HCM Excellence Conference 2026

Amanda Archer is currently the Director of Learning Experience at Advocate Health where she has led teams in Learning Experience, Learning Technology, and Leadership Development for the last 9 years. Amanda has been in the Learning space for over 19 years, starting as a facilitator and Instructional Designer and then becoming a learning leader. She worked for a medical staffing company, DeVry Education Group, and McDonald’s in the L&D space prior to beginning her work at Advocate Health. Amanda was nominated and received the OnCon Icon Award for Top 50 Learning and Development Professionals in 2025 and her team won a Silver Brandon Hall Award for Best Learning Governance.

As Director of Leadership Development and Professional Skills at Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, Amy oversees the firm’s leadership academy programs and professional skills offerings. She collaborates with the business and firm leadership to deliver upskilling programs that create better business professionals capable of implementing strategy and solving clients’ business needs. Amy brings over twenty years of instructional design, learning facilitation, project management, process improvement, and department management experience to this position. Prior to Grant Thornton Amy was a Senior Vice President at Advantexe Learning Solutions where she oversaw the Business Leadership practice, designing and delivering custom leadership learning solutions for clients. And before that Amy was the Vice President of Professional Services at Richardson, a global sales training and consulting firm that customizes and delivers award-winning sales training. Over the years Amy has been certified in various assessments such as Insights Discovery™, MBTI®’s FIRO-B®, Emotional Intelligence EQi 2.0®, Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®, and most recently Coaching Mindset Index®. Amy is also a certified ROI professional (CRP) by the ROI Institute.

Anthony Lewis is a dynamic leader who transforms how organizations grow, lead, and inspire talent. As Vice President of People Development and Inclusion at Universal Music Group, he designs award-winning leadership programs that remix creativity, culture, and capability into one powerful rhythm. With over two decades of experience spanning Comcast, Warner Bros., Yamaha, Boingo Wireless, and UMG, Anthony brings a design-driven and human-centered approach to leadership. He holds a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Woodbury University and has served as President of the ATD Los Angeles Chapter. A former President of the ATD Los Angeles Chapter and recipient of the ATD Torch Lifetime Award, Anthony’s mission is clear: Connect people to purpose. His belief is simple but powerful—when leaders align inclusion, purpose, and innovation, they don’t just build better workplaces—they amplify the rhythm of the future.

Bernard Hampton leads The Academy within Bank of America’s Chief People Organization (CPO) which drives the company’s commitment to be a Great Place to Work. In this role, Bernard leads the award-winning employee onboarding, learning and skill development organization serving 200,000+ employees globally. The Academy, a team of more than 1,000 dedicated professionals, provides a superior onboarding experience, expert facilitation & coaching, structured education, immersive technology, and supports every client and employee interaction being compliant with the continuously changing laws, rules and regulations that govern our company. Bernard joined the company in 2004 and has served in many leadership and executive roles. Most recently, he was Consumer Banking division executive for the eastern United States. He led a team dedicated to serving clients and making their financial lives better through the power of every connection in more than 1,800 financial centers. Bernard holds FINRA Series 66, SIE, 7, 9, and 10 licenses and serves as Bank of America’s executive market sponsor for the West Palm Beach market. A strong advocate for opportunity and inclusion, he serves as executive sponsor for multiple employee engagement groups, networks and development programs including enterprise co-executive sponsor for the Intergenerational Employee Network (iGen). In service to local communities, Bernard is an Eagle Scout, a Herndon Fellow with the Atlanta based Herndon Director’s Institute and a 2022 inductee to the Executive Leadership Council (ELC). He also serves as an executive board member of the Urban League of Palm Beach County, Florida.

Claude Werder runs Brandon Hall Group’s Talent Management, Leadership Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) practices. His specific areas of focus include how organizations must transform culturally and strategically to meet the needs of the emerging workforce and workplace. Claude develops insights and solutions on employee experience, leadership, coaching, talent development, assessments, culture, DE&I, and other topics to help members and clients make talent development a competitive business advantage now and in the evolving future of work.