Connye Harper

Connye is a member of the Faculty of the John Sperling School of Business of the University of Phoenix Hawaii Campus where she teaches Human Capital Management and Organizational Behavior courses to undergraduate students and Masters Degree candidates.

She is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Human Resource Management Hawaii State Chapter.

She is also an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Mediation Center of the Pacific where she serves as a Mediator for the center’s ACCESS ADR Program and mediates cases pending at the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

In 2010, Chief Justice Ronald T. Y. Moon appointed Connye to mediate cases pending on appeal to the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and she has successfully resolved cases for the court’s Center for ADR.

In addition, she participates on the Human Resources Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, which monitors labor and employment developments in the state legislature.

Before moving to Hawaii, for 20 years Connye served as Associate General Counsel of the United Auto Workers International Union. In that position she participated in many strategic planning sessions for labor organizing drives for companies of all sizes and in diverse industries.

The UAW has over 450,000 members and represents members employed by hotel, hospitals, retailers, breweries, local governments, insurance companies, warehouses, transportation companies as well as factories. She has had an insider’s view of organizing planning strategies and practices.

Because the UAW itself is an employer of unionized employees, she has also developed and implemented policies and practices for managing a unionized workforce.

One of Ms. Harper’s frequent responsibilities included developing and presenting training programs for rank and file union members on complex topics such as compliance with the federal Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and sexual harassment prevention and complaint investigation. She is adept at accurately translating complex legal concepts into clear, simple language understandable by people with little formal education.

In addition, she was a member of the governing board of directors for the Section on Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association, which includes all of the national leadership in the field of Labor and Employment Law in the United States. There she developed and presented many continuing legal education seminars and training programs for attorneys across the country. Since 2004, she has been a member of the prestigious College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, which is limited to lawyers with over 25 years of experience in labor and employment law and are elected to membership by their local and national colleagues.

Before joining the UAW staff, Connye was the Human Resources Director of the Law Office of Connye Y. Harper, PC in Detroit, Michigan for five years where she handled the day to day responsibilities of recruitment, selection, training, performance evaluation, discipline and compensation for employees of the law firm.

Ms. Harper holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Michigan Law School with a specialty in Labor Relations and Employment Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Michigan.

Wesley Harper

Wesley is an expert in negotiation and has crafted this skill over the course of a broad range of industries. He has specific knowledge and direct exposure to unions and union strategies through his work for union side law firms and his experiences with the United Auto Workers International Union.

While in law school, he clerked in the legal department of the UAW and worked on shaping the UAW's responses to the National Labor Relations Board's administrative decisions. After graduating from law school, he joined the UAW Legal Services and provided legal representation to the UAW rank and file. And, as a result of his mother's 20 year tenure as the Associate General Counsel of the UAW, he was exposed to the inner workings of union leadership at both the local and national levels. By attending many union seminars, conferences, and retreats he developed a keen grasp of union goals, methods, and tactics.

After law school, he was hired by AARP to work directly with the Senior Vice President of Human Resources to expand the AARP’s new hire intake screening policies and to evaluate the organization’s compensation structure to ensure equity.

His skills as a negotiator has guided his career from acquiring 110 downtown commercial properties on behalf of the City of Baltimore to acting as the deputy director of Project 9 which was one of four initiatives led by the Corporate Strategy Group of Nextel Communications. Project 9 was an $870 million national 900 MHz acquisition initiative, the goal of which was to acquire spectrum in 35 markets in support of the 800 MHz Rebanding Initiative.

Mr. Harper holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Florida A&M University School of Business and Industry, a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and a Professional Certification in Negotiation and Influence from Georgetown University.