Catherine Shanks, Conflict Resolution Professional
Catherine Shanks is a conflict management professional with over twenty-five years of experience in the industry.?She worked for the American Arbitration Association for more than two decades, providing case management services, operations and business development leadership as well as extensive staff, neutral and customer education.
Shanks is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Construction Law’s Division 1: Litigation and Dispute Resolution.
In addition, she has served as an adjunct instructor of ADR at Wentworth Institute of Technology.?She is currently working on a writing and content development endeavor.
Nancy Hagstrom, CEO at Interscape Commercial Environments
Before establishing her first Teknion furniture dealership in Vermont in 1989, Nancy Hagstrom was a mother, an English teacher, horse trainer, equitation coach, director of a therapeutic riding program and 4-H leader. “My exposure to the adult world before entering the business world was limited to participation on several non-profit boards, fund raising and social interaction. My day to day world was filled with the joyous honesty of children and the beauty of horses and golden retrievers.”
Her leap into the business world was focused on establishing a dealership that provided design services and furnishings for business, healthcare, and education markets in the southern Vermont and New Hampshire territory. As a small business owner she filled many roles; manager, furniture specialist, designer, project manager and sales representative. Under Hagstrom’s leadership the business grew to include earning the business and respect from Fortune 100 and 500 accounts such as Entergy and Procter & Gamble.
In 2006 she expanded on her entrepreneurial spirit and opened a second dealership in downtown Hartford, in partnership with her son, Josh. Interscape Commercial Environments has continued to grow and now operates out of an expanded showroom in Farmington, CT.
“The foundation of our business has always been values first. Interscape has an amazing team of talented people whose values align with ours. Our success is a result of that foundation, serious attention to customer service, and quality products.”
Luiza Mills, Vice President of Human Resources at Interstate Electrical Services
Luiza Mills’s education, energy, passion for excellence and ability to focus on the details while never losing sight of the broader picture are assets that help Interstate and its employees achieve continued success. Human resources provides consistent and fair, quality internal customer service to all Interstate employees. Mills is one of the key leaders at Interstate driving the company’s lean and prefabrication initiatives.
She is responsible for the policies and programs that affect employees, their families and their day-to-day work experience. Specific responsibilities include recruitment and orientation, benefits administration, compensation, disability compensation services, employee/labor relations, employee career planning and organizational development, training, mentoring, affirmative action and diversity programs.
She is a member of the New England Employee Benefit Council (NEEBC), Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), American Payroll Association (APA), ABC Human Resource Committee, and the ABC Apprentice Oversight Committee.
Jane Milas, Managing Director at Garcia & Milas, P.C.
Jane Milas is the managing director of Garcia & Milas, P.C. Her construction law practice includes public and private vertical construction projects as well as heavy and highway projects. She regularly appears in state and federal courts, and before administrative tribunals and arbitration panels.
Milas has held a number of leadership positions in local and state bar associations, including president of the New Haven County Bar Association and chairman of the Construction Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. She has been honored as a Charter Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America as well as being named a New England Super Lawyer for various years, including top 50 Women (New England 2010) in the area of Construction Litigation (selection criteria found at www.superlawyers.com). Milas recently was chosen as a 2019 recipient of the Honorable Anthony V. DeMayo Pro Bono Award for her work with the CT Veterans Legal Center.
She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Northwestern University, and the University of Connecticut School of Law.