2026 VMS Professionals 19th Annual Conference

Katie has been with Southwest since 2017 and has been working in the contingent labor space since 2019. She serves as the Program Manager for SWA Staffers, Southwest’s contingent labor program. SWA Staffers is an internal MSP with a large focus on Direct Sourcing. Outside of work she loves taking advantage of her flight benefits by traveling to National Parks, baseball stadiums and exploring new destinations!

Liz started with Discover in 2013 and is now managing the global external workforce program at Discover and has deep ties into procurement, IT, VMS strategy and global software deployments. Liz implemented a new VMS tool in 2023 and is instrumental in the partnership with the tool provider. Liz is already making great impact on the product and future enhancements.

Outside of contingent labor, Liz likes to spend her time with her family, traveling to new places and trying new restaurants.

Eric advises clients in all areas of labor and employment law. With a practice that is national in scope, he is particularly active in litigating matters involving trade secrets, non-competition agreements and related disputes.

Eric has a nationally recognized practice in the area of contingent labor and regularly prepares and reviews policies, procedures and contracts and litigates contested matters for users and providers of temporary employees, consultants, independent contractors and other contingent talent. Eric also counsels public and private colleges and universities on student and faculty issues, contracting and other matters, as well as in a wide range of state and federal litigation matters.

As Coordinator of the firm’s Trade Secret and Non-competition Group, Eric advises clients on litigation and litigation prevention strategies, contract drafting and review, and trade secret protection practices. Eric is a prominent national speaker and writer and regularly presents and writes on employment law topics.

Cris Robinson is Director of Contingent Workforce at LinkedIn, where she leads a global contingent workforce program with a focus on scalable operations, navigating risk while enabling business agility, and worker experience. With over 20 years in the extended workforce industry, she is recognized for her human‑first approach to workforce strategy and has been honored as a Staffing Industry Analysts 2025 CW Program Game Changer for driving transformational change in global contingent workforce models and the role of contingent talent in modern organizations.

Kerry Kiley is a recognized leader in the contingent workforce ecosystem, bringing over 22 years of experience to her role as Head of the Extended Workforce Program at Workday. Having sat on both sides of the table—within staffing agencies and as a buyer for global giants like Google, Meta, and Intuit—Kerry possesses a rare 360-degree perspective on what makes an extended workforce program thrive.

Throughout her career, Kerry has navigated the complexities of scaling global programs and managing diverse vendor landscapes during periods of rapid industry transformation. At Workday, she focuses on the strategic evolution of workforce initiatives, moving beyond traditional staffing to a more holistic, tech-enabled approach to talent.

A passionate advocate for industry education, Kerry specializes in distilling years of “lessons learned” into actionable strategies for building resilient, future-ready workforce programs. She is a frequent voice on the continuous evolution of the labor market and the intersection of human talent and enterprise technology.

Ben Walker is the Chief Operating Officer at Glider AI, Inc., a leading SaaS provider of skill validation & identity verification solutions for employee and contingent workforce hiring, as well as employee learning & development.

Ben has 35 years of professional experience in consulting and software, with the most recent 25 years focused on talent management solutions for employees and contingent workers.  This includes designing, implementing, and operating VMS and MSP solutions, workforce data analytics, regulatory compliance, skill validation, and identity verification.

Ben has written numerous articles and participated in many podcasts and webinars, focused on optimizing talent acquisition and talent management functions at scale within large global enterprises.

Ben’s current research and operational focus within the Talent Acquisition ecosystem is on establishing a practical balance between candidate data privacy and protection during the hiring process, and the very real and pervasive threat of candidate fraud and identify misrepresentation.

Elizabeth joined Netflix as a contractor in 2017, then briefly served as a vendor supporting all aspects of the Contingent Talent Program. When she was converted to a full-time employee in 2019, her role evolved to focus on the program’s operational and more strategic aspects.

As an Analyst, she partners closely with cross-functional stakeholders, such as Talent, IT, and Finance, to ensure the contingent workforce program runs smoothly and scales effectively. Her work includes driving system enhancements, optimizing and documenting end-to-end workflows, and using data to identify opportunities for improvement. She manages a range of projects, from implementing new workflows and integrations to refining best practices, with a focus on efficiency, compliance, and an excellent experience for all.

Outside of work, Elizabeth stays busy cheering on her three kids in sports, seeking out new adventures, and dancing whenever there’s music, even in the grocery aisle.

Calvin serves as the Program Manager for Southwest Airlines’ contingent workforce program, known as SWA Staffers. He has been with Southwest for four years and brings more than eight years of experience in the contingent labor space. His career began in technology staffing with TEKsystems and Cognizant, where he developed a strong foundation in sourcing and workforce solutions. He later joined Southwest as a technical sourcing recruiter supporting the contingent program. In 2024, Calvin transitioned into his current Program Manager role, where he oversees daily operations and drives strategic improvements across the contingent workforce program.

Brett Klinker leads Global Extended Workforce at OpenAI, where he builds the systems, guardrails, and infrastructure that enable one of the world’s fastest-scaling AI organizations to work responsibly and effectively with external talent. With experience scaling workforce programs at Uber and Cruise, Brett brings a practical, operator’s perspective to designing workforce models that balance agility, speed, compliance, and long-term sustainability.

Moustafa El Hariry is a senior leader in the staffing and contingent workforce ecosystem, bringing over 14 years of experience at the intersection of talent strategy, enterprise sales, and workforce technology. As Director of North America Staffing Acquisition at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, he leads high-performing teams responsible for driving growth across one of LinkedIn’s most complex and dynamic verticals.
Having partnered closely with staffing firms, MSPs, and VMS leaders across North America, Moustafa brings a 360-degree perspective on how contingent workforce programs scale, compete, and evolve. He has led large-scale AI solution rollouts and go-to-market transformations designed to increase recruiter productivity, improve talent intelligence, and unlock measurable revenue impact across multi-million-dollar portfolios.
His work centers on the practical application of AI in talent acquisition and sales – balancing automation, compliance, and human expertise to help organizations build resilient, tech-enabled workforce strategies in an increasingly skills-based economy.