People & Operations Summit

As VaynerMedia’s first ever Chief Heart Officer, Claude Silver unlocks employees' full potential by forging human-to-human connections, creating cultures of belonging, empowers teams to be purpose-driven, efficient, and strong, and infuses the agency with empathy, humanity, and optimism.

Claude founded and ran an outdoor adventure & surf company in San Francisco where she was in the cold Pacific Ocean coaching 275 days a year. This, alongside her many years in leadership positions at major advertising agencies and training in Positive Psychology, has given her a unique perspective in servant leadership and team-building along with leadership development, performance coaching, talent management and people operations.

Ely Bar-Ness received his Bachelors degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and his Masters degree from Rutgers University at the Graduate School of Management and Labor Relations.

Over his diverse career, Ely has worked in various industries, including hi-tech, specialty chemicals, consumer products, and now cosmetics. He has worked in various types of ownership, including privately held, private equity held and publically traded. And he has worked for Fortune 500, mid-size companies, as well as a start-up.

After receiving his Masters Degree, Ely worked for several years at the Long Island Railroad in their Labor Relations department. He then decided to move to Israel.

Ely spent 1.5 years in the Israel Defense Forces as a combat soldier in the Givati Brigade and continued to serve for 12 years in annual Reserve duty. He started his career in Israel working in Israel Aircraft Industries and then a US based semiconductor equipment company, KLA Industries, based in San Jose.

After 12 years in Israel, Ely moved back to the US. He was the head of HR for the US division of Schick - Wilkinson Sword, and oversaw the divestiture of that business to Energizer. He then led the establishment of the global HR function of Supresta when it was acquired by a private equity firm from Akzo-Nobel, a Dutch chemical company.

Ely then became the Chief Human Resources Officer of International Specialty Products (ISP), a $2B specialty chemical company. ISP was acquired by Ashland Inc in 2011. Ely became the head of HR for Ashland Specialty Ingredients, the newly formed division of Ashland Inc, comprised of 3 legacy companies.

In February of this year, Ely became the Chief Human Resources Officer of Revlon and a member of the Company’s Executive Leadership Team. He is responsible for developing and executing Revlon’s global human resources strategy.

Teresa A. Oakley is a dynamic, global, HR leader with a track record of success in implementing HR strategy in complex, international organizations, ranging from 500 to 25,000+ employees, with revenues ranging from $500M to $30B. She is a strategic leader skilled in galvanizing organizations through transformational change to grow the business. Teresa achieves operational results through personal influence, collaboration and a hands-on approach. She builds and leads high performing teams with a business-focused, results-driven approach, and is a trusted advisor, coach, and mentor.

Ms. Oakley holds an MBA from the Simmons Graduate School of Management, Boston, MA and an undergraduate degree in Social Sciences and Psychology from Westfield State College in Westfield, MA. Teresa joined LG Electronics, as the VP HR for North America in Englewood Cliffs, NJ in January 2018. Prior to LG, she was the VP HR for Fujifilm Medical Systems for seven years. Teresa started her career in HR in the early 1990’s. For the formative years of her HR career she worked for Agfa Corporation (former division of Bayer Corporation) where she started at the Agfa Compugraphic, a division of Agfa Corporation as an HR Representative. She progressed quickly to HR Manager and then Senior HR Manager in 1992. In 1998, she was promoted from Sr. HR Manager to VP of Human Resources for North America – an unprecedented move which she attributes to hard work and influence in transforming culture.

Teresa strongly believes that HR can have a significant impact on the business through acquiring and retaining top talent. Key talent is the secret to company success. “How we motivate, treat, and respect our employees is part of the recipe to success. The other part is creating the work environment (culture) that enables each and every employee to reach their fullest potential.”

As Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at iCIMS, Susan Vitale leads a team of approximately 100 marketing and communications professionals responsible for branding, demand generation, public relations, events, as well as product and content marketing for the fast-growing talent acquisition solutions provider.

Vitale joined iCIMS as a Marketing Coordinator in 2005 and became CMO in 2009. She has helped build the company into one of the world’s leading talent acquisition technology providers with more than 4,000 customers and approximately $200 million in annual recurring revenue, generating double-digit growth each of the past five years.

Over the last decade, Vitale has been at the forefront of transforming the recruitment industry by delivering technology that simplifies complex recruitment processes, enabling employers to provide a superior experience for candidates and hire the best for their organizations.

Experienced at building high-performing diverse teams, Vitale is a member of several mentoring communities that provide career advice to young professionals. She holds a BS in Marketing with minors in public relations and communications from Lehigh University.