Management Team Bios

H. Stewart Lacy, Principle

Improving Human Capital’s founder and president is H. Stewart Lacy. With over 29 years of experience in human resource management, Stewart brings excellent depth of knowledge and expertise to IHC. Some of his major accomplishments include:

• Starting a human resource function in North America for a foreign company which was expanding their operations to the U.S. and Canada
• Developing strategic HR initiatives which were used on a global basis
• Managing mergers and acquisitions
• Restructuring of compensation and benefit plans
• Implementing of new performance management systems
• Managing and leading workforces in both union and non-union circumstances
• Realigning a company’s HR systems with their business strategy

With Stewart’s extensive background and experience he helps management teams provide solutions to human resources issues which impact an organization’s effectiveness.

Stewart holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Relations and a Masters of Administrative Science from the University of Alabama. He is a member of the Institute for International Human Resources, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the SHRM Consultants Forum, World at Work, the Atlanta Human Resources Leadership Forum, and Phi Kappa Phi.

Stewart’s knowledge led him to form IHC and to use his experiences and the best practices from a variety of larger companies and varying industries to understand and help smaller businesses. The IHC team of experts he has assembled gives your company the “best of the best” without the expense of a full-time, permanent staff. IHC provides HR solutions to your firm based upon your current and future needs. 
 

Karla Brandau, Practice Leader-Training

Karla brings over 20 years of experience and expertise in leadership, team building and professional development. She has researched and customized programs for many Fortune 500 companies including Motorola, Coca-Cola Enterprises, SAP, Panasonic, AT&T, and IBM.

Part of the magic Karla brings to your organization is her unique talent in assisting organizations and their employees to work better together, increasing performance and productivity as they travel through the chaotic workplace of the 21st Century. Her expertise includes:

• Leadership training focusing on organizational culture and building relationships

• Personality, thinking style, and conflict management assessments

• Employee engagement principles for high levels of employee retention

• Communication finesse, collaboration skills, and difficult conversation techniques

• Professional development principles that increase charisma, impact and influence

• Creativity principles to find innovative solutions to challenges and problems

• Productivity enhancement and effective time management

She specializes in hands-on-learning experiences and interactive modules such Bugatronics and Working for the Soaring Design Research Center.

Karla has a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University, is a Certified Speaking Professional (an earned designation from National Speakers Association), past president of the Georgia Speakers Association, and a member of the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), National Speakers Association (NSA), and has been an instructor for the American Management Association.

Even though Karla maintains a busy speaking and seminar schedule, she has written Wake Up The Winner Inside, a book that helps you be mentally and emotionally tough, and 101 Time Management Tips for the Busy Professional. She has also authored a manual on time management and Microsoft Outlook entitled, Have More Day at the End of Your Day.
 

Joseph L. Dickens, Senior Consultant

Companies he has worked for include:
ContiGroup Companies, Continental Grain Company, Wayne Farms LLC, Dutch Quality House, General Signal Corporation, General Signal Pump Group, Aurora Pump, Verti–Line, Fairbanks Morse, Hydro-Matic, Layne & Bowler, Barber Greene Company, Barber Greene Canada Ltd., Tel Smith and ConTec. 
 

Bruce D. Higdon, Practice Leader-Safety

Bruce D. Higdon, Certified Safety Professional, has 28 years experience in occupational and environmental safety and health. He began his career with five years as a Loss Prevention Engineer with Aetna Life & Casualty providing consultative services to underwriters and risk management services to insured accounts. Specialties included fire protection, life safety, worker’s compensation, and boiler/machinery. He then served three years with Union Carbide's Linde Division as a Division Safety Manager. In 1976 he began a ten-year term in the forest products industry as the Loss Prevention Manager for Champion International's Courtland, Alabama Operations. He served at Courtland for five years and was promoted to Champion's Corporate Safety Department where he coordinated safety activities for Champion's Pulp & Paper Mills. At Champion Mr. Higdon specialized in design safety for Capital Projects, Process Safety Management for bleach plants, Industrial Hygiene, OSHA compliance and Contractor Orientation.

