September Educational Program

Finding and Retaining World-Class Talent - Panelist Biographies

Donna Higgins (Moderator)
President and CEO, The Higgins Group

Donna Higgins is Founder and CEO of The Higgins Group, Inc. an executive recruiting firm focused on senior level executives in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.  The company was founded in 1998 and has successfully placed hundreds of executives.   The Higgins Group client companies range from small, privately held, venture capital backed start-ups through the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies.  The Higgins Group is well-known and highly respected for exceptional track record for delivering solutions that exceed expectations of both clients and candidates.  

Prior to Founding the Higgins Group, Donna led the life science practice of Howard Fischer Associates, a top 20 global executive recruiting firm.  Previous to her search career, her background encompasses both major corporations and high performance start-ups.  She is a veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry with ten years experience at Abbott Laboratories and Immunex Corporation in a variety of sales and marketing roles and a founding role in a technology start-up.   

Currently Donna serves on the Board of Directors of AchieveAbility, a non-profit based in West Philadelphia, and Aerie Inc, an orphanage in Ethiopia.  She is also an Advisory Board member of WIN.  

Donna earned her BA from Pennsylvania State University and MBA from Drexel University.  She lives in Wayne with her husband and two sons.  

Judy Spires
President, Acme Markets

Throughout her 30 year career in the grocery industry, Spires has held various positions within companies such as American Stores, Albertsons, and Supervalu including serving as president of both the Albertsons Dallas/Fort Worth Division and the Rocky Mountain Division.  Prior to her present role at Acme, Spires has also served as Vice President of Sales & Advertising, Vice President of Administration, Vice President of Human Resources, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Integration and Senior Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising. 

In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees at La Salle University, Spires is a board member for many local organizations including the Forum Foundation, which provides resources for the development of women; Variety, The Children’s Charity; the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; the New Jersey Food Council; and the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association.  She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum, serves on the Advisory Council of Esperanza, and is a founding member of the Greater Philadelphia Network of Executive Women.

Spires’ dedication to leading an expanding business operation as well as her commitment to serving charitable organizations has made her a distinguished member of the business community.  She was recently named one of the Top 50 Women in Grocery by the Progressive Grocer, was honored as the 2008 Business Woman of the Year by the Great Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, received the 2008 LaSalle University Leadership Award, was chosen as the 2007 Outstanding Champion by the Network of Executive Women, and was awarded the 2007 Woman of Heart Award by the American Heart Association.  Additionally, she received the Girls, Inc., Strong, Smart, Bold award in recognition of her career accomplishments and for serving as a positive role model for young women and girls.

She is a graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA earning a bachelor’s degree in Education.  She is also a graduate of Cornell University’s Food Executive Program.  A native of New Jersey, Spires and her husband, Bob, live in Center City Philadelphia.  Their son, Robert, is attending Santa Clara University in California.

Acme Markets, Inc. is a Northeast retailer operating both combination stores and supermarkets for a total of 130 locations in the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Dr. Janice Presser
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Gabriel Institute

Dr. Janice Presser is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Gabriel Institute, originator of Role-Based Assessment, the disruptive innovation in Talent Management.  As the acknowledged Thought Leader in qualitative assessment, this Philadelphia-based company serves organizations of all sizes, in all industries and market sectors internationally, with web-based tools that help them evaluate and improve their human capital and organizational culture. These include screening and selection for hiring; assessment of leadership for private equity, succession planning and restructuring; and Role-Based Assessment for additional personal, professional and business applications; workforce improvement initiatives and strategic human resource development solutions. The Gabriel Institute's value proposition provides customers with measurable return on investment based on the metrics businesses need to satisfy both financial and compliance requirements. Our corporate values - trust, respect and faith - drive our single minded purpose of helping our customers manage, measure and maximize their human capital.

Dr. Presser serves, or has recently served on, the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) Human Capital Measurement/HR Metrics Special Expertise Panel; the National Advisory Board on Talent Development and the Measuring Quality of Hire Expert Panel for Human Capital Institute and the Editorial Board of HR Metrics Review.  She is Contributing Editor for the Selection Profile in ELLAR, Employment Labor Law AuditTand is a frequent contributor to Leadership Excellence, Personal Excellence and CareerSmart Advisor (ExecuNet), as well as the author of five books and numerous articles.

Prior to co-founding The Gabriel Institute in 2001, Dr. Presser was a consultant, managed two human resource departments, was president of a family-owned sheet metal manufacturing company, served as adjunct faculty and dissertation consultant for several institutions and as a forensic consultant and expert witness in cases involving civil rights, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, ethical professional practice, and related matters. An entrepreneur, at heart and in action, she has served as confidante and guide to other entrepreneurs, especially in the area of development of a business vision.  She is a frequent speaker, hosts a web-based talk show, Talent Talk with Dr. Janice, and she blogs at http://drjanice.wordpress.com .

Lori McKaig
Senior Executive, Accenture Defense Group

Lori McKaig is a Senior Executive with the Accenture Defense Group and is executive vice president, Mission Services, Engagement Management. In this capacity, she serves as deputy to Bill Loftus who leads the Mission Services Workforce. Ms. McKaig currently supports acquisition integration activities and serves as a volume lead on the Department of Defense proposal effort.

At Gestalt, Ms. McKaig brought to the executive leadership team more than 15 years of leadership experience and a proven track record in managing diverse areas of technology business operations. She served as Senior Vice President, Communications and Workforce Enrichment at Gestalt, ensuring that Gestalt built an environment that provided opportunities for growth and supported a culture where employees could create a rewarding professional experience. In addition, she ensured the firm’s communications, both internal and external, were aligned, meaningful and impactful.   In her previous role as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Operations for Gestalt, Ms. McKaig was responsible for commercial and utility sales as well as strategy development for, and management of, all public relations and marketing efforts for the firm.

Prior to joining Gestalt, Ms. McKaig served as Director of Operations for Breakaway Solutions, a $100 million+ multinational Internet consulting company, where she was responsible for the coordination of activities between and among all corporate support organizations and the 1,000-person professional services division. In this role, she reported directly to the firm’s COO and collaborated daily with the CEO and CFO. Ms. McKaig worked to achieve corporate goals across functional areas, including finance, sales, strategy, human resources, facilities, operations, and corporate communications and governance.  Prior to this role, she was the manager of Alliances for Breakaway Solutions.  Before joining Breakaway Solutions, Ms. McKaig served as manager of IT Outsourcing for a FORTUNE 100 electric and gas utility, managing contracts in excess of $500 million.

Ms. McKaig is a member of the Network of Women in Computer Technology of the Delaware Valley and is a past president of its board of directors. Ms. McKaig’s educational achievements include a B.S. degree in Business Management from Rosemont College, coursework in Journalism studies at Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism and she is a master’s of science in management candidate at Rosemont College. Ms. McKaig is also a graduate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Business on Board Program.