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.
Officers
Cristy Spilka
ATAP Board President
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.
Sarah Peck, CIR, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Vice President
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.
Tarah Littlejohn
Treasurer
Talent Acquisition Manager, Americas here at MoneyGram
Tarah Littlejohn currently leads the Talent Acquisition team for the Americas at MoneyGram, a Global Fintech company. With over 20 years in Talent Acquisition spanning staffing, executive search, and corporate recruitment Tarah has a wealth of knowledge across multiple industries and environments including healthcare, finance, retail, and IT. Her expertise includes developing TA Professionals to operate at both a functional and strategic level, and guiding business groups through growth and change management to ensure talent solutions align to business strategy. Her passions are data/analytics, process improvement, and finding efficiencies to create an elegant and agile TA process. Tarah is based in North Texas and when she isn’t making an impact in the TA world, she can probably be found at a yarn store searching for ideas for her next knitting/crochet project.
Cathy Henesey
Immediate Past President
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.
Rob Lockard
Secretary
Senior Recruitment Management Consultant, Helios HR
With 19 years of Talent Acquisition experience, professionally Rob is a Senior Recruitment Management Consultant with Helios HR. Helios HR is an award-winning human capital and talent acquisition consulting firm based in Washington, DC.
Here, he partners with clients across the globe ranging from startups to the Fortune 500 to help them attract top talent, navigate changes in the modern workplace, and secure future leaders. His efforts have helped to build cultures of intention – that have allowed his clients to retain an exceptional workforce that excels.
Originally from the Washington, DC Area, Rob currently lives outside of Kansas City, MO, with his wife and two young boys. A Navy brat, he is the only brother to four sisters, is an avid college (American) football fan, and a recovering college/semi-pro mascot. His hobbies include kid wrangling, growing Bonsai, kayaking, and Shinrin-Yuko (Forest Therapy to some, “enjoys being outdoors” to others). His drive comes from experiencing new events (shiny object complex), learning, making friends, and being in or around water.
Outside of professional and personal realms, Rob also brings with him experience participating in and chairing the ATAP Membership Committee, participating on and leading numerous local community-based non-profit boards (in growth modes), as well as the honor of serving as both SHRM State Director for the District of Columbia (2012), and as President of the DC SHRM Board of Directors (2011), before being awarded the “Volunteer of the Year” award by SHRM-KC in 2014.
Members
Chloé Rada
Member
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.
Angie Alvarez
Member
Certified International Senior HR Professional, Scouter
I´d like to help empower TA professionals in LATAM. Latinx are always willing to learn and share best practices with others. From our side of the world, we can contribute to building a better world for all.
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20 years of experience in international companies
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MBA, Certified as International Senior HR Professional by HRCI , SCRUM and CDE candidate by IDC Institute
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Co-author of Hispanic Rising Star Vol III
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Entrepreneur, Speaker and TA Professional with DE&I DNA
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Founder of Scouter 1st low cost recruitment company in LATAM
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Director of HR master degree program in CENTRUM Business School
BJ McGuire
Member
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
Member
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.
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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