|
Tom Darrow, Principal
Bill Jeu de Vine, Vice President, Business Development
Bill Prendergast, Vice President, Business Development
Marie Cumbest, Vice President, Client Services
Susan Kent, Vice President, Houston Office
Rod Chally, Vice President, Jacksonville Office
Sheri Dresser, Faculty
Teela Jackson, Faculty
Mary Reany, Faculty
Gary Shaar, Faculty
Vernesha Smith, Project Manager
Ginger Wallis, Faculty
Principal
TomDarrow@CareerSpa.net
Thomas M. Darrow is the Founder and Principal of Talent Connections, LLC (www.talentconnections.net). Since 1999, the Atlanta based professional services firm has specialized in recruiting—including recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), executive search, HR consulting, and contract recruiting. Current and past clients include The Coca Cola Company, Habitat for Humanity International, Cingular, ADP, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Newell Rubbermaid, Microsoft, McKesson, and Emory Healthcare. Talent Connections was named in 2007 and 2008 to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies for realizing 1700% revenue growth.
In March, 2009, Tom teamed with nationally recognized recruiting and career transition experts to launch Career Spa, LLC (www.careerspa.net). The career transition company is revolutionizing the way unemployed and misemployed workers are equipped to assess and proactively manage their career transitions.
Tom has over 21 years experience in the Human Resources and Recruitment profession -- including 9 years with the global professional services firms of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).
He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Atlanta Chapter (SHRM-Atlanta). He was the 2006/2007 President of SHRM-Atlanta, the largest city Chapter in the country out of 577 Chapters and served on the Board of Directors from 2005-2008. Under his leadership as President, SHRM-Atlanta’s membership increased 60% to over 2600 members and the Chapter launched two programs that won a 2007 SHRM Pinnacle Award for membership growth and a 2008 SHRM Pinnacle Award for the Mayor’s Youth Program. At the National level, he serves on the SHRM Foundation Board and served on the SHRM Staffing Management Special Expertise Panel from 2005-2008. He is the Founder and former Chair of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Recruiting Society and has served on the TAG Board of Directors from 2005 through 2009. From 2005 through 2007, he was the Inaugural President of the TAG Leadership Council and served on the Executive Committee of the Board.
Tom earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame. He speaks nationally at conferences and workshops on topics related to improving corporate recruiting processes and career transition best practices, and has been quoted in publications including BusinessWeek, Inc. Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Washington Post, and HR Magazine and had been interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) and WXIA TV – Channel 11 in Atlanta.
In addition to his leadership in the Human Resources and Recruiting profession, Tom is dedicated to community service through many volunteer activities. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. As a lead volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, he served as a Big Brother from 1991 to 1998 and was honored as the Big Brother of the Year in Gwinnett County in 1996. In 2002 he served on the Board of Directors and was Chair of the Ambassadors for Big Brothers Big Sisters. In 2001, he was voted the Ambassador of the Year. In 2005, he was the Co-Chair of the Arby’s Charity Tour golf tournament which raised a record $285,000. From 2003 through 2005, Tom served on the Board of Directors for The Partnership Against Domestic Violence. He has been a Host Committee Member of High Tech Ministries since 1999. Tom founded and leads the Atlanta HR Prayer Breakfast. Tom has also a leader and speaker in the Crossroads Career Network career ministry since 1997. In 2008, Tom was nominated for the Turknett Leadership Character Award in the CEO category and was a finalist for the North Fulton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year Award.
Tom lives in Murphy, NC and Smyrna, GA with his wife Anne and their three dogs and parrot. He enjoys golf, Notre Dame football, Christian music, shows at the Fox and Alliance theaters, eBay shopping, spending time with family and friends, and comedy. In 2004 he made his stand-up comedy debut at The Punch Line, the premier comedy club in the Southeast. Tom is also a minority owner of the World Champion Green Bay Packers.
^ Back to Top
Vice President, Business Development
Bill brings a Client focused attention to the Business Development initiatives for Career Spa. Bill’s career encompasses 20+ years of Leadership, Business Strategy, Sales Process,and Human Resources success. As President at AMPF/AMCI, a consumer products company, Bill initiated a targeted Sales focus across his national team to increase customer interaction, build sales processes consistent across the organization and increase customer contact to grow the brand. In this role Bill lead a team of General Managers operating 5 locations across the US. In the Healthcare Services arena, Bill lead a specialty immunization services company to build the brand, grow revenue, build a customer base and grow the service awareness across the US. Bill’s background includes start-up experience where he served as Director of Sales for FANMATS, a consumer products company, selling to Fortune 100 companies, multi-store chains and independent retailers. Bill grew sales to $2,000,000.00+ in the first 18 months.
