ABOUT THE AUTHORS
In 2010, Career Press approached Barbara Mitchell about writing another book. She had previously co-authored The Essential HR Handbook with Sharon Armstrong. When the proposal was accepted, Barbara reached out to her colleague Cornelia Gamlem, with the offer to coauthor The Big Book of HR. Drawing on their collective experience, Barbara and Cornelia produced a great resource for HR professionals, managers, business leaders, small-business owners, and anyone who has to manage people. A writing partnership was born. Since the publication of The Big Book of HR in 2012, Barbara and Cornelia continue to collaborate on a weekly blog, Making People Matter. In 2014, Career Press approached them once again about writing The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. They are likely to write more books in the future.
Both Barbara and Cornelia are influencers to the HR and business communities. They are frequent speakers to business groups and have been quoted in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, and The New York Times. Since writing The Big Book of HR, they have been interviewed in major markets around the country.
Barbara Mitchell is an author, speaker, and the managing partner of The Mitchell Group, a human resources and organizational development consulting practice. She consults with a wide variety of clients on issues around people—helping them successfully hire, develop, engage, and retain the best talent available. Most of her HR career was spent in senior leadership positions with Marriott International, Human Genome Sciences, and as co-owner and principal of The Millennium Group International, LLC.
She entered the HR profession after gaining a strong business foundation and says, “Working in HR was like coming home. I’d found what I was meant to do!”
Barbara has actively given back to the HR profession in a variety of ways. She served on the board of directors of the Employment Management Association, a professional emphasis group of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and has been president of several SHRM chapters. She is a passionate supporter of the SHRM Foundation.
She is a graduate of North Park University, Chicago, IL, with a degree in history and political science. She has taken graduate level business courses at UCLA, the University of Denver, and Loyola University.
Barbara serves on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Northern Virginia Habitat for Humanity affiliate and is a video presenter/docent at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum.
Cornelia Gamlem, SPHR, is an author, consultant, and speaker. She is founder and president of the GEMS Group ltd., a management consulting firm that offers human resources and business solutions. Prior to founding the firm, she served in a senior HR leadership role with a Fortune 500 IT services company with a global presence. She likes to say that she’s been in HR since “God was a girl.”
Cornelia has served on national task forces that influenced public policy and testified before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on three occasions. She served on SHRM’s National Board of Directors, chaired its Workplace Diversity Committee, and served on its Global Forum Board of Directors. She has supported HR professionals by serving as an instructor at a number of colleges in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She has written many articles and white papers for professional and industry publications.
She is a graduate of Marymount University, where she earned a master’s degree in Human Resource management, and California State University, Sacramento, where she earned her undergraduate degree in business administration. She achieved Life Certification as Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).
The authors can be reached at www.essentialworkplaceconflicthandbook.com or www.bigbookofhr.com.