Since 1987 Mr. Higdon has served as a consultant to industry, insurance, and local governments. Many of his clients are from the Pulp & Paper and Chemical Industry. Mr. Higdon has also served the Pulp & Paper Safety Association as a member of the Board of Directors.

Previous and current projects involve Process Safety Management, Insurance Loss Control, Construction Project Safety, Outdoor Advertising Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Hazardous Materials Management, Machine Guarding, Behavioral Skills Training, Contractor Orientation, Shutdown Safety, and OSHA compliance. Mr. Higdon continuously monitors OSHA compliance activity in industry, and uses this information to successfully conduct simulated OSHA surveys and Hazard Recognition workshops. Mr. Higdon has developed, and successfully conducts, unique training programs in Hazard Recognition, Incident Investigation, HAZWOPER, Compressed Gases, Crane Operator Certification, Fall Protection, Respiratory Protection, and other safety related topics.
 

Alan H. King, Senior Consultant-Organizational Development

Alan brings a unique set of skills to our clients with over 25 years of experience in business and consulting. His focus is on:

• helping client organizations achieve peak performance
• reach established goals
• improve their leadership effectiveness. 

His strong diagnostic skills have helped him build close working relationships with clients. As a result, his clients have been able to implement structural and system solutions that have helped them achieve competitive advantage and significantly improve their financial performance.

Alan has directed organization design projects, as well as strategic and business planning retreats. With proven organizational transformation experience, his expertise includes executive coaching, management consulting, leadership workshops, high performance work team facilitation, capital project partnering, presentations and the design and implementation of effective organizational support systems. 

Alan has worked with a variety of businesses and government agencies. He is recognized for his ability to develop and maintain effective rapport and relationships at all organizational levels from the top floor to the shop floor. 

Alan holds a master’s degree from the University of Georgia in business and organizational development.
 

DON LANG, Senior Consultant-Staff Development

Don works with organizations to bring practical solutions to effectively align talent with business priorities and strategies. With a diverse background that spans human resources management, line operations management, business development as well as P&L responsibility, he recognizes the importance of solutions that fit the business context, culture, leadership approach, and resources of the firm. Talent planning, assessment, leadership learning/training and coaching are particular areas of expertise.

In the area of talent planning, Don helps business leaders design and implement processes for staffing the business from recruiting to selecting to on-boarding new talent. He also helps business leaders assess current leadership talent against company growth plans and for leader succession to ensure effective business continuity.

Don has served organizations by conducting third party assessments for staffing key jobs, for profiling talent in newly acquired businesses, for executive development, and for succession management. He has over 12 years experience coaching professionals and executives from a variety of fields and industries in pivotal career situations including: assimilating quickly into a new leadership role, working through strengths and development needs in a current role as well as for future growth, and transitioning out of a company to a new career. Don has coached hundreds of line managers, executives, and human resources professionals in North and South America, Europe and Africa in developing assessment skills for selecting and developing top talent. He has worked with such organizations as Delta Air Lines, GE, Citibank, Allied Signal, 3M Europe, ING Barings, Mirant, and Tenet Healthcare.

Central to his partnership with firm leaders, Don works closely with management to identify opportunities to improve the alignment of the HR function with business needs and priorities, develop and implement performance management programs, and facilitate business planning and development training. In all cases, he creates straightforward solutions and simplified work processes with the business professional in mind.

Don holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Lafayette College. Professional affiliations include the Society for Human Resource Management, The Human Resource Planning Society, and The Human Resource Leadership Forum. 
 

Pierre Joubert, Senior Partner

Pierre Joubert is the senior partner of our practice in Canada. Pierre is located in Montreal, Quebec but covers projects throughout Canada. Prior to embarking on a human resources consulting career in 2000, Pierre began acquiring the skills he brings to his clients more than twenty (20) years ago holding various positions from operational, human resources and administration functions.

Extensive work-related and hands-on experiences in Canada, the United States, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom provided him with unique business exposures. He has worked for world known organizations such as Kruger Pulp and Paper, Air Canada, Price Waterhouse, Pepsico/FritoLay and CAE. Clients benefit directly from Pierre’s considerable experience and dynamic approach to business opportunity identification and resolution.

