Our Leadership Team
In 2012, an early plan for an association was outlined by founders Ben Gotkin and Gerry Crispin.
In 2016, the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals was brought to life by a community of inspired and engaged volunteers.
Board of Directors
Each member of our volunteer board is elected to a two-year term. It’s with gratitude and pride that we announce our board members.
Kristen LeBlanc
Executive Director, ATAP
Kristen LeBlanc, MPA, CAE is Executive Director of ATAP. Kristen’s career spans 15 years in nonprofit and government organizations. Based in Washington, DC, she is a Certified Association Executive, holds a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree from North Carolina State University.
Jim Schnyder
Founder & Principal Consultant, Recruiting Advisors
Jim Schnyder is the 2014 & 2011 SourceCon Grandmaster with over 20 years of success in Talent Acquisition. He is the Founder and Principal Consultant for Recruiting Advisors, a Talent Acquisition focused consulting firm helping clients with recruiting technology, training, and best practices in sourcing.
BJ McGuire
Director, Enterprise Talent Acquisition, The Walt Disney Company
BJ McGuire is an executive with over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition. He has led talent acquisition teams within technology search firms, financial services, media and entertainment, and SaaS. Based out of Los Angeles, CA, BJ currently leads the global talent acquisition function for Procore Technologies. He is responsible for all aspects of talent strategy, sourcing, insights, operations, branding, and recruitment delivery across the US, EMEA, ANZ, APAC, LATAM, and CA. Prior to his experience with Procore, he spent 15 years leading the Corporate and Enterprise Talent Acquisition function for the Walt Disney Company.
Melissa Thompson
Global Head of Talent Acquisition, Ford Motor Company
In November 2021, Melissa joined Ford as the first Global Head of Talent Acquisition. Melissa’s focus is to transform Talent Acquisition to effectively meets the business hiring needs. Key objectives in this first year will be defining a global recruiting process model, developing metrics and reporting to drive operational excellence and delivering a global talent attraction strategy.
Melissa has held recruiting leadership roles at Nielsen, McGraw-Hill, Dell, Citrix, and Lenovo. She is a results-oriented, strategic Talent Acquisition leader with more than 25 years’ experience in Global Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. Her experience includes designing Employee Value Propositions, driving a “Passport to Recruit” training suite for managers, delivering ATS optimization and introducing the foundational CRISP recruiting process model.
Melissa is based in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex where she spends time with family and reconnect with friends from both college and high school. Melissa is a farm-to-table restaurant aficionado and enjoys beach vacations.
Mike Cohen
Founder, Wayne Technologies
Mike “Batman” Cohen is the founder of Wayne Technologies, a sourcing-on-demand and recruitment training organization. Wayne Technologies On-Demand Sourcing is a revolutionary approach that provides the most actionable data available, is based on deliverables—not time, and is based on access to more recruitment tooling than any organization worldwide. Batman is unapologetically a nerd, enthusiast, and purveyor of fine whiskeys, music, and swear words. He also contributes to the community through conference speaking, webinars, and published articles/white papers.
Eric E. Dunlap
Global Talent Acquisition Leader, Previously with Baylor Scott & White Health
Eric E. Dunlap, MHRIR, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, RACR, is a human resources executive with over two decades of strategic experience. He previously led recruiting at Baylor Scott & White Health and prior to that spent 13 years with Citigroup. He currently oversees talent acquisition efforts for various global organizations in the manufacturing and technology sectors as senior vice president, recruitment client Services at Cielo Talent. He is recognized as a thought leader with proven ability to build and manage high performing, diverse teams.
Cathy Henesey
Executive Director of Talent Acquisition, AdventHealth
Cathy Henesey leads talent acquisition for AdventHealth headquartered in Orlando, FL. She has more than 25 years of talent acquisition and sourcing experience in a variety of industries, including IT, manufacturing, banking, and healthcare. Cathy’s expertise includes transforming teams to maximize process efficiencies using innovative sourcing strategies, funnel analytics, and workforce planning. Cathy has spoken at many national conferences, including the ITAA CEO Summit, ERE Expo, ASHHRA, and SOURCECON, and has been quoted in various newspapers including the Wall Street Journal. She has represented the recruitment industry in Washington D.C. as an advocate for the Immigration Visa Quota bill and healthcare initiatives.
Sarah Peck, CIR, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Head of Talent Acquisition, AEVEX Aerospace
Sarah Peck, CIR, PRC, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, LSSGB, currently leads talent acquisition at AEVEX Aerospace, headquartered in Solana Beach, CA. During her career in talent acquisition, she has supervised the recruiting or recruited for the medical, finance, telecom, IT, and aerospace industries, to name a few. In her spare time, Sarah helps transitioning veterans with their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, coaches them in interviewing, and volunteers on the San Diego SHRM Board of Directors. View on LinkedIn
Chloé Rada
Senior Director, Global Talent Acquisition Operations, Nielsen
Chloé brings 22+ years of data-driven Recruitment Operations and Employment Branding experience and is known for driving big ideas and empowering others to make a positive change for the future of Talent Acquisition. She is passionate about recruitment marketing, storytelling, candidate experience, recruiter enablement, and technology automation.
As the Sr. Director, Global Talent Acquisition Operations, she is responsible for the strategic management of the TA operations functions including delivering excellence and efficiency around our hiring processes, technology systems, candidate experience and employment branding strategies.
Christy Spilka
VP, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at iCIMS
Christy Spilka is the VP, global head of talent acquisition at iCIMS, the talent cloud company that accelerates transformation for a community of more than 4,000 customers, including 40% of the Fortune 100. Christy is responsible for leading the global talent acquisition strategy and team, ensuring that iCIMS has the right people on the right teams to achieve business success. With 20 years of experience, Christy is a passionate and avid supporter of providing top-notch talent experiences. Her expertise is in building talent acquisition teams that serve as a competitive differentiator. She believes that talent fuels organizational growth and the way that we attract, engage, hire, and advance top talent determines growth potential.
View on LinkedIn
Have a question for the board?
Special Thanks to Our Founding Volunteers
- Tara Amaral
- Dan Black
- Sarah Brennan
- Tom Brown
- Bryan Chaney
- Ryan Christoi
- Gerry Crispin
- Jim D’Amico
- Dean DaCosta
- Tom Darrow
- Nicole Dessain
- Matthew Doucette
- Rob Dromgoole
- Eric Dunlap
- Suzie Grieco
- Lance Haun
- Eric Jacquith
- Christine Johnson
- Ric Klinger
- Michael Kannisto
- Ric Klinger
- Allison Kruse
- Carl Kutsmode
- Susan LaMotte
- Jer Langhans
- Steve Levy
- Cindy McGregor
- Rob McIntosh
- Diana Meisenhelter
- Crystal Miller
- Danielle Monaghan
- Chris Murdock
- Chloé Rada
- Pete Radloff
- Tracey Richardson
- Tim Sackett
- Robin Schooling
- Rayanne Thorn
- William Uranga
- Scott Weaver
- Kara Yarnot
- Derek Zeller
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