Conquering Adversity Author to Speak at SHRM National Conference

(PRWEB) June 16, 2007 -- Upstate New York author and international speaker, Christopher Novak, will be a featured speaker for the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) 2007 National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Novak will present, Conquering Adversity, on Tuesday, June 26th at a conference mega-session expected to draw more than 1,000 people and followed by a book signing event.

The conference will feature over 15,000 participants. "I am excited to speak at the premier HR event of the year," Novak said, "HR professionals are at the heart of developing heroes within their organization and Conquering Adversity is ideally suited to that challenge."

Novak was a director of human resources at Cornell University and HR manager at Syracuse China Company before starting his own leadership consulting business, The Summit Team, in 2001 (http://www.Summit-Team.com) that focuses on leader-to-leader training and executive coaching.

Conquering Adversity: Six Strategies to Move You and Your Team Through Tough Times was published by Cornerstone Leadership Institute in 2004 and has more than 40,000 copies in print. The book is an inspiring roadmap for overcoming change, challenge, or crisis in both our professional and personal lives.

Novak's book draws from the tragic death of his pregnant wife in 1998 who was hit while commuting home by a man, high on drugs who ran a stop sign. Against the backdrop of this sudden, senseless loss, Conquering Adversity highlights six real-world strategies - affirmation, expectation, communication, locomotion, collaboration, celebration - that make a difference in moving forward through even the most difficult situations.

Leon Rubis, executive editor of HR Magazine, called the book, "very insightful and well written," and Mary George Opperman, Vice President of Human Resources for Cornell University said she, "found it incredibly powerful."

Novak is a highly rated speaker who has presented both nationally and internationally to groups in business, education, government and non-profit. His speaking invitations include keynotes at 2006 New York State SHRM Conference, 2007 CUPA-HR Northwest Conference, Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, U.S. Attorneys Office, Colgate University, 2007 APPA Conference and many more.

His message - that there is a hero inside each of us - blends gripping personal experience and practical workplace application into a 60-75 minute interactive format that participants find uniquely inspiring. "People tell me that they listen to my story but hear their own," Novak says, "that's because we all deal with adversity in our life - it's never a question of if, only a matter of when."

Novak is the author of numerous magazine articles and his second book, 4 Circles of Good Business, was published in 2006 by Core Concepts, Inc.

Contact: The Summit Team, 16 E. Main Street, Suite 200, Marcellus, NY 13108; website www.Summit-Team.com; email: speaker @ summit-team.com; or by phone (315) 673-1323.