A business-oriented individual Pierre keeps the business agenda and the bottom line well in sight while delivering practical solutions supporting individual growth and building effective strategy. His direct participation in joint ventures, acquisitions, start-ups, divestitures and building effective strategic and business plans has provided him with exceptional knowledge on how to leverage individual contribution towards achieving business and personal goals. He also has access to expertise for very complex matters and has a unique ability to rally a team around issues quickly.

A B. Sc. in Industrial Relations, coupled with teaching and conference assignments in both English and French, have provided Pierre with continuous learning exposures. He is a member of the Industrial Relations Counselors Corporation of Quebec, Inc. (1980) and the Canadian Industrial Relations Professionals (1981).
 

Deborah L. Williams, Senior Consultant-Employee Development

Deborah L. Williams is a senior human resources practitioner who helps clients bring about organizational change and maximize their ROI for training and employee development. She has over 20 years of corporate and consulting experience and over 12 years of diversity management and leadership development consulting experience. Deborah helps organizations and individuals increase performance and effectiveness through leadership/ management development, managing and valuing diversity, and managing organizational change. Ms. Williams uses executive and leadership coaching to support clients in changing behavior to align with their personal and professional vision.

Deborah has provided consulting and training expertise for clients such as: State Farm, Nortel, Caraustar Industries, BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia, Marsh, Atlanta Community Foodbank, Federal Home Loan, Georgia State University, Georgia Power, Georgia Commission on Family Violence, Georgia Council on Child Abuse, Hewlett Packard Company, Coca-Cola USA, AT&T, Verizon, United Way, the U.S. Government, and numerous others.

Deborah has designed training, facilitated and managed consulting projects in transformational leadership, change management, career management, and valuing and managing diversity. She specializes in strategic approaches to culture alignment and effectiveness. Ms. Williams received her MBA and BA degrees from Ohio State University.

Deborah is active in a number of professional and community organizations and is currently a board member of Organization Change Alliance, HR Leadership Forum, and Fulton County Children’s Advocacy Center.
 

Whit Perrin Wright, Senior Consultant-Compensation & Rewards

Throughout her 20-plus year career in human resources management, Whit Perrin Wright, CCP, SPHR, has worked extensively in job analysis, assessment and compensation. She has developed appraisal systems and compensation plans to facilitate employee-management communications and improve organizational performance. She began consulting in 1993 and has worked with clients in private industry, government and not-for-profit organizations.

Among past and current clients are the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, Allied Holdings, AIG Designs (a subsidiary of American International Group), the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Defense Department, Georgia Pacific, ING Life of Georgia, Gwinnett County Government, ERB Manufacturing, and UPS Service Parts Logistics.

Prior to launching her career in consulting, Whit served as Assistant Commissioner in the Georgia Department of Labor, as Director of Personnel for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and as Assistant Director of Personnel for DeKalb County Government. She created and directed the first centralized examination program for Georgia’s occupational licensing boards while working in the Office of the Secretary of State.

Whit attended Emory University and holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Georgia State University.

She is has earned the designation of Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) from WorldatWork and certification as a Senior Human Resources Professional (SPHR) through the Human Resources Certification Institute. Whit is also registered as a mediator with the Georgia Supreme Court’s Office of Dispute Resolution.

She is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management, WorldatWork (formerly the American Compensation Association), and the Association for Conflict Resolution. Whit was founding member of the Atlanta Area Compensation Association and has served several terms as a member of its Board of Directors.

Linda C. Crow, Practice Leader-HR Best Practices

Linda C. Crow, SPHR Linda is a human resources consultant working with companies to align their human resources strategy with business objectives. She has over 20 years of experience in human resources management with extensive expertise in strategy alignment, change management, culture assessment, executive communications, team-building, training, compensation planning and preventative employee relations. Before consulting, she was Director of Human Resources for a private telecommunications company where she redesigned compensation and incentive programs for all levels of the organization and designed sales and customer service compensation programs and training programs to support cultural change. She worked with executive management of a $500 million software development company as Human Resources Director to implement performance management systems, lead wide-scale organizational culture change initiatives and a massive reorganization effort. As Vice President of Organizational Development for a $6 billion regional commercial bank she designed a restructuring process resulting in millions of dollars in savings. She led the management training and leadership development for over 2000 employees in this southeast bank.

