alcohol abuse, and mental illness. All of this creates the perfect storm for employers, and they need to be prepared that some of this stress will be coming to their workplaces,” said John Nettis of PASS. We’ve designed these trainings to support employers as they are welcoming staff back to their facilities.”

Space in this training series is limited to 10 participants as EANE is following state guidelines on social distancing and capacity limits. The cost for the program is $331.50 for all three sessions. Interested parties can reach out to Allison Ebner at [email protected] or call (413) 789-6400 for more information.