From 1997 to 2003 Bill lead the recruiting practices and leadership development initiatives as Manager, Staffing and Development at Larson-Juhl, a Berkshire-Hathaway subsidiary. In this role, Bill initiated an entirely new national sales recruiting process and strategy, built the recruiting criteria, identified the key criteria for performance success and worked collaboratively across the organization to drive the process. Partnering with Operations leadership, Bill pioneered a Leadership Development program to drive the company’s efforts in building their internal talent base, quickly fill critical talent needs and build the company’s team member competencies.
Bill is active in career mentoring and business networking as a board member for the St. Brigid Business Connection Group and he volunteers with the Christ Centered Career Group (C3G) at Northpoint Community Church – both located in Alpharetta, GA. In addition, Bill is active in the Atlanta Catholic Business Conference, the Kettering Executive Network, the Furman Business Breakfast series, Hith Tech Ministries and the Men of St. Brigid.
Earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Furman University in Greenville, SC, Bill chose to stay in the southeast after growing up in south Florida. Bill, his wife Laura and their daughter Hampton live in Alpharetta where they are active with travel softball, school activities and enjoying the outdoors. They enjoy golf, tennis, tent camping, trips to the beach and their Boxer, Samantha.
^ Back to Top
Vice President, Business Development
Bill is an accomplished human capital executive with over 31 years of experience with one of the world’s premier professional services firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). His experience includes 28 years in national, regional and local human capital leadership roles, including 19 years as a human capital partner. Bill is passionate about helping others, particularly individuals who are focused on improving their job performance and those who are in career transition, and is attentive and responsive to each individual’s unique situation. Bill has a wealth of human capital management experience, particularly in the areas of competitive talent acquisition, strategic workforce planning, effective performance management and compensation, talent and leadership development, succession planning, training, and career transition and outplacement. Bill also possesses expertise in alumni relations and corporate social responsibility.
Bill is a leader and relationship builder. He enjoys new challenges and builds high performing teams. He leads new projects of substantive complexity with significant team and one-on-one interaction. Bill is a business developer. He is an effective listener and problem-solver. He is an informed risk-taker with an appetite for change. Bill is loyal and possesses strong ethics, values, interpersonal insight and enthusiasm.
In his 11 years in national human capital roles with PwC (1998 to 2009), Bill assumed leadership of the largest and most comprehensive training of human resources partners and professionals in the firm’s history; designed and launched a sweeping strategic alumni relations initiative; developed and managed innovative college relations community service projects; designed and led a new job description writing project for 1,300 positions affecting 25,000 client service professionals; created and managed a broad intern/college relations initiative; and led the redesign of the employee departures process.
From 1991 to 1998, Bill served as the human capital partner of the Southwest and Southeast Regions, respectively, among the firm’s largest markets. In these roles, which included 27 offices, 250 partners and 2,500 employees, Bill was responsible for all aspects of PwC’s human capital management. He built high-performing human capital teams at both regional and local levels and improved the bottom line through strategic and competitive talent acquisition, improved talent management and executive performance, and enhanced effectiveness of human capital processes. Bill was appointed to the firm’s 10-person National Ethics & Business Conduct Compliance Office.
Prior to joining the Southwest Region as human capital director in 1990, Bill was a human resource and operations staff member, supervisor, manager and director in New York City, the firm’s largest office, from 1981 to 1990. From 1978 to 1981, Bill served on the firm’s New York audit staff.
Bill is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he was recently inducted as a Lifetime Member of The 1842 Loyalty Society. Bill is an active supporter of The Westminster Schools in Atlanta and enjoys running, world soccer, reading and music.
Bill and his wife, Ellen, are the parents of two children, Caitlin and Justin.
^ Back to Top
Vice President, Client Service
As Vice President, Client Services, Marie is focused on helping our clients achieve their personal best in their career. Focused on relationship management and service delivery, Marie works with our Career Spa team ofprofessionals and clients to bridge the career gap between where they are and where they want to be.
Marie joins Career Spa with twenty years of Human Resources experience within the professional services and financial industries. Marie was most recently with Deloitte where she served in leadership roles in both talent development and delivery. Marie also spent five years as an internal coach for Deloitte, working with professionals to find their career passions and interests. Marie is seasoned facilitator and presenter, having delivered hundreds of professional and personal development workshops and team building sessions on personal brand, personality type and team effectiveness.
Marie has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Florida State University and a Master of Science in Management from Georgia State University. A certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Marie is active in both professional and community organizations. An avid runner, Marie recently completed the New York Marathon and is always training for her next race. Marie and her husband, Steve, reside in Virginia Highlands. They have two children whose extracurricular activities happily consume what’s left of their free time.