As a member of the operating committee reporting to the General Manager, Linda led the successful turnaround of a high-tech manufacturing plant with severe labor problems; as human resources manager for the largest distribution division of a $6 billion corporation she and the management team defeated a UAW organizing campaign and implemented employee development systems for the first time in the company's history. As operations manager for an entrepreneurial staffing company with over $1 billion in sales, she opened offices throughout the southeast and served as internal business consultant to the franchise owners. Previously, Linda wrote political speeches and campaign literature for Winthrop Rockefeller, former Governor of Arkansas, and subsequently served on his personal staff to develop human resource communications policies and systems. Linda holds professional certification as Senior Practitioner in Human Resources (SPHR). She is a recent board member of both the Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Georgia Executive Women's Network and a current board member of the Women’s Commerce Club. She chaired the SHRM South Conference for 1998. She also holds membership in the Board of Directors Network. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from High Point University.

Tamu Lewis, Senior Consultant-Compensation
 
Tamu Lewis is a senior compensation and human resources expert who has worked on various types of strategic projects including compensation strategy, performance management, succession planning, career pathing, training, work force strategy, and competency development. Tamu has over 15 years of work experience, including 5 years of experience with large human resources consulting groups and 3 years with boutique consulting firms. She has worked in various industries including software, banking, healthcare, high tech and others.

Tamu has managed projects that include the following:

• Conducting comprehensive reviews of an organization’s compensation philosophy and strategy, current compensation programs and salary levels; resulting in the development of recommendations to change current programs to be consistent with overall business and human resource strategies.

• Designing and implementing web-based performance management and succession planning systems that strengthen and sustain leadership development efforts within the organization.

• Partnering with senior management to develop career paths in various departments that allow employees to better understand career options within their current department and across the organization.

• Developing competency based assessments and selection processes, within the overall employment process, to improve operational efficiencies, retention rates and employee satisfaction.

• Designing and administering compensation programs that are competitive with the external market and internally equitable; that support the organization’s strategy by rewarding desired behaviors and performance levels.

• Evaluating the effectiveness of work force strategies and implementing interventions to ensure optimal recruiting practices and retention rates.

Tamu’s compensation and human resources background includes work experience as the Compensation Manager for a software company and a Senior Consultant with both Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Ernst & Young. Tamu also held various management positions with NationsBank (now Bank of America).

Tamu earned a Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of South Carolina and a Masters degree in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Member of the Atlanta Area Compensation Association (AACA), WorldatWork and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She has earned the following certifications: Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Certified Benefits Professional (CBP) and Professional in Human Resources (PHR).

Terri Swain, Senior Consultant
 
Terri is a Senior Human Resources consultant specializing in Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and difficult employee relation issues. Terri brings a well-rounded perspective to her role as a human resource consultant, with experience as a human resources generalist as well as an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action specialist. She has consulted for both large and small companies, as well as performed local, national and international assignments in a wide variety of industries. She has served as project manager for many extensive human resources activities. Prior to her consulting role, she had Fortune 200 human resource management experience in the areas of employee relations, human resource planning, as well as training and development. Terri began her career in human resources via government compliance as an investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), after a successful career in public relations.

Terri’s key accomplishments have included managing major reorganizations and staffing during mergers and acquisitions; designing and implementing performance management systems; developing start-up human resource plans; and developing corporate diversity initiatives. In addition to these activities, Terri has also designed and conducted several training programs in the area of fair employment practices. In her role as a compliance expert, she has written many Affirmative Action plans and streamlined the AAP process; assisted companies through Department of Labor audits; served as an expert witness in EEO cases; and conducted third-party discrimination, harassment and employee relations investigations. Terri often lectures and speaks about discrimination, harassment and other compliance issues. Terri’s success as a consultant is a result of her ability to quickly identify client needs and to provide practical, cost-effective and cost-saving solutions.

Terri graduated with high honors and a degree in Mass Communications from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is a mentor with Communities in Schools, assisting at risk youth with the motivation to stay in school and is a board member for the Dallas affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer foundation. She is also a member of the Business Women’s Council. 
 

