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Tag: consulting

Keystone Precision Solutions, Allentown City Council and more name new appointments, hires

Wendy Beltzner, Krista Berardelli, Eric Zahniser, Mandy Tolino, Sarah Rubright McCahon and Luis Campos. PHOTOS/PROVIDED
Wendy Beltzner, Krista Berardelli, Eric Zahniser, Mandy Tolino, Sarah Rubright McCahon and Luis Campos. PHOTOS/PROVIDED –

Consulting

Hanover Township, Lehigh County-based Keystone Precision Solutions named Miguel Colom vice president of operations. Colom will oversee the service, support, customer service, inside sales and information technology teams and develop the firm’s customer experience.

Economic development

Lehighton-based Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. named Marianne Garritano Rustad vice president of operations. Rustad will work with chamber members, volunteer leaders, partners and municipalities to support and strengthen communities and the local economy. Kathy Henderson will continue as director of economic development. Kelley Andrade was named membership engagement and events manager. Andrade will manage membership relations and chamber and community event coordination for mixers, workshops and chamber events. Bambi Elsasser will continue as Lehighton Main Street manager and will also be membership coordinator, focusing on membership engagement in Lehighton, Weissport, Bowmanstown and Palmerton. Linda Rex was named administrative assistant. Rex will work with members and the public and provide information, event assistance and program administration. Jessica O’Donnell-Gower was named executive vice president of affiliated chambers for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. Dylan Shick was named a summer intern to assist in event planning and execution.

Bethlehem, Northampton County-based Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. named George Lewis special assistant to the president and CEO. Nicole Radzievich Mertz was named vice president of marketing.

Government

Allentown City Council in Lehigh County confirmed Mandy Tolino as director of parks and recreation. Tolino is a certified parks and recreation professional and will oversee the parks maintenance bureau, recreation bureau, special events, swimming pools and the golf course. Bina Patel was confirmed as director of finance, Patel will oversee the finance and budget administration, revenue and audit, general support services, procurement, risk management, accounting and financial management, and payroll.

Media

Bethlehem, Northampton County-based Lehigh Valley Public Media elected Luis Campos a board member. Campos is Easton’s city administrator.

Nonprofits

Community Music School elected Michael Yeager president, James Warfel vice president, Tom Fenstermacher treasurer and Mark Stein secretary. Yeager retired as CEO of Community Insurance Co. Warfel is a retired educator. Fenstermacher is retired chief financial officer with Hospital Central Services Inc. Stein is an associate professor with Muhlenberg College. Andrene Brown Nowell and Michael S Horvath II were named board members. Nowell is a founder and executive director of Fine Feather Foundation Inc. Horvath is an associate attorney at Gross McGinley LLP.

Girls on the Run Berks County, which covers Berks and Schuylkill counties, elected Sarah Rubright McCahon chairwoman of its board. McCahon is an attorney and member of Lancaster-based Barley Snyder’s trusts and estates, elder law and business practice groups.

Reading-based Berks County Community Foundation named Cindy Milian health and human services program officer. Milian will develop and implement public health and human services initiatives. Emily Smedley was named environment and energy program officer. Smedley will manage programs and grants relating to the environment, land use and neighborhood vitality.

Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County-based Manufacturers Resource Center named Wendy Beltzner director of leadership development and training strategy. Beltzner will lead the training and education services in leadership development and customized training strategies.

YMCA of Reading and Berks County elected Troy Rider chairman of its board. Rider is a partner with Lancaster-based Barley Snyder and concentrates on business, finance, real estate and food and agribusiness law.

Real estate

Chicago-based Cresa named Eric Zahniser a managing principal with its industrial services group. Zahniser will work in the Conshohocken office and expand the company’s presence in the Greater Philadelphia industrial market.

Tredyffrin Township, Chester County-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors named Michael Pintande a sales associate in the Macungie office. He will focus on the Lehigh Valley.

Retail

Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County-based The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley named Madeleine Convery sales and marketing coordinator. Convery will be responsible for digital and social media initiatives and encouraging retailers to promote their businesses as part of the center’s overall marketing plans. Krista Berardelli was named marketing director and business development manager. Berardelli will continue to oversee marketing and event initiatives and also handle local leasing initiatives. Natalia Stezenko was named senior general manager. She will continue to manage The Promenade Shops as well as Marlton Square in southern New Jersey.

-Compiled by Amy DiNunzio

RKL human resources services grew exponentially during COVID-19

RKL’s Human Capital Management practice has grown from three employees to eleven since its founding in 2018. The practice’s team includes Lauren Stricker (HR consultant), Stephane Smith (practice leader) and Jeremy Witmer (senior consultant)

Lancaster-based consulting firm RKL’s human resources practice saw substantial growth in the last 18 months as clients reached out for COVID-19 related help and beyond. 

RKL opened its Human Capital Management practice in 2018, focusing on providing the firm’s existing clients with help on matters such as hiring, compliance and training. The practice has doubled its client base in the past 18 months, becoming one of RKL’s fastest-growing practice areas. 

That growth can be attributed to a surge in demand in 2020 from businesses in need of help navigating COVID-19 regulations and continued use in 2021 as employers look to hire and retain talent. 

“There seems to be understanding among employers that ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option,” said Bethany Novis, who oversees RKL’s Consulting Services Group. “There’s an appetite for trying new approaches like enhancing compensation structures, engaging teams differently and even automating and outsourcing some roles to sustain a company’s talent needs.” 

