Bio:

Deborah D. Hirsh retired from the United States Navy after 26 years of active service on October 1, 2002 having risen to the senior officer rank of Captain. While in the Navy, Captain Hirsh served in various senior executive positions during her long and distinguished career, including the Chief of Operations for the Navy Recruiting Command, and the Director of Military Recruitment Advertising for the entire Department of Defense. She also held two commands, Commanding Officer, Navy Recruiting District New York, which rose to the #1 recruiting district in the country under her leadership, and Commodore of Navy Recruiting Region Northeast United States. Recognized as a recruiting management expert, the Los Angeles Unified School District hired her as their Chief Human Resources Officer immediately upon her retirement from the Navy. In three short years, she has re-engineered all recruiting processes at the Los Angeles Unified School District, raising the percentage of highly qualified teachers serving in the district (36,000 total teachers) from 81% to 98% who now either have a teaching credential or are subject matter competent interns. At the same time she reduced the number of teachers working on emergency permits from over 7,000 to under 500. Her reforms have been recognized at both the state and national levels, and are serving as a model for other school districts across the country. She was further recognized in 2005 with two distinguished awards: Workforce Management Magazine’s coveted "Optimas Award for Service" and HR Executive Magazine’s "2005 HR Executive Honor Roll".

Deborah is married to Michael Hirsh, also an employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District, and is the proud mom of two creative children, Greg, 24 a fledgling filmmaker, and Hallee, 17, an established young actress best known for her roles as Anthony Edward’s daughter, Rachel on NBC’s ER and Mattie Grace Johnson, on CBS’s JAG.

Sandy L. Boost, SPHR, CAE

Sandy joined the Member Relations Team at SHRM in April, 1995 after more than 15 years as a human resource practitioner. Her most recent position was as Director of Compensation and Benefits for St. Joseph Hospital & Health Center in Lorain, OH. In April of this year, Sandy accepted the position of Business Manager for the Member Services Division.

As the Business Manager, Sandy is responsible for the management of division administrative support, coordinates activities related to key business processes/procedures such as the SHRM/Chapter Joint Billing Program, and acts as liaison with the Information Technology Department. Four departments make up the Member Services Division at SHRM: Member Relations, Member Special Programs, International Programs, and the Customer Service Center.

She has years of experience as a volunteer leader. Among those, Sandy served as vice president, president, and past president of the Greater Lorain County Chapter -- the SHRM affiliated chapter in Lorain/Elyria, OH. She served as the national Director of Public Relations for the former International Association of Personnel Women (IAPW) and held local, regional, and national leadership roles for Kappa Delta Sorority.