Kathy B. Strawn, Senior Consultant
 
Kathy brings to your business team over 30 years experience in both international and domestic Human Resources and a strong business background, particularly in customer service, payroll, and systems design and application. Her international HR experience in the areas of international assignment planning and management includes candidate selection, cultural training, relocation, compensation, tax issues, family issues and repatriation. Her extensive domestic HR background covers strategic areas such as leadership development, executive coaching, transition management and process consultation as well as tactical areas such as training, performance management, employee relations, staffing, and force management.

Kathy has worked as an external consultant for several professional services organizations and has extensive corporate experience with a Fortune 500 company. Her current work as a consultant includes projects in leadership, coaching, time management, Emotional Intelligence, behavioral styles, business ethics, 360° assessments, change management, staffing, force management, extended international business travel, repatriation, international compensation, front-line centric/behaviorally based business models and one-on-one leadership coaching.

Kathy holds a BA degree in Secondary Education from Clemson University and a MS degree in Social Sciences from Mississippi University for Women. She is a Certified Compensation Professional, holds certificates in Human Resources Development and Training and Leadership Development, and is certified in several assessment and behavioral interviewing techniques. Kathy has been published in HR Magazine, Atlanta International Magazine, Triangle Business Journal, and Payroll News and has been a featured speaker at the Atlanta chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), Global Mobility Alliance Atlanta (GMAA) and KPMG, Ernst & Young and ERC Human Resources conferences. She has taught at both the high school and college level and was part of an expatriate family in Germany.

Lisa L. Waggoner, Head of Placement
Lisa Lyle Waggoner is a senior search consultant and manager who has over 16 years of recruiting experience and in that time has been very influential in helping clients attract the best talent to their respective organizations. Lisa has been recognized by clients and candidates alike as a search consultant who truly “listens.” She has a broad range of concentrated experience in varying capacities such as Recruiting, Staffing and Management, Project Management, Resource Utilization, Employee Development, Coaching, Counseling and Negotiation. Lisa thrives in an environment of constantly changing priorities and is known for her ability to perform under pressure and to excel in a deadline oriented environment.

Lisa honed her recruiting skills with InterSource, a boutique executive search firm specializing in executive search and contract services in a variety of disciplines, including human resource, accounting/finance and technology disciplines. Since that time she has worked with a variety of other industries to include but not limited to property management, professional services, healthcare, telecom and marketing. She has worked with a variety of small to medium sized companies and Fortune 500 clients such as Dell Computer, W.H. Smith, Georgia Pacific, Andersen Consulting, Pizza Hut, Vanstar, Motorola, Zep Manufacturing, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Safety-Kleen, Cantera Doors, Atlantel, NBCG and RSA Corp.

Lisa first learned her customer service skills at IBM where she excelled for 10 years in the role of Administrative Services Management. Her ability to exalt relationships while managing time and resources has accelerated her effectiveness with our clients. She is frequently commended by clients and candidates on her professionalism, integrity and sense of urgency.

Lisa is a recipient of 1998 Consulting Excellence Award from National Personnel Associates, as well as the 1998 Bronze Target Award from National Personnel Associates for placing candidates with cumulative salaries in excess of $500K.

When not working on searches, you’ll find Lisa active in the community volunteering with many local Humane Societies and schools sharing information about reward based training for dogs, dog safety and dog bite prevention. She is also active with Heritage Partners, a grassroots, non-profit organization with a mission to promote public awareness, education and good stewardship of the community’s historic, cultural, ecological and agricultural treasures.
 

Toni Bahn, Recruiting Manager
Toni is a seasoned recruiting professional that every client wants assigned to their search. With over 15 years experience helping clients identify key talent, Toni has that unique ability that not many recruiters have, the ability to personally connect with every candidate. This trusting demeanor and respect for the candidate translates into her being able to find the best match for the client and therefore the maximum ROI for the client’s recruiting dollar. In addition to her natural talents and skills, she has acquired the acclaimed AIRS CIR (Certified Internet Recruiter) certification and is well known for her internet sourcing abilities. Toni’s wealth of experience ranges from recruiting, research, project management, candidate development, coaching, counseling and negotiation for clients.

