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WGNinHR stands for Who's Got Next in HR? It's a phrase heard across playgrounds in any given neighborhood across the country, where someone is called to step up to take the ball - and their turn at winning.
WGNinHR was conceptualized on the stage in front of a live audience during a key note address where Joanne shared stark truths about serving as a strategic business partner. At the end of Joanne's presentation, she turned to the audience and challenged them to prioritize their own growth and development....to avoid being the 'cobblers children' in business. It was one of the first times an HR executive posited the view that HR professionals could - and should - position themselves to move through the C-Suite, with sights set on the top CEO seat, for the good of businesses everywhere.
Today, our firm is a provider of services in three core areas: Strategic HR solutions; Executive Search for senior HR talent; and Coaching. Our client niche is made up of small and medium sized businesses in three industries: Financial Services; Data Science and Technology; and Nonprofits.
We push people, and companies, to new levels through a variety of tools, strategies and outside-the-box thinking. We challenge the status quo. We solve problems plaguing many people and businesses through highly-customized solutions.
We care deeply for the people with whom we work and for the work in which we're involved. Our number one goal is to exceed expectations. Always.
Joanne Rencher
Founder and Principal
About the Principal and CEO
With a 25+ year career history, Joanne is a visionary, 'leaders leader' and results-driven Business and Talent Executive. Having led complex change initiatives across a variety of industries, she has worked at the C-level for major conglomerates, iconic global and domestic nonprofits as well as social entrepreneurs. Recruited to build a global HR unit from the ground floor, nearly 7 years later, Joanne was leading a matrixed team on 4 continents and in 6 countries for the first public-private partnership to work on advocacy and vaccine research/development for an AIDS vaccine. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) was supported early on by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
She began her career in a bond insurance company – Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) – as part of the GE/GE Capital conglomerate. Joanne was part of the team that led FGIC through a proactive company ‘reinvention.’ There, she won several leadership and other awards.
In recent years, Joanne worked for the American Red Cross and led efforts to establish a shared services model, simplifying lines of reporting consolidating operations and improving performance. During her tenure, the volunteer population more than quadrupled. There, she helped to conceptualize an innovative revenue-generation initiative which produced a diverse portfolio of ideas to increase revenue at a critical juncture for the Region.
Joanne has served as a nonprofit consultant for the sector, advising senior leaders, Board members and staff at leading-edge organizations in the education, economic development and social services industries.
Named a 2016 HR Hero for Outstanding Mentorship, Joanne was the Girl Scouts' first ever Chief Business and Talent Officer leading both Talent Management and the Girl Scouts' Cultural and Property Assets. Joanne's visionary and leading-edge approach to business and talent led to the launch of the Girl Scout's first workforce analytics function.
A proven innovator and entrepreneurial thinker, she develops strategies and tactics which strengthen organizational performance and incentivize desired behaviors. Joanne is a sought after thought leader, speaker and author. Her new book is entitled, Tough As Nails: Finding Your Voice as a Woman in the Workplace. Other published works includes her articles on HR People + Strategy (SHRM Executive Network), “People Analytics: The “Flywheel Effect” for the field of HR (2016), and How Companies Kill Innovation (2016).
In 2018, Joanne was selected as a Teaching Practitioner, at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, to deliver leadership curricula for the Great Leaders Program. This groundbreaking Program was designed to respond to the needs of next generation Nonprofit CEOs. Joanne also served as a multi-year Instructor the New York CHRO Institute, an executive level program designed for high potential HR executives taught by Fortune 1000 CHROs and Columbia Faculty.
Most recently, Joanne hosted a weekly Podcast, entitled #RealTalk About the Workplace. Through this Podcast, she and her guests boldly tackled issues designed to help listeners get the junk out of the workplace...clearing a path toward greatness.
As a leading ICF senior executive coach, professional speaker and author, Pam Borton is committed to taking C-suite executives, teams and organizations to the next level. Pam partners with organizations and industries across the country including Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Technology, Law Enforcement, Healthcare, Dentistry, Media Services, Military, Insurance, Physicians, and more.
Pam provides her clients with real business experience navigating high-level challenges in the workplace. Her background stands apart with 27 years of Division 1 women’s basketball coaching, including 12 years as head coach at the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten. There she led her teams to a Final Four, Elite Eight, three straight Sweet Sixteens and numerous NCAA Tournament appearances.
Pam uses her unique skills to help organizations tackle today’s greatest challenges including executive wellness, building high performing teams, leading with grace under fire, increasing executive and leadership presence in a highly visible and public position, emotional intelligence, resilience and change management.
Pam Borton
ICF Senior Executive Coach
Annette Lovelace
Executive Search and Talent Consultant
Annette brings more than a decade of experience in talent acquisition and business partner roles across a variety of industries in the private, public and non-profit sectors.
She has led national searches for major brands, including, the Girl Scouts of the USA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Exxon, Dow Jones, GE and Novo Nordisk.
With an acute ability to source and engage talent, Annette has filled hundreds of roles, staffing entire functions and business development ventures. Working at both the C-Suite and individual contributor levels, she operates seamlessly within a variety of disciplines.
Annette's work is a skillful blend of project management, strategic sourcing, and best-in-class marketing and technology expertise. Her ability to design and deploy talent acquisition and management strategies has served in-house, temporary and contingent workforces.
Eileen brings over 30 years of experience leading HR and Talent Management teams in large global companies, with an expertise in Executive Coaching, Talent Acquisition, Talent Assessments, Leadership Development, Organizational Design and Effectiveness, Performance Management, Succession Planning, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Change Management, Employee Engagement strategies and developing early-in-career management programs.
Eileen was formerly the Senior Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Development at Compass Group, NA; the sixth largest employer in the world. At Compass Group, Eileen coached senior executives in food services and healthcare businesses, oversaw the recruitment of over 10,000 professionals a year, redesigned the succession management and performance management processes, led talent assessments for corporate acquisitions and transformed the approach to learning and leadership development.
Eileen is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has completed the Advanced Levels of the Columbia University Executive Coaching Certification Program. She is also certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and is certified in a variety of talent assessment tools.
Eileen Springer
Executive and Career Coach
Melba Vasti-Cruz
Total Rewards (Compensation and Benefits) Consultant
Melba Cruz Vasti, a Global Human Resources Senior Executive, is an HR leader with a diverse, culturally sensitive global experience designing best practice comp & benefit programs.
Most recently she led the Total Rewards function for Girl Scouts USA, a non-profit organization. Her focus was on compensation, benefits, HRIS, performance management, communication, on boarding, talent acquisition, training and project management. Prior to this role, Melba led the Total Rewards area for OSG, an oil shipping company.
Melba was Assistant Vice President International Compensation and Benefits at MetLife Insurance Company in New York, where she provided strategic leadership and consultation to multiple internal clients globally, to develop, implement and communicate Total Rewards strategies and programs to help achieve business objectives.
Melba received her B.A., Labor Studies and Economics from CUNY-Queens Colleges, and earned her Certification Compensation Professional (CCP). She is fluent in Spanish, and been active with industry affiliations. She has volunteered for various causes.