With offices in Missouri, Arizona, and Texas, Cole & Associates, Inc. provides civil engineering, land surveying, planning, landscape architecture, and ADA transition planning to various private and public entities throughout the United States.As the Human Relations Manager, I was responsible for attracting, recruiting and staffing the organization, developing recruitment strategies, providing guidance with employee relations matters, facilitating the performance management and review process, and ensure organizational compliance with federal, state and local laws. I also managed the administration of all benefits, facilitated the annual open enrollment, and processed the semi-monthly payroll.

Midland Optical is a wholesaler and manufacturer of eyeglass lensesMy responsibilities at Midland Optical included facilitating employee training programs regarding Workplace Safety in accordance with OSHA Regulations, Sexual Harassment and Performance Management. I served as the administrator of all benefits including medical and dental insurance, short-term disability and 401K. I also managed all recruiting, hiring and on-boarding processes and provide guidance and direction to company managers in the areas of conflict resolution and employee disciplinary procedures. Other duties included managing and administering a bi-weekly payroll.

Coolfire Studios is a full-service audio and video production company. Coolfire also specializes in digital entertainment and web development.During my employment with Coolfire Studios, I established the Human Resources Division as a stand-alone business unit, managed all Human Resources functions during a period of rapid growth, whereby the company grew from approximately 40 to 70 employees. Additionally, I wrote the employee manual, developed and implemented new employee on-boarding and orientation programs, created job descriptions for all positions as well as conducted an internal review of employment practices for FLSA compliance.

River Cities LLC, dba Lenny's Sub Shop was an individually owned and operated franchise-“quick-service restaurant concept.” I was recruited and hired by a group of franchisees and investors to operate and grow a new quick-service restaurant concept in the St. Louis, Springfield, and throughout the southeastern part of Missouri. As the Director of Marketing and Operations, I championed numerous process improvements based on customer feedback, including the ability to assess training issues resulting in performance improvements among managers and staff. I implemented numerous cost-saving measures including, COGS reduction from 46% to 36% in two years by identifying areas of improvement in waste, labor, equipment and employee scheduling. I trimmed labor expenses from 35% to 28% while optimizing store coverage by creating automated scheduling tool designed to calculate actual labor costs including variable and fixed and played a key role in capturing entirely new market and growing number of locations to five while consistently achieving sales increases throughout tenure.