Christopher Cantu Email & Phone Number

San Antonio, Texas Metropolitan Area

San Antonio, Texas, United States

• Work collaboratively and cross-functionally with 150+ non-profit, government, and corporate talent acquisition, university relations, HR professionals.
• Support the full-cycle recruitment for employer partners to fill internship and job vacancies to meet their workforce priorities and goals.
• Create and manage on-campus recruiting calendar of events and oversee all logistical coordination and implementation.
• Ensure government and institutional compliance throughout the student engagement and recruitment.
• Track and report university relations and student hiring analytics to determine career readiness.

San Antonio, Texas Metropolitan Area

• Manage a hybrid-remote team of 6 FTE staff (four talent acquisition & two learning and development).
• Responsible for all aspects of the Office of Volunteer Services (human resources) for 83 Texas Counties.
• Facilitated 1:1 and group conversations with direct reports to develop strategic initiatives for recruitment, engagement, and retention of 3,000 prospective and current volunteers annually.
• Led the redesign and refocus of our volunteer development and management plans to meet the goals and metrics assigned by our National Headquarters.
• Served as primary Volunteer Relations mediator and investigator for the Central and South Texas Region and multiple Disaster Relief Operations.

Houston, Texas Area

• Designed full-cycle talent acquisition, recruitment, and engagement strategies to meet the critical volunteer workforce needs for our humanitarian response and relief operations.
• Cultivated professional relationships with community organizations, government agencies, small and large business corporations, and non-profits.
• Inspired communities by highlighting the Mission and Values of the American Red Cross through one-on-one interactions, open house events, and group presentations.
• Recruited 1350+ internal and external candidates through targeted recruitment, community outreach, networking, social media, and cold calling.
• Systemically grew the college-student work study program and internship candidate pool from an average of five students per year to over 40 students contributing over 6,000 volunteer hours and budget relieving service.
• Developed marketing and outreach strategies to attract top-tier talent for high priority volunteer positions by utilizing local and national volunteer networks, social media, and partner agencies/organizations.

Denver, Colorado, United States

• Mentored and advised a caseload of 175+ traditionally underserved (88% first- generation, 90.5% students of color, and 63% female) students through a Colorado state-funded program.
• Hosted student advising sessions to provide wraparound academic support to drive degree completion.
• Re-engineered program engagement strategies to increase student persistence and completion which was 14-16% greater their counterparts not enrolled in the program.
• Developed reports on student progression and benchmark completion for internal and external partners
• Demonstrated sensitivity to the needs of students of diverse social, cultural, economic, and education backgrounds while maintaining strict confidentiality and abiding by federal and institutional regulations.

San Antonio, Texas Area

• Managed relationships with prospective families and academic institutions to promote a premier single-gender school.
• Designed and executed targeted recruitment events such as open houses, student shadow experiences, academic programs, and sports camps.
• Developed a standardized process for recruitment outreach, marketing campaigns, entrance exams, and admission processes.
• Recruited and trained peer mentors to host a shadow program by pairing current and prospective students.
• Achieved annual enrollment goals (125 students) and provided reports to Administrators and Trustees.

San Antonio, Texas Area

• Inaugural full-time director for the Marianist Leadership Program.
• Recruited, onboarded, and supervised a cohort of 65-70 high-performing students/program members.
• Oversaw all core functions required to implement a leadership and community engagement program - including budget, recruitment, scholarship distribution, programming, and evaluation.
• Planned and executed cultural and service immersion experiences locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Documented and maintained accurate records of student participation for courses, events, and hours served in the community.
• Managed an operating and scholarship budget of over 1 million dollars over the three years as the program director and provided annual reports to the Marianist Trust.

San Antonio, Texas Area

• Developed and maintained relationships with prospective students and families through one-on-one interactions, group presentations, and campus programming
• Effectively grew the territory statistics and increased the number of inquiries, applicants, and matriculated students throughout Texas and other key states.
• Built pipelines and promoted St. Mary’s University in new recruitment markets while sustaining existing relationships with our primary target markets and institutions.
• Assessed applications for admission, analyzed qualifications, and recommended scholarships if student was qualified.
• Tracked student interactions in the C.R.M (Recruitment Plus and Banner) to effectively monitor students from initial inquiry to enrollment.

Ma, Educational Leadership

Distinguished Graduate

Ba, Exercise & Sports Science

Presidential Award Recipient Study Abroad - London (2004)