Women's Leadership Conversations

Elizabeth J. Altman is an associate professor of management at the University of Massachusetts Lowell Manning School of Business, a research affiliate at MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy and a guest editor for the Future of the Workforce at “MIT Sloan Management Review.” She has been a visiting professor at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and visiting scholar at Harvard Business School. Altman’s research focuses on strategy, innovation, platforms, ecosystems, future of work and workforce ecosystems. Her research has appeared in “Harvard Business Review,” “MIT Sloan Management Review,” “Academy of Management Annals,” “Journal of Management Studies” and other international journals. Altman is author of the forthcoming book, “Workforce Ecosystems: Reaching Strategic Goals with People, Partners, and Technologies” (MIT Press). Prior to academia, Altman was a Motorola vice president.

Dr. Robin Jones is a principal at Deloitte with 22 years of organization and workforce transformation consulting experience. She spent the majority of her career advising business leaders of technology, media, and telecommunications companies through complex business transformations.

With a focus on the future of work, Jones advises senior executives as they contemplate how data, technology and societal changes are impacting the work, workforce and workplace. At Deloitte, Jones leads the Workforce Transformation Offering with end-to-end responsibility for the market, services and talent, and serves on the CEO's Marketplace Leadership Team in Deloitte Consulting.

Jones completed her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and in the late 1990s published research on the future of work for architecture, engineering and construction, focusing on the technological changes, innovation, value creation opportunities and executive skills required to lead companies into the 21st century. She holds an M.S. in architecture and B.S. in interior design from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

As vice president of global sales operations and chief of staff, Barb Vlacich manages teams across the world that directly support the Kronos sales teams, including inside sales, lead development, presales, cloud sales, and alliance partners. Her focus is on innovating the buying experience, from reimaging business processes to providing the expertise and resources to support customer interactions.

Vlacich joined Kronos in 2003 as director of HR and payroll services, helping Kronos establish new markets and expand their mid market base considerably, through new solution packaging for those markets. In 2006, she became vice president of presales operations, where she created specific industry-focused teams, and an expanded industry consultancy. She established a year round college intern program that today thrives globally. In her current position, she created a pivotal Sales Management Council that has become a central think tank for the entire sales organization.

Upon her arrival at Kronos, Vlacich brought a wealth of knowledge on global sales cycles and strategies and experience with both vendors and consulting companies within the workforce management industry. Some of her prior roles include practice director of human resources management systems at Delphia Consulting and director of North American presales at Sage Software (formerly Best Software) as well as a variety of executive roles.

A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Vlacich has presented at many industry conferences including the American Management Association, American Payroll Association, and Massachusetts Conference for Women on topics ranging from creating an outstanding customer experience to managing high-performing teams. She also founded the Kronos Women's Leadership Forum in 2009. Her creativity, leadership and ability to get things done have been all key reasons she has received the Kronos SVP MVP award for the global sales organization for the last 7 years.

Vlacich attended Rider University and currently serves on the boards of UTEC (United Teen Equality Center) based in Lowell, Mass and the serves on the 2020 WOB (Women on Boards) Steering Committee.