Speaker Biographies

Alden J. Bianchi, Esq.

Bianchi is a member of the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo PC, and serves as chair of the firm's employee benefits and executive compensation practice. He advises corporate, not-for-profit, government, and individual clients on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits issues. Bianchi advised the administration of Gov. Mitt Romney in connection with the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law, and he has testified on the topic of health care reform before the U.S. Senate finance committee.

Charlie Cook

Cook is editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report. Widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading authorities on U.S. elections and political trends, he has appeared on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news programs, as well as on "Good Morning America," the "Today Show," "Nightline," "Meet the Press," and "This Week." He has also appeared many times on CNBC, MSNBC, C-SPAN, CNN, and NPR. He is the political analyst for the National Journal Group, where he writes weekly for National Journal magazine and "CongressDailyAM." He also writes a regular column for The Washington Quarterly, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and is a political analyst for NBC News.

Aarati Doddanna, Esq., CCEP

Doddanna serves as associate general counsel for Aerotek Inc. She plays a critical role in helping the organization mitigate risk and protect its brand. Prior to her current role, Doddanna served as the employment practices compliance manager for Allegis Group Inc., where she focused on enterprise-wide compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws throughout North America. She also previously served as a senior manager with Aerotek’s human resources department, leading a national employee relations team. During that time, Doddanna engaged in and oversaw numerous human resources related investigations and successfully mediated various disputes. Prior to her career in the staffing industry, Doddanna was a practicing attorney—specializing in employment and immigration law.

James A. Essey, CSP

Essey is president and chief executive officer of the TemPositions Group of Cos. In addition to office support personnel, the company provides staffing in information technology, accounting, human resources, legal, hospitality, light assembly, education, and health care. Essey served five terms as president of the New York Staffing Association, an ASA-affiliated chapter. He was ASA chairman in 2004; has chaired the chapter relations, member education and certification, political action, and industry best practices committees; and is currently chairman of the legal and legislative committee.

Garrett R. Ferencz, Esq.

Ferencz is vice president and deputy general counsel for TrueBlue Inc. Ferencz’s duties include leading the company’s Litigation and Employment Groups. He joined TrueBlue in 2007, from which time he has successfully managed over 40 class actions. During his tenure at TrueBlue, Ferencz and his team have reduced litigation spend by over 40% through insourcing, strategic partnerships with outside counsel, and the use of arbitration and class action waivers. Prior to 2007, Ferencz worked in Seattle at a successful plaintiffs practice as well as at one of the region’s largest defense firms, Perkins Coie, focused primarily on wage, employment, and complex multi-party litigation.

Joel A. Klarreich, Esq.

Klarreich is a partner in the law firm Tannebaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP and chairs the firm’s staffing industry and corporate departments. He specializes in business and corporate law with a distinctive focus on the staffing industry. For more than 40 years, Klarreich has been representing staffing firms—including temporary help service firms, employee leasing companies, search firms, permanent placement agencies, and home health care providers, as well as franchisors of staffing organizations. He has represented numerous buyers and sellers of staffing firms in mergers and acquisitions and in public and private stock offerings. Klarreich has served as executive vice president and general counsel of an AMEX listed staffing company. He is currently general counsel to the New York Staffing Association, was general counsel to the Association of Personnel Consultants of New York, and was associate general counsel of the National Association of Personnel Services. A frequent speaker on legal issues affecting the staffing industry, Klarreich was selected for inclusion in the New York Super Lawyers list from 2006 to 2015.

Edward A. Lenz, Esq.