^ Back to Top
Vice President, Houston Office
SusanKent@CareerSpa.net
Susan was strategic in launching Career Spa in Atlanta in 2009, and is now responsible for the Houston, TX office, newly opened in mid 2011. Susan is focused on building customized solutions for clients who are faced with redundancies as a result of shrinking budgets or during a merger or acquisition. She also delivers strategies for reduction-in-force planning that enables companies to assist transitioning employees in a cost effective manner while minimizing impact to the organization.
Susan has thirty years experience in Human Resources within the energy industry at Southern Company, Georgia Power Company, and most recently at Mirant, a global competitive energy provider. She has led two recruiting functions in these corporate environments and has experienced the challenges of human resources during times of growth and times of downsizing. Susan is experienced in working through start-ups, acquisitions, and through bankruptcy as well as emergence from bankruptcy.
Susan was also a Principal Consultant in Organizational Effectiveness & Staffing at Southern Company, designing and implementing efficient and compliant transition processes during times of staff reduction. She has designed and delivered severance packages to employees during multiple downsizing programs. As a Sr. Human Resources Generalist, Susan understands the client’s perspective, especially when there is a need to balance business need with employee performance, while managing budget constraints and executive expectations. She’s a proven business ally - - someone who can empathize with both client’s needs and employee’s needs, seek win-win solutions and build business relationships based on integrity.
Susan has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Georgia State University, and has held numerous leadership positions in both professional and community organizations. In her spare time, she enjoys golf, tennis, volunteering for mission work through her church, and vacationing at the beach. Susan and her husband, Ron, reside in Houston, Texas where they are fortunate to be near their son who is an engineer in the oil & gas industry in Houston.
^ Back to Top
Vice President
RodChally@CareerSpa.net
As a Vice President of the Jacksonville Practice for Career Spa, Rod is responsible for business development and project management of career transition solutions for clients and candidates. For more than 20 years as a human resources executive Rod was involved in designing and implementing reorganization plans for national retail organizations. He was project manager for a major reorganization plan for a leading Midwest electrical utility. As an executive recruiter he has assisted many displaced executives with the development of job search campaigns to land new positions.
Rod brings to Talent Connections an extensive resume of human resources and recruiting expertise. Most recently Rod served as a Director of Executive search for ATS Services, a Jacksonville-based company providing recruiting solutions for more than 30 years. He was responsible for relationship management and business development of executive search assignments with leading, global clients. Previously, Rod recruited senior-level sales and marketing executives for Accenture in North America. At Ernst & Young, he was a human resources consultant providing retained, executive search services and organization development consulting services for clients. Additionally, he served as Vice President of Human Resources for a division of a leading apparel company, Hart Schaffner Marx. During his career, Rod has recruited positions from the Director/Manager level to CEO’s for companies in a variety of industries.
Rod received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Personnel Management from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. He enjoys spending spare time on the wonderful golf courses of NE Florida. He also enjoys watching college and professional sports with favorites being football, basketball and golf. His wife, Pam, has worked most of her career in college administration currently serving as the Dean of the College of Health at the University of North Florida. Their favorite time away from work is with their children and three granddaughters in Jacksonville and Atlanta. For 10 years Rod has served as Chair of the Personnel Ministry at Palms Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Beach.
^ Back to Top
Faculty
Sheri Dresser, founder and principal of Dresser Search and Consulting, Inc., has over 20 years combined entrepreneurial and corporate experience as a Contract Recruiter, Executive Search Consultant, Agency Recruiter, Human Resources Consultant, and Sales and Marketing professional. Her recruiting and search experience includes working with small pre-IPO to mid-sized and large, Fortune 500 global firms such as The Coca-Cola Company and The Home Depot. Sheri has many years of experience sourcing, recruiting and placing managers, directors and executive talent, as well as recruiting technical and consulting professionals on a local, national and international basis.
Sheri offers expertise and experience in leadership roles for various industry, ministry, and non-profit organizations, and also has entrepreneurial experience as founder of several small business start-ups. She is a SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and has a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Marketing from the University of Georgia.
In addition, Sheri is an experienced professional speaker, presenting programs on various topics of interest to corporate and non-profit organizations, college groups, as well as training and presentations for outplacement firms and university continuing education programs.
Sheri and her husband Allen are active members of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia where they serve on the church leadership team of Crown Financial Ministries as both Life Group Leaders and Crown Certified Budget Coaches.
^ Back to Top
Faculty
Teela Jackson brings over ten years of recruiting expertise to the career transition industry. Prior to joining Career Spa, she focused on recruitment of executive level Human Resources professionals as a Senior Talent Consultant with Talent Connections. This experience transitions well into the job search and career transition industry because she has the “inside track” on what companies are looking for in new candidates for their openings and she has previously provided counsel to candidates on the best ways to go about finding an new position. Teela also provides job search assistance to individuals through volunteer work with Crossroads Career Network and DeVry University’s HR Management program. Teela has been most complimented for her ability to give clear, concise advice to job seekers.