As Recruiting Manager, Toni is responsible for working closely with client executives and managers to understand their talent needs and then works diligently to identify the right fit. She is a perfect liaison between the client and candidate. Toni acquires a full understanding of the client’s opportunity so that she is able to identify targeted candidates through networking, direct phone sourcing, Internet sourcing through a variety of online sources. She excels in candidate generation which includes pre-screening, in-depth interviewing utilizing behavioral interviewing methods, managing offers for the client and managing candidate acceptance of those offers. Toni specializes in providing positive representation of the client to all candidates and is known for her keen ability to sustain long term relationships with clients and candidates alike.

Toni developed her recruiting skills with a boutique executive search firm specializing in executive search and contract services in a variety of disciplines. She began as a researcher and progressed from providing data and background information to the search consultants to directly sourcing candidates and working with hiring managers. Toni has worked with a variety of small to medium sized companies and Fortune 500 clients such as Proximity Systems, Greensheet, Jack-N-The-Box, RSA Corp., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Safety-Kleen, Cantera Doors, Atlantel, and Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia.

Toni’s early career consists of working with employee benefits as an Executive Assistant with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) where she was responsible for employee benefits (medical, group health and life) for the entire Southeast Regional Office staff. She served as the interface with multiple company Labor Relations staff, from executive and senior management to front line employees managing third step grievances, mediations and arbitrations. She was also responsible for managing the yearly Continuing Education for over 600 locals where she set up curricula and worked closely with University Staff and Professors to roll out training.

Toni is an active member with Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) and has been active in the Girl Scouts where she led her own troop for 4 years and was the Service Unit’s only certified Camping Leader.
 

Jim W. Brown, Executive Workforce Leader
 
Jim Brown is a Human Resources Executive with over 30 years experience in manufacturing and research and development, with significant experience in unionized employment settings.

Jim’s primary area of expertise allows him to provide collaborative employee relations strategies, counsel executives on best practices in employee relations and union strategies, and achieve successful implementation at the manufacturing level. He has brought about strategic changes in manufacturing environments by transitioning adversarial relationships into strategic partnerships. He is an experienced first chair negotiator and has a proven track record of business focused negotiations results.

Prior to joining IHC, Jim was an independent consultant and previously held corporate executive HR responsibilities with Rohm and Haas Company and Dow Chemical. He also worked with Kennecott Copper, ServiceMaster Industries and government contractor installations in Human Resource roles supporting basic research and development. During his corporate career he achieved successful strategic change due to his ability to interact effectively with all levels of employees, from executives to the factory floor.

Jim’s areas of proven success:

• Strategic Labor Relations; focus on executive coaching and on-the-ground implementation

• Positive Employee Relations programs; focus on first line supervisor involvement

• Collaborative Company/Union Relationships

• Experienced first chair contract negotiation

• Negotiations support; caucus room strategy, negotiations process management

• Union Avoidance

• Union Vulnerability Auditing

• Development and Training of Managers/Supervisors

• Coaching Executives and Managers in Manufacturing Environments

• Mergers and Acquisitions; focus on workforce integration and corporate culture and decision making processes

• HR Organizational Restructuring

• Workforce Downsizing

• HR mentoring and skill development

• Talent development

Jim holds an MBA in Management and his BS in Psychology from the University of Tennessee. He is a past President of the Rehabilitation Foundation in Pasadena, Texas and a past Board Member of the Philadelphia (PA) Area Labor Management Committee.
 

Margaret Clark, Senior HR Consultant
 
Margaret Clark, SPHR is a results-driven human resources consultant with business experience in a variety of HR leadership roles. Her expertise spans successful business operations, business restructuring and reengineering, HR management and organizational structuring, and training and development for executives, management and employees. Margaret has multi-industry experience that includes healthcare, retail, non-profit and food service. She has led multiple organizations to adopt and implement best practices and relevant business models.

Some of Margaret’s accomplishments include:

• Creating the HR function for a start-up healthcare company where she managed all operational systems and changes required for rapid growth including recruiting and hiring processes for all exempt and non-exempt levels, compensation and benefit plans, training and development programs, performance management systems, ultimately taking the organization from start-up to over 300 national and international locations and from a private to a public company.