Senior counsel for the American Staffing Association, Lenz is the staffing industry's chief legal and legislative advocate and one of the nation's leading authorities on the legal and public policy aspects of staffing. He joined ASA in 1989 as its first general counsel and has served the association in various leadership positions, most recently as senior vice president for legal and public affairs. As senior counsel, Lenz advises the association on a broad range of regulatory and policy issues, including the Affordable Care Act. Before joining ASA, he was vice president and assistant general counsel for Kelly Services and served as chairman of the ASA legal and legislative committee. Prior to entering the staffing industry in 1982, he served in government and in private law practice in Washington, DC. In 2001, he was inducted as a fellow to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Jeanne Meserve

Meserve is the director of training for The Communication Center, where she travels worldwide providing executive coaching to clients from top corporations, governments, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. She does voiceover and on-camera work, and moderates interviews and debates for academic and policy groups, including the World Health Organization, the Halifax International Security Forum, and UNESCO. Meserve has been an anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News, winning two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. She is a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and a member of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Advisory Group. She is also president of Shore Road Multimedia LLC.

David R. Ongaro, Esq.

Ongaro is a partner in the Trial Practice Group of Ongaro PC in San Francisco and focuses his complex litigation practice on product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, and employment matters. With more than 20 years of experience, Ongaro represents clients in a wide range of industries— including aviation, financial institutions, construction, health care, retail, hardware and software, telecommunications, temporary labor, and trucking. He has prosecuted and defended numerous consumer class action cases with substantial monetary claims across the country. Ongaro’s employment expertise encompasses wage and hour class action lawsuits as well as numerous claims involving allegations of gender, race, national origin, religious, disability, sexual origination, and age discrimination.

Jennifer Painter, Esq.

Painter is vice president and general counsel of On Assignment Inc. She joined On Assignment after serving from 2009 through 2013 as vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer, and secretary of MRV Communications Inc. Painter has also previously served as vice president and assistant general counsel for The Ryland Group Inc., where she was responsible for the company’s regulatory compliance, corporate governance, financings, and general corporate and employment law; and vice president and general counsel of Cadiz Inc., where she was responsible for the company’s domestic and international legal and compliance issues. Painter was an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to her legal career.

Eric H. Rumbaugh, Esq.

Rumbaugh is a partner in the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP and represents management in all areas of labor and employment law. In addition, he is chairman of the firm’s Trade Secret and Non-Competition Team. Rumbaugh litigates cases nationwide involving unfair competition, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, and other issues involving incoming and departing employees, and business-to-business disputes involving intellectual property, trade secrets, and unfair competition. He also regularly represents users and providers of temporary employees, consultants, independent contractors, and other contingent talent.

Donald W. Schroeder, Esq.

Schroeder is a member in the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC and chairman of the firm’s Staffing Industry Working Group. He has extensive trial experience in state and federal courts representing Fortune 500 clients on a wide range of employment matters, including restrictive covenant litigation, wage and hour class actions, and single plaintiff discrimination cases. Schroeder is a frequent lecturer and author on a variety of employment law issues, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, National Labor Relations Board developments, and workplace privacy issues.

Andrew W. Singer, Esq.

Singer is a partner in the law firm Tannebaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP and chairs the firm’s Employment Law Practice, which offers a broad spectrum of legal services—from counseling clients on day-to-day human resource issues to defending companies in complex employment litigation. He has extensive experience in all aspects of employment law and regularly advises companies and HR professionals on issues ranging from employment agreements; restrictive covenant enforceability counseling; HR compliance; discrimination; wage and hour; sexual harassment; and policies such as social media, technology, and email usage; to audits; Equal Employment Opportunity claims; workforce reduction; and employment-related litigation. With over 23 years of experience, Singer has represented businesses across industries, including staffing, financial services, hospitality, retail, technology, manufacturing, and others. He is a frequent speaker on various employment and HR topics and regularly conducts training for supervisory and managerial employees. Singer has been selected for inclusion in New York Super Lawyers from 2010 through 2015.

David Weil, Ph.D.

Weil is administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. He is an internationally recognized expert in public and labor market policy; regulatory performance; industrial and labor relations; transparency policy; and supply-chain restructuring and its effects.

Prior to his current position, Weil served as professor of economics and the Peter and Deborah Wexler professor of management at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He also served as co-director of the Transparency Policy Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Weil has written five books, three regarding labor market policy— including the recently published The Fissured Workplace. He has also authored numerous articles and publications in a variety of economics, public policy, management, and industrial relations journals and books.