Panelist Spotlight: Renèe Downey-Hart, Ph.D., Chair of the Management and Leadership and Human Resources Programs, and Professor of Practice, Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College 

Renèe Downey-Hart, PhD, Chair of the Management and Leadership and Human Resources Programs, and Professor of Practice, Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College 

Renèe Downey-Hart, is the Chair of the Management and Leadership Department and a Professor of Practice in the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College.  Prior to joining the faculty at Le Moyne, she was a partner in the firm of Eagle Consultants, an international organizational development firm based in Syracuse.

Drawing on over twenty years of experience as a business professional, she brings a real-world focus to her dynamic classes. Renée has been praised for her interactive style and ability to bring research into reality.  Her years of consulting from the Silicon Valley to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt offer her wonderful vantage points from which to explore the fascinating topic of Leadership.

Renée earned her Doctorate at Syracuse University. Her areas of specialty include: leadership, retention practices, presentation and training, organizational development, human resources and organizational communications. She is a member of SHRM and ATD.

Rebecca Lyons, MS. Wegmans Food Markets, Director, Employee Communications and Engagement

Becky Lyons is Director of Employee Communications and Engagement for Wegmans Food Markets where she is responsible for devising and implementing creative strategies and tactics to deep-root Wegmans values, lead communication planning for change management, and measure and build employee engagement. With decades of prior Wegmans experience in Benefits and Total Rewards, Ms. Lyons functions as a strong business partner with an enterprise-level view of the organization; she is a people first leader committed to excellence in human resources and total rewards programs.

Ms. Lyons holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership and Management from Roberts Wesleyan College, and represents Wegmans in numerous community initiatives, conferences and advisory boards related to engagement, wellness, recognition and other total rewards programming

Jeanne Stewart, SHRM – SCP, SPHR, CDP. HR on the Move, LLC., President.

Jeanne founded HR on the Move, LLC., in 2006, a consortium of business and management consultants, after 20 years of working as a Human Resources generalist. Jeanne’s background includes a wide range of business consulting experience, including organizational development, change management, organization assessments, executive development, employee relations, workplace investigations, employee benefits and compensation, training and development, staffing, process improvement, and project management.

Jeanne was a Business Partner at Montefiore Medical Center, the largest employer in the Bronx, New York. At Montefiore, Jeanne directed the compensation, benefits, labor, employee relations, training and development, HRIS, and recruitment and staffing functions for the Medicine Care Center. Several of Ms. Stewart’s projects included development of a written orientation policy for JCAHO standards, creation of e- learning modules for the entire health care system for Cultural Diversity and Recognition of the Impaired Medical Professional, and design of team building retreats for entire departments.

Prior to her work at Montefiore, Ms. Stewart was Director of Human Resources for St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children in Bayside, NY. Jeanne worked for 6 years at YAI National Institute for People with Disabilities as Senior HR Manager and Assistant Director of Human Resources, overseeing the HR Operations Department for their seven companies.

Jeanne received her BA in Business from the College of Mt. St. Vincent in Riverdale, NY. She also received an MBA in HR Management from Iona College Hagan School of Business in New Rochelle, NY. She is certified through the HR Certification Institute as a Senior Professional in Human Resources and recently achieved – Senior Certified Professional from the Society for Human Resource Management. Jeanne has taught graduate level Strategic HR Management at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn and is a Certified Human Behavior Consultant and a Certified Diversity Professional.

Jeanne currently serves as the Director – Best Companies to Work For for the New York State Society for Human Resource Management (NYS SHRM) and is a past State Director. She is a Past President of the NYC SHRM, the largest human resources chapter in the world and the New York tri-state area’s largest association of human resources practitioners. Jeanne serves as a guest lecturer and facilitator for a variety of venues and is a member of the John Maxwell Team of consultants.