•  While reporting to the CEO of a leading $13 million non-profit, Margaret changed the structure of HR, implemented a new HRIS system, led pre-merger and post-merger activities, managed two restructurings, sourced and hired talent for the entire organization and assessed human capital and overall business structures to achieve improved productivity and results.

• As VP of Human Resources reporting to the CEO for a 600 million dollar company, Margaret was instrumental in the culture merging of separate businesses, ultimately resulting in a successful IPO. Her work there included managing HR during rapid growth and acquisitions, recruiting executive and management level positions, creating performance management systems, implementing compensation and benefit plans and systems, implementing leadership development, implementing succession planning processes and ultimately downsizing/restructurings.

• Designing and facilitating training and development programs on topics relevant to each business including, interviewing and selection skills, conflict management, customer service, HR essentials for managers, leadership training, positive workplace practices (includes harassment and discrimination avoidance), performance documentation and delivering effective performance reviews.

Margaret was previously a board member with the Atlanta chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management with a goal to generate increased involvement and partnership with local human resource leaders. Committed to community service, she was a board member with the Achor Center, a not-for-profit Atlanta shelter offering temporary housing to homeless women and children who are transitioning to permanent housing and full-time employment. Additionally, she has been a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, Literacy Action in Atlanta and Egleston’s Children’s Hospital. Clark received her Bachelor of Science in Human Environmental Sciences from the University of Kentucky during which time she also worked and lived in London, England. She was one of a select few alumnae who received the University of Kentucky’s Centennial Award in 2007.
 

José A. De La Cruz, J.D.
 
José offers a balanced set of tactical and strategic skills in human capital management. He has over 30 years of business experience as a human resources practitioner in diverse industries with multi-site, people-intensive operations in the U.S., Caribbean, Canada, and Latin America. His strong generalist background encompasses employee/labor relations; union avoidance; conflict management; compliance programs; talent acquisition; performance management; organizational design, training and development; cross-cultural/diversity management; and other HR programs that add value to a business. Additionally, José has a proven track record of using his business acumen to develop HR infrastructures, processes, and change management programs that support business goals, drive organizational effectiveness, and stimulate performance.

Following are some examples of his accomplishments while leading start up, plant, field, and corporate HR functions.

• Defended employment claims in federal and state administrative forums (NLRB, EEOC, WC Boards, UI, HR Commissions) by investigating charges and collaborating with legal counsel in developing and presenting management’s response.

• Created and conducted performance management, conflict resolution, employment/ labor law, EEO, other compliance programs to improve employee relations and organizational effectiveness.

• Developed and managed union avoidance strategies encompassing counseling HR staff, coaching operations management, and overseeing employee meetings.

• Created and orchestrated HR strategies to support the attainment of “100 Best Companies”, “Most Admired Company”, and “Company of the Year” honors.

• Developed and conducted cross-cultural/diversity management training to improve workforce relationships, acquire diverse talent, and support marketing strategies.

• Spearheaded cross-functional employee teams that created model tools for planning performance, succession planning, and career development.

• Led HR teams that received corporate recognition for implementing change management programs and partnered with a business unit to earn Georgia’s Oglethorpe Award for Performance Excellence for orchestrating the HR component of a business strategy.

José’s credentials are as impressive as his business accomplishments. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Labor Relations from Purdue University and a Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School (Chicago). Also, José is certified by Development Dimensions International as an Instructor in Targeted Selection, a behavior-based employee selection process. Additionally, he is certified by the Center For Creative Leadership in Benchmarks, a 360 feedback process, and as a Coach in Coaching For Performance. In professional and civic circles, José is a volunteer leader with the Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management; in 2009, he received the Chapter’s SHAPE Excellence Award. 
 

Charlene Fitzpatrick, Senior Consultant

Charlene Fitzpatrick, PHR, is a Senior HR Consultant that brings more than twenty plus years’ experience in effectively resolving various HR Compliance issues for clients while developing and implementing Training & Development programs that specifically address the issues needing to be changed in order to bring real change to the organization and impact its bottom line. As quoted by one client, “Charlene has the unique capability of making difficult situations easy to understand and resolve.” Just some of her recent projects are highlighted below:

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