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August Learning Lab

Key Ways to Develop and Recognize Your Staff

Categories: TAHRA Learning Lab

Part 1 of HR Foundation Sessions

In order to address the HR needs of our non profit community, small business and persons with limited HR experience, our learning labs for August and September will be HR Foundation Sessions.  These labs are geared towards organizations and businesses with little or no HR support as well as TAHRA members who would like to learn about new ideas and programs that local businesses are successfully using in their organizations.

After careful consideration and surveying a cross section of our members and the non profit community, two topics have emerged: Staff Development and Recognition and How to Have Difficult Conversations.

The Learning Lab for August will be Key Ways to Develop and Recognize Your Staff. This Lab will include mulit-presenters sharing ideas on developing employees and keeping them through retention and recognition that works.

Our speakers will be:

  • Barbara Ware - Dollar-Thrifty Automotive Group
  • Myra Long - WPX Energy Company
  • Thomas Muniz - BAMA Companies

Each will share their expertise on programs they have been key in developing that helps attract and retain staff.  They will offer solutions on developing and recognizing your staff on a shoestring budget, going through a merger, working within your culture, start up and laying a foundation.  Please join us for this interactive session packed with great ideas that you can implement at your office immediately!

Barbara Ware is the Rewards & Recognition Manager for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group in the Human Resources department.
In this capacity, she is responsible for all corporate rewards and recognition activities, corporate celebration events, cultural initiatives and management training for the company's more than 7,500 employees worldwide.
Ware joined Dollar Thrifty in 2003. She received her certified recognition professional designation from Recognition Professionals International (RPI) in 2008. She has worked in Human Resources for five years under the areas of Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement and Training & Development.
Ware has a passion for Diversity & Inclusion work which led her to join the Tulsa Area Human Resources Association’s (TAHRA) Diversity committee in 2010. Through her involvement with the TAHRA Programs committee she was instrumental in creating a collaboration of the 2011 Program Meeting in conjunction with a Diversity Resource Expo. She was elected to the TAHRA Board of Directors as the VP, Diversity for 2012. In this role, Ware successfully led the third Return on Inclusion Summit for Business Leaders & CEO Breakfast in the fall of 2012. Ware received the 2012 TAHRA President’s Award which is given to a TAHRA board member who is considered to be indispensable over the course of the year, an accolade she gladly shares with fellow board member and Tulsa Chamber Director, Denise Reid. Ware currently retains the role of TAHRA Diversity Chair for 2013.
She is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management, Tulsa Area Human Resources Association and Recognition Professionals International.


Myra Long has had a long and extensive HR career in numerous industries to include:  aviation, healthcare, alternate fuels, nonprofit, and Oil & Gas.
Her roles have included Human Resources Business Partner, Recruiter, Manager and Director.  Myra has recently returned to the Energy sector with WPX Energy as an HR Business Partner.  In her role, she supports multiple departments with a focus on consulting, coaching, employee relations, organizational development, diversity & inclusion, and employee recognition.  While her first introduction to HR was recruiting and she finds matching talent with business needs very rewarding, she also embraces the consulting and coaching role as the most challenging. 
She has lived in various towns in Oklahoma from Oklahoma City and Tulsa to Guymon and Altus.  She graduated with Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from Texas Christian University and spent some of her early years in New York City. 
Myra is married to Steve Long and they have one daughter, Savannah, who is a freshman at Oklahoma State. 


Thomas Muniz serves as EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and Organizational Development Leader for the Bama Companies in Tulsa, OK.
Thomas provides team member coaching and is involved in the development, implementation, and training on systems designed to increase organizational effectiveness. Thomas is a member of several training and development organizations and speaks at business conferences in support of the Bama Mission "People Helping People Be Successful".

This event is approved for HRCI credits

This Program has been approved for 2.0 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR™, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ recertification through HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®).

HR Certification Institute’s® (www.HRCI.org) official seal confirms that TAHRA meets the criteria for pre-approved recertification credit(s) for any of HRCI’s eight credentials, including SPHR® and PHR®.

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August 29, 2013 | 2 - 4 p.m.

Registration Ended

University of Phoenix
14002 East 21st Street, Suite 1000
Tulsa, OK 74134

University of Phoenix
14002 East 21st Street, Suite 1000
Tulsa, OK 74134