Our Leadership Team
In 2012, an early plan for an association was outlined by Executive Director Ben Gotkin and Senior Advisor 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 first-ever 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.
Tom Darrow
Founder and Principal, Talent Connections, LLC and Career Spa, LLC
Tom Darrow, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, is a leader in human resources and talent acquisition. His background includes working as the national recruiting director for Accenture and founding Talent Connections, LLC. He has served as a board chair for the SHRM Foundation and as the past-president of SHRM-Atlanta.
Tim Sackett
President, HRU Technical Resources
Tim Sackett, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, leads HRU Technical Resources, an IT and engineering staffing firm headquartered in Lansing, MI. He has 20 years of executive HR experience working for Fortune 500 companies in healthcare, retail, dining and technology. Tim is an international speaker on leadership, talent acquisition and HR execution.
BJ McGuire
Director, Enterprise Talent Acquisition, The Walt Disney Company
BJ McGuire is an executive with nearly 20 years of experience in talent acquisition. He has led talent acquisition teams within technology search firms, financial services, and media and entertainment. Based out of Burbank, CA, BJ currently leads the talent acquisition function for the Walt Disney Company Corporate responsible for strategy, operations, and recruitment delivery.
Melissa Thompson
Talent Acquisition, SVP, Nielsen
Melissa Thompson is a strategic and collaborative executive with more than 25 years of experience in Global Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. Melissa joined Nielsen as the SVP, Talent Acquisition in early 2020.
During her career she has held recruiting leadership roles at Dell, Citrix, Siebel, Lenovo, and McGraw-Hill. She is a results-oriented, strategic Talent Acquisition leader with expertise in designing and executing cutting-edge recruitment programs. Melissa has held progressively broader recruiting roles in the technology space over the past 15 years.
Melissa is based in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.
Mike Cohen
Founder of Wayne Technologies, a Contract Sourcing and Recruitment Training Organization
Mike “Batman” Cohen is the Founder of Wayne Technologies, a Contract Sourcing and Recruitment Training Organization. His approach to sourcing is one based on deliverables, transparent data, and using multiple sources/platforms to find the greatest diversity and quality of candidates.
He has worked with a diverse group of clients including: Whole Foods, The New York Times, Waste Management, GIPHY, Walter P. Moore, etc. He contributes articles to SourceCon and RecruitingDaily, helps run SourceHouston, and is a Brand Ambassador for ERE.
Jim D’Amico
Global Talent Acquisition Leader, Celanese
Jim D’Amico currently leads global talent acquisition for Celanese, a chemical innovation company based in Dallas, TX. He has over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition and human resources. He is also a co-founder of the Michigan Recruiters Conference and is active mentor in our field.
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 18 years of strategic experience. He previously led recruiting at Baylor Scott & White Health and prior spent 13 years with Citigroup. He currently oversees talent acquisition efforts for various global organizations as 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.
Allison Kruse
Director, Content and Social Media, Kforce
Allison Kruse is passionate about elevating the talent acquisition industry and working alongside a global community to solve challenges. At Kforce, she is responsible for developing and executing a firm-wide strategy to leverage social media to provide value to employees, clients, consultants and candidates.
Cathy Henesey
Director of Talent Acquisition, Adventist Health System
Cathy Henesey leads talent acquisition for Adventist Health System 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.
Chloé Rada
Director of Talent Administration, Technology & Branding, Sodexo
Chloé Rada is Director of Talent Administration, Technology & Branding at Sodexo. With 19 years of experience in the Talent Acquisition industry, she has overall responsibility for Sodexo’s talent technology and vendor management to support recruitment and on-boarding for all management and executive level positions enterprise-wide. Chloé graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts and resides in Chicago, IL.
Have a question for the board?
ATAP’s Executive Operating Council
- Christine Johnson
- William Uranga
- Ryan Christoi
- Gerry Crispin
- Michael Kannisto
- Carl Kutsmode
- Scott Weaver
- Kara Yarnot
- Nicole Dessain
- Cindy McGregor
- Chloé Rada
- Sarah Brennan
- Steve Levy
Special Thanks to Our Founding Volunteers
- Dan Black
- Tom Brown
- Bryan Chaney
- Gerry Crispin
- Dean DaCosta
- Matthew Doucette
- Rob Dromgoole
- Chris Gould
- Suzie Grieco
- Lance Haun
- Eric Jacquith
- Michael Kannisto
- Ric Klinger
- Susan LaMotte
- Jer Langhans
- Steve Levy
- Rob McIntosh
- Diana Meisenhelter
- Crystal Miller
- Danielle Monaghan
- Chris Murdock
- Chloé Rada
- Pete Radloff
- Tracey Richardson
- Robin Schooling
- Rayanne Thorn
- Kara Yarnot
- Derek Zeller
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The success of our organization includes having partners aligned to our mission. We are looking for sponsors who want to help shape the future of the profession.
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