In three years, the practice has expanded from three to 11 employees, partnering with consulting services across the firm in areas such as data analytics, process improvement and payroll. 

As its clientele has grown, the practice has led companies through issues such as shifting to remote working and maintaining staffing levels due to quarantines, and more recently, giving employers a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining talent. 

“Out of the pandemic, many companies learned that they were more resilient and adaptive than they may have thought,” said Stephanie Smith, consulting practice leader for the Human Capital Management practice. “It’s those companies that are coming to us now and saying ‘we know we need to think differently’ in order to retain the best talent while still driving profits and winning in the marketplace. And we’re in a unique position to help them do that.” 

Most employers are no longer on the defensive like they were in early 2020. Instead, many have taken a more proactive approach, looking to the practice for answers to questions such as ‘how do I know if I am paying my employees competitive wages,’ said Smith. 

That question speaks to the tight and competitive labor market companies are currently facing, said Smith. She added that employers need to know which positions, roles and responsibilities will be critical in an evolving business environment. 

“Today’s employers need to pick their staffing battles, do their homework and then prioritize initiatives related to work conditions (such as communication, flexibility, paid time off and mental health offerings), culture and competitive pay/benefits that will help them emerge as an employer of choice,” said Smith. 

RKL operates locations in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, including Spring Township, Berks County and Allentown and Bath.

KidsPeace launches health care management consulting practice

KidsPeace, a Schnecksville-based national provider of behavioral and mental health services for children, has launched a new consulting practice.

Spyglass Solutions will offer health care and other organizations guidance with operations, management and the regulatory environment.

Spyglass will draw on the expertise of KidsPeace’s own experts as well as other leaders in the behavioral and mental health field.

KidsPeace vice president, Patrick Slattery, will be extending his leadership responsibilities to include leading the team at Spyglass.

“KidsPeace’s understanding of the health care marketplace extends over decades, and that gives us an expertise base that can be of great use to a wide range of other organizations,” Slattery said. “The industry leadership represented by the Spyglass team of consultants will provide our clients in health care and other fields with truly remarkable advantages in their competitive environment in the future.”

Spyglass Solutions will offer clients high-level training and advice across a range of functions, including clinical services, business operations, sustainability practices, staff recruiting and development, information technology, financial management, fundraising strategy, and infrastructure planning.

He lost his job, then he found his way

Steve Thompson, far left, is the chairman of the board of directors of Lehigh Valley Public Media and vice president of finance at Delane Consulting & Talent Management. PHOTO/LEHIGH VALLEY PUBLIC MEDIA –

 

For Steve Thompson, vice president of finance at Delane Consulting & Talent Management in Bethlehem, continuous learning is a way of life.

It led him to his current job and inspired him to become chairman of the board of Lehigh Valley Public Media, which oversees the Lehigh Valley’s Public Broadcasting Station, Channel 39, and many other educational initiatives. But his education goes beyond his Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical and computer engineering from Brown University, or his Master of Science Degree in electrical engineering from Penn State.

For him, it all started with getting laid off from his job.

Thompson began his career in 1973 as an engineer at Western Electric in Allentown. He stayed on as the company evolved into its later incarnations, first Lucent and later LSI. That’s when his upwardly mobile career went south.

He was in charge of converting integrated circuits made by the company into devices that could be used by the military, a major sales target. He did everything right. His team made the circuits correctly and kept everything under budget, but the military didn’t buy them and he was laid off.

Looking back, Thompson now says getting laid off “was the most positive thing that ever happened to me.” The layoff put him on the path to learning new skills.

Perplexed as to what happened, he took a job with AT&T in New Jersey as a product manager. “It was my first foray into the business end. I think like an engineer, but I wanted to know what went down,” he said.

As he learned more about the business end of the engineering world, he found that it was the marketing of the products, not the design or manufacturing that led to the failure at his previous job. That’s when he decided that to be a success he had to understand all aspects of how a business operates, because all are important. He decided to challenge himself to take on new roles and learn new skills so he could be the best at any job he undertook. But, his love was still in operations, so as he looked to expand his education and career he looked towards process management and programing.

“That was helpful. I had worked in and touched just about every spot that was in manufacturing, so I could see past what people were telling me,” he said.

With his career heading in the direction of project management, finance didn’t seem like a logical leap but, always eager to learn more skills, that’s exactly what he did, taking on a role in project management and finance for Verizon. While the finance end was a new skill set for him, he brought value to the organization because of his background in engineering and manufacturing.

The people making the financial decisions “didn’t know a router from a server. They didn’t know what they were spending money on,” he said.

Now, finance is a big part of his job at Delane and he spends much of his time concentrating on such issues as 401ks and measuring the company’s positive and negative results.

But having his background in engineering and manufacturing still comes in handy and he’s sometimes called in to as a consultant when his experience can help improve a situation.

“To me something can always be more efficient than it was yesterday,” he said.

Thompson says it’s important to use the whole tool box when solving problems in a company. “I spent my entire life trying to find new tools.” He has little patience for those who don’t embrace continual education. “You want to annoy me, tell me you’re done learning and that you already learned everything you need to know.”

His the mission of Lehigh Valley Public Media helps him spread the word of continuous learning to the next generation with its emphasis on educational and informational programing. “I’ve told young people more times than I can count, continuous learning is the number one thing. Technology moves very quickly. Your area will change while you sleep, so you better have studied or you’ll be behind.”

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