She began her recruiting career with CIGNA Healthcare, a Fortune 100 provider of benefits where she was responsible for recruiting for a large, high-volume call center and claims service center. She was also responsible for attending job fairs on behalf of the company to locate the best and the brightest for her openings. Following her experience with CIGNA in Tennessee, Teela moved to Atlanta and began working with a national executive search firm that specialized in placement of HR talent. During her tenure with the firm, Teela developed and implemented new sourcing strategies and recruiting processes that ultimately resulted in the successful addition of two divisions and the ability to focus on clients’ needs in other areas. Following her search firm experience, she worked for Georgia Pacific, a Fortune 100 forest products company, where she was responsible for recruiting for their corporate office and 55 field locations.
Teela earned her master’s of business administration – management from Mercer University and her bachelor’s of science – human resources from The University of Tennessee. A native of Nashville, she enjoys spending time with her daughter and husband, reading, making beaded jewelry and is active in her church.
^ Back to Top
Faculty
Making sure client needs are met and expectations are surpassed is a top priority for Mary Reany. She brings over 20 years of experience in professional services consulting to her role with Career Spa. In addition, her personal experiences with career transition help her to connect with professionals undergoing career change. Prior to Career Spa, she held multiple roles with Talent Connections, most recently as a Senior Talent Consultant providing executive search services for high profile clients. Her initial focus with the firm was launching the Talent Connections brand and fostering the organization’s growth through marketing and business development efforts and strategies. Mary has managed some unique programs that gave Talent Connections a broadened look at recruiting and business development.
She designed and implemented student recruitment programs for the University of Phoenix, the nation's largest private university, specializing in the education of working adults. She has a wide range of expertise in building project teams responsible for the delivery of consulting services, especially for human resources executives. In addition, she has developed strategic marketing solutions for high profile companies and directed teams implementing global business-to-business events and trade show programs.
Mary holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science - Public Administration from UCLA. During a career transition Mary lived in France for a year and developed a love for cheese and good pastries. She enjoys time with her husband and son, a good book, UCLA Football, time in the garden and a quiet hike in the North Georgia Mountains.
^ Back to Top
Faculty
With more than ten years of experience in contract recruiting and executive search and more than 20 years in government and corporate leadership roles, Gary has a wealth of know-how and contacts. He has conducted hundreds of searches in his career across a number of industries and is excellent at defining job roles and placing long-term candidates in them. He is expert in finding and hiring hard-to-fill skill sets. He is co-chairman of the TAG Recruiting Society and on the leadership team for the Roswell United Methodist Church jobs ministry.
A former Navy officer and pilot, Gary holds a master's degree in finance and management from Webster University and a bachelor's of science in biology from Rutgers University. Gary enjoys traveling, weight training and quality time with his teenage daughter.
^ Back to Top
Project Manager
As Project Manager for Career Spa, Vernesha Smith ensures everything is running smoothly behind the scenes. She plays a crucial role in maintaining our network database, updating member resources such as networking channels and recruiting events and supports the marketing activities. Vernesha was a key member of the Habit for Humanity recruiting team and was responsible for managing their applicant tracking system, developing job descriptions and acting as a liaison between hiring managers and candidates. As a Talent Coordinator with Talent Connections she oversees a network database of over 14,000 contacts and plays a crucial role in supporting the efforts of the recruiting team enabling them to fill open positions in record time.
Vernesha earned a bachelor's of science in business-human resources from Georgia Southwestern State University. In her spare time, Vernesha enjoys playing various sports, traveling, and spending time with her family.
^ Back to Top
Faculty
Ginger brings 19 years of recruiting and search experience in the areas of human resources, technology, accounting and administrative assistance to Career Spa. She also has 11 years of staffing industry management experience in the areas of contract and permanent placement and has provided recruiting and sales training to the staffing industry. Throughout her career she has coached job seekers on their search strategy, interviewing skills and resume preparation. Ginger enjoys volunteering with the Crossroads Career Network and Job Seekers Network where she reviews resumes and coaches job seekers on their search. Prior to joining Career Spa, Ginger exceeded client expectations time and time again as she recruited top talent and provided business development expertise as a Senior Talent Consultant for Talent Connections.
Ginger has a Bachelor's of Science in Business - Human Resources from Auburn University. When given the opportunity, Ginger loves to spend time with her husband and two young daughters. She is active in her church and children's school and also enjoys bike riding, swimming and hiking.
^ Back to Top
|
