Healthcare Symposium
Event Date:
May 13, 2026
Event Time:
7:30 am
Event Location:
The Cove at UCI, 5270 California Ave, Irvine, CA, 92617
Event Description
Date and Time:
May 13, 2026
7:30 am – 11:00 am
Event Schedule:
Registration, Networking & Vendor Village: 7:30 am – 9:30 am
Welcome Remarks: 9:30 am
Panel Discussion: 9:45 am – 11:00 am
Location:
The Cove at UCI
5270 California Ave #100
Irvine, CA, 92617
The CHRO Agenda: Leading Through Workforce Complexity
The most critical decisions shaping organizations today aren’t happening in a vacuum – they are happening inside the HR function.
Employee benefits are no longer just the headline; they are the strategic lever. For 2026, the Orange County Employee Benefits Council (OCEBC) is reframing the conversation. We are moving beyond industry trends to explore the intersection of talent strategy, culture, cost stewardship, and the employee experience.
The Vendor Village: Curated Innovation | Starts at 7:30 AM
Before the keynote begins, join us in our Vendor Village. This isn’t just an exhibit hall – it’s a curated space to engage directly with the innovative partners and leaders shaping the future of workforce strategy.
New this year: We’re offering complimentary admission to the Vendor Village for anyone who would like to attend. Please note, this access is limited to the Vendor Village and does not include entry to the full symposium program. Please register for Vendor Village below!
- Hear about emerging HR solutions from Strategic Suppliers driving innovation and measurable impact.
- Engage in meaningful conversations with local business leaders to exchange insights and best practices.
- Build your 2027 roadmap by uncovering key products, trends and nuances that can help improve Total Rewards Programs
During Vendor Village, we’re cutting through the noise of hour-long demos. In our Spark Talk series, key industry innovators get exactly 5 minutes to showcase their solution. It’s a fast-paced, high-energy format designed to give you the “spark” of an idea you need to solve your toughest challenges – without wasting your morning.
The Executive Session: From HR to Strategic Advisor | Starts at 9:45AM
We take the conversation to the executive level. This year’s symposium centers on the evolving role of the CHRO as a strategic advisor to the CEO. Our panel of forward-thinking HR executives will pull back the curtain on the real conversations happening in today’s boardrooms.
What We’ll Explore
Our panel will dive into actionable frameworks for navigating:
- The Strategic CHRO: Aligning organizational design with overarching business objectives.
- The War for Talent: Navigating the “new normal” of attraction, retention, and performance.
- Total Rewards Integration: Merging well-being and employee experience into a cohesive people strategy.
- Fiscal Stewardship: Managing rising costs and compliance without sacrificing trust.
- Leading Through Change: Strategic execution during M&A, restructuring, and hybrid shifts.
- Data-Driven Leadership: Using analytics to move from “gut feeling” to informed workforce decisions.
Why This Conversation Matters Now
The workforce is more complex than ever. HR leaders are balancing regulatory pressures and shifting employee expectations while being asked to drive measurable business impact.
This symposium is designed for leaders who want to move beyond the “what” and into the “how” of strategic execution. Expect candid insights and meaningful dialogue with peers who are navigating these exact challenges.
Who Should Attend
- CHROs & Senior HR Leaders
- Benefits & Total Rewards Professionals
- C-Suite Executives
- Brokers, Consultants, & Solution Partners
Join Us in May 2026
If you care about the future of workforce strategy – and the role HR plays in shaping it – this is the conversation you cannot miss.
*Members – please log in to your account to unlock member pricing and ticket access.
Thank You to Our Sponsor
Meet our Moderator & Panelists
Sallie joined Alliant’s leadership team with a broad skillset that combines strategic analysis, collaborative leadership, and a service-focused mindset. She works alongside her clients to provide customized benefits solutions that reduce costs, save HR resources, and enhance employee well-being.
Sallie specializes in driving value for complex, multi-state and multi-national organizations in various industries. Her thought leadership helps organizations enhance employee well-being and drive down healthcare spending.
Prior to joining Alliant, Sallie was President within the San Diego & Orange County offices of a national insurance brokerage/consulting firm. Sallie’s 25+ years in benefits consulting have earned her both local and national recognition for her expertise, leadership, and commitment to clients.
READ MORE
- Women to Watch, Business Insurance Magazine
- 25 Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising, Employee Benefit News
- Businesswomen of the Year, San Diego Business Journal
- Finalist – Broker of Year, BenefitPro Magazine
- Power Broker of the Year, Risk & Insurance Magazine
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from University of Phoenix.
As an enterprise performance catalyst and chief people officer, Michelle leverages human capital as a strategic growth engine to guide organizations through scale, reinvention and change in control. Michelle’s experience partnering with CEOs and boards across public and private environments to align culture, governance, executive talent strategy and operating models enables her to drive measurable value in complex, high-growth organizations.
Michelle leads with a global perspective and an inclusive style, elevating voices closest to the work and creating conditions for trust and followership. She believes it is every executive team’s responsibility to make a company a better place each day, paying it forward for future stakeholder generations.
Michelle is the former Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer for Help at Home, the nation’s leading home care platform provider for Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible seniors, where she was responsible for developing and leading a culture of care, collaboration, innovation and learning for its 60,000 employee workforce.
READ MORE
Prior to Help at Home, Michelle served as Chief People Officer for Covetrus, a global $5B animal health technology company undergoing significant transformation, where she led efforts to strengthen the company’s operating model, leadership capabilities and talent readiness to optimize performance across its North America, Europe and Asia Pacific markets.
She joined Covetrus from Petco, a Health + Wellness Co., where Michelle championed enterprise-wide transformation and IPO preparation, driving comprehensive culture transformation and large-scale employee experience redesign that repositioned human capital as a strategic growth engine across a $6B omni-channel consumer platform.
Michelle started her CHRO journey with The Wine Group, where she modernized the company’s organizational and people infrastructure to support next-stage growth for its $1B business. She held early leadership roles at Big Heart Pet Brands and Gap, Inc.
Michelle has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of California, Davis. She is a certified executive coach from Hudson Institute of Coaching and serves on the Advisory Board for Airvet. Michelle lives in Solana Beach, CA with her husband and two fur babies; she has a daughter at Tulane University.
Tina Chen, Chief Human Resources Officer, leads EDF power solutions North America Human Resources team in North America. In her position, Tina is responsible for overseeing the strategy for Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Total Rewards, HR Business Partners and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for approximately 1500 North American employees.
Prior to joining EDF in 2022, Tina spent 17 years with the Sempra Energy family of companies in roles of increasing responsibility in HR including People Research, Organizational Development, Talent Management, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and HRBP. She was head of HR for the Sempra Renewables business for five years and Sempra Infrastructure for three years.
Tina received her Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of California Berkeley and her Master’s and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University in Industrial & Organizational Psychology.
Tina is passionate about sustainability and to that end, has a worm compost, drives an electric car, and bikes to work when possible. In her spare time Tina likes to bike, hike, travel, and has also taught management classes at SDSU for fun.
Glenn Grindstaff is Chief Human Resources Officer of OSI Systems. Mr. Grindstaff joined the Company in this role in February 2020. He has over 25 years of progressive human resources leadership experience. Prior to OSI, Mr. Grindstaff served as Vice President, Human Resources and Administration for L3Harris Technologies. Prior to that, Mr. Grindstaff held several senior positions, including Vice President, Human Resources and Administration at Honda Aircraft, and Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Spirent Communications.